Are You Ready for Some Football?

In a break from blogging about Lynleigh...I thought you'd love to see how amazingly cute my little defensive lineman is! Today was the first football game for the Hernando Tigers (black team) and it was a short one thanks to the Jamboree!


They were all introduced at the beginning and I cheered as I took pictures like a good football mom!

Then he came and asked for something to drink so I made him stop for a photo op! I love that face!!!

We were offense first so Kaden got a little break before having to hit the grid iron! (like that sports cliche'?)

Then it was his turn to chase the pigskin! he didn't get the flag but I think he tried really hard! And he looked so stinking cute doing it!

The tigers won both games! What a great way to start the season! It was a bit hot today but I know that when we get home with our little cheerleader that it will be a lot cooler and good football weather! Maybe one day you will be buying his jersey and wearing it to a "pigs hogs" game in Fayetteville!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game....

Our first games of the season kicked off today! I can't believe it's already time for baseball but man am I excited.


This year, Kaden plays for the Horn Lake Cubs and Brady plays for the Horn Lake D-backs. Can you believe these two big boys are my babies? I'm looking at their faces and thinking...who are those kids?
Both boys played their games at the same time so Tony and I had a major juggling act today. However, the good news is that they played at fields next to each other. That made it a lot easier.

This has to be one of the cutest pictures I've ever taken. Kaden started the day off as catcher and OMG...I love that kid in this gear!

Of course I'm the mom who brings a dirty faced kid to an event!

Who is that guy with the long hair? Oh...it's Brady. He's the only one with this hair on his team. He doesn't like the idea of "baseball" hair...maybe I can get him to at least get it trimmed!

It was a great day! Kaden's team won both of his games. Kaden made the winning play when he tagged out a kid running to third. Brady's team lost one and won one. He plays for the team who won second last year and they are determined to take home the big title this year!

Disney!

I'm so sad today! My little buddy took his first trip to Disney World without his mommy!
My mom decided she wanted to go to Disney with a friend of hers and invited Kaden to go with her. Well, of course we didn't tell him until this week and it has been the most anticipated thing since getting Lynleigh's picture!
Mom called him on FaceTime Wednesday night to tell him they were going and his response was priceless! I know you've seen the commercials where the kids find out and they are screaming and acting crazy! Well, our moment was nothing like that! As soon as she said, "Kaden, do you want to go to Disney World for your birthday?" His response was, "Nah...I want to wait until my little sister gets here!" Do you love him our what? Anyway, as the week finished up, his excitement grew! Today, I walked him to the gate at the airport to meet my mom and almost lost it about 20 times! I can't believe I put my baby on a plane to meet Mickey Mouse and I'm not even going!
As soon as I get some pics of this awesome trip...I will post!

Lynleigh Ren

Now that the newness is wearing off...I thought I should blog about our referral! I'm not ready to post her pic online yet, but I can tell you all about our little girl!

Last Tuesday, we finally got the call that we had been matched with our sweet baby girl! She was born in September 2009 so she is a year and a half. She has a cleft lip and palate. Her lip has been repaired but not her palate. I was beside myself when I got the call.

I had waited by the phone all day hoping they would call us. Finally, when I had given up hope of being called and plugged my phone into the speakers to play music for my class...the phone rang! Marsha from Holt sounded so excited to tell me that they had matched us with a sweet little girl. She is described as a little girl who loves music and everyone loves her! Of course, I wanted more info so I immediately called Tony and we both waited by the computer for the email. When the email finally came, I called Tony on speaker phone so that we could open it together. My students were sitting by impatiently waiting to see her too! As soo as I opened the email, I started crying! My students were so excited they insisted I put her picture on the smart board! I was freaking out and had to call all of my teacher friends to come to my room. She is beautiful!

So, of course we accepted her! (like we wouldn't!) And sent in our letter of intent. Today we are waiting on our Letter of Acceptance to come back from China. It's only been a week and a half but it seems like forever!
We have requested more information on her palate and whether or not she has any ear infections related to it!

Until then, I'm starting the transition of moving the boys into the same room and will soon be preparing our baby girl's bedroom!

