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.....

One year ago today....next milestone

Today was the "Decision Day". One year ago that we made it publicly known that we were pursuing Micah's adoption. On this day we officially shot our hearts across the world and began the crazy and amazing paper chase to reach Micah.

***More will come soon*** We are transitioning from summer to school and I hope to be back very soon with many pictures of all we've been doing this summer.

One year ago today...

we layed eyes on this precious picture of baby Samuel, a.k.a. baby Coffee

and we prayed

and we asked you all to pray

One year later...

Micah Paul Coombs is a miracle!

Thank you all for praying!

If You Give Micah a Mouse

If You Give Micah a Mouse

 

He's gonna want to snuggle.

Snuggling with soft things is one of Micah's joys in life.

Micah has brought immeasureable JOY to our family.

A Memorable Monday

Yesterday was a Monday for the record books. I woke up knowing we had way too much to do that was mandatory and hoping the finely executed packed schedule would avoid a traditional "Monday" kind of day. All I can say was that it was memorable for sure (and successful).

The house was humming by 7am with the girls prepping for their last Monday of the school year. Micah woke up around 7:20. I swooped him into his feeding seat as a waiting place while I finished getting ready real quick. Usually we start heading to the van around 7:40 to get the girls to school on time and avoid the treacherous parking lot of crazy driving. So I'm ready, girls are ready, few minutes to spare I start directing the girls to the van while going to get Micah to the van. As I am going to pick him up to my horror I discover Micah sitting in a pool of poop with one hand dipped and smearing his seat.....NICE!  My brain starts racing. The girls come running to inquire about what the panic is about. Cara INSTANTLY begins gagging-hand over mouth and runs to barf. Chloe was disgusted and honestly I think she went to hide in the car. I don't remember much of anyone who did not have a bodily fluid issue during that 5 minutes.  I grab the bath seat and start the tub. Cara returns and again INSTANTLY begins the gagging sequence. Next I drag the feeding seat to the bathroom for a "clean" transfer of the poopy child to the tub. AGAIN, Cara returns...REPEAT SEQUENCE.  Now I am rapidly cleaning Micah, telling Cara to get in the van and asking for a diaper to be brought. Cara was now beyond traumatized by 1) the poop, 2) the barfing 3 times, 3) I'm telling her she's going to school and 4) she thinks she is going to now be late. She says, "I can't go to school, I'm throwing up!" I say, "You have to go to school....It smells better!" She then went to the van without any complaining. At that moment I also went to flush what Cara had produced to only discover our toilet was not flushing properly and nothing would actually go down, just twirl...GREAT!

I quickly wrap a soaking wet Micah in a fresh diaper and hustle him off to the van leaving the catastrophic poop to be dealt with later. We are all in the car and in one piece by 7:46, not too bad. Off to school we go I drop the girls off and race home to recover from the nastiness that awaits us. Now Micah has had a great time through this all. Of course he would... he feels much better. He played, air dryed and watched cartoons while I began the clean up. It was at this time I had a moment to breath and realize I had been covered in poop...I had poop on my shoulders! Sooooo gross!

Now we were all cleaned, house was OUSTed, laundry was going and trash was taken out. NOW the actual busy day could resume. This is how it went...

Call to Doctors office to request info.

Call to Home Care to resolve formula issue. Current flavor of formula causes runny poop. Ya, let's get this fixed...TODAY!

Dentist Appointment for Micah-His 5 teeth are doing just fine.

Library-to pick up books

Doctor's office returns call and is working on info we need.

Target to get more bleach to finish clean-up along with a few other things

Missed call from Home Care.

Pick up Chloe from Kindergarten

Call Home Care back and hope to have UNFLAVORED formula soon.

Drop Chloe and Micah off with Mama and Abi so I could go to an appointment. I'm good too.

Pick up Micah and head to Valley Children's for an ENT appointment-This is where he chose to have his next big explosive diaper. In an exam room with no flat surface to change him on. As I was using the chair to change him the doctor walked in and was welcomed by his bare little bottom pointed right at her. She was a bit surprised. Great timing buddy. From the visit we learned Micah is doing well. He WILL NOT need any further surgury for his loud breathing. Everything else looked great.

Went to Medical Records to officially change his name.

Headed home and left the girls to swim with Mama and Papa until later.

Received call from Home Care and  issue will be resolved on Tuesday, which it is! Yay!

Arrived home put Micah down for a nap and crashed myself for a bit.

As the girls were getting ready to come home I received a call from Randy. He was going to need to work late. Okay, grab the boot straps and some caffine here we go.

The girls came home, had dinner and we decided to read til bedtime. As we were reading chapter books Micah was playing on the floor. All of a sudden we heard the next very loud explosive diaper. I IMMEDIATELY jump to intervene in hopes of avoiding a further load of laundry. At the same time Cara says, "I hope he doesn't make me throw up again." and Chloe who is sitting right by me chimes in with,"I think I'm going to throw up ON him." as she catches a whiff of the odor. Oh my the joys of a baby brother.

Micah and I tucked the girls in bed.

Randy returns home safely to play with Micah and to get the toilet to flush the remains of the barfed bowl of cereal from the morning.

What a day this was....definitely memorable....

Court

Court went well today. We did not know what to expect. Everything was very relaxed and easy going. We met family and friends at the courthouse after lunchtime. We all congregated in the hallway waiting to be called. Our case was the first one after lunch so that was encouraging. You never really know when a baby is going to expire when they are experiencing new surroundings.

I just love how Micah gazes up at  his Daddy!

The Bailiff came out right on time to call our crew in to the court room. Everyone filed in and found a seat. Within a few minutes we were asked to come and sit at a table and the kids, or whoever else was able to enjoy the jury box if they chose. Of course all the kids took advantage of this special seating.

Once everyone was settled  the Judge began. He went through a variety of formalities and them we were sworn in. The Judge then proceeded to ask us several questions basically confirming that we promise to take care of Micah in every possible way and that we are committed to being his forever family. Now in the midst of this, Micah decided to mix things up a bit. He was probably wondering why everything was so serious and thought a game of peek-a-boo was in order. His version of peek-a-boo is to throw his head back so we can kiss it, then he pulls it up and throws it back again almost instantly. So the game began in an attempt to keep him happy. Micah won the hearts of the Judge and theother court people who could see his smile and hear his talking.

Before we knew it we were done! It was really very fast. We shook the Judges hand and it was done. Now it was picture time.

Our family headed up to the Judges seat to take a family picture.

We then waited around for a few minutes waiting for the official stamped to be brought to us. Before we knew it we had six copies of official paperwork confirming all that had just took place. Now we can take this paperwork and have Micah's name changes officially from Sidamo Randy Coombs to Micah Paul Coombs. This is really a surreal feeling to realize the great significance of this day. Micah has a world of possibilities ahead of him. I'm so excited to see all that God is going to make him into.

Next...The After Party! I scream....You scream....We all scream.....for Ice Cream!

More pictures will be posted soon!