firetrucks, helicopters, and chicken -- oh my! {a giveaway}

hey, local peeps! are you looking for something to do this weekend that's fun, family-friendly and FREE??

the northern virginia chick-fil-a stores are hosting a FREE special fire and rescue family event at bull run regional park this saturday, april 21 from 11am-4pm! there will be fire and rescue vehicles (including a helicopter!), live music, fun activities and entertainment for kids, and of course, food (the food will be for sale and all proceeds will benefit the national fallen fire fighters foundation)!


come on out and join the fun! we will be there and would love to see you!

and leave a comment below (whether you are local or not!) and share your favorite chick-fil-a menu item to enter to win some free chick-fil-a! for additional entries help us spread the word -- facebook, blog, or tweet about the event and leave a separate comment for each for up to 4 total entries. the winner will be randomly selected on thursday, april 19. good luck!!!

and just for fun, here's my chick-fil-a lovin' little dude:


p.s. this giveaway is sponsered by ME! we are so looking forward to this event and we seriously heart chick-fil-a, so i asked my dad if i could help publicize the event. :) hope to see you there!

ellie fun day.

i want to take a moment to share about some amazing friends of ours. sarah and elton recently started a new venture called ellie fun day. rather than try and explain things in my own words (inevitably messing something up!), here's their mission and their heart in their own words:


Ellie Fun Day designs baby blankets that change the lives of marginalized women in India. Our vision is to design a beautiful baby blanket made by Untouchable-caste women, in hopes of providing a fair wage and dignified living for many who are susceptible to human trafficking.

OUR PASSION is designing beautifully luxurious baby blankets
made with natural and/or organic materials.

OUR CHALLENGE is providing a fair wage and a dignified living
by employing marginalized and under-resourced women.

OUR HEART is to change the world one blankie at a time.


VALUES

People // Every life is precious.

Design // Good design empowers change.

Love // Actions rooted in love change the world.

Respect // For both people and the planet.


so cool, right?! i asked sarah if there was anything we could do to help spread the word and she wanted me to let you all know that they are holding a fundraising campaign on indiegogo (go check it out!) and they are also currently hosting a giveaway on their blog.



will you show them some love and enter the awesome giveaway?

and while you're there, take a moment and read about their story. i know it will touch your heart as much as it does mine. :)

the day we became parents. {and a winner!}

one year ago today, the hubs flew into my classroom after school gushing with excitement he could barely contain.

the only time the hubs comes into my classroom is when i beg him to he wants to read a story to my students on read across america day (it's next wednesday!) or if i've forgotten something at home and he very nicely drops it off. he never comes in unannounced, so when i saw him sitting and waiting for me after kiss and ride duty, i was startled.

and my socks were blown off when he said,

"babe, we got a match. we have a SON."

and (of course), i started to cry. and quite frankly, i don't think i've stopped since. ;)

we hadn't been expecting to receive a referral for another month or two, so when our program director called the hubs, he assumed she was calling to check up on us since our first social worker had recently left the agency and we were assigned a new one. so imagine his utter surprise and delight when she told him she had our referral! (random sidenote: she actually called me, first, but our classroom phones go straight to voicemail when receiving calls from outside numbers. because, you know, we're supposed to be focusing on those pesky children and all...haha)

the hubs told our program director he was driving over to my school and that he'd call back when we were together. i have no idea how in the world he was able to drive over without getting a speeding ticket or crashing into something. i would have been a wreck!

after hearing the initial news and then collecting myself as best as i could, we called our program director and she proceeded to tell us about our son. OUR SON!!! she told us about this five-and-a-half month-old's history and when he was born and told us how cute he was. and, in true adoptive parent form, all i could think was (altogether now, fellow APs), "just send me the PICTURES!!!"

we hung up and she sent us THE email. thank the good Lord for smartphones because we could pull up our little peanut's face right then and there. and we (okay, just i) cried again. of course!

do you want to see what we saw?

first we saw itty bitty newborn choi boy.

look at that grumpy old man face! ;)

then we saw our new son in the famous red chair.

