Gorgeous Quilt fund raiser

http://moyeradoptionraffles.blogspot.com/ My friend Cynthia is still trying to raise money the adoption of their 5 year old son from China. Her son has a limb difference too.....so their family has a special place in my heart. You've got to check this quilt out!!

Renee's Visit and the 2nd Grade Field Trip

We celebrated Aunt Renee's 29th birthday while she was out."Can you believe I used to change this kid's diaper??"
Aunt Renee took the little kids to the park......she's the best!!!!!

Inspecting fuzzy seeds during our nature walk with our guide Nicole.
Natalie's class.....what beautiful fall day!!

I'm so glad that Natalie begged me to be a chaperon for her field trip. We went to a nature center around Dayton. We had the most perfect weather that day. I had 10 kids in my group, we all agreed that we got the BEST guide. Nicole took us through the woods and got the kids really excited about our nature walk. After chaperoning Andrew's first grade trip to the zoo I vowed that I would NEVER again chaperon.....but I have changed my mind. I really need to remember to appreciate this time in my kids' lives where they think I am the greatest person ever.

Good news......our St. Anthony house is under contract. YEAH!!!! I really do miss our old house but am not going to miss making double mortgage payments. We are happy with the price that we are getting for the house especially with the way the housing market is. We're just a few thousand dollars below what we hoped to get but $25,000 over our rock-bottom price. We should close within the month. Thankfully the couple is pre-approved with a local bank so we're hoping that this process should go smoothly. Now we just need to finish moving all of our junk.

Andrew's last football game was today. We lost so we're out of the tournament. Andrew had been all pumped up to go the "pee wee super bowl" where the last two teams get to play under the lights on a Saturday night. That would have been really cool, but I'm sure Andrew has a long football career ahead of him so we'll seem him under the lights someday. Andrew had a great season. He really got into "crushing" his opponents.

Aunt Renee came for a visit last week from Arizona. It's always fun having her around and sad when she leaves. Why does Arizona have to be so far away???

Celebrating 100 Years!!!

Don't the girls and I look fabulous with our vintage hats?? We belong to Ft. Recovery's Church of the Nazarene. The Nazarene church, as a whole, celebrated it's 100th anniversary this weekend all over the entire world. Our local church was also celebrating it's 80th anniversary. We were encouraged to wear vintage clothing. Life has been too crazy to even begin to try to find vintage clothes for 7 people, so instead I bought a lot of hats from eBay for $20. Oh by the way, I am NOT 5 months pregnant. The way Audrey's leg is stuck to me and Rita's little arm is resting up against me I do look like I have a bun in the oven!! NO buns here!!!

I added my absolute favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song to my playlist. I hope you all enjoy it. Of course I like the beat but the words are what I love the most. "So sink or swim I'm diving in!!" This is how I want to live my life until the very end. I want to always do what God calls me to do with an enthusiastic attitude. Sure some days between work and five kids and the constant reminder that there are children all over the world that need loving families I really feel like I'm "sinking." But, thankfully, most days "I'm lost in the flow" knowing that God has blessed me with these 5 amazing kids, a terrific husband, a modest home (that would be considered a mansion by most of the worlds standards) and even, a great job. When I think of the kids who don't have homes I like to read through other blogs and read stories of families similar to ours, where innocent children have made their way 'home'. "But we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood........."

My little stud muffin

Most of you who know me know that I hate sports!!!! But I LOVE watching Andrew play football. This is his first year of pee wee football and it is his 'thing' without a doubt. He has played baseball for two years and is usually lifeless on the field. But football is another story. He is really getting into this tackling stuff. I guess I better change my music, I don't think Andrew would appreciated "Dancing Queen" playing while he is at the top of the blog. I'm thinking "We are the Champions" by Queen. I'm open to other suggestions of music to go along with this post.

WOW....

Here's a blog to those of you who think Ted and I are "special people"....this family knocked my socks off: http://findinghiddentreasures.blogspot.com/ Also....I almost fell off of my chair today when I was going through Reece's Other Angel's website (this is the site that we first learned about Rita) and saw two of Rita's friends listed "Hallie" and "Garret"......go check them out, they are both adorable: http://www.reecesrainbow.com/otherangels.htm , then click on 'girl or by angels.' If anyone has an extra 26K laying around let me know and we'll start the paperwork for one of them today!!! I'm so glad that Armenia has lowered their fees for the special needs kids. If you remember Rita's adoption was 35K (and worth every penny).

Soccer Queens

Okay I couldn't resist adding "Dancing Queen" to my blog, but the song fits for these girls. They are having the 'time of their lives.' Natalie and Rita had their first soccer games this week. Natalie is a natural athlete, like her aunt Sandy (we all know that she sure didn't get it from me!!) Rita's age group is hilarious to watch. I was surprised how much she got into chasing the ball down. I think there are 9 or 10 kids on the team. Only one kid knows what the heck is going on and the rest are day dreaming, crying or kicking the ball in any direction...not necessarily the right direction.
Soccer Queen #1
Soccer Queen #2
I can't forget the little ones. They both started preschool this week. Audrey is 4 and will be going 4 half day with the intentions of going to kindergarten next year. Paul is 3 and will be going 2 half days knowing that he'll have another year of preschool. Paul is very speech delayed, so thankfully he qualified for county services in junction with the preschool. It is obvious that he is a smart boy but basically only mom can understand him.

Finally........

So Ted finally got down and dirty with Verizon and those of you who know Ted, knows that it takes alot to get him fired up. He called and insisted that somebody do something about our lack of internet. He explained that he had spent hours on the phone with people from India who got him no where. Apparently there is a secret group of tech support people in Canada that most people don't know about. His call was transferred to Canada and some lady pushed a few buttons on her end, told Ted to push a few buttons on his end and POOF......we now have internet again. Modem #3 never did show up, which doesn't matter now since, there is obviously nothing wrong with modem #1 or #2.

Anyways here's a few pictures to hold you over until I have time to sit down a type a little bit more.

Rita's beloved Anna.........Hello was great!!!!

But......Good-bye was not so great!!Thankfully, we had lots of fun in between "Hello" and "Good-Bye."
Anna's family spoiled all of us with lots of gifts.Rita and Anna fell right into their old friendship. I wished we lived closer to Anna and her family. Introducing our newest family member......Mulan (notice Rita's new hair cute....she wanted it cut because it was too hot for her...it is so much easier to take care of at this length...plus I think Rita looks pretty darn cute).
Mulan is "loved" just a little bit too much around here. This picture reminds me of a scene from Of Mice and Men........."George, the rabbits are so soft, I just want to pet them and love them."

The first day of school. Rita was so excited and is still totally loving school.
I can't forget Andrew's 10th birthday. I swear I was just pregnant with this kid....honestly, where does the time go?