Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy 10th Birthday Kaelyn!

I really wanted to get this posted earlier, but better late than never! Kaelyn celebrated her 10th Birthday on December 23rd. Yikes! 10! We had a friend party for her early in December so friends who travel for the holidays can come. She had 17 girls come to her party and we made scarfs first and then got our hot chocolate travel cups and went caroling. I made each girl a song book and we walked the Keizer lights route singing. Most of the girls had never gone caroling before and everyone really enjoyed it...first we were knocking on the doors of each house and asking if we can sing for them. But as we kept walking it became easier to just sing and see if anyone came out of the house to see us. It was cold, but not raining until we were halfway through...so once the freezing rain started we decided to head (run) home. I was lame and didn't bring my camera outside with us, and I actually didn't take a group picture either (ugh) but here are a few pictures from that party anyway....So then we had a family party for Kaelyn on her actual birthday! Here are a few pics from that night...
It is so hard to believe that my middle child is 10..double digits. My sweet baby that came home Christmas eve 10 years ago...in the snow! She is such an easy girl, which surprises some since she was kind of a difficult baby. But Kaelyn is a pleaser, always making sure everyone around her is happy. She is a giver, would gladly give all her possessions to others if we'd let her. She loves Jesus with all her heart and is so mindful of God's presence in her life. She loves all animals and hurts for animals in need. She is sensitive. Not only can her feelings be easily hurt, but she truly cares about the feelings of those around. Discipline is very simple with her because she is so much harder on herself than we could be on her. She has Kyle wrapped around her finger...her big beautiful blue eyes well up with tears and Kyle is done. She is blonde. haha! Kaelyn can be a little spacey, some will laugh when I say "a little". She will set something down and 5 minutes later be wandering around looking for it. She prefers her room to be unorganized, to her its perfect when everything is laying on the floor. I think she prefers the chaos and clutter. She is goofy and likes to giggle. Her laugh is infectous. She is motherly and likes to look after her younger cousins...but remember the spacey thing, we are close by to monitor. haha! She is athletic. She is a soccer star and is always working to become better. It is such a joy to watch her play soccer, she can run and run and we aren't sure yet if she gets tired. Above all she is Kaelyn, she is wonderfully made by our Creator and we adore every second with her. We love you Kaelyn! Love, Mom & Dad

Monday, December 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father! I am very blessed to be able to share your birthday with you. We are all better because you are in our lives. You daily demonstrate to our son what honor is, and that is showing faithfulness in the difficult and hard times as well as the joyous times. You are daily showing our girls that true love and great men are out there by being one yourself. They have such a great example in you. You are so loved and I hope we continually show you just how much! Happy Birthday! All our love...

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Today in the town of David a Savior
has been born to you;
He is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests.

Luke 2:14

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Did Santa leave anything for me?


I can't keep the cat away from the tree. He knows the very second I fix the tree skirt and he's back under there in a flash messing it up. Now he's taking to napping under there. But I guess I can't complain, the tree is after all still standing and no ornaments have been harmed in his playful antics. Yet.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Brynlee's first competition!


What a fun day today was! (Aside from 'SC stomping those lame Bruins! Wahoo!) Brynlee had her first cheer competition today. We had to get up super early, "before the sun came up" as Kaelyn noted, and head to McMinnville. We were worried about being late and thought we gave ourselves enough time, but we under-estimated just how far McMinnville is...go figure. But we got there, and we weren't last. So in my book that is just as good as on time. Bryn was a little nervous, but she shook it pretty fast once she was with her team. There were 3 other teams in her bracket competing. They performed pretty early and did awesome! After she came and sat with us and watched the rest of the teams compete. She was on such a rush when she got over to us, she was so excited. There were some amazing stunts and powerful tumbling going on in the older teams. Gosh, I don't remember doing half of what they can do now. It was very cool. Awards ceremony was at the end and her team got a FIRST place trophy! Oh my, she was over the top excited. We celebrated with a lunch at Burger King after. haha. So this was a great first competition to get their feet wet...from what i'm hearing this next one is WAY bigger.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Glory days!

