Ultrasound...

Dan and I took all the kids to an ultrasound the other day.  We are very excited to announce that...

It was really nice to give all the kids a chance to see the baby.  My boys are so sweet...they were REALLY hoping for a girl for Lilly.  You'd think, being boys, that they would be hoping for another brother but no...they were so concerned about Lilly not having a sister.  My kids are all thrilled about a baby in general and they would have been happy with a boy or a girl.  But it was incredibly sweet to see her oldest brother literally cheering in the ultrasound room for his sister getting a little sister.  My second oldest son was so quiet I was worried something was wrong.  Nope.  He's my one that gets incredibly quiet when he's taking in something important or special.  I asked him if he had any questions and if he was ok...and he just sweetly answered "I'm just SO happy..."  That's all he could say and the look on his face moved me to tears.  Wow, I really had to hold it together I just wanted to bawl!

And Lilly is so funny...she's been saying all along that she's perfectly happy with a boy...she's definitely excited its a girl, she just has no idea what having a sister is even like...she just knows she loves "her boys" so another boy was just fine with her!  But we're now moving all the rooms around, Matthias has moved from Lilly's room to room with the big boys and Joseph when he comes home and the excitement is setting in as we get Lilly's room ready for the two girls!  

I love my kids...and I'm really excited to be welcoming another little girl into our family at the end of January!

Getting our paperwork apostilled...and some playtime, too

Today was a big day!  We were finally able to take all of our notarized paperwork to Columbia for its official apostille!  It was 1 hr. and 40 min. away and we had to wait about an hour for it to get done, but at least its done! 

The kids and I outside the Secretary of State building in Columbia...with our apostilled paperwork :)
They all knew this paperwork was necessary for getting Joseph home so they were happy to get it done as well.

Since it was a bit of a hike from home we figured we better take the kids to do something fun in the city while we were there.  We ended up at the EdVenture Childrens' Museum.  The kids loved it and played for a few hours before we headed home.

It was a good day...now we're just waiting on one more piece of paper to come in and we can mail everything to our agency...and then our boy's country!  Its so nice to be getting somewhere... :)

It came... :)

Happy...excited...surprised since we were told it wouldn't be here for possibly up to a month...

We received our I800-A Approval!!  We have some loose ends to run around and get done, but it looks like we'll be making a trip to Columbia, SC. very soon to get all our dossier paperwork apostilled!  Things are moving and we're getting closer! 

So glad to be moving along in the process and we can't wait for the time when we can finally get over there and meet our little boy :)

Its not just the To-Do lists that are in hot pursuit of you...

If your feeling worn down or over-stressed by the ever increasing to-do lists streaming through your mind please go here

You will be forever blessed to be reminded of God's pursuit of you...and His longing to bless you in it all.

Thank you to Ann for the much needed reminder ;)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Getting back to it...First Day of School

We had our first official day back to school yesterday...yes, we learn all the time,  but it was still really nice to get some more order back into our day! 

We've moved the learning space to a different room in hopes that it would be a better spot for concentration.  It still needs a lot of work...I'm hoping for a nature display area, some gutter shelves for library books and littles books and I still have to get our timeline figures back up on our timeline since we moved it to the new learning room.

  
I still have a ton of living history books to order...its really weird to be starting school without a huge pile of engaging history chapter books to read since that is usually what we base our school year around.  But I had a hard time finding resources for this year until recently...so we'll start with some other subjects for the next week or two until our history books come in.

 
The kids got up and did a few subjects in our new school room...sorry, no actual pics of school time since I was juggling 4 of them in there!  Usually I wouldn't do school with my 5 yr. old but with two big brothers, she is ready and determined to learn!  The 3 1/2 yr. old cannot be left out of anything that the 5 yr. old does so everyone is in the learning room doing something!


We got a lot accomplished for our first day back so the littles celebrated by making some brownies with me and we spend some time out in the pool in the afternoon.

We finished off our day with an evening nature hike at a local state park.  It definitely feels like we're doing the right thing when our first day back includes a nature hike, notebooks and colored pencils :)  My kids love nature study and it was nice to have it as part of our first day back.

 So there you have it...not a perfect day...nobody really has perfect days...afterall, our van did over heat on the way home from the nature hike and one of my children was a little less than cooperative during the day...but its all good.  I love my kids and I love learning with them and it did turn out to be a really good day.  I am definitely looking forward to a school year at home with my kids!

Daybook

Our Family Daybook

Around the Homestead...

 

Our chickens are due to be laying in the next 3-4 weeks so Dan really needs some time to get the nesting boxes built onto our chicken tractor.  Its one of those chores that just seems to get pushed off every weekend. 

Our adoption process...

 

Our homestudy is mailed out as well as our I800-A.  Working hard on fundraising!  We have a lot to do but pregnancy and preparing a new school year have been getting in the way recently.  Hopefully we can get a lot of adoption stuff accomplished this coming week.

Learning at home...

 

Working hard to get ready to start school.  I have a lot of stuff finally ordered and sitting in the school room.  We've moved our school area so there is a lot to be set up in the new room.  This was a hard school year to plan since I knew it was going to be one with a lot of interruption and transitions.  I think I've found materials that we will both enjoy and still keep the school year from becoming impossible in the midst of babies, overseas trips and learning to be a family for Joseph.  I really DO love starting a new school year, though.   I'm excited to have the boys start their math curriculum on Monday...we're going to try easing in a few subjects at a time! It will be nice to get back to business :)

What we've been reading...

 

Lots of blogs about living books...trying to find our history readings for this year.  Also lots of sites with sewing suggestions for little ones.  And handicraft projects.  Hoping to do more skills and projects with the kids for school this year.

What we've been thinking about...

 

Home birth.  Yep, I think we might be having this little one at home.  This would be a first for us so, needless to say, its been on my mind A LOT.  We haven't totally made up our minds yet...so don't hold me to it...but its looking like we're going in that direction ;)

I'm thankful for...

 

A wonderful midwife spending an hour and a half talking about whatever I needed to talk about as far as home births.  I am thankful for our parish priest and his appreciation/understanding of our vocation and desire to bring Joseph home and his willingness to be supportive.  And of course I am thankful for Maxim and Isabella both being listed on the "My Family Found Me" page on Reece's Rainbow...so glad to have families coming for them!

I'm praying for...

 

The Archer family as they prepare to go get their boys, for Elizabeth D., for a dear friend who is having serious health issues, for our Joseph, for this little one we're growing and for all the kids still waiting to find families.

Have a blessed weekend!
Kimberly

Amelia...

Hi all,

  I just wanted to give a quick update about the little girl Amelia that I asked everyone to pray for...thank you to those that let me know you were praying!  God is so good...amazingly, Amelia's mom was able to find a specialized formula that Amelia seems to be doing well with and she was actually able to go home from the hospital!  Because of her size and condition, Amelia has a very long road ahead of her.  Please continue to pray for her and for her whole family as they work hard to bring Amelia back to health.