It's Adopt Shoppe Auction Time!!!

One of the 20 being auctioned off!

What's better than Christmas???
YOU being READY for it! :)
And I've got an AWESOME way...
The Adopt Shoppe's necklaces!!! 
There are TWENTY that are being auctioned off over on our "Shaw Family Adoption" page on Facebook. The auction runs through 9 pm EST this Saturday.
That means you've got to get bidding to WIN!
If you are not familiar with The Adopt Shoppe, let me strongly encourage you to follow them on Instagram and to like their page on Facebook. 
Owner Kate has a passion for orphans and adoption and is a busy mom of 4 herself! She has adopted some of her clan and understands the need for fundraising. She graciously holds fundraisers occasionally and we are SOOOOOO HONORED to have her do this for our family!
That said, The Adopt Shoppe does not keep stock of their necklaces. She makes them late at night (like a good Proverbs 31 woman! ;) ) and she will often sell her work (bracelets too!) on Instagram with flash sales. They are so fun to watch! (and very hard to win!)
I also wanted to show you the quality of her work as I have my own personal necklace that she made for me recently:

Sideview

 See how the glass domes? Isn't that sooooo cool? You can't really tell that from the pictures, so I wanted to show you JUST HOW COOL they really are!!!!

So I HOPE you can see that these are awesome gifts and a wonderful wonderful idea for your Christmas shopping!! Don't let this auction pass you by!!

Here's a few more of the ones that are in our sale:

And MANY MORE!!! Hop on over and take a peek!! You could be the most AMAZING SANTA this year!! ;) 

Click here to go directly to the auction.

Now Fundraising for Esty---with Scentsy!!!

We have been blessed again with an opportunity to raise funds for Esty's adoption!
A new friend, Jennifer, has so graciously offered her entire commission to Esty's fund from anyone who purchases Scentsy (super fun, good smelling "treats" for your home!) using her online party website!!
WOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!
That's 25% of total sales will go directly to help us bring dear Esther "Esty" out of her orphanage and HOME where she can begin school, therapy and understanding that she is TREASURED AND LOVED by us, her family.

Yah, this girl makes my heart go pitter-pat. I want to love on her so badly!!!

All you have to do to participate is to click on this link to Jennifer's site and choose "Scentsy for Esty Shaw" under the SHOP tab at the top (so her party gets the credit!) We have until OCTOBER 15th to have sales come in.
Oh, and get ready for your stuff to get to you PRONTO! My friend ordered her stuff one day and got it THE NEXT DAY!!! Hello late shoppers...is that birthday coming soon? Here ya go!!! Yer welcome!!
So whatcha doin still reading? Get shopping: www.jenniferchester9286.scentsy.us
...and THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! 

Double birthdays--Toby's FIRST in a Family!!

Crazy happy to have him HOME for our birthday!!!

What a joy it was to celebrate this year TOGETHER with Toby!!  As you probably know, we have the very same birthday, August 13th! That was one of the "God winks" that helped confirm that he was indeed our son. Last year, we did a fundraiser...an effort to find 42 people who might consider giving $42 in honor of my 40th and Toby's 2nd birthday. But guess what?!?!?! Instead of raising the hoped-for $1,764 that is 42 X $42...YOU AMAZING FRIENDS AND FAMILY gave over $8,000 for our birthdays!!!!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are truly amazing. We even had gifts for our birthday from as far away as SINGAPORE!!!  Astonishing. And now, that precious orphan is now home. And he's our son. And it was his birthday. His first ever to be celebrated in a family. His first ever in a home. His first ever with cake and ice cream. His first ever presents.  And my my did he like it!!!

This is the cake I made him...with his beloved "Bu Ow" (pronounced BOO-ow) that he got from his very first emergency room trip. Yah, that IS kinda funny huh? 

With the actual stuffed dog toy that inspired the cake.

Opening gifts was especially fun!

This is the moment he realized what it was--AIRPLANE!!

Anneli steals a kiss with kitten Mitzi Moo.

Just being a teenager. ;)

With his new guitar!!! Happy boy!

