Funny

It was a really hot day today and didn't cool off much as night fell. I went to let my dogs in and saw this frog in their water dish. I had to take a picture! Now, he has the right idea on how to stay cool!

Nine

We have been on the waiting list 9 weeks now!

Kids of Courage & Other cool stuff

I posted a while back about getting a Voice of the Martyrs Kids of Courage magazine on Ethiopia. Well I also failed to mention its a great site with a ton of free downloads on Ethiopia or several other areas. They have a Bold Believers activity book 40+ pages for kids 5-13 that you can buy. Check out this site or for a activity book check this site out!

Also check out this site for color pages, etc. on Ethiopia. I ran across it on accident the other day! It was a GREAT find!!! :)

Oh So Cute!

My parents are big into bicycling and went on the Tour De Wyoming this year (my dad usually goes every year). This is what they brought us back from their trip! My mom said she thought blue would be the best color since we don't know if were getting a boy or a girl. I have to agree. It's SO cute! Thanks!!! We love it and can't wait to see our baby in it!

Our Celebration

Since we weren't able to celebrate our two months on the waitinglist, the other day, we celebrated last night. I made a cake for the occasion and learned to make sure what kind of frosting you buy. I got whipped on accident and with the heat it was a runny mess!

Getting closer to our window

Yesterday marked our 2 month point on the waitlist!!! David and I had a fun filled day of disputing our house appraisal at our local appraisal office. They appraised our house for FAR more than what it is worth. After SEVERAL hours we got that corrected and then headed to church!



David went into work today & one of his co-workers handed him a case of coke! Not just any coke, though! He found the Amharic coca-cola cans! He said he found them yesterday on David's off day. Apparently all of their other co-workers were around when he opened the box and found them and he was REALLY excited becuase he knew we'd been looking for them. Anyway, he said he got all excited, and the guys at work were like, why are you so excited? he said, "look!" and held up the can. He said that they still didn't think anything of it and it was really funny because they thought he was nuts... He still was REALLY excited that he found them for us.
The other thing is that now David and I don't have to punch the handle out of every coke case we walk by! We discovered you can punch the handle open and spin the coke until you can read the country on it. We have got several strange looks as we opened every coca-cola case in the store and didn't end up buying anything! One day we had loss prevention down our aisle trying to figure out what we were doing! Just making peoples shopping trips easier. Pre-punched handles. Can life get any better? I suggest it cannot!


Something else neat I came across recently- Ethiopian dolls! Check out this site for Ethiopian dolls! They are really neat.

We're back

We are back, along with several loads of laundry (which I have about finished). I am happy and itching (literally) to say that we’ve gone from lobsters to snakes. The sunburns are improving!

I have to say that I did have blog withdrawals while we were gone! :) The trip was great. When we lived in Oklahoma I knew why it was called the Sooner State- because the sooner I was in another state the happier I was. However for all of you Oklahomans out there who found my little joke less than funny and are feeling a bit perturbed as you read this, hang on- Oklahoma grew on me and it was nice to be back. It felt like I was home. I actually missed it and several times it felt like we never left. David actually talked about us moving back there someday. We got to go to several stores and restaurants that I have really missed and they did NOT disappoint! Our old house had been hit by some weather and had got a new roof and was re-painted a brown color that looked like it came from the “discard paint” section at Lowes. However, the landscaping we did in the front yard was still there and looked great! We were able to see one of David’s long lost college buddies & his wife. They happened to post on our blog the day before we left so we ended up getting able to spend a few hours occupying a table with them at a restaurant. They plan to adopt in the next year which we think is awesome. We had fun catching up. Their kids were SO good. I only hope that someday our kids are that good! I have been around several people’s kids and know what I don’t want. I was happily re-assured when I saw theirs, that kids CAN be well behaved! Our waiter was really nice and happily offered us our checks, to-go boxes, to-go mints, and TO-GO cups… Still it had been about 4 years since we had seen them so we didn’t think 3 hours was THAT absurd. For all of those reading this that still think that we are rude, normally I would never occupy a table at a busy restaurant that long!

The other neat thing is that David got to meet a majority of my family. Although we have been married close to 5 years I have family from California and Brazil that came in for my grandpas wedding. He of course hit it off well with them and they all love him. What’s not to love? I got to see my niece and nephew for the first time! They are REALLY cute. David and I even got a little baby practice in.

My mom brought me a gift from one of my friends from Wyoming. She gave me a book on adoption. It's really cute. Thanks so much Christina! We love it!

What else, what else to this potentially boring post? I’m looking forward to tomorrow b/c it marks a milestone for our adoption…

Surf's Up!

David and I went to the beach yesterday. It was really fun. We went to a part of it we've never been to. We saw TONS of dolphins. They swam about 50 feet from us. I had never seen so many dolphins in "the wild" before so it was a great experience. We bought some boogie boards a couple of years ago and were able to catch a lot of the waves. There were huge schools of fish (about a foot long each) that caught the waves with us. We thought was strange and figured that is probably why there were so many dolphins. We started to see some movement out in the water and I started to watch a bit closer. Whatever it was was very agile and big and was NOT a dolphin! The fish started jumping out of the water like crazy where I saw the movement. So we stayed quite a bit closer to the beach. Not very long after it started to lightning so we figured we'd call it a day! We also realized that sunscreen must have an expiration date. There were no lobsters at the beach but there are two at our house now! :)

How Sweet It Is!

