Yesterday my sister-in-law, Addy, asked my niece, who is four, if she knew what adoption is. Leah answered, "Yes. It means that someone else is going to have a baby and then mail it to Aunt Hilary."
I thought that was cute.
This past weekend we bought our five year anniversary gift at an estate tag sale. I have been wanting a record player for some time. When I grew up we would listen to records and so I was very excited when we found one for our home! I love listening to them, there is nothing like a record.

I also bought an apron that the lady of the house had made long ago. It is great fun to think of how some other woman, a generation beyond me, took the time to stitch the apron and then wore it around her kitchen. I wonder what kind of lady she was? Did she entertain a lot? She clearly was resourceful enough to make things by hand.

Meanwhile, I have found a research project that has been consuming my time. I haven't had much time to dwell on our expected referral call, which could come any time now. I don't jump at the phone ringing, wondering if it is the 703 area code that is calling. In fact, most of the time I don't know where my cell phone is! Don't get me wrong, I am quite excited that our referral could come any day now, and I am hoping and praying it will be this month even.
No, my research has centered around home schooling my four year old to be. I have been reading a book called The Well Trained Mind which is about classical education. Classical education is based on the trivium which covers grammar, logic and rhetoric.
I am very drawn to this style of teaching, he would read lots and lots of classical literature, of course not leaving out modern. Art would have an important place in our home as well. He would learn latin, which I never learned, but I understand can help you greatly throughout life. He would have a lot of grammar, which is often lacking in schools today.
Just in this last week I have learned a lot! I am glad I started a year early researching! I would like to maybe start phonics and a little math in the upcoming months. But for this year it will not be a set schedule. He is only going to be four and I don't want him to start school already!
I will leave off with some pictures of a little "fort" Daddy and Caleb worked on this past weekend.

Live with me and be my Love, and we will all the pleasures prove. (Shakespeare) Today (August 2nd) is our five year wedding anniversary. It is so hard to believe that five years could have come and gone already! It seems like a blink of the eye since we stood at the front of the little old church in Maine giving our vows to each other. I remember being so nervous because we had written our own vows and memorized them. Those who know me well realize I do not memorize things well! It was my biggest fear that I would forget them. Thankfully we each were able to confidently deliver them and so far the Lord has graciously kept us and we trust He will continue to do so for many, many, many years.
The month of July proved to be extremely busy! I had the unexpected two week trip to Pennsylvania and then Jacob's family visited followed by my dear friend, Ruth, who came up from Florida. We had a wonderful time with her, she is sure to make you laugh and the friendship is a bond that isn't stressed by distance or years of not seeing one another. A true friend!
We have not had much time to think about the referral call we received and for that I am grateful. I do not want to dwell on the sadness of saying no. Many people have commented and encouraged us! Those words are balm to the soul. I likely will never know why we had to do what we had to do and I am fine with that. Instead I look ever more ahead of us and anticipate the Lord's direction each step of the way. I admit there are days when sadness creeps in and I am frustrated by the seemingly never-ending wait. Thankfully those days are few and far between.

The months of June and July each had 10 referrals. This is a goal our agency wanted to reach. I am happy they have gotten their goal. I pray it will continue to move along. I anticipate it slowing as the courts will close in just seven days for two months. However AWAA does not estimate that referrals will slow down much. We have another conference call with our family coordinator on Tuesday. We always learn much from them as it is the only contact we have with them.
Some families who got referrals in July are the Caldwells (a baby boy), the Laughners (a boy) (As a side note, our dossiers went to Ethiopia together!). The Britton family (baby boy), the Hammonds (baby boy) and the Joners (baby girl). We heartily offer Congratulations!

It finally happened. He cut his hair. The result? A new haircut that makes him look more like Daddy!

I finally finished making my apron. It took a while as I was not in the sewing frame of mind for the last several weeks. I think I spent so much time sewing for each of the Hilary's Hope shows that I didn't want to sit down to the machine for a bit. But I am glad to finish the apron and it is reversible! It is pretty neat, found the pattern at this link. They have some other really neat patterns available as well.

