finally made it to a game

I can't believe it's this late in the season before we've made it to a Ranger's game yet! We usually go at least once in April or May, but on June 20th we went with our great friends, the Shaw's, to our first game of the season. We had a blast! I realized it was Judah's first game since he was an infant and he LOVED it! He did great through the whole game and was very mesmerized by everything he saw, ESPECIALLY the cotton candy! :-)







It may be a little while before I post again. Next week the boys and I will be at camp all week, my birthday is on Tuesday and we'll hit 1 year on the wait list on July 1st. So I'll have LOTS to post about when I get back!

happy father's day

WE

LOVE

YOU

DADDY!

summer spectacular & haircuts

So our church's annual Summer Spectacular (aka: a VERY hyped up VBS) was this week. This year was about Noah: God Keeps His Promises. The boys had fun and we enjoyed the 3-night broadway style musical. I am always amazed at the time and effort that goes into this week! Here are a few pictures:

My husband is a dork. :-)

This ark was built around the sign-in table at the front doors: amazing!

Oh, you noticed their hair is shorter! That's something we did this past weekend. And Jason and I did it ourselves to save some money. I decided if I butchered Judah's hair then we would just buzz it all off like Elijah's, but it turned out pretty good I think.

My 7 and 3 year old cuties!

Elijah is now at Camp of the Hills with my mom for his first of 3 trips there this summer. This equals HEAVEN to him! :-)

My heart is very heavy this week. One of my dearest friend's dad passed away very unexpectedly on Monday morning. It has been a week of a lot of heartache, grief and tough decisions for her. Please pray for Lori and her family, especially tonight and tomorrow during the visitation/funeral and in the days/weeks/months ahead.

A Great Way to Help

Have you ever thought that you would LOVE to make a difference in the life of an orphan but don't feel like God is calling you to adopt? I believe God does call ALL of us to help the poor, orphans and widows, but that looks different for everyone. Here is a GREAT way to help! Some friends of friends, at THIS BLOG , founded an organization called His Chase. They are very passionate about orphans and about Rwanda, and are in fact in the process of adopting from there. Their family is taking a trip to Rwanda this summer to love on the kids that are being helped through their organization, but they are lacking in funds for some of the children's basic needs. Read below what I took straight from their blog and pray about giving just $50 to help these precious children with things that we take for granted all the time. What an honor that we as Americans are able to partner with God all the way across the world. All details of how to donate are below, and feel confident that your money is going straight to the kids.


"We have entered the 50 day countdown to our big trip this summer! And, with that comes our next big challenge. We have dreams of this orphanage being "made new" and want to see these children thriving in every way.

But, we need 300 people to help us do this.

Our goal is to have FIFTY days of FIFTY dollars!

We need 300 people to give FIFTY dollars in the next FIFTY days to change lives at Noel!

What will your $50 do, you ask?

It will provide MEDICAL ASSESSMENTS for every child at Noel.

It will provide PERMANENT MEDICAL RECORDS that give them an identity and a future.

It will provide much needed FORMULA for infants.

It will provide DEVELOPMENTAL CAMP for toddlers.

It will provide SPORTS EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES for school age children.

It will provide HYGIENE ITEMS AND A PILLOW for an older girl or boy.

And, you know what ELSE?

If we raise this money in the next FIFTY days, we have a generous matching donor who will be giving $10,000 to the efforts this summer!

Did you read that?

Another $10,000 will be given after 300 people donate $50!!!

If all of this happens---and we know it will---we would have another $25,000 for the children of Noel. EVERY SINGLE PENNY goes directly to their care.

Will you help us? Be the first of 300 to change a life forever.

Be the first of 300 to tell a child in Rwanda, Africa that their life matters.

Join us for FIFTY days of FIFTY dollars by clicking HERE to donate."

Happy 30th Birthday Jason!

We love you Jason/Daddy! This post is for you!
Happy 30th Birthday - now you're as old as ME! :-)

On Memorial Day weekend, Jason's parents threw him a small party at their house.

Most of the action took place at their swimming pool
and on their new deck!

Old friends - now they are both literally old! :-)

Last weekend, I managed to pull off a HUGE surprise! I had been planning this with Jason's parents for several months. Thanks to their generous gift, Jason was able to enjoy a whole weekend at a lake house with his dad, brother and closest friends. He had no idea when his dad and friends showed up at our house last Friday to take him for the weekend! He was shocked! I handed him his already packed bag and they were off for a weekend of fishing, kayaking, swimming and hanging out!

Thank you Gary, Brad, Bill, Blake, Lanny and Micah for spending a weekend away from your families to make Jason's 30th so special! And Clabe, you were missed!

Here is Jason on his actual birthday (June 7th) with his boys and the carrot cake cupcakes I made him with homemade cream cheese icing. Yummy!

We hope we showed you just how special you are to us and how much we love you for your birthday this year! Happy Birthday!

