Chance's Adoption and Current Fundraisers

I wanted to give you all a quick update on our adoption of Chance.  We will be getting our Biometrics for our I-800A completed next week, then we will wait for our I-800a approval.  In the mean time, we are getting the rest of our Dossier documents ready.  Once we have all of them and our I-800a approval in hand, we can submit our Dossier to our agency for review and they will submit it to Chance's country.  From there, we wait a few months before we will be invited to go visit with him and accept his referral.  Those are our next steps.  I am hoping to be able to travel to visit sometime in the late summer/early fall, however, with adoption... you just never know.

I am in contact with another family that has been in country recently and was at Chance's orphanage.  They were able to give me a quick little update and a couple of pics.  He is looking good and doing much better than he was last month.  I am so grateful for the update!

We have a new fundraiser going on from now through May 12th.  We are selling T-shirts through Booster.  Each T-shirt is $25 which includes shipping.  The shirts come in both men's and women's styles.  Please share them with your friends and family.  We must sell at least 20 shirts in order for them to be printed.  You will not be charged for the shirt if we do not sell at least 20.  Here it is:

 

You can order your shirt through this link: https://www.booster.com/chance

 



I am still selling Origami Owl and it is not too late to place your order in time for Mother's Day.  You can order through April 30th for Mother's Day Delivery.  You can order your Origami Owl through this link:
Origami Owl for Chance

 

 

I also have several items for sale on our Chance for Chance Facebook Page here:

A Chance for Chance FabeBook Page

 

Thank you for your support of our adoption of Chance.  We greatly appreciate your prayers and donations.  

 

Play Time!

Last week was spring break for Claudia.  I decided it would be a nice time to have some mommy-daughter time, so I took the week off from work (of course this also meant that I did not have to scramble to try to find a sitter for her).  I had planned on taking her out to various places but the weather was really not all that good and to be honest, I was quite burned out from work and needed some time to recoup.  So, Claudia and I mostly stayed in, went for walks and played outside.  We had some good mommy daughter bonding time.

We had a quiet but wonderful Easter this year.  Jason worked during the second service at Church and took Claudia with him to give me a little break.  I met up with them for the third service.  We heard a beautiful message from our Pastor.  I don't have any cutsie pics of Claudia in her Easter dress, I did not have a chance to get any before she left and she got changed and went down for a nap shortly after coming home.  I did however get some pictures and videos of our day at the park!  The weather was so nice on Easter that Jason, Claudia and I went for a walk to the park after Claudia's nap.  It was so much fun being there as a family, usually it is just Claudia and I.  I love watching her interact with Jason, she loves her daddy so much!  As you will see...

 

 

Check out Claudia's ever-improving walking skills.  It's hard to tell, but she is going up and down a ramp:

 

This one is a fun video of Claudia running and crashing into me...



Yep, she loves her mommy too!

Over her break from school, Claudia started to say "All done"  although she almost screams it.  Claudia only talks when she want to...  She will repeat a word several times over the course of a few weeks and then won't say it again for months.  She is still working on developing her language skills, but I think that we are starting to see some progress.  Claudia has been mimicking our mouth movements as we speak, although she does not produce sounds when she does this.  She has also been babbling to herself a lot.  Right now her favorite sound the the B sound.  We encourage her vocalizations.  Claudia also loves to watch herself in the mirror, so we try to get her to talk while looking into the mirror.  Jason and I are confident that her verbal skills will continue to improve.

Claudia also worked hard at potty training over her break from school.  She even had a whole day without any wet diapers except for over night.  She definitely knows when she has to go and when she is wet.  She also does not enjoy having a wet diaper.  Claudia will tell us when she has to go potty but is not yet telling her teachers or others.  She has not quite figured out that she can use the toilet at other places consistently.  I'm hoping that as she continues to improve at home, that she will be more inclined to use the potty when we are not with her.  We have been very lax with the potty training and do not put much stress on Claudia to use it, she is the one deciding that she is ready for it and we are so proud of her!

Claudia's self help skills continue to improve.  She can mostly dress and undress, brush her teeth and scrub up in the tub.  We are very encouraged by the improvements we have seen in these areas over the last couple of months.  It gives us great hope for her future!

We still struggle with some behaviors, especially in public and in crowds of people.  Claudia still does not like to be picked up by most people, I don't blame her.  She also does not like other kids to be in her personal space unless she needs or wants something from them.  Claudia is getting better at showing people that she is upset instead of lashing out and pulling hair or hitting at first, but this continues to be something we have to work on. 

Overall Claudia is doing great.  Jason and I have been very encouraged by her grown.  We love her so much!

Here are some sweet pics of our playtime today, she was being quite a goofball!

 

Claudia loves to push things down her slide, these things are usually teddy bears and dolls.  Today it was a Lego bus.  It gets even better...

She makes the bus "walk" up the steps before going down the slide :)

 

<3 love="" td="">

Origami Owl and Other Fundraisers

I know that I have mentioned it before, but with Mother's Day coming up, I wanted to post about it again.

In order to help fund our adoption of Chance, I became an Independent Designer for Origami Owl.  Origami Owl is a direct sales company that sells beautiful, unique jewelry that helps you to tell the story of you!  It was started by a 14 year old girl with a dream.  I will let Bella Weems tell you the story for herself:

Taken from the Origami Owl website (www.OrigamiOwl.com/story.ashx):

"I started Origami Owl with $350 and a simple dream in mind—getting a car on my 16th birthday. When I was 14, I asked my parents for a car but they said I needed to work for it. So, with all of my babysitting money and my family’s support, I set out to start my own business and created Origami Owl.
Immediately, people loved creating stories with jewelry and women began asking how they could share Origami Owl with their own family and friends. We were a hit! After hearing stories about how our jewelry touched lives, it only made sense to spread some love across the country. Today, we have more than 60,000 Independent Designers who pursue their own dreams by selling our jewelry at home parties we like to call Jewelry Bars.

OUR MISSION IS TO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD; TO LOVE, INSPIRE

+ MOTIVATE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES TO REACH THEIR DREAMS +

EMPOWER THEM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS.

But there is something else I want you to know, we’ve always been so much more than just a jewelry company. From the beginning I wanted my company to be different, I wanted it to be a force for good; to help others achieve their dreams like I achieved mine (yes, I finally got my car; a white Jeep I named Alice). It didn’t happen overnight, but with lots of hard work, Origami Owl grew from my after school job to a multimillion dollar company.

It’s been such an incredible journey and I believe our continued success has come from our intention to make a difference in people’s lives, we never put profits before people.
Our story is only just beginning to unfold and I hope it can be a part of your story too. Take a look around to build your own meaningful Living Locket®, or to find out how you can join our family!"

This is a company I can stand behind and I am proud to be an Independent Designer!

A unique, personalized Living Locket from Origami Owl would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift for any mom or grandma.  They are gifts from the heart, they take thought to create.  If you are interested in purchasing, my website is: www.Origami4Orphans.OrigamiOwl.com

Below are a few virtual lockets I have created to give you some idea's for gifts or for yourself.  The lockets look much better in real lie, these are just virtual examples and the proportions may be slightly off. 

 

Contact me for more information. Don't forget to make a wish list for yourself and give it to your significant other :)

We also have a few other fundraisers currently going on.  I have set up a page on Face Book so that I can keep all of our fundraisers in one place.  The page is HERE.  On that page you will find several items available to Buy It Now!  I have several infinity bracelets for sale other jewelry and more.  I also have available my very own Super Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe available for sale.  Visit the Face Book page for details.  Below are some examples of the goodies you may find:

 

 

 

Yum!