Five on Friday

It's finally Friday!

One. I couldn't get the video to load on this post, but you really should head over to my friend Anna's blog and see the video that she and her family just made. If you enjoy 80's music, adoption, or just watching someone have a good time, then you really should go watch the video. Go watch it now, and then come right back. I have the pleasure of calling this girl one of my best friends. She is way more fun than me. I'm just really excited for all of them. This little boy is already so loved.

Two. If you follow me on instagam, you may have seen the photos of our new fur baby. This is Tucker. He is a 6 month old Maltese, and he is absolutely precious. He is in need of a good hair cut, but still adorable.

Three. Speaking of puppies, Tucker is 6 months old and potty trained, but not crate trained. I have been using this schedule, and he is doing great! He slept all night in his crate in our bedroom on night number 3. We were told that he wasn't fully potty trained, but he has had ZERO accidents since we started the schedule the morning after his first night home. I had taken up ALL of the rugs in our house when we brought him home, but it looks like I will be able to put them back down soon.

Four. The night you bring home a new puppy is not a good night to randomly hurt yourself. I was sitting on the couch Wed. night writing my What You Wish Wednesday post. When I was finished, I went to get off the couch and fell. My foot had fallen completely asleep from my knee down. It was not pretty at all. I'm still not really sure what I did, but my foot is still blue and swollen. I can walk pretty well, and it is starting to feel better, but this hasn't been good for my 100 Mile Summer Challenge. At least I saved my laptop and iPhone. I threw them across the room once I realized I was going down and they landed safely on the other couch.

Five. Do you meal plan? I have started posting our meal plans every week here on the blog. You can find them HERE.



Have a great weekend!

I'm Linking this post to these Link-up Parties:

Adoption

I know I have been MIA this week, but I wanted to pop in and tell you about an adoption fundraiser that you just might want to get involved in. Remember my friend Vicky? She adopted two girls from China last year and is in the process of going back for two more daughters. Fundraising for adoption is very near and dear to my heart, so if you have a heart for adoption, or just simply want a chance to win an iPad Mini, please go to her blog and find out more info.

I will be back next week with with lots of goodies to share. See you then.

Happy Thanksgiving & Christmas Shopping

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are all having a wonderful time with your families. Speaking of families, their are so many families that are currently in the process of adopting. Adoption is expensive, and many of these families are raising funds to help bring their children home.

My friend Anna put together a Christmas Gift Guide of items that benefit families that are adopting. Go ahead and check out the list. I'm sure you will find something that will be a good fit for some of the people on your gift list this year. A gift that will also bless a family that is waiting to be united with their child.

You will also find a giveaway for an iPad2 on the list that will be given away on Dec. 15, so be sure to check out the details for that. Even if you don't win the iPad2, this is a great opportunity to be a blessing.

Journey - An Adoption Story

First let me just go ahead and tell you the WE are not adopting, but this is still a story worth reading.

Before I tell you about Journey, I want to tell you that adoption is something that I never thought I would have any interest in from any aspect. I always thought that adopting children was only for couples that wanted children and couldn't have them on their own. Really, that is what I thought. I was clueless and didn't know it.

We have some close friends that decided to adopt a little girl from China. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around how a couple that had already been blessed with 3 little girls could want to adopt a little girl from China. I was still pretty clueless. I continued to listen to their stories about how and why. I always just listened, but still didn't really get it. I then found out that another couple that I knew was going to adopt a little girl from China. They too, already had 3 biological children. I began to follow their adoption journey. I then started following along as others shared their adoption stories. And one day I got it. There are kids all over the world that don't have anyone to call mommy or daddy. They don't live with a family that loves them. There are kids that don't have all of the things that we have and take for granted. There are people that are aware of this and are willing to to open up there home, life, heart, and family and take these precious kids in as their own. To love them, take care of them, and give them a life that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Expecting Something So Big From God

”Expect something so big from God that it is impossible unless the hand of God be in it”… China Adoption, my journey to Journey

I was checking facebook one day and a lady that I knew posted a link to her adoption story blog. I went to her blog and read every singe word with tears running down my face. I was so touched that a single mother about the same age as my mother, with 2 grown children the close to my age, and grandmother to 2 little boys was willing to open up her heart and life and let God use her in the form of adoption. I think she is incredible. She is going to adopt a little girl that will soon be too old to be adopted. I have continued to follow along and read about her journey to Journey, the 10 year old little girl that she is going to adopt. I think and pray for this mother and her daughter that she hasn't met yet, frequently. One weekend I couldn't get them off of my mind and knew that I want to try to help her raise some her adoption funds.

This blog is usually about all of my diy projects, crafty junk, recipes, and cute pics of my kids. While all of that is fine and good, it really means nothing. People are what is important. Where people spend eternity is important. Ms. Vicky is going to adopt a little girl and this little girl will be raised by a Christian mother. I know that she will be given the opportunity to accept Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior. That is an opportunity that she may not have gotten if she wasn't adopted, or adopted into a family that didn't love the Lord. I think it is awesome when a Christian decides to adopt a child. They aren't just giving them a forever family, they are giving them Jesus.

I want to help. Do you want to help?

Ms. Vicky hasn't asked me to do this, I just read her story and wanted to help. I know that adoption costs are expensive. I also know that we serve a big God and that Ms. Vicky believes that all of her needs will be met on her journey to Journey.

She has a paypal account and has set up a Donate button on her blog so that if you would like to donate any funds to her adoption fund you can do so easily. She isn't a charity so donations will not be tax deductible.

My blog readership is continuing to grow, and I want to use that as a way to personally thank each one of you that make a donation to Journey's adoption fund. For each of you that make a minimum donation of $20 I would like to make you a free nikki's nacs sponsor for 30 days. You are not purchasing ad space. You are donating to Journey's fund and I am simply thanking you for doing so. When you make your donation via paypal, please include a note that you would like for Nikki to send you a thank you. She will send your email address to me and I will contact you to get your button/shop/blog info so that I can include your button/shop/blog at the top right corner of my blog as a sponsor for 30 days. I plan to do this for at least the next 3 months.

Thank you!