Worth the wait

We received an awesome gift in the mail today. Thank you so much Jean!!!


Worth the wait pillow. This makes me cry a little, our baby
girl really is worth the wait.


~There's no where on earth I wouldn't go to bring you
home to me.
~My heart and my baby are in Ethiopia


Shirts for all the kids
~My sister is waiting for me in Ethiopia.

and cute baby shirts that I can't wait for our baby to wear!


Caleb was in love with the shirt and is now sleeping with the pillow. He, like the rest of us, are so excited about our baby. This gift was a good reminder that she is worth the wait!

I love when people ask me about the process and where we are at in it. But lately I've been frustrated with giving everyone the same answer....#18, Hopefully by Christmas, which is really just a guess. I want to have a more pat answer like my due date is.... But such is the process with adoption and as I've seen in other families and will experience soon, She's worth the wait!

We have a phone interview with Katelyn's Fund for a grant in 15 minutes. Hopefully it goes well!

Poop in the hand!

Nathan got a new pool for his birthday and we played in it all day today. Addie pooped in her swim diaper, so I put her in a all-in-one cloth diaper which collected a lot of water. For most of the day she walked around with a really saggy booty. I often squeezed the diaper and lots of water came pouring out. Everytime I did that Michael thought it was funny (we don't get out much).

All that is just background for this....Hours and hours after her running around in this diaper Michael wanted his turn to squeeze out the water. So, he says 'watch this babe' and proceeds to grab Addie's diaper. Well, he got a little more than he bargained for with a handful of poop.

I cracked up.... He freaked out.... good times.
Then we emptied the pool :)

Grant Interview

We filled out applications for adoption grants months ago and haven't heard anything from any of the 4 groups. I've been thinking about that a lot lately and praying that we'd hear soon. Today I got a call from Katelyn's Fundd....We've been selected for an interview!! Which makes me really nervious, I can look normal on paper but talking to me they'll know I'm crazy:) Well, hopefully they'll like crazy and give us the grant.

Boys Bring in the lettace

This is from our garden. I was so excited tonight when I was making dinner and realized that we could have a salad because we have romaine in our backyard. I sent the boys out with kid scissors and a bowl and 10 minutes later we had enough lettace for a big salad. Yum.

18 and creeping along

We are currently number 18 on the wait list. Watching my sister go through the adoption process 2x, I knew it was going to be rough and that the waiting was hard. I also planned on crying a lot because that's what I did while we waited for Sophie and Micah to come home and honestly, crying what I do....but I'm surprised that I haven't been doing that with this baby. I feel like I'm constantly pushing the thought of my baby out of my head. Because once I start thinking about her I'm not going to be able to stop....yeah, I knew I shouldn't have started writing this...now I'm crying.

Anyway, I'm excited...I know we are eventually going to get her...I know this isn't a long wait compared to some. But it's a really weird thing not know or be able to plan for the arrival of my baby. I think it's also been strange because the first couple of months referrals were coming in quickly and things have been so slow lately. Although 18 is better than 25 which we started at...it's still 18.

Also, reading the listserve always throws me for a loop too. People not passing court...not being able to travel to get their baby and the abandoned baby issues. Lots of hard stuff. It's just hard. The adoption process is hard.

I trust that the Lord's timing is perfect. I'm thankful that He has shown that to me in the past. Times when I think I have the best plan, He changes it and as it turns out, He was right! His ways are perfect and so is His timing. I can and will trust Him.

Is it healthy to not think of a baby and just focus on the number we are on? Probably not, but I think that's what's helping me keep sane during the wait. As with everything else in my life, I need to work on balancing things out.

Trying to be green

So, I've been trying clothe diapers lately. My sister-in-law has all the supplies so it wasn't an investment to try. I'm not sold on them yet. I feel like I'm partially green over here. She wears them most of the time if we're hanging out at home.

Addie's not too impressed with the new diaper situation. She does however enjoy the fact that she can easily take them off. We've been seeing a lot more of Addie lately than we usually do.

Appetizing isn't it? Naked booty on the table. Anyone want to come over for dinner:)

Nathan pops the question

I'm not a morning person....maybe it's because I stay up too late it's 2am right now....My kids are really great at waking up at a reasonable time. Caleb's my little teenager that I have to drag out of bed everyday, Addie is moving towards that as well....then there's Nathan, he wakes up at decent time usually around 8 but I hate getting out of bed so he usually just comes and cuddles with me for as long as I can convince him to.

Yesterday, as he was cuddling in bed with me and out of the blue he says "Mommy, will you marry me today, just for pretend." That was the best way to wake me up! So sweet. and of course I said yes:) Who could resist that face?

Back in the saddle again

I've been off the blogging kick for a few months now. I've been back tracking over the past few days ....so when you see pictures of the kids with winter coats on and the date is June it's not that cold in Michigan still, I'm just way behind. I feel the need to document some of these things because I have zero memory. Anyway, I'm trying to blog again. We'll see how it goes.

Caution: Accident on the way

This is a really crazy game that I probably should stop letting them do. But it cracks me up every time so we'll just roll with it.
They put these Ikea containers on their heads and run around the kitchen, diningroom, livingroom circle. The house isn't too spacious and doorways are small so there are often bumps along the way, but they just get back up and do it again. Addie's stepping it up with the push toy.

Special Person Day

The boys got to bring a person of their choosing to a special day at CHUP. They brought Nana and Papa and had a great time.

*These next two posts all happened on the same day. Running, egg hunt, CHUP. Busy day.

Easter Egg Hunt

Martian Marathon (but really I just ran the 5k)

So, I hate running. But I wanted to train for this 5k and I did it! I didn't run fast or break any records or anything.....my goal was just to run the whole way and I did. This is my friend Georgia she ran with me.
Guess, how many times I've run since this event.... I think 2x. In my defense, Michael was coaching girls soccer and I could either run when he got home usually after 8pm or wake up before he left in the morning at 6:30. I'm not a morning person so that wasn't happening. After taking care of 3 kids by myself all day and evening all I wanted to do was veg and that's what I did. Maybe I'll run again someday:)

Locks of Love

Yeah, so looking at this date shows how lame I am. I cut my hair 6 weeks ago to donate to Locks of Love and guess what I found in the drawer I just cleaned out.... Yup that's right that big chunk of hair there. It's in the mail LofL. Well, it will be soon.

Isn't my photographer handsome?

He does self portraits too.

We are a cuddly bunch

My Little Helper

That'll teach me not to leave the
cereal on the table.

Addie has her own special way

of playing Hungry Hippos.

Royal Oak St. Patty's Day Parade

Always love the fire truck

I love my boys

Our family alone could be a parade!

And this isn't even everyone.