Sorry I've been MIA...

Yes, I'm still here...just haven't been active in the blog world, I blame it on the time-sucking facebook. But I do want to continue to document our life, our adoption journey, and all the craziness that comes along with our 3 great kids! So I will try and do better.

First the much anticipated adoption update...we got our home-study packet in the mail yesterday! Yeah!!! After our successful garage sale and a few amazing donations to our cause we were able to have enough money to start the home-study or be under contract...not quite enough money to do both. So we've chosen to move ahead with the home-study. After a completed home-study we will be able to apply for grants and assistance to keep moving forward. We are truly blessed with great family and friends who keep us going. It seems, financially speaking, that we just get one roadblock after another...such is life. But we still absolutely know that we are on the path God has placed us and we will forge ahead. Just moving at more of a stroll on this path rather than the sprint we'd like to be. haha! Eventually we WILL be bringing home another Ramsay!

Kids all went back to school last week. Garret started a new school for 7th grade. Unfortunately, along with our financial roadblocks came the cut of his Christian private school. He has been great about it, handling it with so much maturity and grace. He misses his school, but totally understands. So he started at the public middle school, that is a block from our house, last week. He has so many friends there, so that has helped with the transition. He likes all his teachers and is excited about a few of his classes. So far, so good. Kaelyn and Brynlee both got the teachers they were hoping for and have many friends in their class with them, so they are thrilled!

Soccer, Soccer, Cheerleading and football are in full swing now too. So we are busy and still trying to figure out the new routine. We'll get into a grove soon though and all will be well. haha!

I'll post few pics from first day of school and sports this past weekend in my next post, its easier to upload pics that way!

Cricut Cartridge Giveaway!

Cricut Cartridge Giveaway!

Check out the Cricut forum on the Winter Woodland Giveaway, it's 100th cartridge. To celebrate the milestone, Cricut is giving away 20 a week for 5 weeks. The community at Cricut.com is awesome, I frequent the forums for great ideas!

Here's the link to the cartridge page: http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2

Good luck!

I'm melting!

Ok, not really. But it is H.O.T outside! We are all camping out in our bedroom right now, because we have a small air conditioning unit in the window. It's 107 outside right now and the little air conditioning unit is having a hard time keeping up I think. But my bedroom is 78 degrees, better than the 86 degrees it is in the kitchen right now. haha! I do mostly enjoy the heat, so I won't complain much. We have a place to retreat from it...if I didn't have the window air conditioners though I might be singing a different song.

So we are going to have our adoption fundraiser sale on July 24th and 25th...wish us luck! We have to raise some money in a short period of time and we are hoping this will do it! If you want to donate anything to the sale, please send me a quick email! All proceeds from this sale will go directly to Dove Adoptions. Thank you for your support and prayers! We are blessed.

5th of July

Some after the 4th fireworks fun in the front yard! According to Bryn it was her first time ever doing sparklers. They had a "blast"! Kyle even let Garret do much of the lighting, made me nervous, but he did awesome! The neighbors joined us with some of the stuff they had purchased and we sat outside for quite awhile having our own show.

Where can I find one of these?

Man, I wish money tree's really existed! haha! Sure would help us move along quickly with the adoption. If we could just gather up enough to start the home study then we'd be well on our way! I know there are so many grants and loans out there, but we can't apply for a single one without the approved home study. Can't get started on the home study without raising approximately $4000. So we are stuck here until we can get find some funds, a lot of funds. What we do know is we are not giving up! God has a plan for our family, and we know without a doubt it is to bring home a sweet baby boy to join our family from Ethiopia. We just thought this would come together easier and faster. We are hoping to plan a rummage type sale in July, so if you have anything you'd like to donate we'd be thrilled to add it to the sale. We just have to get creative with this raising money, so if anyone has some suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Camping!

So every year we say that we plan on camping "a lot" during the summer...and every year without fail we are lucky to go ONCE. It is sort of a running joke with our friends. haha! So now that we've done our one trip for the summer, we actually do hope we have several others this summer. We had a great time Memorial Day weekend camping at Detroit Lake! It was very fun! I didn't bring my camera out as much as I should have...but Bree had her camera and she got some great shots of the kids fishing with Grandpa. Bryn and Garret caught their first fish I think. Kaelyn couldn't handle the fishing and came back and sat with Grandma and I. She is very sensitive and was so concerned for the fish. I can assure you no fish were harmed, they were all tossed back. haha. Here are just a few pics from the weekend.