O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

I have a very funny story to tell everyone about our beautiful Christmas tree, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  I very quickly shot this picture last night with my Iphone and thought it was just magical!  I'm SO excited the holiday season is finally here!  Merry Christmas everyone!!

From Rags to RUBY Adoption T-Shirts!!!

I am SO happy, excited, thrilled, tickled, over-the-mooned… you get the picture…. to show you our From Rags to Ruby adoption fundraiser t-shirts!!!!  Just in time for Christmas!!

Front Pocket Design

Back Full Size Design

They have been SO much fun to design!  Ever since deciding on the name ‘Ruby Grace’ for our sweet little one, this verse has been very dear to my heart.  Even though we have not even seen Ruby’s beautiful face yet, we know without a shadow of a doubt, that God has made her “more precious than Rubies!” 

To order:

If you are within the Birmingham vicinity, please just mail a check to us (email me at brookemurphree@gmail.com to get our mailing address), along with your specified styles and sizes, and I will meet up with you to deliver your shirt.

If you are not within the Birmingham vicinity, please look to my side bar and choose your styles and sizes and then click Buy Now.  Please indicate your mailing address in the notes section of the checkout process so that I can mail you your shirts. 

We are SO excited to be on this amazing journey called adoption, and we hope that you will take part in advocating for orphans and buying a t-shirt to help get our little girl a little closer home!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

We have had so much going on in the last few weeks that it has been beyond hard to keep up with everything.  But, I did manage to get the family somewhat color coordinated, and we headed out to do a Christmas card photo shoot.  No surprise, but it didn’t turn out the way my “Pottery Barn Mind” had planned…. Never does.  But, we had a lot of fun in the making.  And I learned a very valuable lesson.  Never wear stripes for a photo shoot!  (What was I thinking?  I knew better!  If you have no clue what I’m talking about, it makes your entire outfit look like something from the 70’s.  Think crazy distorting mirror the way it swirls all the lines!  :/)  This isn’t the photo I’ll be using for our Christmas cards, but it was my very favorite of the afternoon!

God is God and I am Not!

I am a smidge bit of a control freak. (It tends to run in my family.) And this week, I am feeling particularly out of control. More out of control than normal, that is. And, I know that it’s ok, and I keep telling myself that it’s ok, but I’m having a smidge bit of a hard time feeling ok with knowing that. Make Sense? But, I have found comfort in the following verses. I know I have many different adoptive bloggy friends and a few “everyday life” friends that are also in this crazy adoption process, so I hope that these verses comfort you a little bit today, as well.



Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”


Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”


Philippians 2:13 “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”


Psalm 37:4, 7a “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.”

PS- About five minutes after I posted this, I received an email saying our Home Study was approved!!  Thanks be to God from Whom ALL blessings flow!!  AMEN! :D

Autumns Glory

“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.”

John Burroughs

She is More Precious than Rubies Auction!

Click here to go to our Auction Blog!

www.fromragstoruby.blogspot.com

I am so excited to be launching our ‘She is More Precious than RUBIES! Auction’!!  We have so much money to raise before bringing our precious Ruby-Grace home, but we know that God is faithful and we are trusting in him to fill in the financial gaps!  We have set up an auction on the blog to hopefully raise some money to help deter the adoption expenses, all while having a little fun too!  You can help us out by bidding on an item, donating an item to our auction (please email me at brookemurphree@gmail.com if you wish to donate an item- I would forever be SO grateful!), blog, tweet, or facebook about our auction, but most of all, pray that God would bless our fundraising efforts and get us to our sweet daughter all in His timing!

Here’s how it will work.  I will have items featured on the blog that you can bid on.  I will put a minimum bid on the item, and if you are interested in bidding on the item, please just put a comment underneath with the amount you wish to bid.  When the auction time is up, the item will go to the highest bidder.  Simple as that!  After you have won an item, I will post SOLD to highest bidder.  At that time, please submit your payment under the PayPal donate button at the top of our blog page.  Under the comments section, please just jot down a very simple description (ie hairbow) of the item you are paying for.  Next, the item will ship straight to you!  And then, you and I will both smile!  (Please be sure to submit your payment within 24 hours of the auction ending.  Otherwise, the item will be sold to the next highest bidder.)

