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Our online auction to help raise funds for our adoption is finally here! To view the auction, click here:  www.32auctions.com/mayesadoption .  This link will take you directly to our auction. You can view items without creating an account, but in order to place a bid, you will need to create an account (like almost every other website these days) with your email address, a bidding username, and a password. Important note: once you've created an account you'll be sent an email and asked to verify your account by clicking the link in the email, then you'll be ready to bid! We have some great items available (some may have already caught some "sneak peaks"). The website only allows one small photo of each auction item, so I'm adding all auction items with their descriptions to this post so people can get a better look at each item. Auction ends November 15th. Hope you find something you like, and happy bidding! Original Wall Art: Thanks to my brother Ca...

Here's a sneak peak of a few of the items up for auction! Original artwork by Caleb Palmer Shabaka's Sermon: Winner of this item gets to choose a scripture for Shabaka to preach on at church Handmade baby girl shoes and headband Authentic Korean table setting Again, this is just a sneak peak. There's lots more to come including more wall decorations, a photo package, gift baskets, handmade items and more. Auction starts this Saturday!

November is National Adoption Month. I didn't know this until I stumbled upon this information about a week ago. It made me so excited because it's something I can participate in as we are waiting for our journey to take off, and because I had already decided to hold our online auction to raise funds for our adoption the first two weeks of November. What a perfect time to have this event! The focus for National Adoption Month is finding loving, permanent homes for the foster children who are waiting to be adopted. While everyone involved in any type of adoption should celebrate and raise awareness this month, the main focus is to raise awareness for the children in the U.S. foster care system that are available for adoption. While our adoption is not through the foster system, I am excited to play a part in raising awareness about adoption in general and specifically for those in the foster care system. So, I guess this is sort of a warning that there is more to come on...

We've completed our garage sale fundraiser and are in the midst of caramel popcorn sales! Check out my "Popcorn for Adoption" page if you haven't yet. Very soon, November 1st to be exact, we will begin our final fundraiser for the fall, and I am so excited about this one! We are going to hold an online "silent" auction. It's similar to a live silent auction, just done online. The way it works is very similar to an eBay type auction, except that the items available to bid on cannot be purchased from a site such as eBay. The auction will last two weeks, and each item will be available to bid on for a few days. The reason I'm so excited about this auction is because I know the items that are generously being donated are going to be amazing! I'm going to have a hard time not keeping them for myself. :) There will be something for everyone at this auction, and it comes just before Christmas! What a great way to Christmas shop! There will be on...

I've been seeing this article go around on facebook (thus being shared by many of my friends), so I decided to read it, and I felt a response was necessary. This is my response, but it is not a comprehensive overview of everything I believe about courtship (that would be a long conversation). I think this article is giving a response to a specific group of people from whom the author feels he has been hurt. It is not giving any answers to help change the broken marriages (or non-marriages) that are rampant in today's society. Here's my response: My personal opinion is that many of us get much too caught up in the "lingo", the words. Courting, dating, casual dating, traditional dating, etc, etc, and many times each of those words means something different to different people. So, I don't think we should get caught up in what "word" a person is using in reference to their romantic life (or getting to know the opposite sex, whatever you want to refe...

Nathan and I would like to give a huge "Thank You" to all those that helped make this weekend a success! Both local community members and church friends were very supportive by making their purchases of our caramel popcorn at the Bethel Sheep Festival (and at church :)). It was especially a huge blessing when complete strangers would find out the reason for our selling the popcorn and give us a "keep the change" or a couple that just made a small donation without purchasing anything. We are so blessed to have people surround us and be so supportive in our endeavor. We have been able to continue our small start to our adoption fund. If you especially enjoyed our caramel popcorn and would like to place an order at some point, maybe for a party, special occasion, or just because you like it, check out my "Popcorn for Adoption" page at the top. Just to put a reminder out there, again for the locals, we are having our garage sale on September 12-13 in Shel...

We are officially on our way to our first adoption fundraiser! As in, we've made our first 10 bags of popcorn for the fundraiser. This fall we will be selling our delicious homemade caramel popcorn, thanks to Nathan's dad's amazing recipe. Of course the delicious part is my personal opinion, but we've received good reviews so far from those that have been able to sample it. Our first stop for selling this popcorn is coming up this weekend, August 30-31, at the Bethel Sheep Festival in Bethel, MO. We will have our own stand where we will be selling this homemade popcorn and lemonade shake-ups. If you live in the area, stop by on Saturday or Sunday and grab a bag. We will also be selling our popcorn at all the HCA volleyball and basketball home games this season, so if you aren't able to make it to the festival, you can catch us at the games. If anyone would have any other great ideas of where we could or should sell our popcorn this fall, send them my way! Fun...

