Drumroll please...

Wow that was so much fun!!
John and I spent the evening plugging in all of your names on


it was so exciting!!

I feel like I cannot say thank you enough to all of you that donated.

No really.
Thank you sounds.....well,
lame
and incredibly insufficient.

I can't tell you the number of times that I have woken up in the morning,
logged on to my email with a steaming cuppa coffee in my hand
and then proceeded to burst into tears with overflowing thankfulness as donation after donation came in.
Oh how I wish that we had prizes to give to everyone!!!

We are all called commanded to care for the orphan. And though you may not all adopt, you have cared for them, just like He commanded us to.

Ok, less I start crying again.....here are the randomly generated winners!

1. Angie G.
2  Kim Bry.
3. Alisa S.
4. Christina W.
5. Lisa S.
6. Erin R.
7. Phil R.
8. Erica M.
9. Kim Bro.
10. Erin G.
11. Jill Spi.
12. Mandy C.
13. William M.
14. Michelle D.
15. Megan Kae.
16. Kelli S.
17. Kelly R.
18. Kim Ban.

I will start by emailing winner #1 who will then select their prize, and then I will contact winner #2 and so on. So it may take me a day or two to hear back from them one by one as they select their prize but hang on! If your name is on the list you will be getting an email from me soon!

I-800 Update & Last Day of the Raffle!!

Well, still no news on where our I-800 is.

Today is Day 18 since it arrived at the lockbox and we still haven't heard anything....
...and they still haven't cashed our second child fee check.
which makes me a little nervous.
But!
But our agency is all over it making some calls and such on our behalf and we are hoping it will be found sometime next week.
So I'll just wait here.
Reminding myself that God is not one second late,
nor one second early.
We will meet those boys at exactly the moment He has planned it.
Ahhhh, love that.

TODAY is the last day of the raffle!! Winners will be drawn tonight at 8pm and I will post the winners tomorrow!!
We are unbelievably only $605 away from fully funding one of their $5,100 orphanage fees!
Only $605 away!!
Amazing!
It has been incredible to watch friends and strangers alike donate $10 here, $50 there, $100 here.

It
all
has
added
up
to an amazing $4,495!

Did you know that with all of your donations you are not only helping two little boys come home to their family, you are getting a chance at some prizes, but you are also providing for those left behind(which is what the orphanage donation is used for)? How great is that?!

Thank you SO, so much and if you'd like to get in on the fun and be entered to win some pretty suh-weet prizes there is still time...8pm tonight!

Thank you for being His hands and feet!

The Lockbox

is something that I just don't understand.
I'm sure it has it purposes..
..but that doesn't make this wait any easier.

Our I-800 packet has not even arrived to our adjudicator yet.
Yeah.
Not gonna lie...
a little bummed about that.

I have heard no.thing. from anyone yet.
No receipt,
no text,
no email,
our fat check for the second child fee not cashed,
nothing.

Is that normal? 

All I do know is that tracking it via Fed Ex it did arrive.
And was signed for.
And where our packet went after that?
No idea.

How it takes over 16 days(and counting) to get from Texas to Missouri is somethin I
do
not
understand.

At this point my prayer is that it has not been lost.
Oh sweet Jesus
please do not let it be lost!

Your bummed blogging friend,
Sonia

2 Days until the Big Giveaway!

Only 2 days until the giveaway ends! 

We are incredibly thankful to everyone that has donated, you will forever be a part of their story!

If you'd like to donate and be entered into the raffle there is still time! Click on the picture on the sidebar for all of the details on how you can help be a part of their journey home!

To God be the Glory!

Camping!

I heart camping.
I heart that my brain seems to completely decompress at the mere sight of a campground.


Ahhhh....do you hear that?
Yeah.
Me neither. Glorious isn't it?

I heart that my kids seem to bond even closer inside of a campground.
I heart the $12/night price tag associated with camping.
I do not
however
heart it when I forget my coffee creamer.
Boo.

We had such a great weekend!
Friends
Food
Food
Friends
Friends
Fire
Friends
and
Friends who did not forget their coffee creamer and shared with me!
Holla!

We have hit the friendship jackpot of late in that there are some incredibly great families that we are currently stationed with that all have teenage boys. This is big for us as it seems as though we are typically surrounded by preschoolers. And as cute as they are, it really doesn't do much for our older kiddos. So this has been incredible for them!

So when the invite came we packed up and headed out!


We They set up camp.


Justin decided it would be great fun to submerge himself in mud.



and then lie down in the mud...


and then convince his twin brother that this mud thing was pretty cool and he should come check it out...



which he did.



They played football.


A lot


of football.

This one canoed and canoed and canoed and went tubing and canoed and went tubing.


and he gave his little brothers a spin around the lake.



This one relaxed on the sand.....I fought the urge to just lie down and join him...but then it occured to me that I would then have to add myself to the list of people that needed major cleaning.(reference earlier mud incident)

So I passed.
And now I'm sorry I did.
I've been trying to purposefully participate in those little moments lately...and I missed this one.
Boo.

So now we are home.
The laundry is calling my name...but I am ignoring it.
Instead I am going to try and convince any one of these now tired/cranky/sleep deprived boys to join me for a bike ride.
I'd say my odds are 50/50.
I'll keep you posted.

It's still there.

See that?


No,
not the teenagers shoes that don't belong there.
No,
not the socks that a certain twin who enjoys being barefoot leaves everywhere.
But those...


those flight suits.

They have been sitting by the front door for my lovely husband to take to work for a  long,
long,
long,
time.

My friend Tara, a fellow AF wife, makes these off-the-hook cute bags that are made out of old flight suits.


Cuz she's crazy talented like that.



