NEKKID BOY

I'm sitting here all wrapped up and hoping to goodness we get some snow tomorrow. Have you ever just been in the mood to see lots and lots of snow? I'd love nothing more than to wake up Monday morning and be "snowed in" (which around here only takes about 1/2 inch). Oh well, one can wish.

The top picture is of my experiement with potty training Noah a few days ago. He went the whole day without pee peeing anywhere but the potty (yeah). But, the whole poop thing....lets just say we'll have to work on. He loves running around with no clothes on. He streaks around saying. "nekkid boy, nekkid boy!!" Should I be concerned?? ;)

Play Days

Since the days have been so cold lately, I've struggled with finding things inside that keep Noah busy. We could watch that 100th video but sometimes I just can't take the videos anymore :) So, I tried painting with him. He wasn't interested in painting on the paper but I found that he LOVED painting his farm animals with watercolors. Then they were dirty and of course needed a bath! Brilliant if I must say so myself (and yep this is about as creative as I get!)

In adoption news: I sent off for some grants this week and Granny and Nanna & Poppy gave some of their tons and tons of extra change they had lying around. We took it today to the bank and there was $270 worth of change in the jars!! Praise God... every little bit helps.

Extreme Makeover

Just so you know.... I'm pretty sure I have the best Daddy in the world. In December a neighbor of our church had a huge junk pile out beside the road. Well, being the junk freak that I am, ( and with the help of some teens from church) I proceeded to raid this wonderful heap of junk. Yes ,Yes ,I got permission from the man first. I rescued two pieces of furniture One of those is featured in the pictures above. The first picture is of the 1800's buffet BEFORE my talented father got a hold of it. The second picture is the AFTER that I just moved into my kitchen. I know it's amazing isn't it!!?? I just love it. I love the story I'll be able to tell of this awful, thrown away piece of junk that was rescued and lovingly restored by my Daddy. Aren't Daddys great? Kind of reminds me of what Jesus does to our lives when we surrender to him. He can still use us no matter how broken and ugly we are.

HAPPY VALENTINES-TAKE #2

I think these pictures are much more cheerful than the last ones!! I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! We had a Valentine's Weekend. Mike and I celebrated Valentines on Friday night with a night out at an excellent restaurant. Then Saturday night we had a "sweetheart's banquet" at church and had some excellent food, fellowship with friends and testimony to God's greatness. It was all very uplifting and encouraging. The weekend was topped off by the Youth Group "rolling" our car with toilet paper. We were so proud of them :)

HAPPY VALENTINES-- TAKE #1

(I THINK HE THOUGHT HE WAS IN TIME OUT)

(BELOW)
NOAH AT 3 MONTHS IN THE HOMEADE OUTFIT I MADE WITH A SHARPIE

MY HOW FAST THEY GROW UP!!!

Happy Valentines Day!! I know it's still early but I just love Valentines!! I thought I'd compare pictures of Noah 2 years ago and Noah today. The first few pictures are First Takes of Valentines pictures I was trying to get. They were miserable failures the first time around. I think Noah thought he was in time-out and hated it so I had to stop and regroup. I'll show the others later but I did manage to get a few good shots. He is definately a funny child!!

In memory of Valentine's Day I'd like to issue this challenge to everyone including myself: Make sure everyone you love KNOWS that without a doubt. Our days are short and but a vapor. Don't leave any doubts. Also, do something nice for someone that wouldn't expect it from you. Make someone's day on Valentine's Day that usually wouldn't expect to be remembered.

" But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Hip Hip Hooray!!

It was exhausting but we FINALLY received our homestudy today!! (Insert screaming here!!)
Now I can send it off to USCIS and try to get the 171H paper. This will probably take 6-8 weeks. After this we can get our dossier paperwork together and then submit to Ukraine for translation and then hopefully we'll be accepted. This is all going to take a HUGE amount of prayer and God working things out to make this happen. Since our homestudy took so long to get back to us, we are a little behind in some things and our medicals and some other paperwork is in danger of aging out so we would have to do it over.
How you can pray:
1. That the Lord's will would be done. We truly want to be where he wants us.
2. That we would be approved for some form of financial aide
3. That our paperwork would not age out
4. That the US Government would approve us quickly
5. That our dossier would be accepted by the Ukraine.

Hopefully we'll have more updates to come. Thank you all in advance for your prayers!