Pumpkin carving...

Picking out the perfect pumpkin...

Easton is obviously pleased with his pick!

They decided that they wanted to carry them on their laps!

Ewww!  Anaya wasn't too fond of pulling out the seeds...

nor was Easton!

Anaya and Luisa's pumpkins.  I love how pleased Easton is with his!  This kid is cracking me up lately.

The boys masterpieces...

Spencer always has to include a cross on his pumpkin!  Love that boys heart!

Easton learned this little poem at Friday Addition.

Love this family and our traditions!

**UPDATE on our van...**

It is fixed, and...

Someone, we don't know who...

PAID FOR OUR REPAIR BILL !!!!

WOW!!  We have been blown away by God's goodness!!

THANK YOU to whoever you are, we are so grateful!!!!

affirmation...

So, we are in the process of waiting for Luisa's referral paperwork to come in...still waiting on that from over 2 weeks ago.  They made a few typo's and had to fix it, and we wait...I am sick of waiting. But, I KNOW that GOD is in control.  I understand that in HIS time HE will allow us to get this show on the road, but for now...we wait!  I know one thing, my prayers have shifted so much since the days of Anaya's adoption.  All I wanted was her to get home and I really didn't see/care that God may be allowing the delay for a reason.  I was pretty shook up over humanity and sin and quite frankly, I was afraid that God was causing the delay and it really ticked me off!  This time, I keep saying "Lord, I long to go get little Luisa, please allow us to get her paperwork TODAY.  But, I trust you, and want YOUR will to be accomplished in this.  NOT mine."  Man, is that freeing!   Still frustrating, but I have peace.


We have also had a few MAJOR things break down lately.  It started with our washer AND dryer going out.  How weird is that?  I mean they are not connected in any way.  Why would they both go on the fritz at the same time?  Weird.  Then we had a little fiasco when our freezer was left open all weekend and everything in it was shot!!  Then, our laptop broke.  Then our van broke! {A BIG Thank you to our dear friends Mike and Lee for allowing us to use their car!  Yes a car!  I haven't driven a car for about 14 years!!!  It's kinda fun to drive a car.  The kids want to ride in it, they have never really ridden in a car before!  Weird huh?}  Anyways, since we are doing an adoption, I figured this is just affirmation that we are doing the right thing!  Because  sometimes when you do what God calls you to do, the battle intensifies!

Ephesians 6:10-16

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

 ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

 ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 ¹³Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

 ¹⁴Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins WITH TRUTH, and having put on the breastplate OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

 ¹⁵and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel OF PEACE;

 ¹⁶in addition to all, taking up the shield OF FAITH with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

So instead of wringing our hands and worrying about how we are going to pay for all these things, we are saying  "YES!  Another faith adventure!  How is God going to work this out!"

Well, today, we received a letter from Show Hope telling us that we were given a $3,000 grant!!!  Yipee!  Thank you God!  It was so much fun to share that with the boys.  We all are praying for the funds, the paperwork, Luisa, etc... and to see God move on our behalf, well it is just so exciting for all of us! We are so thankful God is allowing us to take this adventure ride of adoption a second time!  We are so blessed!

Apples...

Last Saturday we took our annual trip to Cranes and picked apples...

Easton was the muscle man, pulling all the apples by himself...

It was such a hot day outside and our air-conditioning doesn't work in the van, so poor Anaya was sweating like usual! 

 

65 lbs. of apples later, we then tackled the apple sauce making...

 Look at my eager helpers...

 Lots of work for...not so much applesauce, but it tastes so much better!  The verdict is still out as to if it's worth it or not...

LUISA!!!!!

We received the call on Friday that we had been waiting for, our agency received the official referral paperwork for Luisa with our names on it!!!

 YAY!!!

However, there were a few minor mistakes, so they are fixing them and hopefully we will get the paperwork in our hands sometime next week so we can begin the I-800 process (U.S. government process that makes sure the adoption is legit.) We were a little disappointed to hear that we probably won't travel until January.  The courts in Colombia close down for Christmas from December 17 until January 11!!!  Apparently, last week was the "cut off," so to speak, of getting the paperwork going early enough to be done with the process in Colombia before the Christmas holiday.  That also means we will miss Luisa's 2nd birthday, which is December 18!   We are at peace with that though...at least we know what to expect, however...we are still praying for an earlier departure!

