Movin' Forward

We received our education materials from CCI and let the reading begin. We had our first of two education classes yesterday. Our next class is on Tuesday. In between all of this we have heard some good news! The MOWA in Ethiopia has terminated staffand are now back in full force to finalize the cases they presently have right now. We are still not sure what this means for new cases going forward, but it is encouraging to see that the initial changes did not happen as expected. Praise God! I will keep you posted as I learn more!

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!

Please pray for Ethiopia, all of the children in the orphanages and families waiting to give them homes! Some changes have been taking place in Ethiopia which is causing delays in the process for everyone. Please earnestly pray for all the families that have court dates set that all documents needed will be at the courthouse so it can all go smoothly for them and their children can come home. And, all families that currently have referrals that all the documentation needed for their children to be "paper ready" will be done. Despite all of the changes happening... our God is BIGGER than any government, STRONGER than any government and our God is HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER!

So what does this mean for our process?! We are waiting until April to see if we are continuing with Ethiopia or pursuing another option that looks like is opening.

I will keep you updated as best I can.

In His Hands,

Stacey and family

Step out of the boat and have a little faith!

Well let's just say that the last couple of weeks have been rather difficult for me. We are in the hurry up and wait state and because I do better with having "something" to do, having nothing to do and just sitting here waiting has definitely given our enemy room to invade my thoughts and cast doubt and fear into our journey of adoption. BUT, God is good and has definitely spoken to my heart and showed me once again that HE is in control! My devotion's this morning cut to my core like a hot knife through butter. OUCH!

Since making our decision to adopt I have often questioned God’s timing and His ways. When they don’t translate into methods that I can understand, I surrender my faith to the tyranny of fear. I ask myself why I struggle be a fully devoted follower of Christ and be willing to forsake the known for the unknown. Why can't I choose to trust God and walk by faith – not by sight or human logic. Isn't that the verse I chose to center our adoption journey on?! But as I was so mercifully reminded today when it speaks in Matthew 14 of the disciples being in a boat caught in a storm and full of fear. The response of Jesus to the disciples’ fear was encouragement and a call to step out in faith and obedience. The only taker was Peter!

The following is taken from my devotion -

Faith demands a willingness to give up what we can see in exchange for what we cannot see. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV). This verse indicates a persuasion or conviction in response to unseen evidence. But just because we can’t see it, does not mean it isn’t there.

As a fisherman, Peter knew all about boats and storms. However, I feel safe in saying that Peter had probably never tried walking on any kind of water, much less tempestuous water. It didn’t matter. Jesus said, “Come.” Jesus wrapped a world of truth in that one word. Strength for every trial, faith for every storm, courage for every conflict, the promise of His presence and absolutely everything we need to obey is promised to those who are willing to leave the safety of the boat and "come" to Jesus. God never forces us into obedience. He invites us to obey and leaves the choice to us.

Peter chose obedience when he slipped off his sandals, hitched up his robe and climbed over the side of that boat. Peter left the “known” behind and stepped through his fear in a radical faith that pleased God. Peter then did what we all have done at some point in life. He took his eyes off Jesus. And when he began to sink, Peter cried out in fear. I love the fact that Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed the flailing hand of Peter. I would probably have let the doubting disciple sink like a stone to teach him a lesson. Not Jesus. Grace covered it all – the storm, the sin and Peter’s plea for rescue. Love heard Peter’s cry. Mercy saved him.


So I have to ask myself am I willing to take one step of faith and allow God to meet me there? The answer is absolutely "yes"! Why? because I know my God is faithful; He knows what is best for me; and, HE is in control.

So I would please ask that you pray for not only me, but also our family that I/we can continue to cling to Jesus and walk by faith! I would also ask that you specifically pray that Jason and I will clearly see God's direction with regard to leading us to a waiting child/children or waiting for a referral. Pray that our hearts would be fully open to what God has designed for our family because it might just look different than we think.

