It's been a while

Well I am not sure if it was the overwhelming frustration with the adoption process or the stress related to buying and selling our house (in winter no less) but I have been absent from the blogging world.




Next week Dan and I will mark the 1 year mark in our official wait. last year at this time we thought we would very close to a referral if not already, however we have been told it will be at least another year. We have been updating the homestudy and have another home visit scheduled this week with our adoption social worker.









Valarie and Jonathan have a referral and hope to travel this summer to pick up little Hudson Joon Hart Smith. He is such a cutie with wild hair. I am so excited for her and cannot wait to meet Hudson and see my baby sister as a momma!







We purchased our new home on March 22 and am totally smitten with it! we only spent a few nights there before heading to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for a much needed vacation from reality! We are so thankful for Dan's parents, Kathy and Ernie, for providing the opportunity to spend time there.

good news and rough news

So the long awaited mayo craft fair is over! Val and I worked so hard to prepare and it showed! I don't think we had any idea how much we really had until we set everything out on our tables. We have plenty left over in case anyone needs any last minute christmas gifts!



So on to the rough news. the same week of the fair we were told by our adoption agency that the 9-12 month wait has now been extended to 24+ month wait. whoaaaaaa. I knew it wouldn't be 9 months (we are at 8 months now) but 24+????? between gov't regulations and increased humanitarian work the number of adoptable orphans has decreased . I know this is a great thing that because of aid to families in need families are able to stay together. but it is still hard to think that the number of children in need of homes has truly shrank that much.

I think we are just heartbroken that our hopes of having a family continue to be just out of reach.

We have attempted to keep busy just so we don't sit around and dwell about about it. House hunting and open houses for us. we think we found the house perfect for us, only catch - still need a buyer for our house! We always like to do things a little different or challenging, and trying to sell a house in the off season - in the middle of the holidays should present enough of a challenge.

keep us in your prayers we need wisdom and patience (nothing new!).

Real Quick

The craft fair is OVER, I cannot believe after so many months of preparing it is done. wish we would have done a few things differently, who knows maybe we will get to do another fair. we had a great turn out, but have tons of inventory left! I cannot wait to get the flickr site more updated and to get a better update on this blog. until then continue to check out the flickr site (the link is to the Right of the page), and I have started to use my facebook page to advertise a bit also. val and i are toying with maybe doing an etsy shop, but not sure yet.

if you have suggestions or would like to order something fabulous email me and I can get to it asap!
sisterhood2motherhood@hotmail.com

6 months and counting . . .

Okay so Dan and I have hit the 6 month waiting list . . . I cannot imagine waiting for another 6 months, it seems never ending. Pretty sure I have taken the "keep busy and time will fly" idea to the extreme.

1. Val and I are doing the Mayo craft fair on Nov 14th, we are so busy trying to prepare for that, we are so excited. mom and val plan to head up to our winter wonderland for the fun-filled (and hopefully profitable!) weekend.

2. Sounds crazy but we have decided to move, which means we have to sell our house (sounds simple right?) I thought our house was in pretty good shape but the list of things to do keeps growing not shrinking; and everything is taking longer than expected. Ernie and Dan have been working to repair the deck, a small project turned into completely redoing the entire floor. I have been painting, packing, de-cluttering, packing more, multiple delivery trips to goodwill.

What put me over the edge today was after a sleepless night (did i mention both dan and I have been sick?) the garbage disposal exploded. I decided I had enough for the day and was taking a serious break from de-cluttering/packing. The friendly plumber installed a nice expensive disposal that the new owners are sure to enjoy. Who knew disposals were so expensive?

I have shopped at Menards almost everyday for the past week and I am sure tomorrow will not be any different, ughhhh. did i mention I ordered new countertops and replaced all the possible hardware in our house.

the big questions is: how do I get the "Designed to Sell" and "House Hunters" pros to come take over this disaster!

National Adoption Month..

Hey there! Val here... Tomorrow is Jonathan and my 4th completed month on "THE LIST". Things are definitley slowing down a bit in the adoption world for me as well as Laurie. I hope our agencies are giving us the maximum wait and not the expected wait.. Anyway, I found these videos on YouTube from CatholicVote. Very humbling and moving especially for National Adoption Month. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Trip down south

I need to start out by saying that Dan has now cut off my ebay/etsy fabric purchasing habit, he calls me a hoarder and wants to hold an intervention, so if you are interested to joining the intervention be sure to chat with Dan, I have such trouble saying "no" to such beautiful and fun fabrics! I think he will feel better when knows my creations are selling!

I had the pleasure of spending almost a week with my family in Monett, MO and Fayetteville, AR. We had a great time and yes I was referred to as the sweat shop boss who kept everyone on task, come on we had a lot of crafting to do in a short time!

Rachael was the acting photographer showing off all our hard work. Charlotte is showing off her fave, a ruffle onesie with the lily pad print.

We worked on a lot of blankets, mainly the 12x12 tag blankets or the silky ones, between the 4 of us (mom, rach, val, and me) we have a great selection and enjoy bouncing new ideas off each other.

I love this Pink Minky fabric and paired with the Chocolate Corduroy on the backside with the satin edging, it is so girly!

My more masculine attempt was this chocolate argyle minky with chocolate cord on the backside with fun tags/ribbons.

What can I say I just love the fun Owls! Have I mentioned I love this super soft corduroy? especially when paired with the super soft tangerine minky!

the baby carrier cover . . . .Okay this little project was a bit more daunting, between my mom and I we are reworking the pattern (because it stinks) but I still love the orange hippo fabric. and Yes that is one of my (or my sister's) old Cabbage Patch kids as our model, Charlie is a little too big!

Mom has been working very hard on her apron sets, this one showcases the Black Kitchen apron with hot pink "kitchen DIVA" with coordinating black and white print on pocket of apron, the towel, and the cuffs of the kitchen gloves. I love Green (all things green) and this is no different, I love the retro print mom paired with this apron.

Well just wanted to share what we have been up to lately, oh and we are now at the 5 month waiting mark!

Tyson's Injury has led to Creative Pursuits

On Sunday evening Dan and I went to a great picnic with our church small group, however Tyson didn't stretch properly and ended up pulling a muscle or something to that effect because he has been limping every since. So we have been "resting" this week, staying away from the tennis ball and fetch. This makes for a very grumpy puppy. however his "resting" has given him opportunity to model some of my new sewing creations . . .

Doesn't he look happy?

However I didn't try to get him into this one, but isn't it cute?

Here is a Giant Shout Out to our super sister Rachael! She has been hard at work putting together burp cloth sets for our craft fair: