Speedy Spring Portraits!

Good morning!
Thank you all for your input here and on Facebook regarding the bracelets.  After thorough review we determined that everyones #1 priority was that the bracelets be smaller and fit on one line.  And since "He is faithful" only fits on 2 lines, we decided to go with:

 Psalm 91:4

We are really excited and eager to get them in you hands- so stay tuned!

On another note, we have also decided to partner with our dear friends the Carrolls for a fun and easy fundraiser- NEXT SATURDAY!

We are praying for good weather and LOTS of appointments! 

Thank you so much for helping us get the word out!

Much love and gratitude,

Maria

Help us choose a fundraiser!

Good morning friends!
This will be a quick opinion post and I'd REALLY love your input:

We are about to order an adoption fundraiser: a bracelet!  And we are between two choices as to what to write on the bracelets.  We want to know which has the greater appeal. 

Here is what the bracelets will look like:

And here are our two choices:

1 line of text that says "Psalm 91:4" (will look similar to the "Redeemed" one above)
or
2 lines of text that read "He is faithful" (will look similar to the "Love with Abandon" one above)

I love BOTH options as both say the same thing in different ways about our Father.  We have chosen that Psalm as "Ruth's Promise" from the Lord and it speaks to his faithful protection of her...

Please comment here and let me know which you like best.  Thank you!!

A Powerful Retreat- Part 1

It was a blessing to my heart to travel to Atlanta with 3 amazing women to a conference for  adoptive mommies last weekend.  There is just something amazing about being in a room with so many women that #1 love Jesus and #2 feel the Lord calling them to adopt children (or support family members that are adopting).  I can't tell you what that does for my heart.  Since many of my sweet friends and family were unable to go I hope to take the next several days to post about what the Lord taught me in the sessions I was able to attend.

To kick off the series I'd like to share with you the POWERFUL video  that opened our retreat.  It is a celebration of what God has already begun...  look closely and you'll see the Fergusons! 

He is FAITHFUL!

Charlotte and Kelly- Spring Shoot

Meet Charlotte, Kelly and their two pups- Kane and Desi!

Diana and I had a GREAT time shooting this family of 4 last weekend!  For a change of pace we decided to shoot in Baxter Village where we had the luxury of both natural beauty and fun, small town backdrops.  Sidenote- the dogs were absolutly hilarious :)

Ok- I'm eager to share these so I'll keep my intro short.  Here are my favorites from the day!

 

 

Such a sweet couple

LOVE it when couples make each other laugh so easily

 

So much love in these expressions!  LOVE!

 

 

 

Beautiful!

Thank you, Charlotte and Kelly, for your support!  I'm so glad I was able to spend a Saturday morning making you smile :),

Blog Love from Designs by Sessa

Our sweet friend at Designs by Sessa highlighted our family on her blog today- check it out!

Designs by Sessa: My Poor Neglected Adoptive Families!

She also has a really sweet giveaway going on that you should enter!

Thanks for your support Vanessa!

Crafting for Harper

For Harper I pray-

That God is gracious to her and blesses her

and makes his face shine upon her

that His way may be known on earth

and his saving power among the nations

[from Psalm 67]

Thank you, Harper's Mommy, for helping us raise adoption funds!
May the Lord 's peace be with you and your sweet family.

Blupdate!

Well, this here entry is to announce a web log update, or blupdate!

What exactly are these blupdates? Along with a new look, we've blupdated Cinco Mariposas to include four new pages. The first blupdate is a page dedicated to our story of adoption. It will be blupdated as we go along, but this will keep the story of God's grace and goodness to us in the forefront instead of a blog entry many moons ago. Second blupdate: donations. This blupdate I've been meaning to do for a long time, so you can now donate through PayPal to bring Ruthie home! Two last blupdates include our contact info and adoption resources, both of which will be updated as needed.

Maria and I are very excited about these blupdates, and we hope you are too. I'm also excited that I was able to create the word, blupdate, and use it in every sentance.

You're welcome, blupdate!

Precious Friends, The Crissinger Family

Niles and I have so many reasons to be thankful to our Heavenly Father- and one of those reasons (high up on our list!) is the friendship he has given us in Andy and Michelle.  They have been dear friends that Niles has know since college and I have known since they came to Eternal many, many years ago.  They have walked this crazy life with us, praying for and descipling us along the way.  Michelle was one of the first people I went to to share the Lord's call on our family to adopt- and she has been my resource and prayer partner in the journey since that day! 

The Crissingers have an INCREDIBLE story to share that I unfortunately cannot do justice to here in this post... so instead I will encourage you to read Michelle and Andy's story which begins here, Infertility and Adoption, and continues here, Psalm 113.  I PROMISE you the miracles throughout their story will grow your faith as it has mine.

