Meaning of life...

So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

Morrie Schwartz, in "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom

Spring soccer!

Oh the weather outside is lovely....NOT. Soccer players are tough, not like those sissy baseball players that cancel at the hint of rain. No, soccer players stick it out through the wind, rain, and sleet, they are superstars! Now, the real sympathy should be given to the supportive families that have to sit through the hour game in that same wind, rain and sleet. Brrrrr. Sometimes I wish soccer players weren't so "tough". haha! So we started the season with a chilly rainy day and lots of mud. It was fun though!

eeeek! Tomorrow is the big day!

What big day you ask? Home-study day! Yes, our home-study is tomorrow!! We are so excited, feels like we are finally moving along the road to our sweet baby boy. We are really doing this! So from what I understand he won't be inspecting my linen closet or my many junk drawers. Phew. Because those are a mess. The house still really needs a good cleaning though. I know he won't be doing the white glove test tomorrow, but I still can't help feeling like I need to DEEP clean. *take a breath* So stay tuned, i'll update tomorrow night!

He's a teenager!!

I can't believe it! We've got a teen in the house now! My little 9lbs 13oz chunky monkey is now a big, strong, handsome 13 year old. Where has time gone? I'm not ready to let him grow.

Seems like yesterday he was running around the house with a binkie and blankie permanently attached. I'm not ready to let him grow.

He is almost as tall as me now. He wears a size 10 men's shoe. His smile still warms my heart just like it was his first. He is kind and has such a gentle spirit. He is thoughtful and is such a deep thinker. He has a great sense of humor and loves to make people laugh. His laugh is contagious. I'm not ready to let him grow.

He still doesn't love to try new things and has yet to outgrow the picky eater stereo-type that our pediatrician assured us he'd outgrow. Although cheese and bread aren't the only food groups he'll eat now, so it has improved. He likes tradition. He is artistic. He loves computers. He is a writer and writes amazing poetry. I'm not ready to let him grow.

He is a protector of his sisters and while he tries to hide it, we know in the little things he does that he loves them greatly. He is a reader. He will choose a book over TV and get lost in a book for hours. He is an athlete and really enjoys playing basketball. He doesn't hate playing football. He loves PlayStation 3. He loves music. I'm not ready to let him grow.

Life is simple. Life is complicated. He's thirteen and I'm not ready to let him grow. But he is growing up. We are so very blessed to watch him grow and love who he is becoming!!

Baby Steps toward God's perfect plan

We finally mailed off our giant packet of paperwork for our home-study today! YEAH!! I've been feeling a bit discouraged because this whole adoption process is taking so much longer than I wanted. I see other families just breeze through the process and wonder why the heck it is taking us so long?? This morning in my inbox on the very day we mailed off our packet to get the home-study under way this is my positive daily devotion (see below). God is so timely in His messages to us, I really needed this reminder today. Enjoy! And now we are one step closer towards our goal to bring home a sweet baby boy from Ethiopia...in 2010 (I pray!).

“Put things in order.” 2 Corinthians 13:11

A plan becomes a reality only after the first action step is taken. If you doubt your own ability to carry out a task, you might hesitate or you might never begin it at all.

Each time you begin a project, picture yourself mentally taking one step at a time to complete it with God going ahead of you, making your way successful.

Say this prayer aloud: "I put things in God's order. All is in Divine order as I take my first step. I am continually guided by God."
You are empowered, then, to take another step, this time with a greater feeling of security and self-confidence.

As you continue taking steps, with each progressive move, you are gaining momentum and your confidence builds to new heights. Knowing that God is in charge, you take each step as a leap of faith, in which you meet the challenge and accomplish whatever needs to be done by you.

In Luke 1:78-79, our Bible states: "By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those to sit in darkness,… to guide our feet into the way of peace."

When you ask God for guidance, you are not looking for an easy answer or for a way out of having to make your own decisions. You are a soul, living this life to learn to make decisions, and you are asking God to guide the decisions you do make, so that they bring about what is best for you and everyone concerned.

Cheer!

