help adopt a little baby girl...

today i get to introduce to yall one of my bloggy best friends, Carina.

AND share something that is near and dear to my heart...adoption.

did you know I am adopted? Well, I am.

And it is a blessing I am thankful for all the time...

every aspect of it.

SO, I ask you to read on about my friend Carina, and about the little girl they are about to bring home!!

ahhh! I have chills because I am so excited for them. :)

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Hello! I'm Carina and I blog over at a punk, a pumpkin and a peanut.

I am mama to three little rascals, lover of vintage and coffee and chocolate,

among other things.

For the last year, my husband and I have been waiting to adopt our fourth baby.

We have two biological boys, and one adopted, and feel so excited to be adding to the sweet chaos that is our every day.

Two weeks ago we got the call that we'd been chosen to adopt a baby girl due this August.
And we are over the moon.

We know that God is already writing our love story with this little peach
and His hand is so evident in the details.
You can read more about all of that here.

The reality of adoption is that it takes a serious chunk of change to make it happen.
Like $25,000 when all is said and done.

We've saved and saved and had a little pancake breakfast to get the ball rolling,
but we are still well away from that number.
We are not ones to ask for something without offering something in return,
mostly because it makes us feel weird.

I've been making jewelry for my little etsy shop for the last few months and
after a lot of thought, I decided to design a few adoption necklaces to help make up some of the difference.

I am dreaming big here: my goal is to sell 100.

My dream is 200.
300 would knock our socks off and put a serious dent in that total.

{GET YOURS HERE }

Would you consider helping us out?
Spread the word and buy a necklace (or two)...
you'll be helping us bring our baby home, supporting adoption
and you'll even get something pretty in return!

And please come follow along on this super exciting journey -
it's sure to be an adventure!

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Thanks Carina, for sharing your story and your dreams.

I am so excited to be alongside of you in this!!!

yall, go visit her, get an Adoption necklace (or a few...give them as gifts!!!)

And shop her other stuff too...I have lots of "lovely little whimsies" myself and just adore it all!

shop blog twitter

Carina, I stand with you in excitement and prayer as we see this precious little girl brought home to your arms.

Thrifty Love Gift Exchange sharing day!

today is the day to share your Thrifty Love!!

If you were a part of this exchange, come link up your post about what you received from your partner! (you can link up on any of the hostesses' sites!)

I was so excited to get my box in the mail from my partner, Carina!

I LOVE me some Carina. :) She is one of my good bloggy friends, and someone I text with regularly and feel so blessed to know!!

GO KNOW HER.

(and come back to my blog tomorrow to read about her adoption story!)

some precious vintage goblets...LOVE!!

Just waiting to get a bottle of wine so I can use these soon! :)

But for now, they look beautiful in my antique wine cabinet!

and then a cute, West Elm cream and sugar set! LOVE.

(who would get rid of these btw?!)

I love these, especially now that I started drinking coffee.

It's like a present to celebrate that I'm now part of the coffee club.

AND some fun new cookbooks I am already looking through to use!

Isn't this all so great!? and she totally nailed it all...it all is very "me".

SO FUN!!

Thanks Carina!! loved it all and love YOU friend!!!

what did YOU get for your Thrifty Love gift??!

Cant wait to read everyones posts!

LINK UP BELOW with your gift!!

oh, and make some new bloggy friends along the way, y'all!

**my linky is having some issues right now so go HERE to link up your post!!**

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Dad,

Hope its great, and filled with peace and joy.

We love you so much and are thankful for the way you love this family so well.

You are an example to us of genuine unconditional love.

You have demonstrated such grace and patience with the different seasons life has brought you and our family.

You have demonstrated dependence on the Father well, especially through difficulties.

You have loved your children and grandchildren in a way that we all can understand the love of our Heavenly Father a little easier.

Thank you for all that you are.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dad/John/Hop!!

love,

Parker, Sarah, Abigail, and Bethany

my heart is full today

The Lord has been reminding me lately that I am so so blessed to be doing what I do as a Mommy.

