grab a paddle…

According to Google maps, the best route of travel from the US to China includes kayaking 2,756 miles across the Pacific Ocean…sounds easy enough.

Check it out for yourself:

1. Go to Google Maps and click Get Directions.

2. Type USA as your start point. 

3. Type China as your destination. 

4. Go to the 31st point on the route and have a good chuckle.

So, now that we are informed of all the possible options for getting to China, we will probably opt for the fastest route and pick air travel. 

It would be great to not actually dig to China OR kayak across the Pacific Ocean...as fun and challenging as that sounds, I just don't think my arms are prepared for that. So, if anyone feels led to donate any of your unused travel points to help us offset our airfare cost, we would be happy to accept them.

And unfortunately, no, Brad can't fly us there - we would end up somewhere IN the Pacific ocean…which would force us to take the inflatable rescue raft the remainder of the way. So, scratch that idea...

wake up and smell the coffee!

That's right, people! The living simple, spending less, pinching pennies, acting frugal and thinking creatively has officially kicked off…well, what's new right?

The strange reality of what we have taken on (with God's help) has set in. 

Our path seems overwhelming…rather, the "price tag" (if you choose to look at it that way) seems overwhelming, especially now that our adoption plan has evolved. We are on our way to adopting from both China AND S. Korea. Sounds like I need another cup of the good stuff now...

So, let's talk money, Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey-style…We are frantically brainstorming creative fund-raising ideas, and would appreciate ANY ideas YOU might have to offer! 

One of the first resources I found online was "Just Love Coffee Roasters", a fantastic organization that was started by an adopting family to fund their own adoption and which later evolved into a larger ministry to support other adopting families. It is such a creative concept – if you are coffee drinkers or know of someone who is, please pass along OUR WEBSITE. A portion of EVERY purchase will go directly to help cover our adoption costs and THAT, my friends, is what I call a WIN-WIN.

"Here's to YOU!" *salutes a coffee mug*

www.justlovecoffee.com/bradandkatie

no gettin' around it!

So, I thought I could get around the invasive doctors appointments and gory blood work since we are adopting our children…in my opinion, yet one more benefit to adopting! boy, was I wrong… 

Take a leak in a cup…check 

Sport a thread-bare hospital gown…double check 

EKG (really? how old do I LOOK?)…check 

TB testing…(eww what exactly was that pea-shaped lump of substance they injected under my skin?)…check 

Cholesterol check…check 

Full blood work panel…check (this one was actually optional yet I still went for it… hopefully the results will ease my hypochondriac tendencies for a while) 

well, that pretty much sums it up. I treated myself to a chicken biscuit on the way back to my office after that long night of fasting and mid-morning blood bath appointment.

In reality, I am just extremely excited to have one more step completed in our home study requirements. It just means we are getting closer to uniting with our future babies! By all means, take all the blood you need…

little stranger girl

I enjoy discovering new music…especially anything with an adoption-related message these days. Recently I heard this touching song with a haunting piano melody that was written from a father's point of view and now I can't stop humming it… 

and looking forward to singing this to our "stranger-child" one day.

Little Stranger Girl 

There's a love he cannot hide

though he waits in line to fight
so he looks up to welcome you, his child
little stranger girl, you are home tonight

He reaches out a thousand miles
and sends his voice to where you lie
and in your dreams he carries you, his child
little stranger girl, you are home tonight

When you have grown, you may ask why
and you will read these words he writes
and they will say, I thank you, my child,
little stranger girl, you are home tonight
little stranger girl, you are home tonight.

reality check…

So, the other day someone asked me if we had our baby names picked out yet.

I think that's when it hit home for me…

you know, the "M" word…I'm too young for this!

yes, I'll have that second cup of coffee.

but don't worry, I'll get right on those names…

after I answer another 20 heavily thought-provoking essay questions for our home study.

obviously I wasn't one of those girls that decided on her children's names by the time she was 10 years old. ha!

home WHAT?!…we have to STUDY?!

College days were a long time ago so we are refreshing our study skills for the most important test of our lives - THE HOME STUDY…*DUN-DUN-dun*! In reality, our home study meeting last week was much less intimidating than I had worked it up to be in my mind. Any stress it caused me was such a waste of energy…

God was good in bringing us together with a really fantastic social worker who obviously has a heart for bringing children and families together. 

We feel very blessed.

So the apparently "easy" part is over and the paper work has begun. Our goal is to have our paperwork finished before the end of this month and then the really hard part begins…the waiting. Brad and I will be the first to admit that patience is not our virtue, so it looks like we will have another lesson to learn throughout this process.

We had a really great (cheap) date Friday night at Starbucks and took over a double table with all of our paper work and technology until they closed. Here we are looking like zombies… (by the way, I'm not at all impressed with the quality of the iPhone's camera in low-light settings)

and later that evening, it appears I may have suffered a mini-stroke from answering too many thought-provoking questions at one time. ha! We had better pace ourselves.

my favorite "top gun"

why spend money on boring anniversary cards when you have mad skills like mine? 

Plus, after eight years of marriage it's good to keep things interesting. 

Thanks for 8 fabulous years, Brad - looking forward to the next…80?

BABIES - best documovie ever

Brad and I watched this ridiculously cute and entertaining documentary on Christmas eve…and then I watched it again a few days later because, well, who doesn't like babies? 
This one's good enough to buy in my opinion...probably entertaining for babies too.

The movie follows four babies and their families* from various cultures around the world through their first year of life. It is creative and beautifully documented – definitely grab for the Blu-ray disk. The Mongolian baby who rode home from the hospital with his parents on a moped was too adorable in my opinion. The aspect of the movie that had the biggest impact on me was that radiant, chubby baby from Namibia who lived in what we would consider "filth" and played with rocks and empty bottles, yet she was the happiest baby of the whole group. I could learn something from that baby…and I think I did.

*Maternal nudity rampantly displayed by tribal women - cannot be held responsible for any repulsion that might result in viewing this film. (Brad made it through if that helps you gauge it…shocking, I know!)

new years resolutions

We are so excited about our New Year's resolution this year – to expand our family through adoption! 

So, I've never been a big resolution-maker. Generally they end up being broken and then I just have something to feel bad about. But this year things are a little different. Never before have we taken on a resolution this monumental or challenging. We aren't even expecting to have our China baby this year as international adoption is quite the process – months of paperwork and the fact that China requires adoptive parents to be 30 years old *gulp* in order to submit the dossier (paperwork). Can you sense that I'm excited to turn the big 3-0 this year? I realize this behavior is quite atypical of females, myself included. 

In the meantime, we work like wild banshees and develop plans for King-Searls Designs to be a more self-supporting design studio…after all, my business has been our "baby" in a way for the past 5 years. Isn't it great to see God weaving all the details together - just as it was meant to be!