So Kyle played a little flag football the night before Thanksgiving and we went out to watch the fun. It was fun to watch the "68" on the field again! Brought back many wonderful memories. I figured since tomorrow is a big game (*U. C. L. A. Sucks!*) i'd go ahead and post some pics of the awesome #68 in action...hmmm, maybe I should find some college pics to post and compare! I'll look around. Kyle did survive the game, his knee is still, however, swollen! But don't ask him if he's in pain, he'll never fess up!


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

So I have no news in our adoption journey just yet. We believe all our letters of reference have been turned in and so we are waiting to conduct an interview (I think by phone). Then we will move on to lots of paperwork gathering for our homestudy. We have to attend a intro class in December. We'll have to get multiple official copies of all our birth certificates, we'll need to be fingerprinted and that sent to the FBI for clearance. There is an online class we'll have to take as well. So there will be lots to get done, but we have to first have this interview and be officially accepted.

I've been praying a great deal lately for our baby's birth mother. God has really placed this on my heart in the last week or so. It is possible that circumstances that lead this mother to give up her baby are unfolding. Maybe she has recently conceived our baby, or maybe she is already pregnant, or its possible our baby has been born. I don't know. But God does. For whatever reasons she must give up her baby I pray for her healing and peace and that she can feel God's loving arms around her. I can't even begin to imagine the circumstances that lead up to this and how hard that must be for her. So I will continue to pray.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Bryn's Cheer

From BrynCheer
Tonight Champion Cheer had a fun night for the teams to show off their routines before they start competitions in December. It was a great chance for the girls to practice in front of an audience and for all the parents to see their routines they've been working hard on at practices. Brynlee did great!! It was so fun to watch her, she's is loving it! They performed twice tonight. The second time they got to wear silly socks and have their hair crazy. They all thought that was pretty fun! And they looked adorable.
From BrynCheer
From BrynCheer
From BrynCheer

From BrynCheer

Monday, November 17, 2008

Human or Humid?


So Kaelyn just got home from school and I said to her, "wow your hair is really curly today!" And she says, "I think because its a wee bit human out today." So I said, "humAN or humID?" And she says, "yeah."

Nice huh?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

You know you're a Twilight freak when...

1. You have a twilight tee shirt. (check)

2. You jump up and scream when you catch sight of a shiny silver Volvo.

3. You want to find a meadow in the middle of the woods and just lay there forever.

4. If someone is very warm, you assume that they're a werewolf.

5. If someone trips (falls, slides down a flight of stairs, etc.) you use the term "Pulling a Bella".

6. You beg your friends that haven't read it to read it.....daily.

7. You have trouble grasping the fact that Edward Cullen IS a fictional character.

8. You compare the characters to your friends.

9. When you hear thunder, you think of the Cullens playing baseball.

10. The majority of your Bumper Stickers and Flair on Facebook have something to do with Twilight and/or Edward Cullen.

11. You dump glitter on your boyfriend/husband so you can at least pretend he's Edward. (Thats a great idea)

12. You really do think you can hear Edward in your head.

13. You are constantly saying "You wouldn't get it--it's a Twilight thing" to the non-readers.

14. Your friends always ask you "Is that a good book?" and you drop the book and stare at them like they just said it wasn't.

15. You are planning on moving to Forks, WA someday.

16. Every time you hear the name "Edward" you think of Edward Cullen.

17. Your heart nearly stopped when you found out the movies coming out 11.21.08 instead of 12.12.08

18. You finished each book in less than 4 hours and didn’t put the book down once.

19. Whenever someone says, “Hey, you wanna go shopping?” you automatically think of Alice.

20. The name Victoria sends chills down your body.

21. Twilight is your favorite time of the day.

22. You look at your doctor and think, “Carlisle’s better.”

23. You think Dracula is a phony.

24. You have imagined yourself as one of the Cullens and or Bella.

25. You have recently wondered what your blood might smell like.

26. You go into Victoria’s Secret and half expect to see a certain red headed vampire standing there.

27. Your favorite color is blue.

28. You think your friend is delusional. Because you know that Edward is YOURS.

29. When rainy weather makes you think of Forks and it makes you happy.

30. You have proposed locking the kids in a closet so you can go see the Twilight movie.

31. Nov-21, Twilight, or Mom's birthday? I SAY TWILIGHT!

32. You wanna cut and style your best friends hair, so she can be like ALICE!

33. You re-read twilight throughout the day because its more interesting than real life.

34. When you're stressed you threaten to curl into a ball and wait for your Edward.

35. You're reading these and sighing because you know you do all of them.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Fall leaves!

