(Cover)ed

Adoption on Hold

2012-03-03T18:09:00.002-08:00

I have a distant family member who is currently unable to care for her two daughters. When Darren and I heard that they might be going into foster care, we agreed to let them stay with us. As of last Wednesday, February 22 we are (temporarily) a family of five. The girls are 18 months and 5. Right now they are with us for the next 30 days. They may be with us longer, they may not. I cannot list any specifics, but God knows exactly what everyone involved in this situation needs. Please pray for us, the girls and their parents. Until we know more about how long the girls will be with us our adoption is on hold. We are perfectly fine with that because these girls and their family is our main priority right now. Thank you for your prayers!

Sharing His Love,
Julie

Adoption Update

2012-02-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been quite a while since our last post. If you remember, we are currently taking a break because our family is in the process of adopting domestically. Our homestudy is complete, but due to the fact that our baby could be here as soon as a few months, we do not feel like we can commit to making towels at this point.

If you would like to see what has taken place over the last few months, you can check out our adoption timeline on our family blog. At this point our profile has been shown to five different birth mothers. Of the five, three birth mothers have decided to parent rather than place their child for adoption. The other two did not choose us. This has not been too upsetting for us at this point because rejection is a huge part of this process. As the months pass by, I am sure we will become more impatient, but we know that God is in control and His will and timing are absolutely, completely perfect.

As you all know, adoption is very expensive...even domestic adoption. Our adoption will cost between $15,000.00 and $24,000.00. The number will vary depending on if the birth mother has medical insurance, is staying at the Lifeline home, etc. Someone told me the other day that Lifeline is actually less expensive than a lot of other agencies.

If you would like to support our adoption, the most important thing you can do is pray for us. Please pray that we will be patient and trust God. Even though we know he is in control, we are not any where close to perfect and sometimes let fear and doubt creep in. Please pray that God will prepare us for the child that he has for us. Please pray for the birth mother that chooses us. Pray that God will give her complete peace in knowing that we will love and care for her baby to the very best of our ability...just like we do with Nate.

For those of you that would like to do more than pray, you can support us by purchasing items from our "Support Our Adoption" page from our family blog. God has given me the ability to sew and I want to use that gift to help pay for our adoption. I hope to add more items in the future, but I am starting with camera strap covers. These are perfect for any DSLR or SLR camera strap. They are $12.00. Shipping is $2.00, if needed. All of the profits will go into our adoption account.

They are 22" long and 2" wide and will slide right over your existing strap. They are padded with fleece for comfort and are machine washable. These are the four different colors I am currently offering...

Coral

Blue/Green Paisley

Brown Floral

Orange/Pink Paisley

If you would like to order or have questions, please click here to email me. Please put "camera strap" in the subject line. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Sharing His Love,

Julie

It's Official

2011-11-18T14:45:00.001-08:00

Do you remember this cute little guy?

This is Anderson, Casey's son. She and Jeff (and the kids) brought him home from Thailand a little over a year ago. Today is National Adoption Day and today we got to celebrate the official adoption of sweet, Anderson Tatum. He is such a precious little boy. He is smart, funny and cute as a bug. It has been a privilege to watch him grow and learn this year. I cannot wait to see what great things God has planned for Anderson!

Jeff, Aerin, Anderson, Casey, Alex and Judge Martin

Towel Sale

2011-11-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! As you know we are currently on a home study break. (Things are going very well by the way.) With the holidays around the corner, I (Julie) have had several close friends ask me to make towels for them. I was tentatively planning to do a towel sale for our adoption early next year. However, since I will already be sewing a few towels I thought I would see if any of you are interested in purchasing a towel. Over half of the purchase price from each towel will be used to pay for our home study ($2500.00).

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! Here's all the info you need...

Click here to see the designs

Any design can be made without a hood, but you must let me know when you order
Don't forget that these are plenty big enough for older children

Sale Dates: Now until Wed., November 16th

Cost of towels: $25.00

Local orders: Pay with cash or check

Out of town orders: You will receive PayPal invoice via email

Payments must be received by November 16th

Shipping: $5.00 for one and $1.50 for each additional towel

All towels will be shipped or delivered by Monday, December 5th.

