Memorial Day

We had a fun Memorial Day as my man took our girls to ride in a local parade with him. He is a volunteer rural firefighter (that comes with country living I guess) and they rode in "The Truck" while the boys and I collected candy at the roadside. The girls really enjoyed the fame.

Afterward, we went to a friends for a BBQ and some swimming. The food was great, as was the company, and the kids LOVED the swimming pond. Now this was not your average swimming hole - they had a small dock to jump from and even a rowboat. It was a beautiful way to enjoy some sunshine.

This is Goose (on the right) and her best friend, plunging in together.

The boys took their turns but had just as much fun boating and water fighting with the bigger boys.

Boo and her friend made the most of the shore with some gourmet mud pies. Man can those girls bake!

Just a parting shot, the older kids all dipped into their piggy banks to buy goggles for the pool. As we bought a family pool pass this year, we expect to get our use out of them for sure. Spiderman thinks they are REALLY cool!

Our day in Court

Monday we finally made it through court to get Spiderman's adoption recognized in the US. This is just the first step in the process of obtaining his American citizenship. The process went smoothly despite doing it without an attorney and here we are with the Judge. For those of you who know my work history, the last time I worked with this judge was the day before Jaybird was born, 8 years ago. I've been home ever since.


The court docket was behind and we had to wait over an hour til our turn. The kids were very patient and read books in the hallway. As you can see, Hope was there to take the same step in her citizenship process. We had invited the other local families who are adopting and had a wonderful gift while waiting for court. Patty received her travel call from AGCI with a departure date of June 8th!! Lisa then said she received the same call earlier that morning!! There was some screaming, hugging and crying as we were all able to celbrate together. What a gift that the next 5 waiting kids will be home so much sooner than we imagined. An even bigger gift is for the two families to be able to travel TOGETHER as the McCarty's have never even been on an airplane before. Icing on the cake is that tomorrow, the Smith's leave to pick up their daughter as well. Within the next 2-3 weeks, all 6 Ethiopian blessings will be joining our church family.

After court we came home and celebrated with ice cream and slip n' slide. Hope wasn't so sure she wanted to try something that the boys made look so dangerous but in the end, had just as much fun as the others.

This is a double slide intended for racing but not for colliding. Intended....

On another note, Spiderman has continued to grow. He is now a whopping 48 pounds (which means he has gained about 8 pounds since coming home). It's finally kicking in, although you wouldn't notice to look at him. He's trying to eat more protein so he'll grow the last 1/2 inch needed to get on the water slide at the city pool next week. I'm praying they'll let him slide anyway. :)

I had to throw this one in here. As we promised, Spiderman got his chance to really fly a kite. We went out to the local lake the next day where there is ALWAYS wind. Look at that precious smile! He enjoyed seeing the superhero kite take flight and wants to do it again soon.

Moments in May

Just some photos to capture some moments we've shared recently. Here is my man with a nice size morel he found in our yard. The irony is how much time we've spent looking for them with no luck and he practically steps on this one at home. So yummy!



We finished up our Awana year with a kite flying night. It wasn't nearly windy enough but here is Boo giving it her best shot. Spiderman was quite disappointed at how these attempts turned out but we'll do it again soon when the weather is right.

Here is the fearless Spiderman at a reptile presentation at the local university. I was amazed at his eagerness to hold all the snakes, lizards and turtles. He wanted this snake for a pet.

Really all the kids did great. Here are the older 3 helping to hold up the giant Burmese Python. Boo would pet it but wasn't as excited. The African tortise was really neat but I didn't get a good picture of it.

Today was finally warm enough (barely) to break out the new slip and slide. The boys are camping with Daddy tonight so the girls had a friend over and let their girliness hang out all over the place. What a completely different feeling it is having just girls here with no boys around!

flower girl or prima donna?

It's a good thing Boo's so darn cute because she's just as complicated. :) She's been looking forward to being a flower girl for weeks and it was time to practice on Fri night. Half way down the isle she started sobbing and ran out of the church. With much consoling, bribery and prayer, we convinced her to walk the whole way on the second try. There was a LOT of reassuring and flattery used that night and we were anxious about Sat. afternoon.


Well we didn't even have to wait that long. Sat. morning she met the bride and all her maids at the "beauty parlor" to be transformed with a crown of curls. Once again, excitement turned into fear or stubbornness and she didn't want to even get in the chair. More flattery, more bribery and plenty of distraction and we were done. If she'd had straight hair it would have been bad as it hardly took any time at all with her curly locks. We did break down into tears once over a necklace she refused to wear but an offer from the bride to paint her nails got us back on track.

When we showed up at the wedding that afternoon, Boo was transformed by her gown into an agreeable little lady. With MUCH relief, she made it down the isle, dropping flower petals and almost smiling. She cuddled her teddy bear and ate Smarties through the wedding and exited beautifully, wow! Of course we thought all was well until picture time. Let's just say bribery turned into threats (of having to give the dress back) in order to gain compliance and we were thrilled to be DONE!

As you can see, there was fun and celebration at the reception. How sweet is this, seeing my man doing the chicken dance with his little girl? Goose did a great job in charge of the guest book and was even the first to dance with the groom at the money dance. As long as this day was, we were thrilled the boys had chosen to go to a friends house since "weddings are boring - just talking and kissing".

