Photo Friday ~ Spring is Here!

We are all loving the warm spring weather. There has been some rain, but for the most part it hasn't spoiled any of our plans. I know I am a day early for Photo Friday, but we are going to be gone for the weekend and I had so many pictures that I wanted to share with everyone. Enjoy!


The pink flowering Dogwood Tree in our front yard is my absolute favorite. Not only is it a great climbing tree for the girls, but it is beautiful in the springtime.


Jenny, Jenny quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Well, I am not expecting any Silver Bells or Cockle Shells, but would love to seem some lettuce, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, and peppers. This is my first attempt at a garden. Hopefully it becomes a plentiful vegetable garden and not just a haven for weeds. Jaidyn helped me plant it while Addy took an afternoon nap. She loves being included in everything I do.

Wes had a few days off this past weekend. We took the girls to Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield. Since we watched Horton Hears a Who at the movie theatre two days before, all Jaidyn cared about seeing was "Horton" the elephant. Addy's favorite animals were the tigers. She watches some of the Baby Einstein DVD's and really likes the Tiger puppet. Making a tiger noise was one of her first animal noises. Grrrr!






Addy plays with my make-up items in the drawer while I am getting ready. Usually she just plays with the make-up brushes, but this time she found the tube of lipstick.



Even though I have cleared most of the girl's winter clothes out of their closets and we have been wearing shorts the past few days, Jaidyn seems to have forgotten how to dress for various seasons. Poor Sunshine Bear is wearing a scarf and her pony is wearing a Halloween Sweater. :)



Yea! Addy finally has enough hair to be put into a ponytail. She has worn one the past two days and is so proud of her new look. This week has been the first time that she has worn any type of bow.



Poor Jaidyn...last weekend I came home to find both she and Wes sitting on the couch trying to fix this mess. I couldn't bring myself to post her face...it was so sad.

Unfortunately there wasn't much we could do but cut it out. Her bangs (a whole other story) are finally starting to grow back out and now she has spikes right on the top of her head. After her hair has dried they usually come out of her ponytail and stick right up.

Photo Friday ~ Enjoying Spring Weather ~

We enjoyed the few nice days of weather that this past week had for us. Jaidyn and Addy received sidewalk chalk in the shape of Easter Eggs from their Aunt Jill. We finally had a nice day to get them out and make art work masterpieces on the sidewalk and driveway. Addy followed Jaidyn around and would draw over the tops of all of Jaidyn's pictures with her big yellow chalk. Poor Jaidyn, it didn't matter where she drew next as Addy was on her tail ready to scribble over it. Their Papa J.R., Mama LaLa, Aunt Haley and cousin Haven visited on Wednesday and the girls had a full day of playing outside. It was beautiful! The girls had rosy cheeks later in the evening as it didn't even occur to me to put sunscreen on their faces. The sunscreen has been added to my shopping list for next week. I guess it is that time of year to start taking extra precautions from the sun.







TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR Addy loves singing this song along with her Leap Frog Karaoke Toy. I am sure that you have noticed that her shoes of choice are once again the red glitter shoes. In fact, she is wearing them right now with her Blue's Clues nightgown.

"Like A Diamond in the Sky"


Another one of Addy's favorite hats. Silly Girl!


My parent's have been thinking about screening in the deck on their summer lake house, partly so everyone can eat outside on not be bothered by flies, but I think I may have found another solution. Check out her tongue!


I am not sure if any of you are familiar with the Bella Dancerella dancing DVD, but Jaidyn loves it. She can sing along to most songs and can follow many of the dance moves. On the DVD, Bella the popstar wears a head set while she sings and dances. Tonight Jaidyn was cutting and taping things with her craft supplies. Here is her latest creation...

It's a Bella Dancerella Head Set, can't you tell?

Kids International Ministry (Philippines)

Kids International Ministries exists to prepare children to honor God in their everyday lives. Founded in 2006, this ministry in Manilla, Philippines was created to raise impoverished children in Christian environments across the world. Their goal is to raise the children in one of their chilren's homes or connect them with a family for adoption.

The following link is a slideshow of their current ministry. Thank God for all of these people striving to meet the needs and make a difference in the lives of these Filipino children.

http://www.vimeo.com/642837

Belated Photo Friday

So I am a couple of days late for Photo Friday, but I thought better late than never.

Wes and I have been promising Jaidyn and Addy that we will go camping as soon as the weather gets warm. Jaidyn is so excited to use her sleeping bag that she got from her Grandma Penny for Easter. One night we read several story books with a camping theme and then I set up her indoor princess tent. We let her keep it up for about a week and she loved it and even fell asleep inside it some nights.


Today I made photo cards on Walgreen's online photo lab for Addy's birthday coming up in May. I can't believe she is turning 2 on May 5th.



Jaidyn has really started taking interest in taking pictures with my camera. Whenever I get it out, she is begging me to let her use it. Here are two of her latest pictures. She is actually pretty good for a 3 year old. I didn't crop these pictures at all. They are a little fuzzy, but for the most part she keeps it centered. Cindy, if you ever need an assistant, you might keep Jaidyn in mind. Ha!




~ Funny Jaidyn Story ~
Jaidyn is becoming Miss Smarty Pants. I was in the kitchen this morning getting breakfast out for the girls. I told Jaidyn that she needed to pick up her toys in the living room before she could have her cereal. While I am in the kitchen she starts picking up her toys and calls out to me, "Mom, this is your idea, so why don't you come help me."

