Life is Like a Box of Puzzle Pieces...

Life is like a box of puzzle pieces... you never know how  the pieces will fit together until you try. Each piece of a puzzle is unique (like people); each piece has value, for without one piece, it would be incomplete; and it takes time and patience to see your efforts complete the big picture. 

For us, our life's puzzle is missing a piece -- we are incomplete! That missing piece is the child (or children) we hope to adopt. 

We've been planning something special to thank our friends, family and strangers guided by their hearts to help us through our adoption fund. We want a permanent way to honor the people who have touched our lives in this way and a way to (one day) share the stories of all the people who helped us bring him/her home. 

My beautiful sister, Andi, designed the print above for our nursery based on a quote I found online and loved. We've turned that print into a 1,000 piece puzzle, and that puzzle will hang in our future child's room. 

This puzzle will serve as a reminder of  the fact that many hearts have WISHED for, PRAYED for, HOPED for and WANTED our child to come home to us and complete our family. 

Here's the plan:

1. For every $25 donation, we will write your name on the back of a puzzle piece. You can buy as many as you wish by donating $25 for each piece. 

2. You can personalize the backs of your puzzle pieces:

• Send me a personal message to write for you
• Send me a photo of you/your family and I can modge podge your photo onto the backs of your puzzle pieces
• Send me a drawing or handwritten note and I can shrink it down to fit the back of your puzzle piece
• If you're in the DC Metro Area, you can come sign and decorate your puzzle piece yourself! 
• My email: farnumpc@gmail.com

3. For those of you helping us in other ways -- helping us organize for our adoption fundraiser yard sale, donating items to the yard sale, buying crafts through my "creating for baby" fundraiser, or giving us much needed baby items for our nursery, we will dedicate puzzle pieces to you with the proceeds from our yard sale and crafting as well. 

4. Once we have all 1,000 pieces accounted for, we will have achieved our $25,000 fundraising goal to put toward the $40,000+ costs we anticipate for this adoption!!!  (more if we take siblings!) 

5. Once the puzzle is complete and funds are raised, it will be time to transform the puzzle into a piece of art for our child's room! We will place the puzzle in a double-paned glass frame which will allow people (and eventually our child) to see both the print my sister created AND the giant family near and far he/she was born into not of blood but love! 

If you'd like to donate to our puzzle fundraiser, there are many ways you can contribute:

1. Donate through our online adoption fundraiser at: https://www.youcaring.com/baby-farnum-409586
2. Mail us your donations. Email me at farnumpc@gmail.com for our address and so we know to be on the lookout.
3. Join us to pick your puzzle piece in person at our adoption fundraiser yard sale SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th from 8am-noon and SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th from 1pm-5pm
4. Buy a craft through my "Creating for Baby" fundraiser and for each $25 donation beyond the cost for supplies, you can also earn a puzzle piece. 

THANK YOU for your consideration and generosity!

The Adventures of Dug Part I and Why Cesar Millan Needs to be Our Friend

Cody is a 1 and 1/2 year old lab/golden mix we adopted about a year ago.  Pete and I like to call him "DUG" because he is exactly like Dug the golden retriever from the movie UP personality wise.  We find ourselves constantly acting as ventriloquists using the voice of Dug to share Cody's thoughts. "I have just met you and I love you," "Please be my prisoner," "Oh boy, oh boy, a ball!" and "Hi there!" are just some lines we are convinced Cody thinks each day.

He's never met a person he didn't love, but he LOVES TOO MUCH.  In fact, he's an 85+ pound dog who will lay on you like he's the size of a chihuahua and then lick your face off.

 (In Dug voice: "I love you so much I want to eat your face.") 

He doesn't just love people. He loves things, especially things he shouldn't have. He's "loved on" things like Kylie's toys, a bottle of natural cleanse,  and water balloons.  (You can imagine the looks we got laughing while examining his rainbow poop on a walk.) Oh, and he consumed pyrex. He actually ate glass pieces of broken pyrex because he wanted the brownies that happened to be sitting on our counter in pyrex. 

Kylie's doll meets its demise a la"Dug"

Bye bye, natural cleanse. At least you're fertilizing our backyard now.

The good news is that:

A.) He eats inappropriate things less and less

B.) He tends to take "bad boy" items to the bay window to eat them, so we need only walk straight to the window when we get home.

Cody pictured here in said window with a demolished fireman's hat of K's. 

C.) He's showing more and more remorse when he's busted. 

