I mentioned in a previous post that I would share about a new venture that I have embarked on.
It all started when I wanted to make something special for my sister for her birthday. Her birthday came just a couple months after bringing home my newest niece and nephew from Ethiopia. With the addition of these last two (at least I think they are the last to be added to the family!), that my sister became a mom to 8. I have yet to see jewelry that nicely represents having 8 children. Either there are so many charms that it looks bulky, or if you use one of those locket necklaces with little charms in them, they are all bunched up and you can't really see them or show them ALL off.
So, I thought that if I got some beads or pearls small enough, I could cluster them together and learn how to make a wire nest pendant. After all, those are kind of trendy right now, and they are cute. I purchased some glass pearls in brown and cream to represent my sisters brown and white children, and then I learned how to make a wire pendant.
When my sister got it, she loved it! I mentioned to her casually that I might start making them to sell, maybe earn some money that we could put towards our adoption.
This is where the magic of social media comes in...
All my sister did was post a blog about it, and put a picture on Facebook, and I had contacts from at least 6 or more people within hours interested in a customized pendant!
Yikes! I didn't have a website. I didn't have a separate e-mail account. I didn't have a Pay Pal account (and there were people contacting me from out of state!). I didn't think that anyone would necessarily be that interested in what I did for my sister!
I was wrong.
I'm glad I was wrong.
My friend helped set up a website, complete with an order form. I set up a Pay Pal account, and stumbled through filling orders.
So, how did I come up with the name? Whenever I think of families, I think of how God brings families together and builds them. He designs families. He works in our lives to give and take away. He builds families through so many means, and in every way is written a story of His divine love and care- His design. Every family is made exactly the way God intends, and that's what I wanted to celebrate. That's what I want to give glory to God for.
Since then, I have been to a few craft bazaars or special events, and have tried to spread the word about what I'm doing. I get to hear a lot of stories about what families look like, or how they are designed. Each pendant or brooch (I can make straight pin brooches too) is so personal. It's a delight to make each one.
Soon my necklaces will be in a local boutique, and I have some other things in the works.
From the sales of these pendants and brooches alone, I've raised nearly $2000 for our adoption! I have never been "in the red". What an amazing blessing!
I love this new job that I have, and want to keep moving forward. My dream is to help other adopting families raise funds by "sponsoring" a family at a time. I'm not sure when I will get to that point, but I'm hoping that I will be able to do that! I need to gain much more exposure though.
So, how can you help?
Well, there are a few ways:
1. You might think of someone you could order a gift for (even yourself)! These nests are cute. They don't have to be worn by moms!
2. You can like the page on Facebook, if you're on there. That has proven to be one of the most effective ways that I have seen. It doesn't cost me anything, and it doesn't cost you anything! You can find the page here.
3. You can simply tell people you may know. Direct them to my website. Literally every cent that I make goes into our adoption account, and it sits there waiting for that moment that only the Lord knows, when we have our son or daughter! (You can see how we're doing towards our goal on the right-hand side of our blog).
4. Right now, you can enter my first giveaway. There are different ways that you can gain entries. You can enter here. You will be walked through all the different ways you can enter. Most of them involve helping to spread the word about the giveaway or A Nest by Design. So it really is helpful! And hey, if you win, that's great!
5. Always, you can pray. Pray that I will have wisdom to navigate through uncharted waters. I have no training in how to run a business. All I know that is I need to make more than I spend, and to be honest. Pray that people will be drawn to what I'm doing and that I will find support in unexpected sources.(I already have! Praise the Lord!)
What's lacking in this post are pictures, but if you visit any of the links I've shared, you will find pictures showing examples of some of my work.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Happenings of Nothing Happening
It took our family until after Valentine's Day to get our New Year's letter out. I'll share it on here when I can. Our computer finally gave out, and that makes things a little weird right now.
I'm not sure how to describe our adoption process right now. It has been active but nothing is happening. We've been contacted about several birth mother situations locally, from Florida, and from Texas.
An unprecedented six birth mothers all came at once to one agency in Texas. One of the situations involved an infant that was already a month old! As far as we know, our profile hasn't been shown to any of them, as maybe a few have changed their mind, one is already matched, and another couple of them are having some hiccups with contacting birth fathers. As of right now, we're just waiting to see how it all plays out. We'll be told when that door is shut, or if we're selected as potential adoptive parents.
