• Jesus please help me get well. Soon. I am a wimp. Every single inch of me hurts and I think my throat has turned into burning sandpaper. I have a little boy I need to love on, a home that needs cleaned, and meals that need to be made and frozen before I leave town. Yes, I need to pack too. I so want to be well when my plane takes off for Created for Care Friday morning.
• Speaking of flying… and me being a wimp… help me with my fear. I hate to fly. Hate it hate it hate it hate it. I hate even more the thought of flying alone. Give me peace, zero turbulence, and a very nice/compassionate seat mate.
• Help me not to have a nervous breakdown when I have to kiss my men goodbye. The thought of being apart from my littlest man for a whole weekend makes my heart break. I know you have amazing things in store for me through this conference, but I am going to miss him so so much.
• Hold our little Ghana baby extra close right now. I miss him/her so much. It’s a familiar feeling… I had it with Mareto too. I don’t know the circumstances… maybe our little one is safe in the womb and there’s  a battle raging for his/her life. Maybe our baby is brand new and hungry. Maybe he/she has yet to be conceived. Only you know God and only you can give the love and comfort I so long to be giving right now. This is heavy on my heart… please give me peace.
• Funds. Oh adoption funds. I love/hate them. It’s amazing to see you work in our adoption through the body of Christ. It’s amazing to see you work in the hearts of others to bring in the funds for our little one. It’s nothing short of awe inspiring. And yet there is still this $20,000 mountain left. I wish it would be moved now. I wish it wasn’t in our way and potentially slowing us down. But, your timing is perfect and your will and best. Bring more people to pray and give and journey along side of us Lord. And help me to trust.
• Hold my mother in law extra close tonight. Her mama went to be with you yesterday and while I know she is dancing in heaven with you… it’s still a bit hard for those of us left behind.
• Let me be a woman after your heart. So many things are breaking it now – things I believe break your heart too. Show me how to pray and how to act. Use me where I am.
• Mareto. My most precious gift from you. He’s having a little surgery next week and to be honest I am freaking out just a bit. I know you tell us not to worry but the very thought of anything happening to him makes me crazy. Please keep him safe and hold him through it all. Calm my fears. My mama heart hasn’t ever been through this. I scared. John tells me it is harder on me than Mareto. He might be right. Either way – we both need your help right now.
• One more thing. John. Thank you for him. I don’t know how you chose me for him but I am so blessed. He has spent nearly every day for the past week at the nursing home loving on his mom and grandma. He spent all day yesterday helping his parents and making arrangements. Then he came home to care for Mareto while I hid in bed with a migraine. Then today he got up and went to work and spent all day preparing a sermon for tonight, then came home to give me an hour nap, then went back to preach. Now he is at the store getting me soup and medicine. He is amazing… and he could use a little rest and pampering himself. Bless him a little extra tonight.

(found this little man running through the dining room with his bear… that is approximately the same size he is. I love him. so much.)

 Beautiful Things Giveaway                                      Give1Save1 Fundraiser

We’re the Casper family… John (husband and daddy), Lauren (wife and mama), and Mareto (son.) We brought Mareto home from Ethiopia last February. The journey was one roller coaster ride of joy, tears, lots of prayer, laughter, patience, trust, and beauty. The end result was a family of three and a dream come true. Here is a video version so you can see for yourself…

One of the scariest changes this means for us is that things will likely progress a lot faster than if we had stuck with the Ethiopia program. Our agency has a lengthy wait list of people ready to adopt from Ethiopia and projected wait times are at about 3-4 years for families signing on now. We anticipated having plenty of time to fund-raise for the adoption fees. Well, now that we’re in the Ghana program there is no such wait time. With only 3 families waiting for a referral we could very well be matched with our child quite soon. This means all the time we thought we had to raise the funds is dwindling before our eyes. We currently need approximately $23,000 to be fully funded for our adoption (this includes travel fees). At first glance this seems like SO much, but we now this is nothing to God and he is faithful to provide.