Psalm 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Peace is not the absence of conflict, a lack of trouble or scarcity of problems. Peace is not a feeling. Peace is a Person – Jesus – and when we know Him, we can experience true peace.

Resting

Well, all the required paperwork for now is completed and now we are just resting until the next round. We have our education classes scheduled for March 17th and 22nd. Once they are completed we will have our home visit from our social worker, then I believe another round of paperwork. Yippee! I have been talking with Beth (our social worker) and she said she is 95% confident that our home study will be completed mid-April. Praise the Lord! I already have pretty much everything I can do for the dossier done, it's just waiting for the home study. So our deadline to have everything completed is April 30th. This is the date we are striving for to have our dossier sent off for acceptance...then more waiting :)

It is fun to log into CCI's client page and see a bunch of red check marks of things completed and see our "adoption meter" plane move from 0 to 1...it's a long way to 10, but 10 means we have our little girl in our arms...oh how my heart longs for that day.

"I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High" Psalm 9:2

Accepted!

Yay! We are officially accepted at Celebrate Children International Adoption Agency. Not that we really had any doubts, but to finally see those words..."Congratulations, your application has been accepted!" was AWESOME!

So you all might be wondering what this means and where we are at. Our next step is to send in Celebrate Children's (CCI)contract with their fee. Once they receive that then we are official clients of CCI. Our homestudy is underway...we have completed and collected the necessary documents for our social worker at Lutheran Social Services. We now have to complete education classes (2 full days); visit from Beth (our social worker); then receive the completed homestudy for our dossier. In this first "waiting" period I have collected the documents for our dossier (i.e. birth certificates, marriage license, medical clearance letters, etc.) Now the rest is stuff I have to do on a personal level (i.e. cover letter, photo page, passport pic's, etc). At this point I am feeling pretty good about our progress...I don't think it should take too long after completion of our homestudy to complete the dossier.

I have to keep reminding myself to treat this like a pregnancy. One step at a time, one month at a time...in the end a child does come home. Patience, patience, patience! For of those of you who know me well, this is a huge struggle for me, I very much lack patience and usually want things done yesterday. BUT, God is good and with complete surrender to HIM each day, keeps me focused and patient. Now I am sure that I will have many more impatient, testing days, but we will continue to walk in obedience...we will walk by faith, not by sight!

Waiting!

We are still waiting to get the official acceptance of your application from the adoption agency. BUT in the meantime, I have been busy pulling the documents together for our home study and dossier...AND have managed to keep them all straight...amazing!

More later!

The process begins!

We met with our social worker yesterday afternoon. I really don't know what I was expecting, but it was less overwhelming than I thought. She was very thorough and explained LSS's process extremely well, which left very few questions. We left with a stack of papers and a fresh determination to push through this first step as quickly as we can! So, what's on my plate for today?....paperwork and phone calls to the police dept and sheriff's dept to see when we can "make an appearance" to get our background checks completed.

I have also heard from the adoption agency itself and well, let's just say, the requirements needing to met by them are a little more confusing and I have no idea where to start! But with one step at a time, we will perservere!

When asked why we have chosed adoption, I would answer simply..."Because I (we) feel God's call upon our hearts to do so and there just seems to be a little hole in our family that needs to be filled with a little one." But I was reading several adoption blogs and this particular blog had so eloquently answered the question and stated just what Jason and feel so I wanted to share them with you...

◦Because it has become the desire of our heart as we have sought to delight in Him (Psalm 37:4)

◦Because my Heavenly Father has a lot to say on how Christ-followers should care for the orphan (James 1:27)

◦Because when we tell ourselves we can’t the reality is we can. We are a family that is seeking to be radically obedient to Christ and we refuse to sit back and do nothing when our hearts have been drawn, changed, and completely altered by this beautiful continent.

◦Because we know the eternal impact and growth that will result in our two boys. Will it be hard, sure. But what blessings can flow from this too.

◦Because we have a great support network of family, friends, our church and small group to walk with us on this journey.

◦Because God has developed within our hearts a desire to reach the nations for His Glory.

