Jim's Pranks

I just love Jim...so does Vince!

Lila's Song

Lila sang her little heart out tonight at the Giving Tree Preschool Christmas Program. It was precious!!!! One of her little friends, Jalen, is in a pic with her. He picked her flowers at church and tried to give them to her a couple years ago at church and tonight, when asked if he got dressed up for Lila said "Well, I did!". It was a wonderful night. They had memorized part of Psalm 100..."Shout to the Lord, all the earth, Sing to the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His. Some poor little fellow threw up all over the red carpet right behind the podium! Looked like he had waaaay too much mac 'n cheese. I don't think there is anything better than hearing and watching little kiddos sing praises to God!

Titus Update

We just received word, after waiting anxiously for a week, that Titus' last sheet is complete and we should be looking to get a court date scheduled next week!!!! I read the email from Pam and just welled up with tears. A huge weight had been lifted off and just to know we are one step closer is priceless! Probable timeline is court date in February and travel in March. Ugh...the wait is so hard. But it is so exciting! Praising God for this Great News!

Random Pics

Christmas Tea

The first Sunday of every December our church hosts a Christmas Tea and it is one of my favorite things. Women sign up to host a table and bring in their china and decor and the tables our divine! My mom and I hosted one--she brought her stuff and I led the discussion around our table. My friends from high school, Sherry Broers and Autumn Staples come every year with their mothers and this year, my grandma came. It was so much fun! Here are pics of the Tea. Merry Christmas! Oh, and Saint's Coffee has Cinnamon Sticky Bun now--our favorite!

Great Gift!

Be a Saint this Christmas

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It's that time of year when our minds turn toward giving gifts to those we love.

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This coffee is the best we've ever had! It ROCKS!

Adoption Prayer

Hello Friends! I am asking for prayer for tomorrow. Our son's paperwork is almost complete, but needs one more piece signed by witnesses before we can get a court date. The last time the guy tried to get the signatures, the witnesses failed to show. He is now going to pay their daily wage, so that hopefully they will come. Please pray that the will indeed come, that we will get a court date SOON and that Titus will be in our arms ASAP! If this all goes well, we look to be traveling at the end of February. This is longer than what we had thought or hoped for, but know that God is using this time to prepare us and for some reason this is best. Throughout the days, I just see his sweet little smile flash across my mind. I can't wait to get my hands on him and give his chubby cheeks tons of kisses! Thanks for your prayers!

Crown Center

Every Friday after Thanksgiving we go to Crown Center with Papa and Nana Ketchum to see the Mayor's Christmas tree lighting. We look forward to it every year! We go eat lunch at A Streetcar Named Desire, admire all the pretty Christmas trees and awesome train set at Union Station, and run through Crayola Land (which Alex named the Promised Land when she was two). We couldn't hit that this time because of the crazy long lines, and we missed the tree lighting, because our Lila was sick, but it was still fun. We are going to be going back in a couple weeks with our home school group, so we should be able to do Crayola Land then. Our parents came back to our house and we watched the Polar Express on Vince's new TV. It was so much fun! I had to put a pic of Vince putting lip gloss on his little Jewel. He is such a good daddy to his girls!

Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving was so wonderful! We always spend Thanksgiving with my parents and Vince's parents together. We don't have to drive all over and it is such a blessing that my our parents love each other! It was beautiful weather for the first part of the day, until a cold front moved in. We took advantage of it by playing outside with our new friends (Holly (Uncle Chris' lovely girlfriend) had her two nieces with her). Lots of turkey, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and peanut butter pie filled our bellies. We were thankful for our health (which now we are all sick, Lila especially). We were thankful for what Christ has done for us. We were thankful for God blessing us with food and shelter. We prayed for our Titus. That the people taking care of him would be blessed and that we would get him home soon. We prayed for Eileen (beautiful momma of three), Caden (age 5) and Sara (age 4); all who are suffering with cancer. God is so good and we have so much to be grateful for. I have been taking care of our sick little Lila for the past few days, praying for these precious children who are sick. I was reading one of my blogs that I keep up on www.sethbarnes.com and he wrote this excerpt from Brennan Manning (one of my favorite authors)...In The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus he tells the story of a man with 13 children who is asked which of them he loves the most. He answers that the one he loves the most was the one who needed him the most at the time.

God is like that - he loves those most who need him the most. Our need forces us to be dependent on him. We struggle to feel God's love in America because we depend on him so little.

Manning observes that we need to be more secure in how God feels about us. God is genuinely fond of you. He's not waiting for you to become more moral to start loving you.

If you want a GREAT book to read, I recommend Abba's Child, by Manning. It changed my life. Happy Thanksgiving!

Leapin' Lizards (or Toads)

We went on a field trip with our home school group to the KU Natural History Museum a couple of weeks ago. I've been slacking updating this! We had a great time and about 30 kids came! We went on a scavenger hunt through the museum and then our friend at church, David McLeod, took us for a 'behind the scenes' tour. We got to see all sorts of amphibians. They have over 300,000 specimens in lab! He showed us frogs and sicilians and many other creatures he discovered on his trip to Thailand. It was very interesting and we learned that one of the frog species only consists of females! It was a lot of fun!

Titus Update

Our friend and agency director just got back from Ethiopia last Saturday. She visited the new HIV orphanage, the original orphanage, and our son! We got beautiful pictures (and I mean BEAUTIFUL!!!) and wonderful video! It was such a blessing to get it and to see how much he has changed in just under 2 months! Our friend also bought him a hat at market and had him wear it and then she brought it home to us. I was lying in bed with it and I thought "wouldn't it be cool if there was a hair in it?" I looked and looked and then I saw it. A very tiny, very curly black hair. It almost looked like an eyelash, just a little longer and curlier! I was ecstatic and have it in a tupperware! I put my hand in the hat and slept with it (I wasn't feeling too good that day) and just thought "my son's head was in here last week!" Gosh, I want him home sooooo badly! Just pray that we get a court date soon. We are hoping a court date before Christmas and pick-up mid January, if all goes well. Just thought I'd share!