I am working on photographing (or Jacob is) my remaining bags so I can post them on an Etsy site. Jacob signed me up for one, I hope it will be a good way to sell some things on the side. It seems presentation is quite important in the Etsy world, so I am glad Jacob is a decent photographer. We've really been blessed with how we've been able to raise some money for our adoption through Hilary's Hope.
Jacob spoke with our family coordinator this week about some financial things. Since Jacob is self-employed we do our taxes differently than other folk. I had some nightmares that we had finally made it to the top of the list, only to have to drop out! But our coordinator was very reassuring and helpful. During those days of not knowing what was going to happen I kept reading the Psalms. David always talks about waiting quietly on the Lord. My question I kept asking myself was, "how does one wait quietly on the Lord?" Each day that passed without hearing from our coordinator was about to drive me crazy...I kept telling myself to wait...and to have a quiet spirit too. Easy to type, hard to do!
He did tell her that we are prepared to continue waiting and that for the time we probably would not like to have a single child referral. We will see what the future holds! I am so grateful the Lord sees our children and knows where they are!
The Gibson family is off to Dubi and then Ethiopia to pick up their babe Zoie. There will be some other families traveling in the near future as well! I will post their links when they leave. I think the Gibson's will do a great job of posting, so enjoy!

Sunday afternoon we were able to experience a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony right in our local mall! We have a local coffee stand outside of the Belk store that really cares about good, quality coffee. The owner likes to educate people about coffee besides making the best coffee in the area. Not too many months ago he hired an Ethiopian woman, named Tigest, to work in his shop and that brought on this simple ceremony.

Tigest sat on a little stool with a small gas burner outside the perfume section of Belk. We gave them a run for their money as she even roasted some beans! If you have never experienced what the smell of roasting coffee is like, you won't be able to imagine what I am referring too! She also burned some incence which I guess is traditional as well.

The ceremony goes something like this: First they wash the coffee beans and then roast them in a roasting pan on a small open fire. The pan is shaken back and forth so the beans don't burn and then they start to pop. This sounds like popcorn popping. Tigest then took the beans around the group so we could smell them. The coffee then is ground, for the sake of time, Tigest used the shop's grinder. The traditional pot they use to boil the coffee with is a called a "jebena". They serve the coffee in little cups called "cini".

At this ceremony we had three rounds. The first round is called "abol" (first), the second is called "huletegna" (second), and the third is called "bereka"(ironically, does not mean third but something like "good-luck"). Tigest also served us popcorn which she cooked on the burner at the very start.

Tigest said that they do this process several times a day and whenever you visit someone's home. It was a very enjoyable experience, but as I kept watching all the people skirt around us, or stop to stare for a few minutes, with their shopping bags all about them I couldn't help but think of the irony of the setting. Here in America we have the ability to spend our extra dollars on expensive coffees at the mall as we shop and in Ethiopia there is the looming famine and the thousands of children about to perish for lack of water and food.






If you want to enjoy a coffee guru's take on the event, head over to Chemically Imbalanced.

This is a pretty poor picture of my last visit with my Grandmother during Christmas time. It also has my brother, Ian, in it. Late in the fall of last year my Grandmother suddenly declined mentally and after several tests she was moved into an alzheimers unit. The Lord graciously has brought back most of her thinking and memory; she is now on medication to slow the process and is doing well. At the time is was a very emotional process for my father and his brothers. Especially as they had to carry out her will in essence when she moved into the home.
Last night I sat down to organize my Grandmother's sewing box that I inherited when she moved into the nursing home. Even though she is still with us here on earth it was a rather sentimental time as I went through her old box. I kept thinking to myself, "my Granny put that needle in that spot. She had a reason for saving that little piece of trim off something...what was she going to do with it? I wonder if any of these items were given to her by her mother? I wonder what projects Granny was working on?"
In my memory, I don't remember this Grandmother sewing much. I have more memories of my maternal Grandmother sewing. It was really neat to see the old buttons and trimmings. She had several pretty threads on wooden spools that still are bright and cheerful. I had to put all those in an old canning jar to decorate my fabric shelf with! I think as I get older I hold onto to the things that are passed down to me more tightly. I now start to imagine how they used those items or wonder what ran through their minds as they put their hands to work with those items.

One of the donated items for our yard sale that I pulled out of a bag was this toy. I was quite surprised to see this and at the same moment a flood of memories came over me as I realized, "I had one of these!" I immediately decided that I could not possibly sell this, I felt like it was a part of my childhood! My friend allowed me to keep it so I washed it up and now Caleb plays with it. It brings a happy smile to my face to see it and to see my son playing with it. It is missing a few letters...hmmm...I wonder if Grandma has some extra letters we could use as replacements? :)

Later on today:
I was going through boxes of stuff that I have kept over the years and found this card from my Grandmother I spoke of above. The neatest thing about the card was the handwritten note inside. She says that when I was turning one (30 yrs. ago) she had found this card and it reminded her of a card she got for her 16th birthday. So she bought it and prayed to live to the day when she could give it to me!! Wow, what a great find!

