FUN

Liam had a GREAT birthday today!

We started off with his birthday meal.

He chose: "Mom McMuffins" - they actually call them this, cracks me up!

Cheese (his FAVE food)

Orange soda

And cupcakes (with a big gumball on top!)

Liam then got to open gifts.

The kids each get three gifts from me.

Liam received his tshirt, Buzz Light*year Oper*ation,

and a dancing Buzz (a MAJOR clearance find last year)

Grandma and Grandpa asked for help with gifts this year.

As I searched and thought, wanting to find something that was really used,

I came across a HUGE clearance at Tar*get online on Halloween costumes.

Liam LOVES to dress up!

I couldn't believe what they had, and many were $3-8!

So, they got him a BOX FULL of costumes.

Liam was in HEAVEN...

Braeden and Olivia had fun too!

Unfortunately so did our pup Percy who kept trying to pull of the mummy's wraps!

Later after lunch and a short nap, we headed off to pick up Liam's buddy "E" and his mom.

We don't do parties every year. Most of the time we simply do cake and ice cream

with a few close friends/family.

The kids get "friend" parties at ages 5, 10, and most likely 16.

This meant Liam was in store for a friend party this year.

Since he was at a home day care early in the year he didn't really

have many nearby friends.

I saw that Toy Story 3 on Ice would be in town on his birthday and

decided that that would be PERFECT to do instead of a party,

and with a good friend and his mom, who is my good friend,

would cost the same as a party.

So we went with it!

We even got third row seats!

I bought a few little goodies between then and now

such as the hats (which Braeden wouldn't wear),

silly bands, candy, little army men, a sheriff's badge, etc.

And the show was spectacular!

"E" had never been to any kind of live show before so he had no clue what to even expect.

They had a blast!

And so did mom! :)

It was a great day!

And now I have NO KIDS UNDER 5! How is that possible!?

Bring on some littles! :)

Ready

... for our big day...

More to post later,

but for today we're off to have a great birthday breakfast hand picked by the man himself,

play time with new gifts, and then Toy Story 3 on Ice with friends!

See you soon!

Sing With Us...

... Happy Birthday dear Liam, Happy Birthday to YOU!

I remember the day you came to live with us like it was yesterday! You were only 9 months old and desperately needed a secure and stable environment for a while. The foster home you had been living in was not suitable at all. Even though you had lived there over four months, you could not crawl, sit up, or stand and you were only making one real sound.

Within a WEEK of being in our home, you were on the go!

Nothing was stopping you and you grew and flourished!

We just love your laugh and giggle!

You love being around family, and have such a warm heart for hugs and snuggles.

May 28, 2009

We were blessed to have you as a part of our FOREVER family!

Your eyelashes get comments and compliments EVERYWHERE we go!

One of your very favorite things to do is dress up...

you wore these glasses most of our summer that year...

You especially love superheroes!

And you continued to grow and inspire us to be all that we can be!

Love you buddy! Can't believe you're FIVE today! Happy Birthday!

Saturday Snapshots

Someone in my "Nesting" post commented on our homework space so I thought I'd share a more updated picture. The one I posted I had on hand on the computer but was from last year just before our house went on the market. (Never did sell... and are happy to still be here, no worries!) I "had" to take down all the pictures I had on the wall to "depersonalize" the house. Once it was off the market and we were staying, this is how it ended up. (Just didn't feel like going through the work to put all those back up I guess.) :)

On the countertop each of the kids have a homework "station" they made at Home De*pot as one of their building projects while we were in Florida last year. Once we were home we painted them instead of using the bus stickers they came with. They are SO GREAT to have!

Another of my favorite areas I'd thought I'd share is our hall just through the doorway seen in the above photo...

The quote I got free from a company giving them to teachers last year. I LOVE what it represents for my kids especially. The pictures were created by someone I came across on etsy and were a Christmas gift to the kids last year.

And finally, our dinner tonight! :)

Saw this on another blog recently and HAD to try it, so FUN! You take raw spaghetti noodles and push them through sections of hot dog. Cook all together...

