By Birth or Adoption, They are All a Gift from God

The Polk Family

You can read their Adoption Adventure at A radical walk, A righteous love

This is my friend Amber Polk and her family, husband Dustin and daughters Carsyn and Sara Kate.  Hopefully soon (with your help) it will be multiplied! Amber and I grew up together but were never really good friends until adulthood when we reconnected at Mosaic church. We bonded over our struggles with infertility and watching our girls grow. It's been a wild ride for both of us so far! 

You see Amber and her husband Dustin are fulfilling God's calling in their lives to adopt! What started out with a discussion 5 years ago about possibly adopting, became we are adopting a little boy and need to raise $45,000! That's a tall order, but achievable. They were leaving EVERYTHING in God's hands for the way this would go, no matter the outcome. While preparing for a yard sale fundraiser to kick off raising that $45,000 Amber and Dustin received a call from their adoption agency with urgent news! Would they be willing to switch to adopting from Russia, not just one little boy as they had planned but TWIN boys! 

With this news on their minds they set out the next morning with their yard sale. Apprehensive of the outcome, expecting to raise maybe $500 or so they felt like this would be a good start to raising the funds needed (now $80,000 to bring both boys home). Running low on supplies Amber ran to the store but before she left Dustin told her they had raised $1200 at that point! On the drive to the store Amber felt God speak to her "I doubled your goal because I doubled your adoption."

Have chill bumps yet about God's awesomeness? Want to help support Amber and Dustin? 

There are several ways to help:

1. They are selling Southern Belle t-shirts(see design below) for $20 for adults and $15 for kids. The shirts are teal blue with yellow and pink accents with black writing. To order a t-shirt send an email to polkadoption@gmail.com

2. You can participate in their Iron Bowl Adoption from now until the Iron Bowl! The Polks are die hard Mississippi State fans (yuck! SMTTT!) who recently moved to Pelham,AL. So they are auctioning off their allegiance to either the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Auburn Tigers to raise funds. Totals right now are the Tide: $507 Auburn:$436


3. Contact me for more information if you would like to make a donation in another form. thehouseofcollums@gmail.com


Amber and Dustin, I am amazed daily at how you are following God's will!  


Want to keep up with the Polks and their Adoption Adventure? Follow them at A radical walk, A righteous love. There is also a link available on the right hand side of HOC: Polk A Tots Adoption Fundraiser.

Where you go I'll go

The last few weeks have brought excitement, defeat, change and uncertainty. But our faith is strong and God is awesome!


The hubby was once again passed over for a position at work that would move us back to the town of our alma mater. It's been very frustrating for us both over the last few months to see others move up that are not as qualified, especially when the hubby is being told by his superiors how qualified he is and encouraging him to apply for this advancements. WE have both come to the realization that this is God's will at this time. As you know (if you know us or read this blog regularly) we have felt the calling to go into ministry, so maybe this is just God's way of keeping him free for pressure at work to focus on this calling.


There is still no definite calling yet on what line of ministry we need to focus on, but waiting patiently :) is what we are doing and feeling out different opportunities as they are presented. I'm confident that we'll know the right one when it comes along.


We are also still on track to a more healthy lifestyle by changing our eating habits and exercising. The progression to a more natural diet is moving a lot slower than I had thought it would. Our budget just can't handle a complete switch as this time so I'm just choosing healthier when and where I can and more for the girls than us. I'm down 30 lbs and two pants sizes so no complaints about the changes here!

Oh and we still LOVE our non-homogenized milk! Isn't that too stinking cute!?

On top of it all we are considering a move and I'm about to start leading our homeschool group! 

So I guess my whole purpose of posting this is to say this....


Where you go, I'll go


Where you stay, I'll stay


When you move, I'll move


I will follow you


Who you love, I'll love


How you serve I'll serve

If this life I lose, I will follow you


I will follow you


I Will Follow by Chris Tomlin

Waiting and Listening...it's harder than you think

Patience is not a virtue God bestowed upon me. Patience is something I have to work on daily hourly with the kids, school, myself and life in general. Work under pressure I can handle that, doing things last minute and getting them done I'm there with bells on! Planning ahead, organization yeah you're talking to the wrong person.  I have grand thoughts and plans which occasionally I put into action (success rate is maybe 10%). I'm ok with my lack of organizational skills, my tendency to forget things (that's why I carry a date book AND make an alarm in my phone!) and my lack of patience. I'm not perfect, I wasn't made to be.