Several families received their referrals today (Jennifer and Jody, guzo: Ethiopia, Grace and Abigail)! Congratulations!!! A few families are just waiting for court dates (Rebecca, growing our family , The Kennedy Family, Ben & Rebecca). I'm so excited for everyone! If I forgot you, I am sorry. I know there is someone I'm forgetting... so if its you, make sure to leave it in your comment so I can include you on here!

I'm SO happy everything is back on track again!

Fourth Of July

 

 

 

This post is a bit late, but because it takes so long to post pictures to our blog I am just now getting around to it! My all time favorite holiday is July 4th. I LOVE fireworks. We went to downtown Houston this year! Jo Dee Messina, Sara Evans, and Miranda Lambert all performed. I was really impressed with Jo Dee Messina. She seemed like a nice person and made a point to tell each of us to do something nice for someone each day. I hate it when people get up on stage and are fake so I really liked that she did not act that way. My husband was shocked I knew most of her songs. I however, grew up in a town that only had one radio station for a few years and they "went country". During that time I learned to appreciate country music! These are some of the pictures I took! Scroll down for a picture of Jo Dee Messina.

Jo Dee Messina

 

Soon

David and I are excited, we get to head back to Oklahoma soon for my grandpas wedding! We both attended college in Oklahoma and really miss it every now and then. We were sad to find out the other day- that Hit Music radio station, a Christian radio station, is no longer on air. I was really looking forward to listening to it... Oh well! Still, it will be nice to be back in OK for a little bit! Also it's very exciting that my grandpa is getting married! We lost my grandma to cancer a few years ago. It has been really really hard on everyone b/c my grandma was wonderful and is one of the most amazing people I've ever known. However the lady my grandpa is marrying is REALLY nice and it's great to see him so happy!!!

As for adoptions: I am hoping that everyone will get their referrals soon and the wait will be over! Speaking of referrals Rebecca has an awesome post. Check her site out, I won’t ruin the details!

For those of you who have the waiting blues, I understand! Sometimes I think about the wait and feel like things are taking forever but then when I step back I always come back to, and realize that God is in control. He knows what its like to wait and he himself is always waiting. He is constantly waiting for people to realize how great He is and to find/come to Him. He is waiting for our faith to develop more, for us to trust in Him instead of our own understanding, etc.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Diapers

So I think I have blogger envy. Is that wrong? I see how many hits other blogs get and the number comments, amazing! But, they have such great writers behind them I am not necessarily surprised. I have really enjoyed reading other blogs lately. I have had a LITTLE more free time and scoped out several blogs that I have never been able to look at. I had a lot of fun reading them and was actually having withdrawals this weekend as I was away from the computer.


Recently I ran across something that really changed my mind. I always thought I would never use "cloth type" diapers but I am thinking that they might be a great investment. Check out Tara’s site. It has great ideas. Since I have decided this is the way to go she has been really helpful and has given me several great tips on what I need to do! It also inspired me to do a little looking of my own.

I'm sure a lot of you know tons about this stuff but I am new to the whole baby thing so all of the following was incredibly helpful to me. I have found “make your own baby food recipes”, make your own baby wipes, and great information about cloth diapers in general. I would have never believed that someone could convince me to do this but reading her post made me look into it more. Check this one out. They have great information on how to “care” for the diapers too. Cost efficient, good for the environment, if used properly reduces/ eliminates diaper rash, etc. All around it sounds great to me! You can even make your own diapers if you want. Personally I don’t think this is for me, but it’s a neat site so I thought I would share.

We’ve also started using the HEB cloth grocery bags for our grocery stuff. Someone told me that lots of stores were going to do away with plastic bags so we decided while the bags were $1.00 we might try them. We have tried other places bags but the HEB ones are our favorite. I don’t know about stores getting rid of the plastic ones but we have really started to enjoy using the HEB bags. There easy to use, hold lots of stuff, and cut down on trips from the car to the house! I can’t say enough good things. You might have had to FORCE me to use those a year ago but I hate using the plastic bags now. I only get them when we are low on trash bags! Maybe I’m turning a bit granola’ie too but some things are just worth it I guess. The verdict is still out about the diapers…

Getting closer

Its been 5 weeks since we were wait listed(The picture above is of 5 ethiopian birr)! I was going to wait until the 2 month mark to post, but you can tell how well that went over! I never thought I would look forward to a summer going by fast but I know as each day passes we are that much closer to our baby!!! I think about our baby to be often. What do you think, will we get a boy or girl (Any guesses? Take our poll!!!!)?

I found this through my blogging friend Rebecca's web site, she had a lists of blogs she reads so I checked them out myself. Anyway, Did you guys see the 60 minutes segment on Plumpy'Nut? This stuff is amazing, "Cures malnutrition in three weeks."

On another note, we have been keeping as busy as we can. Besides work, we went to a blueberry farm. It was pretty neat. We got to pick 1 gal. of blueberries for $6! David was laughing b/c on our most recent trip to the store they had this tiny container of them ON SALE for $3.95! He then decided we got a good deal. The blueberries tasted SO much better than store bought. I have never really loved the taste of raw blueberries until we got them off of the bush. We always complain that we have to drive a long way to do anything since we live in the sticks but this was about 30 minutes away in the next town! We also went down to Galveston Boardwalk. That was pretty neat, it had changed so much since the last time we were there. David said that it is one of the top rated boardwalks. I can't wait to go back and hopefully next time we'll have the baby! If you get a chance and haven't already done so, look at the previous post and post your favorite thing about adoption.