This is the motivation behind Give1Save1! There are very few people that have thousands of dollars laying around to donate to adopting parents. BUT, everyone has $1!! Everyone can afford to give one family 100 pennies! Do you realize that if you give $1 and then share on facebook, your blog, twitter, email, or even by handwritten letter to all your friends and families and then they did the same… that we could easily reach 23,000 people in a week? And if they all gave $1? We would be fully funded in a week through people just giving one dollar bills!! amazing!

Each week Give1Save1 features a new family. We are so honored to be that family this week. Would you please consider joining this amazing cause? One dollar helps change a life forever… and spreading the word is FREE! We so ache to hold our next little one in our arms… will you help us get there? Donate $1 here…

All photos were found via pinterest.

1. I adore this pillow and think it would be pretty easy to make. Just sew up a quick cream cover and then get some stencils and fabric paint. I might have to whip one up for Mareto’s room!
2. This is actually a piece of art that my friend Ben made for my lovely friend (and his wife) Lori! It was her Christmas present and it looks so nice on her wall!
3. I love this dresser and the giraffe and the little shoes! If this next little one is a girl I think this would look nice in a boy/girl bedroom. Not sure if we’re going to have the two share a room, but if they did this would be great!
4. There’s not a whole lot I can add to this one… two Ethiopian beauties!! sigh…
5. Doesn’t matter where you live, how poor you are, what your circumstances… the bond between a mother and child is priceless.
6. Love the colors, love the TOMS, love the scarf, love it all!
7. This looks like a very simple Valentines craft and would be a super cute garland for the mantle!

Don’t forget to check out Gussy, The Letter 4, Matchstick Molly, and Much Love, Illy to join the fun!

He has grown so much in the last year! I love him to pieces and I love knowing that this year he KNOWS that I am his mama. Last year I was a stranger. Last year he didn’t know who I was or why I was so excited and wanted to snuggle him all the time. This year he runs to me for hugs, plants big sloppy kisses all over my face, calls me “mama” and is basically my little shadow all day long. I love it. I love it so much I could burst. I love being his mama and love knowing that he knows he belongs to me and he loves me right back.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.

** Don’t forget to help us bring Mareto’s brother or sister home by entering our great big giveaway here!**

Your news

Either :

1. You’ve chosen a waiting child.

2. You’re pregnant

3. You’re moving to Ethiopia now.

I know its one of those!!

She was wrong on all counts but sure did make me laugh. My response back to her…

1. nope not yet but I think we’re going to have a match sooner rather than later.

2. Trust me – you’d know!! I would have shouted it so loud from the bathroom the moment I saw those 2 lines that you would have heard it in Arizona!

3. Oh I wish!! Seriously, I was bawling in my bed last night because I miss Ethiopia so much!

So if you all were thinking along the same lines as Lara I am so sorry. This is going to be super anti-climatic for you. Okay, now that I’ve played it down for you…

There’s a longish story here and since you’re all probably wondering how we went from bringing Mareto home from Ethiopia, falling in love with the country, and then announcing we’re adopting from Ethiopia again to THIS… I’ll share the details so you don’t think we’re schizophrenic crazies.

It was in September that we had our couch conversation and made the decision to adopt again. We love Ethiopia so much and Mareto is Ethiopian, so it just seemed like a no-brainer that we would adopt from there again. We also adore our agency All God’s Children International and didn’t want to use anyone else. So we made a phone call and pre-applied and got started with the fundraising. It wasn’t too long before we felt a little uneasy. There’s a lot going on in Ethiopian adoptions right now. The process is no where near as “smooth” as it used to be. There are changes being made and an unfortunate amount bad press causing the government to make some changes in how things are done. Many of these changes are good and greatly benefit the birth families and especially the children. Some are just terrible. Some changes cause unnecessary delays in the process that harm the children that they claim to be helping. It’s not a favorable climate for adoptive families in Ethiopia right now. But you know what? That wouldn’t matter one iota if we felt 100% sure that God was calling us back to Ethiopia for this adoption. We would fight and fight and fight and wait and wait and wait if we felt certain that was the direction God was leading us in. But for some reason, within weeks of making our decision to adopt again we were uneasy.

