Jewelry Shop

If you take a look up at the top of my blog, there's a page called  "Plus One Minus One Jewelry."  I'll be updating it often as I make new necklaces and designs for people.  I have a few projects that are done but I can't post because they are gifts :)

Also, if you find something that you want me to make, let me know... I can customize just about anything.

I will be getting a stamp of the continent of Africa soon! and I'm very excited about that!  Will keep everyone posted!

I've also ordered some hand-crafted Ugandan beads to add to my jewelry!  More on that to come soon! You will not want to miss them!

I stamp on all sizes of discs from 1/2" to 2".  I can make keychains and necklaces... just about anything that you can find hand stamped on etsy, I can make happen!

All proceeds will help fund our adoption! 

Blessings

Life has just been crazy lately, to say the least!  It's been a good past couple of weeks but very busy.  I have thought often of different posts that I wanted to write but time just got away from me.  The most important post that I want to write first is titled "Blessings."

His Blessings have been poured out over our family lately in HUGE ways!  I've laughed at the timing of them, cried because I was overwhelmingly humbled, and over and over have thanked Him for His definite provision.  I remember starting this whole adoption process and being completely overwhelmed by the financial aspect of it.  Paying large chunks of money in short amounts of time was a little nerve racking for me.  I knew He would provide as He had called us to this journey but it was so hard for me to let go of the control that I thought I needed to have.

I continued to think that somehow I could make it happen... and folks, I. JUST. CAN'T!  I can't do anything without Him.  I've been going through a class called The Ultimate Journey (more on that class later) and through it I have learned that I was still trying to control things in my life.  Sure, I had given some things over to Him but there were still things that I just deep down couldn't let go.  I've learned to lay it all at the foot of the cross and surrender to Him.  How freeing that is.

Back to the blessings...

Mark started Moody a week ago.  With starting Moody and also going through an international adoption at the same time, we have been praying for provision.  A couple of days before his class started, he called the financial aid office to see if there were any scholarships available - just "hanging around."  He chatted with the guy for a bit, got put on hold, and then finished the conversation by learning that the guy was just going to award him $750 just because he could.  THANK YOU, Lord!  Then, the morning that his class started, he got an email that he was awarded another scholarship!!!!  He still has a few out that are being looked over so we'll see what is to come.  We were overwhelmed to say the least!

We have had a few different blessings in the adoption arena... It really has been mind-blowing:

Jewelry sales are going great!  I'm working on posting a page at the top of my blog showing different things that I have made.  I love making jewelry for people!

Mark has been doing some various painting jobs for people on the side.  He painted professionally for many years and has his own - on the side - painting business.  He's really quite good!  It's been nice that he's been able to take on a few jobs here and there :)

A little over a week ago a sweet friend of mine randomly set up an online facebook fundraiser for us.  She had various Thirty-One Gift sets that you could purchase and all proceeds went to us to help us bring our little guy home!  I was shocked!  My phone would not to stop beeping because of all of the updates from everyone who purchased!  A dear friend even purchased a gift set and donated it back to me.  Wow.  It was so amazing to watch the body of Christ come together and get excited about supporting our family.  It was so incredibly humbling.  People I didn't even know were supporting us... amazing.

Just this weekend, we were blessed beyond belief.  Some sweet friends of ours handed over a very large donation to our adoption.  I took one look at the check and began to weep.  I was overwhelmed.  God was providing in ways that were unimaginable to me.  He was showing us that He is our provider and that He will take care of us.  He has definitely called us to adoption and I know for a fact that He will provide.  I am so very grateful.  To know that we have our friends (and so many others) who are supporting us and our family through this journey means so much.  They have caught the vision of helping the orphans and the fatherless and it's so incredibly amazing.

I think I've probably said the words "amazing" and "humbling" 1000 times in this post but there are no other words to describe how we feel.  We have been overwhelmed with love and support from friends and even those we didn't know before.

I want to say on behalf of myself and Mark THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed for us, is praying for us, has donated to our adoption, jumped in on the 31 fundraiser,  has bought jewelry, etc!  You have no idea how grateful we are.  To know that we are right where God wants us and to know that we have so much love and support behind is is truly a blessing!