If I had one word to describe the last two weeks it would be "overwhelmed". In some cases in a weary, bad way; and in other ways, a wonderful way!
I was blown over by the amount of things that our dear friends and some people we don't even know as well poured out upon us for our yard sale. I was so grateful people gave of their belongings to benefit our adoption. I am a person who has in recent years become a purger. I love to go through our things and weed out stuff that we no longer wear or use. I still have a lot of sentimentality towards certain objects, but living in a thousand square foot area has limited my attachment to various objects or clothing. So I went into the sale with not much to donate to it myself! I would say for certainty that about 98% of the stuff we sold was not ours to begin with.
Right on the heels of the generosity of friends came the intense feeling at times of having too much stuff to sell! I tried to keep ahead by pricing things as I received them, which was helpful. But more than that was the help of my before mentioned friends (previous post). Even with their help there were times when I felt as if I would never be ready. I am not often overwhelmed by events of life, but this sale somehow sparked new feelings inside me.
However, I am happy to report that the sale was a HUGE success! We met our goal (actually I never had a goal, my husband did). And that was so amazing to me! I was just praising the Lord that we had great weather, made some profit for the adoption, and most of all that I didn't have a ton of stuff left over! I initially thought before I really began the process that I could do another yard sale on another weekend if I had tons left over. But praise Jesus, I don't have to! The bit that was left over in the end we donated. I even saved out some clothes to donate to our transition home in Addis.
So thank you friends for prayers and help! I am so entirely grateful and happy for the outcome. Just don't ask me to do another yard sale for a long time! :) LOL

It has been a while. I appreciate all those out there who have continued to check our silent blog! :) I have been sewing, sewing, and sewing some more! I was able to have more bags this show than I have ever had and initially I didn't feel the last-week-before-the-show crunch. I think it set in Thursday though! Friday morning I decided to make just a few more clutches...and bit off a bit more than I should have. But it all got done!
Katy, the sweet friend who opened her apartment for us did so much work! She made delicious food and amazing little cards. Her cards are made of old hymnals that she stamps words on. I personally saw the hard work she put into them. I stayed the night with Katy and she sat up Friday night into the wee hours stamping, gluing and sewing her cards. Thank you Katy for all the hard work and for putting the profits of your cards towards our adoption. You have contributed much and we appreciate you!

Our show was a bit slow, but in the end we were able to raise a good amount towards the adoption. At times I feel like we are squeezing the generosity out of our dear friends. Yet each person seems so happy to be a part of bringing our children home! After all, each friend who has sacrificially given to us will play a small role in our family's life. They will be the ones on the sidelines encouraging us, helping us when the times are good and bad, teaching in Sunday School and just day to day life! Thank you dear friends!

We have also decided to do a yard sale fundraiser. This will take place May 9&10 at my brother and sister-in-law's house. We are happy to have the opportunity to try another avenue to raise money. Initially I never planned on doing a yard sale because I know the amount of work that goes into them! But our family lives in a nice neighborhood that has a great community yard sale day that I think will have lots of traffic! So we are taking the plunge! We are taking any and all donations between now and then!

I will post some pictures of the show for those of you who are interested. The pottery is from my fellow college friend, April Schwingle. The jewelry is from Lily of Lily Pottery. Lily has also graciously taken all the remaining bags from this weekend's show with her to Cincinnati to do a show there this next weekend.

I have been busy preparing for my fourth Hilary's Hope show. This one will be held at a friend's apartment from church. She is in her final year at Clemson. Here's hoping for lots of college students who are interested in art shows! Joining me will be Lily from Lily's Pottery and April from Willow Mill Pottery. So far I've raised about $2500.00 from making and selling handbags. It really has been a lot of fun, but also a lot of work! Sometimes the amount of time I have put into it isn't worth the profit...but I do love to sew! This time around I have even made a bag for myself!

Living in a 1000 square foot house and having my husband working out of our closet and my sewing in our bedroom has been a crazy adventure! But recently I have upgraded my storage for fabric (since I love to buy it!). I found this neat shelf at Lowes and then my husband made some great bins to organize the fabric in! He worked really hard to make them and then I spray painted them black to match the shelf. Here is a picture of my old, sad shelf.


Then the new and improved shelf! As well as some of the bags I've been working on.


I have been considering doing an Etsy shop after this show. I do not have any other shows lined up at this time. Truthfully, I will be glad to have some time to make some things I've been wanting to sew. Like an apron pattern my husband bought me. And possibly a futon cover??!! We'll see. I am a bit nervous to do such a large project. I've also thought of doing some wall art with fabrics. So I was thinking if I had an Etsy shop it would take a LONG time for anyone to find me and then I could post stuff as I have it to sell. Then maybe I won't have pressure on me to do projects to sell all the time and I can do other fun stuff that comes along. We'll see.