◦Because we want to champion the cause, love orphans, influence others and make an impact in our world.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." Ephesians 3:20

Adoption!

Hey all,

I know, I know...this blog has been neglected for so long, but now I have some exciting news to write about! (Not that our lives aren't exciting now, it's just normal to me so I lack the inspiration to write). Anyway, Jason and I have decided that our family wasn't quite complete so we are adopting. We are going through Celebrate Children International's Ethiopia program and hoping to have at least one little girl between the ages of 3 & 6 join our little family of four. We are; however, not saying no to a sibling set of the same or mixed gender.

God has laid it upon our hearts some time ago and after much prayer and conversations, we are stepping out in faith and obeying what God is asking of us...to take care of the orphans...! We really feel that, obviously, God's timing is perfect and that we are right where He needs us to be to bring a new member into our family.

So with that being said...the application was placed in the UPS overnight box today! We meet with our social worker on Thursday and I am trying to prepare myself for the paperwork that is to come!

As this progress, I will keep you posted! If you would join us in prayer for this little one and our family that would be great!!!

First Week of Summer 2010

Well, I guess it's only fitting that I beginning blogging again when summer begins! The last 9 months just simply got away from me! Beginning my days at 6 am (I know this in normal for alot of people, but was new to me!); uping my hours at work; two days in Kory's class; carpooling; sports; band concerts...just to name a few...I just couldn't find the time to sit down and keep blogging. So I have great aspirations to begin again and stick with it!

The school year was good for both of the boys. Kyle did extremely well in 6th grade...highest honors all 4 quarters! Way to go! He joined band at the beginning of the year and now plays the trumpet...pretty good too, FOR NOT PRACTICING! Right now he is the middle of his baseball season and they are undefeated! Yippee! Next week he leaves for a trip with his grandparents to Hawaii for 10 days. *jealous* He is so excited he can hardly contain himself. Since he such a planner, he has been on me for weeks to get all things in place..."Mom, we need to go get...(you name, he needs it!)." It will be different not having him around the house for 10 days, but I know he will have a BLAST! Kyle has also grown up so much this past year...he is only 5" shorter than me, but has well surpassed me in shoe size...not too far behind his dad...yikes!

Kory also did extremely well in 2nd grade. Right at grade level or advanced depending on the subject all 4 quarters! Yippee! He always has a story to share and a laugh ready to bubble out at any given moment. He still in always on the go and NEVER quiet, even while sleeping! He is looking forward to soccer starting in July and is NOT looking forward to Kyle leaving for 10 days. Kyle is the best in Kory's eyes and he will greatly miss his best friend while Kyle is away.

As for me, I have been busy with work, balancing the family schedule, keeping track of Jason's travel all over the countryside, and helping out friends and family when and where needed.

Jason has been extremely busy at work, as I mentioned before, he is traveling quite a bit, BUT I am sooooo thankful for his dedication and hard work to support our family and thankful that he has a job, even though we miss him terribly while he is away :(

Jason and I are looking forward to celebrating our 15th anniversary with our friends and family in August. Can't believe it's already been almost 15 years. I guess time flies when you spend everyday with your best friend!

Well, through the busyness we have had a few moments to relax and enjoy eachother and are looking forward to spending more time doing so this summer.

I'll keep you all updated on us throughout the summer...sorry I left you hanging for 9 months!

Last Day of Summer

I can't believe summer is over and the boys head back to school tomorrow! I also can't believe I have not written anything on this blog all summer. I have SO much to update you all on.

Our summer was pretty, crazy busy...hence, no postings! Kyle had his first season of baseball through the end of June. His team won the championship for the Western division, but took second place in the whole league...bummer. But, they played extremely well. Kory attended a British Soccer Camp for one week at the beginning of June. We actually hosted one of the coaches so we had Ritz, a college student from Manchester stay with us for a week! I was surprised that even though we both spoke english, it was extremely difficult to to understand him. We then had a break over the 4th of July in which we went to visit my mom on the lake. Then upon our return we jumped right back into a second season of baseball for Kyle and soccer for Kory. So once again twice a week our time was split between the baseball and soccer fields. Here's a little glimpse into our summer days :)

During the craziness of our summer days, I took 32 hours of classes to become licensed in life, accident & health insurance. After the 32 hours of classes ended, the following two Saturday mornings, I spent at the testing facility. Praise the Lord, I passed both tests and I am now an officially licensed insurance representative...CRAZY!

