Ornaments for Adoption: A Message from the Thigpens

Ornaments for Adoption 2013 will officially end after today. 

I am so pleased with how this year turned out. Last year, this was just a dream of mine that I might could actually help a family and raise awareness of this issue. Last year was a success and I dreamed of this year being bigger and better. I knew some things I wanted to do differently to make things go smoother and I already have ideas for improvements next year.

I have to say thank you so much to each of you who bought an ornament, spread the word, commented, and prayed for the Thigpen family. I sincerely appreciate it. I can't wait to run some final numbers and come back in January to tell you how many ornaments were sold and how much money was raised towards the Thigpen's adoption.

I also have to thank my friends who came to help me make ornaments when the orders just kept rolling in. Please be sure to also support the small businesses that donated prizes for the weekly drawings. You can find a list of those people here.

Today is THE LAST DAY to place an order. Unfortunately, I will not accept any orders after today.  Later this week, I will have one final drawing for a gift card. Everyone who bought an ornament's name will be in the drawing-even if you've already won a prize. It will be one final thank you to you for your support.

Today, I have a message to you from the Thigpens.

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 I would first like to begin by saying THANK YOU to Megan!! This precious lady has worked so hard and diligently these last 10 weeks, and the blessing that we are receiving from her labor wouldn't be possible without her humble obedience to the call Christ has placed on her heart. So Megan, thank you so much for being an obedient servant to our Lord, for sacrificing your time and money, for using your gifts and talents in service, for ministering to us through this ministry, and for helping us bring our little one home! We are eternally grateful!

To all of you have purchased an ornament, THANK YOU! I hope in the days and years to come, the ornament that decorates your tree each year will be a reminder of how you helped an orphan find a forever family and be taught the beauty and wonder of the Gospel. I hope your ornament will also remind you of the promise Christ made, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). And I pray that you will continue to find ways to minister to the orphan as you have generously ministered an Ethiopian orphan in need this Christmas season.

As we have only just begun our journey through adoption, I know there will be long days and months ahead of waiting. The Lord has been faithful to us all along through a miscarriage and the unknown of infertility, and I know that He will provide the patience and peace we need to endure. We can't wait to bring our little one to his or her forever home, to be called "Mommy" and "Daddy" for the first time, to teach him or her about Jesus and listen to sweet bedtime prayers, to hear little squeals and giggles in a playroom, to kiss away tears and make boo-boos better, and to hopefully one day watch our little one place his or her trust in the One who offers an invitation into a family and an inheritance far better than we can ever imagine, in Christ Jesus!

Until then, we sincerely appreciate all of your prayers as we dive in head-first into the piles of paperwork, begin meeting with a social worker, and eventually just wait... The support we have received from you all so far has been such an encouragement that will keep us afloat in the days to come! Megan, Ornaments for Adoption, and all of you are a beautiful part of our adoption story!! Thank you all again, so very much! We praise the Lord and give Him the thanks for the work He has done to make this possible! Merry Christmas!!

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Since part of my mission behind Ornaments for Adoption is raising awareness, please make sure you didn't miss any of the OFA posts from this year:

Meet the Thigpens
Update from the Brocks
Thoughts from Someone Who Was Adopted
Using Positive Adoption Language
Adoption is Love
Hosting Orphans
Transracial Adoption
Resource List
5 Ways to Help Orphans This Holiday Season

November Book Review

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

Book Description:
Greg Heffley's on a losing streak. His best friend, Rowley Jefferson, has ditched him, and finding new friends in middle school is proving to be a tough task. To change his fortunes, Greg decides to take a leap of faith and turn his decisions over to chance. Will a roll of the dice turn things around, or is Greg's life destined to be just another hard-luck story?

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review:
I first picked up a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book while I was student teaching and noticed many of my students reading them. I have to admit, overall, I enjoyed the first few books the most. These newer ones aren't as good, but they're still very enjoyable. I find Greg completely relateable as we all know what it's like to try and navigate those awkward middle school years. I missed Rowley being a major part of the book. It's a quick and fun read for adults (I read it in one afternoon) and a fun read for kids.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Book Description:
In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into

eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches. Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review:
I first saw this book at my school's book fair and thought it looked interesting and might make a good read aloud. I'm glad I read it first! It is a very original plot and the narrator often speaks directly to the reader. However, it's not lying when it says it's a tale that is dark and grim. There are things such as children's heads being cut off, fingers being cut off and used as keys, children being turned into flowers, venturing into Hell, and a man who eats children. I guess the original Grimm's Fairy Tales are dark, but I think I prefer the Disney versions.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars. 

Paper Towns by John Greene

Book Description:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Q gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review:
I guess my years as a teenager were not the norm. Either that or what John Greene writes about is not the norm. Are teenagers really this angsty and depressed? Do they really make the crude sexual remarks he depicts and do the things his characters do? These things happen in all of his books that I've read. I prefer happy books or if I book is going to be sad, I like it to have meaning. I did enjoy this one better than Waiting for Alaska.  Other than that, I don't have much to say about it.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Ruby Brooch by Katherine Lowry Logan

Book Description:
As the lone survivor of a car crash that killed her parents, paramedic Kit MacKlenna makes a

startling discovery that further alters her life. A faded letter and a well-worn journal reveal that she was abandoned as a baby. The only clues to her identity are a blood-splattered shawl, a locket that bears a portrait of a 19th century man, and a Celtic brooch with mystical powers. After studying the journal, she decides to continue her father's twenty year search for her identity and solve her birth parents’ murders. She adopts the persona of the Widow MacKlenna, a role she's played in pioneer re-enactments and a perfect cover for her eccentric behavior. Then she utters the incantation inscribed on the ancient stone and is swept back to Independence, Missouri in the year 1852.Upon arriving in the past, she meets Scotsman Cullen Montgomery, a San Francisco-bound lawyer who resembles the ghost who has haunted Kit since childhood. With Cullen’s assistance, she joins a wagon train heading west. The journey is fraught with dangerous river crossings, bad water, and disease. Nothing, however, is more dangerous than Cullen’s determination to uncover the source of her unusual knowledge and life-saving powers and expose the real Kit MacKlenna. If she can survive the perilous journey and Cullen's accusations and thwart his attempts to seduce her, she might find the answers she seeks and return home to a new life without changing history or leaving her heart on the other side of time.