We are super excited that this information came, because Thursday night, when we received the translated version of our approval, I noticed that it said "...approval to adopt a boy in the age range...."  Uh Oh!  So I checked to see if the original Spanish version was written wrong and sure enough it said ... Niño... so I thought maybe that just meant child(not necessarily boy,) but further down it read...hijo...which means son!  I was a tad nervous and sent an email to our agency, of course they were closed by then!  So I was expecting an email or call Friday to let me know what, if anything we needed to do about it.  When our case manager called me Friday afternoon I figured it was about the mix up.  She said that she had emailed Helena in Colombia about it and when Helena called her back she had the official referral!!!  I was so excited, and knew God had answered my prayer!  Thursday night when this all came up I just prayed that God would use the mix up for our good; that they would just give us our referral and it wouldn't be an issue at all!  

God is faithful.

There have been delays, mix ups and several "little" things that God has used during this adoption to teach me big things...

Trust Him!

While "paper chasing" for this adoption we had an issue with our finger print cards.  They spelled my name wrong!  I was so mad.  It takes a lot of time and a lot of flying around to get all of these things done and I had to go back and have them change the name?  Come on people...well, when I got there, the sheriff happened to be the one who was helping me and he noticed that the finger prints were done on the wrong cards!!!!  He ended up saving us WEEKS of delay by noticing that! 

Romans 8:28

 ²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Approval...

We received word yesterday that we were approved to adopt from Colombia back on 9/16/10! 

YAY!

Now, we wait for the "official" referral information so we can get on with the rest of the process!!  We were really hoping that the referral would be given at the same time as the approval, but it wasn't so...we...wait...!

When I start getting anxious about the when, where, and how; the logistical aspect of traveling to Colombia, I have to just remind myself that "God knows, He has it all figured out, and I will trust HIM to bring all the details together!"

"We live by faith and not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

I love kindergarten...

Teaching my children when they are kindergartners that is.  They are so excited to learn new things, and they think I am so smart!  As the years go by that fades away, but...Today was so fun.  All I had to do is a leaf rubbing, you know with the side of a crayon on paper set on top of  a leaf, anyhow, we did that today and you should have seen Easton's little face!  He was so impressed!  He had a HUGE grin on his face and said, "Wow, that's so cool, I didn't know you know how to do dat!"  Then he had to run and show his brothers who were, less than impressed since they too did that in kindergarten, but when they saw how excited he was they played along and let him show them how it is done!  Too fun! 

Today Easton told me he was jk.  Then he said "That means just kidding!"  Oh my, having little ones who hear things from big ones is quite funny! I also find it funny to teach him when he is "The Incredible Hulk!"

I also have to share a couple of Anaya's latest funnies.
*The other day when I was cleaning out her ears she took a look of the Q-tip and said, "Ewww, boogies!"
*While trying to learn her Bible verse for church she said, "God loved us and sent us guns!"  Oh my how we laughed.  She was supposed to say, God loved us and sent His son!  Oops!  Ryan liked it!


No word on the adoption front, still waiting.......

Dylan's first post about his first deer...

This was my third youth hunt and my first deer.  On Sunday morning, me, my dad, and my brother Jayden went hunting on a corn field and in the middle of the corn field was a food plot (for deer). We woke up at 5:30am and got in the hut at about 6:30 am, we sat till 8:00am but we did not see anything.  We left early because we had to go to church.
At night, a friend of ours, Steve Riley, took me hunting in the same food plot.  When my mom dropped me off at his house I walked over to were he had his rifle set up.  I shot the rifle and hit the bulls eye right in the center!  If I wasn't on with the rifle, I would have had to use a muzzeloader that was sited in for 75 yards, but since I used the riffle, I could shoot further.
So, we went out to the blind at about 5:30pm and sat until about 7:00pm.  Then we saw a buck walk out of the woods at about 180 yards, from there, the buck walked behind a tree and into the corn, he stayed in the corn for about 20 minutes. Then finally, he stepped out, went up on his hind legs, and started licking branches, right when he came back down on to four feet, I shot him.  He was about 170 yards away when I shot him, then, we heard him crash about five seconds after the shot. I was shaking so bad, even Mr. Steve was shaking and he didn't even shoot.
  We left the blind and went back to his house and watched the video just to make sure I got it.  I called my dad ( who was at youth group ) and my mom and told them to come and help me find it.  We got out there and there was not a drop of blood on the ground, but we walked right up to it.  He only ran about 20 yards, if that.  He had an 11 1/2 inch spread and was supposed to be a ten point but the brow tines were cracked off, so he was an eight point buck.

                                                                  Me and Mr. Steve.

                                                                Me and my buck.

                                       My Dad and My brothers, came out to help me drag it out.

                                             Me and my brothers dragging out the deer.

                                                               Thank you Mr. Steve!