Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!  Enjoy this AMAZING pumpkin my father in law carved!  He is a pumpkin carving genius.  And this one is my favorite.

Creme Brulog

My brother in law and his fiance have a SUPER cool blog called Creme Brulog.  They live in Chicago, and spend countless hours traveling the city searching for the best Creme Brulee they can find :)  So they eat, and they critique the Brulee's according to various expectations.  And here is our take on there super fun blog :)

Today David and I got an early dinner with David's parents.  We went to this new place in Holland called Salt & Pepper.  Our dinners were quite delicious.  And then we noticed Creme Brulee on the desert menu.  So of COURSE we ordered it.  

Mary was at first very excited by the fruit on top.  She knew that was one thing Brian often looks for in a good Creme Brulee.  But she was disappointed by the strawberry.  She gave the Creme Brulee a 2.5 out of 5.

David thought that the sugary top was nice and crunchy, but was disappointed at the temperature of the custard.  It was cold.  He gave the Creme Brulee a 2 out of 5.

I agreed with the temperature being all wrong.  The top was somewhat warm from the crunchy sugar top, but the rest of cold.  BUT I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of the custard.  It was quite delightful.  Plus, I just love deserts. So it gets a 3 out of 5 from me.

David's dad was going to order pie, but there was only pumpkin pie.  NOT his favorite.  So he opted out of desert.  Lucky for him... I had some Halloween candy in my purse.  And it just happened to be his favorite candy :)  I'm pretty sure he gave the candy a 5 out of 5.

And thus concludes the Stepping Stones version of Creme Brulog! 

For a Special Birthday Girl

 Today is the birthday of a very special person.  She is special to me, and to others in my family.  Probably most special to my brother in law, Brian.  And here is why:

THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED!!

My brother in law proposed last Sunday, and it was so exciting.  We all love Elizabeth already, and when we found out they were getting married, we were over the moon excited.  Excited for Brian, because he gets to marry the love of his life, excited for ourselves because we get to have a new sister in the family, and excited for the little Stefanich who is joining our family, because she will be a WAY cool aunt.

So this post is for Liz.  Because its her birthday, and she just got engaged, and because October is a GREAT month for her.

Happy Birthday Liz!  And Happy Engagement!  And welcome to the Stefanich family :)

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to send out a quick note about the T-shirts...
Dave and I are putting in a second mini-order for some specific sizes (besides Small, Medium, Large and X-Large).  Some people have voiced some interest in children's sizes, or XXL.  So if you are one of these people... wishing there were
other - specific - sizes, send me an email at mackenziestefanich@gmail.com or leave a comment here with your email, and we will order the size(s) you need!


Thanks to you and to everyone that has already ordered!

Who doesn't LOVE T Shirts?

 Hooray!!  Great news my friends and family.  Our T-shirts are IN!.  Well, they have been in for a week now, but I haven't been able to get my 'buttons' in a row until now.  So here they are...

Our T-shirt Fundraiser starts here :)  If you want one... order here!  If you live in the Western Michigan area, and we don't need to ship it, we are more than willing to deliver/meet you somewhere.  OR, if you do not LOVE ordering online, just shoot me an email and we can work something out that way too.

In case you are curious....  Our inspiration was the I ♥ NY shirts.  And we had an AMAZING artist help us out a little too.

I hope you love them... because WE DO!!  Here are some pictures.   -Oh - and sorry about my weird facial expression... :)

So... do you want one?  If you do, order right here...

The shirts cost $20, with $3.99 for shipping. Please choose Drop off if you live near us :)

Delivery Method

Mail Delivery $23.99 Drop Off $20.00

Sizes

Small Medium Large X-Large

Oh Happy Day...

Its always a great day when we get new numbers!

And this time we went down to lower "tens" groups for both boys and girls!!  I don't know how to explain it besides in first grader terms, and we call them tens groups :)  So now we're in the 50s and the 30s.  Yay!

Here are the numbers....  (Imagine them being called off like BINGO numbers... because thats what these are...)

For girls we are...

For boys we are....

For siblings we are...

And the courts in Ethiopia are now back open, so there is another reason to celebrate this happy day!

So here's to a great month :)

Support Adoption through Shopping!

Yes, thats right!  You can shop for yourself, or shop for Christmas gifts for others and support our adoption, as well as others!  Worthy of the Prize (See sidebar for other ways they help support us) is putting on an adoption auction. (MUCH like the very auction we had HERE!)  They are posting a plethora of options (awesome vocab - I know) that you can bid on and possibly win!!  Then they are splitting the proceeds among the families they help support, including us.  Thank you Worthy of the Prize!!  Visit Worthy of the Prize between November 4 and 7 for your chance to help support adoption.

Coming Soon...

David and I are super excited about what is coming soon...

We are doing what many adoptive families have done to raise money for their adoption process. We are selling T-shirts!  We just saw them today and LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  A friend of my brother (who is a super talented artist) donated his services, and "drew up" some designs for us.  We told him what we were thinking, and he gave us a TON of amazing choices.  We had a really hard time deciding.  Honestly we wanted to do 2 designs.   Maybe some day down the road if/when we adopt again, we have another T-shirt option already in our back pockets :)

So anyway.... The t-shirts are DONE... David's parents have them already in St. Joe.  We just need to get together with them to pick them up.  David's dad already wore his to work today :)

I can't WAIT to post and show you the t-shirts, and let you know how you can get your hands on one of them yourself!

Number Update!

