7 months

Its hard to believe its been 7 months since I last hugged and kissed these beautiful kids of mine. 

It really doesn't get any easier... The waiting... The wondering.... Most days I try to push the pain to the back of my mind and not think about how long this journey has taken. I try not to think about the fact that Derline was 7 months old when we started and now she is 4. I try not to think about the fact that I thought Juvens would be starting kindergarten with Wesley and now we are almost halfway into 1st grade! I try not to think about the time Sophia screamed and cried when I gave her back to the orphanage director and we drove off in a car to catch our plane back to america! 

I try not to think.. But its all still there its real its raw and my heart hurts it literally hurts when I think about it. 

I never ever could of wrote this story myself. Only God! I would of skipped out long before now! But there is this faith we have in God believing in something we can not see. Believing that they will come home and believing that HIS plan is perfect! If this was my plan the story would of went oh so different. But that's the beauty in all this heartache its GODS plan and that's what makes it beautiful! I know he will make 

beauty from these ashes! 

I know I haven't updated everyone in a while so here it is. We exited IBESR on July 23rd after being stuck in that step for 14 months. Since exiting IBESR we have been in Parquet (which is court) we are being told our file is almost done (but almost does not have the same meaning in Haiti as it does here) So we need prayers for us to exit Parquet right now!! We are asking you to join in prayer with us for this specific prayer! 

Thank you sweet friends for standing by us and praying this prayer with us! It takes a Village! And we are thankful for all of you!! 

Love Karena & Zach 

Fall Mug Swap 2014

Hey Y'all don't you just love FALL?? 

I know I do its probably my favorite season! I love Christmas but I dislike Winter so Its Fall for me!! 

Fall whispers to me 

Football 

Harvest 

Cider 

Hay Rides 

Beautiful Color 

Leaves 

Pumpkins 

Apples 

Baking 

Caramel Corn 

Family 

Giving Thanks 

Pies 

Traditions 

So anywho I thought it would be fun to be a blessing to others and have a fun little mug swap! I don't know about you but I love my mugs especially in the fall and winter and whats more fun then giving something to others and then receiving something fun back in the mail! 

So here’s the deal! Everyone who signs up to participate (see below) will be given a partner that they will send a brand new mug.  Not only will you receive a new mug, but you also might meet a new Bestie. 

Note: you DO NOT have to have a blog to participate!

~ Sign up for the Mug Swap at the bottom of this post. The last day to enter will be Friday, October 17th. Help spread the word about the swap by tweeting and sharing this post on Facebook. 

~ When the signup is closed we will email you your partner’s information. Contact/email your partner as soon as possible to “meet” them so you know how best to shop for them.

~ Have fun shopping for your new buddy, and mail your mug by Wednesday, October 29th. Make sure that you have packaged everything well so it doesn't break. When your gift arrives, notify your buddy so she isn't sitting around wondering if you received it or not! 

~ It is important to follow the rules if you sign up to participate. It would not be cool if someone sent you a gift and they didn’t get one in return. If something comes up and you can’t swap, please let us know ASAP so that we can reassign partners.

~ Once you get your awesome cool fall mug, post a picture of it on your social media channels, using the official hashtag  #pricelifefallmugswap2014  Feel free to blog about it, as well (if applicable)! We want this to be easy, simple and stress-free, so have fun sharing and share how you’d like to.

~ This swap is limited to US residents only – sorry!

Here is an adorable Fall mug that I found at Meijer the other day for $4.99!! 

To sign up you need to leave your 

name and email in the

 comments section below. 

After that I will email you with your 

partners information . 

Its really that easy!! 

So get signed up and

 lets have some fun!! 

Halloween Rag Banner

So so easy and so so cute!! 

So I went to Goodwill and picked up some Orange, Green, Purple and Black T-shirts they are like a $1 each so score!! Then I cut them into strips after that I tied them to a piece of jute and now I have a finished Halloween Rag Banner!! I think its cute and adds a pop of color to my china cabinet! You could use old shirts, old fabric or ribbon really you could do anything with this and its super easy!

