Prayer Requests and Darling Magazine Feature

I kinda feel like I've been hit by two trucks. One truck was made out of feathers and marshmallows and the second truck was carrying cattle or something. Seriously, as the work load continues to increase with Standard Goods and our adoption paperwork, God's blessings continue to increase as well. Both hit hard, one is just way more fun to collide with than the other. All that being said, we could use prayer!  

How to Pray: 

• We are SO close to being done with our home study. We are just waiting on getting a few papers back from our doctors and then need to finish our personal applications. I was actually about 80% done with the 22 page personal app when my computer lost it's mind and lost my work. So there went about 10 hours of thinking and typing down the toilet. Fun. Pray that we would continue to maintain a good pace with our paperwork and that no more time would be wasted due to technology. Pray that the paperwork being filled out by our doctors would be done correctly and quickly so we can get our home study approved and begin to apply for grants. 
• Our sewing machine is still not working at 100% so Tim is having to drive to the "on loan" machine to sew our leather pieces at night. Such a bummer and hassle and waste of time he could be spending home. Pray that we would figure out what is going on with our machine and have the time to fix it.
• Pray that we would gain wisdom and discernment for managing this new small business God has given us in Standard Goods. As the business grows and the orders pile up, we need to know how to best allocate our time and our resources to maintain a steady flow of sales but also to keep from burning out.
• Pray for our baby in China. Pray that they are safe and being loved well while we work and fight hard to bring them home. 

A HUGE Praise:

Tim and I are being featured this week at Darling Magazine as their "Embodied: Courageous" story! I LOVE Darling Magazine and am still in a bit of shock that they are sharing our adventure with their readers. It is a bit dream like, for sure. These interviews and blog spots and shop features are such great exposure for not only our story but in raising awareness of the need for adoptive families. Opportunities like the Darling interview are always such a gift to our family and, we hope, help to encourage others to consider what God might be calling them into in regards to loving the fatherless. 

Be sure to check out the interview and leave a comment on the story!

Homestudy Update, Kate and Linny Deals, and Rags to Stitches Feature

We are off and running with our Homestudy!! After six months of waiting, it feels so good to finally be able to fill out paperwork (Though I know I probably won't be saying that for long).  These last few weeks have been a bit of a blur so I wanted to write it all down to make sure I don't forget a single detail :).

As of this weekend we are about 80% done with the paperwork side of our Homestudy. Our physicals are scheduled for this week and we're waiting for certified copies of our birth certificates and marriage license to come via snail mail. The parent training modules are actually really interesting and we're hoping to have all of our courses done by the end of this week. That leaves the personal application- a 22 page document full of questions about our family, marriage, childhood, faith, etc. It is pretty intense and requires a lot of quite time to think and then articulate those thoughts. Since "a lot of quite time" doesn't really exist in our house, this part of the Homestudy seems to be taking the longest...

Our goal is to have our Homestudy mailed out to our agency by mid-April. We are also trying to chip away at pieces of our Dossier as well, though that list will require at least 4 chalkboards to display. Geez Loueez.

On the fundraising side of things, we are BLOWN AWAY but the sales we continue to have at Standard Goods. Seriously, we thought our little leather shop would be a fun way to raise money during the holiday season but God definitely had other plans. Our leather goods are now on display at two local boutiques in Visalia, have been a featured deal on Brickyard Buffalo, and have been shipped to 35 states!!

BUT WAIT-THERE'S MORE...

This week we have two HUGE events going on for Standard Goods that we are hoping everyone will check out:

1. A handful of our products will be featured at Kate and Linny at discounted prices. Kate and Linny is a fabulous new online pop-up shop and the ladies running the show have been incredibly encouraging and gracious to us in wanting to share our shop and our story. 

2. I am being featured as the "Mompreneur of the week" at Kate and Linny. Head over to their blog to read my interview! 

3. Alissa at Rags to Stitches is featuring our story and highlighting our leather clutch on her blog today! You've got to see her beautiful pictures and read her sweet words about our adoption adventure. 

Rags to Stitches: A Style Worth Adopting

We are seriously so overwhelmed by the opportunities God is putting before us to share our products and our story and bring in the funds we need to bring our baby home. 

I am so excited to announce that as of this month, we are MORE THAN HALF WAY FUNDED!! 

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!