look at those toes!!! now that i've gotten to know the many faces of choi boy, i'm convinced this picture was taken just after he woke up. this is his "i'm still out of it, give me a minute." face. ;) it's always accompanied by squishy sleepy cheeks -- my fave.

finally, we saw a close up of cb's face.

look at that hair! and that mouth!

looking at these photos made things seem so...*real*. my friend, christine, said something i found really profound on her son's referral-iversary. she said something like, it wasn't what you'd call love at first sight, but it was what made us feel like we were really parents. and that was so true for us, too. sure we thought he was cute, but more than anything, we felt like we were just starting to get to know the boy that became our son.

and you better believe we looked at those referral pictures a zillion and one times and memorized every inch of our little guy's face. and we did the same for every updated photo we received until choi boy was finally in our arms. and every time we looked at those pictures, the feeling of being parents became more real and our love for choi boy grew and grew and GREW. and now that he's home, that love grows deeper still every minute, and i often wonder when my heart will explode because of all the love i have for him.

even though it took nearly ten more months to actually meet our precious son, february 25 will always be the day we became parents.

and how blessed we are to be *his* parents.

dried up boogers and all...;)



and how lucky this person is to be chosen as the winner of the blog-iversary giveaway!



congratulations, kelly @ jon and kelly plus max!

i loved reading everyone's life lessons...so many powerful truths! here's what kelly had to share:

Life lessons? I've learned about a thousand of them since I've become a mom - you can't control everything so just let it happen, ask for help, don't sweat the little things, and things DO happen for a reason you just don't realize that until much later :)

wise stuff, girlfriend.

your goodies will be off in the mail on monday, kelly!

happy blog-iversary to me! {a giveaway}

one year ago today, i posted my first chois-r-us blog post. i was nervous about putting myself out there and sharing about our journey. i wasn't a blogging newbie, per se; back in the happy days of xanga, i blogged regularly, but it was a lot of blog fluff. this was different as we were really sharing honestly and inviting others to join us for this crazy ride through infertility and adoption

and join us you did!

i thought that this blog would be a place to keep our friends and family updated throughout our adoption process and document things for the sake of posterity. i thought i'd be writing more for myself and my own documentation purposes. never in my life did i think i would find such an amazing community of people who would support us, ugly cry with us, laugh with us and cheer us on through this journey.

i tell people all the time that were it not for the blogging community and the friends and family that have supported us by reading our blog, i would feel so much more alone in our struggle with infertility and so isolated and clueless about navigating through the adoption process and adoptive parenting in general. and that's not all...were it not for the blogging community, i'd be missing out on some pretty rad friends. ;)

so, thank you, friends. and i am sincerely sincere when i say that -- both the thank you part and the friends part. you've made this last year so much better. :)

as a teeny tiny thank you, i'm doing a small giveaway to celebrate my first blog-iversary. yay! i love giveaways!

i'll be giving away a package of three of my favorite things. these are things that i loved before i became a mom and now that i am mom, they are absolutely vital to my everyday normal functioning.

1.
a travel size l'0ccitane shea butter hand cream. i'm SUPER paranoid about my hands getting dry and wrinkly and old-looking (i know, so shallow). i've always been diligent about moisturizing my hands and i adore this shea butter lotion, especially when i put it on before going to bed. now, with choi boy home, i find myself washing my hands all.the.time. -- hello, diaper changes! and hello, lots of baby cups, bottles, and booster trays that can't be thrown in the dishwasher! so, my hands are drier than ever and they soak up this yummy lotion. i can almost hear my dry skin slurping up this creamy goodness. ;) love it!






