Preparing for the holidays

I am sure you are all getting ready to prepare for the holidays. I am so thankful that we will not be moving, or trying to sell a home, or packing a truck or taking daddy back to the airport this holiday season. We were in such a transition period of our life last year and I am so very thankful that we can focus on the holiday and all that it really means. I am looking forward to our season of advent this year as we prepare our hearts for what Christmas is all about.

I am so thankful that we will be able to see my sister and her family for Thanksgiving. We will have a full house and I know the kids will really enjoy having the cousins around. It will be such a treat to celebrate Thanksgiving with them 2 years in a row.

I am so thankful that our paper chase part of the adoption is under our belt. We are now officially on a waiting list and we will use this time to enjoy our family as it is now and prayerfully prepare for what it will become. Our waiting list numbers are on the adoption blog - click on the peapod to get there.

We are leaning toward spending our Christmas shopping money on gifts for those that really need it. I know many families try and find something to do at Christmas to bless others. We will most likely buy gifts for native missionaries or families through GOSPEL FOR ASIA (HERE). We have done this before and I would love to encourage you to find something like this to spend part of your shopping budget on.

Also, just thought I would ask for ideas of your favorite holiday traditions that you enjoy with your family. I am looking into doing the Jesse Tree (HERE) this year and would also like to hear what ideas you would like to share.

nature prints

We made some really neat nature prints the other day for our science. I had purchased this paper a LONG time ago and totally forgot about it. (HERE) We had a beautiful sunny morning so we decided to take advantage of it.The idea is you put the paper out in the sun for a few moments with something on it to make a shape. We had fun picking fun shaped items.

It was a windy day and our things kept blowing away. We had to hold them down tight.
The girls even made their hand prints in the sun. Notice the silverware and the toy horses. They love those shadows.
Then you quickly take the papers inside and soak them in water for about 2 minutes. (Can't remember, you would have to read the instructions).
Soaking them with water helps darken the paper and prints. Then you let them dry flat.Notice the branch from a tree, the lace and the scissors. Those all turned out pretty cool.


Here are our dried nature prints. We plan on putting some in our nature journals and writing about the sun and light.

What was so cool about this project was the immediate results. Well, that and the creativity.

Am I the last one out there ???

Without a GPS ??? Does anyone use maps anymore ? Feeling like I am part of a soon to be extinct group.
Maybe I should put it on my Christmas list. =)

We have been BUSY !!!

We have been so busy and trying to squeeze everything in these past few days. Chuck has been working round the clock on a big video shoot for the past week. He is beyond tired. The girls and I helped him out on Saturday at his shoot. Needless to say, it was fascinating. I loved watching him in action, directing and organizing all the chaos. He does such a great job and it was a treat to be involved.

God provided the money we needed to press ahead on the dossier and we have been busy trying to get those documents done and notarized (click the peapod for updates). It is a paper chase. We spent most of yesterday in the car going from office to office getting the last few things done. It is amazing to see God's mighty hand at work in all of this.

We have had construction workers in the house for almost a week working on our bathroom floor and shower. There has been a major leak and water has built up and caused a mess. I can't get into my closet so I have been wearing the same outfit for days. =)

I am teaching my portion of our keepers group today and we are taking a field trip of sorts to the library to learn about the organization system that is used there. I am also working with a friend on a junior naturalists club that we formed this fall. We have that meeting on Thursday and I need to squeeze in preparing for that lesson. I have left it all to the last minute. I hate that about myself.

We finished our last class of education on Monday night for our adoption training. Glad to have it done, but we have learned so much and appreciated all the education we have been able to take part in. My mom has faithfully helped us out with watching the girls all those Monday nights as we have had to travel to the "city" to take these classes. We are SO thankful for the support.

So...all that to say, my house is a MESS. With running in every direction, I haven't had the time to get it cleaned, or put away, or hardly made a meal for my family. I will be happy to have all the paper chasing done before the holidays approach. My sister and her family will be here for Thanksgiving and I can't wait for that. It will be such a treat to get together again.

In the spirit of keeping it real. A tiny peak at the mess around here.










When you don't sort through the mail in days, it can really pile up. Working on our paper work for the dossier.









I haven't been able to get to my closet and put any clothes away. So...they just keep piling up.

Praying for our children

I desire to pray more for my children. Not just a prayer for their health and for them to have a good day. But I desire to pray for their spiritual walk. For their relationship with God. Their influence on others. For their future spouse. Pray that they would be an example on others. For their purity.

