Skinned Up Knees

Update

2012-02-10T22:28:00.001-08:00

Good Saturday morning friends!

Things are going wonderful here with Vica. We are really enjoying getting to know each other and at the same time doing lots of sight seeing here in Riga so we are staying pretty busy. In the past few days we have been to Old Riga twice. Thursday we walked around just taking it all in. We also visited the Occupational Museum of Latvia which Danny really enjoyed since he is into history. Then we went to a mall called Galleria Center and walked around learning what things Vica likes though we don't think she understands the shopping concept so mom is going to have to work on that bit ;)

Friday the social worker from orphan court came for a home visit. Vica told them that this is her dream come true. She really is such an easy going and pleasant child. She doesn't ask for much and always wants to help. She told me yesterday that if Matthew and Chase do not know how to make their beds then she will teach them :) Danny and I are taking bets on whether she will get them to start picking up, making beds, etc or if they will sway her to stop doing it lol. She plays a really cool instrument called the Korkle, it's like a harp that lays on your lap. But she also wants to learn the piano. We also went back to Old Riga yesterday morning before the social worker came. A fellow adoptive Latvian momma, friend, and now co-worker with New Horizons was here interviewing kids for summer hosting so we met up with her for a little chatting time. It was great to meet Stephanie in person. Then last night we took a cab to Lido's to have dinner with the Walker family. They are adopting adorable 4 year old twins. Lido's is a really nice buffet style restaurant and the food is just delicious. There are lots of recreation things to do outside too but most of that is shut down right now since it's so cold out.

This is Vica, Stephanie, and Me. Horrible picture of me but the only one I got so whatever :)

Vica at Lido's

My daughter is a texting queen too :)

So today we are doing laundry and then I think going to see a movie later this afternoon. They show the movies here in English with Latvian subtitles.

Have a great day everyone!

He has turned our mourning into dancing

2012-02-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a few days because there has been a lot of stuff going on with us. Dajana and Adelina were told by their dance teachers 20 year old daughter on Friday that if they did not come home with us that she would be their guardian. Of course this is one of the only people to ever show them attention so it was a dream come true to them, nevermind that it probably won't happen. They became very difficult with us. Being defiant, and rude and saying very bad things and just refusing to listen. This weekend was a nightmare and while we were sad to see these things happening we were thankful that they were happening before we brought them home and wreaked havoc on our family. It's very sad for these children. Today our attorney came and picked them and us up and took them back to the orphanage where they didn't give us a second glance or even say good bye. It was heart wrenching but it confirmed the attachment disorders we were questioning.

The attorney that works for us here in Latvia has been amazing to say the least. She works her tail off for these families. I am sure the woman must not sleep. As soon as I spoke to her yesterday that this wasn't going to work out she said "I know the perfect child for you. I have spoke with this girl and she very much wants a family". Danny and I were open to meeting her because God set us on this journey to care for orphans and that is what we are going to do. This girl is in foster home and the foster mom says she is a very sweet, kind girl that likes to help with cooking and cleaning and help with the small children. Our boys don't even want to do that :) Could this be real?

So we left the orphanage and went to meet Viktoria (Vika). All I can say is WOW! In the first five second this sweet child showed us more love and affection that we saw all summer long. She calls out "MOM! DAD!" and gives us big, strong hugs. The foster mom served us a wonderful spread of fruits, crackers, and tea and Vika wanted to fix everything for us. She was very inquisitive about our life at home and what it will be like for her and asked about the boys and if they will like her. Danny and I are just shocked at the difference in behavior and honestly feel relieved. This child gave us another big hug when we left and looked us both in the eye and said I LOVE YOU! It was so sweet :) Vika is 13 years old and was tickled to know that she will be the only daughter in the house. LOL. Oh, and she likes pink! Yeah!!!

The courts worked super fast to get us a referral on her and court dates set. Ordinarily they require you to spend three weeks in country with the child for a bonding period but they have agreed to shorten it to just two weeks since we've been through such a fiasco and need to get back to work. So we are going to be here a little longer than originally planned but it's all working out for the better.

Back to court tomorrow morning but in the mean time let us introduce Vika to you.

Day 3

2012-01-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

We woke up very early this morning to get ready for court. I was feeling nauseaus and thought I was going to get sick. Not sure if it was from the lack of sleep, nervousness, or the hot tea that I drank this morning that did it but luckily after a few crackers the feeling passed.

Daina arrived at 8:30 to take us to court where we met up with Dace (the translator) and the social worker from the orphanage. When is was time for court they called us into this little room and on one side of a desk sat a panel of 3 judges and a court secretary and on our side was me, Danny, Daina, Dace, the social worker, and her assistant. The court asked lots of questions of whether we were aware of medical and social history (all normal questions) and they asked why we wanted to adopt them and then about their schooling. I was so nervous. Danny couldn't hear the translator from where he was sitting so I did all of the answering and I was completely freaked out and afraid of saying something wrong. So after that was done they told us to leave the room so they could discuss the case. They then called us back in and said that the court feels that it is in the best interest of the children for us to be their temporary guardians and for them to spend the time with us in the US while we wait for the next court appearance.

We then went to the orphanage to pick up the girls and a few things for them to have at the apartment. We will go back to the orphanage after our next court appearance on Tuesday and get the rest of their things.

Then we came back to the apartment to show them where we will be living for the next week or so and gave them a gift. We gave them these heart necklaces that have a little pink stone in them. I've always had room in my heart for a little pink :)

By that time we were all hungry so we took a walk into the center of Riga and found...a McDonald's. Yeah!! But boy do they use a lot of ketchup here!

Then we walked across the street to the mall to look for some boots for Adelina. Their brother was apparently there somewhere, they saw him but did not want us to meet him so we kept going. Kind of an awkward situation because part of me wanted to meet him and the other part didn't because I don't know what kind of influence he is.

Anyway, these are my new daughters (not official on paper yet but in my heart it's a done deal)

This is a picture of the outside of our apartment building. Our apartment is all the way up on the 6th floor where the little porthole window is. Did I mention there is no elevator? It's getting a little easier but whew am I winded but the time I get to the top :)

Visiting the Orphanage/Seeing the girls

2012-01-30T07:25:00.000-08:00

Daina came to get us around 2:30 today and took us to the orphanage to see the girls and to prepare us for court tomorrow. My tummy was a little unsettled this morning and I think it was my nerves pretty much being shot from being in a new place, not knowing where we are or able to speak the language and then the anticipation of seeing Dajana and Adelina.

On the way to the orphanage we met up with Dace, our translator, who is very sweet and kind and she took us the rest of the way there. When we first walked up two very friendly boys from the orphanage greeted us. The let us take their picture and then very proceeded to tell us the NEED money. I just told him I didn't have any :) He then said, are you Dajana's mom? And I said yes and they started to take us inside but we had to wait for Dace to catch up. I believe their names were Einars and Yuris (sp?).

So when we first went in Dajana came to see us and gave me a hug and Danny a hug and kiss. It was a very sweet moment and I really kinda was going to cry but held it in because I know they don't cry here. LOL. Then they took us into a room to meet the social worker and orphanage director but since the director was on vacation we met with the assistant. They gave us a background on the girls and then brought them both in to see us. At first they weren't really sure how to react to us being there. I think they were a little uncomfortable with everybody in the room. They then gave us a tour around the orphanage.

Finally we are together again!

These are some drawings on the wall in their bedroom

They also told us they just had a soccer tournament where they took first and third place! Very talented little ladies we are bringing home :)

So Daina will be back to pick us up at 8:30 tomorrow for court and then we will go back to the orphanage to get them and bring them to the apartment to stay with us.

Day 2

2012-01-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

We've been in Riga for a little over 24 hours now and are starting to get acclimated to our surroundings and the way things work.

We slept until noon this morning so I guess we had some pretty serious jet lag :) After we got up we walked to the center of Riga to a place called Marika to exchange some currency. We did a little at the airport yesterday but the exchange rate is better at this place. Here's a photo of some Latvian money (lats)

The architecture here is really cool too. I'm going to take some more pictures later but here are a few I snapped on our walk to Old Riga this morning.

This was breakfast at a little bakery we found. Danny had a chocolate croissant with a toffee type spread inside and I had a cherry danish and a coffee. Both were very yummy.

Frozen statue in the park

Snow and more snow. Did I say there was snow?

Daina is coming shortly and will be taking us to the orphanage to meet the girls so I will do another post on that later.

We are considering a vacation home here :) Maybe for families coming to adopt? LOL. Wouldn't that be cool!

Day 1

2012-01-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

We are here. We made it to Latvia finally! It was a pretty uneventful travel experience although the long flight from DC to Frankfurt was hot at hades. We feel off on our sleep pattern and have been napping here and there trying to figure out when exactly we should sleep.

We ventured out to Rimi today to pick up a few things to eat. That's the grocery store chain here. Daina is coming tomorrow and we get to go to the orphanage to see the girls.

Four days…

2012-01-24T08:37:00.001-08:00

So I finally began the packing process last night. I am a major procrastinator when it comes to this because I have no idea how to pack! I decided to start with a few things for the girls, some activities and stuff to do for entertainment, gifts for a few people that have helped us along the way, and a few things that I’m taking over for some other families and I’ve already filled one suitcase! LOL. So I’m going to try and get clothes for Danny and I into the other suitcase and our two carry ons. I think I can, I think I can.… My mom flies in from Orlando tomorrow. She and my mother in law will be holding down the fort at Camp Butler while we are away. I’ll need a few of you to pop over from time to time and make sure they aren’t tied to chairs or locked in the attic please as you never know what these three sweet little angels are capable of .

AND MORE BIG NEWS!

As if traveling to Latvia and being reunited with Dajana and Adelina wasn’t enough excitement I do have some other news. I have been praying for God to show me a way that I can serve that would enable me to continue helping and advocating for orphans once our adoption is complete. This has been very heavy on my heart and many of you have heard me talk about it (a lot). I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to serve as Assistant Regional Coordinator for Florida which means I will get to help answer calls and inquiries from families that are interested in hosting, find out info on and advocate for the children and help with questions that the families may have while the kids are stateside as well as questions they may have regarding adoption. And to make this opportunity even sweeter, a few ladies from the NHFC team are going to be in Riga the same time we are and it looks like I may get to spend a day with them visiting the orphanages and talking to the kids about summer hosting. I’m totally seeing God’s timing in this plan. If we had traveled sooner I would not have been able to join the team and help minister to these sweet kiddos while we are there. I’ve never been on a mission trip (though I’ve wanted to go on one for a while now) and miraculously I possibly get to do some mission work while we are in Latvia. So say a prayer for me as I step into this new role. I feel strongly that it’s what I’m supposed to do so pray that it will fit in well alongside our new family members adjusting and what not.

Okay, well I’m off to cram some more stuff into the other suitcase. My friend Ann who is a fellow Nashvillian and Latvian momma wants me to stuff her in there too but unfortunately I have got to get my clothes into this one and they take up a little more room than Vicki’s stuff (inside joke which you may get if you have read Ann's blog). Sorry Ann!!

9 days

2012-01-19T06:44:00.001-08:00

We are getting close! I got the approval from our facilitator yesterday on our Embassy Paperwork so that is good to go. I guess it’s time to start checking off the list and tossing some things in the suitcase.

I was able to chat for a minute on Draugiem this morning with Dajana. I told her that mom and dad leave on an airplane in 9 days and then it occurred to me that they only have 11 more days of their lives to spend in an orphanage. I wonder if they really realize that they are leaving? I mean do they believe it is happening or will they not truly know until we arrive there to get them? I wonder what they are feeling right now. Lots of different emotions I would think. While living in an orphanage is not the best situation, it’s been their home for the last four years. They have friendships there and connections that they will be leaving behind. Actually it takes great courage for these kids to make such a life changing decision. I pray that they are able to process it all without too much struggle.

On a different note, the boys are really looking forward to the girls coming back home. We’ve prayed for them several times a days since before the summer and it is just such a natural thing to include them as we would anyone else that is close to us. A friend of mine shared something with me that Matthew did at church on Sunday that just melted my heart.

I copied this from her fb post “have to tell you I had Matthew in Jungle journey. They were playing "hot potato" and were supposed to tell what/who they prayed for if the music stopped while they were holding the "potato". Most of the kids said things like "I pray for toys, Ipad, etc....but when Matthew got the 'potato' he said "i pray for my sisters".....brought a tear to my eye:)”

Isn’t he just the sweetest? Love that boy. My biggest boy is having a birthday this weekend. I can’t believe I’m about to become the parent of a teenager. Where did the time go? And I remember myself all to vividly in my teen years. Lord I’m really going to need your grace and mercy on this one! LOL.

