Need a Last Minute Christmas Gift?

I have found that I really enjoy making homemade playdough for my kiddos! We even made a bunch together for their "secret angels" gift exchange they are doing at pre-school.

 If you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift, we have the following options for you:

VANILLA SCENTED-  This can come in white, green, or red and I can add silver or green glitter if you'd like as well.

CHOCOLATE SCENTED- This will be brown- if you'd like green or silver glitter, that can be added or it can come without glitter.

PEPPERMINT SCENTED- This can come in white, green, or red and I can add silver or green glitter if you'd like as well.

GINGERBREAD SCENTED- This will be white with speckled brownish colors in it.  I would not dye this one or add sparkles, but it does smell great!

I can also make any color of your choice if you'd just like regular playdough.  You can add silver or green glitter to those options as well if you'd like.   

Each chunk of playdough comes in a plastic container with a lid.  The containers hold 1.5 cups or approximately 12 oz.

If you purchase 3 or more containers, you will get a discount AND a set of 6 Christmas cookie cutters (a snowman, candy cane, bell, stocking, gingerbread man, and star) also! 

$4 a tub or $10 for 3 tubs and a set of 6 cookie cutters!

Send me an email: el_lauren@yahoo.com to order!
If you'd like to order some as a gift other than for Christmas, you can order at any time!

Update- Who We Are :)

We are due for an update!   Now is the perfect time too because we are going to be featured on a fellow advocate's blog for her 24 days of giving event: http://afamilyofsix.blogspot.com/2012/12/24-days-of-giving-families.html   For those of you who don't know us personally, we are the Henningfeld family from southeastern Wisconsin.

My husband Rick is an amazing husband and father and a very hard worker.  He is a high school Agriscience teacher and an FFA advisor.  He also works 2 side jobs writing curriculum and training State FFA officer teams to help us pay adoption expenses.   Even with 3 jobs, we needed an income waiver from China and were blessed to be granted one for our past two adoptions.  I am Brooke and I am a stay-at-home mom (former kindergarten teacher) and an advocate for children waiting in China with special needs.  We have 6 beautiful children at home, 5 boys and 1 girl.  Evan is our oldest bio son and he is 5, Elijah and Jonah are twin 4 year olds and were adopted at 17 months of age from Ethiopia (they were very premature and had developmental delays), Landyn is a bio son who is 3, Lena was just adopted this past summer at 2.5 from China and she is profoundly deaf- she is about to have her 3rd birthday, and Jayce is our youngest bio son and he is about to have his 2nd birthday.  Yes, that makes 6 kids 5 years old and younger! :)   Until next week, I can say that I have a 1, 2, 3, twin 4, and a 5 yr old. :)   We are going back to China for a 5 year old boy with beta thalassemia who we fell in love with a long time ago and who happened to still be waiting for a family when we got home from China.  I know our daughter needs a sister, but this mom is a sucker for boys and there are SO many boys in China with special needs waiting for a family. 

The amazing story starts on our old blog here: http://apiecewaitinginchina.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-tug-at-heartstrings.html
and culminates on the first post of this blog here:  http://www.astariswhatyouare.blogspot.com/2012/10/that-email-said-i-got-his-file-today-on.html

This is the part of the adoption process that I dread the most- the paper-chasing! I have been busy gathering all the documents we need for our home study and for us to re-use the dossier.   We just about have everything on our end ready to go. We have our meeting with our social worker in a week and a half to update our home study and then once approved, we hope to expedite the adoption process on the immigration and China end, if possible, due to our son's medical needs and a current blood shortage in China.   We hope to be able to get him before his 6th birthday, July 1st...which also happens to be our 7 year wedding anniversary. :)


If you are a local friend, we'd love for you to get one of our M&M containers- see previous post.

Thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers!  We are truly blessed!

Waiting on the World to 'CHANGE!'

