Married With Children

It's a few days early but...

Happy Anniversary To Us!

I recently heard a quote the following quote...

"You've never been married until you've had one child and you've never had children until you've had at least two."

Not too bad, it only took us three years to officially be married with children! :)

Guapo, I am so glad you married me!  Life is always an adventure with you and you were made to be a daddy! I love you.

p.s.  if you have a moment, we would appreciate your prayers.  Our much anticipated, South of the border, adventure has begun!

And...
We have a new nephew!!!

Welcome to the world little Leo Wallace!

Unintentional Play Pens

Surprised to see me?  Yes, I know, I should be packing or at least doing dishes…I am procrastinating. :)

If you don’t know why The Littles are sitting are in boxes, check out this post, Ahoy.

Yes, The Littles love their boats. So much in fact, that they don’t want to be moved.  When I try to take them out, they get a wee bit testy.  The Littles are hoping for another spin. So they sit in their boxes and play.

We have also been blessed with a visit from Aunt Steph!

She read, cleaned, played, cleaned, babysat, prepared food and cleaned and played some more!  The Littles love her and so do we!  Thanks so much Steph!!!

Who Wouldn’t Love To Come Home To This?

Before I get into the post, we have a praise.  God is ever so faithful and He has answered prayers and The Littles have their passports and after much searching, ours too.  (Whew, huge sigh of relief, a whole other saga I won’t launch into, but God heard prayers). We leave in a few days for Mexico.

The Littles love waiting at the door for daddy (and they love to dress-up, which delights my heart to no end, especially because I had started a dress-up box pre-kiddos).

Let the games begin!!!

`

Ahoy!

All it took was a few days of warm weather and Daddy is dreaming about boating. 

Jon proposed we also take The Littles sailing this summer and I reminded him of their HATE for life jackets and the need to be realistic in our expectations for boat time for us.

That did it.  Family “boat training” time on a cold February night, indoors.  Jon was super excited and would not be talked out of it, “Go, get the life jackets, ours too, I’ll get ready!” I shut all the blinds, rolled my eyes and got the life jackets.

The boat turned from the chest to empty diaper boxes.

 

 

Looks like we will be boating after all this season!!!

I Spy…

The sun!  We went on a walk today, found our shadows, ate snow, etc. It was wonderful. 

 

 

The Littles on Leashes

Daddy worked the boat show four days straight over a long weekend. The Littles and I were a little stir crazy so we decided to join him for the evening.

It was also the debut of the baby leashes. Don't judge it (unless you have twins or very busy babies, you can give me advice) :)

Upon release:

Not quite the control I was picturing. :)

For those of you who have inquired about Little A...She still isn't doing so good.  72 hours of fever.  Blah.  We have a doctor's visit this afternoon.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Us (and maybe a little more)

My dear Aunt Suz has awarded me as a stylish blogger. Thanks Susie! As part of the award, I am supposed to tell you 7 things you probably don’t know about us and pass it on to 5 other bloggers. I am not going to pass it on.  I read a lot of stylish blogs and I don’t want to narrow it down. :)

Drum Roll Please…

7 FUN FACTS!

1) I used to work undercover. BEST JOB EVER.  I bought cigarettes underage, drove around with an officer in plain clothes and we would go to every tobacco vendor in 7 counties. The only reason I ever wish I was still 17.

2) Jon has an amazing singing voice and can beatbox like nobody’s business. His life could be a musical, he sings through it, making up words as he goes.

The greatest thing about beatbox? It translates as “fun” in any language.

3) The Littles use the word “UP” liberally.  It means up, down, out, off, open, shut and hold me (just to name a few).

4) Little A had a high fever in the night and it’s persisting. Again, not a fun fact, but will you PRAY for her healing and that *shudder* it’s not another UTI.  I still haven’t recovered from watching her get her first catheter.

5) Not such a fun fact…I am currently going through a time of chastisement of the Lord.  Yes, painful, hard to go through.  I hate being confronted by my ugliness.  However, it has been an oddly comforting time while reflecting on Hebrews 12:4-14.  It has brought me to humbled worship. 

6) The Latest Tooth Update: Little J has 4 teeth, Little A has 6 (almost 7).

(I realize you can’t see any teeth here.  The Littles don’t feel great and this is as happy as the pictures session got)

7) Little A can walk backwards like a pro. Uncle Chad taught her to say “Beep, beep” and on her own, she combined it with the backwards walk.  I have no idea where she learned this but it is hysterical.

Uncle Chad teaches lots of fun tricks. :)

There you have it. Everything you needed to know about us. :)

Please Help Us Solve Our Marital Dispute :)

Jon and I were just hashing and hashing about something.  We both think we are being really logical.  We agreed we should turn it over to our dear readers. Whatever you decide, we will live by.  We even shook on it. 

Here is the dilemma.  February holds Valentine’s Day and our anniversary.  Early March is my birthday.  So, throw in Christmas in late December and in nearly a three month span all my “special” days are used up.  (Yes, I am talking about receiving surprises, but also just fun days spent with family, etc). Now, I am also pretty tight with money, so getting gifts is oh-so-fun.  Jon and the girls’ birthdays are in late fall.  That leaves a long, fiesta-less stretch and I am all about something to plan and anticipate…

Amy’s Proposal: “Hey Jonny, let’s just not celebrate my birthday in March and instead celebrate it the same day in June!”

Amy’s rationale: It will spread out the fun, instead of containing it all so tightly. I am not expecting anything on my March birthday. No dinner, no gifts but he should still say, “Happy Birthday”.  I am not just saying it. I mean it. We will just move my special day to June.

