And then she was six.

Yesterday, my baby turned six. 

While part of my thinks this is just downright rude of her, 

the other part is too busy being thankful for her and all that she adds to our life to be anything but crazy grateful. 

She's our sunshine, 

our peace-keeper, 

and has more friends at age six than I've had in my whole life. 

Everyone that meets her loves it,

and it's so easy to see why. 

Her little heart is so so good. 

She loves deeply and is crazy funny. 

I literally can't wait to see what all God has store for her, 

and I will thank him every single day for the rest of my life for choosing me,

 of all people, 

to be her mom. 

Happy birthday, peanut butter cup. 

I love you all the way to Africa and back. 

Twenty months, some thoughts, and getting back to the beginning.

We are now officially twenty months into this adoption process, 

although it feels like so much longer 

since we spent close to two years reading and researching and praying before we officially started. 

As I look back on this time spent waiting, it's easy to see the peeks and valleys. 

There have definitely been some valleys on this journey.

 Last Fall (Fall of 2014) can basically be summed up by saying 'adoption is hard'.

 My heart was so broken for my girl, her mother, and the miles that separated us. 

I selfishly wanted her home, but more than that, I wanted this little girl to have a family. 

And now, twenty months later, we're still waiting, but I have a newly restored hope. 

God has used this process to teach me and mold me and move in my heart more than I ever imagined, and no part of me doubts that HE WILL BRING EMILY HOME TO US. 

We still have absolutely no idea when that may happen and still have some very important steps in the process that we are yet to complete, but I may or may not have just washed everything from my trip and repacked it in my suitcase. 

I am literally packed and ready to go get my girl.

 A little premature? Probably. 

Preparing for rain? Definitely. 

I don't want to wait even one minute longer than I have to to bring her home.

And once again, for I pray is the last time, I need your help. 

We are estimating that we still need about $10,000 to bring her home. 

I say estimating because the longer it takes, the more it will cost. 

Home studies, fingerprints, and government forms expire and are renewed with a fee. 

We also are paying monthly foster care fees for our sweet girl. 

And then we'll have to travel. 

So, we are going back to the beginning. 

Our first (and most successful) fundraiser was selling t-shirts. 

You may remember them. 

You may have one. 

But, I'm crossing my fingers that you may need another. 

So, I give you these little beauties: 

www.aldridgeadoption.bigcartel.com

Your grace abounds in deepest waters. 

This promise is so dear to my heart. 

I cling to it. 

And I find so much hope in it. 

These shirts were designed by sweet, talented, beautiful friend Monique. 

You can find more of her work here.

You may be familiar with this song, but in case you're not, my precious, crazy-talented, oh so silly, former student turned grown-up friend, Meredith,  recorded her own version for me to share with you: 

SDV 0344 from McCall Aldridge on Vimeo.

Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money. 

But God is not intimidated by those zeroes. 

And we shouldn't be either. 

My happy thought these days consists of a group of smiling faces waiting for us at the airport, wearing these shirts, welcoming Emily home. 

That will no doubt be my happiest of happy days. 

Next Thursday, February 5th, my little girl will turn three.
And although I'm sure to spend that day crying and stuffing my face with all the M&M's,
we will still be celebrating our girl and another year of her life.
And I'm hoping you'd like to join me in celebrating.
So, in honor of Emily, I'd like to sell THREE HUNDRED SHIRTS by her birthday. 
That's 300 shirts in seven days.
That's over forty shirts a day.
And about two shirts per hour.
It's a big goal, I know.
But God has taught me to not fear big goals.
It won't be all that we need to meet our long term goal,
but it will certainly be a big step closer.

So, who's ready to help bring our girl home?
You can purchase your shirts HERE. 

Have questions about sizing or colors or anything else? 

Ask them in the comments and check back soon for a response.

And please feel free to share, share, share about them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, your blog, or anywhere else.  

Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for helping to bring our girl home to us. 

Nothing makes me feel more loved than when people love my children and follow God's call to take care of our neighbors, even when our neighbors live half way around the world. 

Adoption takes a village, 

and I am so glad you are a part of mine.

And a Million Sprinkles

Well, it's official: my girl is nine. 

We celebrated at home with a cake that had nothing short of a million sprinkles on it. 

And the fact that Hollyn added over half of them?

Yeah, pretty sure I deserve some sort of special mom award for that one. 

But, my girl felt special.....

...and loved.....

....and celebrated. 

And that's what matters....

....even if it does mean I'll be cleaning up sprinkles until I die or Jesus comes back, whichever happens first. 

And Hollyn? 

Well, she wants her birthday to be here RIGHT THIS MINUTE. 

Sorry, kiddo.
January is taking its good ole' time. 

What is your FAVORITE birthday memory as a child? 

Mine is when I turned seven and a had a skating party. 

It was the coolest, circa 1987. 