2.
c.o. bigel0w lemon lip balm. i'm obsessed with lip balm. it's a bit of an unhealthy addiction, actually. this lemon one has been my favorite for the last few years -- it tastes like lemon bars! and it gives just the right amount of lip hydration without being too sticky or gooey -- it's the best! and i've discovered that's also super helpful in healing busted fat lips that were the result of choi boy's head butting. ouch! and yum -- remember, it tastes like lemon bars! ;)





and 3.
a gift card to this place. before choi boy came home, i'd drink coffee on days when i really needed a pick-me-up. now, i *must* start every day with coffee...and i'm ashamed to admit that i drink obscene amounts of the stuff. it went from an occasional need here and there to a very necessary drug of choice. sad, but true. my favorite kind of coffee is from dd, but if you win and don't have one near you, i'll switch it out for a gift card to 'bucks. ;)






this giveaway is open to anyone and everyone -- no matter whether you've been with us on this ride since day one or stumbled upon this blog today. even if you know me in IRL, please do enter! :) it might not be a car or as cool as 0prah's favorite things ;), but it's my way of acknowledging the fact that this community totally rocks and that i'm super duper grateful for it.

to enter, leave a comment with a life lesson you've recently learned...because if blogging has taught me anything, it's this important life lesson -- friends can be found in the most unexpected places and often at just the right times. ;)

a winner will be announced next friday, february 25th, which is another very special anniversary that i can't wait to tell you all about! good luck!

les gagnantes {the winners}!

i took french for many years from middle school to college and i loved it. je l'ai oublié beaucoup, mais quelquefois, i still pretend to be all fancy and write in french. ;)

thanks to everyone that entered the custom name plaque giveaway! i loved reading about the crazy fads you used to love. personally, i hope big wave bangs, scrunchies and crimped hair never come back. although, i will say, the other day at km*rt, the customer service lady that was helping me totally had the big wave bangs. this after i saw a burly man in a cowl neck sweater with a large pair of, ahem, "girls" (and i'm SURE it was a man), and witnessed a three year-old belting ke.$ha's "tick tock." bizzaro.

on another note, lots of you mentioned bad perms. well, friends, i've got a confession to make. my hair right now? permed! my natural hair is very slightly wavy and if it wasn't permed, i'd have to blow dry it straight. i get my hair permed twice, maybe three times a year and it is so much easier to care for -- pretty much wash and go! are you shocked? heehee. :)

anyway, without further ado, here are the winners!

the custom canvas painting goes to:


kris, who said:

I think it's fantastic that you are opening an etsy shop!!! It's an exciting step and I wish you lots of luck!

As for what horrible trend I followed. Oy, there were a few. I definitely had the big bangs, tight rolled jeans and slap bracelets (remember those?).

um, kris, i totally remember those, especially because my elementary school BANNED them. because once the teachers learned they were made of metal, they were afraid we'd all start cutting ourselves with the braclets. not cool.

and the custom wooden plaque goes to:


becky, who said:

Congrats and best wishes on your new etsy shop!

I am sad to say I also had the wave thing happening with my hair (and unfortunately the pictures to prove it).

becky, this is why pictures from our past are often evil. ;)

yay, congratulations! please email me at waitingwithgrace(at)gmail(dot)com so i can get started on your creations!

and if you didn't win and are thinking that maybe you'd still like one, hop on over to my etsy shop because we are up and running, baby! (please note, it's still a bit of a work in progress -- some of the pictures are not very good because they are from a few years ago...if you have any suggestions as to how i can make the shop better, feel free to let me know!)

i chose the name *waiting with grace* because this whole crafting binge came out of trying to keep myself busy during our extended wait.

the phrase has a double meaning because as i make these plaques/paintings for others, it's like they're waiting with me, grace. and as i keep myself busy during this wait, i am learning to wait with grace and patience and a grateful heart.

we are not sure exactly how much longer this wait will be, but whether it's days or weeks, we want to continue to wait with grace. and as we're sure to encounter other times of waiting in our chois-r-us life, we hope to meet those times with grace, too. :)

congrats again to kris and becky -- i look forward to creating something for you!

last chance...

today is the last day to enter the custom name plaque giveaway!

two winners will be announced tomorrow, so if you'd like to enter, be sure to do so today!

to give you a preview of what could be yours, here's one i just made for a co-worker's grandniece:



good luck!

a giveaway and an annoucement!

i was so excited about all the positive and sweet feedback you gave me on these:







thank you!

after some convincing and encouraging from the hubs and some friends (including many of your comments), i've decided to open up an etsy shop to sell these name plaques/paintings. yay!

