Instapparel

Would you like to know a super fun way to support The Franco Adoption?
Well think no further:
http://instapparel.com/Tight_Thai_Tees

You simply must get your self a T Shirt that is soft fabulous and super creative!

So check it out! 
Love it!
Share it!

Thanks Tyler C!
Hugs and all!!

Ciao,

Rochelle

Adopting!

Have you thought about adoption?

We sure have! T and i separately and together...We talk and ponder.

We finished something like the 3rd step in our adoption process...We got the rough draft of our home study!!!
Horray!!!!
Just a half a million steps to go and twenty thousand bucks to go! God is good!
Thank you for your kind works, and your support! You are loved!

We pray we keep sight on the one who came as a baby ....(Jesus)....to bring help to the orphan!

These pic's are super old..but i love the bab's more now than ever!

Oh, come let us adore Him...like we adore the new born baby...adore Christ and worship with us while we wait!

Cioa, 

Shell

Word Monday

I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!

Matthew 25:40

I believe the Bible speaks Truth....

Ciao,

Shell

Adoption

Home Study: Nearly complete...

Pray that we get it this week so we can get it to our adoption agency Holt, and that we have the 3,000 easily to send our I 800 A form to the US government! I think we actually have to pay a Currier to have it delivered?  
Crazy,
Little update
Ciao, 
Shell

Hard Day!

Today was one of those days that you question life and death, the kind of day that you bury your Grandfather. 

Where did he go? How long did he have Alzheimer's?  How can i better take care of my family? 
Do i see them enough, do i tell them how much they mean to me enough, do i  do all i can?  Where can i find comfort...

My comfort comes from God, for He sent His son to die on the cross for me..for you.. and for all... so that we could have a hope that when we do die that we have the opportunity for Heaven.. all you have to do is believe....not just Heaven..but an escape from eternal nothingness..
I must say he lived like he knew Jesus...as if he knew he was gonna see Him some day.  He was filled with love.
I am so thankful to be loved and so thankful to have been loved by him. 
I have the promise that I will see My Pop some day again.
Papa did not have much money but he was a RICH man! He lived that way and he died that way. 
I want to be the kind of mom/wife/cousin/niece/friend who loves...who lives in peace or harmony, who is always willing to help. 
PaPa, Melvin Leroy Carter!
Rejoice/Worship/Breath/Remember/in Peace!


Pardon me for my random thoughts but this is in the life of the Francos.
Ciao,
love who you love deeply

Shell
Love and Thankful for you all!!!!!!!! =)

Word Monday

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

Matthew 18:5

How can you...I...Welcome the little children?

Who is the Orphan?

Food for thought.

Ciao,

Shell

Word Monday

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Who do you know that is being crushed?

How can you speak up for the poor and helpless?

Food for thought.

Ciao,

Shell

Word Monday

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

Isaiah 1:17

Yes, we must learn, doing good was not born in us.

Ciao,

Shell

Word

Today as we eat too much candy....remember....God is big!
James 1:27

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1:27

I know this is not new..but bless you for taking this journey with me!

Pray for our kiddo in Thailand today please with me.  For care, provisions, hope, food,love.

Pray for our boys here to be prepared for their sibling. 

Gracias,

Ciao,

Shell

More Word

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Lord, let this be our prayer as believers.

Ciao,

Shell

What the Word?

In you the orphan finds mercy.

Hosea 14:3

Read: In Me!

Ciao,

Shell

Look after ...

James 1:27

New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ 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.

Ciao,
Shell

Did ya Know 3

Did You Know?

The average age for the children in foster care was 9.7 years. Average length of stay in foster care was 27.2 months. The largest percentage of children (47 percent) were in a nonrelative foster family home. Forty-nine percent had a case goal of reunification. 123,000 were awaiting adoption, down from 132,000 in FY 2007. (Children's Bureau AFCARS report, Fiscal Year 2008)


Ciao

Shell

Did ya know 2

Did You Know?

