The Past Few Days

Just a few more AWESOME summer days to put in the books!

Monday, after hitting up some Kenpo X with the girls, we headed to Rogers. We picked up Audrey and hung out at Mimi and Pap-pa's for a while before we left for the Drillers v. Naturals game. The kiddos went to the game with Mimi & Pap-pa and the rest of us headed to Marketplace Grill for a pre-game meal.

Jonathan & Stephanie

Me & Jo

Hadley & Kristin headed to the blow up games.

Hadley was a little scared of this guy at first but once she saw Audrey in there jumping she figured it was ok.

Then it was time for the slide.

She loved this so much I actually had to go up and get her off because once she came down she started crawling back up again. =/

Then we headed over to the play area.

and the mister

Kristin and Mike enjoying the game.

Grandma & Pap-pap

Andrew and I headed home early with the girls and they pretty much passed out shortly after getting in their pjs.

Tuesday, we had Audrey so the girls spent most of the day playing dress up. We met Jolene and Ryan for lunch at Mad Pizza and then met up again for dinner before heading to Uncle Willie's softball game. After the game we picked up Jake and headed home and boy was that an adventure.

*LONG STORY ALERT*

So, I decided to give Andrew a break from the whole driving thing since he drove to Rogers. Shortly after getting on 244 heading to Tulsa we start seeing lightning and LOTS of it. Many may take the time to enjoy this, as Andrew did, me and my neurotic personality went into freak out mode. With every strike I was skimming the sky for funnel clouds as I would hear Andrew say, "WOW, that was AWESOME. Did you see that one?" I then spent the next 30 minutes asking Andrew questions like:

* What would happen if our car was struck by lightening?

*If our car was struck by lightening, would insurance cover any damages.

* Would the tires on the car save us from being hurt if we were struck by lightening?

*Would you check the weather warnings for (whatever city we were in)? -this was about every 5 minutes

* And so on, you get the idea.

Of course we're, I mean I, the person who hates driving in the rain more than anything else in the world, am driving right into this storm. The wind picks up as does the rain and hail, yes...HAIL. I am freaking out and can no longer see 2 feet in front of my car going 20 miles an hour. I started praying harder than I probably ever have before and then I saw lights for a gas station. We made it but I really think that took about 10 years off my life. Just so you get a glimpse of this storm here's a picture of the signs that had come off the awning. There were also paper towels everywhere as they were blown off the posts and tree branches on the roads. Needless to say when we got back on the road Andrew was driving.

This morning after our workout Lori hosted a playgroup with all our church friends.

Tonight was church and our Cherry Berry date.

Awww... life is good!

Thanks for checkin' in!!

A Letter from Jo

This was the e-mail Jolene sent out this morning about the situation:

Friends and family,

Ryan and I received some very difficult news about
the status of our adoption yesterday. Unfortunately, this news not only
affects us, but a host of other families currently in the process of adopting
from Rwanda.

We've been informed that the Rwandan government will be sending a letter to
us and other applicants basically stating that they do not currently have any
children available for adoption, and furthermore, if there are still no children
available for adoption in 6 months, our applications will be terminated.
This letter is particularly hurtful because it is so blatantly untrue.
There are thousands of true orphans in Rwanda and over-crowded orhanages trying
to serve them. I'm sorry that at this time I don't have any more
information than this, and no indications as to the motivation behind this
letter. Our agency and others are working diligently with their native
contacts to offer assistance to the Rwandan government in identifying children
and to get to the bottom of this unexpected news in a way that is culturally
appropriate. For this reason, they've asked us not to contact the
government directly, as negative pressure or misunderstanding might force them
to respond in a negative way, jeopardizing adoptions already in progress.
We respect this request, and would ask you to do the same.

What we do need from you, very desparately, are your prayers. We know
that it is the will of the God called Father of the Fatherless that all of His
children have homes. He is willing and ready to make this right.
Please ask Him. Ask Him to protect these little children in need who have
always been waiting; ask Him to comfort the families that received this news
yesterday, some who have been waiting longer than us; ask Him to strengthen our
case workers who live to place these children in homes and yet had to deliver
this terrible statement to waiting families and might be questioning their own
resoluteness; ask Him to soften the hearts of those officials in Rwanda who have
the grave responsibility of deciding the living situation that is in the best
interest of these children; ask Him to calm the fears of other families who are
considering adoption and might be tempted to give up before they've even begun
when they hear stories like this.