Thank you, Jesus, for your provision!  I know without a doubt that with you all things are possible!

Giveaway Winner....

Congratulations to Katie (entry #5) for winning a copy of The Five Love Languages of Children! You'll love it!!!!

The 5 Love Languages of Children - ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY!!!!

Can I just tell you that I'm SUPER excited to be doing a review and giveaway for THIS AMAZING BOOK! I absolutely loved this book and I'm so excited to be sharing it with you! I think ever single parent needs a copy of The 5 Love Languages of Children by Dr. Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell... really, it's that good. I know that the information presented in this book can change the way parents relate to their children. How awesome is that!?!

Now for some info:

The 5 Love Languages of Children: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/resource/the-five-love-languages-of-children

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/5LoveLanguages

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/drgarychapman

"To be their best, children need to feel loved. But if you and your child speak different love languages, your affection might get lost in translation, affecting the child’s attitude, behavior, and development. Dr. Gary Chapman’s groundbreaking Five Love Languages series has helped millions of couples communicate love more clearly, and Dr. Ross Campbell M.D. has applied the innovative system to children as well. The 5 Love Languages of Children gives practical suggestions for learning how your children interpret love and creating a sense of security in which they can thrive."

I will say it again, I LOVED THIS BOOK. Actually, I think of it more as a resource. What great information it has on helping parents to understand the love languages of their children. This is so important to me, as a mom. I want to be able to relate the best way that I can with each of my 3 kiddos - all whom are SO different. Determining their love language, or way that they most receive and give love, is so important because it will help me to better reach inside their little hearts and love them the best way that I can. In the first chapter it says, "So to reach them, you must love on their terms." I love that! We need to figure out how to love on their terms... how to best show love to them in a way that they will receive it best!

My youngest daughter, although only just shy of her 3rd birthday, definitely has a love language of physical touch. Although the book shares that you really can't start to really determine a child's love language until around the age of 5 (because younger children love in all 5 ways all the time), I know my sweet girl has a ton of physical touch in her :) She's the only one who wants to be held and cuddled and hugged and kissed ALL. THE. TIME. Reading this book was fun in that I was able to learn more about how to relate to her through her love language. It was also fun thinking through what my other two sweet kiddos might be strong in. I can't wait until they are a little older to really determine what the predominant love language is... and then to see what comes as the secondary.

I loved many things about this book. The first being that the chapters were broken down by love language : Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Gifts, Acts of Service. I am a very visual person, and I love examples and "how-to's" so this book was perfect for me. There were lots of stories to illustrate each love language, and there were many practical points at the end of each chapter of what to do if your child demonstrates a strong language of ______. I love that part because I can look back and get great new ideas on how to show love to my child in his / her particular language. Each chapter also shares things on what might be negative to a child with a particular love language.

Another concept that I love about the book is the idea of your child's love tank being filled. This concept played into many parts of the book ranging from discipline to learning. It was interesting to see the correlation between an "empty tank" and discipline issues or learning problems.

This book is more than just a book to me... it's a resource. I know that all of my highlighting will come in handy over time as I go back through and re-read particular parts. It seems so easy to love our children, right?! Well, it is but we need to remember that our children all give and receive love in different ways. If we can figure out those ways and learn to show love to them in the way that they best receive it, it will be even better!

The last thing that I want to mention (although I could write about the book for an hour) is the game in the back. It's best suited for children 5 and above but it's a great tool for determining your child's primary and secondary language. Make it fun :) Who doesn't want to learn to better love their children!

All in all, I give this book a 10 thumbs up... well, if I had 10 thumbs that is! For now, I'll give it MY TWO! Every parent needs a copy of this book! So.....

One person will be winning a copy at the end of this week!!!!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog and tell me one of the many tangible ways that you show love to your children! Drawing will end on Sunday, April 15th, and the winner will be chosen randomly by random.org on Monday April 16th!!! Here we go....

Required fine print: “Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Giveaway Winner....

Congratulations to Kim!!! Your entry was picked using random.org to win a copy of A Perfect Pet for Peyton! Message me your address and we will get you your copy!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

p.s. I have more giveaways on the horizon so be looking for those :)

How YOU can help!

I've had many people over the last few weeks ask how they can help us with our adoption and be involved. I love that. I love to see people coming together to support one another! It brings joy to my heart!