I love birthdays. I love celebrating people and their lives, I love getting together with family, I love giving presents (especially to my kids), and I love getting presents. I have a friend who really loves birthdays & every morning on each of her children's birthdays she sets out birthday decorations and makes pancakes for her children; one pancake for each year. How fund would that be seeing the stack grow each year? I don't do that, but I'm thinking about stealing the idea. Last week I celebrated my birthday, and I loved it just as much as I always do. I went out on a date with my husband the evening of my birthday, and even though we had to do grocery shopping while we were out, I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. The next evening we got together with my family for a birthday dinner. It was a simple affair, but I had a wonderful time. Here's one of the gifts I received. The star in Korea marks Mokpo where my husband was born. Today my thoughts turn ...

It's been a while since I've posted, and a lot has happened since then. My wonderful husband graduated with his Master's degree from Liberty Theological Seminary (so proud of you honey!) and he and I made a trip out to Virginia for the graduation ceremony. It was like a second honeymoon! We took our kiddos to Branson for a whole week and got to see my brother and sister-in-laws family. My parents, sister, and other brother were there also. I don't think I could ever get tired of family time. I don't think we've ever taken a week-long vacation with the kids. It was amazing! My little man turned 5, and he is PROUD of it! He starts kindergarten on Monday  (my kids go to a year-round school). Nathan and I "celebrated" our 9th anniversary. He happened to be out of town that day, but I think the honeymoon trip to Virginia makes up for that. I the midst of all of these activities were t-ball games... lots of them! :) And we jus...

Nathan and I get this question fairly regularly, so I thought I'd write an updated post. We are actually still in the early pre-adoption stage, as we have not yet even applied to an agency to begin our home study. Currently we are working on saving and raising money. Just a heads up, some fundraising will begin this summer including a garage sale (which anyone in close proximity is welcome to donate items towards), an online private auction, among other small things here and there. More will come on those later. Something to pray about is our finances. I have been told that the U.S. government looks at our amazing work benefits (housing and more) as strictly benefits and doesn't take that into consideration when looking at our annual income. So, our annual income looks somewhat low for a family of going on 6. I of course think this is utterly ridiculous and unfair, but "the world is not fair, honey," and I'm sure there will be many other situations come up throu...

These blog tutorials can be found all over the internet, but I was excited that I pinned a diy project on Pinterest and actually did it! There are also several different methods you can use to make these, but here I will share with you how I did it. Supplies you will need: Oatmeal container Paper or fabric Glue gun (and glue sticks :) Modge Podge Paintbrush Decorations as desired Wooden pieces for stand (optional) Spray paint (optional) Here is what I used: If you are the make-tons-of-crafts type of person (and you like oatmeal) this project would cost you almost nothing. Most craft people would have most of these items on hand and could use leftover decoration pieces from other projects. I am not so much that type of person, so I had to buy everything for this project except for the oatmeal container, Modge Podge, and paintbrush. It still cost less than buying one from Etsy or some similar site, and I found everything I needed at Hobby Lobby. *A piece of advice I...

Frankly, I love to give my kids gifts, so pretty much any excuse to do so is good enough for me. This year I am especially excited about the Easter gifts we will be giving them. Much more so than they probably will be actually, at least the younger two. This year we got each of them some sort of book about adoption. This was actually spurred on by my oldest, Ariana. I was reading some thick "Complete Adoption Guide" book, and she was sure she wanted to read it too. Of course, the reading level was a bit above her, and it was filled with many details she wouldn't want to read. So, I decided to search on Amazon, and these are the books I decided on. I'm sure there are many adoption books out there that I didn't even happen upon, but I am happy with what I chose. All About Adoption is for Ariana. It was so perfect for her; I couldn't believe I actually found a book that was exactly what she wanted. I asked her what she wanted to know about adoption and ...

So, ever since we've started this adoption journey, I've read a lot about adoption support groups and how they are usually very helpful for adoptive parents, and also for the children once the adoption is complete. The problem is, I live in a very rural area, so actually attending a real-life support group is not really an option for us. I've also looked a Yahoo groups without much success. I think that's old news. Facebook is where it's at when it comes to online groups. I have searched a little on Facebook, but I'm not sure I want to join some random group of people and start sharing my heart and the joys and struggles that come with adoption. I've been thinking for a few months that maybe someday after we have adopted I will start my own adoption support group. Maybe there will be more people in my church wanting to adopt or in their own process that would like some help, support, and encouragement. And, hopefully someday I will do that, but just last w...

I realize this photo may not be nearly as exciting to most of you as it is to me, but I just had to share. I received my passport in the mail last week. It only took two weeks! That seemed very fast to me. I was expecting 6-8 weeks. Since there are not too many things that we can do until we start our home study, this beautiful booklet is even more special to me. It is something I can tangibly hold and touch and feel that will get me one step closer to bringing our child home (one who is probably not yet born). And, since it's good for 10 years, it's one thing I won't have to think about later on. Now to get one for my husband. One other thing that we are working on to get us a little closer to bringing our child home is fundraising. We have not started any fundraising "campaigns" or large endeavors, we are currently just collecting funds as we can to add to our adoption fund. Don't you worry, larger events will come in the future, such as a garage sa...