Jason's work schedule did not slow down any over the summer months. He has made many trips to Hastings, NE, Iowa City, IA, Rhinelander, WI and Eau Claire, WI. He is actually in NE as I type this. He hates being gone (well we all do), but we are also extremely thankful he has a job. What a blessing!

In between games, etc. I did manage to squeeze three days of work in a week and tested out having the boys stay home by themselves for those 3 hours while I was gone. They did AWESOME! Most days I even came home to a clean house!

We decided to finish up our fun summer days by taking a trip out to see Jason's brother in Charlottesville, VA. We did some research and decided that driving was the most cost effective way to go. We took off on August 15th at 6am and landed in Charleston, West Virginia at 7:30 pm (ET). We drove the remaining 3 hours the next day. We spent a week there and while we were there we spent a day in Washington, DC; part of a day sight-seeing in downtown Charlottesville and visiting the University of VA; and a day at Monticello touring Thomas Jefferson's estate. It was amazing to see this side of the US and soak in all of the history (this coming from someone who doesn't even enjoy history that much!). I would post another slide show, but you would be sitting here all day looking at the bazillion pictures of the Washington Monument! So I'll just post a few. If you would like to see them all, you'll just have to come and visit and look at my scrapbook! :D

University of VA rotunda

US Capital

Inside the Capital's rotunda

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The White House

When we returned home we jumped right back into our craziness (so a week of reprieve was excellent). Jason flew out to NC for three days, was home a day and then off to Iowa for a day. I took Kyle to the jr. high to pay fees, pick up his schedule, find and stock his locker and walk his daily route a couple of hundred times (well, just a few...it just felt like many, many more times). Last Thursday both boys had their open houses at their schools so we met teachers and found classrooms...yay! Kory has the same teacher Kyle had for 2nd grade and we LOVE Mrs. Egner. All of Kyle's teachers seem very nice. I just can't come to grips with the fact that his is in jr. high....that's NUTS! He is extremely excited and as of now the only extra classes he is going to take is hunter's safety and band. Hopefully there will be more that appeal to him the next three quarters. SO, that wraps up our summer and we step into a new chapter of our lives at 7 am tomorrow morning.

So So Busy!

BASEBALL is here again! Kyle's season has begun...and so the fun begins...practice, games, clinics. (well the season started two weeks ago, but I now just finding the time to write about it). I am so happy that the baseball field is right behind our house and Kyle can just ride his bike to all of the practices, games and clinics. It makes for much less chaotic evenings. His team, the Lions, are 5-0 so far....whoohooo! What an improvement from last year and the two seasons before when they were only able to win one or two games. And, thankfully we haven't had to sit through rain yet! That streak will be coming to an end this evening as we are to have rain all day today. I'll be sure and post those wet, soggy photos! :) Kyle, himself, has been doing pretty well. He has had a couple of nice hits to score him a couple of RBI's. He made an awesome play while playing 2nd base, but while being in the right or left field...he hasn't seen too much action.

