Yes, a new Christmas dress!

Since I am still here, I decided to make a limited Christmas dress. I have inventory of tees I need to move and I need to raise more funds for our adoption. So....here is the Sweet Dress:

This dress features gingerbread people on the skirt and a red knit tee top, which i have embroidered with a cute little gingerbread man and "Sweet"

This dress is available in sizes 5,6 and 7/8 as pictured with the red top

I can make it in smaller sizes with an ivory top--email me to order

$28.00, includes shipping. Limited so order now!

 

calling all cooks

OK all you cooks--here is an easy way to help an organization with a heart for children with special needs:
http://www.theelisonproject.info/
Click the link for info on submitting recipes and stories for the Elison Project Cookbook, and send a recipe--and be entered in a drawing for a handmade quilt! I submitted my secret recipe for my famous Wicked Good Cookies and you will have to buy a cookbook to find out how to make them :)

no travel yet...

No travel for us yet to China. I was really hoping we'd hear something today. I guess I will try and resign myself to the fact that there is now no way we can travel with the group leaving for Beijing at the end of the week. Things will get more complicated if we have to wait until December. Tom had cleared his schedule at work for November, mother-in-law is coming to house, pet and Susannah sit, the bags are packed, etc. I may have to start sewing again!

In the meantime, I would sure like some more entries into the drawing for the quilt, necklace and portrait sitting. I've extended those fundraisers until the end of November. These items would also make great gifts for the upcoming holidays. I'm not sure what our travel expenses will be; looking online yesterday it looks like flights can be anywhere between $1200-1800 per person. You can donate through the ChipIn link to the right.

Snuggly flannel quilt

coffee for Natalie

if you like coffee, check out our new store with Just Love Coffee. It's a fair trade company started by a family with a heart for adoption...they give a percentage of the sales back to adoptive families. Here is their story:

Rob Webb knows coffee.  When Rob was two years old, his father started Webb's Coffee Service, which blossomed into a full-blown refreshment service supplying businesses in Nashville, TN and the surrounding areas, and is now run by Rob.

Rob Webb knows the adoption process.  In the summer of 2008, Rob and his wife Emily were called to adopt from Ethiopia. After much prayer and discussion with their first two children they started their adoption journey in August 2008. During the flurry of paperwork and preparation, Rob & Emily read books not only on adoption in general, but specifically on Ethiopia. Learning that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee caught Rob's attention, and after reading about the living conditions and wages of the average coffee farmer, he was compelled to take action. What developed through his reading and his trip to Ethiopia to unite with his daughters was a realization that he could combine his expertise and longstanding desire to roast his own coffees with his desire to help others.  Just Love Coffee Roasters was born!  Roasting Fair Trade Specialty coffees, Just Love uses proceeds to help an Ethiopian orphanage and families adopting not just from Ethiopia, but from anywhere in the world.

cleaning up the sewing room

yesterday Olivia asked what we were going to do after preschool. I said the mission was to clean the basement, clean up the sewing mess and pack up the fabric, because I had finished my last order and was taking a vacation from sewing for a while. "What are you going to do wif yourself?" she asked. "I guess you can play!"

the last order!

tonight i finished my last official order. i still have some odds and ends to do...i also sew for a local boutique, and i have to applique more cupcake tees for the store...Jolene is likely to have a few more items for me as well. I have some fabric that Olivia picked out for a skirt and a jumper that I haven't had time to do yet; perhaps if we don't get our TA soon I can work on some outfits for her, and maybe even some sister sets. But i hope we will get our TA. Sunday night here means Monday noon in China! I hope they are working hard at the CCAA.

our fundraisers

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to our fundraisers to bring Natalie home from China.. yesterday, Olivia drew a winner from all the entries for the Prada bag. I especially thank all the folks at Houghton College who were very generous, and all the people at the Reading Hospital ER and familiy practice department...all of you ROCK! i wish we could have had more winners. All the donations have gone into the "orphanage donation fee", which is $5000 that we have to pay to the orphanage when we adopt Natalie. When we adopted Olivia in 2006, the fee was $3000. People ask me "how much does it cost to buy a baby in China?" It doesn't work that way. After you submit your paperwork, it can sit there for years before you are matched with a child; because of the economy, the fee has been raised from $3000 to $5000. This money is paid directly to the head of the orphanage where your child is living. (Usually parents have to bring it in brand new, unmarked US $100 dollar bills. Because our daughter is in Beijing, we can bring travelers checks (a great relief off our minds...taking $7000 in US cash, and in new $100 bills, in ziplock bags, really made us feel like drug dealers the last time we traveled to China. ) No, we aren't "buying" our baby. The fees paid help to pay for the support and expenses of the kids and babies still in the orphanage. Because Natalie is in the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute, they are "well heeled." The orphanage has toys and books, and the children are well cared for. We just received an update and Natalie is 16 lbs, 28" tall, and has 6 teeth. I am all for the teeth. Thinking about dealing with a baby teething here at home makes me crazy lol. Olivia had all her teeth at Gotcha day. She was so tiny, 15 lbs, full head of hair...but when she cried--oh there were lots of teeth! she looked so young, but when she opened her mouth, not so young. Olivia was 14 months at Gotcha and had 12 teeth...Natalie is 15 months right now and has 6 teeth. Oh, and they shaved her head. She is completely bald. I am not happy about this--all the other kids had hair! Now I have to get some big bad *ss headbands to put on her so people know she is a girl! ! so we need hats!