23 percent of adopted children live with an adoptive parent 55 years or older. (National Foster Care Adoption Attitudes Survey)

Ok i know it is random but a fact no less!

Ciao,
Shell

Did you know?

Did You Know?

About one out of 10 Americans is an adoptee, adoptive parent or birth parent. (National Foster Care Adoption Attitudes Survey)

Thailand's Flag:

Home Study

Hey Friends of Francos! Well, OK, Friends of Rochelle. FOR! This is a post for FOR.

An update on the adoption process from Tony Baloney - we started! After getting the "go" from our adoption agency, we spent a few weeks gathering our minds and hearts and pieces of paper with our signatures on them. Those pieces of paper were toward the 1st big step in the process - home study.

Home Study. Sounds all cold and clinical, doesn't it? People come to your house and study it. People probably wearing ties and wearing no sense of humor. They study you. Study what's under your bed and in your soul.

Not so much. We had a heads  up that the couple from our local home study agency were "pretty laid back." Well, that didn't get in the way of Rochelle declaring HOUSE CLEANING DEF-CON FIVE on the Franco Boys, and we spent a, um, goodly amount of time making the place look like a model home for young children.

Morning of, we all stood in the driveway, boys with combed hair and brushed teeth and buttoned buttons and calm demeanor just like every single morning. Then S-man jumped on his skateboard and rode down the (fairly steep) driveway, partially into the street. Just as the home study folks pulled up. Suh-weet.

But this couple. They were too laid back. No gloves, no magnifying glass, no prickly & prying questions (well, not too many). I wanted a good grilling. I needed validation that not only was our house clean, that here, here is your certificate and gold medal for "looking like people that would be OK to adopt another human being." We just got another appointment with them. But no, the discussion was good and positive and fun for us to talk to people "in the business" and in the know.

So that's next! We hang out at their office in Central Arkansas, and talk some more. And in the meantime, we look ahead and prepare for the next big step - THE DOSSIER. Gey-ulp. That's another post. You'll see, oh you'll see.

And I couldn't be more excited to do paperwork! With every little step, every word of encouragement, every $ donated to the whole bit--I'm super grateful for you, grateful to be rolling down this road. The road lined with little signed papers.

Goals

WE did it!

We took the first step.  Leap! Hop or Jump..Pick which work you like but we did it and with your help!
We gathered our papers!  We notarized them.  We met with the people who will be completing our home study!

You did it!

You helped us by supporting us with your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and money!
Our people, you helped us raise 2,000 bucks in 2 weeks!

God did it!

He asked us to take care of the orphans....
He provided us with amazing friends and family, and coworkers and even acquaintances!!!
This is His show!


'I am inspired!
Thanks for hearing my thoughts!
We have more goals to come!

25,000
-2,000
________
23,000
To go!

Ciao
Shell

Tony will do a guest post about the actual home study sometime this week! Stay tuned!

Sweet

Today was the kind of day where you feel like trusting...

Like a sunrise!

A day to remember that the God i serve wants to take care of me.

I read

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust in me also."

So today i trust!

To go on a journey~ begin with one step.

So we are taking steps to gather support for our little one in Thailand.

Ciao,

Shell

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” ~Hebrews 10:35-36

Family BAM~ily

So,
If you ever have been cleaning your house...you know the kind clean where you are gonna have your home study and you want everything even under the dressers clean...Then...you get a call..."Have you been on line today?"  "No?"  "Well get on my face book page and check it out?" 
So,
I am so blessed!
My Cousin Melissa who owns this super fun store called Calliope's Carousel.
She is going to have a contest!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Franco Baby Contest will start tomorrow on 9-25-12, and will end on 10-25-12. ALL proceeds will be sent to them for this. If you'd like to check them out personally, check out their Blog on 'LivinLaVidaFranco'. You won't be disappointed. Once again...this is a TWENTY-FIVE CENT thing. NOT 25 thousand, 25 hundred, 250 dollars, 25 dollars, or $2.50...just twenty five cents! (Although you are welcome to donate more if you'd like. If you have ?s please feel free to holla at me. Thank you all in advance for your generosity, and giving hearts.