As for Ryan and I, we are heartbroken, but not hopeless. We are
shaken, but resolute. We have seen the power of God work to move even more
impossible adoptions to fruition, and I know He will do the same for these
families and these children.

Thank you, Jolene

A Can of Worms

I have a few prayer requests on my heart that I would really like to share with y'all. I'm sorry for being a bit of a Debby Downer, but they all need your prayers.

#1- My Mom

So a few weeks ago my mom was having some weird symptoms: dizziness, bad headaches in the back of her head, and limb weakness. She went to the doctor and they ran some tests (MRI & carotid ultrasound) the ultrasound came back fine, but the MRI found a few small lesions on her brain and they said she had had a mini stroke. They sent her to a neurologist this last Wednesday for him to confirm the findings and he agreed. He doesn't believe her symptoms will be permanent, but has put her on aspirin and scheduled a CAT scan to get a better look for this upcoming week. She also has a balance test scheduled for Monday to see if that will be a long lasting symptom.

My mom also had a history of cancer and went to her regular oncologist this past Thursday and her vitamin D counts are down which isn't really too horrible but he asked if she was having any issues and she mentioned her left shoulder hurting. He went ahead and did an X-Ray on both shoulders that day. Her right shoulder looks good he said, but her left looks as though "something has been gnawing on it." SO... she also has on MRI for her shoulder as well as a PET scan to check for any cancer next week. He seems hopeful that's its really nothing to worry about, because her blood counts are normal, but still keep her in your prayers.

#2 My Pap-pap

He went to his dermatologist a while back when they noticed a spot under his eye, they did a biopsy and found it is cancerous so he will be undergoing surgery pretty soon to have that removed.

#3 My Sister and BIL

Most of you know my sister and her husband have been trying to adopt from Rwanda for the last 2 years. This winter their paperwork FINALLY made it to Rwanda and was on its way to approval. They were #105 and the last e-mail they received said that I think #92 had received their approval and was moving another step closer. Well today they got a phone call from their agency telling them Rwanda notified them that they were "out of babies!" The agency told them this was a lie and they had been to the orphanage recently and seen the babies and they were going to do their best to fight it. Unfortunately if Rwanda does not have anymore babies for them to adopt in the next 6 months their names will be removed from the list, as well as everyone elses. I cannot imagine what they are going through especially with all the time they have put into this adoption. PLEASE pray for them!

Weekend Update & then some...

Well, for those of you who were wondering my computer was being a bit of a dud and that is why I didn't have a T.G.I.F. Favorites this last Friday. For those of you who weren't wondering I told you anyway, ha. =)

So, this post is starting a bit before the weekend mainly because of the above statement, "My computer was being a bit of a dud."

THURSDAY

We met some friends of ours and put a little more mileage on our Zoo passes.

Our zoo friends.

This is a usual stop point upon entering the zoo. I mean how could a kid who LOVES water walk past a massive marble/granite/some kinda rock ball spinning on water.

Our male elephant, Floppy.

The guys decided to climb the rock wall. Yes it is intended for climbing, but I think when they built it they were picturing older children not adults, but who am I to say. =)

Ross won.

Andrew made it!!!

Taking a cruise through the Rainforest.

*Monkeying Around*

(I think my head was technically supposed to be turned sideways.)

You know we can never pass up a carousel.

Hadley wanted to ride Bambi.

Time for the train:

This has become our traditional wrapping up the zoo thing.

Such a fun little girl!

YAY, its here!

The flower really brings out his eyes, don't you think?

After the zoo we got Hadley a floating thing that she can actually swim by herself with. We got her a vest, but she own't wear it. A friend of our let us use their "Puddle Jumper" and Hadley loved it, so..... you know the rest.

Thursday night was one of my FAVORITE things.... Girls Bible Study night! This was sweet Holly's (bottom row, second from the right) last Bible study before they move. =(

FRIDAY

My workout buddy's husband has fridays off. We didn't get all 3 workouts done before Friday, so we did it then. I brought Andrew and Hadley and they hung out with her husband and kiddos while we did Leg & Back (+ Ab Ripper X). I would have much rather been outside playing with the kiddos.

When we got home Andrew's grill cover had come in!!