Adoption is very expensive.  But when God calls a family to adopt, they will do whatever they have to do to pay the expenses so that another one of His treasures can come home to a forever family and have the opportunity to know what it means to be loved by a family.  The Bible says: "We care for the destitute, because He cared for us in our destitution."  No child should have to grow up in an orphanage or live their life without a family of their own; yet so many do. 

Most of the adoption expenses go to the adoption agency or agencies, immigration, and paperwork fees.  The rest go to in-country fees and to travel.  A bulk of the money that goes to China when you adopt a child via the special needs program is given as a donation to the orphanage your child is from to help provide for the children who are left behind- the ones who are still waiting on their families to come and the many who do not yet have a family.  And I happen to know that the orphanage our son comes from is one of the better ones.  No orphanage is a home and no orphanage is perfect, but this one does put the donation money to good use for the children.  

We are going to try and raise the money for this orphanage donation and hope that many people might want to be a part of that.  We will be giving our friends an family who are local a small treat from our family with a flyer attached that shares how you can help. 

Here are the details:
We will give you a container full of mini M&M's. 

We are asking our friends, neighbors, and family to help us in being able to provide our son's orphanage a generous donation on one of the first official days after meeting our son in China- hopefully late spring or early summer....that will be determined by the speed of paperwork.  After visiting and leaving Lena's orphanage, our hearts were broken for the children who remained, still waiting for their families to choose them.  We left forever changed.  We know our hearts will be further broken when we leave the children behind at our son's orphanage, but hope that this donation will make their lives just a little bit easier.

What do we do with the container, you ask?
*Eat the M&M's in the container and then refill the container with quarters or whatever you are able to give, no matter how big or how small. 

For those of you who are unable to give monetarily at this time, your prayers for the children in need of families, for our son who is waiting, and for our family would be happily accepted!  You support and well wishes will surely be felt and appreciated!  EVERY means of support throughout this journey is very much appreciated. 

*Once refilled, contact us via email: el_lauren@yahoo.com or call me for pick up.  

That's it!  It is that simple to help CHANGE the lives of abandoned children from China.

We thank you all in advance for your love, support, and generosity!

Did you know that there are nearly 712,000 orphans in mainland China?  Were you aware that these precious children are only allowed 80 CENTS per day to cover their food, supplies, and care?  Can you imagine? A little CHANGE in your day can make a BIG difference in the lives of these innocent and precious children.  

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. " -James 1:27

New Pictures!!

I saw a post on a yahoo group I am on (one for people who have adopted from our son's orphanage and a couple others close by) that a woman was going to be visiting our son's orphanage.  I sent her our son's info and she wasn't able to meet him, but she was able to ask another woman there to get a few pictures of him for us.  I woke up this morning to these in my email.  What a blessing!  I love that he looks happier and is at least half-smiling.  But oh how they make me want to go and get him now.   How I wish we could do that!   For now, I'll have to settle for sweet pictures that totally made my day.  :)

A Tug at the Heartstrings Continued

For those of you who weren't following our old blog, this story starts here: http://apiecewaitinginchina.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-tug-at-heartstrings.html

That email said:  "I GOT HIS FILE TODAY ON OUR INDIVIDUAL LIST!!!  FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!  Please let me know your thoughts and let’s make this happen!"

And the rest is history!   We submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt 'Jack.'  On Friday, September 28th, after 9 days of waiting,  we got our Pre-approval (PA) from China!  

 The pictures above and the picture below are his referral photos from his file. 

 I found this photo below in a Sunshine School newsletter, thanks to a friend who is adopting two girls from this same orphanage!

We cannot wait to finally have you HOME, little 'Jack!'  You now have a FOREVER family of your own and someone who will love you and dry those tears and hug and kiss you until you feel better.   We are working hard on paperwork and hope to be able to bring our sweet son home before his 6th birthday, which is July 1st....also our 7 year anniversary.  7 children in 7 years....how lucky and blessed we are!  We are praying and trusting in Him to help us afford to bring another one of his treasures into a forever family.

The theme of this blog is Disney because 'Jack's' biggest wish is to go to Disney World!