Top 5 things...

I was on my friend's blog today and she had a list of ten things she was doing to pass the time before picking up her son. It made me laugh and then think of what I was doing. So Kelly, I'm going to copy you, but my list is a little different...

Top 5 things I SHOULD be doing while I wait to pick up Ethan:

1. Planning for the big trip to Vietnam and making list for when we get "the call" and only have two weeks before we leave. This would include figuring out where the last half of the adoption expenses are coming from!

2. Researching the details of our insurance, finding doctors in our network, and other medical preparations

3. Buying the things Ethan will need, like a booster seat. I really don't need much since he'll share everything with Evan including clothes

4. Finishing Ellie's baby album, starting Evan's (yes, I know he's almost 2 already), and planning Ethan's

5. Reading books on adoption

Top 5 things I AM doing while I wait to pick up Ethan:

1. Trying to prevent Evan from beating on his big sister with any stick type item he can find while attempting to keep up with Ellie's 5o "why" questions every 5 minutes

2. Running in circles to keep the house from drowning in a 3 foot mess while I plan dinner in the back of my mind (the planning is about as far as it gets...)

3. Decluttering, reorganizing and redecorating to make life easier when Ethan is here, but actually making a bigger mess in the process.

4. Wondering how I'm going to manage with three kids (2 of whom will be just entering "the twos") while simultaneously planning for the fourth

5. Stressing over the "Top 5 things I SHOULD be doing" list :)

Carpet and Goo Gone

Ok, last post I was a bit depressed...not sure if it came out or not. Anyway, I was feeling overwhelmed with life in general. I think I was just emotional. Today I'm feeling much better! :) Yesterday I decided to rip the carpet out of the boys room. I new there was hardwood under the red indoor out door carpet that was under the brown carpet. I had now idea of the condition though. Well the carpet came out in just a few minutes and revealed a lovely hardwood in good condition! There is a little damage in the middle but a little sanding on the entire floor and a touch up of stain and varnish should make it beautiful! I was very excited. :) Also, we had an Awana meeting today and I'm feeling a little more organized.

I decided it was time to better toddler proof my home today. Ellie was so easy as a baby. We lived in a small house and I always new where she was. Plus she was very well trained not to open cupboards and was never a real explorer. Not Evan. Today we heard him screaming and when we got there he was opening his eye then closing it quickly and screaming. We finally found out he had found the Goo Gone I had left out and sprayed it directly in his eye. We had to hold him over the sink and run water in his eye for 15 minutes. He finally calmed down a bit and would look at us through the running water. Poor kid! I was finally convinced I needed to be more careful and I put all the medicine out of reach and baby proofed the cabinet with my hairspray and stuff (my cleaning products are already locked away). That kid gets into so much trouble...but he's always so cute about it!

What's New...

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have to admit that things have been busy but nothing worthy of a fun blog post! So, what have I been up to? Here you go:

-Redoing Evan and Ethan's room (I'll post pictures when I'm done. Which will be a while). This involves stripping wall paper from the plaster, texturing the walls, painting, making curtains and hopefully replacing carpet. So far I have stripped the wall paper and made curtains. It's going to be a cute jungle theme. I'm hoping to incorporate some of the jungle feel from Vietnam, we'll see. I also bought three cute jungle pictures from Walmart for pretty cheap.

-Preparing for Awana. Wow, didn't know it would be this hard!! For those of you who don't know, our church is starting Awana (a children's Bible memory program) this fall. Village Missions (our mission agency that works with churches in rural America) is flying Tyler and I to Chicago in a week for a pilot program in which Awana is working to get the program into smaller churches. We will have a week of training. I'm trying to line up workers and figure out what type of supplies I'll need to order while in Chicago. The problem is that I need to do the ground work before I really know what is going on.

-We ordered a passport for Ellie. We have finally decided to take her with us to Vietnam.

