Last Post.......

Hello.  It's been a little while since I've posted and this will be my last post on this blog.

We received word a couple of weeks ago that our file has been closed by the Ministry (or whatever it's called now) in Rwanda.  My sis-in-law went in finally to inquire about our file and she was told that all of the files that are left have been closed.  Evidently there aren't anymore orphans left in Rwanda.  Well, no, not really but there aren't anymore left at the main orphanage where children are adopted and I guess it's too difficult to adopt them out from other orphanages.

So that is that!  I'm definitely ok with it, as I've been expecting it for awhile.  I do have to admit it hurt in my chest a little bit but then the pain was gone.  I truly have been expecting this for almost a year.  I do think in the end, it's what is best and God has a great plan and I accept that.  Already, in less than two weeks, we've already received some news that probably would've made adoption very difficult so I can't help but think God knew and he thought this would be best.  I am, however, very sad for my friends who had their files closed and who were heartbroken by it.

We have looked into foster-adopt and in the future it might be an option.  It's something that my husband and I (maybe me moreso than him) have been praying about, but right now it's just time for a break from adoption.

All of the funds I receive from selling the Rwandan Magazine Necklaces will still go to Rwanda to my sister-in-law who still has a ministry there helping the Rwandan people to get on their feet and get educated and to start their own businesses.  Her husband actually also has a company there that does the same thing.  So they're both working very hard to help to make Rwanda a better, safer, and cleaner place, as well as working to help spread God's word.

This was a very short journey compared to some but we're still glad to have a definitive answer.  It would be great to get some of our money back : ) but I'm sure that's not going to happen.

I do have a ***NEW BLOG*** for my hand stamped jewelry business here and I will continue to sell my hand stamped jewelry with part of the proceeds going to charity, as well as my s-i-l in Rwanda.  And I have to say that is one huge positive that has come out of this.  I'm able to work from home with my boys and do something that I absolutely LOVE doing.  And my business has been growing.  I'm going to be branching out and doing wholesale which is pretty exciting to me.  Follow my new hand stamped jewelry blog here.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with us and who has help to support our journey.  Prayers for the children left in Rwanda would be great.  They definitely need them.


Bev

Three Month Recap

ok, so it's been awhile since i last posted here.  i got reeeeeeeally busy around the holidays with orders and preparing for christmas and then afterwards i always just want a break........from everything.  so here goes, really quick:

breakfast picnics by the fire are the best.  please ignore my dusty stash of books in the background.  time for a bookcase in my room?  i think so.

whenever the cousins come into town it's ds time at night.  they all look forward to it and it's actually kinda funny to see eight or nine of them lined up in chairs and playing.  (my sisters-in-law don't think so but i do.)



i love this one.  more cousins and my littlest nephew is already trying to get it figured out.  he thinks he's one of "the guys" when he's playing.

valentines day came and went and who wouldn't want a special valentines day breakfast? 

yum.

chocolate covered oreos and prayer rocks for chase's class on valentine's day; both found on pinterest.  and i'm such a horrible blogger right now; if you just go to pinterest and type in "prayer rocks" and "chocolate covered oreos" it will pull them right up, i'm sure.

soooooooooooo.........after about six years of looking like a boy and 12-15 years of not wearing makeup, i went a little bit crazy, do you think?  naaaaahhhhhhhhhh.....i LOVE my new makeup.  it's just fun.  if you get a chance look up makeup geek on the net.  marlena has awesome videos.  again, i have no link for you.  how horribly lazy am i tonight???

ok, so we did this TOTALLY fun thing with chase's class last week.  we went to a place called n2 pottery and for $6-$20 you can choose a piece to paint, paint it, get it glazed and fired and then go back to pick it up.  isn't that awesome??  totally a great idea for moms on rainy or super hot days.  and this place is going to start putting out their christmas stuff in october, including christmas ornaments.  can you say handmade inexpensive christmas gifts??  yes, please.

aaaaaaand, it finally snowed last week.  good grief, crazy winter.  it's been a weird one.  the boys loved it and our new rottie seemed to love it even more.  i have a video of him just running around and playing in it, jumping, stalking, rolling around, and eating it.  crazy mutt.  and the boys thought it was hysterical.

here's our attempt at frosty.  one of my children refused to smile so he wouldn't sit for the picture but the other two are as happy as can be.  all we did for two days was go out and play in the snow until we were so cold we couldn't stand it, come in and take everything off and set it out by the blazing hot fire, and then make yummy hot cocoa and drink it.  the kids loved the routine.  i'm sure they're praying for snow again soon.

and who wouldn't want a snowflake breakfast on such a beautifully snowy day such as that?

lastly, i was recently asked to create some necklaces for an annual event that goes towards supporting a local burn foundation.  these are the tags that are halfway done.  i used my newest "poetry" font and i'm super excited to see how they turn out.  the font give them a classic look and i couldn't be happier with that : )  i'll post pics once they're all done and ready to ship.  promise!  i will be on here more now.

i know that a lot of you are waiting to hear adoption news.  well, so am i.  the latest is (and who knows if this is true) all dossiers waiting at the minister's office will be transfered to the orphanage to try to be matched but if they're not matched within a certain amount of time your file will be closed.  i'm truly at peace with whatever decision is made.  i'm completely leaving it up to God and figure that if it doesn't happen it was never meant to be.  i do wish we could get some of the thousands we spent back from the us government and the homestudy agency but what can you do.  it is what it is and it's not over yet!

have a great weekend!

