Haiti shirts

When Aaron and I went to Haiti in May we sold shirts to help with some of the costs of us going. It was a great way to help us out with airfare and people got a cool shirt out of the deal. Many people loved these shirts and have requested we sell them again. We have tossed around the idea of selling them and sending the profits to RHFH. We’ll see what happens with that!

Anyhow …. I was going through my garage today and noticed that I have a few that we didn’t sell. Anyone want one? Here’s what I have:

1 – YM
1 – YL
1 – small
3 – XL

If you want one, email me (jamie @ aaronivey <dot> com) and I’ll tell you how to paypal me. As soon as I get your money I’ll ship it out! They are $20 and that includes shipping!

middle of week randomness

I have been pretty silent in the blog world recently.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, but just that my thoughts are jumbled and won’t come together clear enough to put out there for all you to hear/read.  I can not wait until this election is over.  I feel so weird about it.  I don’t want to vote.  I don’t like either one.  But, when I tell people that I don’t want to vote and am not sure about who I would vote for, most of them look at me like I’m crazy.  Why would you not vote?  It is your civic duty.  It is an honor.  Well, that doesn’t help me if I still don’t like either one of them.  Then they tell me to pick the one you like more than the other.  UM .. still don’t know.  Okay pick the lesser of the two evils.  WHat?  Why would I do that?  I keep telling Aaron I’m going to write in Jesus for President.  I would sleep better at night if that’s who I voted for.  Today I read a great article by John Piper.

Being a parent is hard.  I have much more to say on this, but I must tell you it is hard.  It is heartbreaking.  My heart and soul aches for my kids when they are scared or in pain and I can’t help them.  We’re dealing with some night terrors around here and it is hard to watch your child be so scared.  I am praying much more for my kids these days.  Much more.  They need it desperately and I’m here for them in that area.

We’re heading back to Haiti in December.  As of right now we only have tickets to Miami.  Hopefully we can get the rest of the tickets soon, or else we’ll have a December get-a-way in Miami only 700 miles from our kids.  My kids here are constantly talking about Amos and Story.  I mean daily.  Most of our conversations go to either Haiti or Amos and Story.  I love this so much.  I love the love that Cayden and Deacon are developing for their brother and sister that they have never seen.  I’m begging God to get us out of IBESR.  I need a little boost here.  Monday marked 26 weeks for us.

We experienced stitches for first time.  No tragic event, just a four year old running into a wall while trying to show their brother that they spotted drums in a new book!

A trip to the emergency room with a $100 co-pay (oh my goodness) and four stitches and we were good to go.  A great end to a Sunday afternoon!

Well this is such a random post and I promise to try and bring you something life altering next week!  HA!

Loving on Baby August

Look who I got to love on last night!

August is so super sweet and I loved loving all over him last night.  I am so happy for Steven and Maris.  They are great parents and it is great to see them love on this little boy!  He is a joy!

Flying to Haiti

Over breakfast this morning my kids were being so sweet.  They were chatting about Amos and Story non-stop.  These kids here truly are in love with two kids in Haiti that they’ve never touched or seen face to face.  God is working in their hearts to unite them and join them forever as siblings.  I truly am in awe of how these kids are excited about their brother and sister coming home.

This morning Cayden was talking about what he wants to be for Halloween.

On a side note …. this year he knows what it is … UGH … i might be heading out to get a Halloween costume soon.  He’s not going for being Spiderman like I was hoping.  The age of innocence is leaving us!  It’s the dentist fault!  He kept asking my kids what they were going to be for Halloween … he doesn’t know the Ivey’s don’t bring up stuff they don’t want their kids to know about!!!!

Anyhow … back to the breakfast table talk …..

Cayden said he wanted to be a caterpillar for Halloween so he could then turn into a butterfly.  He said he would then fly to Haiti and pick Amos and Story up and bring them home.

I nearly teared up.  These boys want them home about as badly as we do.

Christmas shopping.

UPDATE:  BE SURE AND LOOK AT ALL THE COMMENTS PEOPLE ARE LEAVING.  THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER WEBSITES AND IDEAS THAT PEOPLE ARE LEAVING.  CHECK THEM ALL OUT!

Christmas is 2 months away. Oh my goodness. I would usually like to have all of my Christmas gifts bought by now, but the move has put me in a kink this year. Not one has been bought. UGH

This year we said we would only buy gifts that help others. So, no movies, not gift cards, no last minute Target trips looking for the “perfect” $15 gift. I hate that. No more.

