Father Son Trip

In November, Chris took Jackson on a father/son trip to Kansas City. Their first stop was a KU Jayhawks basketball game.

Jackson had fun getting most of the players' autographs.

They spent the next day touring the College Basketball experience at the Sprint Center, watching Courageous, and eating barbeque!
The next day, they were treated to a KS City Chiefs football game.Unfortunately, the Chiefs were clobbered. But overall, the weekend was a great time for Chris to cast some vision for Jackson about growing into a godly man. I'm so thankful that I'm married to a man who is so intentional. :)

Help 2 Little Girls Get Home!

We have some friends who just adopted their son from Uganda this past spring, and they are going to return in order to adopt two more little girls who happen to be their son's best friends! Go here to see their video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HeRcfuTT1KI. This is such a sweet story; however, the reality is that this costs a lot of $. So, to help, my sis and bro-in-law have agreed to let us use their art to help raise some money. You have heard of them before--Alaska to Africa.

So, here is what we have. The first cross is $15. It has a rough finish. This second cross is $25 and has the heated finish. Both crosses are about 8-10 inches tall.
We also have the small Africas on a stand. These make great Christmas gifts for any friend or relative of a family who has adopted from Africa. These are $30. Keep in mind that all but $1 per sale will go directly to the Neill's adoption fund. Thank you for helping bring these two little girls home!

The Big 40

On November 9, Chris had a big birthday! Unfortunately, he and I were both recovering from the stomach flu, so our celebration was not quite what we had imagined. But, we are back to normal, and I am finally getting it posted! We had a great time watching him figure out the scavenger hunt the kids made.

It led him to a certain item in our basement that will allow him to watch sports events without squinting any more. (Or was that me who was squinting?!) Then we celebrated with peach pie on our "sick day". . .It was yummy!

. . .and then with chocolate cake the day after when others felt safe to come around! Look at all of those candles!And the smoke! I am so proud of my hubby. He has grown into a courageous man who leads our family well. Happy birthday, Chris!

My Sis

My sister, Melissa, visited for the past two weeks. While the time was so busy, it was also so sweet. I am so thankful to have such a sweet relationship with my sister. We didn't start out as best friends, but we have definitely grown to this place which is frankly a miracle! (Just ask my mom!)

I also did not do a great job documenting our time together. We spent days lounging, doing Jillian's Shred, talking, laughing, baby-sitting, vising the nursing home, trick-or-treating, hanging out with family, listening to Francis Chan (I should dedicate a whole post to his later), road-tripping to western KS to visit our grandparents, playing Settlers, eating out, and shopping.

Here are a few shots that I did capture:
Waiting to hear Francis Chan with Mom and Melissa.My giant calzone! (And the reason for my 2 pound weight gain!)
Happy Birthday to You! We celebrated Melissa's birthday after Francis Chan.
Parting shots with Isaiah. . .

. . .Raegan

. . .with Sydney and Raegan again

. . .and with Jackson.Saying goodbye at the airport. Melissa looks especially silly because our niece had bolted from the picture all of a sudden!
Thank you for coming, sis! We all love you!!!

Happy Halloween!

We had such a great time on Halloween!

First, we got to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!I was also ambitious this year because I made Raegan's costume. I was very excited with how it turned out. Yes, she was heavily influenced by Sydney's experience with the CYT show Pocahontas and had to be an Indian girl.Here the kids are carving/painting their pumpkins. Next, we were able to all get dressed up and gather candy! This sweet-toothed mama loves this! :) Raegan was an Indian girl, Sydney was an Egyptian princess,

Jackson was Jamaal Charles of the KS City Chiefs, and Isaiah was an alligator!

I think the kids loved all the candy, too. :) I didn't do a great job of taking pics at all of our stops, but Uncle Craig and Grandma LeFevre made us supper, so we were off to a great start. We had a great evening!

CYT Pocahontas!

For the past six weeks, Sydney has been rehearsing with CYT for their production of Pocahontas. It is her first experience with a full production, and I have to just say that we have absolutely loved the experience. It was a huge time commitment; however, it was worth it. She learned so many theater skills. Even more important, she made sweet friends, learned more about loving and working with people, and got a chance to be a part of something that works to glorify Jesus first. Really, I could go on and on, but instead, I will give you a glimpse into what our week has entailed! All week, we started out with "the real Sydney"! Then, we transformed her into a 1600s Indian.Once she was transformed, she spent a lot of time in the "Green Room", the dressing/hang-out room. Here is her tub/locker with snacks and all the supplies she needed throughout the week. She usually had to arrive 1 1/2 hours before showtime. This time was spent double-checking costumes, make-up and hair.

Finally, it was showtime. I am so excited to get a DVD of the show, but I don't have it yet, and video was not allowed.

After the show, we were able to mingle with all of the "characters" and our new friends.

Sydney even got to sign a few autographs! :)

I was so proud of her!

She was so thankful for all of her friends who were able to come cheer her on. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are a few. Thanks to all of you who were able to come!

Sydney with Curtis, the show director.

We truly appreciated all the work he invested in the kids.

Sydney was incredibly blessed to get to work with Nissi who played Pocahontas. Nissi was such an authentic example and role model for the younger girls. Her character shined through her skills as well as how she loved the girls. Thanks, Nissi, for your great example! I could listen to you sing every night!

While Sydney was rehearsing, I got the chance to work with these sweet women to create the Program as well as several other documents. This is one part that is fun about CYT. I got to make new friends!

If you are at all thinking about joining CYT, I'd highly recommend it. We are looking forward to getting to participate again soon!

Gotcha Day Celebration!

One Year!

We celebrated on the 24th--the day our family was united! We had planted three trees that day, so our celebration was squeezed to the end of the day. But, we put up the Ethiopian flag, got out our Ethiopian cake! Isaiah was so excited to celebrate with cake! (He does have a diaper on! This is a funny picture!)

Quick side note about the cake: Julie is raising money for her family's adoption of a special needs orphan from China. If you are in the Wichita area, please contact her to make you a cake! Ours was so beautiful and YUMMY! Notice how the cake was the color of the Ethiopian flag! :)

Our friends came over to help us celebrate!