am i crazy for doing this while we're (most likely) a few weeks away from a travel call? probably! :)

i'm still in the process of setting things up over at my etsy shop, so i'll share the link once everything is up and running. but, in the meantime, to get the word out and build my portfolio, i'm doing a giveaway!

two commenters will be chosen randomly and i'll be giving away one custom canvas name painting and one custom wooden name plaque.

to enter, answer this question:

what style or trend did you try (or faithfully follow) that you most regret?
(this really has nothing to do with the giveaway; i just need something to make me laugh while i'm home sick today)

me? the nasty big wave bangs of the late eighties/early nineties:
i am sad to say that i probably contributed a lot to the hole in ozone layer with all the hairspray i used in middle school. sad. and i'm SO not showing an actual picture of me with that hair!

this giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, so invite your friends to come and play, too! oh, and if you win, you aren't limited to names only on the signs -- we can do a family name, a teacher name for a classroom, a favorite quote, a house number, etc. :) two winners will be announced on tuesday, november 2!

good luck!

and the winner is...

elizabeth, who said:

Hmm... to be honest, I'm not sure I could read anything 100 times!
But eating 100? Oh man... Twix, cupcakes, candy corn, Heath bars... do I really have to choose?

yay, elizabeth! email me your address and i'll send off your goodies in the mail. so excited for your girls to use the snack traps and enjoy the book!

my favorite part was reading everyone's answers. here are some honorable mentions for the best answers:

michelle: I could eat 100 of any kind of cheese. I LOVE CHEESE. I pretty much don't discriminate when it comes to the stuff. CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE!

sue: oh, i like you even more now that i know you are a lucy maud montgomery fan! i adore anne shirley and diana barry. and of course, gilbert. love, love, love him.

sandra: I could eat 100 bags (and more) of Erdnussflips, which are a delicious peanut snack not made in the U.S. Great, now I am hungry!

christine: Uhm, I'd like a pair of those glasses... they rock. Really and truly!

and my absolute favorite:

kelly: OMG, I love Gilbert Blythe soooooooooooooooo much. All of a sudden, I can't remember your questions because I am drooling over Gilbert Blythe.

heehee! you guys are too funny. :) so glad many of us share an obsession with mr. blythe.

i loved this. so fun! i'll be doing another giveaway next week, so be on the look out!

p.s. i used this super cool tool to generate a random winner -- such a fun way to pick!

one hundred {a giveaway}.

this is my one hundredth post.

100!

in kindergarten/first grade land, 100 is a big deal. it's a huge, almost unfathomable number, and being able to count and write numbers to 100 is a rather important milestone that comes with bragging rights. we celebrate the 100th day of school in style (think glasses made out of the number 100, obnoxious hats, cereal or bead necklaces with 100 pieces, etc), so i thought i'd do the same to commemorate my 100th post!

to celebrate, i'm going to be doing my first ever giveaway! yay! who doesn't love giveaways?

don't worry, i'm not going to be giving away 100-shaped glasses. although, those are pretty darn cool, if i do say so myself.



instead i'm going to do a giveaway inspired by two of my favorite pasttimes...reading and eating!



koala lou is one of my favorite children's books by one of my favorite authors, mem fox. it's about a sweet little koala who tries to earn her mother's love, only to learn that her mother loves her unconditionally and that she always has and will. it's kind of a tear-jerker. ;) i had initially planned on getting this book signed by the author, but we all know how that turned out. nevertheless, i'm sure you'll love it!



and, everyone has raved about these snack traps so i thought i'd throw those in, too! even if you already have some, i'm sure extras always come in handy, especially if you or your kiddo are anything like me and easily loses things. :)

to enter, fill in the blank in one or both of these sentences:

i could read ___________ 100 times.

i could eat 100... (and no lame answers like cheerios or grains of rice! i want to know what you could eat mass quantities of because you love it so, so, SO much!)

my answers? i could read anne of green gables 100 times. i heart gilbert blythe. and, i'm pretty sure i could eat 100 chocolate chip cookies. especially if they're ones i made. i'm not gonna lie, they're the bomb dot com. true story.

one commenter will be chosen at random on tuesday, october 19th. good luck! can't wait to read your responses! :)