::Holiday Gifts for a Good Cause::

Need a perfect holiday gift? 

Check out Brooke's Bits & Pieces at www.etsy.com/shop/brookesbitsandpieces for new cozy & charming pieces! Do not miss out the limited editions!

Handmade peppermint soap bars will be sold locally only in Austin. They smell so refreshingly great, I tell you! They would also make fun stocking stuffers for families and friends! Check out my instagram at BrookeATX if you wish to purchase.

My (Brooke's) parents were in town recently for nearly a week, which was great! My mom the sewing extraordinaire helped out with making the new batch of infinity scarves for the holidays. We will be adding some reversible cowl scarves as a new part of the collection! I cannot not wait to show you the cozy pieces! 

My mom and I also became really productive with the our soap experiment and decided to make some cute peppermint soap bars with crushed candy cane on top- sounds and looks very festive, right!? They are too pretty to be washed, haha. It was surprisingly easy to make soap, although it was a little bit time-consuming. I'm sure this will be all worth it at the end! I honestly think I could be the next Martha Stewart. (Pfft, FAT chance. I actually rammed the sewing needle through my finger once recently. A traumatizing experience, it was.)

For coffeeholics out there like us, you could check out Ground to Cup Coffee for the holidays gift boxes. They are not limited to coffee only, but they have tea and smoothies, too. 

A holiday gift for a great cause! 

::November is National Adoption Month::

Did you know that November is National Adoption Month? 

We found out we were home study approved on November 1st. How fitting was it!? 

We did some reading- in 1984 President Reagan announced the first National Adoption Week, and this was expanded by President Clinton in 1995 to become a whole month. Interesting.. 

Yes, we are thrilled about being home study approved and cannot wait to apply for adoption grants (most of them require that we be home study approved prior to applying).  We truly hope we will receive some financial assistance for our adoption.  Our adoption fund keeps on growing and growing and we are truly humbled by the support shown from our family, friends and those we've not yet met! 

On the topic of the national adoption month, we came across this blog and thought it'd be great to share with you some resources and stories regarding adoptions from other folks' blogs. You can see our blog there at number 21! 

http://littlethingsbigstuff.com/2013/11/01/national-adoption-month-blog-link-up/

As soon-to-be adoptive parents, we are constantly learning everyday about the adoption process and how it works. Really, most of the process is mainly loads of paper work. Fill out this. Fax this. Mail this. Sign this. Cough up some money. Now, it's all about the waiting game. Waiting to be matched with a fortunate child. Although (on an exciting-but-remain-calm note), our agency claimed that they found a child for us. They gave us some information on this little boy. They are currently working on getting his paperwork in Colombia (translation from Spanish to English takes time, too....) and warned us that this may take up to a month until all of his medical background and information is finalized to be released. So we probably will not know more until the end of December. We do not want to get high hopes..... but it's hard not to anticipate! 

While we are waiting to be matched, we are filling out our i800A application... what is it exactly? It is for adjudicating our eligibility and suitability to adopt a child from a Hague adoption convention country (in other words, an accredited adoptive agency). Once we complete the forms, we will mail it out to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services  (USCIS) along with a check of $720.00 plus $85.00 (2x) for biometrics. Oh yeah, our piggy bank needs to be fed a little more because more expenses are on the horizon! 

Yes, You read it right. $9,000. Ouch. Sure, we do feel some sense of hopelessness, but we know we will need to come up with some outside-of-the-box ideas to raise MUCH MORE. Wait. The current estimated jackpot for Powerball is $40 million. Time for some tickets..