Who wore it better?

The dresses provided by Little Dresses for Africa were a huge success! So many little girls benefited in the foster home, but also in remote villages.

I think we'll have to call this one a tie between Annabell and Nadia sporting their red dresses. These two are even cuter in-person!


Sorry Carter. I think Nadia may have you beat sweetie.

A short break..

I need to take a minute away from packing and hopefully, when I go back to the pile of items that I desperately want to take to Ghana, they will magically all fit into the 2 bags that Delta will allow.

So, my break consisted of reading other adoptive mom's blogs. One of my favorites is this one. She has such a a way with words and I especially wanted to share her post from today.

We are so excited to be part of this process, but we also understand the sadness that others in the process have had to endure. When you're pregnant, everyone involved is happy. When you're adopting, no one is 100% happy. My heart has already been through so much ache during this process as I try to understand what our little(s) have been going through and are going through. I want to be there to give a hug, but I'm just another stranger right now. I pray that God will help our transition and encourage our little(s) to feel safe and loved in our family.

Don't judge me

So I have all these amazing dresses ready to go to Ghana. If I can't take them all on this trip, I want to take the sizes that will benefit the most girls. Each bag of dresses has any where from 12-20 dresses and the size is listed right on the bag. So nice, but what does a size 2 mean?

hmm.....


Thank goodness I have a willing (OK, not so willing - in fact he ran from me screaming- but he'll do anything for a cup of cocoa) model.






So.. this is what a size 2 looks like. Good to know.

Little Dresses for Africa

Today I received 3 boxes FULL of dresses and "britches" for the children in Africa. If you haven't done so already, you need to check out this organization. I don't even know how many I received yet - I'll find out when I pack them for the trip in air-tight bags to give more space. I do know that I have over 60 pounds of them!

This is a bit of a problem because I only get 2 free checked bags. My bag and clothes for my special little one(s) is just my carry-on. I then have 2 bags worth to fit all the donations... I'm thinking I need a minimum of 3 bags to make this work, but Delta wants to charge $200 for the 3rd bag. Can you believe it?!

I'm going to make some calls tomorrow to see what can be done. Worst case: I have to take some of these donations on our next trip when Chris will be with me and we'll get to take 4 bags of donations and maybe even 1 carry-on of donations!

Busy, busy, busy

Sorry for not posting. Things have been a bit hectic around here as I prepare to go to Ghana and Chris prepares for his business trip in Mexico. I'm excited about all the stuff I'm taking to donate to the children and will post some more photos as the remaining items arrive. I was able to get a case of Pedialyte for FREE from Americares and 4 boxes of little dresses and shorts from Little Dresses for Africa. This is a great organization for those of you who love to sew for a good cause.


Thank you for all the concern that has been expressed about my trip. Just remember, I've been to far more dangerous places at a far younger age. I'll be with our adoption agency the entire time and I've done so much research I could write my own book about Ghana :)

I'm barely sleeping these days. I'm just too excited!

Ready for this?

Really, are you ready for this? I'm hardly ready for this. I'm going to Ghana. Wow. I typed it. Does that make it more real or what?!


Backing it up a bit...

We've been matched, yes!

This is not an adoption trip. Not really anyway.

We were matched back on January 25th and have been sooooo hesitant to share the news. if you know our history I'm sure you'll forgive us. So, we were told we'd be heading to Ghana for our court date within a month. Whoo hoo! We ran out and got vaccinations, I started buying bug spray and sunscreen, etc. Then, on Sunday, we got some not-so-good-news. We can't even request a court date for 3 months due to the specific region where our adoption will take place.

This just about killed me.

So much so that I've been coming up with ridiculous reasons to go to Ghana before our court date.

Ujima Care really needs a child sponsorship program. I need to just go over there and help them get everything in order to get it going.

We really need some good photos for marketing and other fundraisers for Ujima Care.

I'd love to get the children to draw pictures and then create greeting cards out of them for another fundraiser. I'll have to go there and get that all set up.

Yes, these things COULD be done during our court trip, but with that being at least 3 months away, all sorts of fundraising efforts and child sponsorship will be at a standstill. Now I ask you, how fair is that to the poor children in Africa?

I knew you would agree and since I have an AMAZING husband, he agreed as well (after some convincing). So, I'm off to Ghana on my birthday no less! I'm not even staying a whole week. Just long enough to achieve what I want to achieve and and hopefully smother some little(s) with hugs and kisses and clothes and those recordable storybooks and ... the list goes on.

I know, I know. You are wondering what the heck is wrong with me. When am I finally going to give you the juicy details about our adoption? 1 or 2? Girl or boy? How old? I'm afraid to say that I'm going to leave you hanging. We'll be hosting a party shortly after I return to tell you all about the trip and show photos.

So much to do and now.. so little time!

Getting ready

We've started getting things in order for our first trip to Ghana. Once you get a referral, you could be expected in Ghana in as little as two weeks or as long as 3 months later for the court date. If you know me (and Chris for that matter), I already have my to-do and packing lists ready and I'm checking things off!

We got our travel vaccinations last Thursday. Not too terribly bad on the pain aspect, although I do still have a huge pink welt on my arm from the yellow fever shot, but terribly painful on the wallet! $390 for Hep A and yellow fever with a consultations from the doctor (which was not optional). And, that is before filling our prescriptions for malaria meds. and some other thing. Ouch! I cannot believe that health insurance will NOT cover the vaccination, but they will cover the treatment if we come down with any of this.

We also purchased 2 recordable story books for a our little person. It is going to be so hard to leave after court without them so, I wanted them to at least have a way to hear our voices on a regular basis to help them transition better. Chris and I alternated reading each page.



I may have gone a bit crazy getting things for the other children, but the Dollar Tree was just too awesome.


We still greatly need children's clothes to take over so, if you have some lying around, I would be happy to take them off your hands and give them to children who will really appreciate them!

Our fundraiser is moving along slowly. You can get up-to-date progress here. We've brought in $520 which is great, but we've only had 7 donations. So, very generous donations, but I'm kind of disappointed at how few of our family and friends have opened their hearts and wallets. It's kind of the idea of voting. You know, people think their one vote won't matter, but with numerous people feeling that way, their votes could matter. Same here. $10 may not be a big deal to you and have you thinking it won't make a difference, but if everyone gives $10, these children will have a home.

Dentist donations!

I had to go to the dentist today and took the opportunity to timidly ask him for any donations he might be able to provide for me to take to the children in Ghana on our trip. Dr. Kim came back with two bags full of toothpaste and the cutest kids' toothbrushes I've ever seen. I'm so happy that I asked! I know some little smiles that will be just a bit brighter when they get their generous gift!

If you happen to be visiting your dentist in the next few month, why not ask if they have any samples they'd be willing to donate as well? I would be more than happy to get them to the children!