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe will be making your own rag banner soon!! 

Briles & Clark Trading Company Market Sale

COMING SOON!!

 GET EXCITED!! 

So your probably saying who is       

Briles & Clark Trading Company and What is a Market Sale! 

Well let me tell you I am pretty excited about this! Briles & Clark are the maiden names of my lovely grandma's Who I love and cherish with all my heart! So when we decided we wanted to pay tribute to things that are old and bring them back to life re-purposing old vintage items and putting them back into today's modern family home. I thought there was no better way to do that then naming it after 2 of my favorite ladies! I love the play on names and makes me remember where I came from! So with that Briles & Clark Trading Company was born! 

How about this Market Sale and what is it? Well its a way for us to get our items out there for the public to see and purchase. We do not have a store front just yet we are a new start up business with the hopes of one day in the future having a store. But until then we will be having  Market Sale every 3-4 months! We aren't sure of the location of these sales yet so keep watching and get excited because I  know we are!! So now its time for me to get busy and start doing what I love shopping flea markets and re-purposing some of my old vintage finds! 

Get Excited Good People 

I Promise Not To Disappoint! 

Sneaky Peaky Of Some of our Stash!! 

Tasty Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday!!! 

Its back to school time and we need some order in our house!! We have been doing dinner on the fly all summer long and the bathroom scale shows it! Ha! At least it does for me and the hubs! So it time to get back to some regular dinners that are quick easy and good at our house!! We have a busy schedule around our house with football, soccer, school, meetings and who knows what else!! So quick easy and good was a must!  I went to pinterest and looked up slow cooker recipes with very little ingredients. This tasty creation had a total of 4 ingredients!! Boom shakalaka! Shredded Cheese, Potatoes, Bacon and Cream of Chicken soup Winner Winner!! 

So really you just cut up one package of bacon you need 4 cups of shredded cheese 3 small cans of cream of chicken soup and a big o'l bowl of potatoes! Make 2 layers of potatoes, bacon cheese then add your soup to the top maybe a little salt and pepper stick that lid on and walk away from that baby! This all goes in the slow cooker I think I forgot to say that! When you come back 6-8(on low) or 4-6 (on high) hours later its pure heaven! 

It won the seal of approval from my 2 kids so its now on the menu for the Price Pack!! I hope your family also enjoys this yummy easy meal! 

Ingredients

5 pounds of potatoes 

4 cups shredded cheese

1 package of bacon uncooked

3 small cans cream of chicken soup 

salt and pepper to taste

6-8 hours on low in crock pot 

4-6 hours on high in crock pot 

Quick ~ Easy~ Good ~ Done

280 days/ 40 weeks / 403,200 minutes

This was the last time we seen the kids. February 5, 2013 that was 280 days ago, 40 week ago, 403,200 minutes ago and it seems like forever. Can you imagine not seeing your 3 year old for that many days. Can you imagine not hearing about your 6 year old day at school or seeing all the new things there little brains are learning. Can you imagine not tucking them into bed not getting to tell them you love them everyday. Its painful my friends my heart aches to hold them to love them to let them know what its like to have a mom and dad. There is nothing in this world that can prepare you for something like this. This process has gone on way to long and these kids are just getting older everyday. There is so much injustice so much red tape and all these kids want is a family. We are that family. We love these kids with all our hearts. It amazes me everyday how much my 6 year old Wesley loves these 3 kids who he has never met. He tells me I miss them so much mom. He prays for them every night. Someday Wesley they will come home is all I can tell him..... 

We left Haiti that morning and I told myself that I was not going to wait another 270 days again and here I find myself 280 long days have gone by. We had planned to go in August but then came the pregnancy that resulted in a miscarriage and it wasn't safe for me to travel so we canceled that trip. We were suppose to be in Haiti right now but we had to cancel our trip yet again. It seems that the US Embassy isn't letting parents file there I-600 unless you meet the current Haitian law and that we do not. We have been told that the new law should be effective by December 1st and then we would be able to reschedule our I-600 appointment and finally go to Haiti to file and see our kids. 

