It's been so long since I've blogged, I almost forgot my password!!! How terrible is that?

:)

This is going to be short, sorry, but I wanted to post some pictures of my parent's new home.

We helped move them a couple of weeks ago and it's SO GREAT!!! I love knowing that they are in a warm and cozy home! We can't wait to go see them soon!

Here are the pics!!!

(sorry Tricia that it took me so long!)

(Just remember that we were in the process of moving them when these pics were taken)

Obviously, the kitchen. Mom's excited about having more cupboards. :)

As you walk from the kitchen into the HUGE living room....

The other side of the living room....

LONG hallway....check out the great carpet!

Bedroom #1, Mom said this is HER room.

:)

If you can't tell, this is Dad's room and the 2nd bedroom.

Huge bathroom, with a shower and bath.


Such pretty woodwork!!!

That's it for now.. I look forward to all the other great pics I get to take of all the fun we'll have at Mom and Dad's new home!!! :)

Iowa Family Picnic!!!

WHAT a beautiful day! We all go together again for a family picnic in the park and had a great time! The weather was perfect and the park was great! I really don't think the day could have been better. I love getting together with my family and spending time with my nieces and nephews. This year was SO much fun as we had several little ones who have joined our family. I don't get much of a chance to see them and it was amazing to see how much they have grown!
It's getting late, so this has to be a quick post as I want to attach some pictures before we head to bed.
Here you go. :)

(All of the neices, nephews, great neices, and great nephews that were able to make it)


(Pyramid fun)


(Some tired little sandy toes-SO cute!!!)


(Some of my gorgous neices)


(Look at those smiles!)


(and these smiles!)


(and this smile) :)


(No smiles, but they're having a great time, really!)


(Little Miss Chloe!!!)


(and last but not least, the newest member of our family....
BABY JACKSON!!!)


"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories." ~George Eliot

Blessings to you!

Weekends in Iowa...

We are just ending a LONG weekend but I wanted to post some pictures from our fun time in Iowa. It was so great to get to spend some time with my parents just enjoying the warm weather. For the first time really it FELT like summer! We got back to the cities about 5 and then Chris' family came over for hamburgers on the grill and to celebrate Father's day with Sal.

Chris and my Dad went fishing a couple of different times at the lake in my hometown and got these HUGE catfish. They're really as big as they look!

Here are some other fun pictures that show just how pretty Iowa can be.

Have a great week!!!

Adoption Update...

I thought this deserved it's own post and should be separate from the long update post below.
Chris and I spent Thursday evening with Ann, Mike, and Vicky at Children's Home Society at their Openness in Adoption seminar. We were able to bring a couple of people with us and were so happy that the three of them spent their evening with us learning about Open Adoption and what kind of relationship we may someday have with the birth mother of our child. It was so great to hear what they thought of it and to increase our knowledge as well. They had a great panel of two adoptive families, the birthmom of one of the families and her mother. The idea of being able to have an ongoing relationship with the birth mom or even birth family of our child, has become a pretty exciting part of our adoption journey. At first we were a little hesitant about that part and had all kinds of unwarrented fears of what "birthmom's" are. We've since come to the realiztion that it takes an incredible person to create an adoption plan for their child. It's the most selfless loving act that can be done. That birthmom has many choices that would be far less painful for herself than letting someone else raise her child as their own, but she puts her own needs aside and considers the interests of her child first.

When we got home from our Friday class about doing our profile Chris found an e-mail from our social worker with a copy of our homestudy attached for us to review!!!! She has a full 30 days to finish it and she sent it to us within a week of our homestudy. I think we've become Kendra's biggest fans!!!

Our next and final steps before going in the book to officially wait are....
*Review the homestudy and let Kendra (our social worker) know of anything that needs to be updated.
and...
*CREATE OUR PROFILE!!!! This is the part we've been waiting for! When it's done we can submit it to Kendra and we'll go in the book to officially WAIT!!! So much work to just get to the point of waiting, but it's worth it as we dream of the little one who is also waiting to meet us and become a part of our family!

We have no idea how the rest of our story will play out. Some families are in the book for just a few short weeks before they are chosen by a birth mom. Other's have a longer wait. Some are chosen out of the book while others find their child through friends. We even heard of one family who was approached at Sam's Club by the birth mom who chose them to parent her child!

We do know that God is good and He has a plan for us. He loves us and He loves the little one He has meant for our family. (We just can't wait to meet them!) :)

Please feel free to pass on our name and contact information if you hear of someone who is wanting to create an adoption plan for their child. We were told to use our friends and family to network as who knows what God has up His sleeve! I think I'm going to be spending some extra time at Sam's Club!!!! ;)

Have a blessed rest of your weekend!

SO MUCH to blog about!!!

Can you believe that summer is FINALLY here? We've been enjoying it so far and waiting for it to get even warmer! There actually was one day where we had to use our central air!!! I had been thinking for sure that the day of needing central air would never come again!!!

We had our first trip to the cabin. What a blessing it is to have a place to get away, unwind, and enjoy the begining of some warmer weather. We spent the weekend with Vicky and Barb enjoying the pontoon and a little bit of fishing. Not much was caught, but it was great to get out on the water and enjoy the sunshine.

Chris got up early with Tigo and got some GORGEOUS sunrise pictures over the lake.

On the way home we hit a wind storm that made for an interesting ride home. We made it ok, but our white car needed a serious cleaning when we finally got home.

One of my favorite parts of our home is our crab-apple tree in front of our house. It seemed like it was filled out with even more blooms this year. There is another tree behind our house that is just one shade lighter pink that is just as pretty, but we didn't happen to get any pics of it this year. I was so glad that my brother Chuck's family was able to see it last weekend just before the storm. While they were here there were some pretty heavy winds that blew almost every blossom off and onto our car and driveway. I'm SO glad I got some pictures before that happened.

Last Saturday we drove the cabin just for the day as Chris' Grandma and Dale were there for a visit. It was great to spend some time with them. Grandma was a little sad as it was too windy for most of the morning to get out on the boat, but we managed a ride later in the day. We did a little fishing, but didn't catch anything. We left late Saturday night, but everyone else went out on Sunday and caught enough fish for Grandma to enjoy a fish fry. She's come to enjoy that as part of her cabin experience! Tigo was able to spend some time with Grandma and Dale to. He loves them both a lot and made it very evident with lots of kisses and tail wags. :)

Mexico in Iowa!!!

We had a great trip home to Iowa a couple of weeks ago! It was great to see everyone and it was also great fun to see that there have been some changes to my hometown! One of which is that there is a new MEXICAN restaraunt!!! It was fabulous! It was my sister-in-law Liz's birthday and so we went out to dinner there and then went to the casino for a little fun in the money booth! She got about $21 that she was able to gamble in the casino. No one won big, but we had a great time!

Happy Birthday Liz!!!!






We also visited the bakery that my brother Chuck and his wife Kim have opened. I'll take some pictures the next time I'm home. He has the most amazing product and the bakery has been very well received. It's a great story actually. When Chuck was in high school he worked at the bakery that was then owned by Charlie McNally. He worked for Charlie for quite awhile until he ventured out on his own to open a bakery in Algona. Life has brought him and his family full circle to buying and running the bakery in Emmetsburg again. He kept the nostalgic name of McNally's Bake Shop which I'm sure has made Charlie McNally proud. I know my parents are!

His oldest son Christopher bought this racecar and plans to race in the hobby stock division at the Algona races. He's pretty excited and it was fun to see the car that he had just gotten the day we were home. I hope he does well and that also he's safe as he fixes up the car and races for the first time!!! GO 5C!!!!