I wanted to post about the ways that you and your family can help us bring our little guy home from GHANA! (I don't think that I've officially mentioned that we are adopting from Ghana yet, so there it is! I had heard some wrong information that we weren't supposed to list country name but that has been corrected! -- Although I'm sure most of you could have guessed it was Ghana!)

Back to my post...

Most all of you know that adoption. is. expensive. Very. expensive. We acknowledge that and know that God has called us down this road. We also know that because He has made this path of adoption clear to us, He will also provide for us. Now... in walks the hard part for me. I'm a Type A personality... I like to have a schedule, I like to have everything figured out, I like to have all my ducks in a row - not to mention the crazy OCD organization! Needless to say, stepping out in faith with this adoption process is a huge thing for me. He's already taught me so so much and changed me in ways that I am forever grateful but, I need to remember that IT'S NOT ABOUT ME! It's not about my timing, my plans, my ideas, and my organization... It's about HIS! I can't plan anything on my own or make it work out on my own. It doesn't work that way! I will choose to put my faith in Him, knowing that He will provide for us and this adoption... in whatever way HE chooses to do that.

With that being said, I'm going to list some ways that you can come along side of us in this journey... The journey to bring our little man home from Ghana.

1. The first way you can help join in on our journey is by PRAYING! Prayer is so important. We need prayer warriors on our side. We need your prayers as we are preparing to bring home Baby Boy Bettinger. It is not an easy journey by any means, but we know that He is faithful and He is preparing the way for us. We appreciate all of your prayers already and we are grateful that we have such a strong support for the future!

2. I'm super excited about this next thing. I've recently started metal stamping and I LOVE IT! I'm currently open for business :) Plus One, Minus One Jewelry! All proceeds go to fund our adoption (does that sound business-y?!)
Yes, I'm doing metal stamping ... Necklaces, Keychains, Bracelets - anything that you could ever want! Here are some pictures of things that I can do:

This is actually the first thing that I ever stamped. I made it for my mom. It says "Carry You Always." It has my grandmother's birthstone on it. It's in remembrance of her as she recently passed away in September.

I do have these rounds with the hearts in the middle and can stamp anything around it... adding any type of charm that you want.

I'm excited to be getting this stamp soon... the AFRICA stamp! They are VERY hard to find and I've got one on order as soon as she releases them. Should only be a week or so. This stamp looks great as well by adding a heart over your favorite country in Africa (I'll be making myself one with a heart over Ghana for sure!)

This is just a great picture to show that just about anything can be stamped and added to make a great necklace! It's also a little hard to see in the picture but I can make the round either concave or convex (curving inward or outward) for style preferences.

A cute picture of an example of children's names. Could also work with adding birth dates. Or doing something fun with a husband's or wife's name. Another great visual for having your children's names on a necklace. LOVE LOVE LOVE this for those adoptive families out there. Or.. just just let people know that you are supporting an adoption.

a great visual for stacking disks on a keychain!

I've seen a lot of these done up... great grandparent gifts. I've also seen them done on "washers" - or a disk with a circle in the middle.

I know that's probably a lot but I wanted to list a few options.

I can do quite a bit... just email me (jmlbettinger@yahoo.com) or Facebook me and we can "chat" about logistics and design. I have an uppercase and lowercase alphabet. I can add charms. I have plain rounds, rounds with hearts, rounds with circles, and keychains.

They make great personal gifts, great gifts for family members... And the best part is that with your purchase you are making a difference.

I would love to work with you! Make sure you tell all of your friends as well!

Prices are between $15 and $22 - depending on how many disks you want and if you want charms.

I look forward to working with YOU! Oh, and I of course can ship jewelry to anywhere!!!

3. The third way that you can help out, if you feel led, is by donating straight to our adoption fund. There's a paypal donate button on the right side of my blog, under the picture of Africa. Feel free to click on that and send a direct payment if you feel the Lord leading you that way. We thank you in advance for any donation that you send, whether $15 or $50.

4. The fourth way you can help is by visiting my sweet friend Adriana's blog and making a purchase. You can read my post here and the story about this amazing girl's BIG heart! Make a purchase from Adriana's blog and she will donate a portion to our adoption! I'm still in awe. We are so thankful, Adriana! Visit her blog / shop!

