Can I put your baby in a basket??

You gotta love a friend where you can say...
"Ummm... Can I put your week old baby in a basket? Outside? In a pretty blanket? And take her picture? You know this would be fun for me, pleeeasssee?"

Introducing my girlfriends first kiddo, Payton. She was a perfect subject. This was my first newborn photo shoot and I hope to do more... precious!!!

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children God has graciously given your servant." Genesis 33:5

Payton, you are a gift from God!

Natasha
perrymanadoption

Project updates...

Project update:
Finished all the sewing for the quilt- it is completely pieced together. I sent it off with batting and a sheet to be quilted together. Looking forward to our new kiddos handmade quilt!

Next up:
1. Making a SEMO license plate for my dad
2. Tweaking and painting/distressing the new twin bed
3. Starting on a small qulit for Avi Joy, it will be made out of her baby clothes.

I had the opportunity to do two watercolors this week. Both clients were giving them as baby gifts.
Baby Jaxsen Alexis...
Baby Sadie...
NHP kitchen tip. (I am sure many have tried this, but it was a new idea in my mind and it worked out great!)
Our family tries to stay away from partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose sugar (at least 75% of the time anyway). We love our desserts and fast food, so we are not going for perfection here.
I have used/made several types of crusts, but they either didn't taste good or I could not get over the ingredients.
So... *idea*
When making your favorite Chicken Pot Pie- purchase two healthy deep dish pie crusts (mine come two in a pack) and flip one over. Bake as normal.
Turned out perfect! Yum!

VIETNAMESE LESSONS:
I read the most awesome article. Loved every word. Especially the part about their language. The people at our classes even disagree about how things are said because they are all from different regions.

Today was the churches/language school's 20th year celebration. All in Vietnamese, lots of games and food. They had not met Adam or Nehemiah yet, so that was fun. In the end (after lots of nerves and prayer) we sat down to eat (delicious authentic VN food, my first time to love the fish sauce) and so many people came over to talk to us and hear our story.

Our family lives by the motto... as a multi-cultural family you have to meet people from other cultures on purpose! It is hard and intimidating, but completely and totally worth it. I am falling for these people.
We went to lessons last week and they had asked the congregation if anyone would want to give us personal VN lessons. A beautiful woman named Kim Ahn offered to help us. Her sisters both adopted internationally. One from VN and the other from China. We had lots of laughs with our tones!

Have a beautiful week,
Natasha
perrymanadoption

"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that You, O God, are strong, and that You, O Lord, are loving." Psalm 62:11-12

Free Craft Friday with Mrs. P

Free Craft Friday with Mrs. P.... MAGIC BAGGIES
* A lesson in color mixing *

Again: FREE & EASY
(barring you have these things lying around your house of course)
SUPPLIES:
Ziplock Baggies
Foam Shaving Cream
Tape
Food Coloring
Markers

STEP 1:
Squirt shaving cream into baggie.
STEP 2:
Drop two different food coloring drops into the baggie.
Let out some of the air and seal the baggie with tape.
Write with colored marker on the tape which two colors (for your non-readers)
Put an = sign (Leave it blank for a real surprise)
Mix the baggie and see the results.
STEP 3:
Repeat with different colors
Examples:
Blue + Red = Purple
Red + Yellow = Orange
Blue + Yellow = Green
EXTRA FUN:
Have your kiddo tell you their favorite color...
Write their name on the back...

Enjoy,
Natasha

Thinking of You Quilt

I started a "Thinking of You Quilt" for our next kiddo. She/he has been on my mind as we are starting our 35 hours of required classes next week. As I am thinking and praying about our next addition, I wanted something to make for her bedroom. I choose a girl quilt. If it is a boy, I will make a boy one and give this one to my daughter- I think about her a lot too.

I have never quilted, but my mom can sew just about anything and I am convinced I have some of this too- its just lying dormant.
Several years ago for my birthday my dad called and said, "I want to get you a sewing machine for your birthday, because I think you would be really great at sewing!"
I love this about my dad... always encouraging my gifts.

After that, I sewed curtains and a few other things, but the patterns back then were just not as, "ooh-la-la" as they are now.
I CANNOT get over the beauty of the patterns these days. I have found a few local places to buy fabric and over the last month or so have been collecting a few for the "thinking of you quilt."

I chose seven fabrics for the quilt... (I wanted to buy a 100 more, so if you would like to send me some $$ to buy more fabrics, be my guest!)

My version of quilting:
Step one- buy fabric, draw out the design and cut all the pieces

Step 2- layout the design, the kids can watch
Step 3- sew it (have not started on this yet, but it's coming soon)

In other news, I heard the best female speaker of my life... Christine Caine from Hillsong in Australia.
I have heard many speakers, but Christine Caine was totally and completely on fire for Jesus! To say she was amazing is an understatement. And blogs too.
Hear both her messages!!! (week 1 and 2) WOW!

Hungry? Here is a yummy and quick meal.
My mom introduced me to Oroweat Sandwich thins. SO yummy. She uses them for everything from burgers to sandwiches.
I made little pizza's with them, they were perfect!
Toast bread
Cover in sauce-Our favorite marinara sauce- Emeril's or Newman's Own
Mozz cheese
Your favorite toppings
Bake 350 for 15 minutes

Word of the week- SURRENDER!