I got the kids to go out and do some raking of the leaves today. I think they goofed around more than actually raked. Once Garret turned the leaf blower onto the girls, pretty much all work came to a halt. But since all the leaves are not out of the trees and the yard will likely look much the same in the morning, I am not going to be to worried about missed leaves. Kyle will be thrilled to see the big pile in the middle of the grass for him to pick up. *note sarcasm*. As the kids started getting hungry they started begging to be done and I said when the side walk was clear they could come in for lunch. So I hear Brynlee saying "lets just push the leaves in the street." Then Garret says, "I don't want neighbors to think we are lazy Bryn!" To which Bryn comes running into the house whining/tattling, "Moooooommm Garret says I'm laaaazzzy!" Why are they out of school today?

At least the sidewalk is clear-ish.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Big news!


So today we choose to live our faith out loud. Today we choose to trust God. Today we sent in our adoption application. We have felt the gentle nudge of God for sometime now and today we are obedient to His calling. God has placed it on our hearts to adopt a baby from Ethiopia.

So starting today my blog will have a purpose, a direction, a new focus if you will. I hope you will follow along this faith walk with us. Trust will come into play a great deal I am sure. Feel free to remind me of this post in the months to come.

I trust that God has a plan. I trust that God will provide all that we need for His will to be done. God will provide. I am not going to let myself get stuck on the details of how and when, but rather I am going to watch in great awe of God and His mighty power.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Yours-Steven Curtis Chapman



Have you heard the new verse in this song yet? Wow. Really powerful.

The Story of the Starfish

Two friends were walking along the beach shortly after the tide had receded. The beach was littered with thousands of starfish that were drying in the afternoon sun. As the two strolled along, one of them bent down and picked up a starfish and carefully tossed it back into the ocean. He did this continuously as the two conversed.
The stretch of beach was long. They could hardly walk without the man bending down, every other step, and rescuing a poor starfish.
As they continued, the one observing this finally asked “Why are you throwing these starfish back into the water? You can’t really hope to save them all?” The other friend smiled and bent down to gather another starfish into his hand. He looked at his close friend and held up the little starfish and replied (as he tossed it back into the ocean)………..“It matters to this one.”

Friday, October 17, 2008

Need a good laugh today.

This caught my attention and so I had share....
Next season of Dancing with the Stars.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Picture Day....ugh!




Picture Day is one of my least favorite days of the school year. As far back as I can remember its been a horrible day. I've got school pictures to prove it. Lets just say there are some real winners from my school days...some I don't hope see the light of day again. haha! But seriously even movie stars and famous people have horrible or funny school pictures. So I shouldn't really put so much pressure on myself to make sure my girls look just right. Everyone should have at least one school picture they just are mortified by. Right?

So knowing that today was the dreadful day we started our planning last night, mind you its only dreadful to me the girls love picture day.

Kaelyn thought it was only fair that she have something new to wear for picture day since I had picked up a little top for Bryn last weekend and commented that it would be cute for pictures. So I stopped at Old Navy on my way home from Target. hehe! Like that? I did find Kaelyn a cute sweater dress, actually I found two and couldn't decide. So I purchased both with the intent on returning one today. Yeah, yeah, yeah... her big blue eyes and her best british accent (thats another story) pleading with Daddy to let her just keep them both, shot my plan to heck.

After clothes were laid out for pictures the girls decided they'd really like their hair curly and wanted me to put their hair in rollers. Well the last time I attempted rollers it didn't go so well. So after talking with Bree about "rag curls" I tasked Kyle to cut up one of his old shirts into strips of fabric for me. And we went to town on the "rag curls". Not sure I did those quite right either, the you-tube instructional video just wasn't that informative. The other thing about picture day is it reminds me of my own inadequencies as a Mom. I'm not a good hair Mom. I don't enjoy "playing" with hair, its to much pressure. Girls went to bed last night with their hair all tied up in Kyle's old shirt and thought it was soooo funny.