I can't express what it has meant to have so many friends and family supporting us along this journey thus far. We are currently waiting on our foster licensing to be approved. Because the adoption won't be fully complete in the U.S. when we arrive home, we have to have a foster care license so that we are able to have our little man with us until the adoption is made complete in IL. (It's obviously complete in Ghana when we go through court.) So, we are waiting on that license and then our home study will be ready for review at our agency. At that point, we will send in our next monetary installment along with some more paperwork and the home study. Once our home study is reviewed and approved, we are officially ready to be MATCHED! wahoo! It's a lot... but it's one step at a time.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Things are moving along and God is in control! I've already seen so many things happen in the process this far that amaze me! God is awesome!

Let's bring home Baby Boy Bettinger!!!!

A Perfect Pet for Peyton - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY!

From time to time I'm going to start doing giveaways on my blog to which I'm very excited about! And, what better way to start off my first giveaway than with an amazing book called A Perfect Pet for Peyton by Rick Osborne & Gary Chapman.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/5LoveLanguages

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/drgarychapman

About A Perfect Pet for Peyton:

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/resource/a-perfect-pet-for-peyton/

"This wonderfully imaginative children’s hardcover book by bestselling authors Gary Chapman and Rick Osborne, featuring four-color illustrations (with hidden details!) by Wilson Williams, Jr., will help children learn the importance of love. Based on Gary’s highly successful The 5 Love Languages®, A Perfect Pet for Peyton tells an entertaining and playful story of five children who each, with the help of Mr. Chapman and the unique pets at his special emporium, discover their own personal love language. Children and parents alike will experience firsthand the power of the love languages as they cuddle up and spend precious time together reading this book over and over again."

So, now... the best part... what do I think of this book?

I absolutely, 100%, 2 thumbs up, jumping up and down, LOVED IT!

Gary Chapman (& Rick Osborne) did a wonderful job on this book. Starting with the illustrations (by Wilson Williams Jr.)... The pictures are brightly colored and very engaging. My kiddos loved looking at the pictures. Another thing that I loved about the illustrations were that on some pages you were asked to find certain bugs or pick out certain animals (some fun hidden details!). My littles enjoyed searching the pages for every animal under the sun! Also, the text is FUN. Sporadic words are enlarged and brightly colored making it fun to read through the story.

The story itself is about twins, Penny and Peyton, and their birthday adventure with Mr. Chapman. They get their very own perfect pet at this birthday extravaganza. Through the story, the readers are learning about each child and you start seeing how each child is different. These differences, or love languages, are the way in which children (and adults) give and receive love. By understanding the different love languages and learning by which way your children give and receive love, you learn so much about your children. In the same way this is true of adults as well. Marriages are definitely made stronger by simply know how your spouse receives love. You will be able to better show them love if you know in which way they receive it the best!

Tangent :)

By the end of the story, each child has a special pet to take home. Peyton has a hard time deciding if he wants a special pet but by the end of the story, his pet is obvious! It was exciting for me to read this to my 5 year old who (a) loved the story but (b) was able to learn more about the different love languages. I was able to explain the concept to her and use the book as a teaching aid - because it was easy for her to understand by using the story.

The other thing I love about this book is the quiz at the end. It is a great tool for helping your children to realize their love languages. After reading the story a few times and knowing that they are starting to grasp the differences, you can go through the quiz with them asking the different questions pertaining to each love language. Using this, as well as watching them and listening to them, you'll soon be able to distinguish which language they are more drawn towards and how to better show love to them. I'm excited about using the quiz with my 5 year old... who was already asking after the first time I read it to her, "Mommy, what's my love language?"

The story is engaging and definitely a good read for my kiddos as well as myself. I really enjoyed it. It's a great way to introduce our children to something so important at an early age. I definitely recommend this book and give it the awesome award!

ONE LUCKY PERSON will be able to win a copy of this sweet book, A Perfect Pet for Peyton. Just simply leave a comment on this post... making sure that you leave an email address so that I can contact you. The giveaway will end on Sunday, April 1st. WInner will be chosen on April 2nd, by random.org.

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”