Today was one of those days where every look, smile, diaper change, whine, giggle, roll, bow organizination, non napping baby, applesauce spill...

has made my heart full.

(some pics from the last day or two...)

I cannot handle that cuteness.

why does Abigail look so old and beautiful? time needs to slow down. for real.

and those eyes.

the best of sissies.

"imma do a bridge!" - gymnast in training

taking well to a bottle every now and then!

first bottle given by her big sister. a sweet sweet moment they both loved!

playing in baby's crib before night night.

her fav place to explore!

reading a "Memaw book", a card sent by her Memaw and Hop!

again with the looking so old. and beautiful.

carefree joy.

best flower-smelling-face ever!

"not so tight Abigail!"

preciousness.

So so thankful I get to do life with these two.

It's been a good day. :)

Hope y'all had a lovely Thursday too!

God speaks through Happy Mail...

He does. and He did to me this week.

In the form of some surprise "happy mail" from a sweet bloggy friend, Aly.

I am still just blown away and humbled.

Read my email below that I sent to Aly yesterday, explaining how the Lord used her sweet package to speak to me.

{my email to Aly:}

girl. I am blown away by your generosity and sweetness to me! I LOVE love love the prints, and I am currently hunting for the perfect place for it. :)

I love the design and colors and everything! it was SO much fun to receive some surprise "happy mail" :)

I know it was the Lord who had you send it to, and my husband agreed, when I showed the prints to him last night. we were both blown away at God's goodness.

attempting to make a long story short: :) ha....

as you know, I was a dancer my whole life, it was pretty much what I breathed growing up. But I obviously havent danced in years, and have been missing it, especially lately since Abigail started ballet. :)

A few years ago I got into cycling and did my first triathlon, etc, and loved it. I am trying to get back into it to do another one this Fall. And as much I love doing that, I keep feeling this pull to get back into dance. But I have been torn because of just trying to make the time and effort to do a dance class seems too much as a mommy. (whereas with tri training, I can take them with me to run, etc). And honestly I have been really under-confident to get back into dance since it has been so long.

ANYwho, we watched the So You Think You Can Dance auditions, and there was a 29 year old Mommy of 2 little ones who tried out and was amazing. (oh and she was even from Dallas like me), and that was the first thing that gave me hope that I could get back into it.

Then, we ran into a friend a few weeks ago, and his wife starts telling me about the studio where she dances here, etc. I looked up the classes and the times are perfect, after the girls' bedtime, etc etc. So I've been getting excited thinking maybe I really can get back into it!

But then last week, I got discouraged that maybe it is just a pipe dream that I can actually dance again and that I wont be good, etc etc. So I resorted to just focusing on tri stuff. Parker has been encouraging me that I can do both, but I have just brushed it off thinking there's no way. As silly as it sounds about this small thing, its been like a roller coaster to me. :)

and then.

I got your happy mail yesterday, and it was like the Lord's voice to me when I opened it.

"I HOPE YOU DANCE".

ahh! I know they are the lyrics to a song everyone knows, but to me...when I opened it...it was God speaking to me about HIS heart for MY heart.

ok crying now. :)

anyways. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you sending me these and that it really was the Lord's timing and prompting. He used you to speak to me, and I am so thankful. Now I'm gonna go sign up for those dance classes!! :)

Love you girl!!!!!

-Sarah

and then I received a precious precious email back from her,

encouraging me to dance.

to embrace my gift as a form of worship, and to do it for my soul and for Him.

I was not only blessed immensely by the gesture of her gift to me, and her sweet note and beautiful prints...

I was blessed that she listened to a simple prompting from the Lord to send me what she thought would just be a cute happy to hang on my wall.

She had no idea that it was the LORD having her do that, and that He would be using her,

and in perfect timing, to speak to my heart.

It makes me want to really listen and follow through when I feel even the smallest prompting from Him.

It may just be that He wants to use me.

Thanks again, Aly. I am so thankful for your friendship!!

Oh, and I signed up for dance classes yesterday. :)

PS yall need to go order some of her awesome stuff from her shop, Blossom & Vine.

I have her stuff all around my house!