Great read!

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/

Our baby(ies)

10+months and waiting...

For Ryan...

Let this be the only thing you read today...

the plight of the widow in Zambia…

Weekend Review

Children's Museum with friends and family!!  The not so haunted house was SO impressive and the kids had a blast...my favorite part was finally meeting baby Camden!!

Saturday morning breakfast was more fun than normal...we put our new cookie cutters from Aunt Karen to great use.  We made dinosaur, butterfly, bunny, duck toast.  We decorated the toast with peanut butter and jelly....OH YUMMY!  The toast tasted extra good this morning!  Thanks Aunt Karen for thinking of us!!

Pumpkin Patch was so fun and SOOOO windy.  Even though it was chilly and windy it was successful. The kids loved their pony rides.  We played in mazes, on swing sets, and wrestled in hay.  Our wagon was full of pumpkins and apples...we found two orange, 1 green, and 1 white.

And believe it or not....the adults were sober, but this picture may look differently.  Ryan thought the apples from the highest parts of the tree would taste the best.  After his fall from the tree, he started picking from the ground... talk about laughing out loud!!

These were my favorite pumpkins I picked

The honey bees were fun to watch...so glad they were busy making honey and not bothering us!

And for Ryan, the best part of Tuttle's was the carmel apple....just look at his face!

We ended the day by visiting the Great Grandparents and playing with the most UGLIEST pigs EVER...

As if Gigi wasn't already looking forward to Christmas....Now she is MORE than excited...there are going to be piglets for Christmas!!  Her dream come true!  Oh my! how this little girl LOVES pigs!

Great weekend!

Our New Home...

On September 16, 2011, we moved to our new home...
It was a crazy day (as if moving wasn't crazy enough,) our Garyn decided to wake up vomiting blood!!

The day went like this:
paged pediatrician
took Garyn to Emergency Room
Garyn was admitted
CT Scans, X-Rays, IV's...
his blood pressure bottomed
he was moved to the PICU
movers moved all of our house belongings without our supervision to our new home
THANK GOD FOR MY MOM
(she arrived home from Italy and woke up to our phone call about Garyn...she jumped in the car...sleep deprived and sick with a cold, made the 6 hour drive to help me.  Without her I may have not made it through the week...)
Garyn spent 3 days in the hospital
...
my kids never cease to amaze me
through all this craziness, they never skipped a beat
that is just one of the million reasons why I know we made the right move
...
just a few reasons why I love our new home:
it is cozy....very cozy
we use ALL of the space, NOTHING is wasted
it has lots of storage (can you believe it....especially since our 'new' home is 100 years old)
we can walk to school
we LOVE LOVE LOVE our St. Joan of Arc school family!!!!!!!
we have lots of old trees, squirrels
we are so close to downtown (the zoo, children's museum)
running in our new neighborhood
...
Things that took about a week (yep, just a week) to get use to:
living in a 100 year old home
hardwood throughout the entire house
using a house key again
having a detached garage
...
I have NEVER EVER been happier!
...
now if the the other house would sell...

our wait...

It's been 10 months, 1 week, and 6 days plus a more not recorded....and we still patiently wait for our baby(ies).

I go through ups and downs....I crave, then I really crave Ethiopia, and really crave to see our baby(ies), then....I go along with life and remember that when the time is created by the Heavenly Father, we will have our baby and then, I am okay.  But it's when I see a baby or hold a baby or play with a little one at  school or read a post from an adoptive family... it starts ALL over...the craving, the desire to be a Mom again...

I believe the Lord is working for our family and will deliver when the time is best for us...so until then I will continue to pray... will you pray with us too?

"FAITH"

Garyn made a project at school titled "Faith."  It was very creative.  They used a long stick and hanging from it were 5 colored paper leaves each representing a letter for the word FAITH.  On the back of each leaf they had to draw something they had "faith" in... most of the pictures were of him and his dad, but for the letter A he drew his 'brother' from Ethiopia and colored the bottom of the leaf blue.  When he explained the project to me, he told me that the letter A was for faith that one day Ethiopia and his 'brother' will have clean water....

Should I pass the tissue box around now??
He is such an amazing and genuinely thoughtful, caring little boy!!!
May God continue to Bless Him!

One thing is for sure.....I have FAITH that if he wants there to be clean water in Ethiopia.....one day, Garyn will get water there!!!

Keep the FAITH Garyn!

...

This morning I felt Him in my every step, every moment...
...while getting the kids ready for school
...while praying together at school as a family
...with love and compliments from our St. Joan of Arc family
...by a simple hug from a friend
His Love is undeniable for my family
The path He is laying for us is beautiful, imperfect, yet very perfect for us.
I am forever GRATEFUL...
My gratitude, love, and thanks were on repeat while I ran this morning.

This is what moved my running feet alittle faster this morning...

PRAISE THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST....AMEN!

No Uniform Day....

SMILE....

IT'S PICTURE DAY AT SCHOOL!

Just a few I captured before we walked out the door...

Biased? Yes.....but they are beautiful little beings

both inside and out!!!

Sanford's September

Our September Life

...so I am a bit behind with reporting our life events...but I have good reason.
our life has been kinda crazy lately, so bare with me as I try to catch up...

I will start with where I left off...

Sept. 10th, 2011
The French Market: a FUN-draiser for our Church.  It looked like this...

The French Food was amazing...

 Gigi loves having her face painted...

 Garyn getting ready to participate in the Mass.  He helped with a school collection during the offerings.

 And...these two pictures are because the are so CUTE!

A crazy few weeks....

I haven't written because my life the past few weeks has been crazy.
I will write again soon.

It will probably be like this:
the French Market
the move
the hospital
PICU
A busted lip
The ER
My MOM
Unpacking
Walking to school and church
our new home
antiques
God's plan for us
Missing Ethiopia
2 new Tips on his belt
How blessed we are...

stay tuned!