WOW!!

Kids are amazing!!!

I was just coloring with Jack a few minutes ago, when he pointed to the blue crayon and said "boo!". I was in shock! I made him repeat it a few times, and I still wasn't convinced, so I waited a few minutes and then asked him where the blue crayon was. He pointed at it and said "boo." I was beside myself! Apparently he also has figured out yellow, or "yewwow" as he says!!!! I am so proud of him!

Some interesting tidbits:

1. We just realized that this house has only 1, non-working smoke detector. We replaced the batteries on that one and it is now "working," although there's no telling how accurate it is, since it is from the 1970s. Tomorrow the fire dept. will come install 4 new ones.

2. Jackson has started calling Bo "Bo" instead of "Daddy" sometimes. It's pretty funny.

3. Our car stereo was stolen last night--what are the odds of having 2 different cars robbed at 2 different addresses in less than 7 months?!

4. Jack has fallen asleep during lunch 2 of the last 3 days.

5. My parents are coming to visit in 5 days!!!!!!!

6. My sister Casey is coming to visit in 9 days!!!!!!!!!

Pool party...

Interesting....

First of all, our cat is a freak. Secondly, Jack is cute!

Internet Troubles

I cannot begin to explain the world of internet problems we have had for the past week. The good news is that we are finally up and running with a new provider. It is 9 pm and the guys that installed it just left.

After 9 hours on the phone trying to get AT&T to fix the internet they broke (it was working then their workers did something with the phone line and it stopped working), they finally decided to tell us that we are "too far out" to get DSL. That is ridiculous for several reasons, one of which is that we are less than 3 miles from where we previously had service and we are pretty much still in the middle of the city of Austin. Anyway, after much fruitless conversation, we finally told them to cancel our account and now we are using Time Warner Cable's Roadrunner internet. They came and installed it the day after I called. It's more expensive, but I get reimbursed by my work anyway. Also, we're getting a home phone line as a package deal--we don't actually have a phone hooked up to it yet but whatever! :)

Hung out to dry...encouragement through trials

The house we just moved into has a clothesline. I used it yesterday for the first time, and it was a very interesting experience. I had never hung anything out to dry before.

I hung the clothes out and just left them there for hours. They were just hanging there, looking very forlorn and exposed. They were blowing in the wind and they were even rained on a bit. When I finally went and got them off the line, they were stiff. It was very strange--the same cloth that had been soft and snuggly before I hung the clothes out to dry had become firmer, tougher, rougher.

This morning I put on one of the shirts that had been hung out to dry. It was the best-smelling piece of clothing I have ever worn. It smelled so fresh I felt like I was radiating cleanliness; even now, after 12 hours of chasing Jack around it still smells fresh and clean, reminding me of the difficult experience it shared with the other clothing as it was hung out to dry yesterday.

Today, as it has been worn, the shirt has softened up a bit again.

He knows what we need...

PRAISE GOD!

He has been so comforting to us these last few days, reaching out to us through Godly friends and family members. It's awesome.

Jack has adjusted well to the new house, and he is as nutty as ever.

We are in!

We are in the house. There is a lot of work yet to be done, but at least our internet is working! :)

I really need to ask for prayers. If anyone reads this, please, please pray for Bo and me. We are feeling really discouraged right now.

Thanks

Wild Weekend Ahead!!

Okay, our internet is going to be cut off at noon today, so I'm going to do one quick update before that happens. :)

For those of you who don't know, we are moving this weekend--YIKES--but we are really excited. We're going to have a back yard for Jack and our future daughter (let's just call her our African princess) to play in. It's very exciting stuff, but I'm sure you know how moving is. STRESSFUL! So prayers are much appreciated.

Also, we are making some progress with our paperwork, but it is very slow going, so continued prayers for that would be great. Just pray that we don't feel overwhelmed.

Thanks everyone!!!

Family

This is Bo. I am so excited that Eryn and I have begun our journey with adopting our daughter. Everytime I think about her in my life I realize, along with Jackson, I begin to understand the importance of being a Christ following father. For so many years I chased meaningless things and I fell into much sin by placing pointless, worldly things in front of Christ. But I was thinking in the car the other day and I prayed (with my eyes open of course) that God would strengthen my daily walk and that the poor examples that I grew up knowing and the sad ones that I see today will only encourage me more to lead my daughter and son to follow after God's own heart. Keep that in your prayers!!!

Christian World Adoptions

This is a scripture that their Director of Intake share with me today. I thought it was awesome:

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily,surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If itseems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not belate by a single day." Habakkuk 2:3

Paperwork

We got our paperwork for the home study yesterday--WOW. We sat down and got down to business right away. We have filled out most of the forms, but we still need copies of documents, we have to draw a floor plan of our house, and we have to write directions to the house, etc.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. It is definitely clear to me now that this is going to be a lot of work, and it is going to take some real perseverance.

Prayers are appreciated!!!!!!!!! We're going to need them!!!!

Oops! Almost forgot...

Otis.

More Pictures of the Fam

Fedila
Temima
Sam. Bo and Nick (almost 13)

There has been a request (Sheila!) for some photos of my family, especially my new Ethiopian sisters. I figured there are probably a few people who are curious about my crazy family, so I'm going to put some pictures up to get you all acquainted with them.

Me, Kelli (19), and Casey (22)
My mom, Carrie
Jack with Caitlyn (almost 15)
Jack with my dad, Bob
Sam (8), Rebekah (7), Temima (almost 8), Casey, Me, Fedila (almost 9), Rachel (almost 14), and Caitlyn in our Ethiopian outfits

Poor Kitty.

Exciting Stuff

Okay, now that I have a minute, I will tell you all the real reason I've started the blog. I mean, it really is to keep you all updated on our lives, but it's also because we have exciting news--we are going to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia!

Bo and I have been praying about adopting for a few months now, and this morning we finally got our answer. This morning, when I was doing my Bible study, I got an overwhelming "yes"!

I contacted Lutheran Social Services of the South, and they are sending us paperwork to get started. They will do our home study, and Christian World Adoptions will be our adoption agency.

My awesome parents have offered to fund the adoption, which is awesome because there is no way we could ever afford this on our own--but the Lord has provided through them! We are also going to apply for financial aid through Kingdom Kids. As far as thinking about the cost of raising another child--well, that is in the Lord's hands. We know we are doing His will, so we know He will take care of us. I'm not worried! "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

The adoption process will probably take a year, maybe more, especially since we want to adopt a 1-2 year old. The younger ones take longer.

Bo and I are both really excited. It feels good when you know you are doing the right thing. We may experience problems and hurdles along the way, but I have absolutely no doubt that this is going to happen!

I asked Jackson this morning if he wants a sister, and he said "Oh yeah." I cracked up, and just to be sure, I asked him again. He said "Yeah!" and he sounded a little annoyed that I asked him a second time!

The First Post of Many

I decided to start a blog. My mom has done one for a while now, and I really enjoy getting updates about their adoption experiences and just general family life. It's a great way to keep up with them, so I thought it would be nice for us to have one too, especially since we have so many loved ones that we don't see as often as we'd like. Anyway, I will post more later, but right now Jack is tapping my arm and saying "Mama! Mama!" so I better go see what's up with him!