Last Day of 1st Grade

so proud

we were so proud
to see elijah walk across the stage at his 1st grade awards program

he was so proud
to look at his awards with his friends

judah was so proud
to be with his big brother at his "big school"

we were SO PROUD
that elijah got the only "Most Helpful Student" award in the 1st grade!

elijah and i were both so proud
that he pulled the other front tooth on his own at his class party that day

elijah, you make us proud and we love you!

if your tooth is already loose...

just do a little play fighting with your dad,
maybe he'll accidentally knock his knuckle against your loose tooth,
and then it'll be ready to come right on out of there!

tooth #4 (this one's twin) should come out any day now;
then we'll have a true snaggle-tooth on our hands.
at least he's a cute one!

eleven

Enough said.

how are we doing? {adoption update}

We are doing pretty good. Really.

We live in a microwave society. We want things quick and NOW! We have trouble waiting on something as small as our food orders sometimes. But God is teaching me through this adoption what it means to truly wait on HIM.

The first week after we found out we were going to have to wait another 2-3 months for a referral was pretty rough to be honest. I like to plan things out {I mean, who doesn't?}, and in my planning we were going to get a referral anywhere from March 1st to May 1st {8-10 months just like we were told}. Adoptions very rarely go like you plan. We were told this from the beginning and now we really and truly know this firsthand. And you know, now I am beginning to be more and more okay with that. After I readjusted my expectations for sometime this summer and let that settle for a few days, I feel very peaceful about the whole thing. Some things are actually making me think that this whole delay is for a reason. God is up to something and I think it's big. Just to keep it real though, if in about 2-3 months we are told we're going to have to wait ANOTHER 2-3 months, I'll throw ANOTHER hissy fit for about a week...and then I'll be okay AGAIN. :-) Let's just pray that doesn't happen!

In the meantime, we are gearing up for a fun summer! I am really going to try and enjoy these precious boys by themselves this summer because it will {hopefully} be their last one alone. Elijah only has a little over a week left of school and in that amount of time he is on a Ranger's game field trip today, has field day on Friday, his awards program and end of school party next week. I am having a {small} garage sale this Friday and Sat morning {let me reiterate SMALL}...whew, I could NOT do what we did last October again! :-) Our neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend so it's already advertised and everything...I'm hoping to make a few more hundred dollars for our plane tickets.

Judah is happy to be eating popsicles to get ready for summertime! Wow, he is Mr. Teeth in this picture. The dentist said one time that he has quite the canines! :-)


And following Elijah's last day of school, our line-up for the summer break is:
Two weeks of working & going to Summer Spectacular at our church, Jason is turning 30 -yikes!, Camp of the Hills the last week in June - I'll turn 31 while there, a small trip by myself to visit my sweet friend Misty & her twin babies in San Antonio, a new nephew/cousin in early July, swim lessons, gymnastics, hopefully lots of playdates & swimming, reading books, working on math with Elijah {ick}, another trip to Camp of the Hills the first week in August with some friends {Elijah will be in heaven going TWO weeks this summer!} and let's throw a REFERRAL in there somewhere and it looks like it's going to be a fun yet relaxing summer vacation!

Thanks to all who have been asking how we are doing with the adoption delay and for all who are keeping us and our daughter in your prayers. We really appreciate the support!

another year bites the dust

Another preschool year for me and Judah, that is. Yesterday was our last day of the school year...I really think this was the fastest school year in HISTORY! I can't believe it's already over. I had a great co-teacher, made some great new friends and had a wonderful class of kiddos. It will be hard to settle into the laziness of summertime, but I'm sure it won't take us long to adjust. :-) Elijah still has 2 more weeks though. Let me introduce you to some important people at this little preschool of mine!

Sweet new friends from this year: Katie, me, Suzy and Kim

Lori and I. We taught together my first two years at this school and now she is my department lead! She rocked and did a fantastic job (like I knew she would), but I did miss teaching with her. Oh, and did I mention we've been close friends since the 5th grade?!?! :-)

Judah's wonderful teachers: Ms Crystal and Ms Jessica
Thank you for loving on my boy this year - he adores both of you!

This was my partner in crime this year, my co-teacher LeeAnn. LOVED teaching with her and am so glad I had the privilege to become her friend. She is a jewel! We had a blast together!

My friend, Shei, our preschool music teacher. This was her LAST year after teaching music here for 5 years!!! We are all going to miss her so much!

So, I got some very sweet gifts from my students. Like this amazing made-from-scratch cake that we had after dinner tonight. Yum!

The sweetest gift of all though, was that LeeAnn organized for all of the parents to give money toward our adoption...since we are still needing money for our second trip. I walked out on the last day of school with enough money for 1/3 to 1/2 of a plane ticket!!!! I am in awe of the generosity of my sweet parents and of LeeAnn. I know I've already thanked all of you, but THANK YOU again!!! The body of Christ is such a gift. Our baby girl is lucky to be so loved. And my God is the God of provision! What a wonderful way to end the year!

real love is...

Loving them when they're a teenager! Ha, ha, ha!!!
This sweet mother's day card from Elijah just cracked me up!
Translation (in case you can't read it well):
"I know that you love me. Even when I'm a teenager. From Elijah"
Can I get an Amen from any moms of teenagers out there?
I am NOT looking forward to that age!
(And apparently Elijah already knows that he's going to be trouble! :-)