Chopping Wood

After weeks of trouble with everything electronic, we finally have both our camera and our computer working at the same time. Hallelujah! 

We had a great time at our family farm in west Texas last week. The weather was great the first few days, then turned colder and was perfect for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids enjoyed learning how to chop mesquite wood chips for my uncle to take back to use in his smoker. Eldest started out with some instruction from Daddy Don. She kept forgetting to keep the safety glasses on her face, so we ribbed her about them being on top of her head in most of the pictures. 

My nephew got the hang of it really quickly.

Then the little guys helped out. They feel so big when they help Daddy with a job.

If you look at those pictures you'll notice that our kids are NOT wearing the footwear you should be wearing when using a hatchet or an ax. In the past few months they've all outgrown their good work boots. So, the grandparents treated them to a trip to the boot store to get outfitted for another year with sturdy, tough boots. Thanks so much, Gram and Daddy Don!!

Monday Funnies

We've had the pleasure of teaching Bible class to a great group of 3rd and 4th graders for the past few months. They are sweet and eager to learn, and we've enjoyed sharing their excitement while learning right along with them. Now we are taking a break from teaching until we get our Sweet Baby home and settled in. We will miss spending those Sunday mornings with our special students!

To express our love and appreciation for our class, I spent a long Saturday cutting out my special recipe sugar cookies into hearts. Then I lovingly iced and sprinkled each one. They turned out like this:

We printed up notes to remind the kids why we'd drilled them so hard on scripture memory and basic Bible knowledge. I bundled them up carefully, with enough extras for any visitors we might have that Sunday.

 
When the students came into the classroom I had a big, pretty platter of the cookie bundles in the back of the room, ready to pass out at the end of class. The children exclaimed about the pretty tray of treats. Then one burst my bubble.

"Wow! Are these Pop Tarts?"

Sunday Scripture

"And I say unto you,

 Ask, and it shall be given you;

 seek, and ye shall find;

 knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

 For everyone that asketh receiveth;

 and he that seeketh findeth;

 and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Luke 11:9, 10

We're Back!

Whew! I am so relieved that a kind soul was able to fix us up with a computer again. It is pretty tough to be disconnected during this phase of an adoption. There are so many things that come up that need to be researched, checked out, or emailed. So we are very thankful to be back in the loop.

We are praying hard that our sweet girl's case will clear court in Ethiopia soon so that we can travel to get her. 

We got an updated photo last week. She is so, so precious. The picture is at a funny angle so we can't see her whole face, but she looks like she is filling out. Her health report stated she is still very developmentally delayed, but she is not ill. Praise God for protecting her health and helping her grow.

Can't wait until we can share her sweet face with everyone! For now I'm keeping busy learning a bit about black hair care so I can take good care of my little sweetie when she gets home. 

Computer Woes

I think our poor old computer bit the dust. Unless we can coax it back to life, I'll be gone from blogland for a while.
Please keep praying for our sweet Sarah. Hopefully I'll be able to update periodically from my parent's computer.

Thursday Sweetness

Last night our middle son, age six, and his Daddy were watching the video the agency sent of Sarah. We've all watched it umpteen times now, but just can't seem to get enough. 

After a few moments of quietly watching, he looked away from the screen and spoke to Mike.

"Our baby is so pretty. She has awesome skin."

Our Daughter

We are thrilled to announce we've been matched with our waiting child in Ethiopia!!! Our baby girl is 5 months old and she is absolutely precious! We are not allowed to post pictures yet, but believe me, she is a little beauty. We can't seem to get enough of staring at her beautiful eyes and her sweet curls and kissable cheeks. Now if we could just get our hands on her!

She has had a rough start and faces some tough medical challenges, so she needs our prayers. She is very tiny, but she's holding her own. We pray God will protect her health while she waits for us. We are so thankful for her care givers.

Her name is Sarah. What a day of rejoicing at Pecan Bluff!