This video is fabulous and puts so many things into perspective for gift giving:

Liz has some great ideas on making hand made gifts this year. I love that idea and wish I could …. I’m just not crafty. As much as I try to be, I’m not.

So … here are some gift giving ideas that I thought I would share with you that will not only provide a fabulous gift for you to give those you love, but they will also help the world, or an organization, or a family adopting. Enjoy checking these out!

Give a gift of sponsorship. Sponsor a child for a year through REAL HOPE FOR HAITI. For $200 you could send a child in Haiti to school. So instead of giving your college student $200 worth of clothes they’ll only wear for a year, sponsor a child in Haiti for a year.

Need a beautiful baby blanket. Support the Setliffe’s adoption of a little girl from Ethiopia by purchasing a great hand made blanket. Every baby needs one of these! Visit AUNTIE EM’S CREATIONS to get your own blanket

JAMBOKIDS – dolls that celebrate different heritages.

VINTAGE MOMMA DESIGNS – fabulous jewelry. This lady makes this jewelry and some of her profits go to help REAL HOPE FOR HAITI. Very cool stuff! Check out her Etsy store as well!

This family is adopting two sweet boys from Haiti and she has written a poetry book about adoption andthey are selling t shirts as well.

This lady is doing holiday mini-sessions of photography on Nov 1. If you live in the Houston area, check her out. She is great and this will help her family with their adoption from Haiti!

The Livesay family lives in Haiti and does great work there. We love this family. Troy has created a great photo book with pictures from Haiti. Check out this book. This would make a great gift for a family adopting from Haiti. Know someone that loves coffee table books, this is for you!

Tamara has started making some shirts that are very cute! All four of my kids have one! I love them! She can do custom orders, or you can see what she has done that you might enjoy! Go HERE to see her shirts. Tamara gives some of her profits to REAL HOPE FOR HAITI as well. I love that!

I know there are millions of other things that are being sold to help people. If you know of them, please leave them in the comments for us all to see and know about!

weekend recap

weekend recap:

• we had an artist night over here on Friday night.  much fun!  Aaron wrote about it here.

• cayden had another basketball game.  our team has 12 kids on it …. yes only 5 can play at one time …. all the teams we played have max of 8 kids.  i say not fair.  our team could have been two teams.  oh well.  he did better.  it looked like he might have had a very small clue as to what was going on.  very small clue.
• grandma and grandpa drove up sat afternoon.  we had a great visit with them.  we were going to take the kids to a pumpkin patch but it was too late and we were tired from a late Friday night.  so …. we got on the bus and headed to none other than our local HEB!  Oh yes …. the kids got to each pick out a pumpkin there and they loved it!!!
• we …. and by we I mean Aaron and gramps …. carved pumpkins that night.  the kids loved it and they now love lighting up their pumpkins

• Sunday was the final Sunday for the vision series.  I can not say it enough how much I love my church.  this place is amazing and i’m so thankful that God brought us here.  i have never been more challenged in my faith than i am here.  if you would like to listen in on what we hear each week go HERE to get the podcast each week.
• Sunday after church i headed up to dallas to meet up with some friends and head to the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK show.  oh yes i went!!!  Ginger talked about it here.  And she even included video!!!
• While i was gone we had a dog problem.  Carson went missing.  Aaron wrote all about it HERE

Great weekend!

Pumpkin

1st time at Dentist for Deacon

Both boys went to the dentist today.  Cayden’s second time and Deacon’s first.  They did fabulous!  No problems at all.

$150,000 – clothes or clean water?

Heidi brought this to our attention on her blog.

I know that both sides do this …. Edwards’s hair cuts and Clinton’s (mrs.) salon visits … this happens more than just now.  Let’s not be surprised.

Check out the latest story on politicians spending money very stupidly here.

I just would like to ask the people around the world that will lose a child today because of lack of clean water what 150,000 could do for their village.

Come on people in Washington … seriously?  $150,000 on clothes in a few months?  Really.  Come on.  As a voter I don’t like this one bit.

fell off the wagon.

Today I fell off the wagon.  Since July this is the 3rd diet coke I’ve had.  One was out one night in a drink, the other was last week at a lunch, and now today.  What is my problem!!!!

Today I was cleaning and getting ready and I had an urge for one.  OH my goodness.  I sent Aaron a text and he pulled through for me!

Thanks baby!  He even pulled through with a 16 oz one.  I didn’t even know they made this!

Veggie tray is done.

Fruit punch is done.

Patio is set up.

Floors are mopped.

Kitchen is cleaned.

Now I’m off to enjoy my diet coke.  Take a shower and get dressed and relax.

What does your Friday night look like for tonight?