147SpareMoments

You may be asking, many have. What is 147SpareMoments? You could say it's a product of how God has been moving in our hearts and developing a heart for orphans over the years. 

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Here's my story...

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For me this all became more real once we came home with Micah. When life was turned upside down and we were working to find our "New Normal" I realized I needed more "breaks" to unwind and do something fun. I love to do crafts, sew, knit really anything crafty. I was also looking around my house at all the abandoned craft supplies that had not surfaced since we began a family 7 years ago. 

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Hang with me here.

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During this early bonding time with Micah my heart was so overwhelmed with love for our little guy and how much richer our lives are with him. I wanted to do more....more for orphans....more for families wanting to adopt....just more. I knew that we could not adopt another at the moments or maybe even ever. I also knew our budget was a bit limited at the time. I also knew my time was the most limited. God has also been working on my heart regarding how excessive we live here in the US. I've been asking myself "What can I do right now with what I have?" I've been purging and working to only keep what we need and buy only what we need. 

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Now back to the craft supplies...

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So as I looked around I started to see projects I could either finish or start from scratch. I then wondered about making items and selling them on our blog and then donating the money to orphans. 
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One day as my friend,Brandy and I were watching our kids swim we were talking about all this and brainstorming. My friend had also been contemplating similar topics. Her family is also an adoptive family.  Recently, I had helped her make a skirt and we had just finished making a purse out of the remnants. When she wore this purse out and about she began to receive compliments and requests for them. Hmm...we started thinking and praying. She had also recently started to play with the idea of opening an Etsy shop. After a bit of time, we decided to take the leap, open a shop and donate all the profits to orphans. We are passionate about orphans finding the families God intended for them. 

Now for a name...what to call it....hmmm...We came up with 147SpareMoments. The meaning is that there are 147million orphans in the world and we are using our spare moments in life to make a difference in there lives. We've promised ourselves to not get overwhelmed and to take this where God leads.

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We are listing a variety of items and we are hoping to provide "country specific" adoption items that can be hard to find at times.

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Come check it out!
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http://www.etsy.com/shop/147sparemoments

Where have we been?

When summer arrived we were greatly anticipating a more relaxed schedule. After all, isn't that what summer is about? We all really needed some R&R since the last year has been so intense. Our summer was filled with fun activities and swim date. Micah's appointments slowed down to only 2-3 a week. I was feeling like I needed a break from blogging, however never intended it to be this long. It seemed like summer flew by and before we knew it we were prepping to go back to school, including Micah. Yikes! As that transition was happening I was just trying to make sure everyone got to where they needed to go with what they needed. Along the way we also started to receive appointments in the mail. I just continued to plug the appointments in the calendar and make sure I got to where Micah and I needed to go. About half way through September I realized that in September we are blessed to have the resources to get to attend 19 appointments in 22 business days. Holy Cow! From that point on I decided that it's okay if I feel a bit overwhelmed in September. That's reality. Looking ahead into October and November we should only have 10-12 a month...YES! We are so blessed in so many ways! Micah continually is a blessing to us daily. His smile penetrates straight to people's hearts. He is truly captivating to play with, he just pulls you in and you don't want to do anything else but soak in his joy!

 In the days and weeks to come I have a lot to share about the last few months and some things coming so stay tuned.....