Cyber Monday

Hi everyone,

I promised to post a little something each day, right... well today - I'm going to cop out on you a little bit. I had a whole bunch of stuff planned, but time got away from me a little bit. I also am trying to finish up my New Testament Challenge by Sunday. I do promise to get a little something up everyday though!

It might just be in the form of pictures here for a few days.

Today, however, I wanted to give you all a little clue about my Etsy store - I'm offering free shipping for the holidays... so feel free to go check out the store - I'm adding new products right now, and doing everything I can to make your holiday shopping easier... so go check it out and see if there is something there that you'd like to purchase for some of those women on your shopping list.

Go check it out and see what you can find - you might even find a little something to put under the tree for yourself.


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Starbucks Giveaway

My bloggy friend Becky is giving away a Starbucks card over on her blog this week - so RUN don't walk over to her blog and enter to win.

I hope you're all having a GREAT Thanksgiving holiday. Mine has been incredibly busy - but I'm getting a lot done. It seems that I truly do need to fast track my next steps with the adoption process - so I'm trying desperately to get everything else done that I can for the holidays in order to free up some time to devote to our profile and paperwork after our meeting on Friday.

I promise to be back tomorrow - John is going to the Texans game - so I should have a few extra hours after church to come home and do some catching up on blogging. For now though - my new Christmas tree (we got it last year at the after Christmas sale) is kicking my butt. Off to do some more fluffing!



Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Stick Babies Stick

My friend Summer had her third embryo transfer today, and it looks like she has gotten the best news about the condition of the embryos possible. So if you don't mind joining me in praying for her - I know that she would greatly appreciate being covered in prayer by as many as possible.

Summer is such a beautiful woman, and I truly think of her as one of my sisters... she brightens my days in ways that I can't even begin to tell you about. She's lifted me up when I've been down, and I've tried to be the same for her.

So here is my prayer for them:

Dear Heavenly Father, Please continue having your loving hands on Summer & Adam right now as she recovers from the proceedure of having her embryos transfered back into her body. Please keep those embryos strong and healthy during the transfer, and help them to find the best possible location to stick in and begin implanting. I pray that your will be done; and that Summer and Adam be able to add one, two, or all three babies into their family in nine months. I have gotten to know the people that those babies would have for parents, and I know as well as you do that they are truly a blessing. There aren't two more loving people ready to take on the experience of pregnancy and parenthood. Please help them get through the two week waiting period, and give them the courage and peace to wait for their answered prayer. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Summer - love and hugs to you... hang in there girl, and rest up... DON'T MOVE until those babies stick in there and get implanted. HAHAHAHA!


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Shopping on Black Friday

Because all of the posts floating around in my head are more of the serious variety - I wanted to start out with something funny before I start writing other things.

Black Friday is upon us once again, and I don't know about you guys - but I loathe this shopping day of every year. I feel like some sort of inadequate freak because I can't even imagine a world where I'd want to go out in the world to shop for Christmas gifts before the sun comes up.

I know some of you out there think this is the best day in the world, and I wish I had your warrior spirit. I just can't shop like that - I'm a much more slow and calculating with my shopping. I need time to process my budget, and figure out how much my budget allows for each person on my list... then I have to choose the best gift that fits in my price range. It's a tedious process!

I can't be forced to make those types of decisions at 6AM on the day after Thanksgiving. I just can't handle the pressure! Not to mention the fact that I sincerely think that Black Friday brings out the worst in humanity - during a time of year that is supposed to be wonderful.

The women shoving and jumping out of line to make sure that they get the last Barbie on the shelf is just not my kind of fun. I feel like I need to be armed with one of these in order to make it through that type of shopping experience.

I bow down to those of you that can handle it - you are truly my (S)Heros because you are shopping warriors... I would rather spend my day at Starbucks sipping something warm while shopping online... anyone out there want to give me an Amen on that version of Black Friday?



Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

I'm Alive

The title of this post says it all... I feel like such a loser blogger lately - but life is overwhelming me... and the holidays are coming.

Nothing brings on the panic quite like walking into your church the Sunday before Thanksgiving to see it completely decorated for the holidays... I almost had a panic attack. It is warming to the soul to see it - and to see the world transforming into the season that I love so much... but I'd like to know where in the WORLD I am going to find the time for all of the holiday things that I love so much...

My list of items on my plate that I care about without the holidays right now are:

1. Hanging out with my wonderful husband
2. Friends in crisis or just in need of love
3. Reading and Studying for my New Testament Challenge
4. Adoption
5. Nursery Decoration
6. Putting the rest of our house back together from clearing the nursery
7. Church Projects
8. Jewelry Business
9. Candy/Cake Truffle Business
10. Writing my book
11. Blogging

Now - lets insert the "To Do" holiday list on top of those things, and my head starts to spin...

1. Cooking
2. Decorating
3. Shopping
4. A big craft show that I must attend on Saturday
5. Baking/Candy Making
6. Christmas Newsletter
7. Christmas Cards
8. Parties
9. Cleaning
10. Adoption Profile
11. Hosting Family for New Years

Ya'll - I'm beginning to freak out again... DEEP BREATHS!! Sadly, I won't be enjoying the Black Friday shopping with family or friends this year - because I'm hoping to use that day to tick some things off of both of these lists. I'm going to need Starbucks and LOTS of it this season... or I'm going to have to start working out seriously hard so that I can add another hour to my day.

Although - is it truly adding an hour if you break even on the deal? Because I figure if you take an hour to work out - then you stay up an extra hour it's a wash... but then again... I'm just making excuses!

So I'm doing my very best to post as often as I can - and I do have a couple of posts that I want to write - I just need to get some work done before I can do that... maybe during my lunch hour I can squeeze out another post. I love blogging WAY to much to not be doing it more often than I have been.

Stick with me folks - I'm trying to get this train wreck back on the tracks and get us moving in the right direction again. Gentle prodding is welcome if you haven't heard from me in a few days! HA!

Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Meds Anyone?

I meant to post this a long time ago, but life happened... which seems to be happening to me a LOT lately... and I'm tardy on posting this as someone reminded me today. You all know that we stopped our fertility treatments in early October... but we ended up with some medications left over.

Does anyone out there need any fertility meds? I'll make you a reasonable offer - but I need to get rid of them. I have 16 vials of Gonal-f (75 iu) and one premixed package of Ovidrel (0.5ml). I'm willing to sell it for less than I paid for it, but I need to see if I can get something out of it - and maybe it's the miracle someone out there is waiting for.

Please even if this doesn't apply to you - pass this on to anyone out there that might still be in that world and might need the medication. I'd love for it to do some good for someone out there. Any interested parties can email me and we'll work out the price and shipping options.


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Public Service Announcement

Ok, so I seem to be finding people all over the place talking about Netti Pots lately... and I felt like I should weigh in on this topic. I'm not sick - so it is an unbiased opinion on the products available. About a year or so ago - I was at a doctor's appointment for one of my ever present colds, and found out an interesting tidbit of information.

I had become addicted to nose spray - namely Afrin - which apparently can happen if you use it for more than 3 days before stopping. I'd used it for a good long while, and what the famous Dr. W (my primary care doc) told me was that basically your body becomes dependent on the chemicals in those sprays - and you will have the congestion or runny nose chronically if that happens. It happened to me.

The transition off of the nose spray wasn't easy - I couldn't breathe for sure... but he offered up a solution that was more natural, that helped get me through the misery.

I was skepitcal folks... I seriously was beyond terrified at the idea of shooting salt water up my nose... but once I got over my fear of drowning in my bathroom - I realized that this product is truly a gift from God. Ya'll, I know this isn't the topic that you really would want me to cover... but it's like a massage for your sinuses... they will seriously become your friends if you use this product.