I found a book on praying for your children and I made cards to keep next to the breakfast nook. I try and pray over these cards each morning as I have a cup of tea and read my Bible. I love how these prayers come from scripture and help me to focus on what is worthy as I lift up my family before the Almighty God. Especially as I have been praying for our new child (ren). Since I don't know names or ages or gender or circumstances, I pray for God to be working in their life even now.

I am so thankful for the prayers of friends and family. I know our parents pray every day for our children and we are so thankful to have prayer warriors that lift us up. God is faithful and He hears our prayers and His will is what we desire.

Another one of my favorite resources is the "Praying for our Children" calendar. (HERE) It is worth printing out and putting some place you see every day.

Go check out the new post

BIG news on the adoption blog. Click HERE to see how God is working.

Candy Land

Instead of eating all the candy, these girls have been playing with it all week. I had to take pictures of it, for I am impressed with their creativeness. Click the pictures to enlarge for better viewing.

At first a few toys were added to enhance the fun. And very quickly a coral showed up in front of the barn.And a candy garden was planted. Notice the "Nerds" gate. This is where the candy comes from.

Pretty soon the barn grew and stalls were added out back to house the animals. And a few wooden people were added to ride the horses and play in the garden. Notice the yellow colored candy to represent the hay. And blue candy is for the water.

When they are off playing with something else, or when it is time to take a break and eat or do school, this is how the horses are left, in their stalls.Here is the family sitting at the table. I think the family is inspired by the Ingalls family, I hear a lot of Laura and Mary dialogue going on. Chairs are made out of Milk Duds boxes. If you click the picture here you will notice the fire in the background with a Hershey Kiss as the flame of the fire.

Here they all are tucked into bed complete with covers made out of M & M's and Reese's. They have used the candy just like building blocks to create their world.

Lounging on chairs made of Nerds and Dots complete with the fireplace in the front. Again notice the flame made out of Hershey Kiss and the logs made of Tootsie Rolls. This is the parlor.

Here they are playing by the creek. Since it is inspired by the Little House stories, notice the red Now and Later, that is supposed to be the crab from the story.

I have been amazed that the kids came up with this all on their own. I LOVE how creative they are with how they play. Just had to share our CANDY LAND.

one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing

Just a reminder that most of our adoption posts are being posted on our Sweet Pea blog (HERE). This video is worth watching, take the few moments it takes to view. My prayer is that God uses us in some way to further His kingdom. My eyes have been opened and I will not be the same. God has burdened my heart for His children who have needs. Please continue to pray for our family and our journey and our Sweet Pea.

****Sharing the good news that the homestudy is DONE and has been sent to our agency and USCIS (immigration). That is a BIG check off the list. ****

Fall Festival Fun

We threw together some last minute outfits for some fall festival fun. We have been so busy and we just didn't have the time to work on anything before Saturday morning. We had Chuck's parents here last week and we ended up having 2 families for dinner on 2 different nights and then one other night we went out for Ethiopian food. Plus last Tuesday the girls and I went to the theater with a school group to see Little House on the Prairie the Musical. It was a fantastic evening and we enjoyed every second of it. But all of that turned into a VERY busy week.
We ended up going from festival to festival. Kroger and Publix had fall festivals going on with games and candy. Then we went over to a local church where a HUGE fall festival was going on. The girls enjoyed all the games and fun. And of course lots of candy. It was fun to see how many people we know and we have been here less than a year. After that we headed to another church and fall festival. More games and treats. It was starting to get cold and this festival was outside so we quickly made the rounds and then home to go and visit a few surrounding neighbors.

The day turned out to be lots of fun and the festivals were fantastic. We need to remember that we are not living in the tropics anymore and it gets cold here. We were not really prepared for that. Good thing most of the fun was indoors. This year Tally dresses as an Egyptian and Tissy was a cowgirl (inspired by Jessie in Toy Story 2). And Chuck and I grabbed some left over yard sale scrubs and joined in on the fun.Notice my doctor kit. =) I carted around my cell phone and camera inside.

Now...what to do with all that candy. Man...these girls got a lot. First off, they love sorting the candy. Counting out how many of each kind. And that is just the beginning of the fun. We don't do much sweets, so it will last a LONG time. And provide much entertainment.

homemade tv antenna

We have worked really hard at cutting down our budget and one of the ways that has worked for us to not pay for cable tv. When we moved here, we never signed up to have our cable hooked up and since we are trying to save some money, we have decided to wait as long as we can. Honestly, we don't watch much tv. In fact, the girls like a few shows on PBS and Chuck likes to watch a football game every once and awhile, but we have learned to do without the rest of tv.