-Last of all I'm trying to keep up with both my children (who have been very trying these past few days! Ellie is in her room as I type waiting for me to deal with her.) and all the house work. I've also been trying to plan for our big trip to Vietnam with really no clue as to when I need to be ready.

So there are a few things we have been doing. It may not really sound like much but lately the kids alone have been more then I can handle! :) Well, I will try to post when I have something interesting or get any adoption updates.

Pictures

CHI sent us an update! I'm a little concerned about the way Ethan looks. His left eye is beginning to drop a bit. I'm really hoping this isn't caused by the hydrocephalus getting worse. Please pray that we would be able to bring him home soon and that he would stay healthy until we can give him medical attention!

That's my boy!

I put this on Ethan's blog as well, but while we were gone we received pictures of Ethan. Jamie, a friend of ours, just got back from Vietnam with her beautiful little girl. While there she took a few pictures for us. I love the one where he is sucking his thumb! He's going to be just like me. Also, it seems that in the right light his hair looks blond. With Tyler's dark hair we always thought our kids would be dark...nope, both blond. So we said we would have to adopt to get that lovely dark hair...who would have thought our Vietnamese baby would even look blond!

Finally Home

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We just got back from a week long trip.

First we went to Estes Park for a conference with Village Missions (VM). For those who may not know, we are part of Village Missions which supplies pastors to rural churches that can't support themselves. Anyway, we had a great time there. We met lots of other VM families and we both learned a lot. The speakers really focused on how our relationship with God needs to be center. I think this is easy to let slip.

After that we went to my mom's house for a couple of days. My brother came home from the Air Force Academy and I got to meet his girl friend. She is so wonderful and I hope Zach makes her an official part of the family! Unfortunately my dad and youngest sister were gone. Dad's stationed in Kyrgyzstan, and Dayspring was in Guyana on a mission trip. I really missed them.

Finally we went to Tyler's parent's house for a couple of days and had a nice visit there as well.

It was a very long week and we had very little time to rest. While at the conference poor little Evan kept having to go to bed at least an hour or two late, get up an hour early and miss his morning nap. To make it worse, I had to leave him in a nursery twice a day when he's not used to ever being away from me. He often got this tired little stare and when I left him he would just ball. :( We had a great time but we are so glad to be home!

Answer to Prayer

I went onto our adoption agency's waiting child website today and saw two more children had been placed. These were both little boys within a month of Ellie's age who were Hepatitis B+. I had considered taking one of them at one point but didn't think Ellie would deal with it well. I have been praying for these boys for a long time and it made my day to see them placed. Also, in the past few weeks there was a 12 year old boy who was placed (Sorry mom and dad, you lost your chance!) and another 4? year old boy with Heb. B. I realize that most of this won't concern you, but I am so excited. At least one of these kids have been on the waiting list for a year. I think it is wonderful to see the way God brings children and their families together. Many people from our agency have been praying for these kids and it is such a blessing to finally see them off the waiting list and their families on the way!

While I'm on the subject, maybe you could pray for three children on the site right now. One of them is a gorgeous little 2 year old girl with HIV. One of the others is the little girl who was in the pictures with Ethan. I think I'd take her if they would let me have two! :)

Misc. Pictures of Cuteness

I just uploaded some pictures from my camera and thought I'd share a few with you.

Corner time...so cute when naughty!

Wow...I didn't realize how much Ellie had grown

until I came across her old dress shoes! She's only

3 and on her fifth pair.

This is Ellie's new hair cut!

Pool Time

It's been a beautiful day here and the kids have enjoyed their little pool. I didn't want to waste one of the expensive pool diapers on Evan so I sent him out in just a onesie. I figured he might pee out there but I didn't think it would matter. However, I wasn't figuring on a different sort of mess. I'm posting several pictures. The last one is of Evan in the tub with his dirty onesie around his waist and standing on tip toes trying to stay away from the poopy water!

"Ya Ta" (For all you Heroes fans)

Action Shot!

Yuck...I don't want my feet in THAT!