The hubby,E, and I have climbed into the backseat of a new adventure being driven by God. Over the last few months we have both been feeling the call into ministry. Yeah us! Stop laughing! Seriously you can stop laughing now. What area you ask? Well we're are not sure just yet. We've talked with our Pastor and received his support and encouragement. That was completely awesome because E and I both are very insecure about this calling. E is super shy and as I said before I'm completely unorganized! How could this possibly work?!


Then there He goes teaching me a lesson again. Be still, listen, pray and wait. Ack! That is totally not my personality! I'm jump in now, do it now, and ask question(and sometimes forgiveness he he he) later! This scares me to no end! How far out of my comfort zone is God going to put me? There it is again, another lesson He is teaching me...It's not my will, it's His. I'm suppose to go and do what He wants of me, not what I want. At His pace, not mine. 


Patience is the companion of wisdom.- St. Augustine


So God, I'm here. Waiting and listening for your guidance. 

Camp Cliff

I am passing this on for my friend Caroline. If you feel led, please support her in raising funds for Childhood Cancer.

I will be walking for childhood cancer on September 11, 2010 at Terry Hershey Park in Houston, Texas. As most of you know I have been a counselor at Camp Cliff (Children Loved in Families Forever) for the past two years and will be there this year (I'll be there until they tell me I can't come anymore) at Camp for All in Brenham, Texas. This is a unique camp that includes the entire family, providing a weekend away from cancer. These days are spent celebrating being together and having fun! This year's theme for family camp is "Pirate Adventure" and everyone is so excited. All of the donations from the Fun Walk will be used to send as many families as we can to camp. 

Last year this walk raised nearly $50,000 for Candlelighters! Every donation helps and we really appreciate it. I am just asking you to find it in your heart to donate $10 towards my team (Counselors for a Cure - Caroline Marks). If you can help me, out I would appreciate it and so would the children.

You can make a donation online at www.candle.org (Counselors for a Cure - Caroline Marks)

Thanks from the bottom of my heart!
Caroline Marks

Diapers and Milk....the essentials of having a baby!

  

There are two things babies can't live without...diapers and milk! Baby essentials are expense! I mean real expensive! The cost of Huggies diapers and Enfamil formula (when paying full price) for one month is equal to my car payment!!!!! Yeah I know ridiculous! It's not like we haven't already dropped a small house off at the hospital to pay for giving birth. Isn't the pain enough payment? Anyway, now how to get them cheap or possibly FREE? insert me**jumping up and down screaming I KNOW I KNOW!**

Ally-gator turned one year old last week and I've not paid full price for a pack of diapers since she was 3 months old. Sales and coupons are now my best friend (sorry Dawn!) I stock up on diapers when I can and I rarely pay more than $4 a pack and I'm usually getting something else cheap or free to go with it (i.e. baby food, wipes, snacks).

First, as soon as you find out you are pregnant sign up with EVERY baby company you can find like Huggies, Pampers, Enfamil, Similac, Gerber, etc. Every one of these companies will flood your mailbox and inbox with coupons and samples of all kinds. Then start hoarding those coupons(but make sure you use them before they expire!) Also, if you are a Publix or Winn Dixie shopper sign up for their baby clubs, because they send awesome coupons too. (If you drive out of state like me, to shop at a Publix go here to read how to sign up for the baby club and Publix magazines).

Now it's time to work those deals! My preferred place to shop for diapers is Rite Aid, because they consistently have the best deals. My friend Crystal at Crystal the Coupon Momma posts the best diaper deal available each week. I try to post the link here just in case you forget to go look!

Here's the deal I worked today. It could have been a lot better, but I had a cranky baby and a hungry 7 year old with me.

Transactions #1
1-Huggies Little Movers $8.99
-$2 Rite Aid Video Values coupon here
-$2 printable coupon here (I am showing print limit reached but that may be just for me!)
Pay $4.99 OOP and get a $2 UP reward so it was like paying $2.99!!

Transaction #2
1- Gallon Dairy Fresh Whole Milk $2.99 (may be regional price)
-$2 UP Reward
Pay $.99 OOP for a gallon of milk!

There are so many ways to go with this because that $2 UP reward spends like money on any future purchase (the same as Register Rewards from Walgreens).

Booklist- New to HOC

I added something new to House of Collums today. Not really coupon or saving money related, but I liked the idea! I added a booklist of what I have read to date this year and take any suggestions of books you think are good reads!

Want to beat the heat with the kids? 2 Different Theatres!

Every Tuesday at all Carmike Cinemas you can watch a movie, get popcorn and a drink for $1 each! That's $3 total!  See below for schedule or go here. Carmike Cinemas are all over the country so you can check here to find the closest to you.



And it my friend Lane told me about this deal at The Grande Theatres/Am Star Theatres. Same deal! $3!!