Mine is shaped different from most that you've probably seen and heard of - you know, the ones that look like tea pots - I can't even begin to figure out how you'd administer the saline solution into your nose from that thing... but this one works for me.

I've even gone back and gotten a large pack of the little salt solution packets to have around for whenever I need to use this little jewel...

I've also become a HUGE fan of these bath products from WalMart...

I personally prefer the bath soak to the salts - but I could only find the salts on their website - I've tried all of the different versions: Stress & Tension, Restless Nights, Aches & Pains, Cold & Sinus - they don't sell them online, but they are over by the facial cleansing products in our store - maybe even by the bubble bath in yours. The Cold & Sinus one is great when you're sick... and I use the Restless Nights one (think lavender scent) all the time... also the Stress & Tension (I'm not sure what the scent is, but it's mild and relaxing)

So there you have it folks... the things that are some of my "go to" items when I'm not feeling well.

Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Over the Top

I won a couple of awards during the last two days... YAY! First of all - if you remember my mustache picture with my neices... I entered it over on Summer's Stache Contest, and won an honorable mention!! She's sending me some really cool magnets - and I can't wait to get them.

I got this award from my friend, Jennifer over at Hope Endures - she is a lovely woman that has some exciting things going on in her world right now... I encourage you to pop on over and read about her journey.

Here are the rules:

USE ONLY ONE WORD! It’s not as easy as you might think. Copy and change the answers to suit yourself and pass it on. It’s really hard to use only one-word answers so try your best.

Once you’re done tag 6 other bloggers and let them know that you think they are ‘Over the Top’!

» Where is your cell phone? Desk
» Your hair? Curly
» Your mother? Unique
» Your father? Faithful
» Your favorite food? Chocolate (or Fried)
» Your dream last night? Inexistent
» Your favourite drink? Iced Tea/Cafe Mocha
» Your dream/goal? Baby :)
» What room are you in? Office
» Your hobby? Writing
» Your fear? Inacceptance
» Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
» Where were you last night? Home
» Something that you aren’t? Spontaneous
» Muffins? Blueberry
» Wish list item? Massage
» Where did you grow up? Houston
» Last thing you did? Work
» What are you wearing? Clothes
» Your TV? Entertainment
» Your pets? Cuddly
» Friends? Amazing
» Your life? Good
» Your mood? Anxious
» Missing someone? Yes
» Vehicle? Taurus
» Something you’re not wearing? Earrings
» Your favorite store? Target
» Your favorite color? Purple
» When was the last time you laughed? Today
» Last time you cried? Yesterday
» Your best friend? Several
» One place that you go to over and over? WalMart
» One person who emails you regularly? Jenn/Summer
» Favorite place to eat? Benihana

I tag: (I did one extra - but they're twins - you can't just pick one!)
Summer - B is for Brown
Jenn - From the Desk of a Princess
Joanna - Grace in the Home
Christy - The Journey
Heather - Heather's Hodgepodge
Becky - The Branches
Bonnie - The Browns




Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Nursery Project - Painting

This whole weekend has been devoted to the nursery painting - almost entirely. We didn't even make it to church today, which I know we both regret - not seeing our church family today and hearing the message - but in the interest of time, and the project at hand... it was necessary. It's only the second Sunday this year we've missed... so I'm sure God will forgive us.

We had some help yesterday with the painting - which of course created lots of laughs...

Here we are doing the taping... which I think the whole process should be called taping... because it is certainly the part that takes the LONGEST!

Aunt Suz (Susan) painting the closet - she is really concerned that the baby should know that she painted their closet... too funny!

John and his Dad painting the ceiling... too funny. John's poor Dad wore nice clothes - and got paint on them - so we had to loan him some clothes and wash his.

The girls and I having a little fun putting mustaches on ourselves in honor of my friend Summer. She had a contest where people were to take pictures of themselves with mustaches in order to win a prize... I'm not sure - but I think the kids are a two of the cutest mustached people I've ever seen!

