Making Butter

some whipping cream

a dash of salt

and....

 

 

a lot of shaking

 

we have whipped cream!

 

a little more shaking

 

 

buttermilk and butter

 

Yum!

Fashion Statement

 

 

 

The Christmas Photo....

Those of you with more than one child know how enjoyable it can be to take a family photo with all of the kids looking at the same time.  Let me tell you, the level of fun just increases with each child added. 

 

First things first, everyone's hair is brushed and clothes are on (two years ago a certain little guy had his legs cropped out of the Christmas picture because his pants had gone missing by the time I got a photo with everyone looking at the camera).  Ok, outside means shoes and socks too.  Four sets go on, Graham's come off.  Graham's back on, 2 more on, go to get baby's socks.  Baby's socks on, Graham's are off.  Not only off, but missing.  Well, we have one shoe, but the socks and other shoe are missing.  Find another pair of socks and grab a different pair of shoes.  We are finally all ready to head outside which means of course someone has a dirty diaper!

 

"OK, everyone look at the camera!"

 

"Stop swinging your legs please!  Look at the camera!"

 

"Bennett, sit down please!"

 

"Josie....."

 

 "Almost done Brie."

 

"Mom, my cheeks hurt from smiling too much."

 

"Ben, no growling please!"

 

"Ok, this will be fun.  Ben and Josie just lean a little bit to the side."

 

"Is everyone looking?  Good!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August in pictures

Everything is going absolutely wonderful with Graham home and I will get around to updating someday.  :)

With two birthdays and a new addition to the family August was a busy month for us!  Here is a quick sampling of our lives over the last month:

 

This is what Josie does when asked to smile:

 

 She does not like fire!  She had plenty of help to blow her candle out.

 

Such a handsome little man.

 

 All the boys.

 

Elaina opening gifts with her brothers and sisters.

 

An 8 year old who's birthday wish just came true!

 

Graham had some gifts to open too.

Thank you aunties and uncles for some cool presents!

 

 



 

 

 

 



First time on an airplane

Updating for everyone that is asking how things are going.  :)

It sounds like Brett and Graham are doing great and really enjoying their time together.  They have the suitcase back and I think Brett was really looking forward to some clean clothes (and a razor!). 

Graham had a difficult time on the flight.  He was very scared by the noise when they took off.  Brett managed to distract him a bit with some goldfish crackers during the takeoff.  When they were able to get out of their seats Brett brought him to the back of the plane where Graham spent the next 2 hours crying.  It sounds like the other passengers were very nice about it and were smiling and talking to him.  After that, every time that Brett tried to sit down Graham would start crying again, so they ended up spending the first 4 hours of the flight at the back of the plane.  He finally sat down with Brett and fell asleep about a half hour later.

During the landing Graham got sick.  By the time they got to the hotel he still wasn't interested in eating anything, but he looked happy and like he was feeling better.  Poor thing.  :(  I can't even imagine what is going thru his head with everything he has experienced in the last few days!

I know Brett was already being considered for the father of the year award, but I'm pretty sure he will be taking the prize after this.  He has been so patient thru everything.  

Please pray for their trip home.  They have 3 flights on Saturday.  Pray that Graham won't get sick again and that he will be more calm about flying this time.

An orphan no more!



Gotcha!

Graham was able to leave his baby house with his daddy today to start his new life!

What an exciting trip it has been for Brett!  Once again we handed God a list with our plans on it (for a perfect, uneventful trip) and he simply smiled and tucked it away somewhere and said, "I have a better idea." 

Brett arrived in Graham's city on Monday, but the luggage did not.  Thankfully there was one outfit packed for Graham in the carry on.  He did have an accident in the car while Brett had run into a store to buy pull-ups and shoes, so the  pants have already been washed in the bathroom sink and dried with the hair dryer once.  The suitcase and stroller will *hopefully* be waiting for them in Moscow when they arrive there tomorrow. 

Most important, it sounds like Graham is doing great and they have had a good evening together!

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever..........praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

How to Be The Village

Click HERE to read Jen Hatmaker's response to this email:

Our good friends just returned from Ethiopia last night with their two little boys. Ok, they've had their "airport" moment and we were right there with them. What are some things we can do now to support them in the "real life" journey without overstepping our boundaries? Thank you so much for your transparency and honesty. Everyone can benefit when you share from your heart.

The response is a "Field Guide to Supporting Adoptive Families" with what to do and not to do before and after the airport.

Pretty Princesses

We have been crazy busy lately, but having soooo much fun!

Brett's sister was married this weekend.
The three older girls had the pleasure of being flower girls.  And Ben was the ring bearer.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful!

The girls had a blast being princesses for a day.

 Ben was a little less thrilled, but did what he needed to do.
(During the wedding anyway, pictures are another story...)

..... and the sweetest princess of all, of course....



I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
 I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

Introducing......

Graham James Yerks!



After spending a day and a half flying and finding our way around 4 different airports we arrived at our destination yesterday morning. We had a rather amusing experience getting thru security at one of the airports. As they scanned Brett’s ticket before we went thru security an alarm went off and they hurried him off into a side room and left me waiting there with no explanation. Apparently they had our checked luggage in the room and they wanted to make sure we had not made a bomb out of the Desitin and Tylenol that we had brought along as donations for the baby home. They opened up a couple of the boxes to see what was inside and all was well again. We ARE very glad to know that they are really checking these things and that we are flying safely.

We relaxed yesterday and caught up on some much needed sleep.  This morning we finally got to go visit Graham again.  He has grown a lot, but he is still the same sweet boy he was when we last saw him almost 9 months ago.  He is full of lots of love and even more energy.  He still loves to talk on the phone.  We brought a handheld Yahtzee game with us this time since it makes some fun noises and he loved playing with it.  It is interesting to see the things he has picked up by watching those around him.  Several times he spit on the screen of his Yahtzee “phone,” smeared it around with his hand, and then cleaned it all up by wiping it off with his shirt.  We also discovered that he loves to brush his hair. 

