Archives for January 2017

We have three sets of bunkbeds in our house…1 set in Harper’s room for her and our littlest and then two sets in the boys’ room for all 4 boys.  I don’t know if you’ve ever changed the bedding on bunkbeds, but it’s pretty much an Olympic sport.  There’s also always sweating and cursing involved which never pairs well.

I’d seen some Beddy’s pictures floating around on the inter webs, read some honest reviews and after doing some research we decided to give them a try.  We’ve had them for about 6 months now and it’s true love.  Like for realz.

They are super comfortable and make changing bunkbed bedding way easier.  The boys can make their beds much faster as well.  I love how they have the soft mink fabric on they inside as well as a patterned sheet.  One of my nephew’s told me how comfortable our beds we’re after sleeping over one night.  It cracked me up hearing that from a 7-year-old.

You do have to wash and dry them individually, but I will say after all the washes the color is still good and everything still looks and feels great as well.  So far, so good.

I did not get them for the girls because I love their quilts and blankets they have on their beds.  The boys I went with a solid grey because that seemed easier to keep clean and pair with pillows, etc.  And full disclosure…I took all these photos right after we received them so that is why everything is so neat and tidy.  Right now their room probably resembles more of a tornado than these photos 🙂  Don’t be fooled.

Make sure you head over and check out Beddy’s for yourselves.  We have so enjoyed ours!!!!

You can find Beddys on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Happy Thursday.

Here’s what I love about traditions you can start them anytime you want and you get to make them your own.  Last year we celebrated our first Ethiopian Christmas with family.  We had such a fun time and our family loved doing it.  We loved celebrating this special holiday from Solomon and Amon’s homeland.  We loved diving into the rich Ethiopian culture and remembering where they come from….where their little lives began.

Last year we read up on Ethiopian Christmas and then kind of tweaked it to fit us.  For instance in Ethiopia families often begin the celebration at their place of worship or church, light candles and walk around the building worshipping and praying together.  Our family gathered at our house and lit candles while we prayed before our meal.  We’re making it our own and it feels really special and sweet.

Josh Kelley also wanted to do a coffee ceremony this year.  We ordered some Ethiopian unroasted coffee beans from HERE and he kept a fire going most of the day while roasting beans.  Later in the night after dinner we served everyone Ethiopian coffee, popcorn and dessert.

I really hope next year I can make a few dishes of Ethiopian food on my own, but this year we ordered again from GoJo Ethiopian Cafe & Restaurant and also bought some fun Ethiopian snacks from Brundo.  The beef jerky was amazing and actually never made it to the party 🙂  Our traditional dishes consisted of Miser W’et (lentils), Shiro W’et (chickpeas), Yebeg Alicha (lamb), Beef Tibs (beef), Minchet Abish Deqa (ground beef), Chicken Curry & Peas and lots of injera bread.   We also had Chickfila, veggies, fruit, fun candy treats, rice krispy treats and THIS CAKE but Solomon asked me to make it green, yellow and red like the Ethiopian flag.  Plus ice-cream.  We partied until almost 10 so everyone continued to munch on food and treats all night long.

And as always there we’re tall glass bottle sodas because we have such sweet memories tied up in these drinks from all our special times in Ethiopia and meeting our boys for the first time.

Coming together with our whole family was really special for us.  Coming together and celebrating how special God has knit our family together was crazy good for our hearts.  I know Solomon and Amon felt the extra love.

Never in a million years could I have imagined this family of ours.  So thankful God’s plans are always 10 times better and more amazing than we could ever dream up or fathom.  He is so good.

Randomness is my game today.

Hope you saw we kicked off a big book fundraiser yesterday.  If not, check it out HERE or just scroll down to the post below.  Super easy fundraiser…people order books and our family receives 25% of their purchase to go towards our adoption fund.  That’s it.  Check it out HERE and please help us spread the word.

Kelley kids all in a row fixing each other’s hair like Kevin from Home Alone…I die!!!

The cold is pretty much destroying us.  I wear layers upon layers all the time and Solomon lays in the fetal position over our heating vents…in his mesh shorts…because he just can’t give them up yet. Is it summer yet?!?!

Nesting.  We have been cleaning out almost every inch of our house.  Purging like there’s no tomorrow.  Our dude’s bed is ready and we made the sweetest book over on mpix to send him.  He feels like a dream…the best dream and we get the honor of being his parents and his family.  Goodness, how on earth did God think Josh Kelley and I were good enough for this wildly wonderful bunch of kiddos?!?!

I call this the ministry of the Kroger parking lot sky.  It gets me every time.

Josh Kelley likes to take the kids for walks on the weekend.  This one ended with them watching barges.  Texts with these little faces are the best.  Amon’s pose game = stellar!

New Year’s Eve we game partied.  It got wild with Sequence and Bananagram and pizza and yummy treats.  Adults gamed and kids gamed and it was the funnest of the fun.  Then Josh, Harper and I rang in the New Year’s together along with Mariah Carey, popcorn tossing, selfies, cocktails and dancing.  2017 is going to be a good one.

Amon had a recent wrestling/tripping toe injury.  It was pretty much like the end of the world aaaaand he’s apparently going to lose a toenail over the whole unfortunate/dramatic incident.  Oi vey.

This is her new pastime and it keeps her busy busy busy and I love love love it.  Rainbow messy watercolor paintings forever and ever.  Refrigerator art always.

We got to celebrate our sweet friend Jessica and her sweet baby girl this past weekend.  It was the best time and such a kind reminder of God’s love and mercy and redemption.  His goodness to us is too much.  The way He brings beauty from ashes…the way He makes everything beautiful in it’s time…He is simply wondrously good.