Well, I have officially been tagged by Shari! Here are the rules:
You have to tag 5 people and you can't tag the person that tagged you. You leave them a comment on their blog letting them know you are tagging them and why. Also, direct them to your blog for instructions. It is also asked that you notify the tagger when you post your list so that they can enjoy reading the responses.
So, ten things about me...wow. Here it goes...
1. My husband and I never dated. I lived in Hawaii (teaching), he lived in South Carolina. We saw each other a total of 22 days in a two year period between college (where we were friends) and our wedding day.
2. My first year as a teacher, I taught in Saipan. I taught 3rd grade to a bunch of ESL students when my degree was in art education!
3. I hated babysitting growing up...the birth of my son Caleb turned my view of children totally around!
4. When given a choice, I'll always choose Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
5. I LOVE to buy fabric!
6. We haven't had a TV since married 4 years ago...I still don't miss it.
7. We have a cat named Ophelia. Hopefully she won't take after her namesake! ;)
8. My husband buys green coffee beans, roasts them at home, and makes yummy drinks in his cappuccino machine. (We even take it on vacation with us)
9. Much to my husbands dismay, I inherited from my Mom the tendency to move furniture around...a lot!
10. I love antiques
SO, now I have to tag 5 people. I am going to tag Addy, Kerri Anderson, Penelope, Anna and Lori (since our dossier's traveled together! :) )

Several months ago we were sent an email by our family coordinator about a particular baby who needed adopting from Ethiopia. The agency sent the email out to all the families who had their paperwork already in country. As I read the email I learned this baby girl had HIV and the agency was asking us to prayerfully consider opening our hearts her. Inside me fear struck and at the same time a feeling that no, this child was not what God had for our family. The fear came from the idea of prayerfully considering this child! While I really felt this was not the situation for our family, I felt I did need to bring it to my Father in prayer.
Have you ever prayed for something and been afraid of what the answer may be? I confess, I did think of several things. What if God wanted us to adopt this little girl? She is, after all, a soul who deserves to be loved by a family and given the opportunity to come to know the God who created her with this disease. If God led us in this direction, could we handle the task set before us? What would our family and friends think? I was fearful that maybe God would change our hearts...yet I had to pray and ask. I have lived enough to know that sometimes God does have us do the unexpected, and sometimes we are put into uncomfortable circumstances to bring Him praise and glory and to draw us ever closer to Him.
As time went on, I knew that God did not have this precious girl for us. I want you to read the rest of her story (at least what we know so far). Please click here and read on!

This afternoon I was on a mission to find a tea cup. I have decided that I enjoy drinking tea from tea cups. I never registered for china when we got married, preferring the handmade pottery over store bought dishes. You still will not find one mug in this house not handmade, and I intend to keep it that way! However, there is a part of me that has recently surfaced that admires the tea cup. I have one set of teacups that I do use when I have ladies over. My mother gave it to me, and I think her mother gave it to her. It is pictured above with half a cup of tea remaining!
Since I have one little one running around, and soon to be three, I decided to find some tea cups at antique stores that I don't mind so much if they break. The set my mother gave me has sentimental value and I would be quite sad if one of those came to an end. So this afternoon, around nap time I set out with my three year old to the antique stores.
In the first, he almost had a melt down when I made him hold my hand. I was moving quickly through that store, nothing had caught my eye. I did see one neat one that was under $10 but decided the cup was too small. This is going to be harder than I expected! I had a quick stop in between stores at the local Hobby Lobby because it is that time again...yes, I have another show coming up! I am sewing away.
At the final antique shop I was a bit wary of how my son would act since nap time was slipping away...with no nap. I stopped to look at some really neat linens and handkerchiefs and that was when Caleb began picking things up. He grabbed a little figurine and I stopped breathing while he safely put it back. Phew! Then he grabbed another. Oh dear...I needed to keep moving. Before I could move along, I heard something hit the floor. I quickly looked down to see it wasn't broken...it was plastic! At least he choose that one to drop. So I picked it up and leaned over to whisper a threat in his ear when the store owner came over. "Did something drop?" she wanted to know. Wow. She had good ears! Either that or when I walked in the door with my son terror struck her heart and she decided to keep a close watch on us!
We made it through the store with no more close calls. No tea cup could be found, but I was able to settle on some really neat buttons! The red ones look like old fashioned lolli-pops! What great fun they will be to add to some sewing project!

I have my fourth Hilary's Hope show coming up the third weekend in April. A lovely girl from church is hosting it at her apartment, near Clemson University. I am looking forward to it now that I have really started back into sewing this week.

Oh! We finally have birds visiting our feeder. Suet was the key to luring in our birds. It has been fun to watch them...and try to capture them with photos!