He is a very handsome boy!

This afternoon we visited a WWII memorail and then had our medicals done.  I think there were eight different doctors that checked us out.  It went very quickly and we apparently passed the test. 

Here is a submarine that went down during the war (there is now a museum inside)

A small church that we went into.

We will get to see Graham again tomorrow and then we have our court appearance on Thursday. 

Overheard...

Our three year old son is going to be in his aunt's wedding at the end of the month.  We have been trying to prepare him and explain to him what he is supposed to do.  I'm not quite sure he is understanding though.  This morning he asked us, "Do ring BEARers bite people?"  

We have a date!

We finally got our court date on July 12th.  That is late at night on July 11th for those here in Minnesota.  Lots of packing and last minute things to pull together around here, but we are ready for this little guy to finally be ours!

Slip and Slide

This is what happens when Daddy is left in charge of the kids on a 90 degree day.

He forgot to have one of the kids take a video of him sliding too.  :)

Who else wants to order a hug?

My mom sent us this story from the evening news.  I loved it and had to share.  :)

Time to buy some plane tickets!

We still do not have an exact date for our court hearing yet, (we should find that out in a little over a week), but we do know aproximately when it will be.  That means we know our travel dates and that we are leaving in less than THREE WEEKS to see Graham again!!!!  We will get to visit with Graham a few more times, have our medical exams, go to court, and, God willing, hear the judge say, "DA!"  Then, we will be headed back home to the rest of our kids.

(Including this little munchkin that I have no idea how I am going to tear myself away from for a week!)

The timing for this trip couldn't have worked out better for us.  We have three girls and our little guy that are going to be flower girls and ring bearer in their auntie's wedding two weeks after we get back.  We were starting to wonder if we might have to miss it!  I am so grateful for God's perfect timing in working everything out.  Don't you just love when he gives you those extra blessings?

Then, Brett will be returning in August to bring Graham home!  Yay!  We are all so excited! 

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support so far. 

Waiting for a court date

I have been slacking on keeping everyone updated on what is happening with the adoption!  We have been busy enjoying the beautiful warm weather and continuing to plug away at school.  Brett also surprised me with a weekend to ourselves (plus the baby) for our anniversary last weekend.  We went out to eat (without a kids eat free coupon!) and spent a day garage saling.  Life is quiet when you take 5 kids out of the picture!

As for the adoption, all the paperwork is finished, notarized, apostilled, and has been sent off.  We are now just waiting for a court date.  Please pray for God's will and His perfect timing.  We would love to get a court date at the end of June, but it may end up being in July.  Please pray for peace for our family over the next few very busy months.  Pray for an easy transition for Graham and our entire family when he comes home.  Pray for us to be prepared for court and the judge's questions.

Progress...

Things are moving along finally!  God willing, we will be headed back to see our little guy at the end of June.  Here is what is done and what needs to be done:

1.  Homestudy Update - - DONE, need to notarize and apostille
2.  copy of current poverty guidelines - - DONE, need to notarize and apostille
3.  copy of 1040s from last 3 years - - DONE, need to notarize and apostille
4.  bloodwork, x-rays, and medical forms - - these will hopefully be done tomorrow, once these are done we will get everything notarized and apostilled
5.  visas - - photos are taken, forms are being filled out for Brett's 90 day visa and my 30 day visa

May Update

Our wonderful social worker came out a couple of weeks ago to meet Moriah and update anything that has changed in the last several months.  Everything went great with that and she had our homestudy ready to go in no time!  Now we are on to the rest of the paperwork.  So far this is what we know we need.  We are still waiting to see what else will be added to the list.

Our Paperwork Checklist:
1.  Homestudy Update
2.  Copy of our Homestudy Agency's license
3.  copies of our 1040s from the last 3 years
4.  copy of the current poverty guidelines
5.  medical forms for Brett and I including new bloodwork
6.  possibly, new police clearances

Everything needs to be notarized and apostilled before it is sent over.

Our prayer requests have not changed, but please continue to pray!

Please Pray For:
us to be prepared for the judge's questions
Graham's heart to be prepared to join our family
an easy transition for everyone when he comes home
us to be able to line up childcare for 6 kids for our second trip
a court date to be set as soon as God allows
the judge's heart, to be understanding of our motivations to adopt
peace for Brett and I during this busy, but exciting, season of life
that the second half of our adoption journey goes a bit smoother than the first half!

I Just Love Being A Girl

Someone has been learning

how a mess is made

from the master,

her big brother.

Depraved Indifference

So, what about the adoption?

Now that Moriah is here this seems to be the question we hear every day.  We are anxious to get moving again with the adoption.  The first step is to update our homestudy with the new member of our family.  This means another home visit by our social worker, letting her update everything, and sending it off to USCIS again.  We are expecting that our next visit to see Graham will be for our court date and then we will need to wait 30 days after that before we can go back and bring him home to his family.  We will try to keep everyone up to date on what is happening and hopefully get an idea of a timeline soon.  I am hoping he will be home before his birthday in July, we will see how realistic that is. 

Next Step:
Home visit to update homestudy - Wednesday, April 18th

Please Pray For:
us to be prepared for the judge's questions
Graham's heart to be prepared to join our family
an easy transition for everyone when he comes home
us to be able to line up childcare for 6 kids for our second trip
a court date to be set as soon as God allows
the judge's heart, to be understanding of our motivations to adopt
peace for Brett and I during this busy, but exciting, season of life
that the second half of our adoption journey goes a bit smoother than the first half!

Learning to change a flat tire...

Just another day of homeschooling.