A Different kind of Valentine

This Valentine's Day I didn't get a box of chocolates or flowers.  There wasn't a silly stuffed animal in pink of red holding a heart and singing songs or a frou frou card to say, "I love you!".  It's not that I have anything against those things....I just happen to be a practical gal and didn't get any of those things for him.  Tonight the  bank teller asked, "Do you have any Valentine's plans?"
I kindly replied, "No, I'll be at Awana's tonight with 2 of my kids." : )

And as I drove away and headed to the post office to send off our adoption fingerprints to the FBI and his passport renewal I got a big smile and thought of the wonderful Valentine's gift my husband is.  Here is a man who is taking this journey of adoption again and this time half way across the world.  Here is a man who truly loves God and has taken such wonderful care of me and my children.

Happy Valentines Day, Chris!  and thanks for taking the silly picture above with me.

The Heart of it

Now this is a reason to make jewelry.  This is what makes me smile and happy to be a part of etsy and this blog world where God brings us all together.  I had the honor of donating this piece for a fundraiser for this lovely family who are adopting there sweet little girl, Shannon from Bulgaria.  It's beautiful to be a part of bringing their girl home.  Lord, thank you and bless them richly.

Russian hand painted brooch with fresh water pearls, black spinel gemstones, rhinestone rondelles, sterling silver chain and clasp.

Christmas in 4 photos

How to Make Large Prop book

I know you all asking yourselves, "How do I make a very large fake prop book for my daughter's Christmas play?"  Well you are in luck.  I learned how to do this from the help from Dave Lowe (he was kind enough to share on his blog to help out this Mom)  Thanks Dave.  Here's my Tuesday Tutorial on Thursday.  Or presenting Thursday Tutorial....

Onward.  First start with foam core and cut front, back and binding.  Take chipboard (thin dense cardboard like on the back of paper pad) and use that to cut embellishments, strips on binding and raised middle.  Make sure it fits together then glue with spray mount.  I also added cut down furniture nail heads to the 4 embellishments in the corners with glue gun (seen in the next pic).

Next you will decoupage paper towels to your book with watered down Matte Modge Podge and let dry.  This gives a textured and weathered look.  When it's dry tape together on the inside and use glue gun if needed on the outside.

Now we add gold paint and let dry.  Then stipple and wipe off burgandy paint to give a distressed look.  Then use stickers or your handydandy Cricket to cut out the title of the book and glue on.  Also add holly to the corners because it's a Christmas play and The nice Director wants holly.  Then take your Mod Podge and decoupage the whole book to give nice matte protection.  When it's dry glue in fake pages that have been crumpled and distressed with ink on the edges.


And here is the finished prop on stage.  Isn't that stage warm and cozy?  Makes me want some hot chocolate.

Cardboard box, tape and some paint

Look at this supper cool car that my brilliant husband built for Elias' Awanas Drive In Movie Night. This night is so much fun for the kids because they get to play games, parade, eat, and watch a movie in their cardboard box cars. Can you say over achiever.....really this doesn't look like a box to me.

And I had to share Ivory's Awana box car Airstream from 2006 also built by Chris and painting and images by me. Don't you love the picture of us looking out the back? It's a real photo blown up.

Orphan Sunday....today!

Faces of Adoption from Videos for AGCI on Vimeo.

This is video from our adoption agency, All Gods Children International with Matthew West's song, "One Less."

Today is Orphan Sunday. Orphan Sunday is a call to the Church for awakening and action on the part of the orphan. What can you do?

Fabulous Coffee

Announcing our new online coffee shop:

justlovecoffee.com/TheKohlers

We will admit that we are coffee snobs. We own our own Expresso machine that gets used twice a day and even more if friends or family stop by. We even call the machine by name....Expobar. If it wasn't so big, we would take it with us on our vacations in our trailer. That being said, we are serious about coffee and always on the lookout for superb coffee beans that give a bold shot of espresso with rich and lovely crema. Well we have found the ultimate roaster with superb beans!! Even organic coffee beans (organic is the way to go if you are going to be drinking this much coffee : ) The 3 coffees that we sampled were all wonderful. This is top quality Fair Trade, mircro-batch roasted deliciousness. We are happy to be partnering with Just Love Coffee Roasters in our adoption fundraising efforts.

A little about Just Love Coffee from their website:

Love kids? Love coffee? We do too. There are an estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world and this number is expected to grow. Rob Webb, founder of Just Love Coffee Roasters, knows personally how expensive the adoption process is. The thought of having to raise tens of thousands of dollars to adopt a child is staggering to many. It can be the obstacle that stands in the way of a family's commitment to adopt, and many times slows down the process of bringing an adoptive family's child(ren) home. Many people don't know where to start. Just Love Coffee Roasters wants to be that starting point for raising money to help unite the families with their children.

We have set up a online coffee shop and we are selling bags of coffee for $13-$14 for 13oz. bag plus shipping. The beans are for drip and espresso and come ground or whole bean with over 18 to choose from. (The shipping is the same if you buy 1 or two bags.)

Visit our store: justlovecoffee.com/TheKohlers