The Houtz House Party: Friday Favorites & Sayonara Summer Giveaway Day #5

Its Friday Favorites time folks!!!

FIRST check out Amber @ My Three Bittles. I couldn’t stop laughing when I read her 7Q's with Gentri Lee post. If you do NOTHING more PLEASE I BEG you scroll down to the portion about “eyebrows”. Oh, PLEASE PLEASE pretty PLEASE do it NOW! You won’t be sorry!

Next, is Julie @ This Gal Cooks! Quite simply I am DYING over these Homemade Honey Biscuits she's cooked up! AND THEY LOOK EASY! I totally PINNED IT and I can't wait to try them! You should do the same!

Christie Lynn is soooo cute! She blogs over @ Christie Lynn and creates BEAUTIFUL jewelry pieces and super PRECIOUS handmade hats for babies and adults in her own Etsy shop. PS: My birthday is in November and I'd really like the Peacock Feather Earrings she has! Just sayin...

Next is Mercy Ink! Lauren's heart is AMAZING. I so enjoy getting to know her as i read her inspiring posts about her Christian walk. All of use mother's glean help from posts like this. She is a blessing to me!

Rosie @ Craftbiotic is soooo nice! I enjoy her so much! She puts together the Blog Angels program that some of you might know of. If you've never heard of it, Blog Angels is a program you sign up for that is mutually beneficial!! AKA: Win Win!! YOU win by enjoying being a little sneaky by encouraging another blogger secretly. It's sorta like being a secret santa to another blogger. You get to know them by reading their posts, giving some comment love, retweeting them, ya know just being nice. I participated in June and sent my partner a little gift of lip gloss and candy at the end of the month as well as premium ad space for a month. It's easy and it's soooo fun to get to know new people!

And now, it's Day #5 of the Sayonara Summer GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Today is DAY FIVE of the Sayonara Summer 5 Days of Giveaways, brought to you by Brooke of Covered in Grace and Kelly of The Houtz House Party! We are so thrilled to be able to bring these amazing giveaways to you all and we want you to all know that we appreciate your support and friendship so very much. If you haven't already, go ahead and enter the previous giveaways! You don't want to miss out!

Today, we're doing things a bit differently. Our giveaway items will actually go into a raffle that will support something that is near and dear to Kelly's heart. Read on to find out more!

Today's MY day to share something AMAZING on MY HEART as well as give away some fantastic SWAG in honor of it!!!

If you read Nicole's blog then you'd heard Justin and Katy's story from me a time before. This story is SO precious to me I wanted to share again with all of you!

My cousins Justin & Katy are embarking on the journey of a lifetime. They are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ghana. I can’t tell you how their story tugs on my heart strings as we thought our 4^th child would actually be an adopted little girl as well. God had other plans for our 4^th child and I gave birth to our little Julia in January of this year. Perhaps, God still has that little girl out there for us but in the meantime, I feel called to share about Justin and Katy and why they chose to adopt their first child.

The call to adoption came through their overwhelming desire to do something somehow about the orphan crisis in this world.

Did you know that around the world there are an estimated one hundred and forty three million orphans? To give you some perspective of how massive that number is, consider this:

143,000,000 orphans standing shoulder to shoulder will go around the 10,913-mile perimeter of the USA nearly 4 times. They would reach around the earth over 2 times and could fill the University of Oregon football stadium over 2,600 times. Every day, over 42,200 children are orphaned. It is estimated that by the year 2020, with the rate that children are becoming orphaned, there will be more than 200 million children orphaned around the globe- over 2.8% of the world’s population. It’s safe to say that we have a crisis on our hands. source

That makes my brain hurt and I won’t get started on how my heart feels. Justin and Katy felt equally convicted to do “do for one what they wish they could do for everyone”.

The good news is that we can all help them with this process. When I look at my children I want that for Justin and Katy SO badly. The love they have for their little one already is beyond measure.

They ask first and foremost for prayer. Will you please join with me in praying?

Pray for the child that will soon become ours. Pray for her safety, health, and happiness. Pray for her birth family. Pray for strength, wisdom and grace for her birth mother. Pray for our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services. Pray for our caseworker, Erin Meneley. Pray for patience on our behalf as we wait for a referral. Just pray. A.W. Pink says “Prayer is not as much as an act as it is an attitude- an attitude of dependency, complete dependency on God.” We agree. source

They are also in need of Delta air miles to use for the 2 trips that they will be making to Ghana.

Of course, the tangible need is money as adoption can cost anywhere between $24,000 and $40,000.

There is a fantastic way to help Justin and Katy bring their little lady home!!! They have partnered with an organization called Just Love Coffee. This company will generously donate $5 from every bag of coffee sold to their adoption fund!!! God is GOOD isn’t he?! Click here to buy yours today. You can also give directly to their adoption fund without buying coffee. Click here to donate even $1! Every little bit helps! Where we lack, God picks up the slack! He WILL provide!

You can follow their journey to their little girl by reading their blog Doing for One.

As a THANK YOU , I'm offering a PRIZE PACK which includes:

A $30 Anthropologie Gift Card!!!!!

source

Your choice of African Single Origin Coffees from Just Love Coffee AS WELL AS a Large Ad Space on my blog!!!!

coffee source

Salena, of A Little Piece of Me, has also generously donated a prize to go toward this wonderful cause! She is such an inspiration to all of us here in the blogging community, a beautiful soul and wonderful role model. Her heart for family, and parenting in particular, touches each one of us as we read her words and glimpse into her life as a mother. She had a few words to share with us all on what it means to her to be a parent and wishes Justin and Katy the best on their journey to becoming parents.

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When I was little I never wanted to have kids, I cannot stand pain and did not want to endure labor and childbirth. Little did I know that God had other plans for me. I have 6 kids (3 adults and 3 little ones) ages 27, 24, 23, 7, 5, and 3. You can read more about my story here. Being a parent has many challenges and joys. The most incredible thing about it is the unconditional love and forgiveness my kids show me daily. I get to experience God's grace so many times a day through my kids. They love me and show their appreciation for me in times when I don't deserve it. When I'm feeling like a failure, they are there to tell me I'm the best mom ever and they would not trade me for anyone else. Sometimes I think back and wonder how things would be if I never had kids. I cannot imagine my life without them. Through them, I am reminded daily about God's miracles, grace, and love.