 The good news is WE HAVE NEW NUMBERS!  The bad news is I was teaching when our caseworker called, so I didn't get to talk to her.   The only thing we were really going to discuss was our numbers, and she left that in a voicemail and an email.  But I still like to talk to her when I can :)

We have moved up almost 10 spots for girls since we started on the referral list :)  We are so excited that each month so far, we have moved up - since we were told that August and September are rainy months in Ethiopia and the courts close.  So every little number gets us excited!

So here are the latest and greatest:

For Girls:

For Boys:

And for Siblings:

Happy Wednesday everyone!

The best Ethiopian food I EVER ate...

 Last weekend we had the chance to go to Chicago to visit David's sister, Amie, his brother, Brian, and Brian's girlfriend, Elizabeth.  AND cousin Jess was in town, so we got to see her too.  We always have a great time when we go see them, and this was no exception.  We spent the day all over Chicago, and ended our trip with dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant in the city.

Dave and I often go to an Ethiopian restaurant in Grand Rapids, and LOVE the food.  But this restaurant was seriously the best Ethiopian food we have ever had.   It wasn't drastically different from what we have had before, but it was just ridiculously  tasty.

Amie took pictures around the table...

Here is me and David.

and Brian and Elizabeth....

Me and Brian..

Amie and Jess,

Amie tried an Ethiopian beer, and Brian tried Ethiopian honey wine.  Both were big hits.

Our friend, John, also lives in Chicago and met us for dinner as well.  It was fabulous to see him again.  

And now for the amazing food:  we had lamb, chicken, beef, shrimp, and tons of yummy vegetables.  We also started with a really great appetizer that was sort of like an empanada, but with REALLY spicy chicken or veggies inside.  They were delicious, but it took awhile for the spice to leave my mouth.  I think Elizabeth drank 4 glasses of water immediately after the appetizer.  Dave said he "was a man" and didn't think it was that spicy.  But he's all talk.  There was no denying the spice :)  The REST of the food wasn't that spicy.  It was just yum.  Here are some action shots...

We will for sure be visiting this restaurant again.  If I could remember what it was called, I would tell you... but it has slipped my mind.  Sorry!  

A Pretty Great Giveaway

 Well, In case you didn't notice on the sidebar of this lovely little blog, our adoption process is being supported by some AMAZING Companies.  When friends and family members of ours order certain items from these websites, we get a portion of the proceeds.  PRETTY AMAZING... because the products are pretty amazing themselves.

And I'm glad you asked... YES, Cap Creations and Worthy of the Prize DID donate to our online auction fundraiser as well!

But that is not the reason for the blog.  The reason for the blog is that Cap Creations is giving away the following items:

A Chosen Child Fit Band,

A Chosen Child Adoption T-Shirt

And a $40 Gift Certificate to Cap Creations - which has AMAZING jewelry you will love.

So go HERE and get entered into the giveaway right now!!

5 Months, 1 Week, 6 Days...

 Today I was looking at the cute little stork that pops up above my latest posts.  It tells me how long we've been in this adoption process.  And yes, its been 5 months, 1 week and 6 days since we started the process.    This time so far has flown by.  We have had paperwork coming out of our ears to complete.  We've been running around getting things notarized and reviewed and written.  Its been a whirlwind.  But now we have nothing to do but wait.

And its hard.  Waiting is SO hard.  And we've even been told we may have to wait longer than what we originally thought when we started the process.   Its hard because I'm ready for this sweet child right now.  Like RIGHT NOW.   But I'll keep waiting :)  As long as it takes, I'll wait.

And I'll watch my little stork move across that line.  Because every little bit that stork moves brings me closer to our little one.

USCIS Paperwork Returned

 Well, we got our USCIS paperwork returned to us, and not in a good way.  Apparently we filled out an outdated form. So we have to send it back, with all our "appropriate documents" that you see on our kitchen table right now.  You would think that by this time, after the dossier and homestudy, I would be a little more organized with my paperwork :)  But really, I know what it all is, and what things need to be sent.  It just looks like chaos to outsiders...

So this will go back in the mail tomorrow!  Hopefully when we hear from the USCIS again it will be good news :)

A Traumatic Day

This post is not about adoption.  But it is about motherhood.

Sort of.

You see, I have these two pugs.  You may have noticed their picture on the sidebar....  Well, the tan pug is my Penny Lane.  She was mine from before I was married.  And she is the closest thing I have to a child at this point.  This is her... being lazy as usual.  

Well today was her Vet visit.  She needed to get her distemper shot.  The first time she got this as a puppy, she had a little reaction.  Her nose/snout swelled up, and I had to take her back it.  It was scary for a new mother.  

But today was WAY worse.  They knew she had that past reaction.  So they gave her a shot before the distemper to make sure there would not have a reaction.  Then I had to run some errands, and I took her with me, just in case. But she was fine and dandy.

Then came 5:00.  

Penny just walked up to me and looked at me, and THIS is what I saw.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but her eyes are almost swollen shut, AND her little jowls are so swollen they are puffed and hanging down past her bottom jaw.  

I, like any concerned mother, went into panic.  I swooped her up, jumped in the car and started driving back to the animal hospital.  I called the Vet on the way, and almost started crying on the phone.  I was so scared my little pugs throat would swell shut and she would stop breathing.  I may have been over reacting, but it was scary.

They fixed her up with two more shots, and told me to do some medicating at home with over the counter allergy medication.  They DID say, however, that she would never EVER have that shot again.  Thank GOODNESS.

I can only imagine what it would be like to have a sick child!  Have a sick pug was traumatic enough.  I will be a WRECK once its my baby.