This is my friend Erin.
This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Jodie, the winner of the free item from Erin's shop.
Well, Erin along with her husband and two children.
Erin is a friend from my high school years (yes, even we homeschoolers have friends in high school!) and she and her husband are in the process of adopting a baby girl from the Congo (you can read more about it on her blog).
Erin and her husband aren't adopting because they can't have biological children...they're adopting because they have a heart for children.
Here's what she says:
For quite a while, I have felt drawn to adopt. While my heart has been there in the past two years, Chris' heart has been drawn towards adoption as well. Stephen Curtis Chapman's website Show Hope shares all the statistics and identifies the tremendous need for adoption.
One statistic that really stood out to us is: "If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, looking after the child in their distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. We can each do something."
Though you and I might not be called to adopt, we can help the 7% who ARE called to adopt, and that's why I'm writing this post today.
As you know, adoption is very expensive, and Erin is using her creative talents to help raise some funds. She buys shirts from thrift stores, dyes them, and stamps them with hand-carved lino stamps.
The profits from the sale of these shirts goes towards their adoption expenses.
Erin sent me a couple of shirts so that we could try them out, and my girls just love them.
Zoe 's super excited about having a bicycle shirt since she loves her bike so much, and Lisey feels sure her shirt is the most comfy shirt in the world.
I think it's really awesome that Erin is upcycling by breathing new life into discarded shirts (as you know, making old clothes new is a passion of mine!)
If you'd like to help Erin and her family bring a little girl home, you can buy one of these shirts from her etsy shop, Dandelion Dreams.
There are a couple of other ways you can support their adoption efforts as well, and more details of those are on Erin's blog.
Today, Erin wants to give away one item from her shop to one of you for free! To enter, just leave a comment on this post, and in 24 hours, I'll randomly choose a winner.
Admirable friend you have there. LOVE the shirts! Great idea 🙂
What a great cause!
What a beautiful post! This is such a great thought and I too have felt the
need to adopt or even just foster children.
Best wishes to Erin and her family!
That's so wonderful. I wish all the best to her family.
I love the t-shirts, so simple and yet more suitable for children than a lot of "new" clothing. God bless their effort to adopt a child in need!
That is wonderful they are choosing adoption and such a great idea to raise funds!
May God bless Erin, her family, and the child that awaits them!
Her t-shirts are great and what a lovely cause!
I love her shirts! Congrats to Erin and her whole family!
Having just glanced at her shop, I see I'll be doing some Christmas shopping today. Also, as a child advocate, I need to say to those who feel called to adopt but are concerned about the cost - please consider domestic adoption and give a child in foster care a forever family. No, they are not all "drug babies". (And even the ones that are have bright futures with a little TLC.) For many of them, the extra baggage they carry (and they do) is no greater than that of a child being adopted from an orphanage in a poor country. Often, it's less. Please consider domestic adoption as well when looking at your options.
That is one of the coolest idea's. I love to recolor shirts and stuff with dye. Great job. You will be truly blessed 🙂
I just hopped over to her site. Looks like your photography appears there too! Thanks for giving all of us a chance to help them realize their dreams. A few years ago, when a friend was raising money to adopt a little girl from China, they held a huge Spaghetti Feed at their (very large) church. Not only did it give everyone a chance to participate, but when their little girl finally came home, everyone in the community "knew" her and now has a vested interest in her success. Instead of getting two parents and two siblings, she got an entire community!
How wonderful. My youngest sister was adopted. She has certainly brought a lot of excitement to our lives. I still think my parents were a little crazy, she was born the year I graduated high school!
neat post, thanks for sharing!
Love the shirts & what a wonderful way to raise money towards adoption costs! 🙂 The shirts are awesome, I'd love to win!
This ~
"If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, looking after the child in their distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. We can each do something."
~ Truely is an eye opener! All the best wishes for Erin and her growing family!!
I would of course love to win a shirt and after checking out her shop I have my go to Christmas presents! I absolutely love the VW bus and truly they are all adorable. Thank you for sharing! (And if Laura is asking for suggestions (!) I'd love to see a long sleeve women's tee, maybe even a henley for the upcoming nursing years!)
What a creative way to raise money for adoption. My husband and I hope to adopt someday and cost is certainly one of the biggest concerns for us.
What a great cause! Love the shirts!
