The Door Closes on Another Great Season

Today was our last basketball game. We have had such a great time coaching these kiddos. Jerod coached Little Man's team with the help of a family friend while we coached Princess' team together. I decided we made a great coaching team. He was the technical coach teaching them basic skills and rules while I was the emotional coach who handled the devotionals and loved on them when injured. :) Our girls were such a special group and I'm going to miss them. Some of them came such a long way not only as players but as people. I'm very proud of them all.

Anyway, I took a quick picture of my kids before we left for the games.

Thursday night was our last practice and instead of having a serious practice, we played games and then had cupcakes and drinks. I made basketball cupcakes for them and I think they turned out great if I say so myself. :)

So now that basketball is over we have a few weeks break before the next seasonal sport starts. I have been contemplating doing a spring arts and crafts open house kinda as a fundraiser and include several tables with others I know that have a home-based business. With that being a big possibility, I've been working on several crosses to sell and hopefully put a big chunk toward our adoption fund. :) We'll see.

I guess me contacting the immigration office got them on the ball because we received our fingerprint appointment in the mail today. One family summed up my emotions very well: "Yippee! Hooray!! Hallelujah!! Amen and amen!" It's not until March 21st but at least I now know they've processed our paperwork and we can move forward instead of standing still. You know how excited I get over baby steps. Each step taken is just another step closer to bringing our baby home. :))

Toss and Turn

I did not sleep well last night. I tossed and turned and woke up many times thinking about different things that have been on my heart. I'll share with you:

I haven't talked about this much on here but my niece had to have eye surgery recently to remove a cataract. They say she may never see out of that eye...ever. While I realize that things could be a lot worse, it hurts me to watch my sis worry and hurt over this situation. I wish there was something I could do but I can't do anything but pray. My niece is so dang cute and to watch her go through a hardship is heartbreaking. She's going back to Lubbock today to get fitted for another lens because the first one they ordered was wrong. My sis said three adults had to hold her down last time for this. Poor baby. But what's worse is when they decide this is right, my sis has to change it out daily without the help of other adults. Who wants to be the bad guy when you are the mom? It's no fair I say! No fair!

One of my dear friends son has been dealing with headaches and has gone through many tests to try and figure out whats wrong. This kid is an awesome kid who loves the Lord and is one of the best role models for my son that I could ask for. He is kind and gentle but fun and relaxed. I don't know what will come from all the tests he's having but I'm claiming RIGHT NOW that he will be completely healed. He already has faced more hardship and heartbreak in his life than he deserves but hasn't let it break his spirit. He may not be able to do the things he's really good at because of this problem but he's already looking toward other things he's good at that can glorify God. A great kid.

One more a little closer to home: my husband and I are having a hard time agreeing on where our new child's bedroom will be. It's times like this that show how the differences in our backgrounds play a big role in what we find acceptable or not. I shared a room with my sis for years while he's always had one of his own. We've talked putting up walls and even adding a second story but nothing seems to be fitting together well. We still have a lot of time I know but I'm the kind of person who likes to plan and know what's coming. I don't mind waiting to decorate, I'd just like to know if I'm going to be doing one room or several depending on what we decide. I checked with immigration yesterday and while they've received our application, it's still waiting to be assigned to a case worker to work on...yeah they've had it almost a month now and if government goes on a lock down, you can bet that things will stop completely. All in Gods time I know...He's teaching me patience and trust.

So now that I've sat down and wrote a lot of things out maybe I'll sleep a little better tonight. If you would though, would you say a quick prayer for my niece and my friends son? God hears all prayers even if we don't know all the details. He loves us that much.

My kids

I try really hard to not be one of those parents that gushes and brags on her children ALL the time. But sometimes, there are just things that are too good not to share. :)

Lately, we've been working on memorizing Psalm 23 and one morning last week, we woke up and found a message on our big white board in the utility room. I copied it word for word:

Little Man's Psalm

My parents love me

I shall not ask for more

They give me rest in my bed at night

They give me the water that I need

Even when I'm scared you are with me

Your love and kindness comfort me

You protect me from strangers, bad guys and Satan

I love you and you love me

I will live in your hearts forever.

Now I could over analyze this and say that he should realize that we can only provide for him because God allows us to but you know what? I know that he knows that and coming from a little boy who a few months ago would hardly tell us he loved us and hug on us....this is huge. I think it shows he appreciates and respects us.

Then, yesterday I was working in my garage (studio) on some crosses and Princess was right at my feet (like always) creating and coming up with her own projects. A little while later, she brought her dad and me together and told us to open up a bag. This is what was inside:

She painted and decorated a piece of wood in the Ethiopian flag colors and then wrote us this sweet message on the back: (I'll copy it for you :) Ethiopia! You give, you care, you give me more than I can imagine.

I think this shows that she not only realizes that we are excited and love the new addition we'll be adding to our family, but that through all of this we still love her and take care of her as much as we did before. I love my kids, I love their hearts and I'm so proud to be called their mom. :)

What a Difference a Week Makes

Wow...last week we were dealing with a blizzard, about 9 inches of snow, and -30 wind chills and today is suppose to be clear, sunny, and near 70 degrees. I've decided we live in the biggest roller coaster area for weather. Here are some pictures from the snow. Don't let the sunshine and blue sky fool you...it was still bitterly cold. We only lasted about 15 minutes and the temperature at the time was a whooping 3. :)

Little Man was so anxious to jump into this snow drift

Princess sliding down the slide

On Friday, things had started thawing out enough where we could have our S.T.A.R.S. valentines party and not have to postpone like we have so many other things. :)) This was such a great party and the kids had a lot of fun. We had 24 kids there! Not bad for a home school group huh? And that isn't even all of us!

The boys at the card making station

Princess at the cookie decorating station

Later that afternoon, I got the honor of "filling in" for my sister at my nephews Valentines party. My niece had an appointment in Lubbock that fell at the same time as his party so I went to be there with him. He loved showing me his room and introducing me to all his friends and teacher. I was so glad I went. :)

Valentines for us yesterday was probably very different than it was for a lot of people. It was mine and my hubby's 15th valentines together and things have changed a little from our first few. :)) Mainly, we celebrated with our two biggest love bugs and just enjoyed being a family. But that's not really different or special for us. We always love family time. We did exchange cards and gave the kids some really cute craft kits but other than that, our night was very quiet, peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I like it. :))

"For God so LOVED the world that He gave his one and only son that whoever shall believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

A Trip Around the World

Last Friday our home school group had our first annual geography fair at a local church. I'll give you one good guess at which country we chose to learn about and present to the others. :) We had such a good time doing this project. It was so good to learn about this country that our newest addition will be born into. They have some very interesting things about their country. I'll give you my top 3 favorite facts that I learned about Ethiopia.


1. Ethiopia is seven years and eight months behind us. That's right. Right now, they consider the year to be around 2003. So my child will most likely be born in "Ethiopian" 2003 but in "American" 2010. Hard to wrap my mind around. Also, their new years is September 11th. Always has been...has nothing to do with "American" 9/11...pure coincidence. Their calendar starts with the day that they found out that Jesus had been born. Very interesting.


2. Ethiopia is the only African country that was never colonized by another country. However, Italians spent a lot of time there during WWII and they left a big impression on the Ethiopian people. So, if you eat at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant, you will find the common dishes of injera or wat, but will almost always find pizza and pasta. (Yippee!!!)


3. Ethiopia claims to be the home of the Queen of Sheba, the ark of the covenant and some say the home of Moses' wife (insert big controversy here). They have great pride for their country and their past. I hope to cherish and preserve that for our child as he/she grows up.


So there ya go...I could go on and on...in fact, the kids and I decided we could have done about 100 boards for all that we learned and all that we hope to learn in the upcoming days, months and years. :)

Our Ethiopian display

There was also Italy represented...

Japan...

Mexico...

Australia...

Norway...

Afghanistan...and France.

I don't know how I missed a picture of France. It was not intentional.

And the hard workers on their project. I love these kids!!

Hope you enjoyed your very quick trip around the world. :)


Oh! and...also on Friday, we received our home study signed and notarized, and then mailed it along with our immigration application to Austin. We wait for them to send our fingerprint appointment which we've been told could take about a month. :/ We also received our state police letters in the mail to be added to our dossier. Things are progressing! Baby steps are at least steps. :)

Baby It's C.O.L.D. outside!

It's been really cold where we live. Like -3 cold with a -20 windchill cold. Miserable cold. We tried doing school in the schoolhouse yesterday but after running the heater for over 4 hours, it never got about the freezing point in there. Brrr. So we loaded up and brought school to the kitchen table. No biggie...we did school at the kitchen table for almost 2 years so coming back in for yesterday and today was no big deal. I did however find my kids exceptionally cute today and took a few shots.

I love how she found my sunglasses to hold her hair back...makes her look so grown up. :)

There's that tongue again...cutey patootey

I couldn't get this one to quit giggling enough to catch him with his head down working. He caught me with the camera and it was all over from there. :)

Really cold weather makes for really cold dogs. So we've let them in more than normal and they've really enjoyed it. This is our baby dog, Indy. She is a labradoodle and the sweetest dog ever. She's extremely shaggy right now but still very cute. :) She's quite lazy too!

Hope you're staying warm in your neck of the woods! :)