10 days

2012-01-18T19:10:00.001-08:00

That’s all that’s left to get ready for our trip to Latvia! I am nervous about what to take with us, the weather, being to cold to get around, and mostly wondering how my girls will react to seeing us again. We told them this summer when they were here that we were going to visit them in Latvia. I just don’t think they believed us. Lucky for us we knew a secret we couldn’t share with them

So I’ve been told a few times lately what a horrible blogger I am lol. I’m sorry peeps! I promise to try and do better. At least while in country anyway. Can you forgive me?

Lots going on in the past few days. As far as fundraising goes we still have our Charity Project going and have raised half of our goal so far which we are beyond thankful for!

If you don’t follow us on facebook you wouldn’t know this but Adeye Salem, of No Greater Joy Mom Blog is trying to help some families that are adopting raise some last minute funds and we are one of the families that are featured on her linky. She is giving away TWO $250 WALMART GIFT CARDS to a random person. Everyone that makes at least a $10 donation to one of the families and then comments on her post ~~that they made the donation.~~ will be entered into the drawing. This went live on the 16th and from then to now we have received $427.44 in donations. We are just humbled and amazed at the generosity of others, even people that do not know our family, that are pouring out their love on us and giving to help get Dajana and Adelina home. God is so good!

Danny’s highlight of today was pulling up the 10 day weather forecast for Riga and realizing that we are in range of knowing the forecast when we travel lol. I’m happy to know that it will at least be back up in the 30’s by then.

I also got to talk with an old friend from high school for a good bit on the phone today that is adopting a child hosted in the US this winter. A friend of theirs hosted little Yarik from Ukraine and Jenn and Paul are moving forward to adopt the little cutie. I’m very excited for them and think it’s cool how similar our journeys will be. They are doing lots of neat fundraising stuff. I’m even going to be offering some personalized wristlet key chains for them to sell that will benefit both of our adoptions, hence bringing three little kiddos home. You can read about Jenn and Paul and little Yarik here.

Until next time (maybe tomorrow, maybe not ),

18 days

2012-01-10T05:25:00.001-08:00

18 days but whose counting? Well we are!! That’s all we have left until our plane leaves Nashville and we begin a journey that will bring us into the next chapter of our lives.

Lucky for us Latvia allows the children to return home with us on a student visa while we finish up the rest of the adoption so we are are able to spend that time bonding with our children. We will still have two more trips to make there that will happen sometime later this year but none the less we will be finalized sometime in 2012.

I am looking forward to being done with the paperwork and the fundraising. It’s been a lot of extra work to fit in with working full time and running our own businesses. I know having Dajana and Adelina here will make it all worth it though.

I’m also excited because as this chapter of our journey is coming to a close I am seeing opportunities to fill my need to advocate for orphans coming about. Yes we are adopting and giving two children a home but our work is not finished there. Until there are no more children in orphanages and foster families we will continue to share and advocate for them. But I’ll save all of that for another post

Right now we have 18 days to get together tax returns, copies of our copy of our dossier made, government forms completed and notarized, and to plan how to pack 4 people into 3 suitcase for 11 days.

We we come Latvia!!

Hijacking Blog

2012-01-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

My name is Shannon and I'm a friend of Tabby's. I've known her for geez...3 years? Is that right Tab? Maybe 4? Anyway, I hijacked her blog today because she is busy packing. Packing your asking? Oh my friends, that's right. The time has finally arrived! Tabby and Danny are now able to travel to Latvia to pick up their DAUGHTERS! The Butler household will have a lot more pink in it (Tabby, speaking of pink can you PLEASE update this blog to show that you are now a mom of girls? Boys are wonderful and all, but a person can only have so much blue).

Are you all jumping up and down right now with excitement? I know I was when Tabby told me. 20 long months later and the girls get to come home! This is why I'm here. They need some help bringing the girls home. As you know airline tickets are real expensive, and now having to fly 4 people home...the costs adds up. Tab has put together a fundraiser to help. All they are asking for is for each of you to donate $1 per person for a ticket. That's it! $4 from each of you they can get their babies home!! They only have a few days left to get $6200 - so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

You can read more about the fundraiser: http://www.acharityproject.com/f/4for4ticketsTheButlerAdoption

Congratulations Tabitha and Danny!!!!!

We have a court date!!!

2012-01-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

We received the much awaited email this morning that we finally have a court date!!! We will be leaving Nashville on the 29th and have court in Riga the 31 of this month!! So happy to finally be seeing our girls again. We will be in country 11 days and will arrive back home to Nashville with our girls on February 12th.

I tried to call and share the news with the girls this morning but the person who answered the phone and I cannot understand each other. Bummed because I don't know how to say, when may I call again to speak with them? Ugh!!

A friend here in Nashville that also adopted from Latvia tried to three way wall with us so her daughter could translate but we had technical difficulties so that didn't work out either. It was stressfully funny actually. Oh well. We will try again tomorrow!

We also have a new fundraiser that just went live to help raise some last minute travel fund. Please check it out and share with everyone you can! $4 for 4!!!!!! http://www.acharityproject.com/f/4for4ticketsTheButlerAdoption

Thanks friends!

December Recap

2011-12-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

December 1 - This has been a wonderful past few weeks in the adoption world, some friends of ours came home w/ their two sons from Ethiopia, another church family is there now bringing their child home, some new friends are in Latvia bringing their sweet girl home this week, we got our referral, another family that is adopting a boy from our girls orphanage is almost finished w/ their homestudy, another should be traveling either with or just behind us to get their two girls, and another friend got travel dates to Ukraine for their daughter. So happy to see all of these children soon to be one with their families forever! ♥

December 2 - Just received our official invitation to travel by the Latvian Ministry. Court dates coming soon!!!

December 5 - Front page of yesterday's paper had a story about two girls adopted from Latvia by a couple in Murfreesboro. Talks about the what all they went through but now they are healed, successful adults with a future. Thanks Kelly Kirkland for showing it to me. Ann Kimmel - tagging you in case you missed the article.

December 6 - Happy 10th birthday to my sweet Adelina. While she not yet my daughter on paper she is the daughter that the Lord has placed in my heart. I love her like I've always had her and cannot wait until she is home forever. Celebrating not only her birth today but that it is her last birthday in an orphanage.

December 7 - I want to share something cool with you all but follow along because its a lot lol. This is how awesome our God is. I met Renee Yoder Skibinski at an adoption fundraising seminar when we were still adopting from Nicaragua. She's also the one that led me to my girls. Anyway, I met Kate Hamernik through Renee on a fb fundraising group. Kate is a recently adoptive momma. Kate has a friend Kristen Gray Coffee that she met at the hospital while there with their newborn adoptive daughter who had some serious medical stuff going on. Kristen was also their adopting baby Eli who had Down Syndrome. Kristen's family is now heading back to adopt another boy just 6 months later. So I friended Kristen today through Kate who I met through Renee because I donated an item to their fundraiser today. Then, Charlotte Freeman, who is another soon to be Latvian momma that I met through the New Horizons for Children program bid on it . Do you see how this works? Adoption has networked all these families and is helping to bring all of these kids home. I am just amazed at God's awesomeness!!

December 11 - Latvia host kids are arriving today. So excited to read all their host family status updates. I wish my girls were coming but I did get to talk with them this morning and to hear them laughing and happy and reaffirming to them that we are coming next month is enough because I know soon they will be here forever :)

December 12 - Apartment shopping in Latvia :) Wish I had a court date so I could make definite plans. Hopefully this week we will get them!

December 12 - Just got back from Seans 7th grade winter concert followed up by taking the kids out for ice cream. The band did a wonderful job with all the music. Proud of my trumpet player Sean Butler

December 15 - Made my morning to look through the New Horizons for Children arrival photos and see all those kids that have found a place in my heart with their host families. All those kids I was posting that needed host families, they are there :) Oh, and my girls friends from their orphanage are there too. Now let's pray that bonds and connections are made and that these children find their forever families this winter.

December 16 - Got to chat with my daughter on the other side of the world today. I love technology :) Her response when I tell her she will soon be a Butler? "cool" LOL

December 19 - Bummed to know we have ran into another delay. The lady that gives out court dates for the orphan court it sick and the attorney says we may not have dates until next month. Such a let down. I want my girls home and it's hard for them to understand all this. Makes me wish we hadn't told them we were coming yet.

December 21 - Okay my Latvia families are getting on me to get to packing while we wait :) I am needing some warm clothes to take for the girls because when they come stay with us the orphanage most likely won't let them bring clothes. So I'm needing some 10's for Adelina and 12's for Dajana if anyone has any pants, long sleeve tops, or sweaters lying around. We have coats. May need boots but I can't remember what size shoes they wore :( They will be spending the majority of two weeks in an apartment with us there in country.

December 29 - Well seeing as we still don't have court dates travel for January is looking slim. Maybe we will be planning a two week vacation to Eastern Europe for Valentines day? Trying to put a positive spin on it :)

December 31 - Signed onto my account that I communicate w/ the girls with and got to see some Christmas photos that Dajana's dance teacher uploaded of her. Oh how my heart aches to hug my sweet girls but it did bring me some joy to see how great she looks and to see her smiling. It won't be much longer I hope.

December 31 - It's midnight in Latvia and New Years is a big holiday for them. Happy New Year Adelina and Dajana Butler!!!!

November Recap

2011-11-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

Since I have not blogged in a good month I decided to go through my facebook posts and pick a few out to summarize what we've been up to lateley.

October 31 - As I was putting my boys costumes on them I couldn't help but wonder if my girls did any trick or treating festivities today. They knew what Halloween was when they came but I wonder if they got to have any of the fun that the boys are going to have tonight?

November 7 - Matthew's craft from Sunday School yesterday was a paper plate w/ leaves on it and they names of his family were on the leaves. I was so tickled to see that he had told his teachers to put his sisters names on there too :) My boys are always saying they want their sisters to come home. Hoping to hear some news of some kind this week.

November 8 -Was happy to get a message from my daughter yesterday. It's the first one she has sent that was initiated by her. she was asking how we were, doing the hugs thing, etc. This is a huge step for her to be reaching out. It warms my heart to know that they are finally realizing that we really do love them and are that we aren't giving up on them. Now come on Latvia, we are waiting for you!

November 18 - Got a little update that makes me feel like our referral is coming soon! Is it too much to hope for next week?

November 19 - WOOHOOO!!!!! JUST RECEIVED A LETTER FROM SHOW HOPE THAT WE THEY ARE GIVING US A VERY GENEROUS GRANT TO HELP WITH OUR ADOPTION EXPENSES. CRYING BIG TEARS OF JOY AND PRAISE!! GOD IS SOOO GOOD!!

November 23 - D just sent me an email in all Latvian. That girl is making me work to talk to her LOL. Mama's heart it happy to hear from her.

November 29 - Praising Gods PERFECT timing this morning! We have received and accepted our referral. Now we wait for travel dates!

November 29 - Okay looks like we won't be going to Latvia until late January. I'm actually okay with it though because thinking of all we would need to do in order to get us there in two weeks was overwhelming and the host kids would have been stateside so the girls would not have been able to tell their friends goodbye. I really, truly have watched all of this unfold in His timing and it has been awesome to see how it's come together. Feeling very blessed :)

Just a little update

2011-10-20T13:42:00.001-07:00

Wanted to share with our 2 readers out there that D is out of the hospital and back at school. PTL! We still haven’t been able to talk with her but I’m happy to know she’s better and at school again. This news came from A who we talked to on Tuesday. She sounded very well and happy so that made of course made momma happy.

As far as the adoption, things seem to be slowing down in Latvia right now. I don’t know if it’s the number of families that have traveled lately or if people are on vacation in the winter time there but I really think this part of the waiting is the hardest. At first I thought we’d have them by Halloween, then I thought by Thanksgiving, but now I’m just praying for Christmas.

I am not a patient person and this is really difficult for me. Our caseworker says we should be hearing something from the ministry soon. I’ve been checking my email several times a day just looking for confirmation that they even have our translated dossier.

On that note, we are still raising travel funds. We have a big, all day scrapbooking event planned for November 12th. Details for it can be found here.

We are also looking for items for a silent auction to be held that day as well. If you have something you’d like to donate please email me at butlersadopt@gmail.com. We are looking for anything from gift certificates to tickets for sporting events. Whatever you have that you are willing to donate.

We are getting closer to getting D and A back with us. Blessings friends!

12 Hour Adoption Scrap-A-Thon

2011-10-03T05:08:00.001-07:00

Our church has offered to let us use their student center for an adoption fundraiser so we’ve put together this fun craft event for the community. Please help us get the word out by sharing with your friends.

You can also view the event on facebook and invite your friends that way too by following this link https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158689974220355&pending

Have a very blessed week sweet friends!

Thank you really isn’t enough

2011-09-30T03:54:00.001-07:00

The words really don’t do my feelings justice. I am so much more than thankful for all of you

I wanted to update everyone on where we are and what’s going on. First off thank you so much to every single person that has supported us and prayed for us in this adoption. Without that we wouldn’t have made it to where we are now. A big thank you to everyone that read and shared the previous blog post from a few days back.

