Another Food-related Post...

Ok, I'm wiped out at the moment, so I'll try to make this quick.

Every year, our little town has what they call the "Fall Festival." It starts this Thursday and goes through Sunday.

One of the things that our youth at the church have done to raise money in the past is hold a cake walk or bake walk.

Today, my friend Torre and I helped out the youth kiddos by baking something like 10 cake mixes into cupcakes---we had something in the neighborhood of 12 dozen cupcakes. Plus we baked 2 sheet cakes. And I have 2 more to bake tomorrow, plus a bunch of brownies.

I never thought that I could ever, ever be sick of cake---but I really am right now. And on top of this, Thursday night I volunteered to work in the funnel cake booth.

We were so over sugared, that we decided to go out for dinner. Big mistake. Smothered chicken and loaded mashed potates. Part of why I am wiped out I am sure is that I feel like a big stuffed slug.....

Please don't call me cupcake.....

(Oh, and Kristine if you're reading this...I promise to be better starting tomorrow!)

Warning...do not go see this movie on an empty stomach!

So, we went last night to see Julie and Julia. I was really excited, since I've read Julie Powell's book (which is not, in my opinion, a great book, but it is fun) and I'm about half-way through Julia Child's autobiography. Let me first say that the movie is very funny, heartwarming, and very well done--in many ways, and that Meryl Streep's Julia Child is just too good for words.

However, we left kind of in a rush, and didn't eat before the 7:00 movie. Then, we didn't even get popcorn at the theater (well, I'm not supposed to eat it because of my braces, so I was trying to be good). Um....perhaps it slipped our minds that this whole movie was going to be about FOOD? Gorgeous food, for the most part, and talk about buying food and cooking food and eating food....By the time the movie was over, we were STARVING. I looked at Steve and asked, "so now what do you want to do?" and he said, "EAT!"

So, we zipped over to Olive Garden...we were almost the last people in there, but we did feast upon soup and salad and pasta and dessertage (we did split the dessert. So there, Jenny Craig!) It was yummy.

Just to bring everybody up to where we are adoption-wise:

Plane tickets are purchased, apartment is booked for the two nights in Moscow through Peace Travel, and visa applications were mailed yesterday. On Tuesday we have to go have our fingerprints done for the FBI check. Then about August 20 we have our physcials here.

My sis (Princess Susan) came over this last week and began to paint on the nursery walls. we now have the beginnings of a beautiful tree with a sweet bird on two walls. I'll post pictures when it is closer to finished.

So help me out, all you veteran moms and dads out there---is there something ELSE that I should be doing? Have I forgotten something important? I feel like I am missing SOMETHING!

Much love to all of you!

C

Ok, here are a few more details...

I know, I know...I left some of you hanging. I didn't mean to be cryptic, but it has been kind of crazy here the past couple of days.

Here are the details I can share:

We leave on Sept 18 to travel to Kaluga. Our referral is a little girl, who will be a year old in October. We do have some pictures and some medical information, thanks to the Houks and the Johnsons who have actually seen and photographed her, and also huge thanks to the Dyers for sharing their information with us. There are, of course, some medical concerns, but at this point we haven't had any sense that God is telling us not to go and see her.

So basically, we're walking that emotional line between being really excited and trying to not get too excited so we won't be let down (if that explanation makes sense--sorry, having a hard time expressing my emotions lately).

We are in the process of getting visas, flights, an accomodations. If anyone has any suggestions, we're open to them, I promise! I also have to get ready for the upcoming semester of school, and do all that stuff that I said I'd do this summer (that, alas, is still not done...things like cleaning out the garage :-( )

And tomorrow, I'm headed to St Louis to get my hair cut---yes, I know, a 3 hour drive for a haircut. BUT, trust me, it's worth it. If anybody knows of anything I can do while I'm there to make it not quite such a decadent trip, please let me know. If there's anything I should be shopping for, I'm totally up for that!

Finally, thanks to all of you---I'm glad that you're so excited. I am too!

We're GOING!

Just a quick post this morning, since there's so much going on today---but I SO wanted to let you all know!

We have a referral, and we have travel dates! We're leaving in mid-September to meet our kiddo!

Ok, I was all prepared for this, but now my head is spinning and I don't know what to do. Someone help me here---what should I do next?

God is good :-)

Jeremiah's Hammer Throw

Another set of just-for-fun pictures. Our Sarah is a hammer thrower--she threw when she was at Mizzou (below she's throwing at the Arkansas Sectional Meet in 2008), and her senior year she was ranked in the top 80 in the nation:




Her brother sent me the following pictures this morning--in an email entitled "Jeremiah's Hammer Throw":

That's Mo, by the way (short for Missouri Jones). He's still just a puppy, too!

Pikchures from Camp 2009

Camp staff on the last day---need I say more???

The "game" of keep-away in the lake that has lasted for the last, oh-so-many years

Water-balloon toss at the Wacky Water Olympics night

More Wacky Water Olympics---they have to fill up a trashcan with water--but the trashcan has a bunch of holes in it

Gettin' ready for Bible Study...

Shelley, Stephanie, and Erin---three of our great staff people...just hanging out and laughing in some very scarce free time!

cute, great kids

The "Wolf-pack"---it's a LONG story :-)

Would it be camp without a cookout?

