busting out the pumpkins

I've looked a lot like my sweet dog Amos for the past 3 days.

Lying around pathetic thinking, Why me?

If you don't know anyone who has had strep twice in 3 weeks time -
now you do! I was the ever so lucky one! :-)

In an effort to break out of my jail cell (ie, the house), we decided to enjoy today by...

Gearing up for the Aggie football game - WHOOP!!!

Then we headed to the Farmer's Market where we pick out our pumpkins each year.

It's a little earlier than we usually go, but I was ready to bust out the pumpkins!

And get out of the house.

Not sure which I was ready to do more.

I love this Farmer's Market. They have such fresh fruits & veggies.
And we always buy some local honey.

They also have cute photo spots for my first fall pictures of the year.

We had a blast!

It's pumpkin season!!!

hope

I couldn't help myself at the store the other day and I bought this doll.

The picture doesn't do her justice, she is SO CUTE!

As I got to thinking about it, I realized that this doll represents hope.

We haven't lost our hope, we still have it.

As this process continues to drag on longer and longer, and as we've been updating our home study, fingerprints, medical exams, CIS extension and passports, I realize that we are doing all of this because we have hope.

That hope is what keeps us going on the hardest of days when we are ready for all of this to be over.

And we ARE ready for this to be over.

God called us to this little girl and we long to have her in our arms.

All glory to HIM!

He has been our sustainer during this long ordeal,
and He is our hope!

I heard this new song on the radio a few days ago and it has really ministered to my heart. I believe it speaks to exactly where I am with Him on this journey.

I pray that it ministers to you too.

MY HOPE IS IN YOU Lyrics
Aaron Shust

I meet with You and my soul sings out
As your word throws doubt far away
I sing to You and my heart cries
“Holy!
Hallelujah
Father, You’re near!”

My hope is in You, Lord
All the day long
I won’t be shaken by drought or storm
A peace that passes understanding is my song
And I sing
My hope is in You, Lord

I wait for You and my soul finds rest
In my selfishness, You show me grace
I worship You and my heart cries “Glory
Hallelujah
Father You’re here!”

My hope is in You, Lord
All the day long
I won’t be shaken by drought or storm
A peace that passes understanding is my song
And I sing
My hope is in You, Lord

I will wait on You
You are my refuge
I will wait on You
You are my refuge

My hope is in You, Lord
All the day long
I won’t be shaken by drought or storm
My hope is in You, Lord
All the day long
I won’t be shaken by drought or storm
A peace that passes understanding is my song
And I sing
My hope is in You, Lord
My hope is in You, Lord
Yeah
My hope is in You, Lord

what we did this weekend

We were blessed to go to Jason's parents house on Saturday to be with them and Brad & Nova, celebrate Brad's upcoming birthday, swim, eat and of course love on baby Solomon!

Chillaxin' on the deck

Judah was cold but that didn't stop him from his last swim of the summer!

Hanging on Uncle Brad (sporting a new manly mustache :-)

The boys watching Brad jump in the pool

Nana & Grangoat with their 3 grandsons :-). Judah was winking!

Brothers playing guitar

And of course we enjoyed this cutie pie who is growing way too fast!

first day of preschool 2011

We survived the first day of preschool - although I have to say that I'm EXHAUSTED! Judah had a great day and that probably has a lot to do with his fabulous teachers. I am so excited for him to have Katie, Ashley and Jennifer this year - all wonderful godly women. I'm privileged to know two of them very well and to call all of them friends (and so lucky that Judah gets Jennifer AGAIN, yay). Love you ladies - thanks for making Judah's first day so awesome!

He's holding up 3 fingers because he's in the 3 year old class this year. I cut his hair yesterday.

The coveted Thomas backpack my mom bought him for school, with his special camp turtle keychain that carries camp rocks inside :-).

Ready to go to school!