So this morning I wasn't surprised to un-tie the curls and find them all to be kinky frizzy messes. Kaelyn had a few curls that came out in a perfect ringlet. But her hair in the front just doesn't hold curls and by the time we returned home from dropping off Garret at school those ringlets were straight. Bryn's hair was a giant poof ball and there was no way she was going to be able to wear it down like she wanted. She was so mad at me for putting her hair half up with a bow, and then the kicker was when i tried to curl her bangs under a bit and "fluff" them. Oh she hated that and threw a huge tantrum. "It's my hair!" She cried as she stormed off to her bedroom. Gotta love that.

I used the curling iron on the front of Kaelyn's hair hoping to match the curls in the back. We'll see if it lasts...both girls don't even get to take pictures today until after lunch and recess, so no telling what they will look like by then!

Wow such a fun morning...not! Girls were both tardy so I took them in to excuse the tardy.

I thought of going back home and getting in bed after the morning I had. That sounded like the best plan. I have Bible Study on Tuesday's so I too was trying to get ready during all this craziness because I had somewhere to be. Many times this morning I thought to myself "oh no big deal, I can miss Bible Study". But over and over again God kept prompting me to go. I seriously didn't think i'd make it, I was running so late. So I told myself thats fine I'll just grab next week's lesson and then go home and get back in bed. hehe. But sure enough, when I walked in the door everyone was just being dismissed to discussion time. So God knew i'd make it in plenty of time and it was a really good discussion today...God wanted me there to take part of that.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Another Saturday, 2 more soccer games.



What a great soccer weekend! The weather was awesome! I'll take soccer in the warm sunshine any day over what I know is coming...soccer in the wet, gray, cold weather. Bryn was up first and she was a trooper, she ran hard and did her best despite having a sore throat. Kaelyn's game was alot of fun. The girls all played so great together. Kaelyn scored her first goal of the season and was sooooo excited! It was pretty sweet!

It was extra exciting for the girls because we had a very special guest with us for their games. Paulo from Brazil was in town to visit supporting Churches and we got to bring him along to the games and visit with him for the whole day! Kaelyn and Brynlee both soooo wanted to score a goal while Paulo was watching. haha! I'm so sad I didn't get any pictures of Paulo to share, I don't know what I was thinking. haha! Paulo is a missionary in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Kyle and I have each been on 2 short term mission teams with our Church to Brazil to work with Paulo and Restoration Ministries. We love Paulo and his wife Ireni and the whole staff of Restoration Ministries. They all hold a special place in our hearts and God willing we hope to go back to Brazil with another mission team soon.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Go 'SC! Beat the Beavers!

Ok, so I'm going to interrupt regular blog posts for a quick little apology to all my OSU Beaver fan friends. I'm pretty sure tonight's game will be a tough one for you folks. Don't get me wrong, I like the Beavers...just not when they are playing USC. Tonight will be such a great football night. Nothing better than a night game in the fall! Love the cool weather, the Trojan Marching Band, and a yummy pretzel with no salt!

Kyle will be there down on the field to do some fireworks. Lucky guy!

Fight on!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Wow...They CAN dance! 4 REAL!

So You Think You Can Dance Tour was last night! My sister and her hubby got me a ticket back in Aug, for my birthday and I've been so excited for the day to finally come! So last night the 4 of us headed up to Portland after a quick stop at Burgerville for a blackberry shake and sweet potato fries! YUM!

We have been big fans of the show since season 1. I've always wished we could go see them dance live on their tour, but for some reason or another we've never done it.

This season we especially enjoyed some of the amazing things Twitch, Joshua and Gev can do. Kyle isn't a fan of contemporary dance, but he will watch the popping and breaking. So last night we got to see some of the favorite performances of the season. It was pretty cool to see these dances live! I kept waiting for my favorite, Joshua and Katee dancing to No Air. And phew, it was the last performance before the finale. haha! Love that dance!

Joshua and Katee did the Bollywood dance too which was super cool!

Twitch and Katee did the awesome routine with the door to Mercy. It is a really fun dance to watch, its amazing what you can do with a prop.

They had some fun with Gev during the show, with some running jokes about his "love" for Courtney and he looked pretty good in a dress too. hehe! Chelsea and Mark did the dance to Bleeding Love, with the briefcase. I got chills from this dance.

All of them took a turn doing a solo too. Kat wasn't there, darn. Nigel got the show started but not in person, they used a big screen. haha. And Kyle was a bit worried that Mary and her "tamale train" would be there, but was super thankful she was not. haha! A drunk and some over-zealous Grandma's in front of us provided much entertainment as well. LOL!

