Birthday Party

Today was a good day. Since Princess' birthday falls so close to Christmas, we usually do something special that day with just family and then we wait awhile to have her friends birthday party. It was suppose to be last weekend but since birthday girl had the flu, we had to reschedule for today. We had it at our local ice skating rink like last year and several friends and cousins showed up to help her celebrate.

First we have father and son racing around the rink ( I think "son" may have won)

This was a first for both this father and daughter...I think this dad may need some icy hot and Advil later. :)

My niece Kylie...she was a little braver than last year.

Two of my favorite brats in the world :)

Birthday Princess enjoying her new found confidence. She doesn't do much of anything without that tongue sticking out. :)

Princess and her new friend Jaedyn

My nephew Coby impressed me with his skills...no fear with this one!

My nephew Jaden...he was a little more cautious...I was glad since he's still in a brace from breaking his arm almost 3 months ago!

Little Man was a stud on the ice. He can even turn all the way around on his skates without falling. He did not get his athletic ability from me. :)

I tried to get pictures of all the kids who were there but they were either the backs of their heads or blurry from the movement. Oh well...we had a lot of fun and made good memories. Princess then got to open her presents and while she liked them all, her favorite was her pillow pet from her brother. He had been wanting to get her one since Christmas and we found a really cute Valentines doggy one. She was so thrilled, she ran right over and gave him a huge hug. He, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. :) Public Display of Affection? Not this pre-teen guy! :)

So that was our day today. Now we are home warming up and re-energizing before another week. A quick adoption update: we have received our home study report that I need to make a few changes to but unfortunately we are not going to be on the waiting list by the end of January like I had hoped. That's okay though because everything is right on time with God's plan. :) There is a reason for everything so I'm not even going to make another goal for the waiting list. I'm just going to complete everything I need to complete and leave the rest to God. Thanks for all your prayers for our journey. We really appreciate it!

It came!!

What a few days! Thursday Princess was diagnosed with the flu (big big frowny face here) and so began the never ending task of taking care of a very sick kid. By Friday afternoon I was feeling a little cabin feverish and antsy. God must have seen that I needed a little pick-me-up and during supper our door bell rang. It was my raffle winnings box! I was so excited! Let me tell you, this raffle was above and beyond what I deserved but I got so much, my family is anxious for me to share!

It included 15 t-shirts

Two hooded jackets, a vest and a hat

A hand embroidered bag and some authentic jewelry and wooden cross, a recipe book (not pictured) full of wonderful comfort food

And this amazing quilt!

Getting this box not only lifted my spirits, it lifted Princess spirits too...she wasn't too sick to be a model for me. :)

So not only did we get all this, we received 3 more t-shirts in the mail the next day! What a great way to help a "not-so-fun" week. Unfortunately, taking care of sick kids put you at risk of catching what they have and I am afraid I'm looking at the flu right in the face. :( Achy and fever are no fun! Anyway, I just had to show off my winnings!

Broken Heart

In effort to be totally "real" about our adoption journey, I promised myself that I would share some of the non-"rainbow and puppy dogs" days. Yesterday was one of those days. One thing that I've been putting off was to find out what shots we needed before we were able to travel. We had been told we needed to start getting them so we didn't have to put off our first trip due to unfinished shots. Well, I found out...oh boy did I find out. After a lengthy discussion with my pharmacist, I learned that we need to get at least 8 "not required but strongly recommended" shots (we haven't decided on some of the "optional" shots yet). That part isn't the part that bothers me the most. These shots will add a good 4 digit figure to our total adoption cost (someone should say at the beginning of this process..."here's what this adoption will cost you but this number doesn't include all the postage, certificate fees, shot fees on and on and on that you will have to pay"). But that isn't the part that bothers me the most. Does it scare me a little to know that I'm travelling to a country not once but twice where I have to protect myself from things like yellow fever, hepatitis, polio, typhoid, meningitis, malaria, etc? You betcha. But that STILL isn't the part that bothers me the most.

What bothers me the most is that there are millions, MILLIONS of people, CHILDREN who live in this place DAILY where these things are a risk. Do you realize how lucky we are Americans? We go about our lives not even knowing how bad things are in other areas of the world and the enormous blessing we have of living in a country where some of these things are a risk, yes, but not something most of us worry about coming in contact with unless we work in the health care system. When I worked at the hospital 10 years ago I had to get my hepatitis shots but ONLY because I was working at the hospital. We don't feel the need to run out and get these shots to protect ourselves from the man at Taco Bell who fixes our food that may spread a deadly disease to us. I may seem a little dramatic about this but seriously! This whole thing opened my eyes and broke my heart. And the other thing about it is this: these people could probably get shots to protect themselves from these things but after finding out what we will be paying to receive them, I GUARANTEE people can't afford them there. They can barely afford food for their families and yet even if they can provide that, they can't protect them from disease. God broke my heart yesterday for these people even more than He has before. They need OUR help. We (believers) are HIS people and He is counting on US to help. From whom much has been given, much is expected and we have been given A LOT. I am even more ready than before to get my little one home and know that I saved ONE from a lifetime of hardship, starvation and disease. What can you do?

You don't need endless amounts of money to help (obviously...look at us!) but you have a voice and if you're a believer in Christ, you have prayer. Are you praying? Are you praying for those who need your prayers or do you pray for yourself only? Do you realize how blessed you are? Do you worry about the red light that made you late for work more than your heart breaks for those less fortunate?

Last week our preacher shared a series of verses and one of them hit me right in the forehead. (God has to do that with me at times.)

"Remember, it is a SIN to know what you ought to do and then not do it." James 4:17 NLT

Don't like that translation? Okey dokey...

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is SIN for them."

James 4:17 NIV

Has God been trying to break your heart about something that you've been ignoring? Do you feel Him trying to tell you to do something that you're not doing? It doesn't have to be adoption...that's not for everyone...but I promise He's not telling you to sit back and remain in a cozy life either. I'm telling you people, if we hadn't already decided to move forward with our adoption, that verse alone would have been the deciding factor for us.

Okay I'm off my soapbox but I had to share what yesterday meant for me. If for nothing else, for me to look back on and remember the feeling I had if I start to forget. :) May God bless you today.

Recent Favorites

Here are some of my favorite pictures I've taken lately...

Little Man got his brown belt...we are 4 away from his junior black belt!! Yee-haw!

My kids got to play with my dad's new toy

The kids and I went to the ranch Friday to unwind and think about other things than home studies and paperwork....things like going and hunting down the coyotes who were after the new calves. :)

I love my family!

One Good Day!

Yesterday was a good day!! First of all, we had our home visit from our social worker. That part wasn't so exciting until it was over. :) But we had been told that it would take about four hours and that she would interview each child individually and that really stressed me out. I just knew Princess would clam up and not talk to this stranger who was asking her all kinds of questions. But the good news was that the social worker must have gotten that vibe from them and decided to talk with them with us in the room and not grill them too much. Then just 2 1/2 hours into it, she said we were done! Yeah! In my opinion that means we did well and she didn't feel the need to dig too deep to try and find something to hold against us. Ha!

Okay so then, I was checking my email and had this strange email from a name I didn't recognize that said, "April, you might want to check out my blog." Huh? So I clicked on the link and I suddenly remembered that three days earlier I had entered this blog that was having a raffle. They were raising money to help a local village in Ethiopia and I very quickly decided that I needed to donate because who knows? my child might be coming from that village. So I bought 3 chances and her son had picked the grand prize winner that morning. AND IT WAS ME!!!!! I've never won anything in my life and here I won the GRAND PRIZE! Okay so this may not seem so exciting to you but this means I have a large box full of adoption t-shirts, hats, jewelry, and many other things I'm not even sure about headed my way! I am so excited! My hubby was watching me watch the video of them drawing the name and said I looked like I had won the lottery. In my eyes, I have! :) Not only do I get great stuff, but this money that was raised is helping in an amazing way. You can check out her blog and their journey to be God's hands and feet here: http://teamalexander.blogspot.com/

Thank you Team Alexander and ABE! You made a great day even better! :)

This is the best I can do? Seriously?

I have a massive headache today. And I get to go help basketball practice here in about 45 minutes. Bouncing basketballs in an enclosed gym is really going to help my headache. But having this headache made me sit down and be still for a minute and I decided to organize my "favorites" list. Pathetic, I know. What did I learn from this little activity? I have 61 blogs bookmarked in my computer and 36 are specific to adoption from Ethiopia. I think once we get on the waiting list, I'll have plenty to read! :) And find other pathetic, mundane things to organize.

But for now, I work at our paperwork, continue adding to the "honey-do" list and get ready for our home visit next week.

That's all for now!

It's the Little Things

For two years now, I've been battling a dryer that doesn't dry very well. We kept intending to get it fixed but kept putting it off. Our units were over 10 years old so my hubby didn't really want to spend money on fixing it. But it was beginning to take 3-60 minute cycles to dry our clothes (that's 3 hours for one load if you don't want to do the math) and my patience was getting thin. So...last week I saw that washers and dryers were on sale big time and drug my hubs to go look at them. The prices were so good we decided to just buy new ones instead of spending the money to fix really old ones. They were delivered today and I think they are beautiful!!

I know....a completely boring post but for me, it's been a very good day!! :)

Happy New Year!!

I've never done this before....posting from the car that is....and it's very exciting! I just wanted to wish each of you a very full and blessed 2011. I know our lives have some adventures waiting on us and I hope this year brings you adventure as well. :) Happy new year!