How to order: Email coveredandsharing@gmail.com

Please put "Julie towel sale" in the subject line

Include the following info about each towel (you can paste into email and complete)

Towel Design:

Towel Color:

Design Color:

Initial (if needed):

Shipping Address (if needed):

Buddy Walk

2011-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to celebrate children with Down syndrome. My favorite part was when each "buddy" was recognized for his/her accomplishments.

We walked with this cutie, Joel.

My cutie, Nate, with Joel's sisters, Josie & Julia

Julia, Joy (Joel's mom), Sandi and Julie

National Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk

2011-10-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month. We've had the privilege of making towels for two families adopting children with Down syndrome. We are also very close with a family who recently adopted a beautiful little boy with Down syndrome. In honor of these families, we want to invite you to participate in the National Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk.

"The Buddy Walk^® was established in 1995 by the National Down Syndrome Society to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. It is a one-mile walk in which anyone can participate without special training. It is an inspirational and educational event that celebrates the many abilities and accomplishments of people with Down syndrome. Whether you have Down syndrome, know someone who does, or just want to show your support, come and join a Buddy Walk in your local community!"

All you have to do is click on the link above, enter the state where you live and find a Buddy Walk near you. Once you know which Buddy Walk you want to attend, google 2011 buddy walk and your city and state and you should find registration information.

If your family participates in a Buddy Walk, we would love to see you there. We will be at the one in Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday, October 15th. If you are far away (like our sweet blog friend Melanie), we would love to see your pictures on our (Cover)ed Facebook page.

If you would like more information about adopting a child with Down syndrome, click here.

Sharing His Love,
Julie

Meet Forrest

2011-09-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

We are excited to introduce you to another one of our precious fundraising families. The Allens recently brought home this beautiful bundle of joy, Forrest. I would love to plant a kiss on one of those sweet cheeks. :) Please join us in praising God for this incredible gift!

Home Study Break

2011-09-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I (Julie) am very excited to share with you that our family is adopting! My husband and I have prayed for almost two years about growing our family through adoption and this summer we both received conformation that adoption is God's plan for growing our family. We are very excited. Please pray for us as we travel this road that will be filled with a lot of waiting on God. I love this quote about waiting from John Piper's Desiring God: "To wait! That means to pause and soberly consider our own inadequacy and the Lord's all sufficiency, and to seek counsel and help from the Lord, and to hope in Him." It is my prayer and hope that Darren and I can wait well in this process and trust in God's perfect timing.

With that said, Casey and I have decided to take a "home study break." We would love to be able to continue with this ministry even in the midst of a home study, but since our towels are handmade (every design is hand cut, ironed on, sewed on, buttons are sewn on by hand and finally every design has to be trimmed by hand) we feel that taking a break is the best course of action. If you have any suggestions on getting our towels mass produced or inexpensive embroidery machines, we would love suggestions. :)

Casey and I want to take a moment and thank our volunteers who have helped us this year. We absolutely, positively could not have made it without them. I want to start by thanking Haley Lively. Haley creates and draws the designs for most of our towels. She is such a blessing to those of us who are artistically challenged. I also want to thank Sandi Cotton. Sandi started out helping cut designs but wanted to donate more of her time to this ministry. Several months ago she took over communication with our fundraising families. Sandi, you are a tremendous blessing to us and we thank you so very much! I also want to give a special thanks to Joy Chance. Joy coordinated our first design cutting sessions. We were at a point when we needed help and I honestly didn't want to ask for help. Not because I wanted to do it all on my own, but I didn't want to "burden" anyone else. Thank you Joy for seeing that need and taking action! Finally, I want to thank our design cutting "team." These ladies are AWESOME!!! We've had several fun nights working on towels and enjoying each other's company. This group of ladies is proof that when everyone does a little a lot can be accomplished! Thank you Joy Chance, Sandi Cotton, Lynne Brandt, Ronda Chandler, Summer Bryde, Tara Murphy, Dawn Bone, Kerri McGaughy, and Ashley Fulton!

