Online Auction Coming...

I'm at the very beginning stages of planning an online auction of donated goods and services.  I'll probably hold the auction on this blog.

Let me know one way or another if you have something you want to donate-a new Christmas gift you didn't need, a handmade item, a good or service related to your business.  This would be a good way to get some attention for your business as you help a mama out!

Miracles Waiting

With my husband's blessing, I have joined an online embryo donation community called Miracles Waiting.  We have been accepted as potential embryo recipients, and are waiting for our online profile to be approved.

I am so excited about the possibility here.  Traditional adoption just hasn't worked out for us so far, and I have not been able to raise much money to go toward the significant expenses involved.  The whole embryo adoption process could cost under $4,000 if the first transfer is successful.  That doesn't count pregnancy and birth related expenses, of course.  But our "insurance" (a Christian healthcare sharing program) has generous maternity coverage; it even covers home birth with a Certified Professional Midwife, which is my preference.

Being as passionate as I am about eating organic, whole foods, and emotionally protecting babies in utero by promoting a peaceful pregnancy and birth, it is also thrilling to me that I might have a measure of control over these factors for the children we adopt.

I don't know whether or not this will work out on so many levels.  But we have hoped for more children for a long time.  We feel called to love through adoption; and from where I stand, this seems reasonable and good and possible.  All I can do is pray for and embrace contentment right where I am, and advance at whatever rate the next steps are uncovered.

Pecan Fundraiser

So now we've got local, in-the-shell pecans grown without synthetic chemicals or fertilizers.  We're getting them through one of our coop farmers.  One advantage of in the whole pecans is increased shelf life compared to their "naked" counterparts.  They are great right out of the shell as snacks, in baking, and even as a shelf stable protein for emergency food storage situations.  Pecans are $10 a pound, 5 pounds for $40, or 10 pounds for $60.  

Payments will be taken the same as before; either through the "Donate" button on the blog, or by cash or check at pickup.  

If paying online via the "Donate" button at the upper right hand corner of this blog, click the paypal link (on the payment page) that says, "Add special instructions to recipient". Please give your name and email address, specify the number of pounds you would like, and include the pickup time you prefer.

If you wish to pay cash at pickup, send me an email, Facebook message, text, or blog comment with your name and email address, the number of pounds you would like, and the pickup time you prefer.

I will send an email  confirming your order to the email address I receive with your order.  Pecans will be available for pickup at my house between 4-6pm Thursday, Janury 31 and between 12:30-1:30pm in the Frisco Hobby Lobby parking lot on Preston Rd, Sunday, February 3rd.  If we know eachother, and none of these times work for you, let me know and we'll work out a more convenient pickup time.   I can even arrange porch pickups at your convenience.  

There is also an option to donate honey to a local food bank.  Just pay online and specify your desire to donate under the "Add special instructions to recipient" tab where you give your contact information.  I will deliver the nuts.  

Order deadline is Thursday, January 17th at noon.  Let me know if you have any questions.  

Embryo Adoption

I stopped my lactation protocol about 9 months after I started, and a week and a half after beginning the pumping part; it was just too time consuming and expensive to keep up with, considering there's no baby in sight.  We are going back through all our adoption options, and reconsidering Embryo Adoption now.  Our domestic agency is very slow right now, a private adoption situation doesn't seem to be working out, and the expiring adoption tax credit is bringing us to a place of re evaluation of our course.  

When families pursue in vitro fertilization, they often end up with extra frozen embryos that they don't feel they can gestate and parent.  Some families donate their embryo's to science, where they are destroyed.  Others transfer them into the mother in a way unlikely to result in pregnancy.  Some freeze them indefinitely, and still others choose to donate them to other families who wish to have more children.  There aren't a whole lot of laws governing embryo "adoption", and it technically isn't considered such, as embryos aren't recognized as people by law.   However, there are agencies that work with families to honor the humanity of these tiny babies by facilitating placements in a manner very similar to those of traditional adoptions.  The tax credit (even if it had been renewed) wouldn't count toward this type of adoption though, since embryo personhood isn't upheld and protected by law at this point.  Anyway, to go through these agencies to adopt embryos is essentially about the same cost as some traditional, domestic adoptons.  I am apparently not a gifted fundraiser, so this option seems out of reach for us at this point.  I have found though, a non profit resource that connects embryos donors and recipients in a more casual manner, so that the costs involved mainly involve a simple legal contract and those of transferring the embryos into the adoptive mother at a fertility clinic.  This, we can do!

So we are looking into this and praying about it.