The usual outdoor play. This child pretty much lives outside and I love it!

Friday night we grilled some amazing chicken and vegetables that I'll probably be posting on the food blog pretty soon. Then we put Hadley to bed and I rocked Andrew's world in some Disney Trivia!

SATURDAY

Was a very busy day. I headed up to the school that morning to help with the SAA presentation at Admitted Students Day and then headed over to our SAA meeting for the afternoon. After the meeting I made my way home and had a few hours to relax.

Then, we headed over to some friends from church for a cookout and playtime for the kids. They introduced us to a really fun game, Compatibility.

SUNDAY

Today was nice. We actually got up early and went to early service! Then headed to class and went out to lunch with our sweet friends Jeremy & Holly for their last Sunday. =( We're going to miss you guys!!!

My sweet girl flippin' through her Bible before church.

Thanks for checkin' in!!

P90X Workout Update...

Okay so today was only our 4th workout but I'm thinking it will help me to stay motivated if I post about it and think other people are reading it. =) So.....

Day 1- Core Synergistics: this pretty much works every muscle you can imagine, but luckily its under 50 minutes.

Day 2- Cardio X: This is an hour long cardio workout, but not anything too crazy hard.

Day 3- Shoulders & Arms (+ Ab ripper X): This workout was an hour. The whole time I was thinking the ab ripper was included in the hour time but.... NO it was tacked on to the end, BOO!! The ab ripper is really one of the hardest ab workouts I have ever done.

Day 4- Yoga X: You may be thinking, "Oh... yoga, that'll be a good break." Umm you would be incorrect. Yoga X is one of the hardest workouts I've ever done. 1- Its an hour and 40 minutes, 2- You literally tie yourself in a knot, 3- Your muscles are dead like 30 minutes into the workout, and 4- Your (well at least my) hips felt like they were going to pop out of the joint. Not to mention I thought going for a jog before the workout would be a great idea, wrong again.

This pose was difficult but tolerable.

Like I said with the knots! =/

But again surprisingly doable.

Then, they bring out this bad boy, the crane. Yeah I tried it and then spent the rest of the time in childs pose, ha.

All I can say is I'm glad they didn't bring either one of these out.

Where do you even begin to get yourself into these positions is what I ask myself. That and why you would want to.

Maybe by day 30 I'll at least be able to do the crane.

Thanks for checkin' in!!

Winning, Losing and Swimming

So after we got Hadley to bed Sunday night Andrew and I had a Monopoly challenge and I won!!! I was so pumped I just had to take pictures. =) Andrew was gloating before the game about how bad he was going to beat me and *BAM* jokes on him, ha. I pretty much put him away with those hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.

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Monday was a very full day. Hadley and I met with the girls for our P90X workout. Then we picked up daddy. He dropped me off to grocery shop while he took my car in to get what he thought would be a new tire. (Since we've been back from Joplin we've found 2 nails in our tires. No new tires needed, just patches.) After that it was home for some cleaning. I had some me time while I got my nails done and then we grilled for dinner.

While Andrew grilled Hadley and I just hung out.

I checked out my vegetables. I HAVE TOMATOES!!!

Hadley found a stick to hang out with.

DINNER:

Grilled pork chops, grilled veggies, and 12 grain toast

After dinner and putting Hadley to sleep Andrew challenged me to another Monopoly game. This one unfortunately ended with a different outcome, I lost. But he hasn't seen the last of me, mwah hahaha. ;-)

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Today was beautiful and we indulged ourselves by going swimming with some of our friends in their neighborhood pool. (Which by the way is the BEST neighborhood pool I've ever been to.)

Love the bottom picture. Andrew told Hadley to turn around so he could get her back and that's what she did, ha.

Beach style entrance, whale tale that shoots out water and a bucket that fills up and dumps out on top of you, too much fun.

Snack break.

Despite her face in the bottom picture she was actually having fun.

*The aftermath*

Poor Andrew really did put on 100 SPF, but it was windy so he only has a few spots where it got on his skin, oops my bad. =/

After swimming we ran some errands and came home to prepare for the cookout we were having with the Owens at our house. It was pretty much the same meal we had for Memorial Day, but we added some steamed broccoli & carrots.

After dinner we played a little Mario Party while snacking on some chocolate chip cookies, yum! This summer has really gotten off to a GREAT start!

Thanks for checkin' in!!