Your name shall be Rat Foot

Sophie and I took an innocent trip to Wal-Mart yesterday late afternoon. Our departure was delayed, however by a HUGE storm that had everyone waiting outside the store until it blew over. I had 2 kids at home though, that were getting a little freaked out by a little black out due to the storm. I waited for a few minutes and decided to run for it. The result was that I looked like a drowned rat- is that why you would call me Rat Foot??? NO!! Just wait there is more....
We have the privilege of having a sewage grate right out in front of our house. When it rains all the leaves and debris from the street float down to the grate. This creates a huge lake in front of the house. The only solution is to pull the leaves out of the gutter. I've done this many times and I was already sopping wet, so I just went for it. I stepped onto the grass and met up with a RAT!!! A scurrying over my foot RAT! I really wish that someone would have been video taping the screaming, plugging my ears (just what I do when I'm scared) dancing fit I had. My sisters decided that my name shall be Rat Foot. We're moving!

Perspective

You can't help but wonder what we can do when you see this video. Adoption isn't really the answer to this problem. How can we help?

The New Partridge Family

This is why we don't have to worry about college funds and retirement. These guys will be famous. Watch out Jonas Brothers.

Cupcake!

I couldn't get the video to load here after waiting FOREVER. You can check it out here though.

Kenzie's new look

Cute huh? The top pic is the "after"

Just stuff....

Our house has become quite the day care center. My brother and his girlfriend are going through a tough time right now, so I've volunteered to help out with the kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am only taking care of 3 of the 7 they call their own! I also have 2 of 4 of my sister Megan's kids. Josiah is going to basketball camp with Seth this week and Elli is hanging out with Kenzie. Meg had my older 2 last week for a few days. I love the kid swap and I really love that my kids have so many close cousins to spend time with.

I have found myself in a lot of prayer the last few days. I have quite a few friends going through some really hard times right now. I often wonder about all the pain in the world. There is so much in my small sphere of influence. I just started a Beth Moore Bible study on Believing God - I am excited to learn about believing God for His plan for this messed up world!

Age span

This is one of the best things about the age span between our kids. Makenzie is 11, Seth is 10, Sophie is 2. So cute!!!

The audio isn't great, but you get the picture (no pun intended, but I still laughed).

Blog Buzz - Why Ethiopia

Red letters is doing a fun Blog Buzz where they will ask different questions each week and bloggers can answer and learn. Thought I'd take a stab at a difficult topic (at least for me).

Why did you decide to adopt from Ethiopia? What are the pros and cons of adopting from this county?

For both of our adoptions we didn't have a clear idea of country. Some people feel drawn to different countries for different reasons. For Sophie's adoption, after a lot of soul searching, Dan really felt like China was the country for us. At the same time, Dan's brother and his family were adopting from Ethiopia (that's Caden in the picture - how cute is he?!?).

So, when we decided to adopt again, Ethiopia seemed like the place. Quite honestly, it doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of options right now for many people.

It does complicate our family dynamics though. Micah will have a lot more answers about his birth family than Sophie ever will. In China, it is illegal to put your children up for adoption. Abandonment is the only option for them. So, we literally have NO information about her first mom. We will be priveleged to meet Micah's birth family.

Dan's brother and sister-in-law are adopting from Ethiopia again. My sister Lauren is also adopting from Ethiopia. Micah will have some cousins that share his heritage. That is awesome!
I am excited about that!

My plan is to adopt one more time from China after Micah so that Sophie will have some one to share heritage with (and because I think it is awesome!). We should probably wait a couple years this time. Dan is not quite on board with that plan yet, but I've got time to work on it :).

I am pretty sure that didn't answer any of the questions at all. Welcome to my brain. Scary, huh?

Cleaned Up!

Seth decided today that he was sick of trying to get his hair to lay down right - he actually requested a hair cut - this has never happened before! I like the new look. I am glad that I let him get the wild hair out of his system without too much of a fuss. I love being able to see his handsome face again!