(In DUG voice with ears back: "I ate your shoes when you were gone because I love you.")

The bad news is that

A.) He loves children so much, they either love him right back or they're scared of him because he's so big and wants to be close to them. This is problematic when we're nearing a home visit for our adoption, and more importantly, when we are anticipating a child(ren) infant-3 years old. He would never hurt anyone (doesn't have a mean bone in his furry body) and he's around children all the time. However, we've been scratching our heads wondering if we should "suck it up" and hire someone to train him where we've failed -- to teach him to contain his love. 

Watching over K as she sleeps.

I'll admit... I've tried a variety of Cesar Millan noises ("Pchhhhh!" "Kchhhh!" "Psaaaa!") while tapping his shoulder trying to get him to contain his excitement for kids, but he only thinks I'm playing with him. "I'm the pack leader here," I tell him. He just responds with a look that translates into Dug's voice: "You are my master, and I love you. Now please move so I can lick that tiny person."

I wish we were buds with Cesar Millan and could have him over for a BBQ. Pete could grill something fabulous, I could put out a nice spread, Ky could show him her sweet moves on the trampoline, Bella could show him that we have successfully raised a good dog on our own, and maybe he could give us advice how to calm "Dug" a bit without dimming that special sparkle he has. 

What are your thoughts? We'd love to hear them. Is our overly loving dog something we should worry about as we get one step closer to adoption? 

To be continued as I share the bad news B., which involves diapers...

(yes, that was just A!)

Pinterest Addicton for Good. Time to Get Crafty.



Pete wants me to note I only drink an occasional glass of wine for its health benefits and antioxidants. As a responsible mom and potential adoptive mom, I LOVE water.

The first step is to admit the problem: I'm addicted to crafting, and since finding Pinterest, my need to get crafty is through the roof.

 

I first realized I had this problem at Kylie's last birthday party. I walked out onto our deck behind some of Pete's guy pals as they arrived and formed a protective circle amongst themselves. The conversation, which obviously was meant to take place without me there, went something like this:

Steve: (looking around the backyard): Wow! Holy cow!
Gary: I know!
I beamed with pride as I listened in to what I thought was an expression of appreciation for the hard work we'd done preparing for the party.
Ward: This is just so....
Pete: Yep, my life has been taken over by Pinterest. She had me hanging that homemade football toss game between those trees. I told her, 'I have no rope long enough.' But she says, "You can figure it out. I believe in you," and moves on to changing all those popcorn holders over there from saying "Popcorn" to "PUPcorn" because this is an animal themed party. **sigh**

The men go on to share how Pinterest has intruded on their lives. I pop my head into the circle of them saying something like, "Are the kids having fun? Is Kylie happy? Will she remember this party?... then I'm happy and Pinterest prevails! Besides, the PUPcorn thing came from my brain!"

 

So I find I am unmoved by the naysayers. I love it and I won't let it go. :) This addiction isn't harmful unless you're piece of wood (then it might hurt) and pretty things can be made out of what you have around the house.

Granted, not all ideas from Pinterest turn out fantabulous. I, like many Pinterest users before me, have failed to follow simple instructions to recreate what I see.

 

BUT this gives me an idea! I'm going to turn this addiction into something good for our family!

Love of crafting + love of making things for people + Need to keep fundraising for our adoption=  Making Things for Good, Creating for My Child!

 

So here's the plan:

1. Each week I will have fun making things for people I love as gifts.
2. I will post pictures of the crafts I make.
3. If they are fails, hopefully you'll get a good laugh out of them along with me. If you like them, I can make one personalized for you for a donation to our adoption fund.
4.  I'll share what it costs to make each item (just the supplies)
5. I will donate the time and labor to make the crafts for anyone who wants their own version in return for a donation of any amount (in addition to the cost of supplies) to our adoption fund. 
6. Those interested in any of the crafts can give me specific instructions (colors, patterns, sizes, etc.) and I'll either hand deliver or mail out the items to you.

I have no idea if this will work, but I'll have fun giving it a try!

 

Here are the first of the creations... gifts I made for my friend Tracy's baby shower this past weekend.

 

Item #1: Personalized frame to fit with your nursery theme.

Tracy's having a boy, and after seeing a pic of her nursery and talking to her about colors, I made this for her using a frame I found at homegoods, specialty papers and my printer. Cost for supplies $14.

I personalized this using a play on their last name...

