Sharing My Heart

So, this grow your blog giveaway is blowing my mind. 

Seriously, all these people from across our country giving whom I've never met donating their hard-earned dollars to help bring my little girl home. 

I've cried and smiled and been shown the hands and feet of Christ through each donation. 

If you've given and entered to win, thank you. 

I can't wait to see where the total will land come next Monday. 

And I really can't wait to see who the winner will be! 

And don't forget-- once you've donated ONCE you can earn entries every day by sharing about this giveaway!

GO HERE TO ENTER or learn more! 

One of my favorite things about this journey to our girl is that God is placing people in my path who share my heart and desire to do my part to help with the orphan crisis our world is facing. 

And today I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Angie. She has a really cool thing going on to help bring HER baby home to her. 

In her words, here is a slice of her story: 

In 2012, on a warm Saturday morning in November, my husband and I waited anxiously in a bright orphanage.  At 9 am, that November in Taiwan, it was our turn, our time to become parents.  The director arrived, carrying a serious(ly adorable) 6 1/2 month baby boy into the room. I burst into happy tears. Quiet. Happy. Tears. After months of waiting, piles of paperwork, and an indescribable amount anticipation, we were finally in Taiwan, holding our son for the first time.  

As most adoptive parents will tell you, the months of waiting, pictures, and videos could not prepare us for the incredible love we felt that morning in November. As we looked into our son’s curious eyes, we knew he would not be the last child we adopted. We did something crazy, in fact. Something inspired by our awesome God, who calls us to do things that seem crazy to many in the American world. We reapplied to adopt again, with our agency, that very month. Our son is going to be a big brother!

Now, we spend our days chasing, laughing, gardening, giggling, and dreaming. Life is pretty beautiful. Last month, we also announced the grand opening of an etsy shop, The 1500 Tree Project. On the surface, the 1500 Tree Project is a way to fund our second adoption. 1500 trees made. 1500 trees sold. One fully funded adoption. But really, it’s so much more than that.

 It’s cutting leaves out of colorful paper while my son toddles around the living room, babbling away. It’s thinking about designs as my husband plucks away at his bass guitar, practicing a bluegrass tune. It’s piecing together a tree when we chat about our days and our prayers, with the low hum of the baby monitor buzzing in the background with our toddler’s sleeping breaths. The 1500 Tree Project is love and hope, poured into a little 6×6 canvas. Joy really is the heartbeat of our shop and the spirit I pour into every piece I produce.

And we would love for you to join this journey with us. 

How? 

Pray with us! Pray for the financial means to bring our child home, a favorable legal process, and the wisdom to parent our children well.

Buy a Tree! Join The 1500 Tree Project by purchasing a tree from our shop today.  They are $25.00. We are stepping out in faith and pray for financial provision. Airlines won’t fly us around the world for free, doctors need paychecks to buy their children dinner, social workers like money to purchase a cute top from time to time, and even orphanage nannies deserve a little monetary compensation for countless 3 am feedings. Purchasing a tree is the simplest way to support our adoption financially!

Share our Story! Like us on facebook! Pin us on pinterest! Follow us on Instagram!  Share this post with your friends! Put us in your e-mails, your church bulletins, your bible study handouts, your weekly newsletters. And, if you are a blogger…we would love to write a guest post for you, too!

To celebrate our adoption, and thank McCall for allowing us this guest post, we are offering a 10% coupon code to Lee, Me, and the Girls: Finding our Way readers! When you check out on etsy, use the code: OURWAY to receive your discount. Valid one week only!

Where will you fall in The 1500 Tree Project?

Much love,

Angie

The Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/The1500TreeProject

The Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The1500TreeProject

The Blog: 1500trees.blogspot.com

It takes a village, friends.

Happy Thursday to you and you and you.
We're headed to a home study visit. Please pray I don't throw up....or put my foot in my mouth...or both.
That would be bad. 

GROW YOUR BLOG GIVEAWAY {An Adoption Fundraiser}

Well, hello there bloggers!

If you're new around here, here's the skinny: 

My hubby and I are adopting a little girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Our daughters have a sister. 

And she is one very loved little girl. 

And we want to get her home as quickly as possible. 

I can't imagine the heartache that will come my way if we reach a point in our adoption where we are forced to put things on hold because we don't have the funds ready and waiting to proceed to the next step. 

My momma heart just can't handle that. 

Adoption is expensive. 

Think $30,000 expensive. 

That's five times the amount we paid for my car....literally. 

And needless to say, my piggy bank's not busting at the seams with thousand dollar bills. 

Thankfully, God is so much bigger than the amount of money we need to bring Emily home...no matter how many zeros are at the end of that number. 

We are trusting that since we are following His call to care for one of His children that He will provide what we need to get her home. 

So, in order raise the funds needed to bring our little Emily home as quickly as we can, 

we have teamed up with some awesome ladies. 