We had hamburgers with the family for dinner, and took the opportunity to make sure that everyone knows that we've put on our adoption application that we're open to getting a baby of a different race - just so that there weren't any surprises. To which my sister in law said "well, it would be a bigger surprise if you were pregnant and ended up with a baby of a different race." Too funny!

Here is a photo of the room at the beginning of the day yesterday... I really like the yellow a lot, and hope that the green warms up the room a bit.

Here I am starting to paint the green - I was really excited about it - and I think it did add some debth to the room... once we get the bedding and decorations out in the room - the red and the blue that are also in the baby bedding will break up the color some too.

John is my chief roller man... I'm the cutter... he's the roller. We make a great painting team. We got a kick out of the fact that when the paint is wet - it looks like guacamole dip... or green sauce from a Mexican restaurant.

This is how Missy helps with the painting... she just relaxes and keeps the couch warm. She's not very helpful at all... but she's cute... and she snores like a freight train.

Maggie on the other hand is always willing to do whatever you want - just so long as you pay attention to her. She's my shadow...

A photo of the finished product with the painting - the final tape removal and trim painting will happen over the week... but we are REALLY happy with how it is turning out.

One more shot - just because I love it so much... I can't wait to get a rocker in their and just be able to sit and pray for our baby and the birth mother until such a time that God allows all of our paths to cross and we become connected for life.

I hope that you all had a great weekend too - we are exhausted, but happy with the productivity. Back to work tomorrow, and I have a conference on Wednesday - so it'll be another crazy week with the loss of a whole day to the conference... but I think my arm muscles are looking forward to a break.

I'm going to be looking for it - but one of KH Jewelry's customers is giving me a shout out on YouTube tomorrow - how exciting is that?! She's a very popular lady in the Weight Loss Surgery world, and I'm excited to see what the shout out brings to the website.

Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

In Bid-ness

Well, apparently I have let my favorite past-time become the one thing in my life that I have allowed to drop when things hit the fan... but I'm back guys - things are getting better... items are being checked off the list, BUT there are some new thing taking their place.

It has been an incredibly busy weekend - but a labor of love... and I just can't wait to see it all come together. More on that in another post later - with pictures AND stories.

My last post was about the potential new business that I've been encouraged to start. I've been doing some research, and the $10 a dozen price is pretty good for these little bites of cakey goodness. I also got some ideas for a couple of new items to try out over the season of baking and sweets. (Thanks Allie!!)

In preparation for Thanksgiving - I'll be making:
Yellow Cake Balls - yellow cake mixed with chocolate icing, dipped in milk chocolate
Red Velvet Cake Balls - red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese icing, dipped in white chocolate
German Chocolate Cake Balls - chocolate cake mixed with coconut pecan icing, dipped in milk chocolate
Carrot Cake Balls - carrot cake mixed with cream cheese icing, dipped in white chocolate
Strawberry Cake Balls - strawberry cake mixed with cream cheese icing, dipped in white chocolate

The last two are not special orders - but experiments being tested out on our families over the holiday.

I am also planning on trying other flavors as well - things that I'm thinking about are... Rum Cake Balls, Lemon Cake Balls, Italian Cream Cake Balls, and any other cake that I can think of to put into balls. HAHAHA! In addition - I'll be adding my peanut butter cracker candies, white chocolate pretzels, Oreo truffles (I need to get some Oreos, and I'm set for this recipe), Nutter Butter truffles, and my chocolate dipped Rice Crispie treats.


I did some looking around Etsy today - and it looks like people actually call these truffles for the most part - which I think does sound more sophisicated... so I'll be changing their name. There aren't too many compeditors either - so maybe this is the niche that will work for me. The only questions I have now are about how they list their products for order - in relation to my previous experience with Etsy... and shipping.

