Adoption Update

So we have already raised enough for our home study and have moved on to our next goal which is $3,800 for USCIS and an approval fee.  So far we have raised $1,100 of this goal and we still have not had a single fundraiser! We have just been immensely blessed by friends and family wanting to make donations! Thank you so much! 

Right now we are preparing for our home study.  We have a book to read, some articles, and 10 hours of online classes.  I am almost done with the online classes, have read the articles and have started the book.  So we are getting closer :)  We still need to get a fire extinguisher and some stickers to put on our sliding glass door, but other than that I think our house is pretty much ready to go for the home study.  Having 4 kiddos means our home is pretty much already child proof :)

We will be having a garage sale this month and a car wash soon to try to raise more toward this next goal.  Please continue to pray for us on our adoption journey.  Pray that God would make us the best family we can be for our future child/children.  Pray for protection over our child/children.  For their health and safety.

Happy 5th Birthday to Aila!

I can't believe Aila is 5 years old! She really wanted a Barbie party this year.  I was able to get her a Barbie princess castle at a garage sale for $2 but she didn't have any Barbies to play with on it.  Well since she had her birthday she now has plenty of Barbies to play with and she is in heaven!  At her party I made a life size Barbie box for the kids to dress up and take pictures in.  I also set up a nail painting station and all the kids got to decorate a pair of sunglasses.  We played musical chairs and red light, green light, hit a piñata and ate cake :) 

Barbie Box Photo Booth:

 

Decorating sun glasses:

 

Musical Chairs:

 

Red light, Green Light:

 

Cake time:

 

Piñata fun:

 

Present time:

 

Everyone playing Barbies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baptisms in Baytown

We had the awesome honor of getting to baptize 3 people at the Baytown property.  It was so amazing to get to be a part of that! There is nothing like seeing people make a decision to surrender their lives to Jesus and watching them grow and mature in their faith!

 

 

 

 

 

NY Visit

We were able to go to NY and visit my sisters.  It had been 6 years since I had seen my sister Melissa and 3 since I had seen my sister Stacy.  It was so good to see them and see all my nieces and nephews.  Everyone has gotten so big! The kids' favorite part was getting to play with all of their cousins.  It was also quite an experience for us because we took public transportation from the airport in NJ all the way to Queens and then from Long Island to Manhattan and also from Long Island to NJ.  The kids thought it was great.  To them taking a train or a bus is the same as a ride at Disney World.

Day 1 at Melissa's house- relaxing and hanging out:

 

 

 

Day 2 at Melissa's house- Walking to a park and playing and lunch with my friend Paula:

 

Day 3: Going to the Flight Museum with Aunt Stacy.

 

Day 4- Going to the park by Aunt Stacy's house:

 

Day 5- Slip and Slide fun in the yard at Aunt Stacy's and hanging out in our jammies:

 

Day 6- A trip to Manhattan with Aunt Stacy and Uncle Brad.  We rode the train, had a picnic and played in Central Park, saw Times Square, FAO Schwartz, The American Girl Store, and the M&M Store:

 

 

Day 7-  Our last day :(  We played board games and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Brad had a surprise birthday cake for Aila: