Monday, October 31, 2011

Caching our Breath.......and Catching Up

OUR NEW MANTEL AND FAUX FIREPLACE

GETTING IN TO THOSE PUMPKINS


HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY


TRICK OR TREAT WITH MARIO & LUIGI


SWEET EXHAUSTION


So, it's been a while but LOTS going on. Earlier in the week Mike put up my mantel that I painted and put up the faux fireplace we ordered. I LOVE it. In the first picture, this is what I found the kids doing while I was washing dishes. I had to snap a picture. They love it to. A great place to read and play games.

This week Noah turned 5! I simply cannot believe my little boy is 5 years old. No longer a toddler. :( I miss those days but I love the little boy he is becoming, smart and sweet. We had a small birthday party for him and in his words "Mommy, that was the bestest party ever". He gots TONS of toys and of course, in true Noah fashion is already planning his next birthday.

We also got a visit from his Grandat & Dusie from SC. The babies love spending time with them.


We carved a few pumpkins and got ready for Halloween albeit a day early. We went to a little Trunk or Treat event and let the kids go to the Grandparents & Aunt Rach's house. Laurel had to have surgery today (Halloween) to put ear tubes in (AGAIN) and have her umbilical hernia repaired so we missed real trick or treat day. Laurel did much better than I would have done having my stomach cut on. She should be good as new in a few days.


So, that's how our week went. Fun but as you can see in the last photo- Exhausting! :)











Wednesday, October 26, 2011

GIVEWAY FOR A GREAT CAUSE




THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE GIRL IS BEING ADOPTED FROM THE SAME ORPHANAGE LAUREL WAS IN. THEY STILL NEED $13,000 TO PAY HER RANSOM AND BRING HER HOME. CONSIDER GOING TO THEIR BLOG WWW.4GIVEN2SERVE1GOD.BLOGSPOT.COM AND DONATE EVEN JUST $5 TO THEIR ACCOUNT TO BE ENTERED IN A GIVEWAY FOR SOME AWESOME PRIZES..... JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!! LET'S GET THIS LITTLE GIRL HOME!
(BELOW IS HER BLOG ENTRY)


HUGE GIVEAWAY
My giveaway starts now. This is how it works. Donate to the chip in on the side of my blog.5.00= 1 entry20.00 = 5 entries30.00 = 10 entriesAlso, I need more traffic to my blog for this giveaway to work. So I am asking that you spread the word. So each time you share our giveaway on your blog or on your facebook,twitter, ect. and let me know I will also put your name in for one entry. Let me know that you have done this by leaving a comment on this post.I have faith knowing that we as believers can raise the ransom for Nellie to come home. To be honest I had to have a really deep look inside myself and spend time in prayer because I doubted that the money was going to come to go get Nellie. I know that our Lord loves orphans, and I know that He loves Nellie more than I can even imagine. She is in desperate need of being rescued, she is going to be turning 5 in November, and we all know what that can mean to a precious angel with down syndrome in an orphanage half way around the world. It pains me to think that she could possibly be transferred to an institution. The Lord has provided her a family our family for her. He has done great things, this unwanted child is now loved more than ever. I have faith that the mountains will be moved for her to come home. We are still over 13,000 short of her ransom.Please help in this unfolding miracle. More than anything else pray for us. Pray for peace, and pray for our strength, as we get closer to Nellie.More items will be listed soon, I just have to take photos and upload, so look back often to see what has been added.