That was a very difficult day for us and while the situation is still not good it was better than we had thought at first. We are praying for God’s hedge of protection around D and A while we work through the details of getting to them. At this point we cannot even communicate with one of them as there are no call allowed where she is at.

As a result of that post and you reaching out we received $300 in donations and MOST of that was from people we don’t even know but came as a result of you all sharing. THANK YOU FOR THAT! While we still have a long way to go that was such and encouragement to us. We also received several emails and facebook messages with words of encouragement and we really appreciated reading those. It’s helpful to know we are not a lone and there are other families dealing with some similar things.

We were hoping to have another yard sale this weekend but it’s going to be too cold here. Maybe next weekend. I’m sure the neighbors think we are nuts as often as we do them but if we are free on the weekend I say it’s a missed opportunity not to make some money lol.

There is a big fundraiser in the works for November 12th that the ladies are going to love so please save the date and I’m going to work on a post for that one this after noon. If you are a crafter of any sort this one will make you super happy

Praying for all of you and your families as you walk beside us through the longest and hardest journey of our lives this far. We love you all. Blessings to you!

What stands between us and them...

2011-09-27T15:20:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a long post and its going to be brunt, factful and honest. If you are along for the journey with us then please, grab your favorite beverage, sit down, read it, pray, donate, and share it. If you aren't well stop reading now because that's just what this post is about.

Basically we are in a very tough financial position. We are $16000 into this adoption journey but after we sent our dossier to Latvia it basically put us back at zero. We have around $25000 needed to fully finish up this journey to our TWO daughters. Roughly $10k is needed just for the first court visit which could be as soon as early November.

Our original plan was to take out a home equity loan but we recently found out thanks to the economy the home we've been paying on for 8+ years basically has NO equity in it WHATSOEVER. So that option is done.

The backup plan was to cash in my 401k which would take care of about 1/2 of what we are needing but it would still be helpful none the less. Well I have since found out that "adoption" does not qualify as a "hardship" therefore it can not be withdrawn. Go figure. They must think orphans have life easy. Kinda dumb if you ask me, you can take out a withdrawal to catch up on your house payment but not to give kids a home. What's wrong with this picture?

So we were hoping for a big miracle because we possibly could be traveling in the next 4-6 weeks and only have maybe $1k of the $10k that we need for that trip when I found out some more not so good news today so now we are really praying for a big miracle and fast.

There are details that I cannot share with you in order to protect the privacy of our girls but what I can tell you is that they are broken, they are damaged and they need healing. Healing that can only come with being loved unconditionally and having someone to walk through the ups and downs of life with you. Someone to hold your hand, hug you when you are sad and rejoice with you when you are happy. My little girls NEEDS THEIR MOMMA AND PAPPA ASAP!!!

Right now we are waiting for a court date but we need to be financially ready to accept that date when it comes so that travel arrangements can be made and we can get to the girls sooner that later.

Our current goal is to reach that $10,000. If we get that we can at least get them back here then we will worry about funding the 2nd and 3rd trip as the time comes.

I realize that this number is HUMONGOUS but together with our mighty God we can do it. I realize that we are asking A LOT of our friends, family, and any one else reading this but I can't help but think that the future of these kids are on the line and if we all come together the number is not that big. I just keep thinking how many orphans could find a home if everyone gave up just a little.

Would you consider donating $1, $10, $100 to bringing them home? Please pray about it. If you've got a few bucks leftover in your paypal account maybe you'd consider donating that? And I plead with you to please share this post with every single person you know. Post it on facebook and ask your friends to post it. If just 1000 people read this and gave $10 we would meet our goal. Or if just 500 people would not eat at McDonald's one night this week and instead donate $20 we would be fully funded and ready to travel. It's a small price to pay to give two children a home forever. To know they are loved and that they have a room and a bed of their own.

If you would like to give a donation there is a paypal button to the right of this post that will allow you to donate via paypal or credit card if you don't have a paypal account. There is also information on mailing a tax deductible donation in the sidebar. Or if you'd like to mail a donation directly to us please email us at butlersadopt@gmail.com for our mailing information.

I want you to know that it is almost embarrassing yet humbling to put this need out there but we know that we cannot do it without the help of other people. God has called us all to care for widows and orphans and for us to not share our need with you to bring these girls home we would possibly be cheating you of the chance to do something with that command.

The ticker at the top of this blog will be continually updated as we work towards our first court fees.

God has put so many people in our lives as a result of this process. New friends that I will be forever thankful for. We know this adoption is a huge undertaking and perhaps we are not as well off as some believe we should be to adopt two more children but we met the requirements of the homestudy to provide for them and that is what we fully intend to do. We are very well off compared to the majority of this world. We just need help getting them home.

On a final note, I want to share with you the words from my devotional today. I've felt so helpless knowing I couldn't run to them and rescue them with the news I received today and then I read these words:

RELAX IN MY EVERLASTING ARMS. Your weakness is an opportunity to grow strong in awareness of My Almighty Presence. When your energy fails you, do not look inward and lament the lack you find there. Look to Me and My sufficiency; rejoice in My radiant riches that are abundantly available to help you.

Thanks for reading this long post. Maybe your cup is empty, maybe it isn't, or maybe your cup runneth over and you want to share :) Blessings friends!

Our dossier has made it to Latvia!

2011-09-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is a much overdue post but the title pretty much sums up where we are at. Thanks to another family that is in the adoption process and was traveling back to Latvia for court our dossier was put it into the hands of the attorney on September 12th. Now it is in the process of being translated and once that is done it will go to the ministry when we will receive an official referral.

This sweet friend also took the time out of her trip to visit my girls and deliver some packages to them. D was away at school but A was there so she was able to look through the things we sent to them. It was an awesome visit because no one had “officially” asked the girls if they wanted to be adopted by us yet so the attorney and social worker were able to do that at this visit. She said that A had been holding her head down most of the time (she’s very shy if she doesn’t know you) but when they asked her if she wanted to be adopted she looked up with a big smile on her beautiful face. I have the photo, someday I’ll be able to share that with you but rules are rules.

So we are making progress and hopefully it won't be too much longer until they are home.

Hope Quilt Fundraiser

2011-08-10T16:56:00.001-07:00

I was searching the internet today for some different fundraising ideas for adoption and I came across a lot of really neat ones but one in particular stuck out. People were selling puzzle pieces for $5 each and would write the contributors name on the back. When all the pieces were sold the puzzle would be placed in a double sided frame and hung in the baby’s room. I thought this was a neat idea but 1) we aren’t adopting a baby and 2) I have no idea how to get my hands on a Latvian puzzle without spending a fortune. Then the grandest idea hit me! I would LOVE to make the girls an adoption quilt that showed them how many people helped to bring them home. And since I love being crafty this is right up my alley.

Each square will cost $5, you can purchase as many as you’d like to go in their quilt. Each HOPE square will have the contributor’s name written on the back with a fabric marker. We’d also love for you to send us a scripture or some kind words for us to include with your name. Once it’s time for the quilt to be assembled we will transfer those names and scriptures to a book so that they will always be able to look back and see who contributed to them having HOPE and a FUTURE.

One twin size quilt takes about 391 5” squares. We’d love to sell 782 squares so that each girl can have their own HOPE quilt. Think we can do it?

I don’t know 782 people so we are going to need your help! Please share this on your facebooks and even better share it on your blogs and help us get the word out.

You can buy your HOPE square(s) through this PayPal button. Please leave us your name and note or scripture in the message area so that we can add it to your square.

This graph will be updated regulary to reflect how many squares have been sold

8/13 - 82 Squares sold so far!

We are $2400 short of being able to submit our dossier to Latvia for translation. Once this is done we will receive our official referral. We will then need to have around $10,000. This will cover travel fees, visas, attorney fees, lodging and some other stuff so our current goal is to raise $12400.

Thank you all for sharing our cause and supporting us as we travel this long and bumpy journey to bring our daughters home and complete our family.

Some updates

2011-08-10T04:57:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to update everyone and let them know that we are now down to needing just a mere $2400 more in order to send our dossier to Latvia. We will be having a yard sale this Friday and Saturday if anyone has anything they would like to donate to it.

We are also planning a car wash for later this month. Possibly in two locations if we can get enough volunteers to help. If you would like to help with this event please let us know. Older kids can wash cars too. I’m hoping Sean will be able to get some of his friends from his Sunday School class to come out. If anyone has any connections with a location in Spring Hill and/or Franklin that would be great otherwise I’m going to start calling around.

Every little bit really does add up. Every $5 makes a difference when you think of the $65 we paid each for drug testing yesterday, or the $10 for background checks, or the $190 to have my passport expedited. And that doesn’t touch on what we are paying for the actual adoption. It’s crazy that it’s such a high price to bring these kids to families.

I’ll be looking into and applying for some grants this coming week too. We had to have our home study finalized before that could be done and then while the girls were visiting this summer I didn’t have time to work on any of it.

We tried to call the girls at their orphanage but they are gone to the city for camp until next week. They still do not know that we are adopting them but the director at NHFC is checking to see if we can tell them when we call them on Monday since we are a good ways into the process already.

On another note, school starts back this week for my boys. Sean is going into the seventh grade, can you believe it? My first born is growing up too fast. He got his schedule, locker assignment and met his teachers on Monday night. Then Matthew will be starting kindergarten in a little less than two weeks. They stagger their start days so it’s not so overwhelming for the little ones.

This is a photo taken of all of our kids before the girls left. The photography was done by Ricky Gongwer so give him a shout if you are looking to have your families pictures done. You can find him on facebook. The kids thought he was really funny.

*oops, can't share the photos anymore since we are officially in process*

That’s it for now. Happy hump day friends!

What’s next…

2011-08-06T08:01:00.001-07:00

Well those five weeks of summer came and went in almost a blur. The days flew by and our house was very busy with lots of noise but without even knowing it that chaos became a comfort.

D and A flew home on Thursday morning. Leaving them at that airport and watching them walk through security while they kept looking back to see if we were still there was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I was a blubbering mess that day. Not much could be said that wouldn’t make me tear up.

It’s been two days now without them and our house is quieter but it’s a sad quiet. Not the quiet that I begged for some times during those summer weeks. The stillness is a reminder that my little girls are gone. We’ve closed the door to their room because walking by and seeing it empty is hard. Watching my four year old sit sadly and tell me that he misses the girls and wants them back is hard. Sean fought with them like they’d been siblings their whole lives while they were here and he’s missing them so much too, he says it’s boring here without them. That’s hard on my heart. Watching my husband cry is hard. We are praying for God to sustain us during these hard times.

We are now focusing on finishing up our dossier and hope to have it completed by the time we get our approval from USCIS. Burying myself in the paperwork is the easiest way to cope as I know it’s going to bring them back sooner. The good news is that we had a good head start because we’d finished our homestudy and filed our i800A before they even got here. Once our dossier is submitted things tend to move pretty quickly so I hear. We’d get our referral and then a travel date usually within one to two months. The girls will be able to return with us after the first court date as “hosting” again but will have to return for final court on the third trip.

That’s both wonderful and scary because while we want it to go fast so we can bring them back sooner that means we need to move fast with our fundraising. Prior to being able to submit the dossier we have to send ~~$1500~~ to our agency for casework fees (paid), the remaining agency fee of ~~$3000~~ (paid), a $2300 translation fee for the attorney in Latvia, and a ~~$1000~~ post placement retainer ($500 remaining).

I’ve got a couple of ideas in the works but in the meantime if you’d like to make a donation to help us reach this present goal of $2800 you can do so either via the PayPal button on the right side of our blog or if you’d like your donation to be tax deductible you can send it to our agency and put our family name in the memo line of your check. Our agency is not 501c accredited at the moment but their application has been submitted and should be approved this year so all donations made in this year will be deductible (They will be retro approved to January 1). The address is:

Adoption Related Services

8 South Main Street
P.O. Box 201
Shrewsbury, PA 17361

There have been so many clear signs through this time that we know we are following God’s direction and that He is going to provide what is needed to get them here. We are so thankful to be part of His great plan for these children. Please continue praying for Dajana and Adelina and for our family and the finances as we work towards bringing them back to us.

Looking for a few items

2011-07-25T04:04:00.001-07:00

These past three weeks have got by in a blur. It’s hard to believe that D and A will be leaving in a little more than a week. It breaks my heart to think about putting them on that plane and putting so much distance between us and the connections we’ve made with them. They have come a long way in the time they’ve been here and I pray that some of the things they’ve learned will stick with them until we see them again.

While it is very hard to think it about them heading to their home in Latvia, it is something that we need to prepare for. There are a few things we need for each girl and I wanted to put those needs out there just in case someone that reads this blog wanted to do something to help. A few of the items have already been taken care of.