~bev

Merry Christmas!

It's been awhile since I last posted.  I've just been incredibly busy with one thing after another.  I'll give a quick update on adoption news first:

No news!  Still waiting.

On the hand stamped jewelry front, business has been great!  Thank you SO much for all of your Christmas orders.  This has been our busiest year yet and I'm just grateful for all of your orders and referrals, so thank you again.

I hope that you're having a peaceful and relaxing holiday season and that you're not taking the unimportant things too seriously.

Merry Christmas.

just a quick fyi!!!

my web hosting company for my etc jewelry site, has decided to switch over their servers today and they decided to let their customers know.........TODAY!  surprise!  anyway, if you go to my site today it has a nice big "account is suspended" banner across the middle, which looks reeeeeeeaaalllly good to all of those people who are being referred there right now from our giveaway that we have going on over at living with punks.

anyway, we should be up and running again in a couple of hours (at least that's what they tell me).  sorry for the inconvenience.

~bev

new designs and a giveaway!

i've finally had some time to create a couple new designs and to start on a ring won by my friend kim in our last giveaway.  (sorry, kim!)  it's been that busy this summer.

here are a few photos of some new bracelets and a new two-toned necklace design.  you'll have to leave me some feedback on what you think.

this new bracelet is made from silky cord and your choice of a sterling silver disc and hardware or gold filled.  each bracelet is fully adjustable and comes in basic brown, perfect purple, royal blue, and red.  you can even choose to have a mini dog tag placed on yours!!  starting at $19.00.

my next new design is a necklace is our silver and gold two-toned necklace made with fine silver discs and 24k gold hand stamped lettering.  i have been thinking about this design for over a year and i've finally completed it.  this one was made for my dear cousin casie.  hope you love it, girl!

and i have another giveaway going on over at little birdie secrets for TWO $50 gift certificates!!  it ends tomorrow night (sunday, 9/4) at 11:59pm pst.  check it out if you get a chance.

lastly, as i stated in my last blog post, we did receive our approval from rwanda so i'm currently in the process of trying to raise travel funds as quickly as possible just in case we get our referral in the next couple of months.  pleeeeeeeeeeeease, please, please refer anyone you know who might be interested to our hand stamped jewelry store.  we would be forever grateful for you referral.

thanks so much!  have a great weekend.

Approval!

i know it's been awhile since i last posted.  it's been incredibly busy.  we had family here over the summer from rwanda and los angeles.  we met our two "new" nephews/cousins from rwanda.  we all (52 of us) went to jackson hole, wy for a family vacation.  (i will post photos soon!)  my boys started soccer.  my oldest started kindergarten.  and sadly, in the middle of all of this, we lost our precious baby nephew two weeks ago.  it's been a summer that we will never forget, that is for sure.

i have so many photos and topics that i want to blog about but for now i just wanted to let everyone know that we received our approval from rwanda a few days ago, dated august 8th.  i really had mixed emotions about this since i truly thought all summer long that we were probably done in this process.  not by choice, but because of the number of families waiting for baby girls and the six month regret letters they were sending out.

i will say that since we received our approval, i have completely gotten my hopes up again.  i've tried not to but it's hard.  i've been able to stay away from the blogs but admittedly that's more due to lack of time.  i haven't been able to stay away from photos, and groups, and contacting other prospective parents to find out what they know.  still, in the end, i'm just praying for god's will.  that's what i truly want.

so now the next step is to just wait for our referral for our baby girl, along with raising funds for our travel when that happens.  i will be listing a couple of new baby quilts in my etsy store in the next two weeks and for everyone waiting for more gold and two-toned jewelry to be launched in my hand stamped jewelry store, that will be happening within the next few days.  i will be working my butt off over the next few months to raise the money for our travel so if you know of anyone who might be interested in wearing their loved ones names close to their heart, please send them my way!  we need the support.

i hope that you're all doing well.  don't forget to hug your children tonight, one extra time.  and tell them that you love them.  this last two weeks has been a painful reminder that we cannot forget to take every opportunity we have to love our children.

peace.

bev

We Have A Winner!

hi everyone!  we have a winner.  thank you to everyone who entered to win our new *love never fails hand stamped ring*.  your support is very much appreciated.  now for the winner.....

congratulations, kimberly bowlin!!!  please contact me with your ring size and what you would like stamped onto your ring.

thanks also to missy tippens for announcing the giveaway for us.  i very much appreciate your help!

hope you all have a great week!