I've been thinking about names, and a lady from my office wanted me to call the business - "From the Hearth", which she thought was a fun play on the word heart. I threw out "Dipped in the Spirit" this morning to John - he sort of liked it... but I wonder if it sounds like my stuff is dipped in liquor. (NOT what I'm going for!) What do ya'll think?

I'd love to get something put online next weekend after making the 5 different flavors - just to start getting my name out there during the holiday season. I'm sure that I'll be making stuff every chance I can get to add to the inventory.



Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

In Business...Again?

Well, here's just one more thing...

I brought in my cakeballs for my V.P.'s birthday on Monday, and apparently they are so great that people want to buy them! Without even trying... I've got orders for like 6-10 dozen! I made the red velvet ones again, and some yellow cake ones as well.

The red velvet ones with cream cheese frosting were just like I've made before - the white chocolate coating, but the yellow ones I mixed with chocolate frosting and dipped in milk chocolate. Two dozen of the orders though are going to be german chocolate cake balls with the coconut pecan frosting dipped in milk chocolate.

I also make peanut butter candies dipped in chocolate during the holidays - so I could offer those as well. Also my chocolate dipped pretzels, and maybe my dipped rice crispy treats...

I'm working on coming up with some great packaging... and then will be selling them for $10 a dozen... or maybe $12... what would you pay?

What flavors would you offer initially?

What do you guys think... and snappy business names? How would you go about marketing? Am I sitting on a gold mine?


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Nursery Project - Day 1

We officially started the nursery yesterday, and these projects ALWAYS take a LOT longer than I expect. You say to me that you want to put up a shelf in the room... and I'm thinking - no big deal, right? Wrong.

I should have known better when the ladders, levels, 3 different saws, hammers, screws, and nails a-plenty came out...

In the end though - we're happy with the progress so far... here is what it looked like as of last night.

This is the before... even before we put up the shelves on the wall behind the chair.

The room after clearing out all of the craft room items.... except that the closet needs to be cleaned out too.

This is how Maggie helps... she's our lookout.

This is how Missy helps... by holding down the couch.

John securing the shelf to the supports.

Me putting wood filler into the cracks and holes... so that we can paint it.

The shelf spanning the entire back wall of the room - sorry for the blurry photos... apparently I need my big camera at all times.

 A close up view of the shelf... there is detailing around the front and on the braces. It's going to be very pretty when it is all painted white.

The chair railing will go up one evening this week, and then we'll get started painting those items. The bedding will arrive on Wednesday, and from there the big painting party for the walls will happen this weekend. Is it sick that I'm so excited about painting the walls? I absolutely LOVE to do the cut-in painting around the edges... so if anyone ever needs me... you know where I am.

Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Service Project

Many posts ago - I mentioned that part of my big calling with our adoption agency was that our women's ministry team was doing a service project that directly went back to that very agency to help with their ministry to pregnant ladies in our area. We were planning on making 10 scrapbooks for the birth mothers to use to keep their memories of placement day, and all the letters that are sent back by the adoptive parents over the life of the child.

Our service project also helped a couple of other ministries, but the scrapbooks were the part that I coordinated. I started working early in the week getting things ready - letters cut out, paper pre cut for mats and backgrounds (thanks to my friend Danielle for helping with this!!), and shopping for other supplies. I'd never planned anything like this before - so I didn't really know what to expect.

We set up to do the books from 10-12 and 2-4 (that was the plan) in reality though, I never got up from the table once I sat down shortly after 10 until around 6:30 that night. I literally sat there working all day - with one small 10 minute break to eat a couple of mini quiches and a brownie. (I never even thought about using the restroom...)

I had several WONDERFUL ladies in there helping me with this, but in the end - we weren't able to finish all of the pages... so we'll have to get back together on November 21st to finish up what is left. We did complete three whole books - that will be delivered tomorrow to the agency for some adoption placements between now and Thanskgiving... amazing!

Here are some photos of the work we did on the scrapbooks.

We used Modge Podge to decorate the covers - and I think they turned out spectacular!