Congratulations Ryan & Cara!!!!!

The Thinking Chair

I don't know if you watched Blues Clues with your young tots but way back when mine were into that, we named this chair our "thinking chair". Ever since those years, it hasn't changed and I hope it never does. It once belonged to my man's Grandma so it has some history and is the best napping chair in the world - I know from experience.

Well, one week ago it got a makeover. My poor mother-in-law volunteered last month to help me re-upholster it and we did. We spent 4 days doing little else (OK, we squeezed in a little time for Grandma with the kids, sorry it wasn't more Jo-Ann!) and boy were we glad to be done. I have to say that I would NEVER have decided to do this on my own. Jo-Ann is an interior designer/decorator and knows just what she is doing - she was the brains and I was the brawn (weilding a staple gun and a sewing needle). It turned out beautiful so I have to show it off. (Let me know if you want her number) Our running joke is that one day when the chair belongs to Goose and she wants a new look for it, she will ask Grandma to help from the nursing home because I'm NOT doing this again. :) Thanks Jo-Ann!



Boo wanted to model the new look. Of course, she had to move the velvet rope out of the way to get on it since the kids aren't aloud to touch it ever again. :) Would a clear, plastic cover be tacky?

This is how the chair has looked before in my house. About 5 years ago when we inheirited it, Jo-Ann slaved away making me this checkered slipcover for it. I've always appreciated it but it had worn through and was past it's prime. I couldn't find a photo of the chair on it's own so here you can see Aunt Laura teaching Jaybird how to knit (sort-of).

Under all that work, here is the original chair, just the way it would have looked in Great-Grandma's house, minus the wear. I'm not into antiques but I do love things with a history.

Our mini vacation

Well, I'm finally getting back on track after a little vacation follwed by a family visit. Here is a glimpse of our trip to Kansas City where the kids and I met my big sis a week and a half ago. She cashed in all her points and flew out for free, so we could catch up on some fun times. My man stayed home to work and turkey hunt (yes he got a big gobbler but I had the camera with me - oops!). We had so much fun and there is too much to show or tell so I picked out some glimpses. The above photo is in the lobby of the Great Wolf Lodge. Wow, was this a cool place! It actually has a huge indoor water park where we spent most of our time for two days. They had bed time stories by the fireplace the one night we slept there and our room had a mini cabin inside it where the kids all slept in their bunks while we enjoyed a few quiet moments outside of it. I've never seen a hotel like it.

Goose takes a ride down one of the 9 indoor slides. There were big ones you rode down on inner tubes, medium ones like this you sat on your tush and there were some small ones for the smaller kids (Boo was proud to have done 2 of those but decided that was enough for her).

Spiderman was by far the most nimble on this contraption. For a small guy, he had the arm power to stay afloat while crossing these floating logs. He was something to watch.

This is at a regular old Holiday Inn pool. We stayed here the first night of our trip, warming up to the water Park, and again on our last night. The last morning I was spent from all the water play but Aunt Susie was game enough to get back in the pool and swim some more. The kids are starting to sprout gills!

While we practically lived in the water, we did see some other sights. Here we are at Cabella's where the kids are enjoying the huge acquarium. You can't really make out the giant catfish swimming up to devour the kids but you sure can see the stuffed elephants fighting below. If you've never been to Cabella's, it's a must see. They have some amazing mounted animals from all over the world and unless you buy something (like the present for my man), it's free!

The kids had fun picnicing outside Cabella's and feeding the ducks and geese. They loved getting close enough to touch them but the geese got wise soon enough.

We finished our trip with a lunch at the T-Rex cafe. Once again, the kids loved it as there were big anamatronic dinos everywhere and volcanic, jungle or ice age settings. You can imagine the marketing in the souvenier shop. :) Everyone was sad to take Aunt Susie back to the airport and make the long drive home. She truly spoiled them with fun things to do, yummy things to eat and lots of time together building memories. Needless to say after all this, they won't stop talking about this trip for a long time yet. THANKS AUNT SUSIE!

Kinsman Redeemer

I wanted to let everyone know that Kinsman Redeemer is now a legal and official 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation!!! Some of you may have seen the link to the website on the blog before and we hope to have it updated soon. We are now officially accepting grant applications AND donations so if you know anyone with a generous heart to help adoptive families, please share our website with them. Also, if you know anyone with ties to Missouri struggling with the financial aspect of completing their adoption, tell them about us as well. It is our desire to bring glory to God by helping to unite more lonely children with their forever families and by ministering to orphans and widows. We appreciate your prayers.

*** an added note: I wanted to clarify for everyone that "we" did not start this and are just happy to be able to serve on the Board of Kinsman Redeemer. A wonderful couple from our church (who helped us financially on both of our adoptions) felt that God would have them help others as well. They wanted to give opportunities for more people to donate toward adoptions and for more people who are stepping out in faith to receive some financial help. Both the giver and receiver will be blessed and God will be glorified.

In it's initial stages KR is focused on Missouri families. We would love to grow to the point that we can open it on a much broader scope but that is up to God's plans and His timing.