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review:
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to find out the mystery behind where Kit came from. I also enjoyed the time travel element. The one thing that stood out to me as a problem with this book was all the information you receive at the beginning of the book (important names and events that come into play later) that you forget about as you read. I actually went back and read the first chapter again after I finished the book and found several things I missed the first time. I also was confused on some of the time travel elements, but I tried not to overthink it. I like a good romance book occasionally and this book fit the bill. 

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley

Book Description:
Matt Beaulieu was two years old the first time he held Elle McClure in his arms, seventeen when he first kissed her under a sky filled with shooting stars, and thirty-three when he convinced her to marry him. Now in their late 30s, the deeply devoted couple has everything-except the baby they've always wanted. When an accident leaves Elle brain dead, Matt is devastated. Though he cannot bear the thought of life without her, he knows Elle was afraid of only one thing-a slow death. And so, Matt resolves to take her off life support. But Matt changes his mind when they discover Elle's pregnant. While there are no certainties, the baby might survive if Elle remains on life support. Matt's mother, Linney, disagrees with his decision. She loves Elle, too, and insists that Elle would never want to be kept alive on machines. Linney is prepared to fight her son in court-armed with Elle's living will. Divided by the love they share, Matt and Linney will be pitted against each other, fighting for what they believe is right, and what they think Elle would have wanted resulting in a controversial legal battle that will ultimately go beyond one family . . . and one single life.

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review: 
Wow! I LOVED this book. This is a book club type of book. It definitely made you think. It's not a fast paced, action packed book, but I had trouble putting it down nonetheless. One of the elements of the story that I loved was how the story starts off with Matt finding out Elle was in an accident and brain dead. So, we never actually get to "meet" Elle. However throughout the book, Matt reads Elle's journal entries and we get to know her through those. We also get to read through some various flashbacks. So, we learn little pieces of Matt and Elle's story throughout the book. Even though she's brain dead throughout the book, we still get to know her. It was very well written and the end had me in tears.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Book Description:
Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster

afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly! In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

Book description and image via Goodreads

My Review: 
I've never watched The Office or The Mindy Project, so I'm not sure what made me decide to read this book. I can say that I don't think you need to be a fan of those shows to enjoy it. I always find it interesting to read these types of books and learn some behind the scenes things about a world that is so foreign to many of us. I enjoyed Mindy's humor and liked her use of lists.

I give it 3 out 5 stars.

I also read a novella called Mara as part of a blog tour. You can read my review for it here.

What have you read this month? Have you read any of these books?

Ornaments for Adoption: 5 Ways to Help Orphans THIS Holiday Season

Ornaments for Adoption is winding down for the second year and I can't wait to share the numbers with you.

This week's ornament orders will get you in the drawing to win an organizing utility tote from Megan with Thirty-One. I love these things and have one for myself. It's very useful!

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With Christmas approaching, many people like to give back at this time of year. Today, I want to share with you 5 ways that you can give this holiday season by helping orphans.

1. Order an ornament

I say this not to promote myself (I'm not making money from these ornament sales), but to help the orphan in Ethiopia that will one day join the Thigpen family. International adoptions are expensive and often aren't possible without the help of others.

2. Donate Gifts to Children in Foster Care

Christmas is considered the most wonderful time of the year, but that's probably not so if you don't have a family to share it with and a family to shower you with love and gifts. Help make a child's Christmas a little brighter by showing them that there are people who love and care for them. If you don't know of a way to do this locally, Mercy for America's Children in North Carolina is hosting a toy drive to benefit foster children in Wake County (Raleigh). You don't have to be local to donate.

3. Host a Christmas Party for Giving Back

If you love to host Christmas parties or maybe you already host one every year, would you consider giving instead of gifting? Instead of having everyone bring a gift to exchange, have everyone bring something to give. Find a local family that is adopting or fostering and make them a gift basket. Make a gift basket for a child in foster care or an at risk child in your community (although children considered "at risk" are not technically orphans, they often are just as in need of love and care). I can't take credit for this idea. I was invited to a party like this by the wonderful Erin and Allison. I can't wait! We're helping this family whose adopting from Eastern Europe.

4. Shop for a Cause

 

When buying Christmas gifts, purchase them from organizations that give back. A simple Google search can help you find many companies that give portions of their profits to benefit others. There are also shops set up with items made by women overseas in order to give them sustainable income and keep them out of poverty. Poverty creates orphans.

5. Host a Toy/Clothing/Bag Drive

Christmas time is the perfect time to clean out your home. As many people are about to bring more toys and clothes into their home, why not clean out the old ones that are no longer played with or worn? Spread the word to your friends, family, coworkers, etc that you will be collecting toys, clothing, and bags (many children in foster care have to carry their few belongings in trash bags and would love a nice bag to carry instead) to donate to orphans in your area.