What have you done for your BM/FM lately?

I was surfing around the ol' interwebs...ya know, like I do and came across a really inspiring charity that focuses on one of the most ignored parts of the triad: the Birthmother/First mother. In all my research, I've come across many sites and groups supporting adoptive parents and adopted children but nothing that wasn't through an adoption agency for birthmothers. I haven't seen many pages that support the birthmother AFTER the adoption. She tends to just fade into the background while the new parents coo over their babies and that may not be what actually happens (so feel free to tell me what you did with/for/to your BM/FM in the weeks or first months of your adoption) but that is mostly what I'm seeing.
From the day we decided that D & I were going to adopt we knew that we wanted our BM/FM to be part of our family. My heart goes out to these women making a huge sacrifice and putting themselves through years of emotional pain and suffering to give their child a better life. Maybe it's just because I'm PMSing but it bothers me to think of these women tired from giving birth, riding the post-birth emotional roller coaster and feeling isolated or alone. Thankfully, Blessings In a Basket has their backs. BIB sends baskets to birthmothers with all kinds of thoughtful supplies like journals, candles, lotions and feel good products to be delivered to their hospital room or home or where ever. The baskets are FREE to BMs/FMs!! How awesome is that?! Ashley Mitchell, the founder of BIB, is a birthmother herself and knows what it feels like After and decided to take control of her life and make an impact on others. She also has a Big Tough Girl Retreat for these women to go to and heal, a Big Tough Girl 5K Run to bring awareness and support to her "Big Tough Girls", and Monthly Support Groups for these amazing women to get together and talk, share and heal.

Amazing, right?! Ok...so I need your help. To keep this amazing organization running it takes money. If everyone who has adopted would make a donation in honor of their BM/FM we could help make baskets available to all birthmoms/first moms. Consider sponsoring a basket for a birthmom/first mom for $100. Make a donation of ANY amount. Purchase a Big Tough Girl shirt for your Big Tough Girl. If you're that strapped for cash, send Ashley an email and tell her how wonderful she is. April is a tough month for her and we could make it a little easier. Let's go girls!! After the amazing sacrifice that has blessed our lives, shouldn't we return that ($)100 fold?!

One of the fabulous baskets that are given freely

Our Custom Tshirts!!!

 

The long awaited adoption shirts are in and the store is up and running!!!! Click here right now to get one!!! Make sure you pass the link (www.adoptionbug.com/thekingsareadopting) along to friends and family! We appreciate your help!

I'm gonna get my craft on, yo!

I love to craft, be it scrapbooking, doodling, jewelry making, or even painting (Hey! I never said I was good!). It is something that relaxes me and clears my mind.
I guess it's in my blood. My grandmother on my mother's side is very crafty and made a living off of craft sales. She used to have this plastic that you dropped into hot water and then worked into shapes and I used to LOVE doing that with her. I remember sitting at a table after church making pictures with her. It was "our" game. We would divide a piece of paper up into 2x2 squares and draw three lines on each piece then exchange them. The other person would have to turn those 3 lines into a picture. I guess she really fostered my love of crafting. I can't wait to pass this simple (and sometimes not so simple) pleasure down to my children.
I was poking around a wedding site and realized that I can make everything that some of these people are spending tons of money on for way cheaper than they are buying it! If I can make it and I enjoy the process, then I can sell it...and put all of the profit into my adoption fund!!
First couple of projects:

#1: Customized Hangers. I think I'm going to start with Loved, Mrs, and hearts. After I have the hang of it, I'll branch out into customizing them.

#2: Hand Painted Tank tops....I know a bride who is renewing her vows in August of 2012 who wants these badly!! (That would be ME!)

#3: Hand painted wine glasses...who wouldn't love them?! I sure do!!!

I've been inspired by http://www.etsy.com/shop/projectpiggies and might try my hand at painting on canvas! I'll post pictures of my creations (IT'S ALIIIIVEEE!!!!) after I've made them!

Our First Raffle!!!!

Hello, readers! Look to the right of the screen, now back to this post, now back to the right of the screen, now back to this post. Sadly our Adoption Fund is low but if you donated to it it would not be empty. Look further down at this post. What do you see? A gorgeous 8 X 10 original painting on canvas. Now look at your credit card, now back at the HAND PAINTED CANVAS, now back at the PayPal Donate Button. What's that? It's a donation for The King Adoption Fund. Look again-it's an entry to win this 8 X 10 Limited Edition Print by Project Piggies. Anything is possible when people are generous. I'm on a horse!

Art work donated by Project Piggies 

I am super jealous of the winner of this raffle. I LOVE this print (and I'm pretty certain it will sit on my desk until we have a winner!) and am thrilled that Lisa over at ProjectPiggies was generous enough to donate it to us for our raffle. Alright! Let's cover the rules:
This raffle is for one 8 X 10 hand painted on canvas valued at $26.  You can enter the raffle in 3 different ways:
#1-Make a donation. We here at the King House truly appreciate everything you give. Every donation over $10 will be given 2 entries into the raffle. Shoot me an email (thekingfamily27 (at) gmail (dot) com with your name and how much you donated.
#2-Post this raffle to Facebook and leave a comment letting me know you have posted it to your Facebook page.
#3-Become a follower..it's what all the cool kids are doing!

Pretty easy, right guys? Right! Let's hop to it then!!

Donations

The fabulous Amy Minardi-Scharf  has taken all of my suggestions and came up with this logo. There are a few things that need to be tweaked but I LOVE IT!!
I was thinking of having two different versions of it. One with a tiara and pink outline to the lettering for girls and one with a slightly smaller crown and all of the 'O's would be sports balls like a baseball, football, and basketball.
We're going to create a shop at Cafe Press and you can use that logo to buy shirts, bags, cups and more! We're also going to have a shop at Adoption Bug where you can purchase our shirts and a portion of your sale goes towards helping us pay for the adoption.
You may have noticed this nifty little button off to your left (no...your other left!! :P) that says "DONATE"...You'll never guess what this button is for....DONATING TO OUR ADOPTION FUND!!! :) Anything you wish to donate goes directly to the King Baby fund and we truly appreciate your support!

Fundraising!

I'm the fundraising guru in this house. D generally is a behind the scenes load stuff up and drop it off kind of guy so I'm thankful for Auntie Em and Aunt Jessie, my new midwest best friend! They are an amazing resource to bounce ideas off of and to help me plan! After dinner a couple nights ago we came up with this TENTATIVE timeline of ideas:
September 3rd: Float down the Elkhorn River. Tickets are $20 and $10 goes towards our adoption fund. I'm very thankful to Mr. Man at Tubing Adventures for hosting our fundraiser. We will be floating down the river with some friends, some food, some drinks and some tunes! If you want to join us on our trip, email me!
September DTB: Tour of the Lucky Bucket Brewery

October (Possibly the 15th): Tailgate with our very own UFL team-The Nighthawks.
October (maybe the 22nd): Our annual Halloween party!! Always TONS of fun!

December: Help the Kings Find Their Missing Piece Puzzle-a-thon. We're going to get a booth at the local mall and sell puzzle pieces for $5-$10 a piece. The buyer will be able to fit the puzzle piece into it's slot and go home with an identical puzzle piece commemorating their assistance in helping us find our missing piece.

We would like to do something with our local Old Market Candy Shoppe downtown during November (National Adoption Month).
Any suggestions on how to make these events better? How about what puzzle to use? We want to be able to hang it in our baby's room after it's completed. Any fundraising ideas that have worked for you?

Make sure you send my awesome friends, Auntie Em and Jessica an email telling them how wonderful they are. I truly appreciate their help!