What a great idea! Best wishes to Erin and her family. I'll be checking out her shop!
What a lovely story. I wish them all the best.
I love this growing movement toward adoption! Thank you for sharing Laura's story and web site. We would like to adopt in the future as well,and have looked into various fund raising ideas. This family is truly an inspiration to me!
Whoops, notLaura, Erin! Sorry about that!
What an awesome way to raise money - I'm checking out her etsy stuff now!
It's all very inspiring. I'd love to win a shirt and I will clik on the other links to check them out.
Love the tshirts, and what a great cause!
A wonderful, inspiring story. May God bless your friend and her adoption.
A wonderful idea on so many levels!
Love this on so many fronts!
We are going through the process to adopt our foster daughter. The wait has been eight LONG years. I pray that all goes well and smooth and quick for your family.
What a beautiful heart your friend has. I, too, pray that God will give us the joy of adoption at some point in our lives. I'll remember Erin's website when I have gifts to give in the future!
This is wonderful. I hope to adopt someday, and I love supporting people who are doing it now.
I have already found a couple of things I want from her Etsy shop, so I would LOVE to get a free one too!
Good Luck to Erin. They seem to be a lovely family into which a child will be lucky to be adopted. I would love to win one of the VW bus shirts. They are so cute.
What a neat way to get money for adoption! We wanted to adopt too a few years ago. We were in the process but something put us in a bind and had to stop the process. We have always thought we would help in other ways though. God bless everyone adopting! (and helping)!
That post really makes me think. (And I hope her shirts come in adult sizes 🙂
What a great (frugal) shop! Best wishes to her and her family with their adoption.
God bless your friend and her family. What a wonderful and joyous thing that they're doing.
Beautiful story!
What a thought provoking statistic... Something to ponder. Thanks for highlighting your friend, what a lovely story she has.
What an awesome thing! We have some friends in the middle of the adoption process too. I love these shirts too- Can we spread the word?!
Thanks!!
We adopted a sibling group of four ten years ago, and we have been blessed a thousand times over because of it. I highly recommend adoption to anyone, who might be considering it. Also, don't rule out the older kids! We originally had not planned to adopt older children, and I thank God everyday that we changed our minds! Our oldest is in college now and doing amazing!
So great of you to share Erin's story. I am looking at her site to find something for my grandsons.
Adoption is a wonderful thing. I have many friends who have either adopted or have been adopted themselves. Love the shirts.
What a great way to raise the money! The shirts are adorable!
when I read James 1:27 i was prompted to offer financial support to adoptive families. Erin is very creative in combining frugality, environmentalism and family. I'm glad you introduced her to us.
Adopting a child is a wonderful thing. I know many , many people -- Jewish families as well as Christians-- who have a heart for children.
My kids would love one of these shirts. Going to look at her website now!
Love the shirts, and what a beautiful cause!
What an awesome idea! My husband and I adopted our daughter domestically almost two years ago and the cost was astrinomical. With lots of prayer and help from friends, family and our church we were able to adopt with no debt (praise Jesus!). We are currently getting ready to adopt through our states foster care system since another private adoption is out of the question. We will be praying for Erin and her family.
I love that quote - imagine if only 7% of Christ followers opened their hearts and homes there would be no more orphans. What a powerful realization!!
Would love a shirt for our little girl 🙂
I would love a shirt for my son. I think he and Erin's son could be twins, they look so much alike!
That's great. I'm glad they're doing that, and I may have to check out her shop. I'd love to win one, too 🙂
What an amazing idea!
erin: you are so cool.
Erin,
What a precious goal. Thank you for rescuing a very speical life.
I'm off to check out your shop!
Such inspiration! And wonderful shirts. I'm sure they sell fast!
What a great woman and artist to feature! Thank you.
Oh, I've been looking at her shirts and love them. I'd love to win one!
I truly admire Erin & her husband's heart for a child who is in need of parents. My parents adopted 5 kids during my lifetime, and I love every one of them as my 'sisters and brothers', regardless of our bloodlines.
Love the shirts and such a great cause! I would love to adopt someday, or at least foster.
what a cute idea!
I love the shirts, and I hope everything goes well with Erin's adoption!
We adopted two precious children from China, and our hearts are so full of love for them. Best wishes to Erin's family as they go through the adoption process!