With football season here, Chuck was pretty disappointed with our $5 rabbit ears the reception that it was getting. The one stations that plays the football games wasn't always coming in clear. He tried getting a powered antenna for about $40 bucks, but it wasn't any better (so that went back to the store). So....he did a little research and came up with this.
He spent about 4 dollars and found some wire hangers and came up with this. I think he got some inspirations from a site like this (HERE). It sits outside under our deck and gets great reception. Like I said, we were only hoping for PBS and at least one network that shows some football. He is still working on exactly how the wire will run to the tv, but for now it is working great. I love his determination and his passion for being thrifty.

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I have been working on making an adoption blog. My desire to have a neat journal of our process and have something to show our new sweet pea some day. That is what we call our new little one - sweet pea. I have taken older posts that were adoption related and put them on that blog. I plan on blogging about adoption on that bog instead of on here. For those of you that are interested you can follow along HERE. We would appreciate prayer for our journey. I hope and pray that God uses that to be a place of positive connections and encouragement to all of those who have the heart of adoption.

some of my favorite games

We are a family that loves to spend time together. We value our time at home as a family and try to create time that is special. Often on Friday nights we make homemade pizza and might watch a video. We try to eat dinner around the table most nights and if there is time we will play a game together or some other kind of family activity.

I thought I would share some of our favorite games that we play together. Soon you might be looking for gift ideas as the holiday season quickly approaches. Here are 2 of our new favorite games.I picked this game up at a yard sale for a dollar (really good deal - you can find it HERE). I had never heard of it before but it has quickly become a favorite. Kind of a mix of counting and memory. You search through the forest to find the trees and look underneath them to discover the hidden treasure.
Then race to the castle to reveal where the treasure is located. We all have enjoyed playing (even Chuck so it isn't too girly). I bought it because it is made by a favorite company that makes good quality puzzles and games. (HERE)
Another one that is a new favorite is Quirkle. I bought this one months ago (mainly because it was a game that had won 3 awards) and pulled it out for Tally's birthday. As much as I love games, I hate reading the instructions and learning how to play.
We aren't a very competitive family so we don't often keep score when we play games. We also shake every ones hand when the game is over and congratulate the winner. I want the kids to be good sports and have fun playing if they win or lose.


This one has beautiful colored blocks with shapes and colors. The idea is to make a row with one of each color or shape. Great for pattern grouping. I also tend to like games that are educational. We have just used the blocks with little kids and grouped them in like groups (all the red, or all the squares).
These are just a few of our new favorites right now. Do you have any ones that you'd like to share?

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On the adoption front, we are done with our homestudy and waiting for it to be reviewed by the international agency. We are also almost done with our dossier and ready to send it in. We are short the funds (that are needed to send in with the dossier) right now so we are praying for God's wisdom on what to do in that situation. We have also finished up one (out of 3) of our adoption education classes that we are required to do. Just mailed of the completed book (With Eyes Wide Open) for it to be reviewed by one of the workers at the agency.

We have another class tonight and are almost done with the other 2 education classes that we are doing. One is online and one is a local class with other adoptive families.

We are eager to finish and mail in our dossier to the agency and it is then that we are put on the waiting list. Trusting God for His timing and His leading in all of this.

History Fair

We participated in a history fair with the local homeschool group today. It turned out to be really neat to see the displays that the kids and moms worked on to share what they have been studying in history. I loved the varied ages of kids and topics.

I loved how the children wanted to share what they had learned. I loved that the students were able to interact with each other and socialize.

I loved that families came to check it out, even if they didn't have anything to present. I loved that the moms were able to visit and connect. I loved that I came away inspired by these other homeschool families. I loved that some dads were there to support their kids.

I resisted the urge to drop out of this because we were not able to spend more time on our display. My pride wanted it to be better. But I knew that I would be taking away from the opportunity for my kids to be part of something neat. God is working on me and humbling me in many ways. I am thankful that we threw something together quickly and participated with what we had. It really was a blessing of a day.

I have a way of creating my own chaos

We ended up having another yard sale this past Saturday with the proceeds going to the adoption fundraising. Our first one was in the pouring rain and this one was in the freezing cold. Yep, we know how to pick the day. It turned out to be a pretty good day and we were so very thankful for all the goods that were donated to us and the help from my Mom for organizing the stuff.

But what was I thinking of having a sale just a week after my oral surgery. Did I mention I had my last 2 wisdom teeth out. Yep. It has been a LOT harder to recover than I thought it would be. I am still not eating normal. My mouth still hurts and I keep getting food bits stuck in my "teeth holes". Delightful sounding isn't it?

