Puzzle Peace

Pulling open the puzzle to see
SO many pieces...

We have received our puzzle from Hammond Toys, Hobbies and Dolls. It is a beautiful image of a baby lying atop a teddy bear in shades of earth tones... SO excited. We received it on Saturday, hours before a positive pregnancy test and an ER visit to find I was miscarrying... again.

I'm a pretty good mom. According to my kids... when they are on the flattery track, I'm the best mom EVER. It makes me doubt myself completely when I cannot stay pregnant. Is there something wrong with my genes? Is God trying to run interference?

If it were up to me, I would take in every lost and hurting child I could find... There would be kids of all ages in sleeping bags on the couches and chairs; toddlers would make beds of the stairs :) I'd hug them and make each child see how truly amazing he/she each was.  Fortunately, my husband reigns me in *LOL*. I am probably only going to be allowed two more: one infant, one older.

Before anyone gets the hair on her back up, my husband is a kind and intelligent man and "reigns" and "allowed" were both tongue-in-cheek comments. Anyway, I think I can talk him into a few more older kids after the boys leave for college...

Soon, we will begin the puzzle fundraising... $5 per puzzle piece. We will write the name of the person who purchased that piece on the back of it. Later, we will frame it in a two-sided frame so the infant knows who helped bring her home. I'd like to see if we can somehow build it into a loft that she can sleep on into her teen years.

Our beautiful puzzle.

The seedlings for the garden have started to sprout. I've also been doing a lot of crocheting. I'm hoping to create things to sell on Etsy for the adoption. I have to up my stock before I open an Etsy store...

An Infant Headband with a Cloth Flower

An Infant Cocoon

To everything there is a season... Turn, Turn, Turn

Here it is... the completed garden plan: 27'x18'.

I want to set up a little vegetable stand and a sign with an honor box. All of the money will go towards the adoption fees. As we are hoping to have a Fresh-Air child come to stay with us this summer, the garden may end up being a great activity to share. I don't know; I'm still kind of intimidated by the amount of work involved. The garden is designed with a split rail fence and I'll surround it with wire fencing to keep out rabbits. We've already purchased the seeds, so I'll have to start growing the seedlings that need to be transplanted, preferably this week or next week.

Here's our current timeline :)

• This week... Complete our Application to be Adoptive Parents
• Next week...  
1. Set-up bank account with our current adoption savings for paypal and donation monies.
2. Set-up Paypal Account.
3. Find the perfect puzzle for our puzzle fundraiser.
4. Pre-plant all of the seeds that need to go in the garden as seedlings.
5. Design T-shirts to sell.
• April...
1. Rent a roto-tiller to prepare the garden.
2. Pull out all the churned grass and add the compost.
3. Install the split-rail fence.
4. Paint a wooden sign for the garden.
• May... Garden and start moving the office to set up a nursery.
• July... Homestudy!!!!
• August...
1. Apply to grants for adoption funding.
2. Welcome and have fun with visiting fresh-air child. (I wonder what the appropriate term is???)
3. New school year preparations: Reece will be in 8th, Aiden in 5th!!

That's all we know about so far... Let us see what is to come!