Kyle at second base

I suppose I should update you on my "Girls Weekend". My friend, Emily, and I had such a blast. We hit the road at 8:15 am or so with the tunes pumping through the speakers. You know, such hits as...Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, I Saw the Sign and so many more!!!! We arrived at the mall in Appleton at 10 am and we were there until 6 pm! Can you believe it?! I have never in my life spent that many consecutive hours in a mall. It was wonderful! It was awesome to be able to shop with absolutely no time constraints. After shopping ourselves into exhaustion, we left and checked into our hotel. AWESOME!!! The place was beautiful. We chilled for a little bit...then got ready for a night on the town (well not really, just dinner!). It wasn't the warmest but we decided to walk to the restaurant in our dresses...BIG MISTAKE...it was freezing and we ended up running most of the way. Oh, did I mention it was 9 p.m.! The restaurant and meal was amazing...$35 meal for two, which included a bottle of wine, appetizer, soup or salad, two entrees and two desserts! CRAZY! We had so much food...seriously the entrees could have fed 4-5 people. Let's just say I ate it for the next 3 days. Once the meal was over we booked it (sprinted) back to the hotel in our little dresses and heels, got ready for bed and popped in a movie..1408...freaky movie. Then on Sunday, we headed out for more shopping and home.

The Copper Leaf Hotel

Saturday evenings photo shoot...hee, hee!

Sunday morning...random photos...there was a stool store that had this ginormous stool and table out front and we couldn't resist!

I have to explain this picture... there is a restaurant in my home town that has a sign out front that says "Parking in the rear" and it disgusts me and I absolutely hate it. So as we were driving around what should appear, but a sign that says....

So between baseball games, work and school we had remained quite busy and are looking forward to summer!

HAPPY EASTER!

Spring Break and Beyond

Whew...we have been so busy I haven't been able to keep all of you updated like I want. Please bear with me! The end of March was Spring Break (however, in Wisconsin, it's still winter!). Anyway, we took the boys to Wisconsin Dells for a couple of days and stayed at the Kalahari Hotel & Resort. This is a massive complex complete with a indoor and outdoor waterpark, movie theater and theme park. Our room was, of course, in a whole other wing and was literally a 2-3 mile walk to the waterpark! The boys had a blast and it was nice to get away from Wausau for a few days. Jason and Kyle also got to try their hand at surfing. Unfortunately, I was across the waterpark with Kory so was unable to get any pictures. I don't believe either of them ever got to their feet, but did ride the board on their knees for quite a while. It looked like a lot of fun, but I didn't have an "appropriate" swimwear along to attempt it. Seriously, you need a wet suit...the boys had a hard time keeping their shorts on!

The boys enjoying a ride along the lazy river, which lead into the wave pool. There was some serious current in that wave pool...I had a difficult time not being knocked to my butt!

We spent one of the mornings at the theme park, which had go-carts, a ferris wheel, rock climbing wall, mini-golf, laser tag, bowling and a ropes course...just to name a few. We rode the ferris wheel and played mini-golf and laser tag. The line was way too long for the go-carts and the boys really wanted to get to the waterpark!

The last weekend of Spring Break we took a trip to my mom's to visit with my sister and her family who had driven up from Kansas City. It was too short of a trip, but it was so good to see all of them again. Tara's kids are growing up so fast. I can't believe Kayla is 14! The kids picked up right where they left off...never skipping a beat as though they had just seen each other yesterday. It was sad to have the time end, but will hopefully see them again this summer.

Of course when we are all together we have to take family pictures much to the kiddos dismay!

Jeremy, Tara, Kayla (14), Blaine (11) and Brian (9)

Me, Jason, Kory & Kyle

My sis and I with Mom

The whole crew with Grandma and Grandpa

The weekend after Spring Break, my mom and step-dad came to visit and my mom was able to stay a few days. While she was here we decided to paint the boys' bedrooms and decorate them as they wanted them. So here they are all completed...

Kyle's "Brewer's" room

Kory's "Harley Davidson" room

I spent last week finishing up the rooms and cleaning out closets...yuck! Then we headed on into Easter. We spent Easter with our friends, Josh and Emily, at Josh's parent's house; enjoyed a delicious ham, salads and all sorts of yummy desserts! It was a beautiful day too...the sun was actually shining!

Jason is gone the first part of this week to Nebraska, then to Minneapolis on Thursday. He'll be home Friday and we are going out to eat with some friends. On Saturday I am headed to Appleton for a girls weekend with my friend, Emily. I am so excited to get away and do girl things and have no real schedule! I will be leaving the boys on their own to go turkey hunting...I hope they have good luck. I can't wait to hear the stories from that adventure...turkey blinds + Kory = a potential for disaster :)...hee, hee!