And we want to help YOU grow your blog 

or Etsy shop or online business!

So, here's how this will work, 

for every $5 donation you make towards bringing Emily home, you will be entered one time to win a FREE sponsorship add for the month of AUGUST on these blogs plus some awesome blog treats.

 After your minimum donation of $5, you can earn additional entries for sharing about this giveaway on your blog, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

 Five dollars can make a difference.

 Five dollars can work to change the life of our little girl. 

Five dollars can mean one less orphan in this world. 

Think big. 

Think thousands of blog views a day. 

Think many, many new followers. 

Think of all the new people you can share your story or talents with.

One of you should clean up your place, do some dusting, and break out the good China... you are about to have some serious company over at your blog!

Here's the amazing blogger line-up that will EACH be giving away a free sponsorship spot in August to our ONE LUCKY WINNER: 

{These six women are amazing. They are well-spoken, inspiring, humble, and regulars on my reading list. If you aren't familiar with them and their blogs, you are truly late to the party.} 

And that's not all! 

One lucky winner will also receive these seven amazing goodies to help his or her blog grow, grow, grow! 

This is one giveaway I would seriously like to win.

The giveaway will run from July 8-15.
You can enter each day!
After making a minimum donation of $5, you can then earn extra entries for sharing.
So share and share away, friends.

You can donate $5 for one entry,
$10 for two entries,
$15 for three entries,
or $20 for four entries.

And each and every penny donated will go to help bring our daughter HOME to us!

I seriously get chills just thinking about there being one less orphan in this world.
God is so, so good.

And truly, please hear me when I say thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to bring my daughter home to our family.

Here's were you can make your donation:

And here's where you enter to WIN IT ALL:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter at random on midnight the night of July 15th.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your part in bringing Emily home! 

You can rest assured that you just MADE my day!

If you wish to enter the giveaway without donating to our adoption please email me at mccallald@yahoo.com. 

So Stinkin' Excited

So, there's lots to tell and only a little time to do it, as the girls and I have big plans today that include popsicles and swinging time. 

BUT, there is a reason to be EXCITED!

Next week I will be hosting the giveaway to top all giveaways in an attempt to be one step closer to bringing Emily home to us from Congo!

Here's  little sneak peek at what's to come.... 

Tell your friends. 

Tell your neighbors.

 And tweet it 'til the cows come home. 

I cannot WAIT until July 8th. 

Speaking of bringing our girl home, our shirts now have homes in TWENTY-FOUR STATES! I would so love to fill this map, print it, and show my girl just how many people played a part in bringing her to her family. 

 And a little shirt update: 

We had prayed for 200 shirts to sell in our first batch. Did the math yesterday.

 Guess how many shirts we sold?

 Exactly 200. 

God is so so faithful, friends. 

And not only are our shirts selling like crazy,

 but we've sold more prints and bracelets than we'd expected as well! 

Emily, you don't know it yet, but you are so loved, little girl.
Get ready, 'cause we are coming for you! 

Adoption is hard.

Adoption is hard. 

There. I said it.

 And I can promise it won't be the last time I say it, as we are only just getting our feet wet in the process of bringing our daughter home. And while the paperwork and the waiting is hard, this time I'm specifically talking about the mom part of adoption. 

I long to see my girl. 

I long to hold her. 

I can't wait to squeeze her little cheeks and hug her all day long. 

Me, very preggo with Hollyn

When my other daughters were growing in my belly, I was not in complete control. 

No mom ever is. 

BUT, I could make good choices--

 I could eat right, take prenatals, wear my seat belt, avoid roller-coasters, drink lots of orange juice, 

and go to the doctor at the slightest sign of ANYTHING abnormal (and I did. Sorry bout that, Dr. Pearson). 

Emily is my daughter, but I can do none of these things for her. 

Instead, I sell t-shirts and plan giveaways and fill our paperwork....lots of paperwork. 

And I worry. 

Assuming things go as planned, Emily is already born. 

She's in Africa right now. 

Will she eat today? 

Will anyone be there to hold her when she cries? 

Does she have malaria? 

Is she with her mother? 

I so hope she is. 

I hope she has as much time with her birth mother as possible.

 But I don't know. 

And I probably never will. 

And that's hard. 

I am not necessarily a control freak.

In fact, in most areas of life, I'd say I'm anything but.

 But in adoption I have NO CONTROL AT ALL, and that's hard.

 I can't take care of her. 

I can't make sure she gets what she needs to grow and be healthy.

 I can't comfort her. 

I can't protect her. 

And no one understands. 

I don't live in an area where international adoption is booming. 

In fact, I don't know of anyone else in my area who has adopted internationally.

 Even more, I don't know of ONE other family in our state that has adopted

 from the DRC or is in process of adopting from the DRC. 

And while I have some of the most wonderful friends ever,

 I don't have any close, real life friends who have adopted internationally.