  And Exodus is still killing it.  I’m still moving at a snails pace, but this is life and chaotic is my middle name and I’m just doing my thing.  I threw out all the rules and judgement on myself long ago because it’s too much to carry.  Every time I sit down with this book God sits down right in front of me.  He is absolutely with us.  And that is overwhelmingly beautiful and humbling.  He’s literally with us.  I hope I never get over His with-ness.  I hope it always moves me into tears and tender moments.

I’m really trying to get back on my regular scheduled blogging because this space makes me smile and I like writing no matter how much non-sense and craziness there is in my words.  I like being here.  And I like you.  Your emails and comments and kindness make my day and I think you are truly truly kind.  Thank you for reading.

Happy Tuesday!

We are closing in on traveling soon to bring our newest little guy home.  We’ve given all our travel plans to our agency, passports are ready to go, we’ve cleared our big kids with school and we’re starting to gather things our boy will need.

We are getting closer and closer to finishing up our fundraising.  I’ll be honest in the fact that I let myself stress out about money the other night which is really not me.  I know God provides and I’ve seen Him do it all my life.  I typically have a good handle on letting this knowledge ride out, but I let myself get in the way and I let thoughts of traveling and heart surgeries and needing a new van and ummmmm, I just don’t think we can pull it off.  Then God sent little reminders all week that yes in fact we cannot pull this off, but He can.  He makes sense of things that clearly don’t.  He’s in the business of the impossible and we get the honor of trusting and letting go.

“Your love has called my name.  What did I have to fear?  What do I have to fear?”

We’ve got minimal time and just a few more fundraising options to throw out into the world.  Up first, books.  I’m kind of weird about toys because we have a small house and space is limited big time, but books have always been a go.  If there’s a book fair at school, I’m in.  When a teacher sends home a book order form, sure thing.  Library trips forever.  Books for everyone.  It’s kind of a sad day when I realize kids have outgrown certain books, but then it’s super nice to be able to pass those along to someone else.

A sweet new friend contacted me about doing an Usborne book fundraiser and it peeked my interest immediately.  We let some time go by and it actually ended up being for the best because at the start of January Usborne released 100+ new titles.  I spent yesterday pursuing the books and reading about new titles.  Every kid was over my shoulder asking repeatedly “Are we getting that one?  What about that one?  Ooooh, that one.”  They all look crazy good and I love they have books for all different ages and different stages of readers plus their super wide variety of topics and interests.

I really love an easy fundraiser and this is one of those.  Here’s how it works:

Head over to my kind friend Suzanne’s book link:

SuzanneSharesUsborneBooks.com

Browse all the amazing books and make you selections.

As you check out you will be prompted to “Select An Event.”

Choose “Kelley Adoption Fundraiser.”

And check out.  The end.

Super super easy and Suzanne is generously donating her entire 25% to our family.  That’s so generous and thoughtful and kind.  We are incredible grateful to say the least.  You can order books from now until January 19th at midnight.

Let me take a second and say I can never ever ever say how overwhelmed and so appreciative we are of all the different people and businesses who have volunteered themselves, their business and their funds for our family.  It’s insane!!!!!  It blows us away and it is simply Jesus doing His thing through His people.  We are so so grateful to be on the receiving end of this immense generosity.

So please please please feel free to share with everyone you know.  This is a great fundraiser for moms, dads, grandparents, people in need of a kid gift, teachers, homeschooling families, librarians, etc.  We’re super excited about our selections and can’t wait to dive into some new reads.

And thank you Suzanne!!!!  You’re the bomb-diggity.

Happy Monday.

Happy New Years you guys!!!!  I am pretty much in love with this fresh new start.  So many things are running through my brain and hope is flying around like confetti.  I’m still working through all my thoughts and ideas and feelings and goals…ahhhhh, I sure do love a new year.

In the meantime, I wanted to drop in real quick and remind you about my friend Jeanne’s free series starting January 4th called Salt + Light.  It’s such an honor to be apart of this fresh series and I cannot wait to hear what everyone will be sharing.  Our life feels super complicated and hard right now so I shared really basic easy ways our family chooses to be salt and light in today’s world.  I just don’t do complex and multi-step well right now 🙂

Here’s a little description and some details about this series.

“Join 18 men and women for a 4 week free online study about Salt + Light: Impact the World Right Where You Are.

Let’s look at our placement, our gifts and our open invitation to collaborate daily with a God that is just waiting to hear us say…

I’m In. I’m all in. Use what I have and who I am. Use my brokenness and imperfections. Use my gifts and strengths and open the box that I have placed around myself and You because I desire deeply to do, see and be more. Not the tired more. The filled back up more. The deepest desires of our hearts more. The reason we are here more!”

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To register for this free course just follow these step-by-step instructions:

If you are new to our creative network here are easy steps to get you started…

1. Register at jeanneoliver.ning.com (this is free).

2. Once your account is active you are able to take advantage of our free courses, series and even pay for courses.

3. Go to jeanneoliver.ning.com and along the top header click on “COURSES” and you will be able to view all three pages of online courses and free series.

4. To purchase a course please choose your course, click on the +join in the upper right hand corner and you will be INSTANTLY in the classroom and ready for the study to begin on January 4, 2017.

5. All videos can be found along the right hand side of the page under “COURSE CONTENT”.

6. All of our courses are pre-recorded so you can watch at your convenience.

 I so cannot wait for this.  What an awesome way to kick this fresh new year off to a great start.  Make sure to check it out.

PS:  Jeanne has all her online classes far sale 50% off for the next 48 hours!  Eeeeeekkkk!!!!  Head over HERE and snag an awesome class asap.

Happy Tuesday!