Lakeside

Chris was gone to see his brother a couple of weekends ago, so I decided to take the kids to Lakeside to use up our free library coupons from the summer reading program.  It was good for us to get out of the house and we ended up staying over 3 hours, so I think it's safe to say the kids had a good time!! 

I realized, though, that this is probably the last year Brayden and Logan will have any fun at all on the kiddie rides, I think next year we'll have to split up and take the older boys to the bigger rides.  Most of the rides were way too slow for them or their knees were practically up to their chin because the seat was so small.  But even then, I didn't hear one complaint about how babyish the rides were or anything, they had a really good time and if they felt that way, they definitely made the most of it!  Preston and Ashten on the other hand, were just the right ages and size, they loved it.  I was suprised, but Ashten did every single ride, even the roller coaster.  She had a blast!



Preston and Ashten didn't make it home before they crashed!

You want to know a cool little fact?  This is my 500th post!  Yahoo!

Dear baby of mine in Ethiopia,

Ooooh, I so wanted to post her name in that title. But we have decided not to share. Two years is a long time not to share though, so we'll see!

When I think of the months of waiting for you that we have ahead of us, it seems almost too much to bear.  How can I go through the next month or year or years with part of our family halfway across the world?  I have to admit, I didn't expect these strong of emotions this early on in the process.  I didn't really expect to feel a connection to you until we were referred and had your picture.  But I think about you all the time. I wonder if you are even born yet and if so, what you are doing today. I pray that you are safe and happy and enjoying life. I want to know you and bring you home now, I wish we didn't have to wait longer. I want so bad to kiss you and hold you and learn how to take care of your gorgeous skin and hair. 

A friend recently reminded me of how God's amazing plan of redemption is being shown through your adoption. At some point in your short life so far, you will experience pain and loss and feel alone. I'm sure you will feel scared and wonder who is going to take care of you. My heart breaks over you having to go through that. But, even in those times, God has an amazing plan of redemption for you. You will one day know love and family and security and happiness. You will one day know what it is like to have the unconditional love of a forever family. But there is no way for you to know this right now. You are too young and life has not taught you otherwise.  I know God will watch over you though, He loves you!

At this point in the process, we are probably only days away from being on the wait list and then they say it's about a 24 month wait time till we even get matched with you.  All I can do is lean on God and His strength to get us through this waiting period.  I will trust Him to keep you safe and bring you home to us.

I love you baby girl, I love you already,

Your Mama

4th of July

I lied, I'm going to do one more post about July because these pictures are really fun! We had to have some pictures of Chris and I alone and together and our whole family together to send in with our adoption paperwork. We were going over to my parents on 4th of July anyway, so we asked them to take them.

These last two pictures are just for fun!  Ashten was all into the red/white/blue theme.  She had her favorite dress on, we painted her nails red/white/blue and she even let me do her hair up!  Side note: doing girls hair is a new thing for me, I'm still learning, obviously!

My 2012 project

We moved into our house in 2003.  So it has been 9 years this year.  When we moved in we painted, refloored, remodeled, pretty much everything cosmetic.  And so it sat.  Till now.  Since I spend the majority of my time at home, I notice little things like this knick on the baseboard or that chip in the paint on the kitchen wall, or the stains on the kitchen cabinets that won't come out.  So I decided that this year I was going to do something about it.  I broke down all the painting I wanted to do into categories and/or rooms and then assigned each one a month.  Little things like the baseboards and trim need to be done just because they haven't been done in forever, but it was hard to push through on months like that. 

January - baseboards and trim

(no picture - just imagine dirty, dingy baseboards that are now sparkling clean and white!)

February - kitchen and dining room

The walls went from a dirty, dingy, boring light gray to a fun, vibrant, bright green!  I love the change.  It really makes the cabinets stand out more too.

new, green kitchen with old, white cabinets

March - hallway and living room, front door

The walls went from a dark, muted green to a light, creamish, taupe.  It's a little lighter than we thought it would be, but it turned out nice and it makes the room look bigger.  We also painted the front door a dark, brick red.  I love it!  I've always wanted a red front door and it looks so nice with our cream walls.

April - doors

Another boring month.  Just repainted all the doors a crisp, clean white to match the baseboards. Some doors, like the closet doors in the upstairs rooms and the outside doors in the kitchen were still the original, brown wood, so those look much better now that they are white! 

May - bathrooms

I had a hard time getting going this month.  I guess I finished the doors in April too soon and took too long off, so I was very unmotivated.  I'm glad I pushed through though.  The hall bathroom got painted the same color as the kitchen.  It's dark for a small bathroom, but a fun color!  Our bathroom stayed white, I just put a fresh coat on it!

