Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Spittles!

There was an article on our friends, the Spittles, in the paper this morning. It somewhat shares the story of their family and their pending adoptions. Hope you enjoy it!

The yard sale was a huge success! Scot and Kristin have decided to have a 1/2 price and bag sale next Friday to try to get rid of some of the stuff that's left. We sold A LOT of stuff over the last two days, and even though we don't have the official count yet - we know they made over $2000! YEAH!

Kristin promised she would post the final total on her blog.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Please Pray!!!

Our good friends, Scot and Kristin, are in the process of adopting two children from Ghana. They are anxiously awaiting the final referral and hope to have it in the next couple of days. This will be the news where they find out the names of the children they are going to bring home to be part of their family.

I'm asking you all to pray for them over the next week, especially. Starting tomorrow, there will be a fundraiser yard sale at our church. I heard that another couple of friends of ours are praying specifically that the sale raises $3,000 for them. Would you pray that too?

Next Sunday, August 3rd, they will be doing a special adoption service at our church. The Lord has really made Himself known to them through this adoption. It's neat to see their faith grow and how their walk with Him has changed. He has led them every step of the way, even though this was not something even on their radar last summer. I love watching other people have the faith to step out even though they don't really know what's going on. Having lived through it, you gain a whole new perspective on what other people are going through and can (hopefully) be a new kind of encouragement to them!

Scot and Kristin are some really great friends. She made the extra effort last year after having a baby to come to Adrian when Britney was gone for a fun weekend and get to know me a little. She was part of the Bible study I joined right after we moved. Scot is part of a group of guys that Britney has gotten to know and they meet for lunch every week.

Their family is amazing. And I am so thankful that we have been able to make friends like these. I'll keep you posted on how the sale goes. Thanks for praying with us!!

Oh yeah! Be sure to check out her blog - They're Ghana Come Home!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (Part 2)

I know I'm a little late in getting this posted, and it probably won't be as detailed as part I, but better late than never :)

After a mini-vacation in St. Louis, we stayed the next week at Britney's parents'. it was a laid back, relaxing time and we spent time at the pool and playing and visiting with family.

At the end of the week, we left for south Georgia for a family reunion on my dad's side. My grandmother had only seen Carter once before and there were family members who had never met him. it had been way too long sine we had seen those family members! Aside from the heat and humidity (and gnats), it was a really nice visit.

We left from there to head down to Disney World!! We had a wonderful 3 days there with the kids, riding rides, waiting in line, eating, waiting in line, watching shows, waiting in line...You get the picture. Ashlyn rode the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios and both kids were more adventurous than I thought they would be. Ashlyn's favorite ride was the Kali River Rapids, which thanks to a generous person who gave us their fastpasses, she got to ride twice! I was smart and stayed off the ride the second time with Carter while Ashlyn rode with Britney and her uncle Mark. They got SOAKED! But she loved it and had a great time. Click here and here for pics at some different parks.

After the kids left, Britney and I got to stay a couple of extra days with some of my sisters. We had a great time with Melinda, Chad and Rebekah, who we never get to see or really spend much time with since we're always together at mom's with so many other people. It was nice to spend time with such great teenagers and a fun sister :)

We spent a couple of days back at my parents' before heading back home. It was a long trip, but a great trip. I think the one thing we were all looking forward to about coming home was sleeping in our own beds with our own pillows. But we are looking forward to going back at Christmas for a few days!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Strawberries!

The kids and I went strawberry picking with Britney's grandparents this morning. We went last year too, but only filled up two gallon-sized buckets, which totaled about 10 pounds. When I got home, I realized a good many of them were green because Carter picked anything that would come off of the stem. In reality, our 10 pounds were probably closer to 8 or 9 that we could actually eat, and they only lasted a few weeks.

So, this year we started out with conversations about what kind of strawberries Carter should pick - RED! I also gave each kid their own buckets, and I had 2 flat boxes that Britney's grandpa had given me. I was determined we were going to have a good time and I wasn't going to nag the kids too much about picking just the right berries. It was about the EXPERIENCE for them :)

The kids did great! Carter picked about 1/2 gallon bucket full and Ashlyn's was about 3/4 of the way full. Not too bad for kids picking on the hottest day of the year so far (a cool 88!). I was so proud of them!

I couldn't believe when I got to the check out and our berries weighed in at a whopping 30 pounds!!! So, I spent the afternoon washing, drying and hulling all those strawberries. It took me over 2 hours, but the strawberry shakes, pies, cakes, etc., will be oh so worth it!!!