Pieces of Thanksgiving

The following are pictures of our Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time meeting with both sides of our families. First, Mom joined us Wednesday night for the traditional turkey dinner. Thursday was spent at my brother's house with the rest of my family (minus Melissa and Pat in Alaska).

The "kid table".

Thursday was a beautiful day, so we were able to enjoy the outdoors. Here, Sydney is playing frisbee with Uncle Marc.Jackson and Toby were in heaven with their rope and a log. I think they worked out a pretty complex pulley system by the end of the afternoon!On Friday, we spent the day with Chris's side of the family. Here is a blurry picture trying to get Kathy's son, Jacob, to wear a good Kansas cowboy hat. (I wish it wasn't blurry!)

Here, we are just hanging out. Notice my new 147,000,000 Orphans t-shirt. We fed an orphan for a month--I think--with the purchase. (Early birthday present!)

My studly husband!

Looking up to cousin Brandon.

We are continually thankful for our families.

Sugarplum Boutique

When we began our adoption journey, we secretly wondered how God was going to fulfill His promise to provide all the necessary funds. Well, one of the first ways was through Sugarplum Boutique. Our friend, Kendra, is the founder of this great organization (can I call it an organization?). She has an incredible heart for orphans and has dedicated her time to doing all she can to advocate and fundraise for orphans. We were the blessed recipients of her efforts. Kendra makes bows. Adorable bows! All proceeds go directly to orphans whether she is helping someone fundraise for an adoption or directly supporting orphans all around the world. If you need little gifts for any girls in your life, please consider ordering from Sugarplum Boutique. The bows are adorable, and I love that all profits go to orphans.

Fun to Imagine!

One of the things that helps us envision what is coming is watching adoption You Tube videos. We found this one and loved it because it showed so much of Ethiopia. Enjoy!

Waiting is Sometimes Hard

I have to admit that I woke up sad this morning. Originally, we were told to expect a 3-4 month wait for a referral. I have had friends who have and are adopting internationally, so I knew to be "on guard" about waiting expectations; however, I still hoped we would have a referral in 3-4 months (September/October). Over the summer, they extended the estimate to 3-5 months. We have been waiting for almost 5 1/2 months now. We are now beyond the "worst case" scenario. Really, I had been in a pretty good place until last week when we got the "Within Striking Distance" e-mail. That somewhat stirred up hope for a referral before Thanksgiving. Now, I realize that isn't going to happen, so I'm just feeling a little sad today.

Luckily, God is so sweet to me. This morning, I turned to Psalm 27. These verses reminded me and encouraged me of truth:

(8) You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek. Hide not your face from me."

(13) I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!

(14) Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD.

So, we will continue to seek Jesus' face as we celebrate His goodness. And we will wait.

Within Striking Distance

That is what our case worker told us today. We are within striking distance of a referral! If you know exactly what that means, please let us know. In the meantime, we will be cautiously optimistic that the call is coming soon.
This is great news since we have officially hit the 5-month mark of waiting. We were originally told we would have a 3-4 month wait, but we also knew that international adoptions have many unknowns, including changing wait times. We are just excited to think that maybe the wait is coming to an end!

Trick or Treat!

I am late getting these all posted. . . but better late than never! :)
The kids had a great time trick-or-treating. We started off going around the neighborhood with our new friends/neighbors.
Then, we headed into town to visit the grandmas, grandpas and aunts. We came home with full buckets!

Thanks, Jeanne, for adding to our stash. We hope you had a great time in TX.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Last Friday, everyone had a vacation from school, so we thought it would be a great day to go to the Pumpkin Patch! Well, it was a great day for no lines because I think it was the coldest and windiest day so far. Luckily, kids don't really feel cold or care about their red noses, so they thoroughly enjoyed it! Here are a few pics.The underground slide was a hit! We all loved it.

The giant pillow! This warmed us up for a bit.

Do any of you "farm kids" out there remember playing in the grain bin? I loved this!

Did I mention how cold it was? The wind was ferocious! Luckily, they had this fire and hot chocolate/apple cider.