(I made these pages... 10 different styles)

Another group of ladies worked on shopping for supplies and stuffing 40 stockings to be given to another ministry in our area. I'm not sure what all went in them, but I do know that they each got an Old Navy scarf - because we had to send reinforcements out for that shopping excursion. Apparently they wouldn't budge on the 5 per customer issue, so we sent some other ladies out to go through the different lines buying 5 at a time. Crazy!! A third group of ladies went to a retirement home to play bingo with the residents.

We had a great day serving others - and I think a wonderful tradition was born!


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Crazy Days

I'll guess that my absence lately has shown just how crazy life has been for me in the last couple of weeks... with no real end in site until after Thanksgiving. Of course, then the marathon sprint that we all call the holidays will be in full force... so maybe sometime in 2010 - I'll be able to take another breather.

It all started on Halloween - when I worked at our church's Fall Festival... I took 160 portraits that night to be emailed out to the attendees... and I'm failing miserably at getting them emailed out. I just can't seem to keep up with all of the demands on my time these days.

The Fall Festival was a great event - and I think our church reported that we had about 1,000 people there or something around that... which is HUGE for our church, and such a blessing for us all.

Basically what I did was stand in a corner that was decorated with a backdrop... and take family photos. It was a lot of fun... and here are a couple of shots that I took while setting up - just so you'll see what it looked like.

This was the backdrop that they made for me - isn't it cute? Those are foam cutouts painted to look like the pumpkins and rocks... I loved it.

An extremely unflattering picture of me... ugh! It makes me look all lopsided (which may be the harsh reality) and I just don't like it. Not to mention that I DID have makeup on... but still look like I'm extremely pale.

My friend's daughter posing for me so that I could make sure that the tripod was at the right height. This is one of my all-time favorite teenagers right now... so I had to share.

So blogging may be sporatic until I can get things under control... but I promise that nothing MAJOR will happen without me reporting it quickly and immediately. I think we're pretty safe on that for a bit - so no worries... our adoption meeting isn't until December 4th - so no real movement on that will happen until then, but we are working feverishly on building the nursery... I'll post regular updates on that until the big reveal!! So bare with me - and I'll keep trying to send up flares to show that I am in fact alive.


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

New Jewelry Items

Last Monday on my day off - I made some new jewelry items that hopefully will get listed on Esty this week. I'm finding that I have less and less time to get things done that I want to accomplish... so bare with me.

Aren't these cute? They are Christmas Trees. Red tops, green "branches" and a brown trunk.

Turquoise and Silver... I have made several of these - I've sold at least three sets in the last two months.

Pale green Adventurine and Rose Quartz

Mother of pearl... white with a slight hint of tan... gorgeous!

I hope to get some more made soon - but things are crazy busy these next few weekends. I've also been trying out some new recipes that I'll put up on the recipe blog during the next week - keep an eye out for Shrimp Scampi, Moussaka, and a couple of others.

Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

All Aboard

Ok - so you know about my rockin friend Summer... but she has some pretty cool friends herself - like K.Law and KS... well they've cooked up a little fun for all of us... and I'd love to share it with you guys.

They're planning a Blog Gathering!!

Here are the details as planned right now...

The weekend? April 9, 2010 (gasp!). All things fabulous in Austin, Texas where we can take in the sites, the sounds, the food, the drinks, and the awesome conversations over a long weekend. And how amazing of an opportunity finally meet your faves!

Some things on the potential agenda:



Austin Ghost Tours , Boat tours, Cavern site seeing , Museum of the Weird, all the Mexican you can handle, and of course maybe a Vineyard or even a beer brewery. And of course we could all stay together at a swanky (but inexpensive) hotel. A casual gathering of friends sharing great stores. Nothing fancy. No convention-ish bidnass. Just a whole lot of good conversation in a great city with some fabulous ladies.


Welcome to any and all! The more the merrier and the more the fun!

