by | November 26, 2011

Brian reporting

Brian here, reporting on location in Bulgaria! We arrived after 3 airplanes, 4 airports, and way too many hours spent in long metal tubes hurtling through the air. The metal tubes and hurtling doesn’t bother me, it’s how many people you have to share them with and how you can’t lay down no matter how tired you are.

We had some adventure right off the bat. In PDX they told us our flight was overbooked and we were moved to a different flight to DC instead. But supposedly we would get to Frankfurt 10 minutes earlier and all our luggage would show up. I was dubious but threw caution to the wind and away we went! It actually worked out great because we got extra legroom on both our first flights. Then slept on the puddle jumper from Germany to BG.

We watched Up! on mom’s IPAD and it was hilarious. Squirrel! I’m sure all my Up! references will be lost on people since it’s been out quite a while but too bad! I thought it was funny and shall be repeating any lines I can remember. Then I got to see half of Harry Potter (the last one) and the old Planet of the Apes. I only got to see half the movies because they were playing on a fixed cycle and I kept missing the beginnings.

We had decent food for airline food. Which is high praise from me who usually gets sick at the sight (smell actually) of any food on an airline.

On arriving we ran into all the adoption gang. Meredith and Shelly of Reece’s Rainbow were on the same flight as us and checked into the hotel at the same time. Mom and I ran out for water and bought some weird sandwiches I will post pictures of later. She has done really great. It’s been so nice to have someone familiar around to share all the craziness of international travel with.

There was a baby on the flight over the Atlantic that cried a few times. The parents used a rattle to entertain him and that rattle kept me awake. I thought to myself, at least he isn’t screaming, and then I thought, at least he isn’t yours! 🙂 Please pray for our return flight. It will be 12 hours (because we have a different connection). Jordan’s Papa doesn’t like flying as an adult, I really hope Jordan doesn’t mind it too much.

Now mom is snoring and I am struggling to stay awake. Yay I made to 4:48pm. That’s close enough to bedtime right?

See below for the first exciting pictures of our trip!

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by | November 25, 2011

Penny Pinching Friday – Paper Towels

Adoption Note: Dropped Brian off at the airport an hour ago. Cried. I like hellos much better than goodbyes! They’ve been rerouted already due to overbooking. Sadly, that puts them on a much less comfortable airline. Happily, they still get everywhere on time and will get one extra meal. whee.

Ok – you know already that I like to cut little corners, right? So if you don’t have time to mess with little things… skip this post! I worry about things like paper towels when I can. I am not a supermom. There are days… not infrequent, when all I can do is keep up with the kids. No dishes get washed. No laundry gets done. No food gets cooked. But the times when I have energy, I try to set new things in place… things that save me money without having to do much more work.

How much is the convenience of paper towels worth for you?

What does a paper towel do? Why don’t we use a regular towel?

1. We may be wiping up something gross
2. We don’t like to walk a towel to the laundry
3. We don’t want our towel to get sour/stained because it has juice/milk/whatever on it.

Solution
1. Use paper towels for grease, but nothing else
2. Put a pail in your kitchen for kitchen laundry
3. Have special “rag” towels that you don’t care if they get stained. And having your kitchen laundry separate means it won’t mix with the rest of you laundry. Well, not until it’s in some nice warm sudsy water. 🙂

Cost of paper towels. I don’t know. Really. It’s been so long since I bought them! I need to pick some up soon, because I’ve run out of the few I keep on hand for bacon grease issues and visitors. But I know they cost more than a napkin (more than a penny each square). I also know the squares are way too big if you’re using them as personal napkins, so lots goes to waste. Somebody using them a lot? How much do they cost? Each? Per month? Just… when I’m going to buy paper towels, I at least try to get the kind that are divided into smaller sections. 😉

How much are cloth paper towels? Depends! Do you already have a bunch of old washrags laying around? They make great “paper towels.” My husband got me a great rag dispenser for my counter, but most of my rags are just in a drawer in a handy spot.

Happy saving! What do you do to keep as much money as possible?

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by | November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey and family day today!

Tomorrow the girls and I have the important task of delivering Brian to the airport where he will meet up with his mom. Whenever I think about how long it will seem while he’s gone… I think, “It’s only thirteen days until he’s home!” And he hasn’t even left yet. I am so eager to Skype with my son on Monday!

