A FUNdraiser: Bringing Tuck Home

Okay, so first of all, Abbey and I are not really big on fundraisers. With Reed, we didn't do any fundraisers, with Nash and Will we did a couple and with Tuck we barely have time to think about it.
The truth is, though, that adoption is really expensive. Especially when you are talking about adopting your FOURTH child! Abbey and I try to live as the best stewards of our money as possible.
We believe that God has called us to adopt and we believe that He will provide for our adoption. We also believe that because He has called us, we must do as much as we can to pay for it ourselves.
Since news of Tuck has come into our lives, God has continually provided ways for us to earn extra income. Abbey and I have both taken on quite a few freelance writing assignments, we have been blessed to have been asked to speak at conferences, and Abbey has even gotten extra work hours. And, she is selling Scentsy to raise funds (more on that in another post!).
Each of these financial blessings have gone into our adoption fund. I share all that to let you know that we don't take anyone's participation in a fundraiser that we initiate lightly. We want you to know that we are very appreciative for your help and consideration.
Each time we have adopted, we have not really known where the money would come from, but God has always provided.

One of my coworkers and her husband are experts in creating beautiful pottery and she made us 100 of these ornaments shaped like Taiwan to sell as a fundraiser. They are so awesome.
The ornaments come in red, blue, light green, hunter green, and white.
We are selling them for $10.00 each (which includes shipping) and they come wrapped in a box and ribbon. (We are discounting orders for multiples.)

100% of the proceeds will go towards Tuck's adoptions.

If you would like to purchase an ornament, comment on the blog with your email address (I won't publish it) or email us at jeffandab AT yahoo DOT com.


If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our adoption, please email me and I will tell you how. I know it is getting close to the end of the year and sometimes people need to catch up on their giving to avoid penalties from Uncle Sam!

Again, please know that Abbey and I are aware of the great sacrifices that you make and we appreciate your prayers more than anything. Please know that we believe that integrity is first and foremost and we will use every bit of the proceeds from our fundraiser to go to Tuck's adoption.

Each ornament will come beautifully wrapped and ready to be given as a gift.

Catching Up!

This past weekend, we went to Memphis for a Thanksgiving celebration and photo shoot with Abbey's parents.



Baby Brooks was there.



The boys had a lot of fun and they did not play with our iphones the entire time, but they did have their fair share. I think Uncle Brookie was the only one in the entire house who doesn't have an iphone.



Lola fixed a delicious Thanksgiving spread.



Will wanted to eat with his big brothers.



He was so funny. He also wanted to clear the table. He was really good about taking the plates to the sink. He does have an obsession with the dishwasher so this really shouldn't surprise us, but it was cute.



Reed really liked Aunt Ava's potatoes and Nash thought the "chicken" was yummy. Even though he was told several times that it was turkey, he preferred to call it chicken.



Nash was amazed by the amount of food that Reed ate.



Reed has definitely found his silly side. He loves being silly.



Tonight we met our friends the Graysons and the Millers ate Cock of the Walk. The Millers are adopting a little girl named Amber Joy from Taiwan and the Graysons (who are visiting from Mississippi) are adopting a little boy named Asher from Taiwan.



Nash was excited to find a video game with a gun. He definitely our gun-loving son.



Annlee (the Grayson's oldest daughter) LOVED getting to play with Will.



I think that Nash is one of the cutest kids ever!



Reed and Deuce became instant friends. They bonded over the iphones!





Justin (Miller) is missing in this photo. We were never quite sure where he went!



After we left eating, we headed to Old Navy because card holders could get their Black Friday deals early. Last week my work started letting us wear jeans everyday (woohoo!), so I got some of their jeans for only $15 each!

Then we went to Sweet CeCe's for yogurt. They had a great groupon yesterday!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be celebrating a little differently this year. We are thinking about going to Cracker Barrel for dinner or lunch.

What a Weekend?

The Land boys are so proud of the Land Girl. She ran a half-marathon yesterday and finished with an incredible time!



Check out those stats. This is a woman who was 61 pounds heavier just a few months ago and has trained, eaten right, and gotten into shape. We are so very proud of her. Finishing in the top third is amazing!



I love that she was wearing her Dream Big shirt for Kids Ministry Conference.



Reed was very proud of his mom and that she was the champion!





I am not a runner and honestly I don't have any desire to be one. Abbey, however, has desired to run a half marathon for a long time! She realized that dream yesterday.



After the race, it was almost time for Hunter's birthday party. Reed is a bit of a socialite, so it's hard keeping up with who his best friend is. Hunter is definitely one of them.



The boys loved the leaves.





They are such fun boys to play with.





Of course, the ladies' man, Will wouldn't be outdone.





He enjoyed handing with his ladies: Addie, Izzy, and Cate.





After the party we came home for nap. The runner went to get her haircut. Then we had dinner with the Miller's. Today was a busy day at church. Abbey is going to a writers conference this week, so I am going to be a single dad for a few days.

Happy Halloween

Abbey had the grand plan that the boys would be the three amigos for Halloween. Well, really, she first wanted them to be the lion, tin man, and scarecrow, BUT ... that didn't last so long.



When Abbey and Lola took the boys to try on sombreros the boys had NOTHING to do with them. They were not even the least bit interested in being the Amigos.



Apparently somewhere down the road, our boys have learned from their friends that most kids actually get to choose what they are going to be for Halloween. Can you imagine the disgust I felt that my kids had learned that when it came to Halloween costumes, there was freedom of choice!?



Nash and Reed apparently have also learned that there is power in numbers because together they forcefully declared their desire to be Mario and Luigi. Well, to be completely honest, they said they wanted to be Mario and Uligi.



Yesterday the boys along with Abbey and Lola went to the businesses downtown and trick or treated. Britton and his mom were also there.





Since the boys were Mario and Uligi, I thought it would be cool to have Will dress in a little green dinosaur outfit. That way he could have been Yoshi.



However, we couldn't find that outfit.



So he went as a three eyed monster. Just in case the boys would give in to Abbey's desire that the boys be dressed alike, Reed and Nash also have little monster costumes.



Brothers.



I love these pics.



Last night we had the harvest festival at church. It was huge and fun!



The boys got WAY too much candy!



Caleb "trunk or treated" with us.



Two "uligi"s!



Two Marios!



A good time was had by all!