Thank you to everyone who purchased towels from our blog or from a fundraising family. Thank you for supporting these great ministries and families!

Thank all of you who read our blog, many who we don't even know, who have prayed for this ministry. Your prayers were felt. God has provided for and blessed this ministry beyond our imagination.

Finally, I hope you'll continue following our blog and pray for the future of this ministry. We look forward to introducing you to more of our fundraising families and their new additions.

Sharing His Love,
Julie

Prayer Request

2011-08-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

We have an important prayer request. Please pray for our current fundraising family. They are a sweet couple who adopted a beautiful baby boy in July. He is currently in the hospital and will remain there for several days. Please pray for this sweet baby and the doctors and nurses taking care of him. Also pray that his parents will have that peace that passes understanding during this stressful time. Thanks so much!

Welcome Home Caroline LiYun!!!

2011-07-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to introduce you to another one of our fundraising families! This is the Brown family.

They returned from China a couple of weeks ago with their beautiful daughter, Caroline LiYun.

She is the second daughter they have adopted from China in just a little over a year. Please pray for the Browns during this time of transition and adjustment.

New Designs

2011-07-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are so excited about our new cupcake design and our improved octopus and butterfly designs. They are all up on our store page and ready for order. Our new design is this adorable cupcake. This was Casey's daughter, Aerin's idea - cute red button and all. Great idea Aerin!

Oh how I wish our purple towels didn't photograph blue. Our purple is actually a very pretty color. There is a little better representation of the purple on the store page.

We dressed up our pink and purple octopus with a cute green and white polka dot bow. The bow is sewn on by hand and will stand up to washing very well. It is available on the pink or purple octopus.

Finally, we thought our butterfly could use a little make over as well. It was super cute before, but it is even cuter now. We now have two fabric options for the center of the butterfly - green with white polka dots or a fun floral. You can choose either fabric to go with either butterfly, pink or purple. We also added buttons on the antennas. Click on the photos for a better look at the fabric options.

Welcome Home JD!!!

2011-06-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

We've had the privilege of making towels for several adoptive families the last few months. The Hartman family is our first fundraising family to welcome home their precious blessing, sweet JD. We are so glad he is home!!! God led the Hartman family to JD through Reece's Rainbow. Is he cute or what? Please keep the Hartmans in your prayers during this time of adjustment.

Peach Jam Jubilee

2011-06-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

We will be selling towels at the Peach Jam Jubilee tomorrow from 4PM to 10PM (Friday, June 24). The Peach Jam is a fun event with arts and crafts, food, children's playground and live music. All of the profits (over half of the purchase price) will go to benefit a local organization, Raleigh's Place. "Raleigh's Place is a home for children who come from foster care situations who have been abandoned or hurt physically, emotionally and spiritually. Many have physical problems, behavior and learning disorders and emotional scars. Some of these children came from parents and grandparents also "raised" in a foster care environment. The mission is to break that cycle, and repair broken lives by replacing it with love, care, stability, and hopeful promise -- to give children who may end up with no place, a place to call home."

If you are in the Clanton area, come out and see our new cupcake design and improved butterfly design. We don't have any pictures to post just yet, so you'll have to come out tomorrow night and check them out. :)

Welcome Home Joel!!!

2011-05-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight Casey and I had the privilege of being at the airport to welcome our friends, Joy and Jeremy, and their son, Joel, home from Bulgaria. They began the adoption process over a year ago and we have been blessed to be a part of their adoption journey. They are a very special family and are very special to us. We have been praying for Joel for so long and it was great to finally meet him in person.

Eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Tears of joy to see this precious child we've been praying for. There is one less orphan in a Bulgarian orphanage now. Praise God!

Thank You and a Quick Update

2011-04-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

We want to say "thank you" to every person who bought a towel through our store in the months of January-March. Your purchases have allowed us to close out the first quarter of 2010 with over $200 raised for Serving His Children. We are also excited about the completion of two fundraiser sales for adoptive families, one more family fundraiser (our biggest yet) in progress, and a new team member, Sandi, who has begun handling all communication with fundraising families (pictures and more details to come soon). We are grateful and overwhelmed each day as we see God continue to grow and provide for this endeavor, and we are thankful for each volunteer, family, and customer who has made it possible for (Cover)ed to do what we do!

