My new venture - Banner Over Me Shop

Several years ago for Christmas, Randy bought me a Cricut machine. He braved Black Friday and found a really good deal on it and was so excited to give it to me. I honestly had only used it a few times until we had kids. Then suddenly I could make cute decorations for their parties easily. And I enjoyed it. 

Fast forward to last January. A friend of mine posted on Facebook asking if anyone could make decorations for her daughter's upcoming 1st birthday. She had found what she wanted on Etsy, but it was way more than she wanted to spend. I replied that I would love to try. This was the cute set I made for sweet K. So fun! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

From there, I had the thought that maybe I should try to start a business out of this. I dismissed it, as I already had enough on my plate. :) But the idea lingered. So I talked to Randy about it and he was on board completely. I took a leap of faith and started "Banner Over Me Shop" on Etsy and Facebook.

Why Banner Over Me? I've always loved this verse and remember loving the song as a child. When you think about God loving us so much that he rejoices over us like a bridegroom planning a feast/party for his bride, you get just a glimpse of the depth of his love. Banner Over Me reminds me that my Savior loves me and is crazy for me. His love never changes, never fades, never lets go.

So if you ever need a cute banner for a birthday, wedding, anniversary, shower, or just to add decor to your home, please check out my shop. I'd love to custom design something just for you.

www.etsy.com/shop/bannerovermelove
www.facebook.com/banneroverme

Halloween

We don't celebrate Halloween in the sense of the dark, scary side of the holiday. My girls honestly think it is just a day to dress up in their current favorite character and go have fun with friends. And I am totally ok with that. As a Christian, I believe Christ has overcome death and hell and see no reason to celebrate that side of the holiday. 

 Avery dressed up as Bat Girl this year and Claire was Rapunzel from Tangled. Our church has a great outreach plan during the month of October. They ask all the Community Groups to plan and host block parties in the neighborhoods around our community. It is the one night of the year people willingly come to your home and knock on your door. Why not share the light of Jesus when you hand out M&M's? This year my Community Group partnered with another group to help some friends of ours put on a Fall Carnival and Cookout at their apartment community. It was a lot of fun!

Livi Joy Giveaway Winner

And the winner is......

Kimberly Doughty!!!

Congrats Kimberly. Please email Kerry at livijoytees@gmail.com and let her know which t shirt you would like. 

Thanks to everyone who entered. 

Livi Joy T-Shirt Giveaway! (Guest blogger)

Today I am loaning my blog to a new friend of mine. I know you are going to love her story. Read all the way to the end and enter to win a cute tee!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello beautiful people!

My name is Kerry and I am so appreciative to Rachel for allowing me to share my heart in this space today.  Rachel is a new friend and I am so thankful for this online community that brought us together.

My husband and I are adoptive parents to two little people.  Our littlest, Toby, just came home about 6 months ago.  As many of you may know, adoption can be very expensive and most people who feel called to adopt don't have a huge amount of savings to use for the adoption.  So we have to get creative.

Before bringing Toby home we researched fundraising options and my husband and I always loved the idea of selling t-shirts to raise money for our adoption.  We looked at some online tee companies but never really loved the designs plus we kind of liked the idea of printing our own.  So a few months before we found out about Toby's situation, when we were still waiting, we ordered a screen printing kit and started playing around with and learning about screen printing.  We had a lot of fun with it but then things with Toby happened so fast, we never got around to actually making any shirts.

On our way home from Florida, where Toby was born, we talked about the press and the other supplies we had in our house and what we should do with them.  We decided we wanted to start a little business and help another family on their adoption journey.

One thing we learned from our journey to get Toby is that even though the adoption journey can feel lonely at times there is a large adoption community (online and in our churches) and they are some of the most generous people on the planet.  We literally could not have adopted Toby if it had not been for so many generous people.  With that in mind, we decided that as a family we wanted to come alongside another adoptive family and support them on their adoption journey.  We decided we wanted to walk with them until their child came home.  And we wanted to tell their story and pray with them and just be with them on their journey.

livi joy is the small business that was born out of this.  Livi is what we call our oldest daughter, Alivea - the one who stole our heart 6 years ago when she joined our family through adoption.  I had no idea how adoption was going to change my life when she was born.  I had no idea how adoption was going to draw me closer to Jesus.  And now it's our family business- standing with another family because ONE matters.  We believe that.  We believe that ONE family, ONE orphan, ONE child matters.

Within a few weeks of coming home we found out about the Ludwig's, a super sweet family from Alabama who had answered the call to step out on their adoption journey.  Their story was a lot like ours.  A step of faith with no safety net.  Just wanting to be obedient.