June - vanities

This was an easy month....I painted the vanities in the two upstairs bathrooms.  The hallway bathroom's was already white-ish, I just repainted it white so it was clean and bright again.  In our bathroom, I painted the vanity a dark, navy blue.  Our bathroom is mostly white/cream with blue accents, so I thought something dark and colorful would make the room feel less boring.  It worked!  The color looks nice in there.

July - kitchen cabinets

This is the one that kind of started the whole "repainting the whole house" thing, but the one I had been dreading the most.  Our cabinets were dirty beyond cleaning, chipped and just gross!  I knew it would require a lot of work to clear them out, clean them, sand them and then prime and paint.    

Chris was so sweet to offer to help me.  He hates to paint, so I had purposely planned most of my painting for the months he was in school and I would do it during the day so that he wouldn't feel pressure to help me.  But, for the cabinets, having help was a definite plus.  It would have taken 3-4 times as long had he not helped.  He would roll and I would cut in on the places the roller couldn't get.  Each cabinet door and frame got 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint.

Progress - we were garage-less for almost 3 weeks while painting. :(

Progress -All the stuff that is normally in our cabinets was on the floor in our living
room or dining room - fun times!

I researched and found a paint that is highly recommended for cabinets.  Supposedly it is a water-based paint that acts like a oil-based paint, so it is easier to clean and is self-leveling, so there are no ridges to get chipped.  It came with a higher price tag, but I'm willing to pay it if will keep our cabinets looking nice longer.  We went with a bone white color this time.  Since our ceiling is white and our floors are white, the white cabinets just made it feel like too much white.  We really like the change, it adds some interest to our otherwise kind of boring cabinets.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but the cabinets are closer to the color of the stove than to the color of the ceiling or floor. 



All done!  (And a cute photo bomb by Ashten)

August-December - ALL DONE!!!!
I have no painting left, except for little touchups here and there.  I keep wondering what I am going to do when I don't have to paint or think about painting almost every time Ashten naps!  I am so glad we did it though.  Our house looks updated and clean.  It was definitely worth all the hard work, paint under my nails and sore backs.  The only downside to having fresh paint on the walls is that every scratch and chip stands out and it bugs me till I finally just break out the paint and fix it!

July in 1 post

July flew by!  I would wonder if we just skipped it, except for all the things we have to show for it!

• Chris and I celebrated 12 years of marriage!  Can't believe it's been that long, our marriage is almost a teenager!

• The boys completed 4 weeks of daily swim lessons and grew so much in their skills.  Going to the pool used to be super stressful since I felt like I was just looking around in the water and counting to 4 the whole time.  Now I feel pretty comfortable with 2 of them, so now swimming is fun again!!
• Chris and I took down and cleaned, sanded and painted all our kitchen cabinets.  This is a job I have been dreading all year, but having Chris' help made it much better, if for no other reason than someone to talk to while we painted!  They look so much better now!
• My grandma passed away July 15th.  This was my first real experience with loss since I have been an adult.  It has been sad, but I know she is in a much better place now and I will see her again someday.  It makes me appreciate the time I still have with my family here on earth and I want to take advantage and not put it off.  We traveled out to Grand Junction one weekend for the funeral and I got to see almost all my cousins and our kids got to play with almost all of their second cousins.  It was an impromptu family reunion - really fun! 
• On the way home from Grand Junction, we stopped in Glenwood Springs and enjoyed a day at the pool.  What a blast!  I wish it wasn't so far away and that it didn't cost so much or we'd be going there more often.
• We've been going to the zoo, the pool and hanging out a bunch as a family.  This is my favorite time of the year: no schedule, no expectations, just family time!

 

• Preston made a decision for Chris and got baptized!  Not a prouder moment as a parent, for sure!  Preston's friend Cody was baptized the same day, which was cool for Preston.

• We've been working hard on getting all the paperwork done for our dossier.  We've ordered documents, met with a notary and coordinated all the letters of recommendation and other documents like that that others have to do for us.  We are almost ready to send that in!

Phew!  Maybe August will be a little less hectic?  Hmmm....I'm thinking not!

College World Series game

We had the opportunity to go see a College World Series game while we were in Nebraska visiting Chris' sister and her family.  Actually, Chris and I and his sister and her husband were all going to go on Wednesday night.  Literally almost as soon as we got through the gate, it started pouring.  We ran in the rain to the concourse and then spent the next 3 hours pigging out on concession stand food waiting for the game to start.  Finally, at 9 pm, they called the game and said that it was rescheduled for the next day at 11 am. 