We also want to let you know that in the months of April, May, and June, profits from towels sold on the website will benefit an amazing ministry in our local area, Raleigh's Place. We love this ministry and hope you will take time to read about what they do and pray about getting involved as a volunteer or a contributor. And if you know a super kid who needs a new hooded towel for the pool or beach this summer, you can purchase one from us knowing that you are giving to this wonderful ministry through your purchase!

Thanks again for your purchases, for getting the word out, and for your prayers. We praise God for every good thing He has done!

Sharing His Love,
Julie and Casey

It's not too late...

2011-03-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

to purchase a towel for your little princess or little superhero for Easter. Click on "Store" to check out all of our towel designs. Purchase by Monday, March 28th. Over half of the purchase price will go to Serving His Children.

Sharing His Love,

Julie & Casey

Global Orphan Project

2011-03-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

If you have read "Our Heart," you know that our towels were originally sold to help our church build an orphanage in Haiti through the Global Orphan Project. We received this picture last week of the (soon to be) orphanage in Mole, Haiti. If you purchased a towel last summer, you helped make this possible! Thank you!!!

Please join us as we pray for the children and house mother(s) that will live in this home.

Sharing His Love,
Julie and Casey

New Towel Design & Facebook

2011-02-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to have this super cute dinosaur as our new towel design. Thank you, Haley, for continuing to provide us with great designs! It is pictured here in the crimson towel with a blue dinosaur and green accent. It has a button for an eye.

It also comes in a blue towel with a green dinosaur with a blue micro check accent, like this elephant.

And, it also comes in a blue towel with a red dinosaur with a blue/red gingham accent, like this elephant.

We are also very excited to have our Facebook page created. Please take a moment to "like" our Facebook page (located on the right under Purchasing and our (Cover)ed button). And, we would be very grateful if you would share (Cover)ed with all of your Facebook friends! We would love to sell a lot of towels and have a lot of money to donate to Serving His Children. :)

Sharing His Love,

Julie and Casey

Quick Update

2011-02-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

We are excited to now have online purchasing available for local and out of town purchases. We are even more excited to be donating our profits this quarter to Serving His Children, a non-profit organization based in Uganda "working to break the cycle of malnutrition one life at a time." Please take a few minutes and visit their site and their blog, Be The Hands and Feet. Read a few blog posts and you will quickly see the amazing ways that God is working through this organization. You will also quickly see that they are an organization in need of financial support. One of their current needs is oxygen tanks. We can be the "hands and feet" of Christ by providing them with financial support to purchase oxygen tanks and/or other supplies needed to "serve His children."

Please help us spread the word about (Cover)ed and Serving His Children. Stay tuned for more information concerning the (Cover)ed Facebook page, a new towel design and how you can win a free towel.

Sharing His Love,
Julie & Casey

Looking back...and moving forward

2011-01-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks be to God
As we have now entered a new year, we look back with gratitude and celebrate God's amazing provision and guidance through these first few months of (Cover)ed becoming a "real" ministry. Our first fundraising family had great success in raising funds to bring their precious daughter home, and we are truly thankful to have been a part of their story. In total, their family sold over 50 towels and raised more than $750 dollars to help with the cost of their adoption. We continue to pray for them and keep up with their journey, and eagerly await to hear news of their travel and her homecoming!

In November, we had the opportunity to take part in a Holiday Market, where we sold many towels as Christmas gifts. We also were able to talk with many people about our new organization and our heart for coming alongside adoptive families and people caring for orphans through financial and prayer support. All of our sales from the market, as well as our online and local sales through December resulted in us raising $240 to give to Holt Sahathai Foundation in Thailand. Praise God!

at the Holiday Market

These opportunities were such a blessing to us and we know that God provided every resource we needed to complete them. Being a small part of what God is doing in the lives of adoptive families and orphans around the world is the best part about (Cover)ed! And we could not do it without your prayers, support, and purchases, whether from us or from an adoptive family. Thanks be to God for these opportunities to be obedient to His call to care for the fatherless. Please continue to spread the word about our ministry to any adoptive family you know who may be seeking fundraising options and to your friends and family who may want to buy a towel.

