Jen and Molly visit!

2 weeks ago, my sister Jen, and our niece Molly came for a brief visit over the weekend. She was flown up for Cassie's funeral, which was a sad occasion, but we treasured our time with them even if it was only for 3 days. We fit in as much fun and love as we could in that time. It was especially cool, because Jeremy and the kids hadn't met Molly yet!!! We loved that she was already so comfortable in our house, and loved being chased and tickled by her cousins!

Above, Molly and Annika just 3 weeks apart in age have a fun snack together.

Mmmm.. ice cream!



Just some family craziness with Dad and Marla Kay! Of course, it's my kids that are being all out crazy in this one!

Buddies and Babies!
Two of my best buds, Carly and Rachel with Carly's new addition, baby Adia and Molly.



I had so much fun with my cute niecey, and I'm glad she took right to me! :)

I'm such a baby lover and an adoption fan... I was in heaven!

the Novak family with Jen and Molly

We had a fun time at Pandemonium for folks to drop in and see Jen and Molly.




Girl cousin movie time!

Grandma Marla Kay and Molly

Gotta keep those pearly whites lookin' sparkly!

the Bacon bits

We miss them terribly and were so sad to say goodbye so soon... but it's amazing how God has given Jen and I a chance to see each other every six months since they moved 2 years ago. She has been here 3 times, and I have been to TN twice! Hmm... when will the next time be? Our trips are rarely planned very far in advance... it's too hard to wait! Now, if only we could get the WHOLE clan of Night Howells up here!

a sweet flick

I love movies... good ones, that is! And yesterday, I found this gem of a movie! BBC has done it again. Under the Greenwood Tree is based on Thomas Hardy's novel of the same name. I'm not sure what the tree is all about, it must have been important in the book! It's worth your time if you like period films. Hooray for a clean, sweet, romantic movie!

I know some of you are checking our blog to see if we have any news on the adoption front.. and we do.. sort of! Our news is that we've decided to move on from this current adoption situation. It just doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and hasn't turned into what we had originally heard it may. So we made the decision to move on in our hearts and not pursue this situation any longer, and if we do end up hearing from this birthmom, we will be thrilled!

We have great hope, that God has gone before us and is preparing our hearts for our child to come into our family at the proper time. Thank you for praying for this situation, and we would ask that you would continue as we keep on our journey toward adoption!

I spy with my little eye...

...my two boys being EXCELLENT big brothers! I snuck up on this the other day... all four kiddos playing in the girl's room! Peacefully! It took my breath away.

no news...

My blog has been silent, as I'm sure you can tell if you check in often. My mind has been quite preoccupied! We have no news on the adoption front.. none for over two weeks actually...

And we are trying to be okay with that and trusting God for His best plan for us.

Thanks for praying and please continue!

Happy Birthday to Drew!

Wow, our Drew turned NINE last month! He has grown into such a young man who loves his younger brother and sisters, and is such a helper. We rounded out the year with a fun family party at home. Drew was ecstatic over each gift, and made us all giggle with his enthusiasm. Seemed like everything was "what he always wanted!"

He did not want cake, he wanted cookies... so here he blows out a candle on his cookie tower.

Our stair-step clones enjoying the party!

Gavin and Morgan were so cute, looking over Drew's shoulder to see what he got as gifts.

The night ended with the kids watching Drew's new DVD!

We love you Drew Aaron, you are a treasure to your Dad and I, and we thank God for blessing us with such a son.

our world has gotten a little crazier!

Well, yeah... the collective "world" has gotten crazier, I'll give you that... but I mean our ADOPTION WORLD has seriously heated up this past week!

I'm gonna give you the short and sweet update version for privacy reasons and because it's late and I'm wiped out too. We received a call Thursday night from a friend who told us that there is a woman that is due soon that lives in our state and is a friend of a friend... and she wanted our adoption profile to send to her so she could view it over the weekend. We forwarded her our profile, and it was sent along! And after a long weekend of waiting to see if she likes us or not, we got a call yesterday saying that she loved everything she saw in our profile!!!!! We were floored, because there could have been a number of reasons why she wouldn't like us.. too many kids, didn't want a Christian home... yada, yada. But we prayed that there would be something that stood out to her. And I can't wait to meet her and ask her exactly what it is she likes about us.