Overall it was a lot of fun and I'm so happy we went! It was a fantastic night! Thanks a ton for the tickets Bree & Kyle!! Glad we all went!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Out of the woods?


Is it safe? I hope so...I think we might of dodged the flu for the rest of the family. Garret was feeling better Tuesday, kept him home to be safe. But he was back at school Wednesday and feeling good...except for some minor cold symptoms. So far though no more barf in sight...just a few runny noses. Bryn has complained everyday of a stomach ache. But I think thats just part of her regular morning routine. Oh the joy. No fever, no barf, off to school you go!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Garret has the flu...



I think he's on the mend...but kept him home from school one more day to be sure. He just got up and hasn't braved food yet this morning so we shall see. He is saying he's hungry, so thats a good sign. Yesterday though he was hungry and ate some saltines and they re-appeared about 20 minutes later.

I lysoled the house yesterday hoping to keep anyone else in the house from catching this bug. Good times.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Soccer begins!



Soccer season officially kicked off today with Bryn's 8:30am game, followed by Kaelyn's 9:50 game.
The weather was great! Couldn't ask for more perfect soccer weather, and we'll enjoy it while we can because typically its wet, cold, and gray. Brynlee played with a new intensity. She actually ran, and never asked to come out of the game. And guess what? Wait for it... she scored! Seriously. Wahoo! She did awesome. They didn't win today, but I think with a little more direction they will be a great team.

Kaelyn's team actually was up against a U11 team, we didn't know that until after the game. Even though they lost, they played hard. Kaelyn loves soccer, and she's learning so much this year. Her footwork skills are improving greatly, can't wait to see where she is at the end of the season. She still has another game today, and 2 more tomorrow. So she'll have lots of time this season on the field to perfect her skills.

More Soccer pics!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

We Remember.

"The worst day in America's history saw some of the bravest acts in America's history." President Bush

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Future Olympic Diver? I hope not.

Kaelyn really got into the Olympics, actually we all enjoyed watching it together. But Kaelyn has decided she wants to try diving now, that and beach volleyball. (Like I have a clue where she would go to learn how to dive!) haha! But I thought for sure she'd see the high dive and say never mind. Wrong, she watched some video of it online with me and she says, "oh that is soooo cool, I want to do that!" Crazy girl. That plan back-fired on me. So we watched quite a bit of the diving during the Olympics.

So when we had the cousin's visiting from CA we all went to the river. And guess what Kyle let Kaelyn do?!?! Here's the pic...I wish I had braved the raging rapids (I might be exaggerating a smidge, but it adds to the drama) to get a closer shot...NOT! I was freaked out enough from where I was at. Kyle assured me it was perfectly safe. Kaelyn had no fear at all, she'd climb up to the top of that rock and without any second thoughts she'd jump right off. So now she's wondering when her diving lessons will start. Uh??

Here are a few other shots from the day at the river...Bryn and her "no pictures please" attitude. She must be practicing for the paparazzi harassment. I think this was the only picture I got of her that day where she was looking at the camera, the rest she'd quickly turn her head. Booger. Garret enjoyed just floating down the river, oops I mean raging rapids. But still so relaxing!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Look out world, Kaelyn's a 4th grader!

Oh my goodness, where did time go? I can still remember the first day of kindergarten for Kaelyn like it was yesterday. And here we are today dropping her off in the 4th grade. Yikes! She's growing up to fast. It's like i've blinked and she's no longer my little girl, she's pre-teenish now! We tortured her today with the camera. She pleaded with us to not take her picture and in protest she'd turn her head every time I tried. I got a few good pics of her simply by telling her if she'd just let me take a few good ones i'd stop.
From Backtoschool 9/3/08 10:38 AM
I'm sure she's going to tell me all about how embarrassing we were taking pictures of her in class, but hey we weren't the only parents doing it! She is super excited to have her teacher this year! He is the same teacher Garret had last year, and he's great. She wasn't so thrilled with where she was sitting this morning, I guess the person next to her is a well known nose picker. So she is hoping they don't have to stay in those seats long. Just a few short hours left in the day and then i'll go get them from school. Can't wait to hear how the day went for them all!
From Backtoschool 9/3/08 10:38 AM

From Backtoschool 9/3/08 10:38 AM