One 26-28 inch rolling suitcase for each girl

One large backpack for each girl

~~Tennis shoes/sneakers (we plan to purchase these for them after we measure their feet and would like for these to be new)~~

~~4 pairs of socks each~~

~~4 pairs underwear each~~

~~Hygiene products~~

One hand towel and wash cloth set-NO large towels do to lack of dryer space each

~~One dressy outfit each~~

2-3 winter outfits (we don't know their sizes, so if you have second hand clothes for girls ages 8-12 we would gladly take it off your hands to have them try on and then either return remaining items or donate them to someone else on your behalf)

One winter coat, size 10/12 ~~each~~ (one has been donated already)

~~One scarf each~~

One set of gloves each

~~One winter hat each~~

A small photo album for each girl

Board games that they can take back home; this actually may be better if it is the travel sized games and we were told repeatedly that the children in the orphanages love UNO and other card games

Other toys that don't require batteries

Small items for children who didn't get to attend the trip; items such as silly bands, beaded jewelry, or small items that can be found as Christian bookstores, like bookmarks and beads are recommended

I love these girls and they have touched my heart and changed me in so many ways in just a few short weeks.

New Horizons has also put up a photo listing of the “unmatched” children. These kids are still here in the United States for a little longer and are available to meet if you are looking to adopt. If adopting isn’t on your radar right now perhaps you will consider hosting a child over Christmas. To view the photo listing visit this link and use the password “praying”

http://nhfc.smugmug.com/Children/Children-Need-Forever-Families/17987772_24cpx8

I will be doing a large post soon to recap our hosting experience and share more photos. Have a great week friends! We love you all!

They ARE HERE!

2011-07-02T13:02:00.001-07:00

The day we’ve been waiting on for weeks has finally came. Thursday we made the trek to Atlanta to meet our girls. I wasn’t really that nervous until standing in the airport waiting for them to come up the escalator. That was when I felt the butterflies. When I saw their tiny little selves come off the escalator I had so many feelings that my eyes got teary for a few minutes before we even greeted them.

They were so sweet and gave Danny and I both gifts. I think they had an inside scoop on us because they gave me a coffee cup and Danny candy. They knew how to get us from the start

Photo removed

These girls have energy like I have never seen before. They want to play from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. They love apples and Toby to pieces. They have no problem calling us Mom and Daddy already. I’ve seen some nurturing moments between them and the boys as well.

Photo removed Photo removed Photo removed Photo removed

Tonight we are going to enjoy family movie night and popcorn. Dajana has been asking for popcorn lots.

You are more than just a number…

2011-06-25T12:59:00.001-07:00

Sean was looking at a photo of the girls that we have had pinned to our refrigerator since we found out about them in early May and noticed under the photo were their names and the numbers D91 and D92. He asked me, “mom what do those numbers mean?”. While I’m not sure if the numbers were assigned by New Horizons for the hosting program or if this is a number in the Latvian “system” to keep up with them it kind of made me very sad to think about it. These kids are more than just a number. They are real, they have hearts, and they need a family. I understand the need to keep things systematically organized and I guess it’s all in the perspective that you look at it from but I don’t want to think of them as a number, or as another statistic. I want to them of them as mine. My heart is invested in this so deep already. We will be making our trek to Atlanta in just five days to pick them up and meet them for the first time. Please keep the girls in your prayers over the next few weeks as their trip here is going to be a very big transition for them with lots of hurdles to cross, language one of the biggest.

Also, PLEASE friends DO NOT MENTION OUR ADOPTION PLANS TO THEM! These kids just think they are coming to America for a vacation and to be exposed to what a life would be like in a Christian family. While they may already have the hope or idea in their minds we don’t want to encourage it at this point. This is a major no, no per our Hosting Agency because there are LOTS of ups and downs in adoption and something can always go wrong. We do not want these girls being left to pick up the pieces wondering what they did wrong should that happen.

While we are on the numbers note, I just want to give a big praise to God for his financial provision in this so far. It seems like things are going a little easier in that aspect than they were previously and I can only take that as a sign that we are on the right track.

Our updated homestudy ($1500) was finalized on June 23rd and we will be mailing our I800A along with $890 to USCIS on Monday. PTL that we have the funding to do that. We also almost have the complete amount needed for our next payment ($1500) to our adoption agency. Literally just shy of it by around $100. I’m hoping to have a few people take advantage of a fresh blog look and cover that difference. This payment covers the case management and dossier coordination costs. If you’d like to make a contribution towards these costs you can do so via the donate button on the right side of our blog. If you’d like to get your blog redesigned just send me an email to tabitha@scrapberrydesigns.com.

The next payment (following the one above) will be a big one, $5300 to be exact, but that covers our final agency fee, dossier translation, and processing fees. This will have to be paid prior to submitting our dossier to Latvia. I’ve got complete piece about it though. I know that God is going to provide the means to make this happen.

I like being very open and honest about the costs involved in our adoption because I am hoping that it helps others to see that if you take the process one step at a time it is completely possible for the everyday middle class families like us to bring these kids home. If you’ve thought about adopting but are fearful because of the money involved set that fear aside and go for it. Give it over to God, let Him take you by the hand and walk you through the journey. He will travel the road with you, even the bumpy ones, and get you to your destination if you just put faith in Him.

I pray that you all have a very fulfilling and blessed week. I know we will with becoming a family of 7 for the summer starting on Thursday.

14 days remain…

2011-06-16T08:17:00.001-07:00

That’s it! Just two weeks until we pack up in the car and head to Atlanta to pick up A and D. I’m feeling excited, nervous, anxious, and fearful all at the same time. Kinda crazy!

We are still preparing for their visit here with us this summer. We are making their welcome signs for the airport this weekend and will start labeling different things in the house in both English and Latvian. Their room is ready and very girly looking. It’s the first girls room I’ve put together and I like it. Very bright and colorful. I did leave the walls empty so that maybe they can pick out some pictures or something they might like for their space. We’ve received some clothing donations to help get us through the first few days of their visit until we can go shopping too. Thank you so much everyone that has stepped up to help in these areas. The hosting fees have also been paid. However, there are still a few needs for both girls that I thought I would put out there just in case anyone is wanting to help but didn’t know what they could do.

The following needs are requirements that we MUST send home with the child. They can be second-hand, but must be in good condition. They must not be brand-name as this could cause bullies to harass them when they return home. We learned that most items they return with will become community property. If you are able to donate any of these items we would GREATLY appreciate it; or if you would like to give gift cards to stores like Target or Wal-mart that would be excellent as well!

One 26-28 inch rolling suitcase for each girl

One large backpack for each girl

Tennis shoes/sneakers (we plan to purchase these for them after we measure their feet and would like for these to be new)

4 pairs of socks each

4 pairs underwear each

Hygiene products

One hand towel and wash cloth set-NO large towels do to lack of dryer space each

One dressy outfit each

2-3 winter outfits (we don't know their sizes, so if you have second hand clothes for girls ages 8-12 we would gladly take it off your hands to have them try on and then either return remaining items or donate them to someone else on your behalf)

One winter coat each

One scarf each

One set of gloves each

One winter hat each

A small photo album for each girl

Board games that they can take back home; this actually may be better if it is the travel sized games and we were told repeatedly that the children in the orphanages love UNO and other card games

Other toys that don't require batteries

Small items for children who didn't get to attend the trip; items such as silly bands, beaded jewelry, or small items that can be found as Christian bookstores, like bookmarks and beads are recommended

O.K. So, we hope we didn't overwhelm you! The funny thing is that we still have SO much to share. In the meantime we hope that this gives you enough information to pray and consider until our next update!
Thank you for reading this blog and for loving us. Your support, is the greatest blessing and source of encouragement. And, since we believe it is God who prompts you to support us, we ultimately praise Him for giving us all we need to do His work.

Thank you! We pray you will also be blessed this week!

Three days left

2011-05-29T14:30:00.001-07:00

Just in case you missed our previous post, I am doing a drawing for a Limited Edition Large Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty-One Gifts. One dollar = One Entry. The door closes to get your entry on May 31 and the drawing will be held on June 1

So far there are 72 entries. Every little bit adds up and it really does make a big difference.

Since we changed adoption agencies we are basically starting from scratch financially. God is providing and I know He will continue to as long as we are in His will but we do have to be proactive on our part as far as fundraising goes.

Just click on this link to take you to our fundraizer page where you can make a donation of any amount/get your entries for the tote.

http://goo.gl/f60Y2

Thank you for your prayers and support. Please be praying specifically for D and A to be open to being a part of our family and for the adjustment to be easy on them. We are counting down the days until they will be here for us to meet and love on in person. Just 33 days!

A new direction but with a view of the finish line

2011-05-17T05:38:00.001-07:00

Dearest friends,

I am just overly thrilled to be writing this post to share with you. After much prayer and consideration Danny and I have decided to pursue the adoption of two Latvian girls that we learned about as part of the New Horizons for Children summer hosting program. We’ve thought about it hard and we just do not see any reason why we should not make these girls a part of our family. Some have advised us to “wait and see” how it goes this summer but in our eyes it’s not fair for them to have to “try out” for us. Our own children are loved unconditionally and we wouldn’t put them out for anything so to us these children need someone to love them that way too. No matter what. They’ve been through enough without needing to impress us and the more I learn about the orphanages in Eastern Europe the faster I want to get them out of there as soon as possible. The good news is that we already have our homestudy, we just have to update a few things in it.

The downside to this is that our present adoption agency cannot help us. This means we are out what we’ve paid to them so far and are basically starting from scratch. Only this time we need to act quickly because we have actual children waiting on us!

I have a fun little raffle that I want to do to kick things off. If you read my previous post you will see my whole thought process about how much $1 really can do if we all just come together to unite in a cause. Well my cause is two precious young ladies, 9 and 10 years old, that need a mother and father. Will you please join in and unite with us? Donate if you are able and pray if you are not?

Last night at a Thirty-One consultants meeting I received this limited edition Large Organizing Utility tote. IT CANNOT BE PURCHASED FROM THE CATALOG! The only way to get this bag is to spend $31 in month of June and then you are able to purchase it for $9.

However, we have a need and I think you all are just going to want to get your hands on this bag asap right? So , how would you like to get a chance to win it for $1? Purchase as many chances to win as you’d like! I will put all the entries inside of my littles carry all and we will do a live video draw of the winner on May 30th. The raffle is for the tote itself. The contents shown are not included.

**EDITED** to add that Leigh Walling of Sew Many Blessings has offered to monogram the bag for free for the winner. Thanks Leigh! Be sure to stop by her blog and see all the cute things she has to offer :)

To get your entries just click on this link to take you to our fundraizr page where you can donate any amount that you’d like. You will receive one entry per $1 donated.

http://goo.gl/f60Y2

Please share this raffle on your blogs, facebook, with friends or wherever you can. Leave a comment with a link to where you shared this post for an extra chance to win. We really need to make a big impact to kick things off quickly for these angels.

Blessings abound when we are obedient to the Lords calling. Have a great day everyone!

Good News and Great News

2011-05-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hi, yes it’s me. I’m sure you’ve long ago thought that I’d given up on this blog. It has been several months since my last post and we have been in a whirlwind of business. I started back to work FT and it just seems like our days and nights fly by with stuff to do. Both Sean and Matthew are playing baseball this spring season. Sean has had a pretty good season himself but I can’t say the same for his team, lol. He’s great at playing first base and has really show his skill at pitching this season. Now Matthew, that is some funny stuff right there. The boy who has spent his first 4 years of life at the ball fields watching big bro play, I just knew would have a clue as to what to do. But nope! LOL. First game he hits the ball off the tee and runs right through the field towards second base. It was a funny sight to see for sure! I took some pics but I haven’t taken them off the video camera yet. I will do that soon too. I promise

Now, onto our NEWS!

The good news is the WE ARE FINALLY FINISHED WITH OUR HOMESTUDY! You know that one little song that goes “this is the song that never ends, and it goes on and on my friend”? Yep I know you have it in your head now, lol. You can thank me later. But anyway that’s what this has felt like! We’ve had some things that had to be cleared up and documents tracked down and things notarized and it always seemed like there was something else we had to get but I am so relieved and thrilled to say that IT IS DONE! This means we can finally move on… and with that, we have some great news.

We have decided to host a set of siblings this summer from Latvia as part of New Horizons for Children hosting program. These are orphans that want to come to America for a few weeks and experience life here in a loving Christian home. Our girls are 9 and 10 and have came one other time and speak some English. We are very excited about this opportunity and are keeping our minds and hearts open to what it could mean for our adoption in the future. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to give their names or not (there are funny rules about that stuff) so I’ll just refer to them as the girls for now. The older of the two likes dancing and gymnastics and is a bit more reserved when it comes to people so please pray that is a barrier we will be able to get past with her. I really want these girls to feel like they are part of us while they are here and to give them the best family experience possible. The younger one is a little more outgoing and loves to read (I think she’s like me, lol). We will be picking them up on June 28 and they will stay with us through the first week of August. We've had to dip into our savings a bit in order to cover the $3800 in hosting expenses but I really feel like God put them and this opportunity in front of us and it is so far off our original direction and there were some timing things that just showed us how this is all falling into play so that was enough confirmation for me. Here is a photo of them taken off the NH facebook page. One look at this picture and these girls had a special place in my heart.