 

 

I can make a personalized frame for any occasion: give me your colors, send me your pictures, tell me what wording you want (birthdate? anniversary? message?), and I'll send you "proofs" until I get it right.

 

Item #2: Personalized Initial, Letter or Monogram Wood Plaque



Tracy's little boy's name will start with the letter E, so I used her nursery colors (light blue and white/cream) to create this distressed/crackled wood plaque using the letter E. This one is layered with light blue, cracked with cloud white, sanded here and there and the letter E is hand painted on to the plaque in blue. I made this using a wood plaque, gesso, crackle paint, two paint colors, sand paper and a stencil with some hand painted touches. Cost for supplies: $19.

 

There is a shadow on the right. The background is white crackled and distressed paint on top of a light blue.

 

Please keep in mind that these are all "firsts" for me, so as I'm creating them for friends, I'm learning what works and doesn't work. I can layer this with any two colors of your choosing, using crackling, distressing or just plain paint. I have several letter stencil patterns but can also make some if you like a certain font, print, etc..

 

Item #3: Matching "hand and foot print" pot.

While experimenting with the crackle paint, I decided to make Tracy a pot that matched the wood plaque -- one that she could put her son's handprint and footprint on when he's born. To make this I used a pot, gesso, crackle paint, cloud white and light blue paints, letter stickers, and I included the rest of the blue paint with it so she can match his handprint/footprint when she's ready. Cost for supplies: $5

 

I can make a pot any color or combination of colors for you, and I have tons of letter stickers and stencils to personalize one just for you or a gift.

 

Item #4: A diaper cake to match a theme or colors. This is actually something I made for another friend's baby shower. The theme was "nesting" with blues and earthy colors, and their last name is Quail. For this particular diaper cake I used 4 different types of ribbon, a wood wreath, a little nest, the letter q, decorate flowers, decorative bird and over 100 diapers. Cost for supplies (for this particular one): $112 but I can make diaper cakes of any theme to fit any budget.

Diaper cake I made for baby Q's shower with the theme "nesting"

I can create a decorative diaper cake or one that is filled with baby items. I can match your theme, budget, colors, size.

 

If you have ideas or would like to put me to work making a craft you've been eyeing for your home, party or as a gift, please email me at farnumpc@gmail.com. I will do whatever it takes to create something you love while also creating ways to fundraise for my future child.

 

 

 

 



Luke (or Mountain or Peaches)... I AM your SISTER!

 

Kids say the "darndest" things! Or... in our family they SING the "darndest" things!

We sing everything in our house. For instance, this morning's breakfast sounded a little like this:

Me: (to the tune of Elmer Fudd's "Kill the Wabbit" ie Wagner's opera)
 Eat your breakfast, eat your break-fast, eat your BREAKfast, eat your breakFAST!
Ky: (about the honey peanut butter I put on her toast to the tune of T.Swift's "Shake it Off")
I'm just going to take it off, take it off, uh huh, take it off...cuz I don't like the way it tastes, tastes, tastes...

So I guess it comes as no surprise (to those who have witnessed our mad singing skills to communicate) that we often react to big moments with song.

Two weeks ago, I sat Kylie down and said, "This is it! This is the day we are going to let our friends and family know we're going to try to adopt!" She gasped with joy, so I continued saying, "Yes, we are finally going to work on getting you that baby brother or sister you've been praying about for years!"

What was her reaction?
DUM DUM DUM DA DE DUM  DA DE DUM! To the tune of DARTH VADER's IMPERIAL MARCH!

I'm not going to lie. I was dumfounded. Pete, who was in the next room, leaned back on his chair through the doorway with a look of disbelief and started laughing.

Me: Was that... was that....?
Pete: Yes, Darth Vader's theme song.
Kylie: From LEGOS!

Me: You let her watch star wars?
Kylie: YES!
Me to Pete: Talk, we must. (about watching star wars)
Me to Kylie: Kylie, amazing how you picked up that tune so quickly! What about the adoption made you think of that song?
Kylie: It's big. It's important. He's a father! I'm a sister... get it?


I guess I do. To Kylie this is BIG. It's IMPORTANT. And she relates the song to "I am your SISTER!" For as long as Kylie has said heartfelt prayers and been able to express her greatest wishes, she has wanted a baby sister... then brother... then either... now both!

I just love her sense of humor, the way her mind works, and I can't wait to watch her bloom into the best big sister anyone could ask for.

The force is strong with this one.