Happy Sum Hop Day to my daughter!
Natasha

Free Craft Friday with Mrs. P

I am an art teacher by trade and love to inspire others to paint and make crafts with their kiddos. I think it is SO important to let them create. Just as a parent into sports would think it is important for their kids to be on a softball team... all parents are created with gifts we pass on to our kiddos. This is my gift. I know I love to watch (and be inspired) by how other families do life so I hope you can be encouraged to create with your kiddo. For free!

FREE CRAFT FRIDAY with Mrs. P...
The Caterpillar
Supplies (ALL from around the house)
An old sock- who doesn't have one of those without a mate
4 wal-mart sacks
4 paper towels
hot glue gun (or needle/thread)
2 buttons
Thread (dental floss, pipe cleaners, yarn, anything)
Put the paper towel into the sack.
Make the sack into a ball and stuff it inside the sock.
Tie it up with thread
Repeat all 4 times. Glue (or sew) the end closed.
Hot glue (or sew) two buttons as eyes.
We added pipe cleaners as the antennae.
Don't have pipe cleaners. Draw/paint them on the sock.
We wrapped some around the body just for fun.
And no they do not have legs. But you could paint them on.
If you would like to add 1,000 legs be my guest and let me know what you used.
Important: Let your child NAME their caterpillar!
Her choice: Kissy Ma-nonda

Have a wonderful weekend!
Natasha

Do you like my fanny pack?

My mom, Avi Joy and I started Vietnamese lessons this weekend. Talk about...


WE.WERE.THE.ONLY.WHITE.PEOPLE.THERE! It is not often that we find ourselves standing out in a crowd, but in this case, we walked into a Vietnamese language school (about 200 people) and we're definitely noticed!
When I googled "standing out in a crowd" something else came up.
Yes, fanny pack's too will get you noticed. (over a speedo with your shirt rolled up of course)
So we walk in, fully Caucasian, with fanny packs on and a Vietnamese child in our arms. I had major butterflies and felt really nervous. We ended up talking with the language school director, Hai, and he was super nice. While talking with him, several more people came and welcomed us and encouraged us about starting lessons. We were SO thankful for their hospitality.
Avi Joy will be in the 3-5 age class learning ABC's, colors and numbers.
My mom and I will be in the "Advanced 3rd grade class." I LOVE it. Two adults with 8 years olds. Hey, if you want to learn and be apart of a new culture, you have to do uncomfortable things. Nonetheless, we are pumped about learning Vietnamese!!!

On an artistic note my Vietmom-blog-friend posted this and it peeked my interest...

Any opportunity to serve kiddos with art always sounds like a great idea to me... so, I entered a painted step stool for the silent auction.
I painted it red with flower design on one side and a scripture on the other side. Fully distressed it and aged with paint. I love the little mail handle pulls on the sides, so cute.
"Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

A little sip of my life...
Natasha

One of the most awesome things in life is a divine appointment. Its when you meet someone or something happens that you know is not just chance, it is a divinely planned moment from God.
I have had more this summer than in the last 10 years combined!

I have already shared one, well here are two more... (and there are others, written down in a journal, so I don't forget His goodness.)

MEETING OANH...
While the kids and I were walking in our neighborhood park an Asian lady jogged passed us. I had that voice/feeling/prompting thing that happens- “Ask her ethnicity…” I did not want too, but there it was again- pushing- DO IT.
So I asked her.
She said, "Oh I am Vietnamese."

I introduced our family and we became instant friends.
We had everything in common. We both have a boy and girl, our girls are 2 weeks apart in age. We both graduated from NSU, she has the same degree as Adam, accounting. We have both lived in our neighborhood for 8 years and both gone to beauty school. We are passionate for Vietnam and we both wanted to share our Vietnamese/English lessons with a friend.

After talking for a while she invited us over to her house. We spent about about 30 minutes there then she came over to my house and we hung out a little more...
We could have talked the afternoon away, but long story short, it was a divine appointment. And I so look forward to practicing my Vietnamese bài học with her.

MEETING NIKKI...
All families built through adoption have to face many inappropriate statements or questions that we have to answer. I have shared a few moments before, one here, and we know it goes hand in hand with how our family is built- but that does not always make it easy.
I am REJOICING today because this meeting could not have been further from one of "those" moments, it was rather a breath of fresh air, a beautiful divine appointment!

It goes like this:
We pull up to Lowes to buy a screen for our backdoor as to stop the millions of flies from coming in the house. (We have new outdoor toys- so fun, but the flies must stop.)
I get out, grab Nehemiah and I hear...
"You are a lucky mommy," from behind me.
I turn around and a lady in the row in front of us has her window rolled down with a big smile.
I say, "Are you a lucky mom too?"
She says "Yes (with tears) four times over. Our children are all from Mexico."
From there our families go into Lowes and had The Best conversation.
Our families are so much alike and our passions were in line.
It will be exciting to see where this leads, we are looking forward to a playdate with them.

THANK YOU LORD FOR YOUR DIVINE APPOINTMENTS.
"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." Psalm 40:5

NHP