All That He Holds in Store
We are excited about what God has in store for (Cover)ed in 2011 and cannot wait to meet more great adoptive families and many of you who want to be a part of bringing hope to orphans, support to adoptive families, and glory to our Father and Savior! Email us at coveredandsharing@gmail.com if you would like us to come to your church group, Bible study, or community organization to tell our stories about how God has changed our lives by opening our eyes to the precious treasures here in the United States and around the world who are in need of love, care, and forever families.

Don't forget to check out our new towel colors and designs in our "Store" section! More designs coming in the Spring!

Sharing His Love,
Julie and Casey

Jehovah Jireh - The Lord Will Provide

2010-12-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Hi readers! It's Julie here. Casey will be doing the majority of our blog posts, but I just wanted to share how God has already shown up in a couple of amazing ways to provide for our ministry. In case you didn't know, I'm the sewing part of our partnership. I told my precious husband several months ago that a serger sewing machine would be super helpful to this process. I priced some, but the least expensive ones were around $200.00. (Cover)ed definitely did not have this money to spend and my husband and I honestly didn't either. I just filed that wish away and thought maybe I would use some of my Christmas money to purchase a serger. Fast forward a couple of months to the first of November. Our first adoption fundraiser was underway and we had been invited to participate in a Holiday Market. I was (with great hope) anticipating a lot of sewing. My husband was reading The Mule Trader, a local classifieds type paper. He was not looking for anything in particular, just reading for entertainment. Keep in mind, it's been a couple of months since I mentioned wanting a serger. He asked me "Didn't you say you wanted a serger?" "How much are they?" I told him that I absolutely still wanted one and they were around $200.00. He said, "Here's one for $25.00." I called about it and purchased it that afternoon. It was in perfect condition. There is NO doubt that God provided that serger for (Cover)ed. My husband doesn't read The Mule Trader every week and the section the serger was listed under is a section that he usually never reads. Yay God!!!

All of the appliques (designs)/initials you see on our towels are cut by hand and then sewn on. Casey and I have a very sweet friend, Joy, who volunteered to coordinate some help for us cutting out the designs/initials. Joy scheduled two cutting sessions. We were able to cut all of the designs for all 64 towels (Shelley sold 51 for their adoption fundraiser and we sold 13 at the Holiday Market)! There is no way Casey and I would have gotten all of that done in just two evenings. Thanks again Joy, Lynne, Sandi, Summer and Ronda!!! This is another awesome way God provided for us. We are so thankful for these precious friends that were willing to sacrifice their time to "defend the cause of the fatherless." We are excited to see how God is going to grow this ministry and provide for us in 2011!

Holiday Market Info

2010-11-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

The last time we blogged, we promised you a subsequent post with all of the details of the holiday market we are going to be a part of this month. Well, here it is!! This will be the perfect event for marking off some items from your Christmas shopping list. And remember that we are "debuting" some new towel designs at the market, including some inspired by your favorite college football teams and our "teen to college" towel with no hood and cute personalization options! If you live in Chilton or Shelby County we want to see you there! All of the proceeds from our towel sales at this event will go directly to impact the lives of orphans who are being cared for by Holt Sahathai Foundation in Thailand. If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to email us at coveredandsharing@gmail.com.

Prayer Focus

We continue our prayer focus for National Adoption Awareness Month as this week we ask you to pray for foster families and children's home (orphanage) caregivers who take care of so many children with very few resources. Pray that God will give them strength and wisdom, that more people will rise up to care for orphans, and that Christ followers will engage in supporting orphanages, foster, and adoptive families through encouragement, financial giving, and prayer.