 I say REAL LIFE FRIENDS because I have several close friends I have met through the wonderful blogging community who are in process or have littles home already. 

Several of which are Congo moms like me...thanks for answering that prayer, Jesus. 

And while I am so thankful to be able to hop on the computer and get my questions answered,

 it's not the same as sharing a cup of coffee with someone else who really gets it. 

Adoption is hard.
And like I said, this is only the beginning. 

But I find comfort in the fact that while I'm sitting here stressing over fundraisers 

and posting t-shirt pics 'til I can post no more, 

I know that God is pathing the way for Emily to come home to us. 

She will be worth every fear, every hard moment, 

every feeling of isolation, every moment of worry,

 every tear that's been shed, and every sleepless night. 

But that doesn't make this part any easier. 

Do I ever doubt that this is God's plan? 

Absolutely not. 

In fact, I believe that the best things in life don't come easily. 

But that doesn't mean it's not difficult. 

And I already appreciate the nine months of pregnancy, when you know that, Lord willing, you will wait no more than forty weeks to see your baby's face. That's something I totally took for granted when I was pregnant, but now I realize that sometimes timelines are such a blessing. 

If only adoption came with the same guarantee....

Twenty-Three and Counting

Between vacation Bible school, visiting with friends, and swimming until our skin shrivels up, 

we have been all kinds of busy this week. 

Just wanted to pop in with a little t-shirt update. 

As of today, our shirts will soon be headed to TWENTY-THREE states!

If that's not the best way EVER to teach our kids about geography and the love of others, then I don't know what is. I am so so so in awe of how God is using people from all over to pour His love onto our family. 

And while we are so very thankful for our friends who have supported, we are even MORE amazed by the complete strangers who have placed orders to help bring our girl home. 

Saying thank you could never possibly express the way we feel. 

We are planning on placing our first order on MONDAY, 

so if you haven't ordered yet and would like to, there's still time! 

Simply go to www.aldridgeadoption.bigcartel.com . 

And again, wow. 

Just Like Hotcakes

The past two days have totally blown my mind. 

When I prayed for our shirts to sell like hotcakes, God delivered.....big time. 

I have always said that the best way someone can express love for me is to love my kiddos. 

Needless to say, you have surpassed my expectations.

So far, we have sold SEVENTY-SIX SHIRTS...

since Wednesday night. 

Our shirts will soon have homes in FOURTEEN states. 

Wow. 

Seriously. 

Just wow. 

In case you've not yet heard, we are selling shirts, prints,
and bracelets to help bring our daughter/sister home from Africa.
We are hoping to order our first batch of shirts by next week. 

{VISIT OUR SHOP HERE.}

And Libby's video? Funny what a video can do. It was a YouTube video that God used to first get my attention for Africa three years ago. And while I thought this video was fun and upbeat, I've had several people message me and say they cried after watching it. God is good. And to think that He may use our story to stir something in someone's heart brings the BIGGEST smile to my face. He is so, so good.

And don't forget!

I'm giving away a shirt both on my blog AND on Instagram. 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU... I could say it all day long, and it wouldn't be enough.

Thank you for helping to make my daughter one less orphan in this world. 

BE THE CHANGE {T-shirts are HERE and a GIVEAWAY}

As you probably know by now, we are adopting a little girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
You probably also know that between court fees, mailing fees, social worker fees, homestudy fees, travel fees, orphanage  fees...need I go on?...that adoption costs big bucks.

And since announcing our adoption, I've been two questions more times than I can count:

1. When is she coming HOME?

2. How can I HELP?

Well, while only God knows the answer to question #1, I have the answer for question #2: 

 to help offset some of those expenses, we are hosting our first fundraiser and are selling these super cute, gender neutral t-shirts.
  You can pre-order your shirt today.
Once a good many orders have been placed, we'll place our order and get your shirts to you via mail or delivery (if you're local).

And all shirts come with FREE SHIPPING! 

"Be the change you want to see in the world."  - Mahatma Gandhi

I just love this quote and what it means in terms of the idea that we can all do something to make a change for the better. Not everyone feels called to adopt, and that's okay. God calls us all to serve in different ways. But we are ALL called to do something.  It's not enough to simply be unhappy with the problems of this world; we are called to take action. I love that this shirt applies to adoption and so much more. 

The shirt was designed a high school friend with some madd skills,
 is super soft (Gildan soft style to be exact),
and I absolutely cannot get enough of it. 

It's navy blue and available in kid sizes!

You can order yours here: 

www.aldridgeadoption.bigcartel.com
(Or simply click on the globe on my sidebar....easy as pie.)

And I want to give one away to one of  YOU!

Will you help us spread the word?


Here's a little video we made for you:



Let's sell these shirts like hotcakes and #BRINGEMILYHOME !

Share, share, share about our shirts and help spread the word!
Enter to win a free shirt using the Rafflecopter giveaway below.
The giveaway will end the night of Wednesday, June 26. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway