the maple leaf state

A few weekends ago we were able to spend a time away with our "small" (21 people) group (and we had a few missing people!).  Since we are so close to the border we decided to make our weekend away in foreign land - oh yes, we are an adventurous group!  Packed into two condos we experienced beautiful blue skies and powder snow (along with FREE lift tickets), games, LOTS of food, wonderful conversations and a little bit of hot tubbing! 

Besides the few people puking in the bathrooms - things went really great!  No seriously though, we had a few really sick people that had to leave early to get to their own beds :(  We are so grateful we didn't catch anything too severe before David's week in court.

 David doesn't love skiing or anything ;)

 Jason, Kari, Kelly, David & Amy

 Kelly, Amy, Kari, Mel, Kathleen, Amy & Sari

 Kathleen & Dan

 Just rolled out of bed and still stunning as ever - Amy & Hollyn

Joel, Parker, Griffin & Clara

And, this post wouldn't be complete without an ode to FIF - a band that David LOVES and has loved for years.  We listened to this song a few times prior to crossing the border just to get a little extra excited!

a longing for more

Okay God, I know you will work through us with the adoption and through the timing and waiting but... it's already hard!  I didn't think it would get hard until we had a referral and were waiting to travel.  I mean it's only been 3 months 3 weeks and 2 days since we've been on the waiting list but who's counting!?  I am thankful it's hard but, ya know hard isn't fun either.  I have such a deep desire to grow our family of three and it's so great to feel reassured that we are on our way to a bigger family but, again, waiting is hard.


Until the time is right and our little one is ready please give us patience and grow our understanding and love for you.  Help us to see beyond ourselves and look toward these sweet little orphan children that all need you, need love, attention and a home.  Give us the resources and drive to influence others for these children and for your kingdom.  Amen!  

I have a really hard time being open and vulnerable on the blog - I feel like you readers might see it all wrong, see me as needy or asking for attention from you.  But mostly, I just want to share things with you and have you be able to be in our lives so I hope sharing struggles will do that.  I also have a hard time sharing struggles when I know other people are dealing with hard things, much harder things, but this is our hard thing right now and we're going to embrace the gift of sifting through our thoughts and feelings.  I hope this all makes sense.

So, thanks blog friends for your prayers and encouragement already through this journey of adoption.  We are so so thankful to be a part of this miracle and hope you feel the same way!

oh her joy!

Norah is honestly so JOYFUL and has become such a little ham for us :) She knows how to pose a smile, or anytime you look at her and she just wants you to know she's happy she gives you one of these...

No we didn't teach her that. Yes she is lying on top of the adoption shirts, oops!  I couldn't find her a few weeks back and I peaked into the office to see this (she loves books and always crosses her ankles, what  little lady)...

We've also seen a lot of this lately...

Some pictures turn out like this and I find them pretty hilarious...

 

Absolutely LOVES baths.  If you say the word she keeps repeating it back and walking toward the tub.

She also really likes to carry as many things as possible, all at once...

She loves to wear all her bibs at the same time and brings them to me one at a time to put on her!

Man I love this child.

  Cannot wait for baby #2!!!!!  Wherever you are and however old you are, little one, we are dreaming of posting pictures of you and braggin' on all your great personality traits too :)

Biometrics

That's right... we are getting our finger prints taken at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services!

Each step in the adoption process deserves a little celebration :)

Did you know most finger printing is done electronically?  I just assumed it was done with ink still, I'm not techy enough to think like a techy.  Sad.

TWO stellar weeks: part 2

Week TWO:

This past week we had the honor of hosting the newlyweds, Nathan and Kim!  We hadn't seen them in 6 months, since they got hitched.  Again, it was a great 5 days of doing lots of activities here's some of what we did:

*played games

*walked around Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane

*went to the jumpy place

*made delicious dip, and monster cookies!

*watched Salt 

*toured Fairchild AFB again

*skied Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho

*had the Hooks over for dinner (but they brought the food - it was a great deal :))

*Kim & I went to book club, she even read the book so she could participate

*went to Riverside State Park and walked around a bit, the guys did a little scrambling

At least I'm funny... right?

Isn't ID beautiful!?

They bonded.

There were a lot of jumpy pictures but most were motion pictures.  Isn't this place insane?  The place also has a foam pit to jump into, workout classes and dodgeball!

Nathan worked on teaching Norah tricks.  Her first "trick" was sitting on the exercise ball (don't tell but she's been doing this for a few weeks already), the second was teaching her the peace sign.  She's obviously brilliant and picked up on that right away!

Thanks for coming Nathan & Kim, we loved having you and miss you already!

TWO stellar weeks: part 1

Week ONE:

We started the month off right with a visit from my (Kelly) parents!  They flew in to Spokane and spent about 5 days here.  It was a great mix of doing things around town and relaxing.  David and my dad both had to work during the days they were here so we had some chic time too :)

Things we did while the 'rents were in town:

*toured Fairchild AFB

*ate Korean food

*went to a kids carnival to watch Norah play and dance :)

*watched the Super Bowl (and felt disgusted that the Packer's won)

*the boys went to a Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball game (for free!!)

*sewed a little with my mom - I made a dog bed for their dog and she made a skirt for one of Norah's little friends

*my dad was able to connect with a great friend who he went on a mission trip with years ago

*REI scratch and dent sale (david finally got a ski jacket and some sweet gortex pants)

*watched Red (it was funny)

*played games

*went to the library for "lap sit reading time" - Norah does NO lap sitting though

*ate a lot of good food and discovered our love for pot stickers!

*went to Costco of course :)

Unfortunately, I didn't take hardly any pictures!  I'm waiting on an email from my mom with more to share - I'll update soon.

We visited the Little Spokane River at the Riverside State Park and it was cold but beautiful.  We also went there on week two.  It's a beautiful place to visit!

Norah does love her Nana and Papa, even though she looks a little funky in this picture.

After the day of Super Bowl watching Papa and Norah took a few 5 second naps!

It's always hard saying goodbye to family and friends but it's a wonderful thing to know when we'll be seeing them next!  Hurray for a summer family vacation!

crockpot applesauce

We had a lot of red apples around our house (which aren't our favorite) so I skinned them and cut them into chunks to make some applesauce.  Super easy and fun! 
Here's a picture and the recipe I used:
10 medium sized apples skinned and cut into quarters or smaller
juice of one lemon
2 table spoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup water
mix it all up and cook on low 4-6 hours and mash if necessary!

I meant to take a picture when it was done but forgot!  It is a sweeter applesauce and Norah loves it mixed with some yogurt.