I love surprises!

The smallest things can make me excited! I got a certified letter in the mail today from Huggies. I signed up on the Enjoy the Ride Rewards program (because Huggies just happens to be our favorite diaper/ pullup) What do ya know? I won a years worth of free diapers!!! Woohooo! I was so excited. Too bad K isn't wearing them anymore, but I'm going to stockpiling for our future baby that is growing in our hearts!

"Ask My Mom How She Is"

I came across this poem and fell in love with it. It's so very true in my case, and I'm quite certain in many others'.


"Ask My Mom How She Is"

(author unknown)

My Mom, she tells a lot of lies,
She never did before
But from now until she dies,
She'll tell a whole lot more.

Ask my Mom how she is
And because she can't explain,
She will tell a little lie,
because she can't describe the pain.

Ask my Mom how she is,
She'll say"I'm alright."
If that's the truth, then tell me,
why does she cry each night ?

Ask my Mom how she is
She seems to cope so well,
She didn't have a choice you see,
Nor the strength to yell.

Ask my Mom how she is,
"I'm fine, I'm well, I'm coping."
For God's sake Mom, just tell the truth,
Just say your heart is broken

She'll love me all her life
I loved her all of mine.
But if you ask her how she is,
She'll lie and say she's fine.

I am here in Heaven
I cannot hug from here.
If she lies to you don't listen
Hug her and hold her near.

On the day we meet again,
We'll smile and I'll be bold.
I'll say, "You're lucky to get in here, Mom,
With all the lies you told!"

Water fun!

This year we bought a boat since we actually live in an area that we can enjoy ourselves on the water. We have been out pretty much every weekend since it has warmed up. I have to say I LOVE going! I'm so happy that my girl loves to go as well. I've always been a "water" person and I've missed it over the years.

Me kneeboarding.

Brandon and Nick tubing

Nick kneeboarding

Weekend Intensive

They call it the Weekend Intensive for a reason! Ha, it's jam packed full of all kinds of information! We had a good time though. I was exhausted the 2nd day because I wasn't able to sleep being away from K. We are slowly but surely making our way through all the paperwork. This weekend we are planning on sitting down and knocking it all out! We still have to get all our records from OR and send off our fingerprints. Then??? I'm not sure what happens then! We start working on our profile! I know nothing ever goes as planned, but our timeline is to have everything done and be put "on the books" by the end of the year. Once again, we are grateful for all the support we have received.

A Small Garden Mishap

This being our first year gardening, we are allowed mistakes right? LOL... we didn't even think to keep track of our planting times! Unfortunately we lost all of our radishes. They don't have a long growing/harvest cycle and we completely missed it! I was so looking forward to some radishes to go along with fresh lettuce from the garden... might I add, the lettuce is very tasty! We also planted our peas a little too late, so we didnt get many because it's now to hot for them. This fall, we are planning on planting some "cool weather" vegetables.
As of now, we have corn, carrots, onions, turnips, garlic, beets, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, jalepenos, and tomatoes.

I got an awesome zucchini bread recipe from my mom, so I'm looking forward to that! Actually, I'm looking forward to it all!

Our Massive Garden!

Good news!

While at "home" in Missouri, we received the wonderful news that we are approved for IAC! We were so excited and I have to say, was just as exciting, if not more, than finding out I was pregnant! We are starting on our homestudy. A process I hear is long and very detailed. I can actually take a deep breath, though, because we have struggled this last year to get our finances in a place that we were comfortable with to proceed with adoption. Being approved is a blessing, it made every penny we have saved, and every "toy" we have gone without, worth it! We are going to try (and I do say TRY) to pay with cash. We prefer (as with anything) not to have credit card bills. So here we go! We will be attending the Weekend Intensive May 21st and 22nd. I'm sure I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm so excited!

With that, I've had several people ask about names. We have not picked out names yet... I have a few that I've been thinking about, but I havent run them by N yet. Feel free to throw some at us!

Also, we have mentioned to K a few times about possibly having a baby brother or sister. She says she wants to help feed and rock the baby. She will be such a great big sister!

 I have to admit, I just bought our first "baby" item! Now what to do with it? LOL, I have a whole room to fill up with precious baby things! Fun, fun!

Our Trip Home

We had a wonderful time going home... well not the actually "going" part, but the being there! K actually did really well with the long drive. Perfect even! Unfortunately we didnt get to see everyone we wanted to, and didn't spend as much time as we would've liked to with the ones we did see. I realized how much I miss my family and friends.We are so lucky to have such a great family... (and I do mean my N's family as well)  K, of course, was spoiled rotten by her grandparents. After being back home, she now thinks she has to have orange juice every morning. She asks when we are going to see the cows and chickens at Nana's and Papa's. She had a wonderful time playing with all her cousins. They got along so well!

We also received some awesome news while visiting family... we are approved through the IAC!!! Our adoption journey begins!