So we get up early to have our garage sale (in like 40 degree temps). Work the sale all morning, I come inside to make some food (hadn't eaten all day). Make a tuna wrap and snarf it down (like I said - HUNGRY). My mouth was in so much pain for eating that lunch I paid for it the rest of the weekend. I was still frigged cold so I curled up on the bed to warm up under the blankets and conked out from the pain meds.

So...you think I would learn my lesson about over doing it??? Nope.

Today I was working on a lapbook that I can use to demonstrate when I teach a class tomorrow night on lapbooking. I also had signed my girls up for a history fair for our homeschool group and I decided today that we better come up with some kind of a display (the fair is on Wednesday). Meanwhile we are starting our own lapbook on Mary Cassatt for our own school lesson. And today I thought to myself...I think I'll make some chicken soup and freeze it.

Like I said...I have a way of creating my own chaos. I have the ability to be my own worse enemy.

Did I NEED to start the Mary Cassatt lapbook today? NO
Did I NEED to make chicken soup and freeze it? NO
Did I NEED to have a yard sale this past weekend? NO

When will I learn my lesson? I must work harder at having better judgement. Just keeping it real here. =)

truths from the Word

Isaiah 46

There is no other like God.

God declares the end from the beginning.

God's purpose will be established.

God will accomplish His good pleasure.

He will bring it to pass.

God planned it and He will surely do it


Daniel 2

God's name is to be blessed.

Wisdom and power belong to God.

God changes the times and the epochs.

God removes and establishes kings/

God gives wisdom and to wise men knowledge to men of understanding.

God reveals the profound and hidden things.

God knows what is in the darkness.

The light dwells with Him.

In doing our Bible time today, I was blessed with these truths from God's word. Such wonderful comfort and strength. Blessed be His name. I love this new Precepts book we are doing. Studying the names of God. El Elyon - God Most High.

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My passport came today. Another thing off the list. =) And a big thanks to my Mom who has been helping me work on the yard sale. She is a wonderful support and encouragement. We have been up to our elbows organizing and sorting in the garage. I am grateful for our time together and all the donations of things that we are able to have in our sale. God is so good.

some of my favorites

Just real quick I wanted to share about a few sites that are very cool resources. First off, HERE is a blog of a friend who is a VERY creative homeschooling mom. She blogs a lot about her schooling ideas and she is an inspiration to anyone with preschoolers. Looking for ideas of how to get inspired on working with your little ones at home, go and check out her blog.




My girls are part of a Keepers at Home club this year (HERE). It is a group of girls who are learning life skills and striving to be more of a "Godly Girl" . Similar to girl scouts, but with a Christian emphasis. So far our group has worked on badges for first aid and food preservation. We work on some of the badge at the meeting and then we continue at home too. It is something I have always been interested in, and we are thankful that God blessed us with a group of sweet girls to join up with.


Being part of the Keepers group reminded me of this blog (HERE). This blogger introduces the idea of a group that she has formed for some young girls to work on having purposeful friendships. Her group is called Balcony Girls. I think her ideas are really neat and I am praying that I can allow my girls to be part of a similar group.


If you are looking for an email devotional, HERE is a great site that will email you one each day for free. These have blessed me and challenged me and I wanted to share this great resource that can get your day started off in God's Word. If you want them emailed to you, you need to email Don and he will add you to his list.



Totally off topic, we got our immigration finger printing done today. Another thing off the check list. Praising God for His faithfulness.

Sunday Salad Spectacular

If I could eat crunchy food today, this is what sounds good to me. Taco Salad. Yum !! I always make it the same way, lettuce, tomato, cheese, black olive, taco seasoned ground beef, Frito chips, topped with catalina dressing.

We eat a lot of salad around here and most of our meals are meatless. I have made this with boca burger meat, but it just isn't the same. I mix it all up together and serve it with the dressing on. Chuck likes his with extra dressing. =) He is all about the condiments.
I am feeling a little bit better today with my mouth. Still very sore and honestly, I haven't eaten much since Wednesday night. Eating even soft food really brings on the pain. On a positive note, it is a good way to shake a few pounds.

I feel like I haven't done anything all weekend and I am hoping to have enough energy to get all the needful done tomorrow. The girls are taking swimming every Monday and Tally heads back to the ortho for an adjustment. BTW, her teeth have responded very well to the braces. Her two front ones look almost normal. (HERE for the beginning picture) We also have another adoption education class tomorrow night, we are working hard at getting all of the requirements done. Hope to get that homestudy done in the next week or 2.