She and I just met this year as our hubs are in the same program together and she graciously offered to make a bag and then sell it and give us the proceeds from that sale.
Yeah, did I mention how sweet she is?
(She also made two others to send to an auction benefiting the Susan G. Komen foundation....further proof of her awesomeness.)
Who knew that God would use a new friend and some old flight suits to be a part of our adoption journey?
Love that!
I have drooled over these bags as I have run into other AF wives that have them over the years but sadly my flight suit bag total stands at 0.
Boo.

Anyhoo, that brings us to this overflowing bag of flight suits.
That sit.
by.
the.
door.
For well over a  month now.

That were supposed to be dropped off to her husband to give to her as she continues to be a blessing to others down the road but sadly have not and have instead "decorated" the front entry way of our home. 

It's a good thing he's cute.


Otherwise that pile might just annoy me every time I walk by it bother me ever so slightly.
And Tara, I can't thank you enough! You are such a blessing!

Their visa photos

A lot of this adoption process can be a bit........well...
boring.

Answering questions on government forms like,
Are you "An alien who seeks to enter the United States to engage in espionage*, sabotage, export control violations, terr**orist activities, the overthrow of the United States government* or other unlawful activity, who is a member or affiliated with the Communis*t or other totalitarian party; who participated, engaged, or ordered genoc*de, tortu*re, extrajudicial killings, or who is a member or representative of a terros*ist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State."

Please check yes or no.
Yeah. Good times.

And then their are the really fun moments like when you have to take one of their photos and get them printed on photo paper measuring 2X2 for their visa applications.


Let's just all stop and have a collective, "Awwww so cute!" moment shall we?


Awwww, so cute!
Cost for this specific step of the process?
57cents.
Thank you Costco.

It's the little things

that make me so, SO excited to get these boys home!
Well, it's a ton of little things and a few big things but today we had one of those little moments.

Jason, Jordan, Justin & Jack all had 8am dentist appointments this morning.
4 kids,
1 cavity.

As I was checking out she made their next appointment for 6 months from now....
which is April....
...and unless we have some serious issues come up between now and then, I will need a couple more appointments that day!

These two

will be joining the other four on that day in April.
That's six cleaning/check-up appointments please.
Jason, Jordan, Justin, Jack, Jacob & Joseph.
Thankyouverymuch.
I think I'll have the waiting room that morning all to myself. ;)

They will have been home with us at that point around 4 months, which I think will be good to let them get settled before we introduce things like the dental chair. Jacob will also have his first orthodontic consult that week. Though we won't be using the orthodontist here that works with Jason because we will be moving wherever the Air Force sends us this summer, it will be nice to get an idea of what to expect. We know his sweet little mouth is a bit of a mess, quite common among cleft affected kiddos, so we'll just see what he says and tackle that when we get to our next assignment.

I think I shoulda married a dentist. ;)

He has my heart....

.....but not my study skills.
Thankfully, this child takes after his daddy.
Reading, reading, studying, memorizing, reading some more, and flashcards.
Yes.
Flashcards.
So as I was at Bible study last night after their baseball game these two put their heads together to review one last time for the big 3rd grade social studies test.
And as part of that studying...
they made flashcards.
And this is what I found when I went in to peek on the twins when I came home.



Oh how I love that boy
and his daddy with his flashcards.

I'm throwing in the towel.

I can't get Joey's video to embed in here sooooo I'm giving up and I'm gonna have to make you work for it.

Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC35Kx0MCnY

you will need to sign in with your YouTube or Google acct in order to view it.
But lemme just tell ya now....
..it's so worth it.

Feel free to then come back and tell me how cute he is.
I can take it. ;)

He continues to amaze me!

I love God.
I love everything about Him.
How He loves, how He works, how He forgives, how He provides.

.....and how He showed up and showed out at our yard sale.

Last week following our LSC's we had to submit with our I-800 form $670 for the "additional child non-related sibling fee".
Then very quickly we will need to submit $1,128 ($564 x 2) for their visa's.
$1,798 in a very short amount of time.

Our yard sale total yesterday?
.....any guesses?...
.....are ya ready?..

$1,754.

Yeah.
I
love
to
watch
HIM
work.

In no way when we made the decision to step out in faith and follow His commands to care for the orphan did we have this enormous pile of  money sitting in the corner getting dusty. And as nice as that would have been if that were true, it's been even more amazing to watch HIM provide through every step.
We didn't have it.
But HE does.
And how He has used so many friends and strangers alike to accomplish His purpose has been
in
cre
di
ble
to watch.

We have some amazing friends that sacrificed so much time and effort that made our yard sale a huge success! They showed up by the truckloads with donations, they stood in my driveway for hours sorting and sorting and sorting and
well,
sorting.
And then some of them even had the nerve to rouse themselves out of a perfectly warm and comfy bed at 6am and join me in working the yard sale.
We are incredibly grateful to all of you that donated, helped, emailed or even Facebooked your words of support. We have the best friends and we can't thank you all enough. Thank you for being His hands and feet!

Soli De Gloria!
to God be the glory

14 Days!

14 days left to get in on the raffle! There are some pretty cool prizes going on around here

Mary Kay
Scentsy
Wild Olive
Wheat & Wildflowers
147 Million Orphans tee
and the list goes on!

Check it out here! And thank you to everyone that has donated! We are incredibly blessed! We are still short of needed funds but we are holding a big yard sale tomorrow! Please pray that it will be successful!

And standby for Joey in motion! I'm trying to get his video uploaded as well...it is cuteness overload I'm tellin ya!

I'm off to the garage....my second home the last few days...sort, price, sort, price, sort, go potty, price, sort....