Not sure if I’m going to be trying to get out of the house a lot to pass the time… or if I’m going to hunker down and stick to routine. Routine breeds peace and friends calm insanity…. so I’m not sure which will be best. 😉

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by | November 22, 2011

The Angel Tree

I’m sure you’ve noticed how I’ve been tugging your heartstrings at the plight of a little orphan named Valenz! (previous blogs: Human, Who is Valenz?, Valenz’s Need) But today I have the pleasure of introducing you to the Christmas Angel Tree, Reece’s Rainbow’s biggest fundraiser of the year. All donations give the featured orphans with Down Syndrome hope. And donations made to their grants during this time are eligible to receive a beautiful Christmas tree ornament!

Backside of ornament has the Reece’s Rainbow handprint!

Having an ornament on your tree can bless you. I want to share the story of what happened when we bought a Christmas tree ornament for the first time … but that will have to wait until next week. To receive an ornament for yourself, a $35 minimum donation needs to be made to a child’s grant…. like Valenz! This can be done via paypal or by check. I’ll put that information down at the bottom of this post. Also, because my heart has been stolen by this child and because I want to do everything I can to help him find a family (by helping his family be able to hurdle the seemingly impassable adoption fees!), I took a soap-making class. You remember those pictures?

Yummy!

I’m giving these away for donations to Valenz’s grant! For any donation of $10, I will mail to you a bar of beautiful, homemade soap! The ingredients used were awesome… my hands feel so soft every time I handle the soap. The ingredients include: cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, and more! The soap was scented with essential oils – you have four scent/color choices: Mint/green, Lavendar/Purple, king’s spice-frankincense, cinnamon, etc./pink, and peace and serenity/bluegreen.

Just in case…. if anybody wants any of my smaller bars or a whole bunch of bars, we can discuss a lower donation amount per bar. Let’s have Christmas shopping that benefits somebody in need… if that’s not feel-good shopping, I don’t know what is! Bless somebody by sponsoring Valenz in their name! The ornament comes with a Christmas card thanking you for your support, making it a tasteful gift.

Helpful info:
*The official Angel Tree page
*”The Christmas Angel Tree” for Valenz is a link that will remain on the top of our blog even when this post is buried!!!
*The ornament will come automatically for donations of $35 or more. For the soap, email me directly!
*Remember Vinnie? We left our heart with him in June and his family is working overtime to get enough money to pay for adoption expenses! They also have Christmas tree ornaments for sale as well as coffee and other fundraisers! Check out the piece of our blog that Vinnie owns too! “Vinnie’s Fundraiser”

How to Donate:

By check:
Mail your check, with the name Valenz noted, to:
Reece’s Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

Electronically:

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by | November 21, 2011

It’s my Birthday!

What a year! I’m turning 28 today and it’s funny how 30 seems young now too… where it used to be 20 that seemed young. Turns out I still am the center of the universe since people get older or younger depending on how old I am. Seen high schoolers lately? What happened to them? They got ten years younger!

I haven’t hardly taken any pictures this month… sorry! I’m just saving up space on the hard drive for the newest kid on the block. Brian leaves on Friday morning bright and early (but in the dark)! The girls and I are excited (and dreading) driving him to the airport that morning! Brian and his mom will travel for 18 hours, plus the time they wait at the Portland airport. Hopefully no luggage will be lost and they’ll arrive at 1:50 am our time as planned. (It will be 12:50 pm there!) Monday is the big day where Brian gets to pick up Jordan… and not put him down! We are both so excited about “busting him out!” Brian has the pleasure of carrying a small package for another little boy being adopted from the same orphanage and a request to be allowed to take photos of that little boy as well as a little girl being adopted by a different family. Please pray that the orphanage and our facilitator will respond favorably to this request! Those pictures will mean so much to the waiting mommys and daddys.

I dug deep, but I found a couple new pictures for you…

Have I mentioned that Maggie is potty trained now!!!??? Just a couple weeks ago. She is dry during naps so far and last night she asked to go to the bathroom for the first time. Hmm…. maybe potty training at night isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! I don’t know about yours, but our bathroom floor is FRIGID in the middle of the night!

And here I am, my beautiful self with the beautiful flowers from my sister. Thank you Melissa! The birthday dinner was a joy! (still want that recipe!)

Lastly – if you’re local…. I made ten gift baskets up that I’m selling to benefit Valenz! $20 for a basket and they include all sorts of yummy things, including handmade soap. (some are more adult-looking and some are more teen-looking) All of them include a shower scrubbie, a manicure set, a callous file, candles, candy, and soap. Some are Christmas-colored baskets and some are more for any occasion.

One example!

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