New York

Our family spent most of spring break in New York with a great group of middle schoolers and their parents. Warning: Pic overload!

Day 1

Atticus' 1st plane ride, NYC subway, Trump Tower, 5th Avenue, Grand Central Terminal, Palm Sunday Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State building.

Grand Central Terminal

Anniversary in NYC

Snowing at the top of the Empire State Building

Day 2

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, Wall Street, Saint Paul's Cathedral, 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, dinner at Mangia, and Phantom of the Opera

The Statue of Liberty

Phantom of the Opera. LOVED IT!

Day 3
Yankee Stadium, George Washington Bridge, Fort Tryon Park, Riverside Church, lunch in Harlem, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, dinner at Schnippers, and Times Square

Yankee Stadium

Lunch in Harlem

Central Park

Day 4
Strawberry Fields and John Lennon Memorial, Museum of Natural History, Subway, China Town, lunch in Little Italy, and HOME

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History

Lunch in Little Italy

You can read our full disclosure on how/why we took a trip while trying to raise money for adoption here.

Happy Easter from our Little Nest

Anniversary

Happy 12th Anniversary to my dear husband!

3-20-2004

3-20-2016

Scripture Memory #6

Mid-March Update

So much going on around our nest!

• We made almost $400 at our Yard Sale. We had quite a bit of stuff left over so we're thinking about having a 2nd yard sale this Saturday. We are still accepting donations.
• The Mary Kay fundraiser has begun. We get to keep 40% of sales to go towards our adoption expenses.
• The Tupperware fundraiser event begins 3/20, but you can order now. We get to keep 40% of those sales as well.
• The Perfectly Posh fundraiser and a couple of others are coming soon.
• We will continue the puzzle piece fundraiser throughout the whole process.
• We have our next meeting with our social worker on April 7. At this meeting we will need to turn in all of our "homework" (which we are on track to complete next week! yay!)
• Once the home study is complete (or at least being finalized) we can go ahead and become "active" - which means we are eligible to be matched with a baby!!! So exciting! More about the matching process soon...
• We're still working on our next goal of $3500. This is our fee to become "active." All money that we make from puzzle pieces, yard sales, and online fundraisers is going toward this goal.

Let the Online Parties Begin!

As I've mentioned, we need $3500 and we are in a fundraising frenzy! And thanks to my awesome friends, I'll be hosting several online "parties" for things like Mary Kay, Perfectly Posh, Tupperware, Paparazzi Jewelry, Boutique Clothing, and more over the next few weeks. A portion of the sales from these parties will go to Bless This Nest. Check your Facebook event notifications and join us for a good cause.

Disclaimer - We DO NOT expect you all to buy something from every "party" nor do we want to bug you with a ton on unwanted facebook notifications. BUT, if you are interested in any of these products or are looking for a gift (hello Mother's Day!) I'd definitely appreciate you taking a look. Thanks!

Yard Sale Fundraiser

Our adoption fundraiser yard sale will be this Saturday (weather permitting). I'm collecting donations this week so if you have anything you'd like to contribute please let me or Jason know. We're also planning to let the little prince run a small concession stand (possibly with drinks and cookies). So come on out and buy some treasures and help to bless this nest! Y'all know how us southerners love a good yard sale!

A Quick Update

Since so many of you have asked where we are in the process since the 1st home study visit, I thought I'd post a quick update.

This week we're working on scheduling physicals, background checks, and getting copies of our pets' rabies certifications. Jason and I also have to write 1 page autobiographies.

Our amazing social worker is giving us our "homework" in bits and pieces and that has made things so much more manageable. We're trying to get as much done as we can before Spring Break! Once this home study phase is finished, we can become "active" and be eligible for a match! SO exciting!

We are still doing our Puzzle Piece fundraiser, although things have slowed down quite a bit. Our yard sale will be either this Saturday or next (we hope to know in the next day or so). We're also looking for other ideas for fundraisers so let us know if you have a suggestion.

Home Study Visit #1

On Sunday, we had our first home study visit. Our social worker is so nice and the meeting went really well. We mostly got to know each other a little better and gave her some of the paper work we have been working on. She gave us some more homework and we'll have another visit in a couple of weeks.

Once the home study is finished (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) we can complete our official application and begin applying for adoption grants and interest-free loans. There is one more fee before we can do that though so we have set another fundraising goal of $3500 to help cover this cost.

Thank you all!

Scripture Memory #5