You won't believe your eyes

He finally touched an animal and wasn't afraid!!! This is a huge victory!!

Brotherly Love

So (there's that word again..) the other night at dinner Ethan was being a bit of a pill. This is not unusual in the evening. I then said "what are we going to do with Ebear?" Then I made the joke that we might have to put him in the garbage and of course we all giggled and said no!!! Then here are Nathan's exact words very matter of fact ....."Besides the social worker has to meet him on Friday." This cracked me up!! We have our homestudy visit here at the house on Friday. I guess in Nathan's mind we at least need to keep Ethan until then :-) Ethan these days is affectionately calling himself the baby and letting us know that he is still the baby around here. Not that we need reminding :-) We sure love that Ebear and we definitely won't put him in the garbage and he WILL be staying past Friday after all he is mama's baby :)!

Fan of the Game

Nathan was the "Fan of the GAME!!". Go Rome Braves. Shout out to Greg and Michelle Major. Thanks for the experience.

Awards Night

Awana awards night

Party Time

It's Birthday Party Day!!!! Watch out here come the Cowboys and Indians.

I'm moving to a ...

I've moved to a big boy bed. Thank you daddy for making my bed.

3+2= WOW!!!!

"So"........David says that that word is my most favorite in the English language and I use it ALL the time. This is true I do overuse it - he counts the word in my sentences :-). Needless to say I am definitely aware when I use it now - but I still use it. However I am digressing here so... (see) I just thought I would update you in the adoption process. I am super happy to report that we have turned in our paperwork and the process has officially begun. We turned in our paperwork via the internet very early Monday morning ie in my book it was late Sunday night :) We received our first phone call around 10 am on Monday and I think you could have felt our excitement across the world!! I just love the agency and the people we are working with!!

You might be wondering what the 3 + 2 has to do with anything or maybe you have it figured out - you know 3 + 2 = 5 - right??!!! What that means for us is 3 boys plus 2 girls = party of 5 kids in our house!! We have decided to request that we be allowed to adopt 2 girls at the same time!!!! We are not sure how this will all work out but we KNOW for certain that God does. I looked back at my previous post when I first told you all that we were considering adoption and that was in August of last year. That was 9 months ago. During those 9 months God has been molding our hearts to be more like him and preparing us for this journey that lies ahead. In God's graciousness I have been able to look back and see just how he was preparing us for His timing and not mine!!! So :-) there you have it - we are hoping to bring home 2 little girls and not just one.

Just in this week alone God has been all over the details (yes I have been writing them down) and why I should have expected any less is just lack of faith on my part. Needless to say I am most thankful for the cross and what it means for me personally. We look forward to the day when we have the opportunity to share with the girls what it means for them too. After all in John 14:18 Jesus says "I will not leave you as orphans..." Christ adopted us and now we want to follow in His example.

Nathans Birthday 04-05-2011

Seven years ago today I gave birth to this cutie. Happy 7th Birthday Nathan!!!

The Singing Show

It probably comes to you as no surprise that David and I like to watch American Idol. Being musicians we sometimes enjoy the show. At our house though we do not refer to it as "American Idol" for a number of reasons so we started calling it the "singing show." Occasionally we will let Nathan watch it with us. Because we have the no tv rule in our house during the week - it really is a special treat that 1. he gets to watch tv and 2. that he gets to watch something mommy and daddy watch. Obviously we have to guard what he sees and hears. Having said all that last night the singing show was on and DP has been out so Nathan and I had a little date night on the couch and watched some of the singing show. I must say I was quite entertained by Nathan last night. He is very observant about what the judges say and what I think about the singer. At one point he says mom "you know how Randy Jackson said this really isn't the place for that other singer - that's what I think about this girl singing." If that wasn't funny enough after about the 3rd or 4th song he says this to me "mamma - if I ever get to be on the singing show I think I will sing We Gather Together." (Yes it is the hymn he is referring to) "You know cause I really just have that song stuck in my head and I like it AND I know all the words." Do you have any idea how hard it was for this mommy to keep a straight face and be as serious as he was??!! I absolutely LOVE his innocence and out of all the songs he knows - and he knows quite a few - he chose a song about gratitude - might mean nothing but I will take it! So 10 years from now if the singing show is still on - watch for Nate he just might be on there singing We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.......

A Glimpse .....

My precious children are all tucked in their beds hopefully fast asleep. David is out he will be heading out of town again this week and me well - here I am. I have written this post in my mind what feels like a million times - though not really. It is my sincere desire to share with you my heart tonight. Beware this post will undoubtedly be lengthy and grammatically incorrect and probably sporadic in thought. Writing has never been my gift. I hope you continue to read and pray for us as we head into a new chapter of life.