 I ADORE the wonderful way that Zeb held back...not stealing his brother's new toys away and actually handed some of the pieces for him to play with...what a FABULOUS brother!!

Afterwards we were invited outside to watch the BIKE SHOW!!! :)

Lovely announcer Jensi presented each bike rider...

The amazing Darrah Kate!! (Note her standing UP riding trick!!)

Here comes....Zareb the maestro!

This trick is called, "Super high wheelie!"

AND NOW....the STAR of our show:

OLIVER!!!

Look at that balance, folks!! 

(Anneli's role was to cue kids for their parts from the garage)

Seriously?!? I never knew he could do this!!! (and i love his tongue out!)

Not to be outdone by her older brother, DQ is riding with her left hand OFF the handle!!!

It was a really wonderful celebration!!! And if all this wasn't enough...Brian got a picture of the kids with me!! (...and the miracle was that only ONE shot was snapped!! They actually ALL SMILED IN ONE FRAME!!!)

Thanks for sharing my birthday, Toby. You absolutely bless my life so much. Rock on!!

An AUCTION!!! For Toby!

I have THE SWEETEST FRIENDS EVER.

Like EVER.

Friends who are also in the middle of their own adoption process...

who have become fully funded...

and have said, "I want to help you!"

So this is what they have done...rallied together and gathered items for an auction!! Special thanks to the mastermind behind it all, Chasity!!! And thanks to EVERYONE who has donated items! :)

ONLINE AUCTION EVERYONE!!!

Woot woot!!!

This lovely auction will begin TOMORROW February 21 and will close Sunday, February 24th at 4 pm CST.

Want a sneak peak?? Auction items can be viewed here!!!

Just got word--SEVEN more items will be listed soon! Yippie!!!

Please...

               SHARE the auction link with your networks

                     PRAY for God's blessing on it

                               and BID on items!!!



Spread the word!!!! You! Go! Share! Now! :) :) :)

Feet 2 Our Faith--the bracelet!

Wow! What a gift!!

My new friend from Funky Fish Designs has learned about our family and our adoption and just THIS MORNING has created this awesome bracelet to benefit our adoption!!

They are personalized JUST for us!

Feet 2 Our Faith!

Hooray!!!

There are only a PRECIOUS FEW available...so if you want one: JUMP!

Cost is $25 which includes shipping.

Use the Paypal button to the side (where it says, "Pay for Clay Necklaces") and indicate that this is for the Feet bracelet.

Proceeds help bring the Tobster HOME!!!

Toby Tees are HERE!!!

That's right! We are sooooo excited about our Toby Tees...and we hope you will be too! :)

Click the "Shop!" tab above to be directed to the sales page! Order now...quantities are limited and we want you to have them in time for Christmas! 

Toby, come home!!

Book It for Baby!

Time for a FRESH NEW FUNDRAISER!!!

Why???

To bring this now BIGGER boy home to our family!

(Can you believe how different he looks than that little boy in the crib in the sidebar?!?! Me neither!!)

Anyway, back to the goods!

We have the fabulous opportunity to earn funds for bringing Toby home by hosting an Usborne Book Party!!

Yayyyyy!!!! (the crowd goes wild!)

I have a history of home schooling. Not a long history, about 2 years is all actually. But during that time we bought many Usborne books because they are SO WONDERFUL and full of awesomely colored pages and information that our kids gobbled up. These books are so wonderful that Sonlight curriculum uses volumes of them in their Core curriculums. So when my friend offered to hold a party with these same books to help bring The Tobster home, well, let's just say I JUMPED UP AND DOWN!!

Just to throw a little marketing your way, here is what they about their books:
Usborne and Kane Miller books are the most exciting, engaging and educational books on the market today. They are high quality, innovative, lavishly-illustrated and best of all they are the books kids love to read. Choose from almost 2,000 bright colorful and fun titles covering a wide variety of subjects.

And I agree!! My kids POUR over these books!!!