With that being said, we are still saving and fundraising for our adoption (wherever it leads us) and I had a really great idea that I’d like to try out. God calls us all to care for the widows and orphans and I realize that can be done in many, many ways but when it comes down to adopting it’s just plain expensive and very hard for the average family to come up with the funds without lots of help from others. So I thought wouldn’t it be neat to see how far your dollar really can go in this economy? I mean, times are tough right now and it’s hard to always give even when you really want to but if we all dug down in the couches or looked in our cars I’m sure we could find at least a dollar in spare change.

So I am designating Fridays as “How far can $1 go?” day. Bright and early tomorrow I’ll post a link that you can use to donate $1 (or more if you want) towards our adoption expenses. If you will share that link via twitter and facebook or any other social media that you use just think of how many $1’s that could be! I’ll update the blog as the day goes with how it’s adding up. I think it’ll be kind of fun to see how it works out. This is one of my long term ideas for after our adoption is complete too in order to keep advocating for the remaining orphans and helping their families bring them home. It’s so sad when you think of how lavishly we live, even what’s not lavish here is a mansion to these kids. I pray that America will wake up and see that we really can make a difference. I could go on and on about why it is so important to get these kids out of the orphanages and into families but I’ll save that for another post.

So, that’s what we’ve been doing and are currently doing Have a blessed day my sweet friends!

Our homestudy is almost finished!

2011-01-20T06:02:00.001-08:00

We had our homestudy visit in December and sent in the last bit of paperwork last week so now it’s in the social workers hands and we are just waiting on our report.

It feels good to have this step behind us and moving forward. Please keep praying for our family in each step of this journey.

Life has gotten a bit busy lately and sometimes we I get frustrated that we aren’t working on moving the adoption along faster but then I have to remember that it’s all coming together in God’s timing and to have patience. I seem to forget that often.

I got an email the other day from Camie. She’s the wife of the family that we stayed with when we went to Indianapolis to check out MLJ and attend the fundraising seminar. Such a sweet person and I’m always glad to hear from her. She had some other fundraising ideas that I’m checking into.

We are ready for this cold air to move on so we can get busy with events and yard sales again. The kids are tired of being stuck in the house too.

Friday night we will be getting out and celebrating a birthday though! Sean is going to be twelve. I just cannot believe that I am this close to having a teenager in my house. Lord, please prepare me because I don’t think I’m ready for this.

Have a blessed day everyone!

Adoption Update

2010-12-30T10:56:00.001-08:00

It’s been a little while since I actually updated on the progress of our adoption so I’ve got a little catching up to do :) We’ve been busy!!

Back at the end of November we had the drawing for the iPad Raffle and the secondary prizes. The winners were Trudi Aldrich for the iPad, Donna Sumners for the Rodan & Fields Dermabrasion Bar, and Jose (a friend of my brothers so I don’t have a last name) for the Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty One Gifts.

Thank you so much to everyone the donated prizes, bought tickets, and prayed for us. We raised close to $1500 after the purchase of the iPad with this event! This amount bumped us over the top so that we were actually able to send in our first payment to MLJ in November and become “official” clients :)

December 11th was our Pancake Breakfast with Santa. Both the Spring Hill Captain D’s and the Walgreens on Port Royal Road sponsored our event and really showed that they care about their community. Please remember to patronize these businesses! We were blessed with $1000 for this fundraiser.

This came just in time because we had our homestudy visit on the 17th and we actually had the money to pay for it! LOL. The visit went well and we hope to have the report finished up in the next few weeks.

So you can see that we really are taking this adoption one step at a time.

In case you are wondering why I am sharing what we raised and what things cost it is because someone may be reading this blog that has considered adoption but is fearful of the amount of money it costs. I am an open book and I want people to see that God will provide the means if He is calling you to adopt! Do not be fearful, put your faith in Him and let Him lead the way :)

Our blog is going private…

2010-12-03T09:37:00.001-08:00

Our agency has asked us to be very careful as to what information is publicly disclosed regarding our adoption therefore our blog is going private.

I am an open book and enjoy sharing my experiences because it may help or encourage someone else that is going through the same thing so I don’t hold back much :)

If you’d like to be able to continue viewing our blog make sure to become a follower! If you haven’t already, you will need to create an account and log in. Just click the follow button in the far right sidebar.

Thank you for understanding. We don’t want anything to mess up our progress.

And the winners are...

2010-12-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the winner of the Apple iPad. Trudi Aldrich you are the winner! The secondary prizes are as follows: Rodan and Fields Dermabrasion Bar goes to Donna Sumners and the Thirty-One Gifts Organizing Utility Tote goes to Jose Arroyo. Thank you to everyone that bought tickets and helped sell them. We raised $1500 through this event towards bringing our daughter home!

We'd love to have you to continue to follow our blog and to pray for our family as we continue working through this wonderful journey that God has called us on.

Blessings to you all!

iPad Update

2010-11-30T13:24:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to give a quick update on where we are. We will hopefully be doing the ipad raffle tomorrow. I have one more set of tickets I'm waiting to come in that are in the mail. So sorry for the delay.

Crossing my fingers that they get here tomorrow so that we can pick a winner!

What’s your comment worth? In the eyes of our daughter it’s priceless.

2010-11-22T04:51:00.001-08:00

I’m a little late in posting this but better late than never right? It’s been a busy month and I’m trying to make more time to just relax and hang out with the kids which means less time on the computer aside from my workday.

This is a big news post though so please read and then do your part :)

In honor of National Adoption Awareness month Six Seeds.tv has partnered with us in our fundraising efforts. They have posted a featured article of our family on their website and FOR EVERY COMMENT RECEIVED on our story THEY WILL DONATE $2 to our fundraising expenses!

Six Seeds is a Christian based website that brought you reviews and such on things like Chronicles of Narnia. By leaving us a comment you are signing up for the newsletter but you may choose to opt out and we still get the credit for your comment.

You are the hands and feet of God and this child needs you!

Our article can be viewed here:

http://sixseeds.tv/s/content/adoption/653-adoption_the_butler_family

As of this morning we have 337 comments. Our goal is to get at least 500. Will you help us meet this goal?

The feature runs through the end of November but please take the time to leave your comment today and then share with your friends.

Feel free to blog about it yourself, send it out on facebook or shoot it out in an email. We need help spreading the word!

Blessings,

Update on the iPad Giveaway

2010-11-02T04:28:00.001-07:00

To date we have sold 132 tickets and given away 25 to our sponsor and supporters that bought 5 tickets and got one free for a total of 157 tickets.

We are over half way to our goal of 300 tickets!

Hopefully we will be able to wrap this up mid to end November and get somebody an iPad for Christmas =) Won’t that be nice!

So if you haven’t gotten your ticket(s) yet please let me know and we will get them to you asap.

Thanks everyone for your support. I will be updating the blog again later today with some other announcements so please be sure to check back!

Have a blessed day friends!

Why? Why do we need another child when we already have three?

2010-10-22T09:49:00.001-07:00

It was brought to my attention that some people may be wondering this very question and I felt a need to share my heart and what has become my passion. I hope this will help you all to understand why we are adopting and why we are adopting specifically from Nicaragua.

Let me begin by saying that our adoption is not just about me having another baby. There is nothing wrong with my baby maker and if it were just about having another child I could physically do that myself and let the insurance pay for it and save us a whole lot of money.

Danny and I have a love so strong for orphans, for fatherless children. We want to give a child that has NOTHING a home and a family to love them. And yes I realize there are children right here in the U.S. that need homes but we are feeling called to Nicaragua because of the time that Danny has spent there. I also feel that the children here have a little more opportunity for care and to find families than the ones internationally do.

Can we afford it? The actually adoption itself? Well not really, but in all reality who has that kind of money lying around? But I can tell you this, MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN $30,000. And it will happen in His timing. Can we afford another child? Yes. I don’t care if we have to eat rice and beans every single night for dinner and pile them all into one bedroom because that is the kind of sacrifice that we are willing to make to SAVE A CHILDS LIFE. College you ask? Well we have a whole 7 years before our first one gets there and if God brings us to it He will bring us through it.

I also want to tell you that this journey is becoming a passion and when my little girl is home it will not be over. I want to DO SOMETHING to make it easier for families to adopt. A $30,000 mountain should not be in the way of giving a child a family. It is so heartbreaking to know that we have homes just waiting for these kids but because the average family cannot even fathom the costs nothing comes of it. So you wait and see, God is working this out but I am feeling this and I am going to do something.

This is my heart cry and is becoming my obsession. I hope you have a little better understanding of the WHY now. Blessings to all and please pray for our family as we continue forward. God is moving mountains!

It’s the BIG ONE! iPad Giveaway and more!!!

2010-09-30T13:25:00.001-07:00

The number one question we get asked about our adoption is “where are you in the process” so I wanted to give you an update. There were some crazy ups and downs last month in our employment/insurance situation but God worked that all out and I can now say that WE ARE FINALLY STARTING OUR HOMESTUDY! It’s exciting to be moving into this phase because from what I understand this is where things really get rolling.

We are also kicking off our BIGGEST fundraiser YET. Anyone want to win an Apple iPad? Yep, that’s what I said. We are raffling off a 16gb wifi iPad! Does this baby have your name on it?

A $10 donation will get you one entry into the drawing, each increment of $10 will get you another, and a $50 donation will get you six!!! Buy 5 get one free. What a deal!!!!!

One more way to enter: If you would like to help us sell the tickets you get an entry for each book of 10 that you sell!

More than one winner here!

We also have some great secondary prizes to offer up

Custom Made Ruffle DSLR Camera Strap courtesy of Shelley at Pink Punk Boutique. I have a custom DSLR bag and strap made by her and I get lots of compliments on it.

Rodan & Fields Micro-Dermabrasion Bar courtesy of Christie Buchanan. To get hooked up with all the great R&F products you can contact Christie at bamagirl73@bellsouth.net

and last but not least, a Thirty-One Gifts organizing utility tote courtesy of Thirty-One Gifts with Tabitha Butler. You can keep up to date on all my events and sales here :)

Here is the down low on how to get your tickets:

1. Give your money to Danny or I directly and we will give you your raffle ticket. This is for the Tennessee people.

2. See one of our many helpers for an entry into the drawing. Right now those are Brian Bruce (Florida), Heather Banholzer (Alabama), Keith Jones, Lorinda or Charlie Rivers, and Betty Apple but the list is still growing.

3. If you would like to make an online donation to us please contact me via email at butlersadopt@gmail.com.

The drawing will be held once 300 tickets have been sold, this is expected to happen fairly quickly with the aid of our seller helpers :) We will post a live video of the drawing on the blog and facebook as well as contact the winner by phone. You can stay tuned to this blog for frequent updates as to when the drawing will be. Please tell all of your friends, post it on your Facebook, Blog, or Tweet it to your heart's content.

Your $10 donation (or whatever you chose) is greatly appreciated and even if you are just doing it for your chance to win you are helping to bring our little girl home from Nicaragua!

Best Wishes!!!

Catching up…

2010-09-11T09:51:00.001-07:00

Thanks again to everyone that participated and helped spread the word about the facebook blitz last month. We raised $150 above the cost of the iPod itself and every dollar counts towards getting there :)

It’s been a busy last few weeks with lots of things going on in the Butler house. We found out we needed to buy insurance prior to our home study to show that we are able to meet any medical needs our little girl may have, then we received word that my position at work was being done away with so we were racking our brains for another plan when my job then came back and offered me the opportunity to work full time from home. What a blessing that turned out to be! Our insurance needs have been met!

So I’m working on filling out our home study application and off it will go on Monday! God is soooooo good!

We are working on a few more fundraisers at the moment. The first one coming up this week is another raffle but this time with a BIG PRIZE. We will be raffling off a 16gb iPad along with some other secondary prizes. We will be needing some helpers to get the word out and sell some tickets for us. Each person that takes a book of 10 tickets to sell will receive an entry into the drawing. If you sell two books, you get two entries. Our goal is to sell 300 tickets. If you are willing to help us in this area leave me a comment or send me an email at butlersadopt@gmail.com.

In the next few weeks we will be having another BIG, BIG yard sale here at the house. If you’d like to do some fall deep cleaning and de-cluttering and donate your no longer used treasures we would appreciate it so much. We will take everything from books, toys, furniture, dishes, you name it. I do have to ask that if you are donating clothing please do so lightly. We still have a ton of clothes to sell from previous donations. The sale is tentatively scheduled for Friday October 1st and Saturday October 2nd.

And last but certainly not least, Buffalo Wild Wings has offered to let us have a fundraising night at their restaurant. We are going to select a night for families to dine there and just by turning in your receipts we will receive a % of your meal ticket towards our fundraising.