Happy Bidding!!

The Big Cheese

I am slightly obsessed with the moon.  (Justin might inform you it’s a little more serious than that….I’m pretty sure he might even be getting me a telescope for Christmas.)  I am ALWAYS taking pictures of it.  I really wish I had a better zoom lens for this, but money’s tight right now, so I’m shooting with what I’ve got.  Tonight, we had a GORGEOUS harvest moon.  I was running around like a mad woman trying to get my camera and the lens I needed to go photograph it, and by the time I “got to it,” it had already lost a little of its “pumpkin-ness.”  Nevertheless, I still wanted to capture it.  Unfortunately, the clarity didn’t come out quite as well as it normally does.  I don’t know if the dimness of the orangey color had anything to do with it.  Even so, I still think the moon is so magical up there…glowing, yet not an actual light source. 

I find it so interesting that we can see craters and “starbursts” on the moon’s surface while we’re so so far from it.  It amazes me that such a gigantic ball of rock can “float” in outer space.  But most of all, I think my love and obsession of the moon all stems from knowing it’s the same beautiful moon that shines over my precious Ruby and her birth and foster family each night!

What I'm LOVING Wednesday! {A Thousand Years}

I am a Twilight fan, and SO excited about the Breaking Dawn movie coming soon!!!

Not a ballistic, bizerko, tattoo myself fan... but a pretty big one, none-the-less. 

And, I cannot believe that I am saying this over a book filled with vampires and werewolves, but I have to say, I think The Twilight Saga is just about the most beautiful love story ever written. 

And this song is so perfect.  For the movie and for love.  I could listen to it a thousand times!

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

My Sweet friend, Maria, let me borrow her Mac charger for a day since ours still isn't in. (And it isn't scheduled to until the 17th! :/)  So, I was able to upload just a few photos for the blog.  This was taken with my IPhone at the Chinese restaruant on Justin's birthday.  We were so excited to spend just a little time with Daddy on his special day!

Happy Birthday Justin!!

We love you more than words can say!

XOXO

Happy Birthday to Justin, too!

Wednesday was my birthday and today is Justin’s birthday. This post will probably be boring to most (especially since our new charger isn’t in yet and I still can’t post pics), but I just wanted to jot down a few this and that’s to help me remember how special these past several days were to us-despite the awful stomach virus. Wednesday started out just right. Justin had packed my lunch, made me breakfast, and written me the sweetest birthday letter. Then, he surprised me by taking off of work to be at home with me that evening! He was able to run some errands for us during the day and spend the night with me and Perry that evening. We made dinner together and built our first fire of the season, which Perry thought was the coolest thing ever. He was adorable bringing in his logs for the fire and stoking it with the poker.



Unfortunately, Wednesday night is when Perry’s virus hit. Justin was such a great Daddy and stayed up helping the entire night. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to help take care of our little bitty. Needless to say, I had to take off Thursday due to no sleep and to help take care of P. He did very well throughout the day and we enjoyed just hanging out together as a family again (since Justin was back to nights.) Then, it was time to go to Christmas Village. I was very thankful to go and get some fun Christmas shopping done, especially since I was about 99% sure the night before this wouldn’t have happened. I got Ruby a lavender blanket and a birdie painting for her room and Mr. P got a slingshot to help him throw acorns in the creek. Then, we enjoyed yummy Panera Bread for dinner. Can you believe it was my first time there? Definitely going back!!


