New Blog Design

Please excuse our dust!  We are trying to find a blog background design that will show up on our iphones.  For some reason when we open up our blog on our phones everything is black except for titles!

Easy Applesauce

I've been trying to find healthy and easy recipes to make for my family.

I came across a great recipe that we finally tried from a family at Raising Homemakers.

Crockpot Applesauce

1 bag (about 3 lbs) or approximately 12-13 apples (whatever your crockpot can hold)
Core, slice and peel your apples
Place in a crockpot and sprinkle a small amount of cinnamon on top
Cover and cook on low for about 6-8 hours
Use a potato masher to mash the apples into applesauce

I served it warm!  No sugar was added so all in the house could enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

the big winner!

The 4th graders at our school are responsible for completing a Social Studies Fair project.

This year's theme was "Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, & Consequences"...did you get all of that?

Sydney definitely did not inherit my fine scribble talent for drawing.  She also had to write a 500 word essay.

She decided to complete her project on The Gold Rush and the impact that it had on the environment and continues to have.

We are so proud of her!  It is so nice to see a child's hard work rewarded!  She won the "Superior" in the poster entry.

Our proud winner!

Sydney with her teacher, Mrs. Sherwin!

Some time in February, her project will go to our County Social Studies Fair!

the BIG 7

A few weeks ago we celebrated Jadon's 7th birthday!  We are so blessed to have Jadon in our lives!  He is kind and caring, compassionate and tender-hearted!  He loves the Lord and has a gift for memorizing scripture!  He is ALL boy!  Oh boy!  We are thankful that he was delivered safely after I spent a small amount of time on bedrest and then had an emergency c-section, again!  He is our social butterfuly and is such a "people-person"! 

We celebrated by going to dinner at Chili's...he really wanted to go to Burger King, but-sorry, this mom's gotta eat real food if she's going out for a birthday dinner.  My mom and dad just arrived from Murphy and were able to celebrate with us!  The kids love it when Oma and Opa are back in town!

The laughter in my life!

 

Jackson, Jadon, Kurt, and Opa

Opa and Jadon

 

Jadon and his new Canjo!  You can actually play songs on it!

 

Jadon has been waiting at least 2 years for a DS!!

 

Kurt with Little Man

Jackson has finally learned to say "Cheese" for the camera!

Mommy's little helper

                   I remember once upon a time when 2 certain little children in the house LOVED to clean!

Now I'm down to 1 !

I'll take what I can get!

Even if he DOES intentionally give his Daddy his little fork!

He gets the job done!

Drawn From Water

I came across this video today and am still thinking about it.  It's unfathomable to me how this happens.  The words to the music playing in the background are just as striking.

Now that I've seen, God expects me to respond!  I am responsible!

What will you do, now that you've seen?

I challenge you to watch!  (Be sure to pause the music on the bottom of our blog first!)


"It Began with Bale" from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

sweeter than pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin patches are few and far between in our neck of the woods.

Usually a local church or two in town will have one.

This is the church that I grew up at, well at least when home during my college years, until I met Kurt.

We were married here.

The pumpkin patch was to raise money for all of their missions teams.

Happy Fall Y'all!

147 Million minus 1 more!

My brother, Mike, and his wife, Angela, just found out that they passed court for their daughter in Ghana.  Her name is Shilla and she is 14 years old!  We are so excited to add one more precious treasure to our family!!!  Please pray for them and for Shilla as they finish the adoption process!

Angela, Alivia, Mike, Grace, Alex

Shilla Rose

They're Home!

Kurt's sister and husband just arrived home from Ethiopia with their 4 children!  Praise the Lord!  Please pray for them as them begin their lives as a family of 9!  YES, 9!!!  God is good and faithful!  Their family has an amazing testimony!  Visit their blog at It's Wonderfully Crazy!

It's Wonderfully Crazy

Not too long ago I posted about my sister-in-law and her husband adopting a sibling group of 4 children from Ethiopia.  They just began their blog and are awaiting to travel anyday to bring them home!  You can follow the journey that God has called them to here!  It's Wonderfully Crazy!!  Be blessed!

Birthday Portraits~3 Years Old

7 months

Yesterday we celebrated 7 months since we finalized our adopting Jackson in China.

Yesterday we had our "readoption hearing" at the courthouse.  Although our adoption was finalized in China and he became a US citizen upon walking on American soil in San Francisco, we will now be able to apply for Jackson's certificate of foreign birth.  This will be the equivalent of his US Birth Certificate.  We will also be able to apply for his US Passport!  Even though this was really just a formality, it was difficult to hear  Judge Piggotte terminate the rights of his birth parents.  And although he was abandoned and it is unknown who his birthparents are, God knows them by name!

We were able to take a few pictures to document the occasion for him and then we celebrated with a round of milk shakes from Steak N Shake!

Jackson and his goofy grin!  Not sure where that came from.  This is our attorney, Mr. Pappas.  He has 2 daughters adopted from China and he only charges the court costs to complete the readoptions of children from China.  All the years that he's been doing this, Jackson is the VERY FIRST BOY that he has ever represented!  We are thankful for his heart and his generosity to our family!

Our family with Judge Piggotte

Outside the courthouse!  I think it was about 96 degrees!

Jackson and Kurt

the big 3

Just a little over a year ago, Kurt and I were praying that we would have our LID so that we would be able to send Jackson his birthday cake and care package for his 2nd birthday!  We just can't believe that it is a year later and we have our little man here in our arms to celebrate his 3rd birthday!

Our celebration was joyful, tearful and bittersweet!  I spent time on Sunday showing Jackson the pictures of his birthday party and cake that was taken last year at the orphanage, hoping that he would remember something about it and that it would seem familiar to him and understand that it was HIS day!

He greeted each guest at the door and ushered them in, gently taking the gifts they brought and putting them with the others by the piano...all this with no instruction! (Well, he did take the first one into the kitchen trying to find where to put it, but once we showed him where it went, the others went there as well.)

He was surrounded by many who loved him and who have prayed for him and over him!  I didn't think any of us were going to make it through Kurt's prayer for our food and for the blessing of Jackson in our family.  It was tearful and heartfelt.

Jackson knew just what to do opening presents.  He was gracious with his Thank you's (you'll see him signing in one picture) and gave many hugs.  He has really been into baseball lately, so we wanted to get him his first baseball glove and ball...we didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a LEFT-HANDED toddler mitt.  So, we opted for the trike instead and then we'll special order the glove for me...or wait for the new Dick's store to open up next week.

Jackson loved his trike and was kind enough to share it with his little friend, Tatum.  Tatum just turned three in June and towers over Jackson.

As I rocked Jackson for his afternoon nap and for bed that evening, I prayed that God would somehow touch Jackson's birth mom's heart.  I prayed that He would find some way to tell her that her little boy was safe and loved and growing big.  I prayed that she would know how funny he is, how loving he is, how strong-willed he is and how smiley and affectionate he is.  I prayed that her heart would be at peace on this day as she remembered his birth and the circumstances surrounding his family.

Jackson and Tatum

Jackson saying, "OOOh" for Open

Signing "Thank You"

Giving Oma the Thumbs Up for his gift!

Checkin out his new ride!

Takin' his girl for a ride!

Discussing something very important, I'm sure!

Jackson riding off into the sunset!!