The little ones also started preschool this week. They were so adorable all dressed up for the first day

and a little tired come the end of the day :)

Sean also tried out for the SSTMS soccer team this weekend. We will find out Monday if he is in or if he is out. Crossing our fingers!

Have a blessed weekend

Winner is announced

2010-08-28T19:33:00.001-07:00

We have drawn the winner of the iPod touch my friends. Check out the video to see if you were the lucky one! Thank you so much to every one that donated, posted and prayed for us this week! We are getting closer $1 at a time my friends :)

The winner of the iPod shuffle will be drawn tomorrow. I did not have a chance to get it all together this evening.

An awesome little blog

2010-08-25T11:13:00.001-07:00

Our adoption was shared on a very cool blog! Check it out and bookmark it for later. There is always a new family with a new story that needs help making their dream come true!

http://postyouradoptionfundraiserhere.blogspot.com/2010/08/win-ipod-help-sweet-girl-come-home-to.html

It’s Blitz Time Baby!

2010-08-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Now that we have been “officially” accepted by MLJ adoptions it’s time for us to get serious about some fundraising. We are completely confident that God is going to open the doors needed, close the ones not needed and provide the finances to bring our sweet little girl home to us but we must voice our need in order for others to know how help.

The next step in our process is to submit $7500 to our agency. This payment covers things like our dossier, translations, some education expenses and postage/mailing fees. I’ve been told that it is VERY expensive to mail things to and from Nicaragua.

So here are the details:

Wanna win an IPOD TOUCH or IPOD SHUFFLE?? It’s BLITZ time!!! You can win by simply donating $10 or spreading the word on your blog or facebook!! OUR GOAL IS TO RAISE $3750, HALF OF THE INITIAL $7500!!

For the next 7 days we are challenging you to HELP us bring our daughter home by raising awareness & spreading the word about our BLITZ event. Oh, did I mention we are GIVING away an IPOD TOUCH & an IPOD SHUFFLE?!?!

To win the IPOD TOUCH: For EVERY $10 you donate to our adoption, you will receive one entry in the Giveway. You will be emailed a giveaway number for each $10 you donate through the Chip-in on our blog. If you want to mail a donation, please email us & we’ll give you our address.

To win the IPOD SHUFFLE:
1. Post a blog entry on your blog about our giveaway & you'll receive one entry
OR
2. Change your wall status on facebook with a link to our event
OR
3. If you do both, then you will receive TWO entries in the shuffle giveaway. IMPORTANT: You must post a comment on our Princess’s facebook group with a link to your facebook or blog entry.

***We will hold the drawing on Sunday August 28th at 6:00pm (CST). It will be done the old fashion way…we will put all the entries name/number in a jar and pull from the jar. We will video the drawing and post it on our blog.***

Oh yeah…we will give away one 8gb IPOD Touch for EVERY $2000 we receive in donations so SPREAD THE WORD and skies the limit!

A day of beginnings

2010-08-12T14:02:00.001-07:00

Today was a day full of new beginnings. My first born started middle school today. I can’t believe how these years have flown by. It’s gone fast for me but he is counting down the days until he can drive, lol. He’s taking band as an elective this year and plans on playing soccer and baseball for the school too. We are looking forward to a great year full of new experiences and lots of learning.

<-------- Doesn’t he just look thrilled. Ha!

We also OFFICIALLY began the adoption process today. The application was mailed to our agency so now we have actually taken the first step. We have to find someone to do our home study on our own though because of our agency being out of state so that is the next step for us. I have a few places to check into but if anyone has a recommendation we’d love to have it.

And here is the sacred envelope. Yay!!

VBS 2010

2010-08-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from our fun filled week of VBS. I had such a blast this year with the sweet little preschoolers. It was so much fun to see them singing and dancing and learning about Jesus.

<-----------------------------THIS GUY HAD WAY TOO MUCH FUN DRESSED IN A CHIPMUNK COSTUME!

Hope is fading

2010-07-07T08:36:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine shared this video and it was so powerful and said so much without any words that I felt compelled to share it with you.

Hope is Fading from Allan Rosenow on Vimeo.

As for an update on our adoption, we are still trying to save up for the first of three payments. At this point we have about $1500 of the $7000 that is needed for the initial payment.

We are having another yard sale very soon. As soon as ball is over with and we can pick a weekend out (it will be within the next month). Our last one was a great success and we hope this one will be as well.

God is definitely providing the funding so far, it’s just hard to remember that it’s on His time and not ours. I’ve been able to work some extra hours the last few weeks and jobs for our plumbing business have been coming in pretty consistently too.

Oh, and the blog raffle has officially ended and the winner of the makeover was Mandy Ducharme. Congratulations Mandy and thanks for supporting our adoption! I will be contacting you soon with the details of you makeover!

Some new pics and some new news :)

2010-06-16T10:33:00.001-07:00

It’s taken me a bit to get these pics up but they were taken at St. Augustine Beach when we went down earlier this month for Andy and Meredith’s wedding. I just love the way they came out with the beach behind us and everyone was actually looking. This may be our Christmas card pic this year! LOL

This one came out really nice of Sean and Matthew too

I spent some time out in the garage sorting things for our yard sale this weekend and the boys decided to have an improptu lemonade stand fundraiser. They did a great job and worked hard out in the heat to earn $22 ! Matthew was irresistable holding his sign and waving to the cars as the drove down the road. People were actually turning around and coming back to buy some!

View Full Album

If you are looking for a yard sale this weekend be sure to stop by ours! Lots of families have donated and there is some great stuff going up for sale!

So close yet so far

2010-06-10T11:37:00.001-07:00

We’ve been saving, selling, and working extra hard trying to get the money needed to submit our letter of intent and application to the agency and it is paying off. We are almost able to do it but not just yet. We have only another $170 to go before we can mail that sweet packet to Indiana.

I have a goal to reach that amount BEFORE our yard sale next weekend. I want our yard sale to be a great kick off to the first actual BIG payment you see. So that’s why I really want to be able to take this step first! It may seem strange but in my brain that’s how I want it to work. Everything has to have an order.

Anyway, today and tomorrow you can double your dollars! I’m still selling tickets for the Custom Blog Makeover so today for each $3 donation I’m going to give you two chances to win and I’m going to scrape up pennies and count my change to match your donations!

The following info was copied from the original post found here

For all you BLOGGERS out there, this is one you won’t want to miss out on. I am donating a full custom blog makeover to go with Modern June’s donation of Soul Sister to be used in the design! A total value of $45! The kit is fun, funky and fabulous! Combined with the creative blog template and custom design your blog will sure be the hit among your readers. They will all be dying to know who your stylist is!

If you’ve been thinking about a new look this is your chance to win it and help a good cause

Check out these blogs recently redone as well as my very own blog you are currently viewing:

How to purchase raffle tickets:
Every $3 donation you make using the secure PayPal/ChipIn button above will buy you a raffle ticket. The suggested donation is $3 per ticket, but you can donate any amount you choose. Enter as many times as you wish. Each $3 donation buys you one ticket. (You can donate more than once and get one ticket each time, or in one lump. If you donate, say, $30, we will know you want ten tickets.) The more tickets you buy, the more times we'll enter your name in the drawing and the more chances you'll have to win the makeover! Donating is secure and will be accepted through the PayPal icon at the top of my blog. When you donate via PayPal, you are automatically entered in the raffle to win the makeover. Soon after you donate, we will send a reply email to the address on your PayPal account, letting you know what your raffle ticket number(s) are. Then you wait until the raffle-fundraiser is over on July 1st and see if you won! Please feel free to email me at butlersadopt@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Another way to win!
So you want to increase your chances of winning? Just put a post up on your blog linking your readers to this post, leave a comment after this post with a link to your blog so that we can verify your post, and we will double the amount of raffle tickets you buy!
IF YOU WANT YOUR TICKETS DOUBLED, YOU HAVE TO EMAIL ME WITH THE NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS YOU PURCHASED YOUR TICKET NUMBERS UNDER. I CANNOT DOUBLE THEM WITHOUT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE!

Not interested in the prize package?

If you are not interested in the prize, you can also make a donation to the adoption fund without purchasing tickets. Just make sure to mention that you don't want ticket numbers. We are very humbled by all donations.

Contest Details:
All it takes is $3 to make a huge difference in an orphan's life. Contest ends at 11:59 pm, July 1, 2010. Winner to be announced July 2, 2010. Void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on number of tickets sold. Winning number will be selected via random.org. We will post a photo of the winning number to verify the results. The winner will receive an email immediately following the end of the Raffle-Fundraiser with details of getting the makeover started!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us raise the funds we need to bring our little girl home from Nicaragua! Every $3 donation is a miracle to us... God bless you all!

Lastly, for anyone driving through our neighborhood tomorrow the boys have decided to have a lemonade stand/cookie sale to do a little to help. How cute right?

Our warmest regards,

Danny, Tabitha, Sean, Matthew, and Chase

Raffle Fundraiser #1

2010-06-01T17:59:00.001-07:00

For all you BLOGGERS out there, this is one you won’t want to miss out on. Scrapberry Designs is donating a full custom blog makeover to go with Modern June’s donation of Soul Sister to be used in the design! A total value of $45! The kit is fun, funky and fabulous! Combined with the creative blog template and custom design your blog will sure be the hit among your readers. They will all be dying to know who your stylist is!

If you’ve been thinking about a new look this is your chance to win it and help a good cause

Check out these blogs recently redone as well as my very own blog you are currently viewing:

Not interested in the prize package?

Our warmest regards,

Danny, Tabitha, Sean, Matthew, and Chase

2nd Annual Memorial Day Bash Champions!

2010-05-30T19:12:00.001-07:00

The Franklin Generals closed out the tournament weekend with the title of Champions under their belts. We were 2 and 1 and first seed when the games were called this afternoon due to rain. The boys played very hard all weekend out in the sweltering heat. Sean had the play of the game yesterday when he stole home to score the winning run with 2 outs on the score board. Those last few moments were way too intense! The team rushed the field and were all over him. It was a great proud momma moment :)

Here is the champ showing off his totally cool trophy

And of course the little brother had to have his moment to show off too. And since I didn’t post about this a few weeks bad, Matthew closed out his soccer season with some improvement but most of all he had a great time playing.

Here he is showing off the cutest little soccer trophy I’ve ever seen

And I can’t end the post with out giving the littlest one a bit of face time too.

Big guy helping daddy mow the grass

Until next time…

Feeling abundantly blessed

2010-05-25T20:15:00.001-07:00

I’m tired and it’s late so this is probably going to be a short post and may not make much sense but I have to sing out some praise! God is moving things here and I am in utter amazement. While to some this may seem small, to me it’s huge.

You see, things have been falling into place and happening so much lately and I have never experienced a movement like this in my life before. I blogged a few days ago about a fundraiser yard sale that we are having next month and asked for you all to have a Clean Out Day in your homes to donate items to our sale.

Well there is a couple from our church that we know, we say hello in passing, and are friendly but I have never sat down and had a conversation with them. I’m referring to Cory and Summer Yates. Summer went on a mission trip to Ethiopia last year and God worked some serious stuff in her heart. She and her family have felt called into long term missions, have sold their house, and are moving to Korah for the next year to build a center to keep the kids from having to return to living in a trash dump during the summers when school is out. That is beyond amazing in itself that this woman would feel such a strong calling to build this center for these children and and be so dedicated to God that she would relocate her family!

How does this apply to me? Well Cory and Summer have sold their house and the things they were going to trash ended up in my garage for the yard sale. I just keep thinking, “Wow, God is moving their family to Korah and their things that they are living behind are going to help to bring my baby home from Nicaragua”. It really gives me chills.

We also had another friend clean out her closet and drop off a load of things today. Again, feeling abundantly blessed here.

But on top of that, my blog design business that I’ve been trying to get going for the past year is actually picking up. Four makeovers in just three weeks and 100% of that money is going to our adoption fund!

And last but not least, we have had steady work for our plumbing business since Danny has gotten back from his trip.

I am just beyond amazed by what God is doing. It’s like we said, okay God we don’t know how this is going to happen, we are leaving that part up to You, but we are in” and He has just taken the reins from us and is doing it!

I realize we are at the extreme beginning and I’m not trying to sound presumptive. I realize that there is going to be some difficult stuff down the road but right now all I can do is sing praises to our almighty God. Why do we ever fool ourselves into thinking we have control? It’s a unworldly experience when you just let go and sit back for the ride.

Thank you God for abundantly blessing my life with your unfailing love!

We need your stuff!

2010-05-23T08:24:00.001-07:00

Hey family and friends we need your help!
Our family is feeling called to adopt a child (hopefully from Nicaragua) and we are going to need you all to help us through this journey by supporting us in prayer, donations, and hugs. We know it’s going to be a long road and we cannot do it without support from those close to us.
I don’t know who this child is, I found this photo on the web but isn’t she beautiful?