Jon’s rationale: Basically, I don’t want to be the one of the people that only says “Happy Birthday” and nothing else on the day we commemorate Amy’s birth!  Also, what makes a birthday so special is that the whole world…or at least everyone Amy knows, makes her feel special or goes out of their way to do something fun. You can’t duplicate the specialness on an off the date day.  On top of it all, when parents, grandparents, etc are suggesting ideas for Amy and giving gifts, I will feel like a heel to have not done anything more than say “Happy Birthday”. Oh and when people ask what I got Amy for her birthday, she will feel sad if she says “nothing, we are waiting to celebrate it for a few months”.  And (I am secretly scared that despite what Amy is saying, she does want something more special on her birthday than just a verbal “Happy Birthday”).  So I am stuck in between a rock and a hard place.  Do we just make two days “Amy’s Birthday”???

Help!  Cast Your Vote In The Sidebar! :)

Celebrating New Life…

We have had the opportunity to celebrate new life with some dear friends!

Welcome to the world little Indigo!

and little Saba!

The Littles enjoyed exploring new houses and getting into everything!

Little A thought that Elmo was grimacing and so she kept making this face…

The Littles didn’t love the bouncy seat when they were younger but they couldn’t get enough of baby’s!

Little J is a gift-giver and this is really apparent with babies. She brings all sorts of goodies!

Expanding Our World…

The Littles are making friends!

 

We had the chance to hang out with some dear friends  a weekend ago. It was such a good time and fun to watch our kids interact.  I told Stef that it was the perfect way to spend a winter weekend. :)

Adoption Updates:

Yes, another little series. I am going to try and do little updates and explanations of our current adoption process.  It will give you a sense of where we are at and also hopefully help explain things a bit. This might be terribly boring unless you are trying to learn more about the process for yourself.

We are now in the home study process. A social worker is scheduled to come to our house on Friday. She will check out the house, ask some questions, we write out our life history (good and bad), give her copies of our doctor’s approval for us to adopt, our financial statement, tax forms and answer lots of questions.  We already have our reference letters complete. 

A Run-In With the State and Federal Government

Heehee. How is that for my attention-grabbing title?  :)

It was nothing so dramatic, but oh-so-frustrating!  We are trying to get the girls’ passports and I could go into LOTS of detail as to the ridiculousness of it, but I will spare you!

No, they aren’t supposed to be smiling and they aren’t supposed to have their hands up.  Their little audience at CVS gave them the giggles.  We couldn’t stop them from cheesin’ it up! You can tell they haven’t gotten out much this winter.

The US government might still be refusing to document them as citizens, but have you ever seen cuter passport pictures?

Nevermind the Joneses

I am in this constant battle. I have tried to articulate it in my thoughts and in writing so many times. I can never capture the essence of the battle raging inside of me.

Knowing that I have so much, too much. Patting myself on the back for all my blessings from the Lord, resting in the security of a savings account. Wanting a bigger house but desperately wanting to be content with less. Wanting to give it all in one moment, feeling appalled that I eat steak while my "neighbor" doesn't eat. But in the next moment, wanting more, bigger, better, newer, more fashionable...

I am doing it again. Trying to describe what I feel and miserably failing. What I do know is that it is an internal war. Flesh against the Spirit.

Do you ever find yourself here?

This website is awesome and would also be a great educational tools to use with kids. http://www.whoarethejoneses.org/

Nevermind the Joneses.

The Big Reveal

What does Amy have in common with an elephant?

Go check out those guesses, hilarious!  Click here to read them. I learned some interesting new facts about elephants and how I am surprisingly like an elephant.  So, many of you had correct answers, but not the answer I was looking for…

Honorable mention goes to MouseyMom with the comment, “AHA! People want to extract your teeth to make piano keys!!!? just kidding!”

We had four qualifiers that answered correctly: Chrissy, Amber P, Ashley B and Steph B.  And the winner is…AMBER P!

You see, elephants have a 22 month gestation period…

Are you getting it?

Amber’s comment: “Being that I've thought of this analogy several times in my own life lately. . .I'm guessing you're adopting again!?!?!?! can't wait to hear!”

Okay Littles, just hold the sign for Mama…

 

Still can’t see it, huh?  It says, “We’re gonna be BIG sisters!” That’s right, praise God, we are adopting again!

FAQs

Where are we adopting from? Ethiopia through HOLT international

Umm, why now, don’t you already have your hands full? Yes, we do have our hands full.  In general, adoptions from Ethiopia have slowed.  We started this process a few months ago, but the average expected wait time is from 18-24 months. So, while a new baby in the home next week would cause panic :), we would like to set things in motion because of the current wait time.

Boy or girl? Whatever God brings.  Just like with the first adoption, most families that request a child, prefer a girl, so most likely we will be matched with a boy.

Siblings? Again, whatever God brings.  HOLT’s policy (that we wholeheartedly support) is that children must be placed in homes without breaking the birth order, so at the time of referral, we will be matched with a child at least 12 months younger than our Littles.  With these parameters, the only way to bring home siblings would be twins.  That would be like lightning striking in the same place twice, so although improbable, still a possibility.

Are you going to have your own? Good question.  We actually already have our own, two of them!  I know, you meant biological children. :)  We are open to what the Lord brings.  We know that children are a blessing straight from God, adopted or biological, and we hope that our quiver can be full of them!  Adoption is what the Lord is currently pressing on our hearts and we have been so blessed by our Ethiopian arrows!  Feel free to talk to Jon or I about this anytime. 

Thanks for your love, prayers and support!

We love our village!