So I began contacting other adoption agencies thinking that maybe we were supposed to use a different agency. One by one God said no to each new agency we contacted. I started scouring every waiting child list I could find thinking maybe our child was on one of those lists… still the answer was no. The only thing we felt absolutely certain about at the time was that God was calling us to Africa. That’s it. In pure frustration one day I said, “you know, I just wish AGCI had a program in another African country. That might get us somewhere!” Honestly I was just spouting off at the mouth. I was frustrated by this apparent lack of direction other than uneasiness and an inability to move forward in any area because there was no peace.

The next day I received an email from the New Program Director at our agency. It was an email that got sent out to everyone on their mailing list and was pretty general in content. Toward the bottom she mentioned that there were several new programs they were working on and that they were looking for families who had completed one adoption with AGCI and were looking to adopt again to pilot these programs. I thought, “what the heck” and sent her a response. I told her that we were planning to adopt again with our eye on Ethiopia but that we wanted to be open to whatever God had for our family. She responded with a list of the programs they are hoping to open in the near and distant future but said that she thought we would be a good match for, you guessed it, Ghana. I started doing some research and talked to John about it. He was shockingly at peace with the whole thing and he does not do well when plans change… that was my first clue that this might be exactly where God wanted us. As we prayed about it I said to John, “But we’re so in love with Ethiopia…” and his reply was, “yes, but you know the minute we step off the plane in Ghana we’re going to fall in love with Ghana too.” He knows me too well. Within a few days we emailed her back and told her that we were interested in being a pilot family for Ghana and the ball started rolling!

So what does it mean that we’re a pilot family? Basically it means that we’re “test driving” the Ghana program for them. Once we (and 2 other families) complete the process  – as in, bring home our children – they will have a good idea of how things run. Then they can give future families wait time estimates, travel info, and more based on our experiences. So that’s why I call this an adventure! There are a LOT of unknowns. Unknown wait times, unknown court and embassy processes, and so on. But one thing we are sure of is that God has called us to this adventure. Whatever happens – good or bad – He is right there with us. We are sure that there are trials coming, but those drive us further into the arms of our Father and it’s worth it. The future will hold a lot of emotional ups and downs and we might be particularly vulnerable at times (kinda like with Mareto’s adoption!) Prayers and extra grace will be so appreciated!

Some details. They just opened the Ghana program this week. It was crucial that we were able to immediately contract. Otherwise we would not have been allowed in the program as they are only allowing 3 families into the infant program and 7 families into the older child program (3yrs and up).  So, worst case scenario we will be #3 on the wait list. It’s funny to me that they’re even bothering with a wait list given there’s only 3 of us! haha Our parameters are boy or girl, 0-12 months old at time of referral, and we are open to a wide range of special needs (medical and mental). The estimated wait time for referral once we get on the list is 3-12 months… or sooner… or later… they basically have no idea! Team members are in Ghana as I type this setting up a Hannah’s Hope transition center (where our baby will live from referral until we can go get him or her.) Once we receive a referral we will wait 3-6 months to travel for court, then return home, and 3-6 months later we’ll travel back for embassy. Yes – those waits are the worst. Yes it’s terribly excruciating to leave your baby in another country and I am already praying for extreme mercy and that God would allow that wait to be 3 months or LESS. But he has a plan and I am choosing to rest in that (you may need to remind me of that several times in the near future!)

Where are we now? Well, we just signed and mailed off our contracts this morning. Once AGCI receives our contracts they will mail us our giant 3 ring binder full of all the paperwork we must complete – this is called a dossier. Once it’s finished we will submit our completed dossier with our second payment (to the tune of $6k+) and wait for approval. Once it’s approved (usually takes a week) we will receive our number on the wait list (#1, #2, or #3) and then we just wait for that phone call that says we have been matched with a little one!

How can you pray for us?

• Grace as we swim in new waters…
• Mercy once we get our referral… this mama is not going to handle long waits so well after she’s seen that face…
• Fund-raising! We currently need to raise $6,300 to be able to submit our dossier. We would love to be able to do that by March or April… that’s 2-3 months away. Pray for success for our fund-raisers as that is the only way we are able to pay for this adoption!
• Pray for our future child… I can’t type more on this or I’ll start bawling.
• Pray for our future child’s birth mother… for peace, strength, mercy, grace, wisdom, and to know she is loved so much by a family a world away.