We're wanting to adopt several kids in the future, and if we don't have any luck conceiving by the end of next year (which would make us about 3 1/2 years trying) we're going to file for adoption. I honestly don't care where my kids come from, I know that they will be mine and I am going to love them more than I love my own life. 🙂
We'll be praying that the Lord will make a way for Erin and her family to welcome a new addition to their family.
Lovely shirts and what a beautiful warm heart your friend has. Wonderful to see that so much love and kindness can exist in one person.
Wow I like those. What a great cause.
I really just love to hear about causes like this one! Best Wishes to Erin and the baby girl that will be joining her family! Great shirts 🙂
I'd love to know how to make those Tshirts, they are adorable 🙂
What a wonderful posting. People are so good. LOvely pictures too- of course X
Gorgeous shirts and lovely idea to upcycle for a good cause. Brilliant. Best of luck to Erin and her (hopefully soon to be expanded) family.
Love this. Christians can save a child in this world and the next.
Thank you for posting this. My husband and I recently received the news that we will not be able to have children of our own, and have been discussing Fostering/Adoption. Now we have another great organization to look into! I think the shirts are a great idea, and I would be happy to purchase some for this cause. Thank you again!
good work, yet again, frugal girl, and frugal girl's friend....
Nice post! and I love the shirts!
I love the little girls blue shirt with the heart on it. So cute. I would give it as a baby shower gift to one of my friends.
The shirts are beautiful, but the sentiment behind them is even more so. Thank you so much for sharing Erin's story with us!
PS - Longtime lurker, delurking 😉
Good luck, Erin! The shirts are adorable.
Very cute shirts! Best of luck to Erin and her family!
Love the idea of re-purposing old clothes.
Those shirts are so cute! What a great idea.
Cute idea, the bicycle shirt is very cute!
Love the Airstream design! The colors of the shirts are luscious!
I love everything in her shop; I'd love to get one for free.
Those are some really cute shirts!
LOVE, LOVE,LOVE the VW bus 🙂
Praying that Erin and her family will be able to bring their little girl home someday very SOON!
Cute T-shirts! Thanks for sharing.
love the website and the whole concept! best wishes on your adventure! looks like i'll be doing some christmas shopping today!
I agree with Magdalena...New shirts that are appropriate for little ones are gettting harder to find. I have found messages on ONESIES that are inappropriate! These t-shirts are ADORABLE! I have a 5 year old daughter who loves clothes, and even at Goodwill and Salvation Army we've found older inappropriate tees...awesome idea to make these shirts...not just to reuse/repurpose, or to raise funds for a great cause like this one, but it gives others another option while clothes shopping! Great idea, and good luck!
That is awesome. There are plenty children in the U.S who needs to be adopted and are overlooked. God can direct a person's heart to adopt overseas or at home. The U.S foster care sytem is filled with children who needs to be adopted.
As an adoptive mom (domestically), I have a heart for other families who adopt. Adoption is truly a calling. Thank you for supporting your friend.
I stumbled on your page earlier today and this post struck a particular chord as I was adopted from Bogota, Colombia in 1989 by a family in West Virginia. My adoptive parents and all the opportunities they've given me by including me in their family have been the greatest gift I could have ever hoped for and I'm so blessed that they were able to adopt me. I hope very strongly that your friends are able to have great success in their adoption pursuits and that their current children are loving, patient and caring towards their new brother or sister.
Salutations,
Rafael from Charleston, West Virgina
Erin is actually the one I found your site through. Thank you so much for spreading the word about her and her family.
I Love Erin's shirts!! I bought 2 for my girls, I would love one for me too! So excited for their adoption journey and bringing their little girl home!
Not that I don't admire her for adopting, I really do, by why not adopt someone from the U.S.?
I think it's great to adopt orphans here in the U.S., but I also think international adoption is important. We shouldn't ignore hurting people just because they haven't happened to be born in our own country.
Hi Christal,
The main reason we are adopting from the DRC is that its really where our hearts were led to *as a couple*. My husband has some background studies in Africa. We both believe that any child without a loving family is tragic, foreign or domestic. There is a lot of violence of women in the DRC (I think its competing for #2 after Afghanistan) and prostitution at a young age, which is one factor in choosing. However I know there are children treated violently here in the US. We are certainly not discounting their pain and do pray for them along with the other millions of children over the world hurting and lonely. The DRC simply is where our family has been led for our child.
Thanks for asking. 🙂