Yay, we survived the first day!!!

mush from my brain

My head is just full of random information, so if you're not feeling very random today, you may just want to move on past this one. :-)

1. I have strep throat. I don't remember the last time I had strep throat but it STINKS big time. I've forgotten how much I hate it. I spent the entire labor day holiday on the couch or asleep in my bed thinking I had allergies. But when I woke up this morning feeling just as lousy as the day before after about 3 hours of sleep, I went to the doctor. Sure enough. Positive for strep. I REALLY hope the boys don't get it because I have my first day of preschool on Thursday. Ugh. I am (obviously) feeling a little better now that I've started antibiotics.

2. Want an excellent TV show to watch on instant Netflix? I HIGHLY recommend Legend of the Seeker. If you're already getting Netflix streaming from your computer to your TV, you need to give this show a whirl. If you love fantasy, action, drama and a good love story then you are in for a treat with this one! There are 2 seasons (44 episodes) all just waiting for you to dive in. No fear of having to wait for the next episode to come out because this is the ENTIRE show for your viewing pleasure. Legend of the Seeker - check it out!

p.s. Speaking of TV shows - I got one of my good friends hooked on Alias - that makes me quite happy!!! And she doesn't need to fear because, of course, I have ALL of the seasons at home.

3. Judah has worn a ninja mask and ninja sword tucked into the back of his shorts for almost 3 days straight now. He is awesome.

4. Elijah is thinking about having his daddy give him guitar lessons. I loved watching them "practice" the other day. Nothing more attractive than a guy playing a song on his guitar! Elijah could possibly break some hearts one day if he in fact masters this skill. :-)


5. I'm tired of waiting for a referral. Have some patience with me right now because I'm likely to be irritated if you don't ask about our adoption and irritated if you do, so really there's no way for you to win...lol. It just goes with the territory of being WAY past due with a baby...very emotional, irritable and downright frustrated. That is definitely the way I felt in my 9th month of pregnancy with the boys - why should this be any different? If anyone ever told me that I would wait 14+ months to have one of my children, I would have called them crazy (and then proceeded to hyperventilate :-).

6. We are semi-planning a beach vacation with Jason's family for next summer and I'm already PUMPED about it! Of course a lot of it depends on when we bring the baby home, but I can just see her toddling around on the sand in her cute girly swimsuit! That makes me smile.

7. Really excited about the cooler weather and the fall season! It's my favorite and specifically October is my favorite month of the year. (Hmmm, maybe THAT'S when we'll get a referral). You didn't hear me say that though because I don't make ANY speculations about when that's going to happen anymore! :-)

And that's all because my body is telling me that I'm not feeling quite as good as I thought and I need to lay down and rest. Have a great week!

a little tour...

of my preschool classroom!

Okay, I have never thought of myself as a crafty person but I am pretty pleased with how my preschool classroom turned out this year! I lucked out in grabbing some of the animals and acacia trees that came down after our big VBS this year and decided to do an African themed classroom. Does this seem appropriate to anyone else since we {hopefully} will be bringing our daughter home this school year! Perfect. I thought so.

Here's the view when you walk in the room. The beautiful mural to the left was already there so I left it as is. I have 12 sweet four year olds - 4 at each table.

The view looking back at the door with the cubbies and the cute giraffe! And my co-teacher Terri (sorry that you didn't know I was taking this Terri :-).

The wall just to the right when you walk in. It has all of my calendar/circle time things on the board and my bible verse - I love this wall! Under my alphabet will be our word wall - we will add words that start with each letter all year long, and under the zebra is my attendance chart. It will hold each child's picture with their name on the other side - they find their name and flip it over when they arrive so we know who is there that day.

A close-up of Mr. Elephant holding the folders right by the door.

And a close-up of the wall you see when you walk in. It has my art wall where all of their beautiful pictures will go on display, my literacy center and my weekly bible verse!

We officially start next Thursday morning. Meet the teacher was last night so I've met almost all of my kids and parents. Looking forward to a great school year!

fourteen months

And I haven't lost my mind yet!!! :-)