Please pray for us! We still need funds for plane tickets and travel. We also need prayer for our sweet baby while she prepares for our arrival.

1/30/11

Ok...I can't contain my excitement about our paperwork is officially its way to China! I still can't believe how close we are getting! I'm really hoping that we get matched in the March matching but I know I need to think more in God's terms when it comes to timing and stop being so worried about it!

The boys are so excited about getting to see their little sister! Kaden is so obsessed with wanting to buy things for her and saving his towys for her. I'm sure it will all change when he's no longer the baby! We've been talking about that a lot and I'm trying to prepare him for what's to come. But I don't think he will really understand until she gets here!

So, for now...not much else is going on and I can't wait to let you know about the next steps!

1/26/2011

Oh..I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!!!!!!! I found out this afternoon that our dossier will for sure be sent to China on Friday!!!!! This is awesome news! They said it usually takes about two weeks to get a log in date (LID) but because of Chinese New Year it will take aobut 4. That's fine! Because as soon as we get out LID, we can be matched! This means we will be eligible for matching in March!!! They usually match kids on the third Monday so I'm impaitently waiting for the Middle of March to roll around!

1/23/11

I'm sitting here on a Sunday afternoon waiting on small group to start. Not much has been going on around here except that we had yet another snow day last week! I didn't take any pictures because: 1. the novelty has worn off and 2. I didn't bother going out side! Brady lasted about 20 minutes and Kaden played for about 45. Now the poor little guy has a runny nose and cough. I'm anticipating that the nose will turn into an ear infection by the end of the week. I'm pretty good at knowing these kinds of things with Kaden as my kid.

We have lots of big plans in the works around here. Nothing new on Baby China though. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if our dossier was sent to China. They send them on Fridays so I'm hoping that it's in the mail! Meanwhile, Kaden is dying to go to Disney. We started a Disney fund last week. So, on top of paying for an adoption, we are also saving for Disney. Don't get all excited though...we are saving change not big bills! The big bucks are still going towards bringing Lynleigh home!

We are also trying to figure out what we will do with five people in our house. We are thinking about starting to work on the house and get it ready to put on the market. That is a long way off but for some reason my children keep growing (out of their clothes) and we are going to need some more space when a third human moves in! We will stay in Hernando because we love it here but just need more square footage! That's the long term/two year goal. We'll see how it goes!

Oh, I am also making blankets to take to China when we go. They will be our gift to the orphanage. So far this weekend I've made half of a granny square blanket! It's been so relazing to crochet and not read! And laugh if you must...I learned how to make granny squares on you tube! I'll post a pic when I get it done!

Science Project

Because we are such procrastinators, we are working on Brady's science project that is due on Tuesday. He's chosen math probability so obviously, this was a project for his daddy and not me! I am the creative one that will help put it all together on the board. Tony had to help with the math part, which included making graphs and all that!

Brady choose "Tricky Dice" as his topic. It was pretty interesting to watch. Basically, he rolled the dice 100 times and his hypothesis was that he thought a sum of 8 would appear the most time. In our case, the sum of 7 appeared the most. I also learned that 10, 11, and 12 appeared the least! Interesting! It was kind of like Bunco but with out the laughs and prizes!!!! Here are a few of the pictures we will be putting on the project board.


I just love this picture! I told you...I'm the creative one. I think it's so cool how his reflection is on the table. Ok...I know I'm lame but I'm still impressed with this one!



Despite being sick this weekend, I'm glad to have had a project to keep us busy. I've been reading so many books that I haven't had any kind of craft project since before Christmas. I'm thinking about working on some blankets that I started a while back. My mom and I decided that we would make blankets for me to take to Lynleigh's orhpanage when we go. I'm not really good at it but I'm thinking about taking a crocheting class or something! Please continue to pray for Baby China and of course I will keep you posted on when we get that LID!

Snow Pics!