Annual Pumpkin Pick

We go every year to Shaake's Pumpkin Patch. It was PACKED! We went on a Saturday and the pickings were slim, but we found 3 that we liked. I get pics of the girls every year and I just love seeing them and how they've changed. We saw are great friends (and ex-neighbors) the Rea's there, so that was fun. They just moved to their new house this week and will be greatly missed. (At least they are only a few blocks away)!

Riding Cayenne

Our Uncle Chris' girlfriend, Holly, treated us a couple Sundays ago to riding her horse. We had a great time! Cayenne eats A LOT of grass and was tired after we all road her. I was scared to ride her so I made Chris walk the horse while I rode. The last time I had rode a horse, I got bucked off and my sister landed on top of me! Here are some pics. (Haley was unable to attend; she was sick with kitty allergies).

American Royal

The Grace homeschool group went to the American Royal for a field trip on Oct. 20th. There were probably about 50 of us there, so it was a pretty good turn out. We got a "behind the scenes" tour and then we got to see a junior rodeo. It was pretty neat seeing 6-13 year-olds roping and riding! We got to see a cow get milked and a the famous Cowboy Monkey! Here are some pics.

Lila's Field Trip

It has been so long...busy with school, with Titus' arrival (which we still don't know about a court date), and just life! The Giving Tree (her Pre-K) went to the pumpkin patch. It was a perfect day and every kiddo got to pick one pumpkin to take home with them. Here are some pics and one with Lila and her church buddy, Jalon. A couple of years ago, this little guy picked flowers for Lila and tried to give them to her in the church parking lot. He is such a cutie and they are going to loan us their crib for our little guy!

Funny

Baby News!

So it has been a very long time since I have updated our blog. Most of you know that we received a referral for our little Titus on Sept. 4th! He is just over 4 months old now, which is quite a shock on our system, because we were expecting a 4 year old or someone around that age. We are thrilled beyond belief and can't wait to get our hands on him! He has beautiful big, brown eyes and tiny little fingers. He reminds me of Alex and Vince in a way! I remember last Christmas being depressed, wanting our son to be home, and praying (for the past year) that by the next Christmas we would have him. It looks like it could be a possibility! Can you all please pray that we will get a court date soon and that it would pass the first time. If it does, we will be able to pick him up 4-6 weeks later. It is so hard not being able to hold him; so I hold his picture and rock it. (Kinda silly, but if you're a momma, you know you would do it too!) I can't post any pics of him until court passes. Also, Pam is traveling to ET to check on her humanitarian projects and the new HIV orphanage/house that they have begun. How cool is that?! We hope to see it all when we travel to pick little Titus up. Be praying for safety for her and the 3 other women traveling with her.
In Bible study, we have been in James and this week, we examined James 2, about partiality. James 2:5 "Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?" It has been sobering thinking about what God values vs. what I value. I am so thankful our Father does not show partiality. Money, possessions, status and beauty do not matter to him, just the heart. So I can't wait to experience Titus' birthplace and see what God has to show us! We'll be busy preparing---we were done with babies, so we are being blessed by the body through "loaners". I'll be better about updating when we get a court date! Thanks for the prayers!

Lila's First Day

Today was a very special day. Lila went to the Giving Tree! Dad took us out for donuts and we took her to school. It is amazing to see my baby in Pre-school. Haley went to the Giving Tree and Miss Kathy is such a blessing to us. They love God and praise Him all the time! Here are some pics of our big girl!

Bike Safety

So we've been meaning to go to the fire station and get the girls some free bike helmets. Their old ones are too small for their big hair! One day, I was outside and Lila came running up screaming "Haley's hurt, Mr. Brad's got her!" I ran over to the Minnick's house and Haley was being nursed by Brad and Heather. I took one look at her ear, without thinking said "Oh NO! Haley...!!" Her ear looked like raw hamburger. It was horrible and I thought I was going to get sick. Needless to say, I didn't let the girls ride their bikes until they got the helmets. Here are some pics. The pic of Haley's ear was taken a few days after the accident. The firemen were so nice and showed us their trucks and gave us stickers and coloring sheets!

Starving Ethiopia

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-17-ethiopia_N.htm

This article was on USA Today. It is so heartbreaking to hear and see what is going on over there. I pray daily that my son gets enough food, that the children get enough food. I couldn't imagine not being able to provide food for my child. What the parents must be going through... There are ways to help!

1) Buy Saint's Coffee
2) www.tomdavis.typepad.com and the 5 for 50 campaign.
donations marked Ethiopia will go to providing food.
3) Sponsor a child through www.compassion.org

I know giving is hard in this economy, but if it was our child that was starving, what is $30???

Princess Haley

So we were at Famous Footwear on Sat. with our girls and Haley had picked out some vinyl high heal shoes and was walking back and forth down the aisle. Alex was quite impressed and said "Haley! You are walking so well in those shoes. I couldn't walk in high heals like you can." And Haley simply said "Well Alex, that is because you aren't a princess." Haley didn't say it meanly, just as a statement of fact. Alex is our Tom-boy Army girl and Haley is a princess, and she really believes it, hence, the song to the birdie in our garage. Alex and I jsut looked at eachother and chuckled silently. She is precious! Here are some more pics of animals I ran into on my trip and one of our Haley.