Thanks for your support of (Cover)ed! We are excited about what God is doing and look forward to partnering with even more adoptive families and orphan care ministries as we grow.

sharing His love,
Julie and Casey

Important Updates and an Introduction

2010-11-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

We are humbled and excited about how God is already blessing (Cover)ed, and we have some great news to share with you!

First Adoptive Family
We would like to introduce our very first fundraiser family--The Bedfords. We are grateful to be partnering with this special family and ask you to pray for their fundraiser and for their entire adoption. You can read more about this wonderful family and their story at http://www.gatheringthemfromtheeast.com/.

Holiday Event
Also, we have been asked to participate in a local holiday market to showcase and sell our towels. The market is being held the evening of November 19th, and we will be posting more details in the next week with time and location. If you are from Chilton or Shelby County, we would love for you to join us. We will have new towel designs never before sold via the web that can be ordered at the market for Christmas gifts. Watch for more details in the next few days. We can't wait to see you there!! Remember that all of the profits from Christmas sales will support Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF) in Thailand, in honor of Anderson coming home.

Online Ordering Information
Because of these great opportunities and because of some really cute, new towel designs that are in the works, we have temporarily suspended online ordering. If you have a specific towel you would like to order for Christmas, email us at coveredandsharing@gmail.com and we will review your request to see if we can fulfill your order. And over the next couple of weeks look for our announcement when we reopen online ordering with even more cute towel designs and a new line of "teen to college" towels with no hoods! We apologize for the inconvenience, but are so thankful for this time of growth.

Get the word out and PRAY
Grab our button or link to our blog to spread the word about our fundraisers to adoptive families and about our super cute products to anyone who would like to come shop at the holiday market!

Thanks for your support and your prayers. Please pray for the millions of orphans around the world--most of whom daily face uncertainty, loneliness, hunger, pain, and a longing to have a family who loves them. "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:5-6

sharing His love,
Julie and Casey

We Are So Glad You Stopped By!

2010-10-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome!
We are excited that you decided to check out our blog and what (Cover)ed is all about! We hope that you will browse our store and see our beautiful products, and then read all about how your purchase goes directly to impact the lives of orphans in different parts of the world and even in our own community. If you are an adoptive family, we hope you will look at our "Fundraising" section to find out how you can raise funds for your adoption by selling our products.

Your purchase makes a big difference for an orphaned child.

To celebrate Casey bringing her son home from Thailand in September, 100% of all the profits from direct (non-fundraiser) purchases from our site in the months of October, November, and December will be given to support Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF)!! HSF partners with Holt International Children's Services to offer many programs in Thailand which assist and support orphans and at risk families. HSF programs include providing family foster care to children waiting for their adoptive families, providing support and services for unwed mothers to allow them to make an informed decision about their pregnancy, creating recreational programs for orphaned children who are hospitalized for long periods of time, providing a big brother/big sister program for children in orphanages, assessing special needs children in orphanages to help find adoptive families, and providing education, counseling, vocational training, and nutritional support to at risk families so that the children can remain with their parents. You can learn more about HSF at http://www.holtinternational.org/thailand/projects.shtml

So, when you buy our products for gifts or for your own children, you are getting a beautiful gift to give to a child while at the same time directly impacting the life of another child halfway across the globe through your purchase!

Want to know more?
We would love to hear your feedback on our products and our blog site in general, so please comment with any suggestions or thoughts you may have. If want to know more or have questions that are not answered on this blog, feel free to email us at coveredandsharing@gmail.com. And if you like what you see, please grab our button for your blog or pass along our information and blog address to your friends and family.

Christmas time
Christmas shopping has begun, and our towels make great gifts for babies, toddlers, and even older kids for the beach, the pool, or bath time. We have kids ranging from 2 to 8, and all of them love their towels! Check out our "Got Questions" to answer any product questions you may have.

We know that you will feel great about giving a special gift to a sweet child you know and sharing love with another precious child who will be helped as a result of your purchase.

Speaking
We love to share with others our stories, our heart for orphans and adoption, and our desire to see the church and communities rise up and answer God's call to love and care for orphans. If you are interested in us coming to speak at your church or civic group, please contact us.

Happy shopping!

sharing His love,
Julie and Casey