We were so excited last week that on Sunday afternoon, it started to snow! We knew we would have a snow day because it was crazy out there! When we woke up Monday morning...thisis what we found! We had a good 4-5 inches of snow this time! And it wasn't yucky ice...it was fluffy, pretty snow!
Of course the kids couldn't wait to get out in it! Mr. "I think I'm so funny" pulled this right off the bat!
Kaden had been waiting since last year to make a snow angle! He was so happy and this was the first thing he did when he walked out. Of course, Brady couldn't be left out!



After playing in the yard and down the street with Kaden's best friend, some of the big kids in the cove decided they wanted to go sledding. Of course, Brady and Kaden wanted in on that action too!


This only lasted about 30 minuted before we were all too cold to move! The boys came in and took a hot bath to warm up and then a few hours later went back out for round two! I stayed inside under a blanket! One time in the cold was enough for me!
We ended up staying home from school two days. It was a blast and the kids LOVED it! Now, I'm hoping we don't get anymore snow days because we will have to make up the school days at the end of the year!

Oh, I also checked the status of our paperwork and it said it will be delivered on Monday. However, Monday is a holiday so it looks like they will get it at HOLT on Tuesday! Pray for quick processing! I'm ready to see what Lynleigh looks like!

Baby China Update

So, we're waiting! That seems to be the common thing about adoption! We finally received out dossier back from the Embassy last week and got it in the mail before the snow started. It should have arrived at our organization today. Tony has the tracking info and he's still at work. I'm going to have him look it up as soon as he gets home! Once our info gets there, they will check it to make sure it is accurate and then it ships to China! I seriously feel like this process has taken forever even though it's not yet been a year! Once it gets to China, they will give us a Log In Date (LID)and when we get that, we can be matched. There is no guarntee on time when it comes to matching. We have asked for special needs that include cleft lip/palate, hearing impaired, and allergies/asthma. I feel in my heart that because we have asked for those things, it won't take long.

Now comes the time to step up our prayer! We will have a big chunk of money come up when we get a match and I know God is going to provide it HE just hasn't revealed how yet! We are praying for many things for Baby China...her family that had to give her up, her care that she is getting right now, the broken heart she will probably have when she is torn away from everything she's ever known and given to complete strangers (us), and quick bonding once we get her!

We are also praying for our friends the Pinnow's. They are currently in China getting their little girl Sophie right now. You can read about their journey right HERE! I will keep you posted on the process and when we get our LID!!!!

Happy New Year!

Ok, really? I haven't blogged since November 10th! I've been so crazy busy and I haven't even taken the time to keep you all up to date on what amazing things have been going on around here! First, a couple of pictures. I've recently posted a bunch on my facebook so I will just put my two most favorites from the past few days.




I mean seriously...look at those faces! Can you believe how fast they are growing up? The other day, Brady and I were talking about which college he wanted to go to. He, of course, said the University of Arkansas because that's where his daddy went. And as long as he gets a scholarship...he can go anywhere he wants. I've often thought of teaching him how to take the ACT and seeing what he would score in third grade. Could you imagine? If he did well, we would be in the money for sure!
Kaden on the other hand, woke up yesterday morning looking like he'd been in a fight. He swears he got the black eye when he scraped his face on the driveway playing basketball but I know that's not the truth! 1. It had been raining so he hadn't played basketball and 2. it's more like a fingernail scrape rather that concrete! That boy can tell some tall tales! I need to start logging them and publish a book!
Speaking of that...I've recently thought I'd love to be a ghost writer for books. I wonder how you get that job!

As for Baby China, well we are still waiting. We sent our dossier to the Chinese Embassy (in D.C) three weeks ago. Apparently there was something wrong with our Arkansas paper work and we had to have it over nighted to be corrected. Now with the stinking holiday, we are just waiting for that paper work to get back to us! Once we get it, we can send it to HOLT and they will send it to China. Then we wait for a Log In Date (LID) and once we get that, we can be matched. Oh, then there's the Chinese New Year at the beginning of February so I'm sure that will delay us some too! I just keep telling myself that God is timing this out just perfectly. Telling myself that and being patient while HE does that is two seperate things all together.

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but this year I am vowing not to be this weight when we go to China. I'm on day three with no Coke Zero. That in its self is amazing! We will see how it pans out!