My amazing small group---they were so much fun, and pulled off an awesome worship service on Friday night!

The whole bunch---well, minus one of our staff, but it's almost the whole camp--it was a great week!

Yes, we are still here on the planet...and still waiting..

Hi everybody!

I am truly sorry that it has been so long since I have posted--a LOT has happened in the past few weeks, and I will try to cut through all the fluff and bring you up to speed.

First, adoption news: Tula is a no-go. MOE there is basically dragging their heels, and told S that it might be a year before they referred anyone. Agency decided to "unregister" us and pull our dossier. Right now, with the Moscow MOE on vacation for the next couple of weeks, we're in "holding" pattern again to see what might happen there, and what, perhaps, our other options are. So, we wait. Some more.

The trip to Maine was really fun--but there was not much of what I expected, which was relaxing and sitting on the beach. It was more "let's show you as much as we can while we're here" so we were walking, shopping, touring, and driving (and eating) a LOT. Oh, and yes, Joy, the trees were amazingly tall. The whole place just has an "old" look to it--like the trees have been there forever. It was a blast, but I was wiped out when I headed home.

All last week, we were at church camp. As always, it was just pretty darn amazing. 70 + kids (jr and sr high) all focused on breaking down the barriers between ourselves and each other, and also between ourselves and God. I won't kid you--they can be pretty squirrely at times, but when they put themselves out there and really talked about their relationships with God, it made all the dealing with squirrely stuff worthwhile. It also helped make all of the "waiting" bearable--and helped me remember that God is good, and His timing is far more wiser than my own.

There you have it folks--I've tried to be short, sweet, and to the point on this one. I'll write more later when my laundry is caught up and I don't feel like I'm so scattered. Hope that all of you are having a great and blessed summer

Greetings from Maine!

First of all, my thanks to all of you...I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate all of your prayers, your encouragement, and your friendship. It is an incredible feeling to have all of you out there, rooting for us. I'm thinking that I don't have words to express how very lucky (well, really blessed) I feel to have all of you in my life.

I am now, in Maine, but I am REALLY tired. But in a good way. So this will be short tonight. I promise to post more later.

I arrived last night, and was met very promptly by my friend Kenn (who had been waiting, because the plane was late--a weather delay). He whisked me off to a yummy dinner (Sorry, Jenny Craig--but it's vacation!) and then, after talking and talking and driving, we crashed.

Today we journeyed into Salem, where we went through the House of the Seven Gables and visited a "witch store" (where they basically had things like Tarot cards and herbs--but no eye of newt or icky things like that). Then we ventured on into Boston where we ate (again) and then walked around and window shopped and then wondered through the Public Gardens, Boston Common and the very cool graveyard where Paul Revere is buried. Lots of funny/silly stories about the very expensive store with basically over-"bedazzeled" clothes and finding (eventually) Paul Revere's tombstone...let's just say we had a good day seeing things that were new to me, revisited for Kenn, and talking about all the people that we have dated/grew up with.

Also had a very "freaky/odd" moment when I was taking a picture of the church that Steve and I went to on the day after our wedding (we went to Boston on our honeymoon) and he called me at the same time that I was sending him the picture on my phone. That was too bizarre...but fun.

Tonight we hung out at home, and watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic." Tomorrow I get to see more of Maine.

Much love to all

Prayers, please...

Just an update. I haven't posted in awhile because there just hasn't been anything to post. And, honestly, I haven't known exactly what to say.

Things in Tula are not all they should be (most of you who have been following that have probably guessed that much). MOE official is back from vacation, but there has been little communication with our agency. S is apparently going to try to get an appointment with them in the next couple of weeks, but C is discouraged with the lack of action and response there. Our "remotely possible" referral has been adopted by a Russian family. I find that I'm not upset by this--I'm glad that she has someone to love her now, and glad that a connection was made there. We didn't really let ourselves even get hopes up about her, and with things not going as they should there, I am glad that God has found her family.

I know that I have no control over this part--and I know that God does. I know that all things work in HIS time and that they work out right. I'm just really tired of waiting right now. I guess that I would ask for prayers for patience, and that we have the wisdom and the clarity to listen to whatever it is that God neeeds us to do in all this. In the meantime, my beloved husband is trying to write the curriculum for church camp--and it's all about God and making "breakthroughs." I find myself smiling and shaking my head in wonder at this one. My ladies Bible Study has also been doing a short study on "Walking By Faith"---so, yeah, I know that God is right here--there's too much evidence that He is. I'm just tired and a bit sad, is all.

Having said all that---I'm running away next week. I scheduled this trip about a month or so ago, but I realize that the timing here is also pretty perfect--I need a distraction. My good friend since the 6th grade, Kenn, lives in South Maine, not all that far from Boston. I got cheap cheap tickets to fly into Boston, and we're going to just "have fun" next week. Steve will have quiet time to work on the curriculum and I will have some great time away with a friend who makes me laugh.

Thanks to all of you. Even when I'm not posting, I'm reading all that you write. Thank you for your friendship, your love, and your prayers. You are all so very important to me...

All Quiet on the Tula Front

No news out of Tula. The head of the MOE is reportedly back from vacation, but nothing is happening.

This is getting old.

Bleah.