Well have a good week and God bless.

Finally the front teeth are gone!

Kory's front teeth, which have defied gravity for a couple weeks now, are finally gone. He had a dentist appointment yesterday to get a couple cavities filled and I took advantage of the moment and asked the dentist to pull them out while they were in there! Whoohooo! He came out in tears, not because anything hurt, but because he was so mad at me! Jason has been begging Kory to pull them out for two weeks and in Kory fashion, Kory has refused. They were seriously starting to point in opposite directions and watching him eat anything was torturous, but NOTHING could convince him that it was better to have them out than in. Hence, my above action to have the dentist pull them when he wasn't expecting it. And who said mom's weren't smart?! (hee, hee) But I have to admit I am going to miss his little chipped tooth!

I believe spring is finally here in Wausau (knock on wood, cross fingers, etc.) The snow is melting leaving huge puddles in it's place; the sun is shining; the birds are chirping....aaahhh! It's always fun to see what toys appear in our yard each spring. You know the ones that have randomly been asked about throughout the winter that you can't find and are slowly discovered in the puddles and mud in the spring :)....fun! Now what can remedy this problem...oh yeah...listen to your mother and pick up all of your toys before the snow comes!!!!! Maybe someday they will learn. Another fun spring project is cleaning 5 months worth of the dog excrements out of the yard. Seriously, it's a mine field! I wish I could say that this is something that Jason so willing does, but no, it is a pleasure bestowed upon me...yippeeee.....just the job I wanted....yuck!

Friday begins the boys' spring break...yay! We are leaving on Sunday for the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells for three days...three days filled with water slides, laser tag and video games. The boys' are so excited! It will be awesome to just hang as a family with no distractions! Then the next weekend we are going to my mom's to visit and see my sister and her family....Yahoo!!!!!

Well I'm off to finish up this busy week...then vacation here I come. Enjoy your week.

Kyle's Voyage of the Mimi Research Project

This is my Voyage of the Mimi museum project. My topic is the Caribbean Reef Shark, commonly known as the Gray Reef Shark.

This is the first step on the painting.

Here's the second step, we finished the paint job.

Here's the third step. Mom and I put on all the text.

Here's the final step with added pictures.

If you're wondering what the Voyage of the Mimi is, it's about a kid from Ohio named C.T. (Ben Affleck) who went to visit his grandpa, Captain Granville, captain of a Charter Boat named The Mimi. C.T. travels down to the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. There he meets an old friend of Captain Granville, Pepper, who has a prosthetic leg. Pepper looses her leg because she had bone cancer in her leg. The doctor said that it was either the leg or Pepper would have to go. C.T. also meets two archaeologists, a Mexican, Victor, and American, Terry. Quiche, (pronounced Kee-chay) Terry's daughter, becomes quick friends with C.T. I won't give away anymore because it gets ALOT better!!!!!

Can I get off this ride, yet?!

I cannot believe it's been over a month since I have written anything. Let's just say life has gotten the best of me! Since my last post I have been back and forth to doctors offices, an ER visit and hospital stay with Kory with nothing to show for it but a huge medical bill! Jason and I still think it's his appendix and wouldn't be surprised if we are in having it taken out at some point this year...but doctors' know best, right!? I have been working two days a week for Principal Financial lending administrative support. I LOVE IT! Driving Kyle to his baseball camp one day a week...the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays I coordinate childcare at MOPS...Wednesday's morning bible study, One Way and G180...every other Thurs., Kory's classroom...every other Friday, Kyle's classroom. In between all of this, Jason has been traveling quite a bit for work so there's the thrilling adventure of "single" parenthood. I am truly not whining, but I am at the point on this roller coaster ride where I've had enough and would really like to get off! Oh and let's not forget about the dogs...Gunner is old and lazy except for when company comes then he's crazy hyper. And...Max....he is doing much better...much less toilet paper has been eaten and we are down to only a couple of accidents a week....yay!