Most of you know that International Adoption is very costly thus we are going to be doing some fundraisers and cutting back on our expenses to afford it. There are a lot of grants that we can apply for to help with the costs as well but the majority of those can’t be done until our home study is complete. However, we need to raise some money before we can even get to the home study!
First we must submit our application and letter of intent to the agency, a cost of $1000.
Then the first payment of $7850 is due which covers agency fees, administrative expenses, the home study, and some education classes that are required.
So with all that said, we are planning a yard sale to help get us to that first payment amount and then we can start applying for some grants.
We are asking you all to have a Clean Out Day with your families and anything that you would be willing to contribute to the sale to bring by our house. We will taking anything you’ve got (furniture, baby items, clothes, house wares, it doesn’t matter). Everything will be stored in our garage until the sale.
The yard sale is being held on June 18, 19, and 20th. We will also need some hands to help man the sale. Sean has a ball tournament that weekend so Danny won’t be here to help.
Please pass this on to anyone that you think would be willing to help out as well. I plan to advertise the sale all over the place and the more we have to sell the more money to be made!
I also welcome any advice from anyone that has gone through this or has done some fundraising before. It’s all new to me!
I’m also doing some blog makeovers to raise money so if you are reading this and have been wanting a new look, here’s your chance to do it AND to help a good cause. Check out Big Nanny’s blog later tonight, she just got herself a brand new look.!
Thanks in advance for your prayers and support! We are so excited to begin this journey and are thankful for the people in our lives that will walk along with us. We love you all.

Looks like we have a trumpet player!

2010-05-22T07:26:00.001-07:00

I received a call a few weeks back about a day to come and check out all the instruments available to be played if your child wanted to play in the middle school band. Sean was pretty against it because “none of his friends were doing it”. We’ve been trying to talk to him about all the opportunities that come with playing in the band as well as how much fun it is too.

Well I was able to get him to go to the tryout session and to his amazement, some of his friends were there! I know, crazy right? And he thought they were all too cool. I hate that stigma about the band.

Anyway, once he realized that his friends would be playing too he loosened up and had fun trying out the instruments. He tried the trombone and trumpet first, then the sax which he did fine with too, then he tried the clarinet but that didn’t go so well. He said he liked the trumpet best so that’s what he went with. Now we have to find us a nice trumpet that won’t break the bank! We are excited for him to start learning and playing though.

K, we are off to ball games and a birthday party! The fun never ends!

It’s been a very long time..(long post)

2010-05-20T07:39:00.001-07:00

Wow, I have not blogged since the middle of March! Where has the time gone? It seems like our days are filled with so much pointless non-sense and they just flying by in the blink of an eye.
We’ve spent the past few months watching the boys playing ball. Matthew just wrapped up his 2nd soccer season but Sean still has a few weeks to go of recreation ball. He also made the Franklin Generals tournament team so he will be playing for them through the summer.

Danny went with a team down to Nicaragua a few weeks back. They left the day that Nashville flooded so he missed seeing first hand the mess here. Big things were happening in Nicaragua too though. The guys built a church in just THREE DAYS and twenty-seven people accepted Christ as their savior! Such amazing stuff. Here is a video of the men singing “Do It Lord” at the church’s first service.

But while I was here worrying about the rain and being shocked by all the flooding, God was working on Danny and setting into place a life changing plan for us. You see, when Danny lost his job back in December we decided to put our adoption plans on hold before they ever really got started. It’s something that I have been struggling with because my heart is yearning for a little girl that I know is out there needing a loving family and I just so badly want to bring her home. I don’t even care about the financial aspect of it (this is where we weren’t seeing eye to eye), I just want to jump in feet first and go for it. Well God intervened and brought Danny a little closer to the level that I’m on. You see, while in Nicaragua he was able to speak with some of the men that were on the trip with him as well as a man that lives in Nicaragua who told Danny that he wished more people would adopt from there. Danny also had the opportunity to minister to and speak with some teenage girls down there about changes they are going through in their lives and their bodies. That shows that God does have a sense of humor since he is a father of three boys, lol. The advice he received while on the trip and the opportunities he had confirmed that sitting by idly isn’t what we are supposed to be doing.
So as soon as the words were out of his mouth I was on the phone with the agency! It just so happened that this past Monday there was a seminar on adoption fundraising in Indiana that was being put on by a client/speaker for the agency. My mom is still here visiting so we were able to get away (talk about timing right?) for the day/night to drive to Indiana where we met the with the director of the Nicaragua program and attended the seminar. Camie, the lady that was doing the seminar, called us on our way down and invited us to spend the night in their home instead of in a hotel room. We were blown away by the kindness and hospitality so we went out on a limb and accepted the offer. Boy were we blessed! Turns out her husband is the pastor at the church where the seminar was held. They have adopted two children from Vietnam themselves and were a well of information. It was so generous of them to open up their home for us and we feel that we made some friends to walk through this journey with us. God is so good all the time! More details to come on our adoption process in a later post.
I also want to give a big congratulations to Sean. He graduated from the 5th grade and I officially am the mom to a middle schooler!!! I don’t know whether to smile because of how proud I am or to cry because of how fast he’s growing up. Remember to cherish the moments and hold your children when you can and smother them in your love, they grow up too fast not to.

Days 66-71

2010-03-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

Days 62, 63, 64, 65

2010-03-06T18:24:00.001-08:00

Week 1 Layout

2010-01-07T19:23:00.001-08:00

I ended up posting my daily Project 365 photos on another blog but I will post my weekly layouts here on our regular blog for you to see if you so wish. This is my first layout. I had alot of fun creating it because I used my very own kit to scrap with!

And here’s a preview of the kit I used, Day2Day

P365 – Day 3

2010-01-03T16:45:00.001-08:00

Wait mom, I’ve gotta check my email.

P365 ~ Day 2

2010-01-02T12:34:00.001-08:00

We woke up this morning and decided to get the day started with Wii action. Here’s the boys playing Maria Kart, a new game that Santa brought them.

Day 1

2010-01-01T19:28:00.001-08:00

I’m taking on the Project 365 challenge this year. I’ll be taking a photo every day and at the end of each month I’ll make a double layout of all the photos I took. At the end of the year I’ll have 12 double layouts for my 2010 scrapbook album.

Today we went with tradition and had our black eyed peas for good luck and greens for money for dinner but I wanted to give my guys a special treat so I made their favorite desert: Nestle Tollhouse Pie.

Matthew beat Sean to the kitchen so he got to like the beater.

Lots of catching up

2009-12-18T19:41:00.001-08:00

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in almost a month! I’ll just post lots of pictures and try to fill you in and keep this as short as possible.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Charlotte as always. We love spending time there at Thanksgiving with everyone.

Good Food

Fun Times

Need Rest

Oh, and did I mention midnight shopping?

Here are some pics of the boys trimming the tree

Breakfast with Santa

Our first time at the Spring Hill Christmas Parade

Matthew’s Christmas Program

Sean went on a field trip to J.A. Biz Town and got to play the role of CEO of Dollar General for a day. His only comment when he got home was that he should have taken a stress ball, lol. Here he is with his first paycheck in Biztown Money.

He also played in a Championship Soccer game this Wednesday. His team was fighting for first place and by the way they played they wanted it bad. Sean was on fire as goalie but in the end the other team came out ahead.

Danny lost his job last week but we have decided to turn lemons into lemonade. He’s been working hard to get someone else ahead for a long time now and we have decided to go ahead and start our own plumbing business.

If you need a plumber please call him. He’s honest, reliable, and affordable.

SMC Plumbing

615-302-8800

smcplumbing@charter.net

Gas pipe certified, Backflow Certified, Pex Pipe Certified
References available

Whew, I think that’s it, lol. In case I don’t get back here before, Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Walker's Christmas Card and a Blurb

2009-11-25T03:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Carrie allowed me to make her family Christmas card this year and I think it came out so beautiful that I wanted to share it with you. All of the papers and pieces used to make the card were created by yours truly.

It's not too late to get your card orders in. We are heading out for a weekend trip to Charlotte but I will have the laptop with me and will finally have help with my kiddos so this weekend so it is a great time for me to work on them.

Not much to report on our adoption progress. I'm still waiting on some references from the agency so in the mean time we are just saving, saving, saving.

And since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day I wanted to take a minute to say what I am thankful for. This is not all by any means but I do have to keep my post at a reasonable length. I am thankful for a God that loves me regardless of my imperfections, for a husband who is also my best friend, our provider, and a wonderful father, for my children who keep me on my toes and fill my heart with joy. For my family who no matter what are always my family, and for my close friends for being my accountability in life.

What are you thankful for this holiday? Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Go Go Godzilla!

2009-11-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is what I found in Matthew's room!

My kids are so technologically inclined

2009-11-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

I guess I spend too much time on the phone because Matthew will walk around with his toy cell phone carrying on a conversation with someone and will tell me "Shhh, I'm on the phone". Ha ha. Even my one year old knows what to do!

This is them "texting"

They are too much!!

Christmas Cards = giving an orphan a forever family

2009-11-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

I spoke with an attorney today about whether or not Nicaragua is an option for us and I am so thrilled to say that it is! Nicaragua is a fairly new program (just began in January) but they currently have four couples going through it right now that have/are submitting their dossier's. We are still waiting on a few call backs but I really liked the feel I got today over the phone. So assuming we do take this route the first financial hurdle is for the Letter of Intent and the Application Fee. It's just the first step but requires a good chunk of change because there's some translation that will have to be done and seals on the document from the state, Nicaragua's seal, and postage itself is outrageous. $100 just for postage!

So with Christmas just around the bend I'd like to make your cards for you. I can make them in either 4x6 or 5x7 so that you can have them printed at Walgreens or wherever without the increased cost for special sizes. $7 for one card design or $12 for two different designs. Just email me your photo(s) and wording you'd like on them. I'll design the card and tweak it until you are pleased.

Your cards will be custom made and one of a kind. Nobody else will have the same cards as you this year! Here are some examples of what can be done but keep in mind the options are endless.

You can email me your photos and requests to tabby.9906@gmail.com

Please grab my button and post it in your blog sidebars to help me get the word out:

You can just highlight the text and press Ctrl+V to copy and then paste this code into a Java/HTML Widget and the button will appear in your sidebar already linked to my blog.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Fear not I am with you… Isaiah 41:10

Answering The Call

2009-11-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months God has been softening my heart to the idea of having another child but not necessarily giving birth. Danny and I have been tossing around the when, hows, and ifs of the idea and we feel that God is putting us on the path of adoption. There have been signs all around us and the most obvious of them happened this past week. I was reading my bible and while turning the pages to get to Galatians I came across an excerpt on adoption. The story was about a family that had 3 biological boys and then answered the call to adopt a baby girl. I was/still am blown away by the clarity of His answer! God was saying, "here's your sign".

Oh, and we didn't know this Sunday night but it was International Orphan Sunday! I hate that we missed out on so many opportunities for knowledge.

We aren't sure yet whether our path will be Domestic or International but right now I can tell you that we are researching the possibility of Nicaragua. I've got some calls in to a few agencies and am waiting to hear back.

Will you please pray for our family as we begin this journey to finding our child and bringing them home to our forever family. Pray that God will be working in the child as well to prepare them for what their future holds. Pray that we will find the right agency to work with us, one that will be a strong advocate for us, and that will know the ropes and ins and outs of the process wherever we end up.

Fear not I am with you… Isaiah 41:10

Halloween Pics - Yes, I know they are late

2009-11-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

So I'm a few weeks overdue on getting these up. Better late than never right? Chase didn't get to go out and trick or treat since he was sick but Sean and Matthew did. Matthew really got the hang of it this year. The funniest thing was the first house that we went to Matthew tried to go inside when they opened their door. After that though he had it figured out. Now Sean, I just don't understand. Three streets and he was ready to quit. When I was that age I'd walk the whole neighborhood.

Their costumes looked good and they had fun though. I can't wait till next year when Chase will get to join in on the fun.

Lessons from Him

2009-11-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm doing the Heart Like His study by Beth Moore with a few women from my Connect Group class on Monday nights. We haven't been able to meet in a few weeks due to life (sickness, schedules, etc.). I was anxious to get together last night and see what God had in store for me. Well, He spoke volumes!

I'm not always as transparent in my life as I should be and tend to put on a happy face for most people but things just aren't always that hunky-dory. Last nights study touched on our relationship circles and the different levels of transparency we have within those circles and how our inner most circle should have one person in it, God. Well I've been stuck at the level just above that one. I've been looking to my closest friends for advice, talks, and getting me through my day to day stuff and that's just not working. At times I feel like a lunatic the way I fly off the handle. Petty things get me all worked up and out of sorts. Beth did a wonderful job explaining that if I were only taking things to the next circle that God would take care of my woes. And it's so true. How can I expect someone else, another human, to "fix" my issues. So here I say, I will make time to meet God daily in His word. Where I can speak to Him and more importantly, listen to Him. He is my resolve, my comforter, and my healer.