Cheer competition season is in full swing and we are having a blast watching Bryn in her element. She's still loving it...and talks about how she never wants to quit. So we'll see. The older she gets though the more crazy stunts and wild tumbling she'll be doing...and already I get so nervous for her. Yikes. God give me strength....and a bigger bank account. LOL.

The Shadow

By Garret R.

I dance along the wall,

wishing to be set free,

as a shadow should be,

but I can't you see,

bound to a human being.

I want a chance to dance on more than just the wall,

feel the rain on my skin,

build a snowman in the snow,

snuggle up by a warm fire,

taste the warm, steaming cup of hot cocoa.

I want to smell the flowers,

while taking a stroll through a meadow.

But it will only be a dream,

so far away from me,

but that doesn't mean I still can't believe.

How did this happen....she's 11!

Seriously don't blink...because if you do you will one day wake up and your beautiful baby girl will be a beautiful "pre-teen" 11 year old! I'm going to stop blinking. It feels like just yesterday we brought her home on a snowy Christmas Eve bundled up in a large red stocking. To say "they grow so fast" just doesn't do this justice. Kaelyn is such a delight and brightens the world around her. She loves singing and playing her flute. She wants to be an actress or a professional soccer player. She is always surprising us with her giving nature and kind, gentle spirit. She thinks of the little things, where others might not. She likes to keep the peace between her siblings. She is quick to make sacrifices so others will be happy. She is a good friend and a good listener. She is always willing to try new things...new food, scary rides, she's always ready to give it a go. She is a joy and we are so very thankful to God for allowing us to be her parents!

I ♥ faces photo challenge: "pets only"

I've never entered a photo contest before, but my awesome sister encouraged me to submit this picture! This is our kitty Titan we had no clue he was a mouser until the little gifts from him started appearing at our door. Here I caught him in the act!

To see other great entries at I Heart Faces go here!

Moving forward!

Guess what came in the mail today?? We got our background check approval letters! Yeah! So now we are ready to move forward with the homestudy. Awesome! So Monday morning i'll be making that phone call to get it scheduled! Yipee! So very exciting!

Want some coffee???

We have started a great fundraiser...everyone drinks coffee right? We have found a fabulous program that helps families raise funds for their adoption! Head over to Just Love Coffee if you are interested in purchasing some great coffee! I'd love to get some feedback from those that order some coffee, let me know what "flavor" you ordered and how you liked it! Feel free to share this link and spread the word!

We are waiting for our fingerprints to come back from the state and then we will move forward with the 2 home-study visits. Yeah!! After we have our home-study approval things could move quickly if we get our remaining funds raised. Thank you again for your prayers and support we are so blessed to have great family and friends who love and support us!

Football fun!

 

 

 

 

Garret is the #78 this year. #78 has a great deal of tradition in the Ramsay family, it was worn at one time or another by all the Ramsay men (I think). So it was fun that this year Garret got to be #78. Garret has so many mannerisms that are exactly like his father, especially when it comes to football. It was so funny, 2 weeks ago Grandma Ramsay came to a game and she kept seeing the #78 and the likeness between Garret and Kyle made her keep yelling, "go Kyle!" Garret is trying to find his own way as far as football goes, which is great. He thinks he might really enjoy playing center and is learning that new position. It will certainly be fun to watch Garret come into his own and take on the world. We know he can do anything he puts his mind to. Right now he wants to work for NASA as a scientist and is thinking he might want to continue playing football as a means to get a college scholarship. We love the way his mind works, he is amazing!

Soccer, Soccer...have to wait for football.

 

 

 

 

Soccer, soccer and football seasons are going great! The kids are having a lot of fun playing. Because of schedule conflicts i've yet to make it to a whole game of Garret's, i've just seen the last quarter of his first game. This weekend we have no conflicts, we will be able to go from game to game without any overlap! So this weekend I will have football pictures! Yeah! So here are a few pictures from the girls last game...notice how both girls use their tongue to help them run? haha! They must of gotten that trait from their Dad, because I don't run. LOL!

Back to school...7th, 5th, 3rd grade!

 

 

 

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!