The Sewing Bug Bit...& Adoption Update

Well, I'm now finding myself wanting to come home and sew with any free moment I might have. Trouble is, there aren't that many free moments right now. All for good things, but I've now found myself sewing at night once the little one goes to bed. While she is fascinated with the sewing machine and how it works, I'm fascinated with keeping her fingers attached and scissors not being used by an child. :) So far, I've managed two projects. First, I asked my sister Lesli to make me a camera strap a while back. And she was happy to do so, but then Miles came along, and now baby boy #2 is almost here, and who could fault her for putting my "wish" (not even a need) on the back burner (especially since she made all of Miles' nursery bedding and is doing so again with boy #2). So I found a tutorial to follow on making my own here. I learned a lot of things about sewing this as my first project. First, just because the tutorial does an excellent job of explaining "most" things, common sense about what direction fabric might need to lay is key. (Granted, this was my very first project ever.) And while I'm happy with the way it turned out, I think I'll actually make another one soon that is a little bit longer (I must have folded my edges in a little more than I was supposed to) to cover the entire strap. Other than that, it was success!

The second project I found here. I have a little girl who is playing with her dolls all the time. While she (obviously) doesn't remember me wearing her in my Moby wrap, she'll get to see me wear our next one (whenever that happens) and I've got friends who she sees wearing their babies. So I thought I would make her a very simple baby doll sling. I followed the tutorial as it stated, but still had a few minor errors (okay, one big one too). But it had pleats (which I've never done) and I was successful at creating her a baby doll sling. Now, I measured my girl, and let me tell you, this sling came out small (and Micayla is small extremely petite, so that's saying something). So, I'll likely be making this one again too, and enlarging it by a few inches to make sure that it fits her and her babies a little bit better. She can wear the one I made, but it will really only hold "Little Baby." (Who is aptly named for her size.) Hudson saw her put it on Monday morning before she headed off to MDO at church, and even he exclaimed that it was the cutest thing that he's seen. Mommy might have been a little bit proud!

Adoption Update: You might be wondering where we are in adopting again. Well, the good news is that we heard from our agency just last week! Unfortunately, it was tell us (again!) that we weren't picked for an upcoming placement. Ugh. Tomorrow marks 2 years since we turned our paperwork and were on the "waiting list" for adopting again. I'm amazed at how quickly we received Micayla based on the wait this time around. I know God has a plan and I'm trusting in that. But that doesn't mean that my heart doesn't ache to hold our next little one and have our family grow. Micayla wants to be a big sister so much....and I don't want her to miss out on being a big sister that can really have fun with her sibling(s).* Yet I know that the further we get them in age apart distance, the less likely for them to be super close will be (since M will be in school and baby will be still be at home). Granted, she's almost 3 1/2 and that's not really far between siblings if we were to get one this spring, but if we wait until after she's four, or later....well, you get the idea. This is also coming from the mommy that wanted her kids close in age together...God really took that out of my control (though I'll be honest to admit it was never in my control to begin with). Anyways, we are just praying that our next child is soon-to-be joining us. I have no idea how it will happen (I'm praying quickly, as in they call us one day and we pick up baby the next day), but I'm trusting that God plans are indeed, perfect, and that He knows all the details of the next one joining us, including what is best for our family. So, my continual faith homework: being content. Oh Lord, may it click with me soon!

*Complete aside about Micayla being a big sister. Most everything she talks about at home, plays with, describes, etc., is in terms of her being a big sister. For instance, I might say, "Micayla, let's go upstairs and get laundry." Micayla: "Okay, mommy. When I'm a big sister, I'm going to carry my baby sister's clothes downstairs for you to wash." I'm not kidding when I say that most everything is prefaced in a way that she knows that she is going to be a big sister. (She believes to a little sister...we remind her that it could be a brother.) Softens my heart to know she desires it so much (since we are one of the few couples that have an "only"), but breaks my heart because she wants it and there's not a thing I can do to tell her "when" it will happen. So we pray alot (in random places, I might add) for her baby sister (or brother). In fact, you might see me at Target in the kids/baby section with my head bowed because I'm praying with her (she repeats it after me) for that sibling.