Britton stayed out of town last night so my dear Mother came in the evening to help me with the boys.
I got the lawn mowed, garden weeded and watered, the chicken house cleaned out and the chickens fed and watered....
....while they had a supper picnic on the trampoline :)
She had pity on my poor rosebushes :) and showed me how to clip the dead ones off.


Then we took a bikeride and did baths and had worship. I'm not sure what I would do without my mom...she is so much help to me and I am so grateful for her...I love her.

*Got a email saying that Gracie safely arrived at the foster home this morning at 10:30. !!!!!!!!! YAY! It is getting so close to seeing her!

*Packing donation boxes today...looks like we will get it all in!

*Looking forward to a weekend with Brittons family up at Put-n-bay. Pictures to come!

Have a blessed week everyone!

Ordinary Day

Today was just a ordinary day at our house. We did laundry and dusted and vacuumed. We played outside and made breakfast lunch and dinner. We read books and wiped faces and changed diapers and took baths. We fed chickens and played with our kittens and jumped on the trampoline. It was a beautiful day and I just thank God so much for a ordinary day. My boys are so precious to me!

Eating suckers they got from Uncle Brent :)


*I have started making list of things to pack and things to buy for our upcoming trip! Tonight we are making Guest House arrangements and I will blog about it when I know details.

Just so thankful for precious time spent with my little boys....God blessed me!

WE GOT OUR TICKETS!!!!!!!

*Sorry no pictures on this post :) I found a little poem about life I wanted to share before I tell you about our ticket purchase :)

Living Life

Life is not a race - but indeed a journey.

Be Honest.

Work Hard.

Say "Thank you" and "Great Job" to someone each day.

Go to Church, take time for prayer.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

Let your handshake mean more than pen and paper.

LOVE your life and what you have been given, its not accidental.

Search for your purpose and do it the best you can.

Dreaming does matter, it allows you to become that which you aspire to be.

Laugh often.

Appreciate the little things in life and enjoy them.

Some of the best things in life really are free.

Do not worry, less wrinkles are more becoming.

Forgive, it frees the soul.

Take time for yourself.

Plan for longevity.

Recognize the special people you have been blessed to know.

Live for today and enjoy the moment.
Bonnie Mohr 2005


Well I am so excited to say that we finally got our tickets last night ... or actually very early this morning :) We leave out of Dayton June 24th (TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY) and fly to Chicago and then from Chicago we have a 11hr flight to Turkey and then a 6 hour flight into Addis Ababa. We arrive Sunday morning around 12:30 am. We come home on the 2nd of July.
This is truly becoming a reality! Were so excited. Please keep us in your prayers that the MOWCE letter and Gracies mother would be at court June 22nd which is our first court date. They get everything else except our consent ready for our July 1st court date.

Thank you all so much for praying for us in this journey. We are so excited God chose us to be parents to a Ethiopian Princess :) After Court I can post pictures and I will be keeping a journal every day so when we get back I can recap the trip :)

Blessings on your weekend!

Britton has been working about a hour away in London Ohio. So last Monday night the boys and I drove up around six in the evening when they almost done for the day. I am always impressed with my husbands work. He does an amazing job! The boys had fun taking a ride in the machine.

There building a stone wall and a fire pit right by the dock on this beautiful man made lake.

He has two helpers, his cousin Blake and Blakes good friend and neighbor Chad.
Then we went back to the motel and I went and got supper for the boys. All the hamburgers minus drinks and fries :)
The boys had fun swimming and it was a nice way to cool off at the end of the day!

After bath :) They always look so cute fresh and clean
Breakfast the next morning....this was once in a lifetime experience eating cereal in bed watching cartoons :)
A little messy! It was nice to go up and see what Britton has been working on and it was fun to spend the night away from home...a little break :)

*I had a travel webinar today. BRAIN OVERLOAD!!!!! I hope we remember everything! Lord willing we are getting the tickets tonight and then we will be making guest house arrangements. Were getting really excited! Going shopping by myself tomorrow to start getting stuff and packing donations in the afternoon :)

*Have a great week Y'all :)

Strawberry Festival Parade

We went to the Troy Strawberry Festival Parade last Saturday. I will haft to admit it was not really that exciting but my boys loved it and we made a memory so it was worth it I guess.
Lots of neat old cars
A cute little train
Ronald Mcdonald :)

Dayton Dragon Mascot


I LOVE THIS CAR :)

Horses
Clowns

Little baseball players :)
Micky and Minnie
USMC
......so thirsty!

Firetrucks



All done! It was a fun little adventure :)

Happy Monday Y'all!

Fun with Family

As you can tell by the last several post we have had alot of time with family from afar! It has been so much fun and next week my Uncle Joe and Aunt Marjorie are bringing their 9 children ( Isaiah is one of them but he is married so they have 10 in all! ) for the Old German Baptist Conference. So we have more family times ahead. We were privileged to have Isaiah and Janelle and my Grandparents and parents over for supper last Tuesday evening.
It was a beautiful night to eat outside

Our house outside right now is beautiful. My camera does not capture the beauty at all
GO Grandpa!!!!!
Cousin Isaiah made quite the impression on Carter. Isaiah paid lots of attention to him :)
Grandma and Janelle (Isaiah's wife)
Playing with the baby kittys




This tree is so neat!
Thursday night was our last night with my grandparents. We went to Culvers and ate outside and then we went back to my mom and dads and talked and had worship. Its always sad to see them go but we know that we will be spending time with them again whether here on this earth or Heaven.
My boys playing church. All of our stuffed animals make up quite the congregation! Don't judge people by their looks!!! lol :)
Washing our very dirty van :( It makes my whole week better to know that I get to drive around a clean vehicle!
Our beautiful rose bushes


AMEN to the above picture! I CAN NOT WAIT to go there! OH MY WORD!!! The time is ticking down!!! Getting our tickets in the next couple days just looking for a good deal....lol :)