If you are game, email KRISTEN at bist1115@yahoo.com or comment here or there and we can get the juices flowing. Once we know who can make it, everyone will be responsible for their own airfare, but we'll look into group rates for hotel accommodations. Please spread the word to any of your favorites.

We hope to see you ALL there.

Anyone interested?? Let Kristen know - but also let me know... I'm looking for a few good roomates!!



Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Moving Forward

Well... I have no brilliant introduction for this post... but I come to you guys today to tell you that we got our Preadoption Counseling Appointment!!! This means that we are starting the process officially toward getting our baby.

Can I just tell you that I laughed, cried, and sat there in shock all at the same time. Too funny. I'm glad that we'd already started the process of putting together our plans for the nursery - the bedding will be ordered tomorrow. The rest of the stuff will probably start this weekend... or at least that would be my guess.

I've got to get through our Women's Service Project at church - but then it's all baby prep. Our meeting is on December 4th at 9 AM. From there we will get a full adoption packet and get put on the list for the homestudy.

The thing that I learned tonight that was new - is that the homestudy isn't done until a birth mother is interested in your profile. There are stories of people having their homestudy done and within 2 weeks they have a child placed in their home!

Our friend that has already been through this - talked to another of her friends that is extremely close to the leadership at the agency and apparently they have a lot of birth mothers right now... so you never know. John's dream might just become a reality... oh my goodness. My head just starts spinning when I think about how amazing that would be!


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Oh...Eve

I happen to have the pleasure of working in an office full of women - or at least my department is predominantly women. (Out of 7 of us there is 1 guy.) So if you've heard all of the theories about how if you have a group of women in constant contact with each other - their hormone cycles will become the same.

Somehow this actually is happening at our office - not so much with me... but the other ladies are fairly in sync. Yesterday morning, I was sitting in Karen's (my boss - that I'm not allowed to call my boss) office, and another member of our team came in, Stasha.

She was telling us about her weird evening, and that her cycle started in the middle of the night - which most women know brings cramping and pain. Well, Stasha looks at us and says, "It's days like this that I want to ask Eve, why?!"

To which I replied, "I know, I mean it was an apple... if it had been a brownie, I might understand!"

This made all three of us laugh. I hope that it does you too!


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

The Nursery

A few of you mentioned on my last post about the nursery how you thought that having to set one up in our house was sort of the cruel part of the adoption process. I'll be honest, when I first started looking into all of this - I completely agreed.

I couldn't imagine being in a place where setting a nursery up wouldn't just be a painful reminder of what is missing from our lives. I couldn't think of a time when looking into that room wouldn't bring me to my knees in tears.

Funny thing now - is that putting it in the house - or planning for putting it into the house... gives me an incredible peace. It is a place where our baby will live - at whatever time God provides us that child. It feels exactly like the type of things that you should step out in faith and do when called to do it. It also is a place that I will cherish being able to go and pray.

I can sit in that room surrounded by all sorts of things prepared for our child... and pray that God provide the child to us, protect them while we can't, help their birth mother deal with the choices she has to make, that the baby is born healthy, and all the other things people pray for their children before the arrive. Once the baby is there - I'll certainly go there to pray for all the things that mothers pray for their children... like, sleeping through the night! HA!

I've said it before, but the truth is that words just don't allow you to feel what is in my heart. The incredible peace that I feel about all of this is truly nothing short of a miracle in itself. It doesn't scare me or upset me to be setting up a nursery for a baby that I haven't encountered yet.

The same way that writing a letter to the birth mother and our baby doesn't scare me either. It gives me joy to be able to write such a letter for our child to someday cherish. Our baby will grow up with a keepsake telling them just how much we loved them and wanted them before they were brought into our lives. They will know that we weren't able to have a child on our own at the time, but that God brought them into our lives for the better of all our family and friends. Can you imagine anything more precious?