Oh...one last note, I didn't make it to church this morning (thanks to the oral surgery), but I heard Tally volunteered to say the verse from memory up on stage in front of everyone. So proud of her and her confidence. I love that they are hiding God's word in their hearts.

itty bitty update

Can't write much...my mind is foggy with pain killers from the oral surgery. All went well, I now have 2 less teeth and I wonder if I am less wise (wisdom teeth). It kind of makes me wonder what is the purpose for those extra teeth ? Most people don't keep them forever and most people are smart enough to have them taken out when they are young and bounce back quickly. All that to say, I am hurting and hopeful that there are no complications. That doctor got me good and scared when he went over the list of possible complications. Here's to hoping that I don't have dry socket or any other awful complication.

Hope you have a great weekend. Eat lots of crunchy foods for me ~ since I will be eating pudding for a few more days.

big week

The rest of the week will be a big week here. Today is our last homestudy meeting. This time the case worker comes over and visits our home and meets our girls. Nothing to be nervous about, she has already warned us she isn't coming to look in every closet, just a nice visit. This is nothing compared to having your home ready to show for real estate. Been there...done that.

We also need to decide the age range of a child we are willing to accept. That one has been a hard choice for us. We have decided that we will accept boy or girl (which most likely means it will be a boy). It has seemed unnatural for us to pick the gender of the child. At the moment, we are thinking one child zero to 18 months old (at the time of referral).

Once we have this last homestudy meeting, it takes the case worker about 2 weeks to write the report then we have a week to have it approved by the international agency before it is printed and notarized. Then we just have a few more things to finish up for our dossier. The dossier is the pack of information that is country specific. Once the dossier is sent in, it goes to Ethiopia and is translated and then we are placed on a waiting list. The problem for us is, when we send it in, we need to send it in with our next large payment. We are still waiting on the funds. That is why we have been working hard on the call-me-cards (HERE) and the yard sale. We have worked really hard to cut our own budget back to the bare bones, and we are praying that God provides the needed funds when we have our paperwork done.

Another big thing this week is oral surgery for me. I am having my last 2 wisdom teeth removed tomorrow. Needless to say, it will be a big deal. The doctor was reminding me of all the complications that can take place and warned me that it is much harder to recover when you are in your thirties. Yikes. Trusting and praying it goes smoothly and there are no complications. I am putting my faith in God on this one...He is sovereign.

Like I said, it is a big week. =)

Oh...BTW, I was trying to make the blog into 3 columns and it didn't turn out quite right and had to go back to a generic design. Not sure what I was thinking, I don't know a THING about Html codes, but for some reason, I thought I could figure it out.

learning to think

Though I bought these math manipulatives when the kids were in kindergarten, we still use them on a regular basis. It is things like this that get the brain working to solve problems, work on thinking skills, spacial reasoning...and like I said in my last post ~ creative play.
One of my goals with homeschooling has been to teach my kids to think. Not just know the right answer, but give them the skills to figure it out them selves. That is one of the reasons we try and carve out time every day to do puzzles, games and activities like the ones pictures here that allow them the chance to think. (HERE is another favorite activity to get you thinking)

One of the best compliments

The other day I was sitting at a park with 2 friends while our children played in the kids play area. There was only one other mom in the park and she came up to the 3 of us and asked us how we got our kids to be so creative with how they play. She couldn't believe how our kids were playing so creatively. And then she commented on how unusual it is that they were older children (not just preschoolers) and playing dramatic play. As you can imagine, it just made my day. To hear someone notice, admire and comment on such a thing. We all thanked her for the comment and visited a few moments and mentioned that our children have spent a bit of time together.

Later I asked Tristen what they were playing and she told me all about it. This was an unusual park (no swings or play equipment), just lots of dirt, one slide (mounted on a dirt hill), a water source, a cabin, and a tee pee. She told me that they were playing farmer. This was the first time we had gone to that play area, I always thought it was for younger kids, and yet my 11 year old had just as much fun as a 4 year old. Making mud, pretending to be Laura from Little House, running around while someone was pretending to be a bear and chase her.

I love it that they didn't feel like they were too old to play. No one said it was for babies. No one squelched their creative play. In fact, they spurred each other on to be more creative as they worked as a group.

I wonder what makes some kids more creative in their play than others. My two have used dramatic play as the main source of their entertainment. (one of my favorite posts and sweet pictures HERE) Forget the toys and video games. Give them a pile of stuffed animals and some linking cube blocks and you might just find an orchestra. Here are their webkins playing instruments. They showed me each animal and what instrument they are playing and the sheet music they made for them to follow. Talk about creative play.