I went around our house just collecting the Usborne titles we have loved over the years and this is what I've come up with:

Most of our titles are science and history related, but clearly Usborne has fiction and other books too! ;)

So what do our mommy-minds think about after we've put our kiddos back on the school bus and kicked off the school year?

Christmas!

(Stop rolling your eyes, you KNOW it's coming in just 4 months, don't you???)

We also have birthdays in between now and then too!

So here's what I'm thinking. Let's all get AHEAD this year. Consider gifting your beloved ones with books! I can attest to all FIVE of our children pouring over these books for HOURS at a time!

If you choose to do this, you have the joint pleasure knowing that your purchases have helped bring our little Toby-man home!! Twenty-five percent of your purchase will be deposited into Toby's adoption fund. Plus, the more people buy Toby will earn free welcome home books! How cool is THAT?!? I absolutely cannot WAIT to hold him and read to him!!

Follow this linky-dink to shop! Click me! Just to be sure your purchase helps Toby, please select "Amy Shaw" under "choose your event" (never knew I was an event before, haha!) before you proceed to shop.

Awesome! 

Da Big One!!

I have long loved birthdays!

And...as much as it's not "proper" to...I love MINE! :)

And this year folks, it's the BIG ONE.

Yes, somehow it happened and I'm turning:

and our little Toby is turning 2 on the very same day!

As I see it, I got to use this fabulous day for my birthday for forty wonderful years. Now it's time for me to give this wonderful birthday to someone else...a very special little boy in China.

You see, it was the sharing of our birthdays that God used to speak clearly to us that Toby is our son. He went from being another unwanted orphan on a waiting list to standing off the page as our child. And it was that AUGUST 13th that did it.

So, I got to thinking...what best way to celebrate this momentous occasion????

Although I have much excitement over turning 40, my heart is broken because on the other side of the planet, a little boy sits in a crib and needs to have immediate medical attention so his muscles and joints do not further contract with his condition. That little boy will spend a birthday with no fanfare, no cake, no funny little songs that our family sings. In short, he will turn 2 without any celebration at all.

This simply breaks my Momma's heart.

So, I propose to you we do a little something.

In place of my birthday, I choose to have 40+2 friends/family donate $40+2 to our Adopt Together account to help bring him home.

I want to be SURE that he is HOME for his next birthday, and every single one after that!!

Will you celebrate my 40th and Toby's 2nd by giving to our adoption account? If you have a big birthday celebratory heart, you might consider giving more than $42...say $420? Or $4,200! I don't want to stop the celebration by limiting anyone! ;) 

And you get an extra little giggle by reading all the way to the end...a genuine circa 1974 picture of ME at age 2...the same age as our little Toby!

Let's bring this little boy HOME!!

Picture Yourself...Helping Toby Home!

So...this past weekend I had amazing fun with my all-time BFF!!

They are SO cute, aren't they?

She and her precious family came and visited us for 2 wonderful days...we laughed and talked and just had a great time together.

One thing we did was take a few family pictures for them. This took about 10 minutes...and then we were back to hanging out and laughing.

It was way cool.

I just emailed her the files to print.

And it started my wheels turning...

What if we offered to do little "mini sessions" like this for others in exchange for donations to help bring Toby home?

We tossed around some ideas...

...so if YOU are looking to have 

some high quality family portraits done 

mid to late August...

...then we invite you to contact us about taking a slot. (Comment here or on Facebook and we'll get details out as soon as possible.)

As a caveat, this will not be a "full session" like we used to do with our photography clients. The time allotment will be 10-15 minutes per family. It will not be for large groups. It will be light retouching only. You will do the printing. (One of the main reasons we stopped our photography was the enormous time commitment on our part. The goal of this project will be to provide you with a high quality image of your precious ones with minimal time on our end.)

Obviously, this will be limited to people who live nearby. Sorry friends in Singapore! How much we'd love to come and shoot on location!

If you would like to donate toward our efforts to bring Toby home you can always click on his picture in the side bar and give directly to our Adopt Together account. All gifts are tax deductible.

We hope that this will be a delightful way to raise funds to help meet our next agency payment to bring home our little man!

Just picture yourself...helping bring Toby home!