Anyway, I am asking for Twenty-five cents. Yep! .25. I know it is a lot to ask for, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Each person who comes to Calliope's Carousel and donates $.25 to my future baby cousin will get entered into a contest to win a $25.00 gift certificate to my store. C'Mon...who couldn't use free $$$

Calliope's Carousel Face Book is

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That is why you need the link to her super fun store in Sherwood AR near Jacksonville.

Go and check it out! She is super cool!  Yes,  way way cooler than me!

Also, i you have friends interested in following our journey..share my blog with them! Thanks

Ciao,

Shell

Franco's Home Study

Well,
If you want to adopt, you must must must do a home study...Why are we so excited about this any who?

The laws of every State and the District of Columbia require all prospective adoptive parents (no matter how they intend to adopt) to participate in a home study. This process has three purposes:

• Educate and prepare the adoptive family for adoption
• Evaluate the fitness of the adoptive family
• Gather information about the prospective parents that will help a social worker connect the family with a child whose needs they can meet

It may be helpful to remember that agencies are not looking for perfect parents. Rather, they are looking for a good match between a child's needs and a family's ability to meet those needs

That info came from this web page.

So a guy from Grace adoptions is gonna come to our home and test us.  Ha, i mean he is gong to see how our boys interact...and...make sure tony and i have our stuff together (like a million documents).  And see who we are as a family so the kid...we get paired with...gets a good match.  I think this is super kid centered!  Also, we are gonna have to pay him some money to make this Franco Family Report.

Pray that we are able to do this with accurateness and consistency!

Again these pic's are nearly a year old!

But aren't they darling!

I'll do my darnedest to get some new one's up soon.

If you have a good story about your home study to share..by all means leave it in the comments!

Ciao

Shell

Hype and Money Type!

Dear Blog~Diary

I am pumped up so much that i can feel the thoughts swirling around in my brain!!!
I am so thankful for the well wishes and prayers about our first steps to our Adoption.  (I pray friends and family keep them coming)
I am fully trusting God to take care of every step...He has never failed me, after all He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Heck, He owns the hills too.
Well so here i sit thinking about the basically 2K that Tony and i are going to need like one week and one day from now

Wait we need 2,000 dollars in like a week? Sure, no sweat, God's got it covered!!!!!!

So, if you have any friends or family that want to help us with the money types help/interested in adoption/have the gift of giving...Share our blog with them and you can email me and get our address i am Rogue143@gmail.com
Also, in addition if you want to hear of any special needs or immediate needs of the Francos' you can also use the handy dandy email address and get on a "we pray for people's stuff' list!
I’ll try to have an up to date picture of we four super soon!

Hugs
Ciao
Shell

We are expecting!

Welcome Back friends and Family to La Vida Franco!!

Happy Hello to our Friends and Family -
The Franco’s are embarking on an adventure. Not one that will take us far (for now), but one that will bring someone from far away to join our family!  Yes, we are beginning the adoption process!  We applied to Holt International nearly 6 months ago and hoped to join the Thailand program, but we had two barriers. One, the youngest kiddo in our family had to be at least 2 years of age. Second, their Thailand program was closed at the time!  

We waited and prayed, we tried to find a way around but we could not. So we hunkered down and began to do our best to get rid of any debt we had hanging around. Our heart is to adopt without adding a single penny to our debt!   

After many months of waiting we got an email from Holt telling us two glorious things. The first, as of now the rule about the youngest member of the family being two years old has changed to eighteen months old!  The second is their Thailand program, which they thought might open near the end of the year, is open now!  Our collective brains exploded with joy and praise to God, for his timing is perfect.
We are asking you for some serious prayer to blanket our adoption from head to toe--for overall education and preparation, for heart and mind unity for our entire family, for our future adopted kiddo. We could definitely use some financial help if you’d like to join with us in that way. It’s a pretty expensive process. And we will need lots of encouragement to get all the paperwork and home prep done well and in a timely manner!