The lesson also let us take a look at the way David felt at the loss of Jonathon and Saul and how he grieved that loss. I'm telling you, we ladies shed some tears last night. I love the women in this group and loved being able to share and hear their struggles. While I have not been dealing with grief in the death of a loved one, I have been grieving for a loss.

I have not had a relationship with my father in over a year. It has been hard for me because I wonder what Jesus would do? How would he handle things? I know I'm supposed to forgive but that's hard when my kids are involved. The gloves come off at that point. In this past year I've built up a wall around my emotions when it comes to my dad. I don't want to confront the situation because it makes me angry. It's easier to just be mad than to deal. I know it's wrong, but I am human. I haven't been home to Florida for way too long because of my unwillingness to confront the situation. He's been trying to reach out to me some, to make things right, but I'm afraid to let my guard down. He tries to talk to me a bit when I call for my mom but I keep it short and hurry to get her on the phone. Well last night's lesson made me realize that I do have grief over this. I'm really going to try hard to break down my wall and rebuild this relationship. It will be very difficult and painful for me but it's what Jesus would do right? Jesus ate with the sinners. I need to shine in His grace. I'm thinking of the song "He Took The Scars" by Brothers Keeper. So please pray for me that I will find the strength to swallow my anger and reach out to my dad and pray for me be the person that Jesus died for me to be.

Thanks for reading my blog. Your comments and prayers are always welcome.

Fall Photos

2009-10-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

We found an abandoned barn not far from our house so I decided to shoot some photos of the boys there. If you'd like any of these photos let me know which one(s) and the size and I will send them to the Walgreens nearest you to pick up.

Beach Photos

2009-09-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos from our trip to Destin, FL

This was the view from our back door

This condo was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2009-09-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

Matthew celebrated his third birthday last Tuesday while we were vacationing in Destin. His grandmothers from Orlando drove up to spend the day with him.

Here are some fun photos of the day

Wordless Wednesday - Turn it up!!

2009-09-09T07:45:00.001-07:00

Matthew's First Soccer Game

2009-09-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a little snippet of Matthew's first game! It was fun once he got over crying and not wanting to go out on the field.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Favorite Foto Friday/Weekly Update

2009-09-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well we are back into the busy time of the year. I'll give you a little snippet on what's been going on with us.

Sean has gotten the hang of 5th grade. He's done really well about getting his homework done right away and doing is 20 minutes of reading every night. Now if I could only get him to pick up the same book each night so he'd finally finish one! Sometimes helping him with homework is hard because the terminology for things has changed so much since I was in school but so far we are doing okay.

Matthew starts KOK next week. He is so excited about going to school. All he talks about is doing his homework and getting his backpack. It's soooo cute! He also has started playing Pee-Wee Soccer for the YMCA. The first game is Saturday so you can believe I'll be there with camera in hand!

Chase still isn't walking but he's trying! He talks two steady steps and then squats down to crawl. He does have a push walker that he fly's full speed through the house with. I'm giving it another week or two and he'll be taking off.

And we are counting down to our vacation!!! Woot! We leave for Destin in 8 days! This is the first week long vacation we have ever taken! Yes, i said ever!! In twelve years! We definitely need to do this more.

Well that's enough stuff for now. I'll be back soon with pictures from the game.

Have a blessed day!

Sean's Baseball Book

2009-08-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Under Construction

2009-08-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm redoing the blog so please bear with me while it undergoes some changes. Your getting a sneak preview to my newest kit too!!! I just love the shades of blues, greens, and browns and how they come together. Don't you?

So stay tuned for the new look!

My first digital scrapbook

2009-08-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

I have finished Chase's scrapbook of his first year and I'm so excited to share it with you! The hard copy is on order but here's the online version for you to view.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Our blog is going private

2009-08-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I've been thinking about some things over the past few days and I have decided to make our family blog private. It will only be able to be viewed by those that have been invited. If you'd like to receive an invite please leave a comment here with your email address or send me an email to tabby.9906@gmail.com

I'll leave it public until Friday but then we are going to be hiding out :)

So leave me your email so you can continue to receive all updates!

Birthday RAK

2009-07-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Amy at Scrapable made this cute birthday layout for me using Chase's birthday photo. She did a great job with it. She used the Birthday Boy kit by Shanmomto4. It's on my list to pick up. Thanks Amy for your RAK (random act of kindness.

Happy 1st Birthday Chase!

2009-07-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

It was one year ago yesterday, July 25th, 2008 that we were blessed with the arrival of Chase. He's truly been an angel from the very first moment and it's hard to believe that an entire year of his life has already passed.

We celebrated today with a Mickey Mouse (his favorite) themed party at home among family and friends

Isn't he just the cutest mouse you've ever seen?

Are they really letting me do this? Let's see how long I can get away with it

Oh yeah, this is good. So good it even went up my nose.

Hmm, lets see if I can get dad in on it

New toys too? This day rocks!

A space to call my own

2009-07-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'm a few weeks late in posting this but it totally work mentioning. My office is finally finished!! Yay!! I've been working out of a make-shift office in my dining room for the past 18 months and it has really been a site for sore eyes. Well I am so excited to say that my long wait is over and my office is finished.

I picked a pretty yellow to compliment the walls. I still need to add some stuff to the walls to make it mine but I just wanted to post about it. Thank you Danny for giving me a space to call my own!

2009-06-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go. I have not posted in forever. I hate to load you up on pictures but that's what I have {smiles}.

Sean finished out fourth grade with the A/B Honor Roll. He actually made the honor roll each grading period this year! I'm so glad he takes after me :-P

My mom came to visit and help us out while Danny was gone to Nicaragua. The boys loved spending time with Grandma. She was sure ready to go home though after a few weeks here. They wore her out!

We got a family membership to the zoo so we have found ourselves amongst the animals (perfectly normal for us) a few times already this summer. It makes for a great day and wears the kids out so they sleep well.

I ventured out by myself last week and got all three boys haircuts.

Here are some photos of Chase getting his very first cut. He did great!

And next month we are planning is 1st birthday bash! I can't believe it's here already.

It's 10:35am...what's next?

2009-06-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

My day started by waking up two hours late, working for a bit, dropping Sean off at the church for Cross Camp and then coming back home to try and work another 4 hours...

I open the blinds to find a dead bird floating in the kiddie pool (Grandma was going to let them play in it today so I could work, guess that's out)

and then...

Matthew decided to clean the toilet (how sweet right?) with his toothbrush!! Yuck!

It's only 10:35am. What's next?

I'm finding this all very humorous.

All Star Again

2009-05-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

We have been in full swing these past few weeks. Lots and lots of baseball games going on. Sean was chosen to be on the All Star Team for the 9-10 year old majors this season. We played our game on Sunday and though we did not win our boys played a great game. Afterward there was a homerun derby and the kids had a lot of fun seeing who could hit the most balls over the fence. Here are some photos from our All Star.

Award Ceremony

Playing Catch

Putting one over the plate

High and Tight

A little home run fun

Come on dad! Pitch the ball!

Going, going, gone!

Bring it on!

Kid-isms

2009-05-13T02:31:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share with you a little funny that M said the other day. It went like this:

M: Mommy, I push the button. I push the button Mommy!
T: You did? What button did you push?
M: I push daddy button mommy.

Now he really didn't know what he was saying but it was hilarious all the same! I hope everyone is having a great week!

Wow, it's been a while

2009-05-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged so I thought I'd share a couple of layouts I've made recently of the boys. I really need to work on getting a book printed. My layouts are just piling up on my external hard drive.

I'll try to gather some thoughts and give you a concrete update on our crazy lives soon.

My first post

2009-05-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Test post

My first post

2009-05-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

Test post

[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll284/scrappymom3/ts_blog_wac_postseperator.png[/IMG]

A day to Celebrate

2009-04-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today! Danny got a little older, he's a whopping 34 now. He'll need to start looking out for gray hairs soon enough, ha ha.

We spent some time at the ball field today.

Matthew played with Papa

Chase chilled with some cherrios

Sean layed the smack down on the other team. He hit the ball waaayy out! And guess what? We got our first win of the season ON DADDY'S BIRTHDAY!!! He was thrilled.

And here is daddy with his boys, his cake and his new computer. He's all tech saavy now with it own little laptop.

Happy Birthday Danny! We love you!

Easter Photos

2009-04-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderfully blessed day. We spent time with family and had lots of fun hunting eggs and eating yummy food. Here are some photos from the day.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

Matthew's famous!

2009-03-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

He has been published on Mrs. Betty's blog twice this week! He's so full of drama...ugh life with a movie star. Ha ha.

Anyway, click the link to go see Matthew in action on Mrs. Betty's blog.

http://appleantics.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Exciting news!

2009-03-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know this but I have gotten into digital scrapbooking over the past year. As I've learned more I've begun designing my own digital kits and giving them away as freebies on my scrap blog. Well, I applied to sell my designs at a store that opened last month and I was accepted! I am so excited, it's very rewarding to see my stuff on display. I'm a Cabana girl (aka designer) in a little paradise called Scrapable. Stop by and check it out if your into this kind of stuff. I'm kicking off with a Grand Opening Sale. There's a forum called Island Mingling and the staff are called the Locals. It's a cute set up. Click the blinkie to check it out.

And speaking of budding artists, here's a little something that Matthew drew for us on the wall today. Not so cute.

Praise God

2009-03-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

He is so awesome! Today is a wonderful day. You may remember a few months back I posted about my brother taking a plea deal for a fight he was in where he acted in self defense but was charged with aggravated assault. Well he revoked the plea and decided to take it to trial before a jury. They went to trial yesterday and had closing arguments this morning. PRAISE GOD! BOTH BRIAN AND BILLY WERE FOUND NOT GUILTY!!!! I am so happy that justice was done. Our father God was there and made sure the outcome was right.

Psalms 91:14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

It feels like I lost my best friend

2009-03-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up to start working at 4 am. I went to the kitchen to start my coffee but the pot was already on and burning hot. I didn't turn it on and it wouldn't turn off. Apparently it's 5 years of service are over with. So it's going to be a rough morning without my cup of coffee.

I will sadly miss my Brewstation. My birthday is next month so maybe I'll get a new one (hint,hint). I'll just have to get a cheapy one to hold me over for the time being.

Even the little ones are sneaky

2009-03-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

I know this picture isn't the greatest. I grabbed my phone because it was the closest camera I had. I thought things were a little quiet. When I looked around I saw Chase had gotten ahold of Matthews french fries. Now do you see why I call them "crumb snatchers"?

It is the flu

2009-03-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

I took Matthew in to the doctor yesterday and he does have the flu, type B whatever that means. The poor baby also has an ear infection. Thank goodness for Tara blogging about Connor's sickness or the flu would have never even occurred to me. We will be confined to the house for the next week or so.

I had to laugh to myself when the doctor said he didn't want to test him for the flu because he looked too good to have the flu. He said, "The kids that are in their pj's laying around the waiting room have the flu, not ones that are up and being inquisitive and talking alot." He just doesn't know that when Matthew is half speed, that is any other child's full speed. It was funny.

Anyway, please pray for my baby a speedy recovery.

I think it's the flu

2009-03-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Matthew started running a fever on Thursday night and he hasn't broke it yet. He has also had a runny nose and has been very irritable. He's also been sleeping with us the past few nights. Well, if you check out Tara's blog you will see Connor has the flu. I spoke with her last night and Connor started with the fever on Wednesday. They go both go to Mrs. Betty's during the week so I'm pretty sure the kiddos are passing something around. I'm going to call the doctor when they open to see if I should bring him in. I guess they really won't be able to do anything since he's already had it this long though.

Recomitted

2009-02-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

I drug myself back to WW this week. There is a new meeting in Spring Hill so it is really convenient. I have to get in control of my life in regards to everything. Meaning housework, organization, work, kids, eating habits, and exercise. Things have been out of control for a while now.

I've been praying to God to take away my stresses and bear burdens and he is answering. I've been able to make time for myself and still get stuff done. I've made it to the rec center a few times this week and have been on program 100%. Did the Wii fit a few times too. BTW, it's awesome. Doing the Hula Hoop is my fav thus far.

I signed us up for E-Mealz and that has been awesome. They give you a weeks worth of menus based on what's on sale at your store. And if you select it, they will give you a points based menu. I was a little nervous about it because my guys are a little picky but they've really liked everything I've made this far. Check it out at www.e-mealz.com.

We Skate

2009-02-20T05:31:00.000-08:00

My friend, Andrea, told us about this roller skating arena near her house in Lewisburg. You can skate and have all you can eat pizza on Tuesday and Thursday nights for $5. It's their family nights. And on the third Thursday of each month it's Christian night. Last night there was a youth group there hanging out. It was a good atmosphere and Sean had fun. It was about 20 miles from our house going south on I-65. We will be going back again. We might try to have a Sunday School outing on Christian night in March.