My Dearest February, Thou art always the Worst.

Financially Speaking that is.

I don't know what it is about this month, I start off strong, still reeling from bringing in the New Year with a bang. Then two or three weeks go by, valentines day, my Birthday and all of a sudden I've lost track of my spending and my budget for the month is shot to hell.

Maybe you've noticed my lack of spending? Well thats the reason.

Today Marks the first day of our last week as Floridians. These next few days are going to be hecktic and I don't know if I will have time to post. So I figure this is as good a time as any to review my monthly goals.

-Double up on my Car fund : Put $10.00 each week instead of $5.00This thought donned on me the other day, I figure, why not? So instead of putting $20.00 aside, I'll be putting $40.00 aside this will bring my total to $80.00! Woo - High Roller. Its getting there - a little at a time.
We were laggin here in the middle (all of that mindless spending) but assuming all goes well this week we nailed this one! :] And I am that much closer to a new Car!
-Put $80.00 in my Charity Fund
I guess this is my magic number this month! So far I haven't put anything in my charity fund and that's a little upsetting. Now $50 seemed like to little, while $100 seemed like A LOT so I'm sticking to $80 this month.
Almost there! Once I work on tuesday I will be there and we will be writing our check. I am so happy we managed this!
-Comlete 1/2 of my first blanket.
I am slacking! I swear to you I will never crochet another blanket again. it takes WAY TO LONG!
Probably my best accomplishment! I was on a roll! then I slowed down, but I am deffinately about halfway there. I can not wait to see this puppy finished.

Whats next you ask?
March Goals:

-Do some exercise 3 times a week.
My original goal for the year was to walk 3 miles a week. But finding the time to walk was difficult. So I'm changing it to exercise. Any kind. 3 times a week.

-Attempt to put $200 in my emergency Fund.
I haven't put anything in here yet, but if I'm going to get to $2,000 by January, I need to start being more aggresive with it.

-Show Auston the awesomeness that is New Hampshire.
I grew up here. He is moving from Florida for the first time in his life. I just want him to understand the beauty and coolness of where we are going to.

-Donate $90 to a charity of my choosing.
A little more than last month, but I can't skip out on a month, or else meeting my goal for the year will be near impossible.

-Sew 3 baby bibs.
I want to start sweing and selling different items to help pay for our adoption fee's in the upcoming years. Hopefully I will be gitting a machine shortly.

-Write another Chapter in my book.
I have been neglecting my story :( And it is off to such a great start. So this month I want to sit down, and really focus on it.

There you have it!
Agressive, but imprtant to me! <3

Not a Valentines Post.

Maybe I will tell you all about that later.

Today's post is about my birthday!

In exactly one week I will be twenty years old!
Wow, crazy. I am so excited.

Lately I have been thinking about things that I may like for my birthday, however, nothing really comes to mind. In all honesty I have most anything I would want or need. So with the exception of a few things from family members I was stuck, I didn't know what to tell people when they asked me. It's not like I'm a child anymore who wants to have more barbies, and more toys.

A thought donned on me a little while ago though. To be honest I thought it was a spectacular idea. Here is what I truly want. And if you dear readers want to participate, I would be forever greatful.

As most of you know, Auston and I plan to adopt. In roughly a year from now we will begin the process. I am asking the everyone I know donates just $5.00 towards our goal.
This adoption means so much to the two of us, I can hardly explain it in words. My mother grew up in foster care, so I grew up knowing about the dark side of being in the system. If I can just help one child find a loving home, I feel like I will have done something truly spectacular with my life.
Shortly I should be getting a sewing machine, and then I will be coming up with some crafty ideas, I plan to try and sell to raise more towards our goal. I won't go to in depth today because I have already written a rather lengthy post on this subject.

And if you could share this post with your readers, or your friends, I would be so thankful.

Happy Valentines Day

Sorry if this post seem Choppy today.

Our Adoption Dream.

Lets get serious for a moment.
Auston and I are planning on getting married in September. It is going to be a small intimate back yard affair, surrounded by our closets friends and family. I am so excited.
But that is is not what today's post is about. Being that we are getting married we have started talking about the more important things in life. Like children.

Now this year I have been having some health problems with my lady parts. I don't really want to get into the nitty gritty with you all, but it has caused me to re-evaluate whether to have my own or not. In the past six months we have sat down and really talked about adoption. There are a lot of children in this world who need a home. We have decided we want to adopt. 1.) because I realy don't believe my body can have children. 2.) It is a wonderful thing to help a child in need. 3.) Even if I could have children, I don't see a point, because there are already so many out there.

Now came the important questions, Who to adopt? Do we stay in our own ethnicity? Our own country? How old do we want them to be, open or close? Special need, or not? Do we want to go through an agency or through a foster program? So many Questions!
They are important questions though.

Here is what we have decided thus far -
We want to adopt within the US, there are plenty of children right here in our own country looking for a loving home. Ethnicity was a tricky one, I think we'll let the fates decide. If we love them, we love them, and thats all there is to it.

I want a child preferably under 2, but 3 is the oldest. I want to raise them as our own. Also, we are young ourselves, I don't want a 10 year old when I am old 22.

Closed adoption is mandatory. My Aunt was the first open adoption in the country. Mom say that this has really helped them in understanding why they were given up, and who they come from. From that stand point I could understand why a person would choose an open adoption, but I really don't feel it is for us. Honestly, I'm just not good at sharing. I'm the momma, and thats that.

Now came the daunting question over whether or not to adopt special needs. We talked, and talked, and talked about this. We came to a decision. Yes. But with restrictions. I want to adopt either blind, or deaf. Thats it. Those children need a home just as badly as every other child. There were several reasons behind us choosing to not adopt other needs such as Autistic or Down Syndrom children. I will go into that in a later post.

And lastly did we want an agency or a foster program? This one is still a little back and fourth with us, but I do believe we are going to go through a foster program. This means the costs of adopting will be significantly lower, and we can see if the child is a right fit for our home. When children are in foster care they don't expect to be adopted, they hope for it, but they know that it could very easily just be a temporary home. So when you do decide they are right for you, and you want to keep them its just a bonus.

We are going to start the process next year, when I turn 21. Hopefully by the time I hit 22 we will have our own little addition. I AM SO EXCITED.
Seriously, this is all I think about day and night any more.

We are setting up a fund, completely seperate from all of our money to help finance the process. As well as help us pay to take sign language courses. Which is abviously going to be mandatory to adopt a deaf child. And I have decided that every penny I make off of this blog will go towards that fund. As well as any money I make selling crafts this year. I have set up a page on Discovering adulthood where you can find out about ways to help support us. Shortly, once we are settled in NH I will begin the process of crafting, and if you find anything you like feel free to purchase it, knowing you are helping give a child in need a home!

If you could share that page with as many people as possible I couldn't begin to tell you how much we would apppreciate it. Adoption is an extreamly expensive process and I would hate to have a lack of funds hinder our decision.