The rough timeline for tasks and finances -
Application Fee               $300                     Fee Paid!
Home study                       $2,000                 Need in 2 weeks   
U.S. Processing Fee        $3,000                 Need in 2months
Adoption Program Fee  $10,000              Need when assigned child
USCIS Fee                            $1,250                Need when assigned child
Dossier Prep                       $700                   Need when assigned child
Travel to Thailand            $10,000                  
Adoption Finalization     $1,500               
Post Placement                 $3,000               
We completely trust God to take care of all our needs!!!  We also trust our family and friends for all the support! Thanks for joining with us.
James 1:27
Love,
Tony, Rochelle, Sage & Jasper

Try this, Why Not?

Tony is turning 30  yup you heard me right!

Wish this fun giveaway was a month ago...A sweet blog i follow is having a giveaway!
So good luck!

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2012/05/simply-cranberry-cocktail-review-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SmashedPeasAndCarrots+%28Smashed+Peas+and+Carrots%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher


Ciao
Shell

Funny and Great

First i must tell you what my 4 year old said around the breakfast table:  To his father who just made pancakes.....
"Dad, you are looking kind of fat, because you missed 2 work outs this week" 
This is something he heard his dad say a while back...Cracked us both up!

And now for something great!
A fabulous blog i follow is having a fantastic giveaway!!!!

So if i may share with you!

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2012/03/starbucks-tribute-and-100-gift-card.html?showComment=1331922334546#c8468033868076233280


Hope you enjoy

Ciao
Shell

Today..my boy is reaching

Kido to mom  "Are these things on your hair brush matches?'
Mom after taking a good look..."No Kido, but they sure do look like matches."

I am so in love with his imagination and calculation!

Ciao,
Shell

Wondering about food?

I have been following this blog for quiet some time and i'd love for you all to check it out! 
Made me really question the FDA?? 

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/03/09/some-disturbing-news-articles/



Ciao
Shell

Might as well

These are more of the pic's Roberto Navarette took of me for my entrance to the contest!

On a side note i am going to try Zumba in the morning with a friend!  Can't wait!
PS  Thanks Tony for my fantastic boots! 

Ciao
Shell

So, I am going for it!

I am entering a contest!  We'll see if i make it to the public voting phase...
So this is one of the Fantastic Pics my son

Roberto Navarrete

took of me for the contest! Fun Fun! 

More about the contest later! It may have something to do with Maurices of Main Street

I so rarly take pics of myself that ... i almost forgot what i looked like..(Just kidding, I have a mirror)

 

Ciao,

Shell

PS If i am able to move on to the next round i will need your help!  And if i win, I'll get to give the charity of my choice, and i am chosing Titus Task,...a nice hunk of $$..Which is sooo cool!

Milk?

Ok, friends,
Over the past few years, we have decided to buy organic milk...
Now J-bird is 1 and we think (we think, because he has not been tested) he has a milk allergy....so we are buying organic soy milk, most of the time?  Do you have any opinion on the matter please weigh in!

Ciao,
Shell

P.S. In the cute index Kido drew me a get well card on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk! 

If today were a childrens book

"Daddy may i please have pancakes for breakfast"  Kido
"Since you asked so sweetly you may!"  Dad
"Can i help?" Kido
"Sure, but lets make them dairy free so your little brother can have some too!" Dad
"Yummy i love dairy three"
"No, Dairy Free"
Kido ---not paying attention---
"These pancakes are really good even with out maple syrup"
Dad laughing to himself..."Thanks Kido, i love you and am glad you asked sweetly for pancakes"
Kido "me too, these are really good"

The end

That is kind of how kids work you know.
The attention span of a fly.

Ciao
Shell

Teeth

Jasper Boy now has 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom.