fredericksburg

right after sam's birthday, we took a trip to see some of our favorite people, jake and helen.  jake and allan have been friends since the nursery at church.  that's a long time!  and i couldn't be more thankful that i got to be a part of their friendship and become friends with helen.  about 7 years ago, jake and helen moved to fredericksburg.  :(  it was bittersweet for us.  we see them a few times a year and it is always a special time for us.  we shopped, we ate ice cream, we got a sitter and went on a date, and we climbed enchanted rock.

sam really wanted this stuffed animal and i said no. if you've ever seen his collection, you would totally get why i said no.  isn't it cute though?

this was luke's first time to feed a baby and hold a baby while walking.  that happens when you are only 3 years old when your youngest sibling arrives.

at the bottom of enchanted rock

inside a cave at the top of enchanted rock

on top of the world

brothers.....

me and my sweet girl heading back down

and the amazing host and hostess for the weekend!

thanks jake and helen for hosting our family and most of all for being amazing friends!  we love y'all!

rodeo time

we go to the stock show every year and the rodeo every other year.  this year was a rodeo year.  i love the rodeo.  i don't know if it's the atmosphere, the cowboys, or a little of both, but it is one of my favorite activities. :)  this year proved to be no different.  here are some pics (all taken with the phone) so quality leaves a bit to be desired.

all dressed up, luke's to cool to wear a hat anymore and anna's was too little.

and we ended at a fort worth favorite...dutch's hamburgers.

sam

this is post is so late.  we celebrated sweet sam's birthday back in february.  he wanted to do an "all boy party" this year.  however, he wouldn't pass the invitations out at school or the thank you notes because he didn't want to hurt the girls feelings.   here are a few pictures from the friend and family party!

celebrating 6 at van grow art studio

there was painting

and junk robot creating

and of course tie-dyed cupcakes

after we left the fun art party, we headed back to our house for a little family celebration and more cake of course.  sam's favorite food is none other than....pizza.  so, pizza it was!

celebrated by lots of family

love this picture of him

and the amazing cake my very talented mother in law made

sam, you are such a blessing to us.  you love to be just like your big brother and we couldn't be more thankful for that.  you have such a servant's heart, you love baseball, you love school, and you bring us so much joy!  we cannot believe our baby is 6!  you will be an amazing big brother some day soon. 

147 million orphans

i don't like fundraising.  i don't usually go to jewelry parties, make-up parties, you get the idea.  however, adoption is really stinking expensive.  we totally went into this saying over and over and over  "God will fund what He favors." and we totally believe that!  but, being the little planner i am,  i also feel like maybe i should help God out a little.  :)  just kidding!  so, we signed up for a partnership program through 147 million orphans.  i'm sure some of you are familiar with this amazing organization. basically, if you click on the button on the side of the blog that says "we are a 147 million orphans fundraising family" and make a purchase from OUR link, a portion of your sale goes straight to our agency, into our little account, and helps us bring our baby(ies) home.  and most importantly, you will be helping to spread the word about the orphan crisis.  we will only get credit if you use our link.  they have tons of cute shirts, bags, necklaces, and hats.  i won't harass, i promise, but i might occasionally post a reminder.  ;)

much love,

s

waiting

we finally made it to the waiting period.  i've heard this is the worst part.  and while that may eventually be true, right now we are happy to be here.  let the waiting begin.  so, here's a timeline because it seems like everyone is asking right now.

12/17/11 - home study

1/28/12 - received home study back and made corrections

2/4/12 - had all our remaining paperwork notarized

2/5/12 - received final copy of home study in the mail

2/6/12 - fedexed dossier (basically a collection of a bunch of papers) to our agency and fedexed immigration application to USCIS

that's a timeline of what's happened so far.  now for what is next.  our paperwork should arrive in ethiopia in 3-4 weeks.  we should get immigration approval in the next 3 months.  then hopefully within 6 months, we will get a referral (a picture and description of our possible child/children.)  once we accept, we will take our first trip for court about 3 months later.  we will stay in ethiopia around a week and come home.  about 3 months after the first trip, we make our second trip to bring our babies home.  i keep saying "babies" hoping we get two out of this deal.  and yes, we are nuts, but couldn't be happier about this decision!

thanks for all the prayers and support!  i know we will need it now, but even more in about a year!

much love,

s and a

christmas eve

this year we took a new approach to christmas.  we felt like we've way overdone christmas in years past and while we put a great deal of focus on what it's truly about, we felt our actions weren't necessarily following our beliefs.  so, we decided pretty early on that we were going to adopt a new tradition.  we take no credit for this, a sweet friend told me about it, i read about it from another blog and combined the two into our newest tradition.  we told the kids we were going to do five gifts this year:  something you want, something you need, something to play with, something to read, and something to give away.  on christmas eve when they opened the advent calendar, we had a note in there that told them they would be receiving their first gift for christmas and that it would be the gift they gave away.  we gave them each some money and they looked through the world vision catalog and the samaritan's purse catalog that we had received in october and began searching for the perfect gifts.  i should rewind and say that last year, we did this as a family and used some money the kids had saved to purchase gifts as a family.  but, we pretty much had the final say.  so this year, i think they enjoyed being able to spend the money the way they wanted.  it was so much fun watching them pick gifts that really represented their true personality.

luke was the first to pick his gifts.  he's a boy who knows what he wants and makes quick, confident decisions.  he chose to provide fruit trees and to feed a hungry baby for a week.  anna took a while longer to pick something.  and she had been pouring through the catalogs for several weeks.  she eventually landed on clothing and shoes for children in need and two rabbits.  two rabbits will multiply into 52 rabbits by the end of the year (i assume they work out the male/female aspect of all that.)  and sam decided on a share of a dairy trio that provides three families with a goat, a cow, and a sheep for milk and wool.   he had a little bit of extra money left and decided to provide a stuffed lamb that plays jesus loves me.  i normally am a "no more stuffed animals mom," but who can resist that.  plus it wasn't going to be added to our collection.  :)  and if any of you know sam, you know that the stuffed animal fits him perfectly.  that boy LOVES stuffed animals!

i know they loved giving and we hope that this will be a tradition they carry on in their families someday.  we ended the evening with the worship service at our church and dinner at our house with gram and pops.  here are a few pictures for us to  remember the wonderful day!

a family picture of us all dressed up for church

games with gram and pops

and snuggled all on one air mattress (another tradition) ~ note the stuffed animal bucket in the background all belonging to sam

christmas fun

we love celebrating the birth of our savior!  it's a really special time in our house!  the first couple of weeks of december always seem a bit crazy with school projects ending, piano recitals, and the list goes on.  but as soon as thanksgiving is over, we cherish the month ahead.  every year the kids look forward to our advent calendar.  this is a calendar i bought at target several years ago.  however, they've caught on to the tradition of a piece of candy for each day and sometimes a fun surprise activity.  this year was no different.  on december 1st, the kids opened these fun suckers for their first surprise.

we decorated cookies, made gingerbread houses, visited santa, opened christmas pj's, looked at christmas lights in new jammies, got hot chocolate at starbucks. and most importantly, ended each night reading from behold the lamb of god by russ ramsey.  it was a little over our kids' heads, but i know they will get a little more out of it each year.  here are some pictures to recap.

new christmas jammies

visiting santa in downtown fort worth

our gingerbread village

christmas cookie fun

the finished product