Graduated...

On Friday, I received my diploma for completing my BA at the College at Southeastern. I am so glad to be done with the work load and very grateful for the opportunity to learn at such a great school!
Enjoy pictures!

                                 Standing outside (it was cold) waiting to walk in!

                                Dad came to witness the end of my 12 year college journey!

                                  It's done! I am so grateful for support from this guy!

                                                         Shadow picture:)

                             ~Proof that it really is my name on that diploma!~

                                             

1,000 for 1

We have officially launched our 1,000 for 1 campaign. As we raise funds for our adoption, we want to involve as many people as we possibly can. Our desire is to be able to tell our child(ren) one day that thousands of people cared enough to help bring them home to us!

In order to do that, we need lots of help!

Here is the task:

Step 1. Say YES! Commit to complete the task within TEN DAYS!

Step 2. Think of 10 people.  (oh come on, you have way more friends/family than that! Think small groups/Sunday school from church, immediate or extended family, coworkers, or just give it all yourself on behalf of someone)

Step 3. Ask those 10 people for $10 each. (no biggie, cash, check or credit…we take them all) We also have a link where you can give online: Here

Step 4. Send us the $100 and the first names of each person who gave. (text, email, or snail mail…whichever you choose, let us know so we can ensure the funds get to us and to the correct account!)

Go ahead and complete step one now and let us know that you want to be one of the many who choose to care for our child right now!

With all our love and a huge amount of thankfulness,

Doug and Heidi

The announcement...

As we are moving forward with plans to adopt, it has been fun to announce to our friends and family that the McClure family is growing. The timing is unknown, many many details are yet to set into place, but we know that this is how our family is to grow and we love it.

In an effort to communicate just how wonderful this adoption thing is, I have tried to sit down and write out why adoption is so close to our hearts. My writing abilities fall short, so for now read how this blogger shares about their desire to adopt. Maybe soon I will be able to put it down in words but she does a good job of capturing what we want to communicate about what we believe about adoption.

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/baby-mcclure/74477

Here we go!

Doug and I have been wanting to pursue adoption for a while now and are finally taking the plunge! In order for us to go forward, we need help raising financial support for our home study, tickets to our child's home country, attorney fees and adoption fees.
We are super excited and a bit nervous for so many reasons!
There will be more updates to come but in the mean time, consider how you would like to give to help us reach our goal!

Hello out there...

This time of life I am in lends itself to a good amount of busy-ness. I don't love being busy however the class load I am taking demands my constant attention. It's almost over, this whole college experience. I am happy about that and at the same time know I will miss this daily-learning-something-new thing which challenges and stretches my mind.
The fact of the matter is, this school I am in, it makes me read A LOT and write A LOT. There are thousands of words going in my brain through books and hundreds of words coming out in papers. Words, SO many words! So when it comes to sitting down to type and email or text a message, I find that I have run out of words...or the desire to express them.
So, friends and family...I do care about you and think about many of you daily. My expression of that may be scarce right now. Just don't take it personally, know that I care, I'm just lost in a swirling tornado of this thing called college. I would promise to do better but I know that things are not going to change until after school's done...December 13th guys, December...maybe I should start a countdown!
Until then...

Goodbye 20 somethings...

So tomorrow I turn 30. Leaving my 20s behind. For the last decade I have had the hardest time remembering my age. People would ask and in attempt to conceal the fact that I couldn't remember, nor had the ability to quickly do the math, I would answer "20 something". They'd laugh as if I was too modest to tell my real age...ha, modest, that's funny. To be clear, modesty is something that does describe me when it comes to my dress however modesty does not describe me in any other sense of the word. Opinions, zeal (for getting what I want), etc...not modest, not me.
Aaaaanyway, I started this post because I have been thinking about the fact that I will not longer be 20 something and feel the need to commemorate leaving this age that has served me well over the last ten years. When I think back to ten years ago as I turned 20 all I can think of is how very clueless I was about life in general. Ten years later, I still have a lot to learn but I go about my life in a much more informed and (hopefully) mature manner than I did back then. Many things have changed about me and how I make decisions, however so many things have stayed the same.
~I still love dogs, THAT will never change.
~I still hate being told no, "I'll do what I want" is a frequent phrase used in our house, it's a joke now but only  because we both know just how ridiculous we both are about doing what we want. This one goes right along with "I'm doing it because I want to, not because you told me to."
~I still have some strange, innate devotion to do things differently. This never happens on purpose but whatever the mold is, I don't fit.
~I still remain completely surprised and overwhelmed at how lucky I am to be part of my family. They really are great and somehow I get to be in the mix of a totally loving, devoted and supportive family.

There are probably a lot more things that are the same...one of them happens to be that I bore easily so I am going to move on to how much has changed!
~I got married...this is definitely a highlight! There is so much I can say about how much I have grown and been stretched into a better person through being married. Doug is my encourager, my sounding board and loves me more than I deserve. I'm so glad to be his wife and look forward to the day I post five more years of being married to the man I love.
~I moved more times than I'd like to admit, I had a few addresses in Jackson, TN,  a few in Longview, WA and have banked a few in North Carolina as well. I'm a super packer now and I wonder just how many moves are in our future!
~My family has grown, aside from being married, the addition of nieces and nephews has grown our family. Each one with  their own personalities, likes and dislikes, it is so fun to watch them grow up even if it is from far away!

My 20 something years have been great! Goodbye 20's...hello 30's!!!

Fun project

One of the bathroom walls in our house has been bugging Doug since we moved in. He had a few days without work so he found some things to do around the house. One of his projects was re-taping and mudding the wall in the bathroom. Since he had the vanity down off the wall, I had the idea to paint it with an accent color.
I found a gallon of paint at Lowe's for $5, yeah for discounted, returned items!
I had a bit of a difficult time capturing the change in our bathroom since it is a 'nook' so it is hard to get a good angle. Anyhooo, enjoy.

Before

After

I love it and we are thinking to use this color somewhere else as an accent wall...just can't decide where.