We are thinking it will probably be January or February before that actually happens with the Holidays and just being busy and the uncertainty of things in Haiti.  We have everything we need to file our I-600 so we are ready when they will finally let us. Until then we just continue to wait for our paperwork to make it through the rest of the Haitian adoption process.  That paper that was missing we have been told was found. 

Everyone always wants to know when they will come home. It seems like with every new season I push back the date that I tell people by another 3 months or so. I know one of these times I am not going to have to push that date back anymore one of these times God is going to say alright its time y our babies are coming home! But until that day we ask that you please pray for our family. The Holidays are especially hard. This will be our 3rd Christmas celebrating without them. Its hard .... I am told by friends that have brought there kids home that the pain goes away and its like they have always been there.... I pray they are right. Until that day comes we are just going to keep on keeping on! 

Team Price Update

I know a lot of you are probably wondering how things are going. I don't have much of an update to give anyone but we have been very busy the past few months!! I will update you to the best of my ability on where things stand with the adoption and funds needed to for us to be fully funded! 

Team Price Shirts are still available and all the funds goes towards our adoption fund
3 Less Orphans = 3 More Prices
Derline ~ Juvens ~ Sophia
Loved ~ Chosen ~ Wanted
Shirts are $12 Each and are available in youth - adult sizes 

As many of you may know we were blessed by family and friends with an adoption benefit family fun night! What an amazing event this was! It was held on September 7th at the Wolcott School. We had a pulled pork meal, lots of yummy desserts, bounce house and face painting for the kids and a cruise in car show. We had some awesome things donated to our silent auction and we sold Haitian Coffee, Haitian Jewelry and Christmas Items along with some handmade scarves and bags! All and all the night was a huge success and we were very blessed by the event! To be able to talk about adoption with people from our community was a wonderful thing! We currently find ourselves being very close to fully funded!! What an amazing feeling that is! We have about $8,000 left to go of the $55,000 that was needed to fully fund the adoption! 

Woo Hoo!! We want to say thank you to each and everyone of you who have supported us along this journey who have prayed for us and helped us make this all possible! We will continue to sale scarves and t-shirts and the Haitian jewlery and chirstmas items to help raise some of the needed funds. We will also be keeping the account open at the bank so if you would still like to donate towards our adoption fund you can do so by sending checks to the Bank Of Wolcott P.O. Box 339 Wolcott, IN 47995 Please makes checks payable to Price Family Adoption Fund

Where does our paperwork stand and how are things moving along with that you ask.... Well I wish I could tell you they are moving along quickly but I just can't right now. The last update we received was our file is still in IBESR. They are working on it but still not done with it. We have been very encouraged with the movement we are seeing in IBESR lately so we are hopeful that our file will be out of IBESR before the end of this year if not sooner!! 

We will be making a trip to Haiti in November to file our I600 and give our orphan all of our final process papers so they have them when they are ready for them. We are currently awaiting our appointment with USCIS and then we will be booking our flight!! On this trip we will get to spend several days with the kids! Its been over 8 months since we have seen them. WE are very excited to get to love on them for a few days. It is our hope that this will be our last trip to Haiti for a visit. We plan for our next trip to be bringing them home with us!! Oh what a wonderful day that will be! 

How can you pray?? We need your prayers for our file and that it would move out of IBESR by the end of this year if not sooner!!  WE need your prayers that the new law for adoptions would be signed by the president of Haiti and we could skip our file going to his desk. We need your prayers that we will be fully funded soon and have one less stress off our list when it comes to the adoption. And lastly pray for our children the 3 that are in Haiti pray that they would feel that they are loved and pray that they will yet again understand that mamma and papa are here to visit but they aren't coming home with us. Pray for Juvens especially as he has seen many of his friends going home and I know he has to be confused. Pray for our boys here at home that they would just be patient with this wait and know that someday there brother and sisters will be home. 

Thank you friends your love support and prayers mean the world to us! It takes a village!! We are sure happy to have you along with us on this ride!