Preschool Pizzazz

Every Thursday morning we go to "Preschool Pizzazz" at our library! It's story time, songs, crafts, and movement all based around one particular theme. Yesterday it was all about MICE! The books and songs we heard were all about mice and the boys made a really cute mouse puppet to take home. The boys love story time at the library and look forward to going each week!

Monkey Joe's

Riley playing at Monkey Joes

Corban trying to be still for 1 second so I could take a picture!


Because I have been sick for almost a week, we haven't ventured out of the house much. Today the walls felt like they were going to come crashing down on us if we didn't get out of the house soon!!! My boys have a lot of energy and we needed a constructive way to get that energy out!!! I decided to take the boys to Monkey Joes to play!!! They were SO... excited. Now normally Monkey Joes is a little bit pricey for a normal weekly outing, but considering that we had not been out of the house in a few days I figured they deserved a little treat! When we arrived at Monkey Joes I was told Wednesdays were 1/2 off play days. We got to play for $5.00!!!!! Yes, that's it- $5.00!!!! That was an extra treat for me!!! Now I was just as thrilled as the boys were to play!! We played for about 2 hours and then met some friends for lunch. It was a GREAT morning! When we got home both of the boys took a nap! They were tired! Needless to say, from now on you will probably find us jumping around Monkey Joes on Wednesday mornings!

We're making progress!

Let's get our FINGERPRINTS!!!!!



Shane had his individual home study interview this morning. He felt like it went really well. As Shane and Kim, our social worker, talked they realized they went to high school together and graduated the same year. Shane knew Kim's husband who also went to the same high school. They were in ROTC together. Small world!
We also had our fingerprints done this afternoon! YEAH!!!!!
I feel like we are making progress in this adoption process!!!

The "sick bug" has struck

Like so many other people I know, I have been hit by this awful "bug". I haven't been this sick in a long time. I started to feel symptoms (cold, cough, fever) on Wednesday afternoon and by that evening I knew I was sick. Thursday I couldn't even get off the couch. My mom brought my little sister Allison over to help me with the boys so I could rest. What a BLESSING!!!! I was so grateful for her help. I really don't know what I would have done without her! (I am praying she doesn't get sick!)
I am feeling a little better today, but Riley was up all night coughing. Corban informed me last night that his throat was hurting! We'll see how he is this morning!
My last post was about how this week was just a normal week...I think I spoke too soon!!

Pretty normal week

This week, so far, had been a pretty typical week for our family. I thought I would just blog about a few highlights...

Monday... Shane had the day off because it was Presidents Day, so he and Corban went golfing. This was Corban's first time golfing and he loved it!!!

Wednesday... Gopher Buddy night! We have dinner at church and then Corban gets to go to Gopher Buddies while Shane and I attend our class. Corban LOVES his teachers Ms. Sandy and Mr. John. They are a sweet older couple at our church and they truly love the kids. They always greet Corban with such enthusiasm! Riley goes to his class too, but he doesn't love it so much!!! If you know Riley, you know what I mean. Riley is a mama's boy all the way!!!! He has a very hard time with separation!!!!! Anyway...

Thursday... Library story time with the boys and then out to lunch with friends!

Saturday... Shane has his individual interview scheduled in the morning for the homestudy. We also have our fingerprints appointment later on that afternoon. YEAH!!!!
We have friends coming over for dinner later on that evening! Busy day!

Add laundry, cleaning house, errands, cooking, schooling, and church work in there and you have a normal week for our family!
Hope your week is going well!!!

My new addiction!

I have a new found addiction...RUNNING! I know it's crazy, but I LOVE running! I didn't think I would ever say that! My memories of running when I was a kid involve middle school P.E. class where every year we had the mile run. I always hated that day! I found myself huffing and puffing around the field with an cramp in my side! It is because of these wonderful memories, I just considered myself a NON-runner!!! As I got older, I have always tried to be involved in some type of physical exercise, for health purposes, but running was never on the list. That is up until now!!!! When we moved into our neighborhood I joined the ladies Bible study. Several of the ladies in the group run together. They encouraged me to join them. Anxious to make friends and get to know these ladies better, I decided to join them and give running another chance! I am so glad I did! We meet at 5:30am, five times a week for our run. It is great to have this accountability. I know there have been numerous mornings I did not want to get out of bed, but I know I have a group of ladies waiting on me. We run about 4.5 miles during the week and leave Saturdays for our long run. It took some time for me to build up my endurance, but the training had paid off. A few of my running buddies have been training for different races. I thought this was a great goal to have so I started training for a half marathon (13.1 miles). Last December my sister and I did the half marathon together. We trained on our own, but ran the entire race together. It was so much fun and left us with such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. There is another half coming up in April and I think I am going to run in it too! Most of my running buddies are doing this race, so it should be a lot of fun to do it together! I love these ladies. We spend our mornings just chatting about what's going on in everyone's lives. We pray for each other and hold each other accountable! I am so blessed to have such great running partners!!!

Baby shower!

Sunday evening we hosted a baby shower for Shane's sister Sallie and her husband Tuan. They are expecting a little girl ( Makayla) in late March. They have waited a while before becoming parents and we are so excited for them!! Tuan is Vietnamese so get togethers with his family are always so much fun! One tradition they have is that every gift that is opened a picture is taken with the person giving the gift.
The food was good too! Tuans' sister is an incredible cook and she was gracious enough to help me with the food. She made some awesome coconut shrimp!
Congratulations Sallie and Tuan! We can't wait to meet Makalya!

Best Valentines/Birthday Ever!!!