The next day, we got a bunch of extra tickets from people who Chris' brother-in-law worked with who couldn't go to the game because it was during the day.  So we ended up taking all the kids.  It was a fun time, even though I don't think the kids really watched much of the game. 

Preston's rally cap

Ashten's favorite part of the game was probably eating the popcorn

To the park with the cousins

Warning:  This post is very picture-heavy.  But, what can I say?  I think my kids are just adorable and I couldn't choose!!

A few times, while we were visiting Chris' sister and family in Nebraska, we visited the park that was by their house.  It was a really cool park, very top-of-the-line.  One day I brought my camera, because despite all the cool playground equipment, I was a little bored!

Ashten was upset because I wasn't holding her

Cousins!

She called this "Monkey Slide"

He's growing up so fast!

Preston thought it was really cool that he was wearing his Spiderman shirts
and there was a web to climb on!

Our story

Today marks 12 years that I have been married to my best friend.  I won't lie and say it's been all sunshine and roses, but everything we have gone through, we have gone through together and we have come out together on the other side of it stronger in our marriage and closer as a couple. 

I realized that I never really told our story on my blog: how we met, when we started dating, etc.  So without further ado....

Chris and I actually met in 7th grade when my family moved to CO and started attending the same church as his family.  But we didn't really ever talk to each other except for "hi", or the occasional razzing about the other person's sports team, till about 4 years later.  Officially we started really talking when we had the same Physics class and he sat in front of me on the first day of school.  I can still remember thinking to myself, "what kind of person wears a holey t-shirt and basketball shorts on the first day of school?".  I mean I seriously spent probably several hours thinking about, shopping for and planning my first-day-of-school outfit.  Haha - I still tease him about it to this day. But I digress.... Throughout the semester, we would talk a little about physics or church, and I couldn't believe a jock (he played 4 sports I think?) and someone so good-looking would be interested in talking to a lowly choir jock (yes we really did call ourselves that - weren't we cool?) like myself.  He was dating some girl (or so I thought) and so we were strictly becoming better friends at that point. 

Our first outing together (it wasn't really a date because Chris didn't ask me with that intent) was to go see my ex-boyfriend in the hospital.  Haha - funny story!  He was a mutual friend from youth group at our church and he had just had surgery and was in the hospital for a few days.  Chris called me up out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go with him to see this guy in the hospital the next afternoon after school.  I wasn't really excited about going to see my ex-boyfriend in the hospital, but I was excited to hang out with Chris, so I agreed.  When we got to the hospital, apparently I made some comment about how this guy and I had broke up about six months ago and Chris says right then he felt horrible.  Like, he's bringing this guy's ex-girlfriend in, as it appears, to show off that he is now dating me.  That wasn't at all his intention, he honestly just thought since I didn't have a car and since he thought we were still dating and since he was this guy's friend too that we could just carpool to go see him.  What a chivalrous, sweet guy!  (My first clue)

I figured that would be the end of it, so I wasn't really getting my hopes up and still hadn't really thought about Chris as any more than a friend.  But then the next day he called me again.  And we talked for a loooong time.  This was back before the time of cell phones or DSL, so anytime I spent on the phone was time that my parents couldn't use the phone OR the internet.  No wonder they were always limiting my phone time!  That phone conversation was when I realized that I liked Chris as more than a friend.

Our first "date" was to go see Chris' sister play a soccer game in Colorado Springs.  Except that we never made it to the game because we ended up just sitting around talking the whole evening at his house.  We had a lot in common and really hit it off.  When we first started dating we would talk for hours and hours and hours.  I wish we had that kind of time now!



Senior Homecoming - 1997

Chris and I started dating the end of our junior year of high school, so I can proudly say I married my high school sweetheart. We became very close very fast, and I think we both knew we had something special. Our senior year of high school was fairly uneventful, but I think most people were very surprised that we were still dating when we graduated.  We spent almost every minute together that we could between school, work and sports.


Senior Prom - 1998



High School Graduation - 1998

When I went up to Ft. Collins my freshman year of college and Chris stayed in Golden at CSM, we spoke on the phone or emailed almost every day.  I missed him a lot, and I can honestly say that that is when I knew he was the man I wanted to marry.  I think that year was good for us though, because it taught us how to better communicate and solidifed our feelings for each other.  I transferred to CU Denver my sophmore year and if anyone asked me, I would tell them it was so that Chris and I could get married sooner.

