Baseball Memorabilia Auction

Have a friend or family member on your Christmas list who loves baseball?  You should check out this ebay store with all sorts of baseball memorabilia.  More than 100 major league players have donated items to the auction, which will end this Sunday, November 30.  The proceeds from the auction will go towards paying the medical bills for Ricky Stone, a former Major League baseball player.  I first learned about Ricky through his wife’s blog while they were living in Taiwan.  Ricky was playing for one of the Taiwan baseball teams.  He returned from Taiwan this summer after being injured.  In August, he suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  You can read more about the Stone family and the auction on the Rally for Recovery blog.  It’s pretty amazing to see how the baseball community has rallied around one of their own, and I hope the auction will help the Stone family pay some of their many medical bills.

Hannah Claire is almost home!

A family with our agency just received news they will be traveling soon to bring their baby girl home from Taiwan.  I have followed the Journey to Hannah Claire since we started our adoption, and I am so excited to see that Sarah and Kevin have received news of a final ruling.  Go on over to their blog and congratulate them – they’ve waited so long for their little one and I know this Christmas will be extra special for their family.

Grand Holiday Plan: A Gift Idea

It’s Week 12 of the Grand Holiday Plan. Only about 40 days left until Christmas. My holiday shopping is now underway. I have finally found a nice “homemade” gift that will help us save a little money on gifts this year – I would share it here but I don’t know how many family members follow our blog and I don’t want to spoil their surprise. I will share another gift idea with you, though – the White House Historical Association issues a new ornament each year. I have all of them for the last twenty years or so. This year’s ornament features the presidency of Benjamin Harrison and is really beautiful. 

2008 White House Historical Association Ornament

We have started receiving invitations and our calendar for December is beginning to fill up. Is it just me or does everyone seem to plan their holiday event for the first week of December? We have at least three events on our calendar during that first week. Dave is also finishing up his semester for his Masters program and we are having our home study updated in December.

As for holiday prep, I have designed and printed our Christmas cards and purchased postage. I still need to write our annual Christmas newsletter, and hope to have that completed this week. The cards will go out right after Thanksgiving. I have fallen behind in cleaning but the Grand Holiday Plan has helped me see the areas where de-cluttering is needed. I think my work on the plan will continue well into the new year, specifically with identifying an area each week with which to focus and de-clutter.

This week, the plan calls for cleaning the attic — that is something Dave and I already planned to do as a spring project. I will go up there this week to assess the location of our Christmas tree and decorations. I will also make a grocery list this week and hope to get most of the food picked up for Thanksgiving next week. Dave is hoping to smoke our turkey on the grill this year and I am looking forward to all of the turkey leftovers after the holiday – delicious!

Operation Christmas Child

Our family is participating in Operation Christmas Child this year by collecting small gifts and toys for two children.  I just watched a news segment about a girl in Texas who was adopted from Russia – she received one of those Christmas gifts ten years ago while living in an orphanage and she recently shared the impact receiving the shoebox had on her. 

“I remember we were all in this big room we all got our box and we just sat down. We were just so excited,” said Oksana. “We opened the lid and we started sharing everything and then we finally realized it was our own and we didn’t have to share. That was a huge blessing. I’ll never forget that day. What was really special was the picture. There were two pictures of the kids that packed it. That was extremely special because those were people that cared about someone like me. They didn’t know me, I didn’t know them, but they cared.”  – Oksana Nelson on KLTV 7

You can watch the full report on KLTV 7’s website.  If you want to participate in this year’s Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse, the boxes will be collected at local churches and distribution sites next week (November 17-24).  All of the information about the boxes is available on the Samaritan’s Purse website.  Last year, more than seven million boxes were distributed in 100+ countries.  I can only imagine the impact those gifts had on so many children’s lives.

A Difficult Decision

Since embarking on this journey of adoption, our eyes have opened to the special needs of children who need homes. I often look at waiting child lists and wonder whether one of the children pictured is the child God would have us adopt. Recently, a little girl caught our eye and we requested her file from the placement agency. After providing the agency with our home study, we received her file and sought advice from a doctor who specializes in adoption referral reviews. We prayed for God to grant us wisdom and direction. This was probably one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make. As we talked to the doctor, we realized this little girl’s needs would likely be much more than our family can handle. We had to return the file to the agency and tell them we could not adopt this little girl. This beautiful little girl is a child of God and deserves a loving family. Our prayer is that another family, better equipped to handle the challenges ahead, will come forward and adopt her.

Grand Holiday Plan: Holiday Portraits & Preparations

I’ve fallen a little behind on my holiday preparations with the Grand Holiday Plan. But following the plan has been really good for me – particularly with thinking ahead to our holiday plans and setting our priorities for the Christmas season. I did take our children to the portrait studio on Monday for their Christmas portraits. Other than our son playing hide-and-seek behind the backdrop and trying to get in other families’ portraits, we came away with some great photos. In years past I have waited until Thanksgiving or later to schedule an appointment…when they are super-busy and always running behind schedule. I am hoping when we are ready to take Christmas portraits next year, our newest little guy or gal will be home with us — maybe?!

As for the Grand Holiday Plan, I need to catch up on deep-cleaning our kitchen and getting our closets organized. (I see a trip to Goodwill in my near future.) I picked up a copy of Houseworks by Cynthia Townley Ewer from the library. She’s the woman behind the Grand Holiday Plan and her book focuses on cutting clutter and cleaning your home. This is probably one of the best books I have seen on this topic. She shares a story in her introduction about what brought her to the point where she realized she needed to get organized:

“It was the evening of Christmas Day. Recently divorced, I had sent my two young children to spend the day with their father, so I visited my parents’ home for Christmas dinner. But when I returned to my little house late that night, broken glass littered the front porch. Someone had tried to break into my house while I was away! I called the police and waited, shivering on the porch. An officer responded, approached the house cautiously, and slipped inside my front door. A few minutes later, he emerged, scratching his head. “Lady,” he said, “I don’t understand it. Your deadbolt held and the door wasn’t opened – but somebody got in and ransacked your upstairs.” Embarrassed warmth flooded my face. “No, no,” I protested, “that’s just the way I left it!” The officer peered at me keenly. “Do you know what it looks like up there?” — Excerpt from Houseworks: Cut the clutter, speed your cleaning and calm the chaos

How embarrassing! I like her book because it is practical and helps you consider your type of clutter personality: the hoarder, the deferrer, the rebel, the perfectionist and the sentimentalist. It even includes a section on how to get the most for your money when grocery shopping and getting your children involved with household chores.