Waiting, Preparing and a Birthday

A little family update for anyone interested -

September:
Our house was overwhelmingly quiet the first month after O had to go back. It made us miss him all the more. Drew had a rather hectic work schedule with the start of football season. At the beginning of the month, I traveled to Michigan to help clean out and pack my Grandpa's stuff to move him down south to be closer to my parents. We also managed to complete all of our adoption paperwork and send it over to O's country to be translated and submitted to the government.

October:
Our paperwork was submitted to the government! This puts us on a timeline to hopefully travel in December or January to finish the adoption. My mom published her first novel, which would make a great Christmas gift or stocking stuffer! ;) We started working through Jen Hatmaker's 7 Experiment with our Life Group and we're loving the challenge and growth!

Today:
Today is our Little Man's birthday. We never could have imagined all of the challenges and changes we would face during the past year. It was sad to know that no one was celebrating our boy as he turned three, but we were buoyed by the thought that it would be his last birthday without family. And now, the reality is that we do not know when or if we will ever be allowed to bring him home. We still pray for our Little Man daily and know that God loves him more than we ever can.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE MAN! WE LOVE YOU!

Saturday (11/9/13):
Our sweet Life Group is hosting a Garage Sale to help raise donations for our adoption. They all bonded with O this summer, and it's such a blessing to know that they already consider him to be part of our family! Short notice, but if you're local and have anything to donate or would like to come by to say hi, just let us know!

Ps. Feel free to have some guilt-free cookies, ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, or candy in honor of Little Man's birthday!

Thoughts and Pictures

Our crazy, sweet boy is hating counting down the days until he goes home. After a conversation last night about this week's schedule he asked, "Tuesday at 2 bye bye home???" ...It just breaks our hearts that we have to say, "yes".

This parenting is hard

and exhausting

and frustrating

and sometimes seems impossible,

but God has built us to push through and love well. He loves this boy more than we ever can, and we are blessed to share in that.

Yes, O, Tuesday you will have to leave home, but it IS your home. This is family. And you are forever loved. Home is us. Home is all of your new friends/family. (And Major, of course.) Home is arguing with parents about bed time. Home is baking cupcakes and going camping. Home is singing at church and little foam stickers. Home is the special healing powers of Mama kisses. Home is piggyback rides with Papa. Home is everything you need and so many things you have never had.

So on Tuesday we will all have to say bye bye to home. And we will celebrate the day that we are all together again. All HOME.

Baking Cupcakes:

 Trampoline Park during our visit to GrandMary and GrandWilliam's house:

So proud of the American Flag cup that GrandMary got for him:

Going to church:

Visiting Gamie and Gandolf's house:

J and O go to school together and both love swimming!

A normal morning doing sticker art:

 Playing on the football field:

 Visiting the children's museum:

Wearing Drew's childhood pirate costume (modernized by his addition of the fedora and aviators):

 Visiting generous new friends:

O told us that night that when he turns 18, he is going to have a baby deer. ;)

First ever camping trip (more like "glamping"):

Our House

So...we have been pretty quiet lately. How about a blog post about some of the things we've been doing to keep busy?!

Hooray! I knew you guys would like that idea!

The last time we wrote was in February, so we have quite a bit of ground to cover. Drew has been really busy with work this spring, but it has finally slowed down! This means that I can really get back to menu planning and making dinner again. And it also means that we're catching up on projects in and around the house.

Drew's mom brought us a sweet gift when they came through at the end of February. We now have the majority of Drew's childhood books and stuffed animals all set up in Little Man's room. We just love books and reading, so it was really fun to go through everything and see what we shared in common.

These photos don't even show all of the books!

The crates under the chair are filled with stuffed animals as well.

Drew was in a wedding at the very beginning of March. We were so happy to celebrate with our friends as they begin their marriage! It was a beautiful and fun evening!

I started nannying at our house. It has really been SO much fun! Plus, Drew likes how much cleaner the house is these days! This also means that I have more time for crafting and projects.

I finally started getting into my artisan bread book! I received the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, for Christmas. I really wanted to try it, but was intimidated by the process: Yeast. Rising Dough. Kneading. Rolling Pins. Once I started into the book though, I realized that I really can make bread! I decided to start with the Challah dough, and my friend Erica came over this past Friday and helped me turn it into Caramel Sticky Buns. We had fun, and the sticky buns were delicious! You should all get this book!

And now, for our most recent project. We found this fabric at Ikea and thought it was really fun. I cut it into strips, and Drew and I stabled the fabric over each drawer front on the unfinished dresser in Little Man's room. I am really glad it turned out so well! Now we just have to decide about painting or replacing the knobs...

That pretty much wraps up what you missed. No new news on our journey to bring Little Man home, and we're still praying about God's plan for this time of waiting. Our church is planning an adoption Sunday for the 21st, and Drew and I will be participating in a short video that will be played during the services. We've got our fingers crossed that we will come across much more eloquent than we actually are! Other than that, we're trying to take advantage of the sunny days, when they come, and working to get our yard ready for spring.

Sherlock is excited about the nicer weather ahead.

Although, he doesn't seem to mind the rainy days TOO much...