Summertime Fun

Kids playing one of our favorite games.

Lauren at her dance recital.

Happy Father's Day!

We heard this song at church tonight and it brought tears to my eyes. Not just because we are adopting a son but because it is true...There are No Orphans to God! Amen! God is our Father! Avalon sings this song on their "Stand" Album. Here are the lyrics below... I also added the song to my playlist at the end of the blog.

Who here among us has not been broken Who here among us is without guilt or pain So oft’ abandoned by our transgressions If such a thing as grace exists Then grace was made for lives like this There are no strangers There are no outcasts There are no orphans of God So many fallen, but hallelujah There are no orphans of God Come ye unwanted and find affection Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head Come ye unworthy, you are my brother If such a thing as grace exists Then grace was made for lives like this O blessed Father, look down upon us We are Your children, we need Your love We run before Your throne of mercy And seek Your face to rise above

Food For Thought...

Why Choose Ethiopia?
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday• One in ten children die before their first birthday• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone•There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia and the country is twice the size of Texas• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school• Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000

A busy weekend

Our weekend started out on Friday afternoon with me and a wonderful friend going through about 9 bags of half eaten school lunches. That is right, Lauren got her retainer on Thursday and on Friday she threw it away at lunch!! Needless to say, we did not find it!! On to work at 7pm to work 12 hours...an uneventful night!! Home at 730...slept for about 2 hours then on to the Indy 500 parade. We had lots of fun! The parade is very fun!! Mario Lopez waved at me! (Along with everyone else in the crowd) Home by 3pm. Slept for 2 more hours then off to work another 12 hours....Praise the Lord! At 530 work called and put me on call!! I slept all night!! Sunday we ran errands and planted a garden. Strawberries, tomatoes, melon, and squash. Sunday night we had a sleep over in basement with the kids. We watched Hotel for Dogs! (Very cute) Monday we stayed around home, played in the sprinkler, rode bikes. Our first strawberry from our garden was ready to eat! It was good but the kids were wondering why there was only one!!!

In Adoption news, we officially sent in the paper work today and have to wait to hear from the agency to accept us...then unto tons of paperwork. We are debating names so we can stop calling the baby "brother" So if you have any suggestions I will take them, however don't be offended because I swear Jason can make fun of any name. At least the ones I pick out. I have tons of pictures I took from this weekend so I will try to post them soon!!

REALLY BIG NEWS....

Our family is expanding!!! That is right!! We are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. God has laid this on our hearts about a year ago but it did not feel right at the time. Well, here we are a year later and Jason and I both feel at peace about this decision!! It will be a long road and a big process but through God's strength we will bring a baby boy home sometime next year. We are just in the beginning stages of this so right now we are beginning the paper "pregnancy". Our hope is to not only keep you up to date on our 3 beautiful kids but to also to keep you up to date in this process and bring "brother" as Lauren and Alex call him, home!! Please pray for us as God leads us down this path!! It is very exciting but I am sure we will have some twist and turns along the way too!!

God Bless!

This picture took about 20 tries to get but aren't they oh so cute!!

New Beginnings....

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost a year since I have blogged anything! Where does the time go? I will tell you where it goes....

It goes to soccer games, church, dance, piano, homework, potty training, bike rides, laughing, playing UNO, taking trips and on and on it goes! I would not trade it for the world. Just wish it would not go so quick!

I won't catch you up on the all the details over the last several months but going forward I am making an attempt to blog more. No more excuses!!! It is really late right now so I won't go on but my goal is to have some pictures posted tomorrow.