My Coley

Mak'n up some pizza!  My oldest is getting to be quite the cook--he loves watching CREATE and getting ideas.  I can't wait to have him in charge of meals.....we have a little more practicing to do, I think. :0)

home.

   this little man is home with a fever today.  but can you get any cuter than THIS?

The Way I Roll

*Edited version*
I pass by my blog every day to see what others are posting on their blogs and I know I have things on my mind to write about, but it's all a jumbled blurr!  First, I want to say thank you to my good friend, Jena (just had lunch and a play-day with her yesterday:0) for being soo supportive with letters, help with my t-shirts, and all of the good-friend stuff!  What a gift to have such a friendship!

I have been busily working on our dossier paperwork, so when our home-study is complete (hopefully by next week) we will be set to get that sent in.  This last couple of weeks has been a little bit discouraging as we have been notified that there is a possibility of some changes in our process....including the major one, which would take us to Ethiopia twice, rather than the one-time plan.  I would LOVE to go more than once if finances allowed it, don't get me wrong-I would love it love it!!  So I am refusing to let this news get me down.  I know that our God has a plan for everything and we just need to be patient and abide.  I'll try reeeaaalllll hard to do what I'm asked. :0)

And in the mean-time I am STILL working on the fabulous-o tees that I will use to raise awareness of our orphan crisis.  This is one project that I will push on until it's complete.  It's really important to me to get the word out there.....and also to help with our costs a little.  So hopefully that's soon-to-come!! 

We had our initial home visit last Saturday with the kids and Thursday and Saturday we will finish it up.  Then all of our paperwork will be checked over and we can add it to our dossier....which I should have all ready by then! Yay!  I tend to be an "over-thinker" about pretty much everything....and my friends and family are VERY helpful at pointing it out!  Thank you very much!!:0)  I am having a tough time making some decisions about the age and health of the child we intend to parent.  I have been praying for some guidance, but I know that in the end it will be as it's suppose to be!  Faith, Kendra!!  Sheesh!  All I can really do is have MY part done so that I am not the reason for the wait.  Because we ALL know there WILL be a wait! :0) & :0( 

The other thing I've been doing? Well.......anyone who knows me knows that I am trying to save the world, whether it be environmentally or otherwise!  
So here is an example of doing my part.......

THIS is my food to be recycled--it goes from our plates, to these beautiful, classy bowls on the counter-top, to the chicken coop out back.

 Then there is the garbage recycling, which hopefully most of YOU do??  

I'm not going to let the landfill build up on my account.:0) So once a week I load up all of the cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal in the back of my mom-van and I take it across town to the drop-off.  Hey.....I'm on a mission here!

Okay....and here's a ritual I started this past summer, which totally irritates my husband!  Because I won't be the reason why the landfill piles up, I am taking it upon myself to get rid of the things I can. 

So when we roast marshmallows in the summertime I keep the fire going with all of the unnecessary paper we've accumulated. 

The collection can tend to get pretty high during the cold months.

You will not find me to be someone to toss something that could be valuable to someone else (your trash is another man's treasure), or it is recycled.

THIS is what I've been doing.....a little Spring-cleaning (without the clean). Just trying to do my part!
And 
THIS

is the way 

I 
roll!!!

please

I'm really needing my friends right now....any friends. :0)  To laugh with to love with, to cry and smile with, to shop and maybe even clean with, or go to a movie and coffee with.  I love my friends and the time spent with them.  

Just needing a little bit of that right now.

please.

Enough Already!!!

I'm sure everyone is a little tired of seeing our fam. pictures now, 
but I LOVE them!  

Never again will we spend $60+ at Penney's :0)!  It's one of those things this year that we gave up as a sacrifice for our adoption.  And as you can see quality can really out-weigh quantity (we'll see how they print out--eeeekk).  

We have taken some pretty big steps with our finances and put our trust in God to take care of things...we know He will. 
We were able to pay off our credit cards (also cut them up and closed them out)when I gave up my shopping sprees (remember, I am that clearance rack diver....but it does add up). 
I have become quite the home-body, but I do have my one coffee date a week (thanks, Ang) so I don't go crazy.  

When we need groceries, I usually send Dic...and with a list.  I have stepped into Target a time or two and I wasn't even that drawn to great prices (AMAZING for me).  It's kinda like when you go on a sugar diet and after the first week your cravings start to go away.....a "sweet" deal.  

We started this state of thinking at the same time we started our adoption paperwork.  We vowed to eat out less, which we have accomplished and are seeing the benefits.  In almost two months, we have gone out ONCE.....and, oh, how I wish we wouldn't have! Yuck!  It isn't necessary and all it takes is a little self-control (which I've never had a lot of).  
Don't get me wrong I have made my sacrifices just to be at home with my kiddos--I nursed them, cloth-diapered them, made my own baby food, gave them their haircuts, bought clothes at rummage sales (and clearance racks, of course :0), I found alternative ways to heal their sick little bodies, and I've always highlighted my own hair.  These were things I wanted to do anyway, but it sure helped with our budget. So this isn't a new thing at all, but it took some training again.  

We are using the "if we don't NEED it, we don't buy it" rule.  Dic and I agreed that eating out as kids was a treat for us.....kids these days just expect it.  It's soo sad when things are taken for granted because there is soo much...we all do that.  This is a big life lesson for all of us and I'm excited to make the change in our lifestyle.  

So even though our 11-year-old sofa has holes all over it, and our carpet is stained and worn, and the linoleum in the bathroom is hidious (God is using THIS money that I'd saved for other things:0)......I want to live on manna---what God provides. Even though our back deck needs a railing, and the walkway still needs flagstone, and we were ready to add on to the garden....it will all have to wait.  And the suburban that we were waiting for will stay with it's previous owner while our mini-van remains parked in our garage.  God has put His trust in us and we will abide.  
It will be enough.

So this is just one more thing we were able to accomplish on our own--we have become pretty good photographers (and so have my bro. and his fiance'--thanks Clay and Jess) and that's plenty for us....

 Lord, 

YOU
 are 
enough 

for 

us.