Birthday party details: Oreo Yum-Yums

If you know me at all, you know I'm all about simple, which is why I love this party treat. All you'll need for this one is a carton (is that what you'd call it?) of Oreo's,  a package of almond bark or another form of white chocolate to be used for baking (note: I used less than half a package per carton of Oreo's), sprinkles in your color of choice, and wax paper.

Then melt the almond bark according to package directions. Be careful when you take it out of the microwave; this stuff will be HOT!

While it's still warm, dip the Oreo's in and cover half of each side.

Sprinkle as deemed necessary and allow them to cool on wax paper.

Serve and enjoy.

Warning: This little numbers are HIGHLY addictive. I only made one package for the party, and they were gone before I even got to eat one. Therefore, trust me when I say go ahead and make that second package. Your family will thank you. Your jeans? Probably not so much. Although, I HAVE heard that adding pink sprinkles to something cancels out the calories..... Ok, so maybe not. However, it makes me feel less guilty eating these with that in mind. So feel free to join in...and tell Santa he's welcome to come along too.

Birthday party details: Cupcake Tower

While I think I loved every single thing about Lib's birthday party, this was by far my favorite.

I still can't believe I made it. And that it was SOOOOO very easy! I promise you can do this too. Don't be intimidated by the cuteness.

I'll baby-step you through it:

First, gather your materials. All you need is wrapping paper (I used just under a standard roll), tape, scissors, some newspaper or something else to fill the boxes with to give them some stability (I actually put a cut up phone book in one), and the boxes.

I'd hoped to find these in my wrapping closet, but when that didn't work, I ordered them from here. This is also where I ordered the boxes the party-goers would use to take their cakes home. The prices were excellent (less than $3 for the largest one I ordered). However, the shipping-- not so much. If I lived in a bigger town that actually HAD a baker supply store, I'd for sure check there first.  You can use whatever size boxes you like, depending on how large you'd like your tower to be. However, be sure that there's still room for cupcakes on each level.

After you gather your materials, wrap each box. Then decorate them however you so choose.

 Here's what I did:

I think this is my favorite thing about this project; it's so versatile! I plan on reusing it again in the future after I give it a new look by changing the ribbon color and monogram on the front. If you plan on reusing yours, don't attach the boxes to each other; simply set one box on top of the other.

Here are the sizes I used:

And volia. One super cute, easy, inexpensive way to display cupcakes.

Of course, it's even cuter like this:

Tomorrow's post will be about the goodies we served at the par-tay, so be sure to come back soon.

Libby's Cake Decorating Party

This Saturday we celebrated my first-born's sixth birthday...in a big way.

 And I can't wait to share it with all of you.

Since we were going to be decorating cakes, we served cupcakes to our guests.

And what cuter way to display cupcakes than with one of these:

The little ones loved it, especially the pin wheels.

They also loved these:

Each guest had her own place setting.

 It looked like this:

Libby loved her 'Happy Birthday Libby' banner that we hung on the mantel.

The six inches cakes were the perfect size for little hands.

Our guests had these cake toppers to choose from once their cakes were iced.

The Libster said, "It was the best party ever made!"

It was so much fun to sit back and watch what each girl chose.

Personally, I liked Lib's cake the best. Of course, I could be somewhat partial.

The girls loved it; the parents loved it; most importantly-- the Libster loved it.

It was a complete success.

The proof is in the pictures.

***If you want to know more on how I planned this party, made everything here at home, and did it all on a stay-at-home mom budget, check back soon. I'll be posting more on the planning process and little details later this week.***

Big shoes to fill

It's been a monumental week. Monday, I faced the mob to register Libby for kindergarten (insert deep breath here). I am ok with the fact that my wee little one (or my BABY #1 as we've been refering to her as of late) will start school. However, I'm not as ok with the fact that she's so stinkin' BIG. I mean, why does five have to essentially equal pre-teen? Can't she just stay five, as in little kid five not so much pre-teen five, for a little while longer? Say three or four more years?
I asked her what she thought about this idea last night. She said she wouldn't mind staying five except that she wants to have a birthday party come September. I, of course, said no problem; we can celebrate staying five for one more year. At this, my little mother-since-birth, cupped my face in her little hands, and said, "Mom, I'm gonna turn six. But I promise you can still be my mommy, and I'll still let you come to my wedding. Would you like me to read you a story now?" I swear; that kid has more mothering genes in her pinky toe than I have in my entire body. I don't think anyone ever looked at me when I was little and said, "That one was born to be a mom".......but I find myself wanting to say this about Lib at least once a week. I, my dears, have big shoes to fill.

Speaking of big shoes, check out this pic.:

For once, I wasn't the one behind the camera. Lib's dance teacher actually took this one, and those are actually her shoes. Lib was wearing them while trying to convince her that SHE should be the dance teacher that day. And I think she could do it, by the way. Once again, I've got big shoes to fill, folks.