… and don’t forget to enter our humongous giveaway here!! *********

Let’s just jump right in, shall we?

I have a BaByliss blow dryer and I love it! Mine’s red, but yours is pink which makes it like 10,000 times better! I also use this redken hairspray at the recommendation of my licensed hair stylist best bud! She’s also the one who told me that this round brush is great for all hair types. A winning combo if you ask me!

Since we’re on the topic of hair… yes! That’s Bumble and bumble shampoo and conditioner. Straight is a brand new line of hair care for Bumble and bumble. It’s salon quality! In fact, the salon I go to … Salon Oh… just switched over from Redken to all Bumble and bumble! It smells amazing and does wonders for your hair!

I’ve heard awesome things about essie nail polish! So I finally got some and absolutely love it! This collection comes with 4 colors: “hi maintenance” a sheer pale pink, “marshmellow” a cloudy sheer white, “carry on” a rich plum purple, and “glamour purse” a muted gray. It also comes with a naturally clean purifying nail polish remover! Your nails say thank you in advance.

And because I’m just OCD like that I have to keep the nail products together! This is the O.P.I collection! If you’ve ever in your life had a manicure then you know O.P.I… it’s pretty much amazing! This collection has their avo juice hand soap and lotion in hibiscus blossom (it seriously smells delicious). Also included are three colors: “animal-istic” a shimmery red, “your royal shine-ness” a shimmery silver, and “servin’ up sparkle” which is just straight up glittery awesomness. Plus I threw in a Start to Finish bottle of base coat, top coat, and nail strengthener. wowza!

Told you I’m OCD… gotta keep the hand stuff together! Have you ever heard of Proactive? Of course you have! Remember those Jessica Simpson commercials? Yes, well Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields are the creators of proactive and they’ve started a new amazing line of products! Did you also know that your hands can be the first giveaway of your actual age? Our hands age so quickly (probably from all those dishes and hand washes after changing poopie diapers… but I digress). This anti-age hand treatment regimen is just what your digits need! And this book will answer all your skin woes with great and informed answers from the doctors who are experts!

Every girl needs a good pair of tweezers! Well here ya go! I threw in a volumizer too for those days when you just need a little lift.

What would be just wonderful after a long and exhausting day? How about running a hot bath, lighting some scented votives and lathering up with H2O bath gel in a delicious berry blast. When you’re done you can smooth some philosophy: sweet on you body lotion over your skin and fall into bed… sigh. If you haven’t heard of philosophy you really need to! Check out all their amazing product lines here! (I’m not getting paid to say that… I just love their stuff that much!)

Maybe after your bath you could fall into bed with this amazing book: The Lost Art of True Beauty by Leslie Ludy. I believe that inner beauty that comes from God is of far more worth than outer beauty… and so does Leslie. An excerpt from the back of the book says, “Leslie Ludy shares a different vision for feminine lovliness as God intended it – the breathtaking radiance of a young woman who has been transformed by Christ from the inside out.” Amen. Another thing that I think has become a lost art is writing notes and letters by hand. But something so quick and simple can mean the world to others. So lets cultivate true beauty by loving others and writing them notes of encouragement. I’ve helped you get a jump on that by including 40 absolutely beautiful handmade cards with envelopes. Each is blank on the inside but is stamped with loving words on the front… things about friendship, birthdays, anniversaries, just because, get well, sympathy and more!

Uh oh! What happened to my OCD tendencies… these aren’t grouped with the other hair things! Oh well, we’ll make do. These two headbands are handmade and just lovely. One in a bright pink felt fabric and the other in neutral brown feathers. Gorgeous!

Okay, so this jewelry holder is just brilliant! You can hang it on the wall by it’s lovely silk ribbon or prop it up on your vanity stand. It will hold tons and tons of earrings! Speaking of jewelry – how amazing is that necklace/earring set? Unique items by Hannah James. The necklace is a locket with an Eiffel tower charm and a delicate peach rose. The earrings are made to match! Simply beautiful. If you like a bigger earring these navy blue enamel hoop earrings are gorgeous!