We just finished our annual Missions Conference at our church, and I still feel like I am in conference mode. I love this conference and other similar times throughout the year. Doesn't it make you exhausted you ask? Yes, absolutely; completely and utterly exhausted (thus you may encounter thoughts that aren't quite complete or incorrect spellings, sorry for that). But, it is all worth it. It is so wonderful to see old friends, meet new friends, learn new things, and be in the presence of God together. There also happened to be a wedding smashed in the middle of this conference, so I got to see even more friends this year (shout out to my awesome friend Ashley from Ohio). I especially loved seeing these friends. Okay, so they're my brothers and sister, and I happen to live near 2 of them, but my oldest brother lives far away, and I always love being with them all. Plus, we hadn't taken a photo of just us together for years. Okay, now back to the conference. On th...

If you couldn't already tell from the picture, Nathan and I have decided to pursue adoption through South Korea! Of course this is not a 100% guarantee as we have not completed a home study, or even applied to an agency at this point. So, why Korea? Of course it would seem obvious since my husband is a Korean adoptee, but we have actually looked into many countries. We have spent the last 2-3 months looking online at all the regulations for adopting from each country (including the US), what ages are usually adopted from each country, and talked to a few friends who have adopted or are currently in the process. We ultimately chose Korea because yes, this is the homeland of my husband, and that did seem important to us, but we chose it for many other reasons as well. Our family seems to fit the criteria for adopting from the country, most children that are adopted are babies or toddlers and we want this child to be younger than our youngest (who is currently 14 months ...

I am not a big goal setter to be honest. I mostly just live my life and take whatever comes my way and deal with it when we get there. My husband likes to set goals, and I usually hate it when he asks me what my goal in life is, or what my goal is for the next 5 years, etc. However, I think my view on this is changing recently. Now, I am not talking about huge future goals. For those of you that set those, great, I applaud you, but I am in what I would call the baby steps of goal setting in my life, and I'm quite enjoying it. Actually, most of these goals didn't start out as such, they sort of developed into that. I will explain. 1. Exercising - I don't usually set New Year's resolutions, but this year my husband wanted to talk to the youth group about setting some goals and having passion in life, so I thought I should at least come up with something. So, here was my great New Year's resolution: to get the elliptical machine upstairs and actually use it. Wow, a...

I feel the need to write a blog this week. Why, I am not so sure. I think it may be that "unspoken" New Year's Resolution I may or may not have made to write on my blog about once a week. If I don't write on it fairly often then one week will turn into two weeks, then two months, and so on and so on. So, what should I write about? All the uncertanties of the adoption and if we'll be approved for the home visit, or if we'll have enough money, or how long it will be until our wonderful beautiful child is home? Should I write about the uncertanties of the crazy snow outside and how a person can hardly see a hand in front of their face, let alone where the actual road is compared to the ditch?! Or should I write about the uncertanties of this country, the politics, the moral dilemmas being brought up every day, and on and on and on? There are so many uncertanties in life, or so it would seem to us. But there is someone who sees things a little differently than...

As I've been researching lately and reading books and blog posts, I feel like there is so much about adoption and orphan care that I don't know, yet I already feel that God is turning my heart not only towards adopting a child of our own, but somehow getting involved in orphan care. There are so many practical ways to do this, and God hasn't directed me toward one specific way yet, but the desire and passion is beginning to grow in my heart. I've recently been reading this book called Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.This book emphasizes God's heart towards us and how he has adopted us into His family. It takes this wonderful example from all over the scriptures to show us how we should have the same heart toward others, especially orphans. The book of course talks about adoption and contains adoption stories, but is also a cry to the Church to "take care of the orphans and the widows" through financial support, prayer support, adoption and so...

So, Nathan and I are going to adopt. Yes, I said it, adopt. There has been a recent change from "Nathan and I would like to adopt someday" to "we are going to adopt". I have so many thoughts running through my head these days that this post may end up in a jumbled mess, but we'll just see. We are in the very beginning baby stages of our journey toward adoption, but you have to start there before you can go any further. It is so exciting and scary at the same time. I've heard others compare their process of adoption as similar to the feelings you have when you are pregnant with a biological child, and I feel that same way now. I feel like I did when I was pregnant with my first child, Ariana. While I was pregnant, I read everything about babies and pregnancy that I could get my hands on, I thought about it all the time and talked about it all the time. I feel as though I'm reacting the same way now, reading everything I can about adoption, researching a...