There is so much I wish I could share with you, but we are SO excited and are guarding our hearts because we know so much could happen. But this precious birth mama is set on adoption, and as it seems set on us!!! I'm dying to know her due date... I know she is due in the next couple months and we won't know if the baby is a boy or a girl. She didn't want to find out because she knew she would be placing the baby for adoption. We love and respect this woman already and are praying fervently for her and this little life. Will you join us in praying??? Thank you!

We are hoping to hear from her in the next couple days, she wanted to show our profile to her Dr. tomorrow before contacting us. We are expectantly waiting for more news.. and trusting in God's big picture. We couldn't be in better hands.

the Shred

Exercise has been a part of my life since I can remember... and I really enjoy it. But if you've been pregnant, you know what havoc it wreaks on a body! After each kiddo was born, I've mixed things up and tried new things... after Drew, 9 years ago, TaeBo was all the rage. Gavin was born just a year and a half later, and TaeBo was still it for me. After Morgan? Turbo Jam was the new deal! All of these helped me get back to where I was before pregnancy. But after Annika, the at-home videos were boring me to tears and I needed something different.

So I started going to an amazing gym that is close by and is all ladies that offers killer classes! So after 11 months of classes... and a BIG break from working out this summer it was TIME. But I knew going back to gym wasn't an option with us trying to save for an adoption... and I was just so over dragging the kids there each time.

I'd been hearing about Jillian Michaels lately, and since we don't watch TV... I didn't know much about her. But I heard her workouts were killer and that is was a lot like the classes I'd been taking at the gym. So I ordered a couple of her DVDs and am loving it! I even ordered one for my sister for her birthday, so we could do it together. You see, my sis and I used to be accountable to each other with exercise when they lived here, and I figured distance shouldn't stop that! And no, she didn't hate me for getting her an exercise DVD for her birthday. But husbands and boyfriends beware, this is not a safe practice. Nor would I recommend it.

The DVD I do most days is the one at the top, 30 Day Shred... it has 3 levels and each workout is 25 min. long. So far, I'm switching between Levels 1 and 2 and they are amazing and my body is changing already! You need weights for this one. This video pictured just above is about 50 min. long and is all cardio. I do that once a week. So far, I've been working out again for 5 weeks, 4-5 days a week. And I just finished my 2nd week of 30 Day Shred. I was doing some other DVDs before that. It feels so good to be moving again... the other BIG change I've made is that I get up earlier than usual and do this in the morning. Some days, the kids are still sleeping, some days they're all up and playing around me, and some days little Annika is still in sleepyland. But nevertheless, it happens. And it feels OH SO GOOD to be all done exercising and be showered when we start our day. But it's HARD to get up and workout, those of you that have done it know... it's no picnic. But it's worth it, and I love it once I'm doing it. It's so hard to get to night time and have the motivation to workout. For me, it just doesn't happen! My goal is 13 more pounds... and I'll be lighter and more fit than before all 4 kids!!!! WooHoo!

Feel like joining in? Let me know if you do, I'd love to know who wants to Shred with me and my sis. :)

Oh yeah.. one more thing... ***My disclaimer***

On 30 Day Shred, Jillian said a** twice! Once in level one... and once in level two. She said, "you will literally be kicking your own a** AND if you're a bada** like her..." UGH... the kids aren't really watching it when I do it, but I have the remote closeby to mute it when she says it! Other than that, it's great!!! She is much more mature in the other DVD I got, and it's great!

the fundraiser

Boy, do I have to play catch up! Last month, I participated in a fundraiser for our local pregnancy center. They are hoping to "go medical" in the near future and are raising funds to purchase ultrasound equipment. My buddy Shannon organized this open house fundraiser in her home, in hopes to help their fundraising efforts! Above is a picture of my little booth. A while back, I posted a picture with stacks of fabric... well this is what I made! Loads of bags/purses (including little girl size), rice hot/cold therapy bags, and burp cloths. I sold a good amount that day, but still have 6 or 7 bags left, along with a rice bag or two and a couple sets of burp cloths. 100% of what I sell now goes toward our adoption!! Let me know if you'd like to purchase something for yourself or as a gift!!