1. 200.00 gift card from target
2. Apple® iPod touch® 8GB MP3 Player (4th Generation) with Touch Screen, Wi-Fi 199.00 value
V.Reader Interactive E- Reading System Vtech Electronics V-Reader Animated Reading System - PinkWith VTech's V-Reader Animated E-Book Reader children discover the joy of reading while seeing well-loved characters like Shrek and Disney Fairies in stories featuring vivid animations. While reading the story and playing eight reading games, children develop the necessary building blocks to grow from a pre-reader to a confident and fluent reader.Cartridges are age graded for 3 to 5 year-olds and 5 to 7 year-olds. Each story cartridge includes a fully narrated and animated story, 8 reading-skill games and a Story Dictionary. Additional Cartridges sold seperately.
3. The craziest, hungriest, fastest interactive pet ever createdThis loyal dinosaur comes when called, dances, and even plays catchKids will love sending him on the attackTrain him to remember up to 30 different actions and soundsFeatures over 200 sounds and animations and 8 different ways to play
4. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream [Book] by David Platt
5. The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer that Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World [Book] by Richard Stearns
6. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God [Book] by Francis Chan7yhtgfvc

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

ZOO TRIP

Seal Watching..... my favorite!

Sweet Baby Lydia





Spider Men

That's a whole lot of cute babies!

The "Ghost Alligator"


(Elephant Watching)

So we took a trip to the zoo this week to make the most of the pretty weather before all this rain set in. We met my long time friend Crystal and her two cute babies Jacob & Brooke there and baby Lydia went up with us. That makes for LOTS of babies and strollers but lots of fun!

They did really good, kept us laughing and we all walked off a few pounds. Shew! ALOT of walking. I love these years!











Thursday, October 13, 2011

My baby girl is 4!!

Pizza of course- true American

Some creepy uninivited guest showed up


Open those presents girl- just for you!
(and a few for Noah) :)


Happy Birthday to Laurel!! I can't believe she's 4 years old. She has now actually been here with us longer than she was in the orphanage. Is that not cool??!! This is the first birthday that she actually gets what is going on. She understood it was a party for her and she even picked the food we were going to have-Pizza. I showed her several pictures of what kind of cake she wanted me to make and she picked the Rainbow Cake. She had a blast with her Grandparents & Aunts & Uncles. Thank ya'll for making her day so special.







Sunday, October 9, 2011

Mountain Air-Good for the Soul





Uncle John & Aunt Rach (Baby Duncan-not yet pictured) :)

Panning for Gems- We actually found some!





Saw a bunch of Turkey's~

Climbed a few Mts..... Er, Rocks

Picked up a scary hitchiker! ;)


Explored a Cave-please excuse Laurel's paci but it was the only

way to keep her from screaming in Total Cave Darkness!



We made a trip up to the Mts. this weekend. Kind of a last ditch getaway before the busyness of the Holidays begin. Despite Laurel having a double ear infection (we only knew about 1 ear before we went), Noah on meds to prevent Pneumonia and having Asthma flair ups, Mike getting their cold & feeling crummy, Pregnancy (NOT me but Rachael), we managed to have a very nice time. The food was good, the mountains were beautiful, the company was delightful and a good time was had by all!


















Monday, October 3, 2011

Updated Pictures

Mike took this of the geese flying over the pond!


Trying to Catch Minnows




Well we're a dinosaur of course!


I have no idea what happened with the last posts pictures so here are finally some updated pictures of the last few days. Enjoy!









Sunday, October 2, 2011

MIA



Big Brother reading to Little Sis

I do feel like I've been MIA a little this week. Sorry for the lack of updates but things were a bit busy this past week. I don't even have any new pictures to show due to the fact my camera is at home and I am not. Aunt Ruthie has been in the hospital (5 days) and I have stayed with her a few days and will return home tonight (Sunday). She's doing fine now at home and after 1 hr. home didn't even remember the whole hospital ordeal.!


Where did this cold weather come from? I admit that I am looking forward to fall, the fair and all the wonderful stuff that goes along with it but Brrrr... I've got to find my winter clothes. Noah asked me one night if we could have a fireplace and seeing there is no fireplace in my house, I set out to find a way to make that dream a reality. So, my parents gave me an awesome old mantel that I painted a little (not to much as I wanted it to look distressed) and I bought a wall mountable electric fireplace. Sound strange?? I hope not. Hopefully I'll show pictures next time of a new cozy fireplace nook to read in. Work in progress.