We have developed a friendship with the Ludwig's and it is our desire to bless them on their journey and walk with them until their little one is in their arms.

We opened our shop two months ago and have been designing and selling tees to benefit the Ludwig's adoption fund.  A large portion of the sale from every tee goes directly to them.

Today, we are giving one away.  There are so many ways to enter.  Simply use the entry form below to be entered to win a tee of your choice.

To read more about our family please visit here.  And thank you so much, Rachel, again for allowing me to share my heart today. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby Dugger Baby Shower

I got the privilege of helping to plan and host my brother and sister in love's baby shower a few weeks back. Baby E is due the first week in December. Daniel and April decided to not find out the gender and be surprised at the birth. I commend them. I always wanted to surprised until I got pregnant. Then I couldn't wait to know. :) 

The shower was in Ada which happens to be where I went to college. It was neat to see how things have changed in 9 years. 

We went with a yellow, green and grey theme with burlap and chevron accents. April is decorating the nursery with penguins so we used those too. 

Several of April's friends from college and work helped host too, along with her sister Katie and cousin Julie. 

The hostesses: Katie, Kim, me, parents to be - Daniel & April, Phoebe, Alyssa, Cory, and Tre'. 

Funny story, Tre's wife Ruth was actually supposed to be the hostess. She unfortunately was out of town the weekend of the shower. She graciously volunteered Tre to make the cookies and cupcakes in her place. When he found out it was a couples shower, he decided to make a "man corner" complete with homemade pretzels, root beer, sweet tea and Calvin and Hobbes comics. It was perfect!

G.R.O.S.S.: Get Rid Of Slimy girlS

Having some fun!

It was lots of fun seeing faves I hadn't seen in a while. 

Mary Kay and my mom, Nonna. Mary Kay is April's second mom and the mom of my childhood friend Joe. 

Diane and her grand baby. I worked for Diane all four years of college. Some of my best memories. 

Mommy to be

Daddy to be

A Longhorn baby blanket!

My mom made this adorable diaper trike!

Yummy cupcakes!

The whole family minus Randy who was hunting with work. 

April's parents, sister and grandparents

My parents, April, Daniel, me and the girls

Pumpkin Patch 2014

We had a fun (hot) play date with friends a few weeks ago at a local petting farm and pumpkin patch. This is our second year to go and we had just as much fun. It was hot though. I thought October would be a bit cooler already. 

I help coordinate and plan monthly play dates for our church. It is a great chance for moms to get together and kids to have fun. As moms we sometimes get so wrapped up in our day to day lives just keeping life running that we forget we aren't alone. Getting out, having fun, connecting with others just like us - makes doing life more fun. 

Back to the pumpkin patch, we got to see and pet miniature goats, a yak, calves, miniature horses, milk cows, Yorkshire pigs, pot belly pigs, goats, sheep, ducks, and geese. The girls favorites were the baby pigs. They loved them! I think they probably would have brought one home. Did you know pigs are pregnant for 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days?? And they usually give birth around 3 am in the morning? And they weigh around 3 lbs at birth? Ok, enough about pigs. 

We finished the day with a hay ride and picking the perfect pumpkin. Claire's was tiny and cute. Avery's was bigger and looked like the perfect pumpkin. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Has it really been 6+ months since I visited our blog? It has and I'm ashamed to say when I started this blog I never intended for it to sit silent for so long. But life has happened and instead of trying to cover what I missed, I'm starting from now. I have a few fun posts coming up, a giveaway, news about my new banner business, and an update on the girls. I hope I still have a few readers out there. Leave me a comment to let me know you are still there!

Is spring here yet?

This has been one of the most up and down winters we have had in a while. It can be freezing one day and 80 degrees the next. I love winter, I do. But I am ready for spring. :)

So what have we been up to lately? Play dates, sleeping in, lazy mornings, making donuts. You know, the usual.

I found Avery sleeping like this the other day.

We had a breakfast play date with Zoe and Sydney on Friday. It was our first time to go to McDonald's since Avery was born. I do have to say I know now why its a favorite kid place. The play area was awesome! And the tables were set up around it so us moms could be near them while they were playing.

All four sitting and eating (this didn't last long!).

Saturday morning donuts sounded like a good idea. So we made biscuit donuts. Just a can of grand biscuts, rolled out a bit, with a hole cut in the center. Then brush with butter or oil on both sides. Bake for 15 mins at 375 degrees. From here it is up to you. The recipe I found said to dip in a sugar cinnamon mixture before baking. My girls love icing and sprinkles so I made a simple powdered sugar icing and used our Valentine sprinkles.  I think they liked them!