Be The Difference

Tired of wasting time?

I don't know about you, but I waste A LOT of time online. I browse Facebook at least 5 times a day. Don't even get me started on Pinterest. OH.MY.GOSH. A half hour "just checking in" turns into a lot of late night recipe and craft ideas that most likely will never come to fruition.

Take a break and do something truly life changing. It's a contest from Cultivate.com. 
They are awarding $50,000 to the most voted for charity. And one of the "worthy causes"? PROJECT HOPEFUL!  Project Hopeful is a wonderful non-profit that specializes in finding children with HIV/AIDS families. Wow.... When I think about that it just makes my eyes tear up. I feel this is the ultimate demonstration of love. Project HOPEFUL exists to educate, encourage, and enable families and individuals to advocate for and adopt children with HIV/AIDS.  And with your help, you can donate $50,000 to their agency. Wow.

It literally takes 3 seconds a day. So stop Facebooking, Pinning, Tweeting, whatever for 3 seconds everyday and VOTE. Please. They are currently in the lead, but only by 1000 votes. We just need to HOLD ONTO our position. 9 more days. $50,000. You can do this!

GO HERE and vote. Everyday for the next 9 days. While you are on the page and think to yourself "Self, not only do you have 3 seconds to spare, but 10 seconds to spare" please consider re-posting the link to your facebook, twitter, pinterest for others to share the word. It's right there on the voting page. If you are a blogger PLEASE re-post and get the word out! $50,000 for these precious children is well within our reach.

Another brillant use for nose suckers.....

Jack vs. the nose sucker. Personally, I don't think there is anything funnier than a belly laughing baby. :)

Happy Re-Adoption Day!

This pretty much sums up the day

Me and my Dada

With Baba and Dada

Gettin' my shrimp fix

All this Court stuff makes me tired

Today was Charlie's re-adoption day. We started out the day with Chad driving through the night from a youth trip in Tennessee to come back for Court. Poor guy got in at 4:00am, slept till 10:00am, went to Court and got back on the road to drive 4 hours back. Yuck. Sorry Chad. When they asked me if any dates weren't good I was thinking more like "Is Monday better than Wednesday?" kinda thing. Not, are you going to be out of town at some point? Ooops.
Well we got to the courthouse at 11:30 for our 12:00 hearing. You may remember in a moment of bravery insanity, I decided to represent us in Court without an attorney. We waited in the lobby until 11:55 and then the Bailiff appeared with the Judge's assistant. She called me over, with a huge file in her hands. And said...."Uh, the Judge has been reviewing your file...." At that point I was honestly waiting for her to say...."And it's all wrong". But instead she told us the Judge had reviewed our file, already signed an Order and we didn't even need to appear before him. Well, that was anti-climatic. I am soooo glad I stayed up half the night drafting my own Order, ironing 3 pairs of dress pants, and 3 dress shirts (including two miniature sets of clothes, that let me tell you is a real domestic challenge.) I think I had totally psyched out to be the attorney, you are the attorney....It was kinda showing up with your game face on for the big game and the other team forfeits.
On the other hand, it was wonderful to get in, get out. Mission accomplished. No nerves, no judge, no hoopla.
And it wasn't a total bust. Charlie got to see prisoners being escorted in shackles to jail. He talked about it ALL.DAY.LONG. We talked about why you shouldn't steal/hurt people and always listen to your Mama. Perfect.
The other bit of good news is that we were under the impression that all of Charlie's Russian documents would be sealed, as in, without a Court Order we would never even see his Russian birth certificate again. And you all know how sensitive about my boys documents. As if a little part of his heritage would be sealed away with it.
BUT they never asked for it and I never volunteered it. The clocked and stamped and signed and we walked ran out the door. Documents intact. Woooo-Hooo.....
And Charlie got a shrimp lunch and toy out of the deal since we told him if he spoke to the Judge and was polite in Court. He got out easy....and so did I.
Now both my boys will have birth certificates from the good ol' USA and both from the same State to boot.
So now we have another huge notch in our adoption belt. Two more baby steps to go. Home studies in February 2013 and February 2014. And then we are DONE baby!!!

Resource Giveaway

I've been doing a little spring summer cleaning and have come across some GREAT resources we used in Charlie's adoption. Some were "pre-adoption" preparation, some were "in-country" language guides and a few have been "once you're home" kinda stuff. Only 3 out of the 7 are geared towards Russia specifically, the others cover a broad spectrum of adoption information and topics.
I would really LOVE to give these away to a family who needs them or could use them. We've certainly found them helpful! I personally wish we had the "Little Pim" language videos BEFORE we went to Russia because they are geared towards 0-5 year olds learning Russian and that's about the language skill level I operate on :)
Anyway, just leave me a comment telling me which "prize pack" you are interested in. I'll pick a winner on Random.org. on June 21st. I'm dividing the drawing into 3 categories because I realize you may be in a different place in the adoption process. If you would like to enter all three categories when please leave three separate comments.
Please feel free to share this on your blog or social media too- I realize I may not have many "Potential Adoptive Parents" as readers any more. Also, maybe you could win them for a friend? Someone thinking about adoption?
Prize Pack #1 "Thinking about Adoption"