They will also grow up with the benefit of this blog - because it is sort of like a journal, and I know that we will have certain aspects of the blog made into a book for them to keep along with that very letter... so that they will know just what it meant for us to become their parent. So that they can see how our faith and love gave us all the opportunity to call each other family. Because that child might not have grown in my body for 9 months, but surely the moment I meet them... they will grow in my heart forever.



Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Blogging

Well, once again - I've come under attack for my willingness to be open and honest... and raw about my life. I do not claim to be perfect, nor do I claim to have all the answers - but I do have the only answer that I need... which is God and my faith in Him.

An issue came up yesterday that called my blogging and transparency into question. The response was that since I put personal things on my blog and on Facebook - it shouldn't be an issue. Hmmm. Well, the difference is that I am in control of what information I choose to put on here, and what information I choose to put on Facebook. Most things are on the table, but I am able to put it out there in the frame work of my choice.

While I am extremely open about my feelings, choices, and the things happening with me... I am protective of those that are not as comfortable with that as I might be. For instance, I might put my name out there or John's... but I have never given the exact names of anyone else in my family... to protect them. In the same way that when we have a child... I may or may not put their real name on this blog. Again, with their protection in mind... that being said... it is something that I get to choose for me and for my family.

I am able to live without regrets, and put my feelings out there to share with others because I don't have anything to hide. My feelings and opinions are just that... mine. You are free to read them as you wish. Agree with them. Disagree with them. Question them. All of that is fine, but you aren't allowed to use it as an attack or an outlet to get your own frustrations out.

I consider my transparency - especially with regard to Facebook to be a privilege to those that want to keep up with what is going on in my life... but when that is abused, choices have to be made. In regard to my blog - I don't expect everyone to agree with what I have to say about things... life is all about agreements and disagreements. The difference is the respect that is used when the disagreements happen.

I wonder what you other bloggers would say in response to the same statement.


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Need Extra Money?

I'm coming to you once again to report something I found in Woman's Day... (I'm such a dork)

You already know that I'm saving my pennies for the adoption, but you know - life has to go on until we get that precious baby. So I'm looking at lots of different ways to help supplement our income in small ways - that hopefully won't have much of an effect on our taxes.

So of course I have the Etsy Store for KH Jewelry... which makes me have not only a creative outlet in that I make the jewlery by hand... but also the potential for a little extra cash too.

Today though, I read through an article talking about various ways that you can make some money through online work. I happened across two sites in the article that pay people to give feedback to attorneys before their cases go to trial. It's sort of like being an armchair juror... through online resources, mock trials, and sometimes at the attorney's office or a hotel conference center.  Basically - you'd get paid for listening and giving your opinion as if you were a juror.

The article says that they pay between $40-$150 per case... depending on it's complexity.

If you are interested - go check out Online Verdict or Trial Practice


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Nursery... In my house?

As a part of the adoption process, we have to set up a nursery before we have our profile ready for the birthmothers. The idea is that they will see that we are ready for their baby to come home and live with us if we have something already started. The hard part is setting up the nursery for a baby that has no gender.

I know that this has been done time and time again by those who love the surprise in the moment of delivery... you know that "It's a BOY!" or "It's a GIRL!" moment. Well, can I just say that I'm not that person? If I had the option - I would have found out the moment that they could have told me - just so that I could plan the perfect nursery based on their gender... no dice on this one.

So with the idea that I am probably going to borrow some bedding from a friend for the photo - I have no idea what it looks like, but our friends that just adopted used it... and no longer need it... and hey, maybe we can consider it lucky?

But other than that... what would tell you that we're ready? What sorts of things would you put in there for this photo op?

I'm thinking:
Crib
Changing Table
Dresser?
Bedding
1 pack Wipes
1 pack Diapers?
1 set of baby bath products
1 small pack of bottles

Anything else?
Should I paint it? Or wait until I know what the final bedding will look like?
What would you do in this situation?
Did anyone out there set up their nursery completely without knowing their baby's gender?

Decisions, decisions... HELP!


Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.