We also heard about a situation in Florida. It was a difficult one for us because after researching the medical needs of the unborn baby, we determined that we wouldn't be a good fit as a family for him. That was really hard to say no to! My how we agonized over it! And of course, I cried. A lot. It was really difficult to say no to a child that needed a family when that's the very thing that we're out to do. Maybe, that's not understandable to some who might be reading this, but we just didn't feel at peace allowing our profile to be shown. I know on April 9th, I'll be thinking of that baby boy, and I'll pray again for him, his birth mother, his birth father, and his adoptive parents. We were told of another in Florida that our program director thought that I would especially be a match for what this birth mother was looking for, but the fee for the adoption was way out of what we could or would pay. So that was another that wasn't for us.
Two more situations have been presented to us. Both are in our home state, and both a ones that we said yes to. The first, I don't imagine much of a shot at. The birth mother is looking at the first "round" of profiles this week, and if she doesn't find a family that she connects with, then we will be in the second "round". The second one we just heard about earlier this week. As of right now I don't know how many couples have said yes to this profile. So, I can't really say much about it. We're actually pretty surprised at how much is going on.
There's a lot of blessed opportunities to pray for these women as they make difficult decisions, and to pray that each child is safe and is brought into the right family. There's a huge peace knowing that the Lord is in control. Our child will come home to us, in His timing, in His way. All these situations that we hear about are opportunities to pray for the people involved knowing that if one is ours, then he or she will be ours. All the others just belong to someone else! The joy is in knowing that these babies belong to someone!
So we continue to wait. We continue to save, and we'll be brainstorming fundraising ideas. I'm still selling necklaces and brooches. In fact, to help generate more publicity, I'm doing a giveaway right now. You can check it out here. Visit A Nest by Design here if you're curious. My heart is to grow this into something that I can help other adopting families raise funds. That's a bit in the future though.
I'm not sure how to describe our adoption process right now. It has been active but nothing is happening. We've been contacted about several birth mother situations locally, from Florida, and from Texas.
An unprecedented six birth mothers all came at once to one agency in Texas. One of the situations involved an infant that was already a month old! As far as we know, our profile hasn't been shown to any of them, as maybe a few have changed their mind, one is already matched, and another couple of them are having some hiccups with contacting birth fathers. As of right now, we're just waiting to see how it all plays out. We'll be told when that door is shut, or if we're selected as potential adoptive parents.
We also heard about a situation in Florida. It was a difficult one for us because after researching the medical needs of the unborn baby, we determined that we wouldn't be a good fit as a family for him. That was really hard to say no to! My how we agonized over it! And of course, I cried. A lot. It was really difficult to say no to a child that needed a family when that's the very thing that we're out to do. Maybe, that's not understandable to some who might be reading this, but we just didn't feel at peace allowing our profile to be shown. I know on April 9th, I'll be thinking of that baby boy, and I'll pray again for him, his birth mother, his birth father, and his adoptive parents. We were told of another in Florida that our program director thought that I would especially be a match for what this birth mother was looking for, but the fee for the adoption was way out of what we could or would pay. So that was another that wasn't for us.
Two more situations have been presented to us. Both are in our home state, and both a ones that we said yes to. The first, I don't imagine much of a shot at. The birth mother is looking at the first "round" of profiles this week, and if she doesn't find a family that she connects with, then we will be in the second "round". The second one we just heard about earlier this week. As of right now I don't know how many couples have said yes to this profile. So, I can't really say much about it. We're actually pretty surprised at how much is going on.
There's a lot of blessed opportunities to pray for these women as they make difficult decisions, and to pray that each child is safe and is brought into the right family. There's a huge peace knowing that the Lord is in control. Our child will come home to us, in His timing, in His way. All these situations that we hear about are opportunities to pray for the people involved knowing that if one is ours, then he or she will be ours. All the others just belong to someone else! The joy is in knowing that these babies belong to someone!
So we continue to wait. We continue to save, and we'll be brainstorming fundraising ideas. I'm still selling necklaces and brooches. In fact, to help generate more publicity, I'm doing a giveaway right now. You can check it out here. Visit A Nest by Design here if you're curious. My heart is to grow this into something that I can help other adopting families raise funds. That's a bit in the future though.
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