Okay I must just say that this is an amazing scarf. It was hand knit by a beautiful young woman in our youth group. The colors are awesome and the quality is incredible. It’s great because it is long enough for you to wrap two or three times depending on how long or short you want it to fall. It’s super soft and very warm. Also lightweight – not bulky at all! Seriously, you’ll love this!

How adorable is that polka dot tissue holder from Nina Bina?! And the jersey ruffle scarf… so soft and too cute!!

Speaking of ruffles… the queen of ruffles herself!! Yes that is a Gussy pouch!!! Not only is Gussy super inspirational and a fellow blogger and Jesus lover (with the cutest dog I’ve ever seen in my life)… she also makes the most amazing ruffled goodies! I have a market tote and a wristlet from her shop – I use both every single day! This pouch is perfect to toss in your I.D. keys, and lip gloss when you want to just run out the door without a lot to carry.

Tukula is an amazing cause working to bring hope to women in Uganda. I couldn’t say it any better than they do… “We do this by giving our artisans an above average wage for quality handmade products an encouraging work environment, and access to international markets. They are then able to provide themselves and their families with homes, food, education, and hope for the future. Through working with Tukula, these ladies are gaining confidence, joy, and the opportunity to empower others.“  Love it. And you will love this bag… promise.

So there you have it! The beautiful things basket… filled to the brim with items to help you stay beautiful on the inside and the outside! This giveaway will be up on the blog until midnight on Valentines Day! I chose that day because I think it’s a beautiful day… one year ago this Valentine’s Day we stood in the US embassy in Addis Ababa and Mareto’s adoption became complete so that we could finally bring him home.  I’ll announce the winner on February 15th and make some beautiful person very happy. Don’t forget that This is a WIN – WIN situation! Even if you don’t win the basket you have still helped us bring our baby home AND you have the opportunity to win another basket next month!:)

After you donate…… post something about this on twitter, facebook ,or your blog (better yet – all 3!) and we’ll add your name again to the list. Just be sure to leave a comment with the link to your post about it!

Quick recap of what’s in this basket:

• BaByliss blow dryer
• round brush
• Redken hairspray
• Bumble and bumle shampoo and conditioner
• essie: 4 nail polish shades and nail polish remover
• O.P.I hand soap and hand lotion
• O.P.I nail polish in 3 shades plus top coat/base coat combo
• Rodan + Fields anti age hand treatment regimen and book
• beaute tweezers
• conair volume clip
• H2O bath gel
• Philosophy body lotion
• 6 scented candle votives
• Leslie Ludy book
• 40 handmade note cards w/ envelopes
• 2 embellished headbands
• Jewelry holder
• French charm locket with rose earrings
• hoop earrings
• hand knit infinity scarf
• Nina Bina Scarf and tissue holder
• Gussy small zipped pouch
• Tukula tote bag

***Special THANKS go to: Olivia at Salon Oh, my girl Anna, Leigh, Hannah James, Heather at Nina Bina, Crystal with Rodan + Fields, Ginny the fabulous knitter, and Debbie! You are all so beautiful to me! Thank you!

Watch the Beautiful Things slide show here.

In other news, the love one another tees arrived today! YES! I have been waiting almost a month for these bad boys! Let me just tell you, they look even more awesome in person and they are super duper soft! I’ll be packing them up tonight and heading to the post office tomorrow. So if you ordered one then be on the lookout, and if you didn’t then stay tuned because I am going to take some fun pictures and then you will be able to see just how bad you need one!

Be sure you stop by TOMORROW!! We’re kicking off another baskets of love giveaway full of “beautiful things” and trust me it’s amazing! You really really really don’t want to miss it!

Lastly – isn’t he the cutest? I mean really, I didn’t know babies came this precious…those eyes (melt me into a puddle why don’t you), that pink little nose, those lips (so stinking kissable!)… he’s just a slice of heaven!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our lives are going to change with a second child. Superficially I’ve also been thinking about the nursery/ kids room. I don’t know if we’ll be bringing home a little baby (like Mareto was) or an older baby… closer to toddler. But I’ve been wasting time having fun on pinterest coming up with all sorts of inspiration! Some of my favorite things….