Bags $20

Girl Bags $8

Rice Bags $6

Burp Cloths (set of 3) $8

My favorite little buddy that came to visit that day! Can you beat that sweet smile? I gave him one of the pumpkins from our garden and he was pretty happy I think!

early mornin' neon bowlin'

A few weeks ago, our homeschool field trip group took to the bowling alley! We got to walk behind the lanes and see how the balls and pins work behind the scenes too!!! We had a great morning, and it was Friday, so Jeremy got to join in the fun! We had a super morning, and were definitely awake after the 10am start with music, strobe lights, and neon!!! Drew even won a prize for answering the correct height of a bowling pin... a $10 gift card to bowl and a real pin!

Our field trip group RoCkS!

long overdue...

This post is long overdue... and maybe you're bored by now of seeing our new pictures, and maybe you haven't seen them at all! But I wanted to take the chance to post a few of our new pictures taken by Carrie Lambing this Fall! I will never bore of them, they are treasures to us! I started this post 3 weeks ago, and since the pics were having trouble downloading each time I started again, I gave up... but today I'm pushing through! I love these pictures for so many reasons, but mainly I wanted to capture Annika at this age, these are the first "official" family pics she has been in! Our last run at family pictures were two years ago, when I was enormously pregnant with her!


And we also wanted some new pictures to add to our adoption profile which is now in the hands of many great resources for us.. including friends, 5 clinics that deliver babies both in Alaska and outside, our lawyer's office for potential birth mothers to look at.. and the list goes on! Much of my time recently has been getting our family profile "out there" in the hopes of a birth mother choosing us for her child. Our homestudy has been rescheduled for next week, and our fingerprinting is done and is being turned in soon as well. Once those two things are completed along with the paperwork we're turning in at our homestudy, we'll be "done." Our fingerprints will take a couple months we think to clear in the federal realm, but state is pretty quick we hear. We just play the waiting game, and will continue to get our profile out! Next up? We plan to cover all of the clinics who deliver babies that will take our profile and is within southcentral AK and other referrals out of state that we've received. With all of that said... here are some of our favorites from our photo shoot with Carrie!

Blogging in itself has been a bit of a challenge for me lately. It's been hard to put into words what is going on with us/me! There are SO many things to say, where to start? Well, here's one place to start:

This adoption journey, even though we are just at the beginning, and are not "waiting" for our baby to be born, communicating with birth mom, or any of those other nerve-wracking details... is still consuming. The questions that are forever swirling around my brain are these:

• is this baby already conceived?
• will we have to travel to meet our birth mom and to be there for the birth of the baby?
• when will this happen?
• will this happen?
• can my messed up back and neck handle toting around our precious new babe?
• is our birth mom taking care of herself, and therefore taking care of her child growing within?
• will we have the money we need, when we need it?
• what if it happens next week and our homestudy is not done and our fingerprints have not cleared?
• what kind of relationship, if any, will we have with our baby's birth family after the adoption is finalized?
• will we have to face the heart ache of an adoption not going through if a birth mom changes her mind before the waiting period is up? (every state is different, our state has a great law in place)
  
  
  Now, hear this... some of those thoughts may make you think I'm worrying and not trusting God. Not so. I am completely excited about all of the above, no matter how daunting and unknown each of them are. And I know God has placed us on this journey, and we are confident in his loving care of us and our unborn child. But, it is hard not to think about those things... so right now, I'm going to take every thought captive, trust in His plan for us no matter how bumpy it may get, and enjoy the ride toward our newest family member. Bring it on!!!!

bummer!

Well, our much anticipated home study has been postponed! Our home study writer had to keep her sick son home from school yesterday, and thus couldn't make the drive out to see us. I'll admit, it was a tad hard for me to handle with us having spic and span'd our house like never before... but Jeremy was so good to remind me that there's a reason for the delay, and we're content to reschedule for a rerun soon. Our home study writer, who I'm sure has seen it "all" in her experiences, reminded us that our house doesn't have to be perfectly tidy... how did she know???? ha ha... because she said "adoptive parents like to clean before their home study"... wouldn't you?? :)

So next time, I think we'll just wipe down the table, counters, and bathrooms, and call it good!