On our "down" time we have been catching up on the TV show "24"...it's very addicting. We are on season 4...only 3 more to go to be all caught up. The way I see it...we'll be all caught up by the end of March :)

Well, this is my life in a nutshell. I am hoping to be able to chill and jump off this ride and be better at keeping all of you updated...hopefully with more positive highlights of our lives.

Take care and have a wonderful week.

AAAAHHHHH.....(pull hair).....AAAAAHHHH....(scream)....sigh!

Grrr...Max....

he looks so sweet doesn't he?!

We have had Max now for 3 weeks so I thought a little update was needed. Let's see, he hates his kennel so he whines and barks and goes crazy when put in it. AND...pees in it on a daily basis, goes outside to about a million times a day, chews on everything, torments our 8 year old springer spaniel, Gunner and can put away food like nothing I've seen before. He has unrolled 4 rolls of toilet paper (the boys can't remember to close the bathroom door!), chewed up my slipper, "marked" his territory under the Christmas tree too many times to count. I'm not sure what it is but the red tree skirt just draws him in. He has gone from a sweet little "infant" to an incorrigible 3 year old in no time flat! Just the same, we love him dearly and most days I can laugh, but there are moments when I would like to scream and drop kick him across the room (don't worry I will never do that).

After all of my ranting, I suppose I should shed some positive light on the poor little guy...he does go to the door when he wants to go out, sleeps all night (on our bed, nothing like someday having a 70 pound dog lying on your feet all night), loves to cuddle and is as cute as cute can be!

Welcome Home, Max!

MAX

Okay...so Max is the surprise from two posts ago! On the way home from Jason's Christmas party, we stopped and picked up our little bundle of joy, Max. The boys had no idea we were getting a new puppy. So....when we arrived home they were so shocked they were speechless (quite an accomplishment for our boys!)

Max's introduction to the boys!

It's been quite an interesting two weeks since Max arrived. Christmas company and a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's...whew! I think we have all weathered the events quite well, but Max did get a little spoiled so this week there has been some curbing of behaviors! I think we are down to a couple of accidents a day (I think he pees on the floor just out of spite!). I have to give him credit...he goes to the door and whines, but if you don't hear him right away, he doesn't wait! Max has quite the personality...a bit incorrigible at times. You know not quite different than a defiant toddler. He tries to play with Gunner, but Gunner really just tolerates him and ignores him if he can. But, that can be hard at times, especially when Max plows into him when he is least expecting it...like when he is trying to scratch his ears! Max has won many battles over the rawhide bones. Gunner's approach is to just walk away and then maybe this annoying little thing will go away! Max loves food and he never fails to finish off his bowl (and Gunner's). But, he hates his kennel! I AM determined to win this battle and he WILL be sleeping in there by next week!

Christmas with the Rieth's

Whew! Christmas is now over and the house is quite. It's hard to believe after having 12 people and 3 dogs in your house for 6 days! But....it was so much fun to have all of Jason's family here for Christmas. Enjoy the slide show!

A month of the Rieth's

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything. So I'd better get busy catching everyone up on our lives.

November was filled with the boys' birthdays, parent/teacher conferences, hunting and Thanksgiving.

BOYS' BIRTHDAYS!

We have a family tradition for birthdays...the boys get to pick wherever they want to eat on their birthday and do whatever they want to do for that day. So on the 9th our beloved Kory chose McDonald's (...ugh!) for his birthday dinner and he wanted to just hang out at home. Unfortunately Kyle's birthday fell on the Thursday so his day was spent at school, but he chose a local restaurant...2510 Family Restaurant for his birthday dinner. Since their birthdays are only 4 days apart, we decided to have a bowling party (that's what us Wisconsinites do) for them the weekend after their birthdays. It's a pretty sweet set-up...we got 3 large pizzas, unlimited refills on two pitchers of soda, however many games can be bowled in 1 hour and a bowling pin for each of them (which their friends all signed). They each invited 3 friends and bowled away. My mom and her husband were also able to join us for that weekend.