Ok- so onto our shoot!  I've been wanting to photograph these sweet friends since Michelle was pregnant with Beulah- 3 years ago!   Things never lined up though until NOW!  Unfortunately, the sunshine we were hoping for did not decide to show up... so we improvised.  We created a "studio" in my livingroom using the light from the windows to shoot.  Shooting indoors is NO JOKE people!  For those of you that do this often- mad props to you.  The lighting is SO difficult to capture.  But since these are such beautiful people we were able to get a bunch of great shots :).  So without futher delay, I introduce to you The Crissingers

Love! 
Beulah is almost 3 and Chayah is 6mts

 

Ahh!! Love this little lady!

 

 

 

Almost can't handle the cuteness in this one!

 

 

Saw this on Pintrest and thought I'd give it a shot :)

Now you see why their babies are so cute!

Oh Beulah, you are hilarious.

See!  Hilarious that one! 

Sisters

I can't wait to have little bows in my house! :)

Oh dear, dear me.  Adorable isn't a "cute" enough word for this one.

Michelle wanted to capture her "rolls"= success!

To close I will leave you with a collage of each of these miracle babies

 

 

Thank you, Andy and Michelle, for your love and friendship! 
Praying the Lord continues to make your quiver overflow!

And the Grand Total is...

What an amazing day and what an amazing God we serve! 
Considering that today began at 5AM, that I have been moving nonstop since that time and the fact that I'm sunburned in March- I couldn't be happier!  As you can see in the picture above- today was our HUGE Yard sale.  There are SO many God stories to share that I want to give them all attention in future posts... 

Here's a quick summary:  We had help from beautiful, Jesus loving, friends and family beginning at 5:30AM; we made 2 sales before 7AM; we had to escort a sweet little old lady out of our house (she wanted to buy Ruthie's rocking chair- you know, the one in her bedroom!); we saw the sunrise; we prayed together; we all ate and served some INSANE baked goods and coffee; we talked to people about Jesus, adoption and our baby girl, Ruth; Diana and I ran a tight ship- with very little bargaining (hey, it's for a good cause, right?); we sold a TON of stuff and we ended the day with a van-load of goodies that we passed on to our sweet friends that will be having their own fundraising sale soon!  Phew!

I know this will likely embarrass you all- but I really, REALLY want to say a HUGE thank you to our official "Yard Sale Crew"- Dan and Kate McDonald (set up and refreshments crew), Diana Sutton (the no-nonsense haggler), Jesse Schlicher (the mathematician), Connie Knowlton (the cinnamon roll queen),  Sophie Ingerslew (that clothes hanger) and my parents (the kiddo keepers).  You guys are SUCH beautiful pictures of the Church described in the book of Acts.  My heart overflows with gratitude for each of you.  And for all of you that donated things for our sale- I am so grateful!  Thank you for your generosity and your continued prayes.  I am CERTAIN our Father is pleased with how beautifully you have all loved my family :)

I can't wait to share more with you all- but to close for today I want to share our grand total from our sale- our Father has provided us with $1,281!!!  Another BIG step toward bringing our baby home- thank you Lord!

Turner Family MINI-Shoot

 One of the things that has been such a blessing to me during our adoption process has been watching the Lord work and provide for us through both new and old friends.  This past weekend I had the joy of photographing a sweet couple I was friends with in High School!  I haven't seen them in roughly 13ish years and yet they read our story and want to support us as we work to bring Ruth home.  That's good stuff, right?  God amazes me more each day. :)

On another note this sweet family has been patiently waiting for good weather for almost a month- and sadly "good" isn't how I would describe what we experienced Sunday!  It was a beautiful, sunny day but the WINDS felt like a HURRICANE!  None of us realized just how windy things were until we stepped out of our cars- so we decided to give the shoot a try anyway.  Lets just say everyone, including their sweet baby, were troopers!  They smiled though they were freezing from the moment e began.  Just as everyone was "warming" up to the camera (after about 25 minutes of shooting) we all decided to call it quits.  So sadly, many of the shots we wanted to try we were unable to get (without frostbite).  I plan to shoot them again SOON when it's warm and cozy outside. 
But for now, enjoy my top 9 from the day :).

Meet the Turner family!

Seriously, it was freezing and you can't even tell in these sweet smiles!

Loving that sweet baby (and trying to block the wind!)

Sweet giggles for Mama

I wasn't well positioned for good lighting in this one- but I love their expressions :)

LOVE these sweet baby blues!  Giggling with Daddy this time.

A beautiful new Mama!

You can just TELL how much these guys love each other!

Daddy protecting his family from the winds!

Turner's, I'm so very grateful that I was able to connect with you guys again! 
Thanks for blessing us with your love and support!

Comic Truth

LOVE this- thanks Michelle!