But all was not lost... Jeremy and I enjoyed a great date night to dinner (Chinese) and a rented movie with our kiddos gone for the night, and the next day to brighten my disappointment, we went out for lunch and coffee too before picking the kids up! Maybe it was God's way of giving us some quality time together before adding a 5th CHILD sometime in the future.

So here's to my wonderful marriage

that got a major recharge this week!

And thank you to Carrie Lambing for

taking this beautiful picture of us!!!

A post about our family photos with Carrie is coming soon...

but if you want to see them before I get to it click here!

And be patient, it takes a minute or

two to load the slideshow, but it's worth it!!!

We love our pictures, tHaNk YoU Carrie! You Rock.

top to bottom clean house!

Well, since we've announced the start of our adoption journey, we've been plowing forward. Making lawyer appointments, fingerprinting, and setting up our home study were first on our To-Do list. And now all three are happening this week!

First up? Home study. Tomorrow morning we meet with our home study writer... we've been cleaning/organizing like crazy people and now are the proud owners of shampooed carpet. Ahhhh... so nice! We've heard from three separate families that it wasn't as intrusive as they expected and on some occasions, they didn't even look in the rooms they spent so long cleaning! We are really excited, actually to take this first step. It's just Jeremy and I at home for this visit, then the next one (whenever that takes place) will be with the whole zoo home... :) And the third visit will be after the baby has been placed with us for one month! So we'll be getting to know our case worker really well!

Just in case you're wondering, or if you're interested in someday adopting yourself.... since we aren't attached to an agency, who has their own home study writer, we found ours through a list of referrals from our lawyer. And ours was the first that I called... because I liked her name. :) And she sounds great!

And tonight, we even get a date with the kiddos spending the night with their grandparents! Fingerprinting comes later in the week, and our first consult with our lawyer comes Thursday! We're excited to get him our full printed profile, so birth parents (should they come a lookin') will have us as an option for their baby.

So let the waiting game begin! But now at least, we'll be ready should a situation arise. That's the update on the adoption front.... Ready, Set, Pray/Wait!

DownEast

Okay, so I'm shamelessly blogging about a great clothing company called DownEast Basics! Thanks to Sarah N., through Stacy S.! So, there is a contest running and I may win a dress or a coat by blogging about this gReAt clothing company!!! I just went today and requested a catalog... you can do the same! If you dress anything like me, you'll love their clothes!!!!!

http://www.downeastbasics.com/

Plus, they have great pricing and are modest! Of course, I don't yet own any of their clothes, but there are a few (tons) of items that I love! Like.....

and...

also...

Thanks for putting up with my shameless contest entry! Enter for yourself by tomorrow here.

basketball boyz

This fall, the boys started basketball! Their first time playing in an organized group.

It's a class, and they love it! They even get uniforms to wear.

We've let them try a variety of activities/sports until they decide which ones they want to focus on.... Fun stuff! Go BOYS!

hAy RiDe!

Last week, we went on our first homeschool

field trip of the year! We traveled to a local farm for a fun,

long hay ride around the HUGE hay farm!

This awesome John Deere tractor pulled a long

flatbed full of hay bales, kids, and moms!

Then we enjoyed a tour through the cows,yaks,

buffalo, pigs, and goats! The weather was

wonderful... and the company was even better.

I love living here, such a beautiful place to be during the fall.

Rachel, Allison and I and our three cute new 5 year olds!

I love how there's no question which kiddo belongs to which mama.

Gavin lost his first front tooth the day before!
Love that toothless smile.

Annika even found the hayride to be relaxing enough to fall asleep on the way back... it is a rare thing to hold her asleep nowadays. It happens like... NEVER!

Drew was so happy to see some of his buddies there.


We loved the cows... this one was my favorite. I think it was called a Scottish Highlander.
MooOOoooooo


Morgan made a new doggie friend...



The homeschool field trip group we're in is SO great!
The trips are all optional of course, but they are always fun and unique. With an opportunity once or twice a month to take part! A different family plans each trip! SO thankful.

Listen in!

I caught this great broadcast earlier this week, Family Life was doing a series on Adoption... I listened to part 2 of 3, I'm sure the rest are great too.... but here's the link to listen to Dennis Rainey and author Russell Moore both adoptive fathers talk adoption.

http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3789887&ct=7496607

I'm getting it ready so Jeremy and I can listen in together. Great message for ALL to hear.