August, 1998 - the day I moved into my college dorm room

Chris and I got engaged over Christmas break of our sophmore year of college.  We were both 19!!  19!!  At the time we felt mature, grown-up and not at all still kids, but now as I look back, and especially when I think of our own kids getting engaged at that age, it's a little scary.  I wouldn't change a thing if I could go back and do it over though, so I really believe it was a great decision!

1999

We were married in 2000, the summer between our sophomore and junior years of college.  We did a lot of growing up as a married couple, which was maybe a little harder than doing it as a single person, but I think it also made us closer. 

Sorry for the grainy picture - this was pre-digital-camera era.

Over the past 12 years (15 if you include our dating years) I have grown to know and love Chris more and more!  I am so grateful for the man God gave me to be my partner for life.  I am a totally lucky girl!  I can't wait to see what the next 12 years brings to our lives and to our marriage!

Omaha Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Nebraska to visit Chris' sister and brother-in-law and their 3 kids.  It was a good time of reconnecting for the kids, I think they had a great time!

The first few days we were there, it was so rainy!!  We decided to go to the zoo, since their zoo has a lot of indoor exhibits and the kids had to get out of the house!

The coolest exhibit was probably the gorillas, they were right up next to the glass and pretty playful.  Where the Denver zoo has a lot of "natural habitats", the Omaha Zoo has more visitor-focused habitats.  What that basically means is that the Denver zoo is probably better for the animals, but it's sometimes very hard to see the animals as their enclosures are so big.  The Omaha Zoo probably doesn't have as much room for the animals to roam and explore, but that means that you get a very good, up-close look at all the animals! 

At the end of the gorilla exhibit, we walked outside and the rain had let up a little, so we let the kids climb on the gorilla statues.

Preston saw this cougar structure and really wanted to take a picture on it!  I took 3 pictures and this was the best one.  It is virtually impossible to get a picture with 4 kids who are all looking at the camera and not crying, let alone smiling. 

  

We had a good day at the zoo and I think we exhausted all the kids pretty good with all the walking as they all fell asleep on the way home!

Adoption update - July 2012

We have been very productive this past month in regards to adoption stuff.  I haven't written an update in awhile, but now is a good time since we actually have some progress to write about!

• All our education requirements are completed. For now. We completed a 20-chapter workbook and 7 online classes!!  We have a few adoption books we want to read, but those are totally by choice and on our own time.  We have a 2-day training to attend in October, but we are done with all the training we HAD to complete to move forward at this point.  The education was actually really good.  Chris and I both talked about how we really went into this adoption with some very wrong and naive perceptions and our eyes have definitely been opened to the challenges and issues we might face as adoptive parents.  We are so excited for the challenges, as well as the rewards that come with international adoptive parenting.
• We sent in for our passports since they had both expired and have already them back!  Yay for fast government service!!
• We have chosen a name!!!  We aren't going to share though till we get the referral, so you have about 2 more years to wait!  We have really specific criteria for the name and honestly I didn't think we'd find a name that met all of them.  We wanted a name that ended in "n", like all our other children's names, we wanted a name with African origins and we wanted a name that meant something pertaining to the adoption.  I was just kind of searching around on the internet one night and came across one that fit all 3 of our criteria.  And Chris and I both like it!  It's like a miracle!
• God has provided all the funds we need to get on the wait list!  God is so, so good!  We will have more money due at the time of our referral, but we have time to fundraise and apply for grants between now and then.
• Our homestudy interviews are all complete and we have read through and signed our homestudy.  Two more agencies have to give their approval and then it will be officially finalized!
• When our home study is officially final and approved, that same day, we will send in our application to USCIS.  This is the packet to goes to the US government for immigration purposes.  We have to be approved to bring home a child from another country.

The next, and final, thing to complete before we are on the waiting list for a referral is the dossier.  I have to admit, at first it was totally overwhelming and a little stressful, but as we have worked through the steps, it has not been nearly as bad as I thought.  We have to get a few letters of recommendation, more background checks, more medical clearance and then a few photos and stuff.  We can send in our dossier as soon as we hear back from USCIS that our immigration paperwork has been approved!

We are really hoping to get on the waiting list sometime in September.  From the most recent figures we have seen, the average wait time from getting on the list to receiving a referral is 20 months.  If we were to get on the wait list by September, that would put our referral in Spring 2014 (granted the time line stays the same) and hopefully we will actually have our daughter home by Christmas 2014.

Now that we are getting things done and getting so close to being on the wait list, it is really becoming more real to me.  I know it's still a long way off, but I ache for the day I get to hold our Ethiopian daughter and bring her home.