The Complete Book of International Adoption by Dawn Davenport
The Complete Adoption Book by Laura & Raymond Godwin

Prize Pack #2 "In the Process or Post Adoption"
The Whole Life Adoption Book by Jayne Schooler & Thomas Atwood
Adoption Parenting (mandatory Christian World Adoption reading, BUT full of useful information) EMK publishing, edited by Jean MacLeod & Sheena Macrae

Prize Pack #3 "The Russian Prize"
Little Pim Video Series, Videos 1: "Eating and Drinking" 2: "Wake up smiling" and 3: "Playtime"
Simple Language for Adoptive Families C.D. Russian by Amy Kendall.
Russian Dictionary and Phrasebook by Erika Haber

 Good luck! As always, if you have ANY questions about International or Domestic adoption, please feel free to contact me! By no means am I an expert, but I know how challenging each can be. At the very least I could offer you encouragement, a listening ear and prayer!

:0(

So, you may remember my post about the possibility of the return of your original USCIS packet. HERE is the post. If you are a adoptive parent you know what I'm talking about. If you're not the only thing that you need to know is (at least in our case) you are given very little information about your child, then to add insult to injury you are given ONE copy of their new birth certificate and ONE copy of their adoption decree when you leave Russia. That's it. Everything that you know about your child fits into a letter sized envelope. For whatever reason, this makes me sad. I think about all the meticulous documentation that occurred before my first month, not to mention the volumes that were written before my third birthday. Then you look at that envelope, with two pieces of paper and obviously lacking any photographic proof of infancy, first tooth, first step, first haircut and it just makes you want to cry.
Anyway, with the return of this packet, there is rumor of at minimum another set of original documentation, which is not only practical, but enticing as the possibility to double the amount of documentation in your possession. THEN there is the rumors of the hospital records and photographs. Be still my heart.
Well, we were prepared to wait up to two years for the return of this magical packet. Well, on Friday, we got a letter from USCIS. I thought maybe it was a "thank you for your request, we'll be right on that in approximately two years" But instead it said "thank you, but everything in your child's file was a certified COPY of the original document other that the original visa application, which we cannot return to you and must remain in our file." SAD.
They did say I could fill out another form to request "copies of the copies" but really, what's the point in that. I'm going to do it anyway, just for the possibility that they have a copy of something I don't have, but still. SAD.
I hope all you guys who are waiting and filled out the form have better luck and find some real gems in your packet. Ours was a dud.
But, we are still focusing at making new memories and document those wonderful things as they happen!

Running Out? Run In!

 I had a lot of fun shopping at Publix today! In the "old days" aka "pre-children days" I use to come home from the store, put everything on the counter and make hubster guess how much I spent and how much I saved. Like our own personal Price Is Right. Now we're lucky if we can get the food put away before Charlie is asking for juice or something more pressing needs attention.
But today, we played the game. Wanna play??? I know you do! Here is what I bought:
2 Boxes Rice Crispies
Aveno Baby Lotion
Aveno Baby Wash
2 Tubes Crest Vivid White (Running Out? Run In!)
3 Tostino Pizzas (Running Out? Run In!)
2 Giant boxes of Luvs Diapers (Running Out? Run In!)
4 V-8 Splash Juice
10 Cans Tomatoes/Green Beans/Corn
2 Charmin 6 Rolls
Lipton Family Box Tea Bags
2 Ace Bandages
2 Spot Shot Carpet Cleaner (I know....NOT green, but my homemade recipe isn't cutting it on nasty pet stains....)
2 Smart Balance Milks
3 Cans Crescent Rolls (Running Out? Run In!)
3 Cans Buttermilk Grands Biscuits (Running Out? Run!)
2 Mitchum Deodorant
2 Reynolds Foil Pans
Kraft BBQ Sauce
2 Planters Peanut Butter
3 Land O Lakes Butter
Betty Crocker Cake Mix
Betty Crocker Icing
2 Pepsi Next (2L)
2 Sun Drops (2L)
2 Sierra Mist (2L)
7 Voskos Greek Yogurt

Thanks for the diapers Blog Spark!

Ready to guess???














I saved $148.10 and spent $64.82!!! Whooo-Hooo!!!! I was able to get some really great deals with stuff already with the sale and then matched with coupons courtsey of Southern Savers. Plus there is a sweet $5 mail in rebate HERE.

Don't forget to enter the $25 Publix Gift Card giveaway tomorrow at noon HERE. Right now there are only 9 entries, so you have pretty good odds.... And then you can score some great deals too! Good Luck!

My blog spark is a new site I joined from the recommendation of my friend, Meagan ( at Fairly Fabulous) to "get great material to share with my readers such as coupon offers, photos and images." I received a $25 Publix card to shop this sale and get to give away a $25 gift card to one of my wonderful, lovely, kind readers! Yeah!

By the way...All of these opinions are my own and the Publix gift card, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”