What I thought was supposed to be a pretty ordinary Friday turned out completely different. My day began with Shane announcing to me that he had made me an appointment at the Ballantyne Spa for a day of rest and relaxation. He dropped me off and told me I would have to wait to see what would happen after my day at the spa was finished. I received the total treatment-facial, manicure, pedicure, and a Swedish massage!!!! As I was having my manicure one of the girls working there came in and told me that after I was finished with all my treatments a car would be waiting for me outside. It would take me to the Ballantyne Lodge( a few blocks away from the resort) where we would be spending the night!!!!! She handed me a room key. After I finished at the spa I was taken to the lodge where the room was decorated with rose petals, chocolate, and sparkling grape juice. On the bathroom door was hanging a new outfit from my favorite store Ann Taylor Loft along with accessories. On the desk was a note letting me know that I needed to get ready because we had dinner reservations at 6:00pm. Shane and the boys had already brought all my things over to the lodge earlier so I had everything I needed to get ready. Shane arrived at the lodge around 5:30 and off to dinner we went to my favorite resturant, Nakatos! After a wonderful meal we headed back to the lodge where we hung out and talked by the fireplace!!!! It was so nice to just be a couple and to focus on each other. We just enjoyed being together. What a perfect end to a wonderful day!!! Like I said in my earlier post Shane is really good at surprises. He is so sweet and always knows how to make me feel so special! He is the best husband ever!!! I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man!!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Today is not only Valentines day, but it is also my birthday. My poor husband has it tough;) He always makes me feel really special. We are not actually going to celebrate until tomorrow night though. My sister and her husband are going to keep the boys Friday night at their house so we can have the entire evening. (Thanks "B") I am really looking forward to it! I'm not sure what we are going to do, but Shane has taken the entire day off!!! I know we will spend the morning as a family, probably go out to breakfast, and meet my sister later on in the afternoon to drop off the boys. Shane has made dinner reservations somewhere, but I don't know where! He's really good about surprises!
This morning my mom, sister, and grandma came over and brought valentine/birthday cupcakes. Cupcakes before 10am is okay right!?! They stayed and visited for a while and then it was off to my friend Mandy's for a valentine party! The boys had fun passing out their valentines to their friends. We enjoyed lunch and got to decorate heart cookies. A fun time was had by all. When I arrived home there were flowers waiting for me by the front door. My husband had flowers delivered to me! I LOVE fresh flowers! So sweet.

It's so fun to think that by next valentines day we will have our baby girl home to celebrate with too!!!

Mommy and her valentines!

Grammie and RiRi

"Ma" and RiRi

Two cuties!

Valentines party with friends!

First Homestudy Interview!!

Shane and I had our first home study interview last night. We met Kim, our social worker, at the CAS (Christian Adoption Services) office. She put both Shane and I at ease. We were very nervous. We had this impression that our entire life would be viewed under a microscope and we would be judged on what kind of parents we are now to our boys and if we were capable to parent our new daughter. The interview was nothing like that at all. Kim asked us all kinds of detailed questions about us as a couple, feelings about adoption, birth parents, our immediate family and extended, life style, ect. We answered all her questions without hesitation. It felt more like a conversation than an interview! Also, dealing with a christian agency is wonderful because their is freedom in sharing about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how He is involved in our daily lives!
We still have three interviews left. Two individual ones and then the home visit. I am much more relaxed about these upcoming interviews.
I am so grateful for Christian Adoption Services! It is such a wonderful agency and we are so blessed to be working with them!

Fingerprints Scheduled

In the mail today we received our appointment from immigration services to be fingerprinted!! We are so excited. I know it may not seem like important news to some, but to us it means another step closer to Sophie. This process is a lot of hurry up and wait, so when you see progress, even if it's just a little thing, we always celebrate!!!!

Been a while!

I'm still not very good at this blogging stuff. I want to do better and I will. I always get frustrated when I read other blogs and they are not updated frequently enough. I will try not to be one of those bloggers. So much has happened this past week and we are that much closer to bringing Sophie home! Let's see...
Our church just started up a group called H.O. M.E. ( Hearts for Orphans Ministering for Eternity). The purpose of this ministry is to offer channels of support for orphan care, foster care, and adoption support. We had our first meeting last Monday and had a great turn out. There were over 60 people there! Shane and I were so blessed as we sat an listened to people share their heart for this ministry. We are so excited to become more involved in this ministry!
As far as our personal adoption process goes, we received confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security that our application was filed on January 22, 2008. We should get our approval letter sometime in April or May.
We scheduled our first home study interview for tomorrow evening. I guess we have a series of four interviews to go through. One with both Shane and I together and one with each of us alone, and then the home visit. I hope we do okay!
On a side note... A really big event happened in the life of our four year old son Corban this week. On February 7th he asked Jesus into his little heart. I am so happy for him. I know he is young, but he REALLY gets it. About two weeks ago we were working through his devotional he does for Gopher Buddies ( Wed. evening program at our church) and we talked about what it means to be saved. I told him whenever he thought he was ready to ask Jesus in his life to let me know. Well about a week and a half later we were riding in the car and he said out of the blue that he was ready to ask Jesus in his heart. I was really surprised and asked him what made him think about that at that particular moment. He replied, " I think Jesus just put it in my brain!". So when we got home and got settled I had another talk with him to make sure he really understood what this meant. He understood and prayed just the sweetest prayer! We called Daddy at work to tell him the good news. Shane was excited for Corban too. We have prayed since before the boys were born that they would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ at a very young age! I am so happy that God has answered that prayer in Corbans life!
Well.. I guess that's it for today!