And Voila! Easy, but the kids LOVED the idea! They usually don't like sauce anyway, so this was especially perfect!

Any excuse to use chopsticks for Braeden...

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Prayer Request

There is a little boy who could use some BIG prayers.

For more information go HERE.

Let's all PRAY for this little guy!

Another Step

I received a suspiciously excitable envelope in the mail on Monday... with a return address from the Dept of Homeland Security! I thought MAYBE this is my notice for my fingerprinting appt, how CAN it be here so QUICKLY!? And... I was right! It was my official letter of receipt for the receipt of the I800a! Too funny! BUT, it's still a step in the right direction!!!

Once that approval comes I'll be needing my next stage of funding, so please pass the word about our necklaces, tshirts, and the GREAT Recycle Love shirts (remember to mark "Lisa" in the memo section!) :)

Happy Birthday to One Who HAS a Family

It's birthday season in our house. My boys' birthdays are 8 days apart, and just 7 days before the first is our "oldest" boys' birthday... Davids!

Can you imagine today if the past two weeks HADN'T occurred?

Can you even imagine turning 16 and DREADING it?

In America, turning 16 is cool... you are able to finally drive a car! But in Latvia, if you turn 16 and are in an orphanage with no family actively working on your adoption, then you are ALONE. You cannot be adopted. You will not have that family you've dreamed of.

I'm SO incredibly blessed to know that Davids does NOT have to go through that.

That he DOES have a family to call his own today.

And I know they will be celebrating his birth for years to come.

BUT... please remember that there are MULTITUDES of "Davids'" out there. There are children every day who "age out" of finding a family. There are CHILDREN who are sent away from orphanages to a life most likely on the street. All because a family did not come for them in time. Did you know that if ONLY 7% of Christians would adopt just ONE child, that there would be NO more orphans in the WORLD. 7%. That Blows. My. Mind.

Today I remember Davids and his heart. One of my favorite memories from our time together was my eavesdropping on a conversation between him and Liam. You can read about it HERE.

Happy Birthday Davids!

"Nesting"

Nesting in the adoption world I think is still very similar to the "pregnancy" world.

For me, right now nesting means rethinking little space for little ones. And definitely planning reworking Olivia's room which is full of her, to include a sister at some point in the hopefully near future.

Luckily her color is great! She chose a deep pink which I love and the fun apple/lime greens and white to go with it look stupendous for both older and younger girls. Furniture, well, that's a completely different story.

We have a tiny house. I love our house, but it's tiny. I have the smallest bedroom, Olivia's is next, and the boys have the upstairs attic/half floor that is a GREAT open space. They have loads of room, we don't. :) But that's been fine, until now. Now we need to add a girl and storage. So I've been planning and think I have a great solution (I just love IKEA) which will not use much of our tax refund, hopefully leaving plenty to add to our adoption fund.

Beyond their room though, we've been slowly working on other areas of the house too. The basement is becoming more and more a family room we love to spend time in together. We even had a "camp-out" / sleepover there last night! :) Most of the rest of the house is good. We've added pieces slowly, taking time to save money and choose what works and will last.

One thing I'd love to replace soon is our kitchen stools. Our TINY kitchen has a SMALL counter area that the kids use for homework. I'd LOVE to get some new modern bar stools there sometime! CSN stores have lots of eye candy in this area! They're not "needed" yet, but it sure is fun to look! :)

The ones we have already are great...

but the tops of them, when they're turned round and round by certain kids, hit the metal counter brackets underneath and it has scraped off the top layer of black around most of the edges. There's only so many times you can use a sharp*ie and make it look ok again! :)

So maybe someday we'll end up with new stools, but for now it's just fun to browse and dream and work on the rest of the house!

What do you dream of getting for your house that is a want and not a need??? :)

Numbers 49-52

Here are three more necklaces being sold to raise funds for our adoption. (you can click them to enlarge) If you'd like to see all available, please click on the Necklaces link under the header at the top of the page.