I’m so thankful I learned to quilt before I became a mama! I’ll definitely be making this sometime soon!! [via]

Love the colors, but love the hand idea even more! [via]

This must be the cutest little mobile I’ve ever seen (and I love the wall color!) [via]

And speaking of cute!!! Look who I found on pinterest!! Yes, that’s an itty bitty Mareto you see there! My friend Tara started a wonderful shop: Creole Paperie. She makes the most beautiful announcements, invitations, stationary, and more! Check out her adorable ad in my sidebar and visit her shop! (PS – she changed the names in this announcement mockup to protect the innocent… just in case you were confused.)

1. Bring home my son from Ethiopia!!!   DONE
2.  Donate my hair to locks of love (this will probably happen the day I turn 30 since I like my hair long, so I’ve got a lot of growing out to do before I can donate and still have fairly long hair!) NEVER GONNA HAPPEN
3. Continue to grow Poppie Lane and help several families bring home their little ones through the Poppie Lane partnering fundraiser! DONE
4. Read the Bible in a year  IN PROGRESS
5. Go on a short term (or long term) mission trip
6. Take a road trip out west with my two best boys
7.  Make Mareto an older brother  IN PROGRESS ; )
8.  Finally commit and stick to an exercise schedule Yea… umm… does chasing a toddler count?
9. Be a part of an aiport welcome home party for an adopting family!
10. Get through seminary with John… pray that man through Greek!  ALMOST THERE – and Greek is done! ; )
11. Learn how to sew something new
12. Learn how to make duck breast (because I love it, that’s why!)
13. Make a flower garden in the front and a veggie garden in the back… and keep them beautiful!

It’s funny how much two trips to Africa and becoming a mama change your perspective on things. Somehow I am not so worried about learning to cook Duck, flower gardens, and sewing. I still love to travel but I don’t think I want to road trip all the way to the west coast with a 3 year old and a new baby (which will be our family dynamic when I am 30! ha!) I had to cut several inches off my hair when Mareto came home because he kept getting tangled in it and I was sick of pony tails… but not enough to donate. I doubt it will ever get long enough to donate without chopping it to my ears so yea, that’s not going to happen. I still hope to welcome home a family from the airport, but you know it just might be our own family I welcome home (as we step off the plane) and that’s okay too. As for the mission trip, that’s still a hope, but bringing home a baby is a mission and I’m going to count our next trips to Africa as our “short term mission trip.” ha

So now here I am a year later, a year older, and (I hope) a year wiser… I have a different perspective and different goals. They’re simple, but mean the world to me…

To love and serve Jesus

To love others

To be the best wife and mother I can… always looking out for the best interests of my family

To say yes to the adventures that God has planned for me

Here’s to another year filled with adventure… can’t wait to see what happens! ; )

2011 brought so much joy into our lives. If I could choose one word to describe our year that would be it… JOY. After years of waiting, hurting, losing, waiting, aching, longing, praying and waiting we finally held our precious boy in our arms…

We finally walked through the front door of our home with our very own precious bundle of love. We spent the year learning, laughing, creating memories, and delighting in absolutely everything about our little Mareto. Yes, joy. 2011 was just pure joy.

As I look ahead to 2012 and what word I anticipate shaping this new year we face, one thing keeps popping up in my mind…

I fully expect 2012 to be full of adventure… the kind that only God can do. The marvelous, wild ride that is life with Jesus.  I had no idea at the start of 2011 that we would not only bring home our sweet son, but that we would end the year with the decision to start all over again and bring home our next baby. But that’s exactly what happened. Then we made the decision and God threw a curve ball at us and the path we thought our adoption would take took a turn… a God turn.

Now here we are back at the beginning of a brand new year. Looking forward to the adventure that God has called us to. Looking forward to giving it all over to him… letting go of our plans for his marvelous adventure! All the while hoping and praying that we’re back on Africa soil before the end of 2012.

What’s your word for 2012? Be inspired here!