Since I had originally planned for a sub for Friday (due to my fabulous Mommy winning tickets to Disney on Ice) and Perry seemed to be feeling fine, we headed to B’ham for the show, which we all really enjoyed. After the show, we came home, P played in the sandbox and I did a little monogramming. Then, things quickly went South for me. The dreaded virus hit and it was just as bad as I had witnessed it being with my Sweet P.  It was so bad, that I had to call Justin home from work to help take care of me and Perry. Justin was a total hero and came home immediately-even bringing me two Sprites to help out. I was still so sick the next morning, that Justin took Perry to Mom and Dad’s house to ride the tractor, golf cart, four wheeler, bicycle, mini-bike, and motorcycle- no kidding… they rode every single thing listed- and to chop fire wood and grill hotdogs by the bon-fire. Not too shabby of a day for J and P as their Mommy was trying to stay alive recuperating. Thankfully, by “Game of the Century” time, I felt a little better, so me and Hank came up to Mom and Dad’s to sit by the fire and watch the game with the fam. Although Alabama didn’t come out ahead, we still enjoyed watching the game. (We are “War Eagle” all the way, but as with any huge game like that, we’d like the win to stay in our state.)


Sunday held church, Sunday School, and my and Justin’s birthday party. Justin got gift cards galore for fishing and a Keurig thing for all his coffee, and I got the coolest vintage camera from G&G and a steam cleaner from M&D. I CAN’T WAIT to steam clean!! Eeeek! SO EXCITED!! After some family rest time- not nap time… Mr. P had other plans- we built another fire, ate some random food, watched our Sunday night programming: Once Upon a Time and our “Sinner Show” Desperate Housewives, and headed to bed. Then, that stupid virus struck again with little Perry. So, I snuggled him in his nursery rocker and slept in there with my little bitty till about midnight. Then, Justin had all the sheets washed, dried, and back on the bed for us to try to sleep in for the rest of the night- which thankfully, we did!


This morning, Justin woke up another year older! I was so happy to be the first one to wish my sweet husband a “Happy Birthday.” There are still times that I catch myself staring at him, wondering why in the world God chose me to have the privilege of marrying him. Things aren’t always perfect, but I wouldn’t be me without him. We truly are best friends, and I couldn’t do this thing called “life” without him. We make the best team, and I am so happy to be able to share my years with him! Since we have both been off of work a good bit, taking off really wasn’t an option today, but Justin did swing by and bring me lunch to work and me and P are going to eat Chinese with him for supper tonight on his dinner break. Also, we were really excited to find out that Justin’s company is sending him to some sort of class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week, so he will be home with us during the week too! We couldn’t be happier to have our Daddy home with us in the evenings! Happy Birthday Justin!! Me and P love you to the moon and back!!!

Maltipoo For Sale....

Would anyone like to take a gander at how much Hank's birthday present is going to cost me? 

I'm too embarassed and upset to tell you.   

I shall give you a hint... A-P-P-L-E.   15 inch Macbook Pro. 

More than my right arm. 

All I gotta say, is it's a darn good thing I love that little fur ball so. 

Otherwise, he'd be the newest listing on Craigslist.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my birthday. A birthday that I’ve waited YEARS for! I FINALLY turn 25 (spring chicken, yeah, yeah…)! This means our Home Study can officially be sent to South Korea! So, now, we continue to pray over the photolisting referrals we will continue to get a few times each month, while also waiting on Korea to approve our Home Study and start the process to match our family with our sweet Ruby-Grace. That is, if we don’t find her on one of the other referrals first. Which, I’m not gonna lie- I would kind of prefer since it’s typically the sooner the better in this Momma’s opinion. Numerous people keep asking when we will get to go get her. We are THINKING that if we are to find her on one of the shared lists, that after we officially become matched with her, we would travel about 6ish months after that to bring her home. IF we end up waiting for Korea to match us, the match probably wouldn’t come until about June of next year (due to some EP backlog) which would mean, we would travel around Christmas next year. We are hoping PRAYING that, worse case scenario, we will bring our little bitty home by the end of 2012! Please oh please oh please be sooner than that! The end of 2012 seems like a life-time away. I’m thinking the waiting part is going to be much harder than the scrambling to get together paperwork done part! Anyway, Happy Birthday to ME! Once step closer to our beautiful baby girl!!