Posters

Waymond has been working on a poster that our Adoption Agency can sell. He finished them up this weekend.

Let us know if you want one before we send them off to our agency. Email me or leave a comment and I'll find out how much they are selling for. If you live in town we won't have to ship it to you! Or if you live in the Tulsa area since we'll be there in a couple of weeks to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday.



























A close up view of the wording. Written by Tom Llewellyn. You can also link to his Letter off Dead blog here or under blogs we visit on the right. Very talented man! His new book would make a great Christmas gift for any young reader. Waymond and I read it and loved it.

















Waymond's printing area in the basement. Not fancy but it works!

Happy Black Friday

We had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday. We hosted several friends who also don't have family in town. We do a pot luck style where everyone brings a couple of things and this year the food was especially amazing. Great food, friends, Wii playing, football, kids running around, black friday ads, what else could you ask for in a holiday. Well, maybe family...











No, she is not eating two plates of food, just holding someone else's plate. But the picture was too good to not take!


















This afternoon we had leftovers for lunch and it was good the second time around!

Just sharing

I love this town we live it. Sadly the people who have grown up here don't know how to drive in snow due to the fact it just doesn't snow here too often. I would like it to snow even less!


Two inches of snow (if that) and a city bus over-turns onto a sidewalk by the University! Thankfully no one was seriously injured.

People go crazy here when it snows. I should write the Driver's Education department and make sure they are teaching the good ol' "pump your brakes when it's slick" trick!

Editing: I'm putting an edit on this post due to the fact that our friend Ben told me that if you have anti-lock brakes you don't have to pump them. Drive safely out there this winter!!

Food Drive

My company is having a Food Drive for NW Harvest. It will be at our office, 3517 S 13th ST, Tacoma on this Saturday November 20th. If you have some extra can foods in the pantry consider bringing them by!

Saturday work day

We had quite the productive Saturday. We are having our house resided in the coming weeks (we have a leak that needs to be fixed, sad!). Part of the deal is that we would remove our deck before they came to put new siding up. Of course I had to document it all in photos! Sorry not much during pictures and we were both working!

Thanks to some friends, Ben & Gab who came over to help!

Christmas Gift suggestion

Our adoption agency does a Holiday Project every year to raise money for different projects. Here are the details (a copy of the email we got, so when it says I, it doesn't me the Hamptons):

We have received many donations in the past in honor of a
family or child that is home, grandparents, teachers, great aunts and uncles...
A donation to the Holiday Project is also a great gift, for the 'folks who have everything'! For a minimum $30 donation, we will collect those names and addresses and a special "a holiday gift from _______________ in your honor will benefit children at Layla House and Humanitarian projects in Ethiopia" will be sent in mid-December to
the recipient of your choice.

This year, the project will be smaller, and will encompass the following programs, with half of each total going towards Humanitarian Aid...

(A $30 donation will provide for one child or caregiver)

Children at Layla (where our boys are), Wanna and Opportunity Houses will receive A New
Traditional Outfit, Small wrapped gift and Candy.

Caregivers at Layla, Wanna and Opportunity Houses will receive a modest cash bonus which they can use to purchase holiday foods, and other items for their families.

Children in the Orphaned Student Project (OSP) will receive a modest cash bonus which they can use to purchase holiday foods, and other items for their families.

Sheep will be provided for several small orphanages in order for them to have a festive holiday meal.

The breakdown looks like this...
GROUP /TOTAL NEEDED

Layla, Wanna and OH kids $4600

Layla, Wanna, and OH staff $5400

OSP $7000

Sheep for orphanages $3000

Total: $20,000

Of this total, $10,000 will go towards humanitarian aid.

For families who would like their donation to go to a certain child
or program, I would be happy to receive those requests!

Since I am in charge of keeping it all straight, Once you have made
your donation via mail or online, please send me an email with your
name, donation amount, and where you would like the money spent.
Don't forget to send me the 'In Honor Of' info, if you would like a card sent to your honoree.
Once we begin receiving donations, I will post weekly updates to let
you all know where we are, and what we still need!

There are 3 convenient ways to donate....

**Donations can be made by check or money order and sent (with a note
specifying "HOLIDAY GIFT PROJECT" and your preferences) directly to
AAI at the address:

Adoption Advocates International
709 South Peabody Street
Port Angeles, Washington 98362

**Donations can also be made conveniently at the AAI website, by
clicking the "DONATE NOW" button, click on "Holiday project" and type
what portion of the project you would like your donation to go to,
in the Donation Designation Field. (Click HERE to go directly to donate page) www.adoptionadvocates.org

**An option is also available at the Benefit Orphans store, where you can also find great gifts for the holidays that benefit the GRACE Fund and other AAI projects. www.benefitorphans.org

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO EMAIL ME WITH YOUR DONATION DETAILS! And feel free to email me with any questions! If I don't know the answer, I will find someone who does! socialbug69@hotmail.com

Also, check our agency's blog, it could answer questions about the projects to benefit!

Been busy

We had a productive Saturday! We started by sleeping in until 8am this morning and then going to breakfast at the Shakabrah. We spent most of the rest of the day moving our bedroom downstairs and the guest bedroom upstairs. Our king sized mattress was quite the challenge, but Waymond managed to get it. I really did help and didn't just take pictures!






















Now we are all set to get our boys' room ready for them! I know I haven't mentioned yet on the blog, but we are adopting two boys from Ethiopia. We are hoping to have them home by March or April of 2011, but of course we won't mind having them home earlier!

Part of the welcome gift we can send them is a t-shirt. That is what we did this evening. We made them some Tacoma shirts. We also printed a few onesies we had bought for a gift.




















































Waymond also tested out the beginnings of a poster design he's doing for our adoption agency.

































Just thought I'd add this picture. Waymond's gone all Tom & Jerry! :o) In all the movings of rooms we found a few holes in the drywall that we are assuming some mice friends have been freeloading on us. Waymond set a few traps to make sure we get them all! When I went up to see it, it reminded me of cartoons. All he needed to add was a neon sign that said free cheese with an arrow!