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HOME LIFE

Room to Grow

Daily Living

Hari and I spend much of our time together. We take a few walks a week at the nearby duck park (where I always try to spot the turtles in the pond). We watch tv shows and play a board game or two. We go somewhere local, whether it’s running some errands, hanging out with friends, or going to a movie. We go to church.

While I cook meals at home, we also like picking up a pizza or going out for a casual meal. One of our daily highlights is feeding treats to our cat Haley. During the week, Hari works from his office at home. I work on projects, gardening, crafts, and home upkeep. 

I love spending life with my best friend and I see how easily a child would fit into who we are today, and I see how bringing a child into our fold would only multiply the joy.

How Does A Child Fit Into Our Daily Lives?

We look forward to bringing a child into our daily life. We believe in helping with schoolwork for a strong mind, lots of arts and crafts to ignite a child’s creativity and confidence, gardening to learn about how things grow, and going on family outings to build a strong family bond through lots of happy memories. We also look forward to pursuing whatever interests the child may bring to the table. 

Stay-At-Home Parenting

As noted on our Adoption page, we are fortunate to have the resources for me (Jill) to be a homemaker so I can focus my energy on raising a child and we are fully invested in making the child our number one priority. Hari also works from home, so we have the opportunity to be a constant support, including going to games or getting involved in a community activity with the child.

Building garden benches! Sometimes it’s better to do it yourself, so when I realized I needed 3 custom sized garden benches for the patio, I built them. I wanted to maximize space but also raise my plants a little closer to the sun, so I mapped out my game plan, then headed to the hardware store to gather supplies. It took a couple days from start to finish. It was a lot of fun, and I loved that I did it my way. In my previous garden, I had more sun and space for fruits and veggies so I built some large flower beds, complete with gopher wire, and my favorite thing to grow where the pumpkins.

Dessert Imposters (Hari’s Bday)! We love the Kid’s Baking Championship show, so I did their Dessert Imposters segment for Hari’s birthday last year. The premise is that you manipulate real desserts to look like real dinner foods. It was amazing fun, but took endless preparation, since I had to create multiple dishes (see pics). I strive to come up with non-traditional gifts, so I’ve done major cleaning and organizing things, like overhaul the garage or reorganize the pantry. But I have also done a lot of ‘event’ type gifts, and can’t help think my years of planning youth events has helped with this. I’ve done cupcake wars, re-enacted favorite tv shows/characters, even created game shows. I rewrite and sing him personalized 80’s songs, and sometimes sing him a love song. If you’re thinking ahead, you’re realizing…this is something a child would have a blast doing with me! FUN SIDE NOTE: Hari just ordered a few cupcakes from 2023 finalist Naho, since she’s not too far from us. The treats were delicious and he even got his picture with her! However, we didn’t ask her permission to post the pic here, so you’ll have to take our word for it.

Covid Haircut When all the shops were closed, and I needed a hair cut, I turned “Cut Jill’s Hair” into a gift for Hari. He prefers acts of service and useful gifts the most, so it made sense to do something this. I let him know that it didn’t matter whether it was straight because I’d be able to go in once the shops reopened. It ended up being a lot of fun for all of us, because even the cat got in on the action! Check out the final result…he was so nervous at first but he actually did a great job!

Our Faith

We are Orthodox Christians and love our parish and faith.

Because we don’t want to specifically call out our parish here, we are limiting pics. There is a famous church in San Francisco we go to visit on occasion, and some pics are seen here.

 

Still, I thought it would be fun to post just a few things and talk about our Covid Pascha (Easter). One of the greatest benefits of Covid for us was doing all the Pascha services at home. We did every one, and it really allowed us to connect on a deeper level with our faith. We did the foot washings, processions, we threw bay leaves and rose petals all over our house. We got palms for Palm Sunday…did the candle light service…and I even made a mini Artos bread for bright week. We did streamed some of the services from the garden.

 

While we were thankful and excited to go back later that year, we’re also thankful for the unexpected and rich blessings of services from home. 

A Peek Inside Our Home! 

We have a three-bedroom townhouse with a patio and a small garden. It’s nestled in a safe and beautiful community. The inside of our home is bright, colorful, spacious, clean, warm, and inviting. 

Gathering beads to make a necklace
Haley loves helping me in the craft room
Made a ton of these little candles for the wedding too…spread on the glue, dip into the gl
Haley loves when I test suncatchers in the lights…she runs all over trying to catch the ra
suncatcher
Making my Goddaughter a necklace
preparing for the upcoming craft fair
Eyeglass chains in the making, for the upcoming fair
Catnip knots and Kitty Kickers for the fair
We hand out red eggs at the end of the Easter service and I love making them!
Hari was so excited to hand out candy at church on his name day
Haley really had fun on Palm Sunday
Organized closet
We have colorful dishes, planet plates, and rainbow utensils…so joyful!
our wall of games
Hari’s office at home
I love the wreath in our downstairs bathroom…got it from Solvang
The kitchen…I love the cool light fixtures ad their are rainbow knobs on the cabinets that
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When hair salons closed, I trusted Hari to cut my hair..
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Homemade pot pie for Hari's birthday
Sparklers on our patio for New Years Eve
I love making jewelry
Dinosaur checkers and sparkling apple juice..
The living room
Hari and Haley sound asleep..
Room for a child_ our spare room, waiting to be redecorated with someone else's interests
Frashly made english muffins are incredible
I wanted benches for the patio garden so I built some
My garden benches in progress..
I love the hummingbirds
Roses in the garden
When hair salons closed, I trusted Hari to cut my hair..
Part of the kitchen
Our home
Covid birthday
The dining area..
Christmas time!
My crafting_office space
The other side of the front room, taken from the stairs

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