In January of this year David and I received an email from our friend Nicole who goes to church with us. She had a friend whom I will call Jane who was 16 weeks pregnant and going to have an abortion the next morning. Dave and I both got the email early Friday morning - I can remember it like it was just the other day. It was around 7 am and David wanted me to call Nicole immediately. I knew she would be awake as she teaches at a preschool but I think I was probably a little hesitant to call her - deep down I knew why we were going to call her and just before I picked up the phone David says to me tell her we will take the baby - just please don't have an abortion. We called Nicole - Jane comes from an Islamic background and her mother was going to kick her to the curb if she didn't have this abortion and it seems as she may have had a previous one. All this to say we told Nicole to give her our information and that we would gladly adopt her baby whatever the cost. At this point for me I do not think gravity so to speak had really set in. I thought about it a lot that day as Nicole was supposed to call us that evening with any news and she did. Nicole's mother and aunt had taken Jane out and they spoke and now Jane knew there was a family who would gladly take her baby - she decided not to have the abortion but she didn't know what she was going to do. What a praise - this baby was going to have a chance!!! We waited for a few weeks and nothing - no contact. I can tell you that I often thought what if this precious baby is a girl??!!! A few more weeks went by and we heard Jane was going to have a baby boy and she had decided to keep him. I was sad but not crushed. I must confess though - if she had been having a girl - I am not so sure if I would have handled it as well. We did not tell many people about this - especially not our children and you can see why. This precious baby was born just a few weeks ago and he is so adorable and I am so thankful God in his sovereignty spared his little life.

Now what? Well David and I have always talked about possibly adopting. Side note here for you who don't know - when I was in college I spent a couple weeks in China. I would have brought home all the children I encountered if I could have. I also was in the last stages of becoming a journeyman with the International Mission Board when I met my husband. Obviously God had other plans for my life. All that to say that David knew it was my desire to have a baby from China. I have always known I wanted 4 children - just one of those childhood dreams. Obviously adoption has been on our minds. Two weeks ago when David was at a conference he sent me an email all it said was " more paid time off for adoptive families at CFA." I immediately responded "That is so ironic that you just sent that to me as I have been really thinking a lot about adoption lately. I will continue to pray about it and hope you will too. Hope you are having a good time. Love and miss you." To which he responds " I got the email from CFA when the guest speaker was speaking on adoption. I think we seriously need to look into this." That email correspondence literally gives me chill bumps. Look how God was working in both our lives miles away from one another. I immediately called a friend who has adopted twice domestically. We talked for a while and she gave me an agency to check into. I of course googled them and read what I could. Then I got an email from a friend at church who has adopted from China - she has always known of my desire. This email was from an agency letting people know the great need for adopting children with special needs in China. David and I both have a strong desire to adopt a little girl from China - so here we are. I have contacted two adoption agencies and we are waiting on information packets. We know personally two families who have been through this process - I think what makes me so excited is that David called one of them. We both know I am fifteen steps ahead of him in my heart. All I can think about is we have to get our little girl home. I know if we had the money we would go get her tomorrow. However there are many steps in this journey. Why did I tell you all this? Well because most of you that read my blog are pray-ers. And boy do I have many requests. I have so many emotions going on inside of me. So if I may here are a few specifics.

1. Patience. This is such a biggie for me in so many areas of this journey!! We have to choose an agency and be accepted etc etc. Once paperwork is turned in there is a 12-18 month waiting period for a special needs child. 50 plus months for a non special needs child. Plus we have to have a good bit of money to even begin things.

2. This little girl - whoever she may be. I know God is sovereign and He already knows all the details.

3. Finances. I have started a little basket putting spare change in - the kids have even been helping as well. I am not good with money - so thankful for a husband who is!!! Please pray that when I have that urge to stop and just pick up lunch or whatever I think we might need at Target that I will think of this little girl - she is worth every penny. This will be costly and I will again need patience here. Men and women think differently - I with my heart and David with his head and the need to provide for our family etc. Pray that I will trust all his decisions regarding the how and when of finances. This really is the biggest request I have. I want to be a God honoring wife. I really want God to just dump a large sum of money in my lap - but I must be realistic about this - this part will take time. I am not a good waiter.

Please pray for me. I could write so much more but will save it for another time. Thanks for keeping up with us. Blessings ~

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

Okay Angie this is for you!!

I have always wanted to post a tutorial because I have benefited greatly from others posting them. So here goes - however I cannot take credit for this alone - my sweet friend Kristin deserves most of the credit because she took pictures first and sent them to me to teach me how to make a dress in the first place. On top of that she endured my millions of questions and chatted with me while I made my first dress. THANK YOU Kristin. This tutorial is not of my first dress (which happened to be a cow print dress for cow appreciation day) this is a dress I made this afternoon for a friends daughter and I put her monogram on it. Hope this helps anyone that might need it!

Lay out fabric like you would wear it. You need two layers

Fold the two layers in half vertically. Use a tank top or sleeveless dress to guide your armhole cut - but leave enough space (couple of inches) to come up past your armpit. Make sure you don't cut on the fold :)

Now you have two choices here: You can fold over the armpit area twice and hem or you can use bias tape. I used bias tape - and for this particular dress I actually made the bias tape.

To make bias tape : cut strips of fabric you determine the length depending on the size dress. Width can vary as well - I chose 3 inches wide.

Then fold in half and iron over. Open it up and fold one quarter to the half on one side and do the same to the other and iron. Now you have bias tape.

Stick the edge of the armpit area into the bias tape and sew. You will do this a total of 4 times.

Now small hem at the top of both layers - and then add a larger hem so you can fish your ribbon through it. You can always just fold over your fabric and then fold again for just one hem the point is just to have a finished edge.

Now place your two pieces of fabric right sides together and hem the sides. I start from the bottom and go up to armpit area. Then hem up the bottom - you can also use bias tape here as well.

Now monogram and fish your ribbon through and tie.

This is such a fun and easy project!! Much thanks again to my friend Kristin!!