Explanation

I feel like I need to explain myself, I don't know why, but I do. I can't decide whether I am trying to explain how we are able to afford this adoption or explain why we are doing small fundraisers along the way. I am still trying to pull my thoughts together so this post might just be one big rambling and not make any sense at all. Here goes...

When we first started the adoption process, many of our family and friends were deeply concerned about the money that it was going to cost us to complete the adoption. I have to admit, that adoption is costly and the financial aspect of the adoption was one of Wes and I's greatest concerns also. However, when we completely decided to follow God's invitation and opened our hearts to this experience we knew that he would provide all that we need. God has already blessed us as a family in so many ways and he has generously provided more than we could ever ask for. We have ALL that we need and SOME of what we could ever want. This adoption process has opened my eyes to the poverty that is right outside my front door, my town, and the world I live in. In fact, many times I feel guilty about my life of beautiful plenty. We are primarily a one-income family and are able to live very comfortably with the salary that Wes brings home and any extra income that I can make through selling on Ebay. We are able to live in a nice home with a big yard. I can stay home with both Jaidyn and Addision (which I have always hoped I would be able to do), and that means everything to me. We are able to tithe, pay our bills, send our daughter's to preschool, invest in IRA's, and have some money left over for special outings/activites. I am very thankful that we have loving grandparents and relatives that babysit for free and help with our home maintenance projects. Living frugally, watching our grocery budget, shopping garage sales all helps to make this possible. I have found this way of life to not only be good for the wallet and good for the planet, but good for the soul as well. I know Wes is given a hard time about our (my) frugality from his friends, but it's how we got to where we are financially and it is also how we'll get where we want to be even more quickly. It reduces stress, knowing we can make it on less than we make. It gives us shared goals to work on and helps keep our marriage strong. It is amazing to me how much less materialistic I have become since we have had children and since we have decided to adopt. Buying a pair of summery sandals that would look great with one of my dresses doesn't seem so important when I know the money could be put towards our adoption savings. I think I can make the sandals that have the deep foot imprint last one more summer. Ha! Okay, maybe not...I might need to splurge.



Speaking of shared goals, our current goal is to be able to fund this adoption without taking out any loans. This is why we are doing small fundraisers along the way. Why do we need to fundraise? Some of you have been through, are going through, or plan to go through with an adoption of a child so you know about it all too well, but some of you might not understand. So if you are confused by the fact that we need to fundraise for this adoption, here is my best explanation. There are a lot of expenses involved in an international adoption. Our first fees included the initial application fee, homestudy fee, dossier fee, psycholigical evaluation fees, medical evaluation fees and our I-600A visa application fees. We are now saving for the upcoming country fee that is due once we receive our referral, which will hopefully be sometime in the early months of 2009. This is our largest fee due at one time. Then we will have the travel fees, lawyer fees to fully legalize the adoption and the post-adoption fees. We are not in a desperate situation. We feel that we have planned for this and have come up with ways to be able to put back money. We do have the financial resources to raise all of our children, but it is just hard to come up with such large extra amounts of money to cover the upfront expenses and in such a short amount of time.

Our two fundraisers in addition to my ongoing Ebay sales include our upcoming garage sale in May and the collection of aluminum cans. I have already taken our can collection and a trash can full of cans from my parents to the recycling center and have deposited that amount into our adoption account. Every little bit is greatly appreciated and puts us one step closer to bringing our child home.

Just in case anyone is still reading this and still trying to make sense of it all, I just wanted to let you all know that we really do appreciate all of the love and support that our family and friends have provided us throughout this process. And we know that there are already so many people who are celebrating our decision to adopt!

Upcoming Adoption Garage Sale Fundraiser

Our biggest adoption fundraising effort is our upcoming garage sale. We have set the date for the 2nd and 3rd of May at my dad and mom's house. We will also have a second one later in the summer when Richland has their city wide sale. I have been very busy with spring cleaning and decluttering. I still need Wes to go through his part of the closet, but he did clean out the shed a couple of weeks ago. My parents have been wonderful and have let us bring everything over to their house and store it in their basement after I have had a chance to price it.

So, if any of our family and friends have started spring cleaning and have items that you are looking to get rid of, just let us know as we would love to take any donations. Please put the word out and if anyone you know may have items to donate, please tell them about our cause.

My sister-in-law Haley has already jumped on board and has brought over a truck load of items. Here it is all piled in my living room. The suitcases are filled with items. Thanks Hunter, Haley, and Haven for all of your prayers and support throughout our journey.


Please pray for nice weather that weekend and hopefully we will have a great turnout.

Lengua Estofado Anyone?

Inspired by the Chicken Adobo that I made a month ago, I ordered the Philippine Recipes Made Easy book by Violeta A. Noriega. This book had many great reviews so I thought it would be a great recipe book to start with. I basically wanted a book to serve as a guide to easy, authentic tasting Philippine recipes. I really like how underneath each recipe name is what it is in English and all the recipes seem very easy to follow (anyone who knows me well, knows that the kitchen is not my area of expertise).

After skimming through the book, I think I will stick with the chicken, pork, and dessert dishes. Just in case anyone is wondering, Lengua Estofado is Ox Tongue in Tomato Sauce. The first ingredient on the list is 1 ox tongue, about 2 lbs. Yuck! Do they even sell ox tongues in US grocery stores? I don't think Wes would try this one and he will eat about anything.