*** If you'd like one, please email me FIRST before donating!!! I will sell to the first one who asks and mark the ones SOLD as soon as I retrieve the email. Let me know which number necklace you are interested in... I will respond to your email letting you know if the necklace is sold or if you can go ahead with your donation and order! :)

*** anglsamngulb (at) hotmail (dot) com - with no spaces

Number 49: Multi colored Black Beads with silver spacers and ribbon...


Number 50: Flat turquoise beads with silver spacers and ribbon...


*SOLD* Number 51: Bronze glass pearls with tiny black spacers and black ribbon...


Number 52: Brown beads with tiny black spacers and black ribbon...

Recycle Some Love

This Valentine's Day, how about a unique gift for those loved ones in your life.

And instead of RED or PINK, let's GO GREEN!

Let's Recycle a little LOVE this year and spread it around!

The Andrews', who have themselves adopted but are not currently in process,

have come up with a wonderful new t-shirt idea for both kids and adults.

(Which is pretty hard in the adoption shirt world!) :)

Front of Shirts:

Back of shirts:

"Life's most urgent question is this:

What are you doing for others?"

~MLK

I LOVE these shirts!

I love the front design, but even more I think, I LOVE the quote on the back!

Here's what the Andrews' say about their shirts...

"for Valentine's Day, we are "Recycling Love" for adoptive families...

Forget red and pink hearts for Valentine's Day,

go GREEN and show your support for families adopting."

What a great way to give back, pay it forward,

and show those around you what someone can do for orphans.

Not only are they selling these shirts,

but they are offering profits of these shirts to families in the process of adopting themselves! $10 of EACH shirt sold will go directly to the adoption fund of the designated family.

And to help us in our process, just mark "Lisa" in the Pay*pal memo line of your purchase!

PLUS the family to raise the most from NOW until just after Valentine's Day,

February 18, will also be given an ADDITIONAL $500 toward their adoption!

I can't tell you how very much that would mean for us right now!

We have ONE MONTH!

Get the word out and help us raise this money!

And get a GREAT shirt in the process, what a win-win!

TO ORDER:

Click the link below, or the link on the left sidebar of the blog...

The t-shirt links are on the right of Africa Bound Andrews. :)

Remember to mark "Lisa" in the Pay*pal memo line!

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On My Mind

Martin Luther King Day came fast for me this year somehow. OK, so I guess I've had a few things on my mind the past week or so, but still... :)

Olivia and I had a "girl's day" on Monday. Nothing real special, just some shopping, spending time together, lunch, hanging out, etc. But it was special to be together. To enjoy the same things. To have my 9 1/2 year old (can it be true?) point out things she thinks are "cute", get excited over how our basement "makeover" of sorts is coming along, and just to be the older kid hanging with mom for the day.

The irony of a white mom and beautiful dark-skinned daughter being together on this day didn't go unnoticed by me. What a wonderful way to acknowledge how far our country has come, thanks in part to this man we were "celebrating" on that day. The kids and I had the opportunity two summers ago to go to the MLK Jr. National Historic Site in Georgia. Such an amazing experience!

I love that my three kids, siblings yet biologically so different, can come together as a family regardless of the color of their skin.

That isn't to say these things go unnoticed, for certainly, especially as my olders get older, there are questions, occasional worries, wishes to "look like mom," etc. But they are still happy. They are still reaffirmed that both mom and God love them AS THEY ARE.

One of Braeden's "games" is to ask me if I "would love him if..." he was blue or a penguin or... and the list can go on and on. It's cute and he grins through it all, but underneath there is something to his asking. There is somewhere inside that feeling of not belonging, of being different, and he wrestles with that.

I thank all those pioneers. All those who fought the good fight to break down walls of color. Not to disregard the reality of the beautiful colors God created, but to kill the ideas that just because we may be another color somehow makes a person "less than".

Martin Luther King Jr was a wonderful man. I love reading his quotes and hearing new ones I hadn't heard before. He had many profound things to say. And I love that my children are able to follow in the footsteps of so many who have gone before.

Hard to say who they themselves may become some day... but with their resilience and determination... the sky's the limit!

"Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.