Kory and his friends

Kyle and his friends

The table and bowling lanes

The new 7 year old!

The new 11 year old!

The cupcakes that were purchased were mostly frosting...yuck!...and well, Jason couldn't resist...and here is the result...hee, hee....

PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

The boys' parent/teacher conferences went very well. Kory's teacher, Mrs. Lewis, had nothing but wonderful things to say about Kory...such as...Kory is a sweet boy who is kind, compassionate and respectful of everyone. Everyone loves him and wants to be his friend. Academically Kory is doing marvellously...he is in the 2nd highest reading group, a very good writer (thought completion, spelling and penmanship), and a quick thinker in math. So no complaints here on the parent end...we are very proud of him. Kyle's teacher, Mr. Miller, also had nothing but good things to say about Kyle. He is above-average to average in all of the subjects. Mr. Miller has been impressed by Kyle's responsibility and goal setting (as have Jason and I). He has become the little student, not that he ever wasn't, but we have just noticed him settling down and school becoming more important to him. There is much less reminding him of what needs to be done! So again, no complaints here...we are also very proud of Kyle.

HUNTING

Well, there's not much to report here because I don't believe there are any deer left in Wisconsin! Here is how our opener day unfolded....up and at 'em at 5 am and in the tree stand by 6:15 am and then we sit....and sit....and sit! It was a extremely frigid day that day so after bundling up with many layers and feeling much like the kid on A Christmas Story...I still froze! I made it until 9 am sitting quietly in the stand not seeing anything except a few chickadees and two blue jays. I packed it up and headed to the truck. Oh and to top it off I came down with pink-eye the day before so I had an itchy eye and had to wear my glasses. If a deer came along I most likely wouldn't have been able to shoot it anyway because I wouldn't have seen it through the fog on my glasses! Jason came back about 9:30 and then we met up with a friend. Jason and six other guys drove several sections of woods from 10 am to noon while I sat in the warm truck thawing my toes. We headed to a little bar for lunch....yuck!...the food was good but we smelled so bad after leaving, the deer could probably smell us miles away! Well, we were back in the stand by 2 pm and sat some more...still not seeing anything. It's really bad when you can't even think of anything to think about...nothing like making time go by slower! I'm not a huge conversationalist and do quite well being silent, but 11 hours of silence can make one go insane! Anyway, at 5 pm we headed home with not one single deer. Jason has been out twice since opening day, but has yet to see a deer let alone shoot one. Oh well, there's always next year...so all the hunter's say! I really just want to see one and shoot one so I can say that I did it and be done with this nonsense!

THANKSGIVING

My dad and his wife were able to join us for Thanksgiving. They arrived on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until 4 pm Thanksgiving day. My dad's wife, Sheila, had to work on Friday so they had to leave on Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time with them. My dad taught me how to play cribbage. It's something I have always wanted to learn how to play since I was a child. I remember sitting on dad's lap every Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter watching him and Grandma playing, but could never understand what they were doing. I can't say that I completely understand everything now, but it's slowly sinking in. I guess I understood it enough to beat him twice! :D We enjoyed turkey and all the fixin's and stuffed ourselves to misery. Afterwards I think all of us took a short nap with, of course, the TV playing in the background. The rest of the week, we hung around here doing absolutely nothing! I mean nothing! We actually planned a trip to Wal-Mart just to get out of the house...now that's insane.

We are now back into the grind and the craziness of the Christmas season begins. Kyle started basketball today so it's practices/games twice a week through December. This weekend Jason and I have tickets to go see The Nutcracker here at the Grand Theater. We somehow have to squeeze in getting our Christmas tree beforehand. We have Christmas party at Jason's office on Sunday with a busy week to follow! More Christmas parties next weekend and then preparing to have all of Jason's family here for Christmas! I hope I can keep everything in order and stay sane.

In two weeks we'll have an addition to share with you all...hee, hee! You'll just have to wait. Until then have a wonderful week.