I-800A Approval!!! {adoption update}

We couldn't be happier today- because after 70 days(which is WAY longer than we had expected it would take- and actually if you go by their receipt date it was technically 66 days) we finally received this envelope:

In it contained ONE piece of paper stating that the Department of Homeland Security has approved our home study and we may proceed with our adoption of a little girl from China!  YAY!!!!!!
We were at a complete standstill until this arrived.  So now what?
Well, now we put a copy of this in with 12 other important documents(birth certificates, marriage certificate, police clearances, our home study, employment verification letters, ect.) and mail it to Bismarck to the office of the Secretary of State.  After they look over it and "Seal" the documents, then it will all get mailed back to us and we will send it off to a service that will walk it to the Embassy in Washington DC to be certified there.  THEN it will be sent back to us AGAIN and we will add a few things like pictures of our family and reference letters and then mail it all to our placing agency in CA.  From there it will go to China!!!
And then we can finally wait for a match.
Paperwork, paperwork, wait, wait, wait... it can be crazy, frustrating, and stressful but it will all pay off in the end- and we'll probably forget how bananas this year was.  Like childbirth, right? :)
Stay tuned... we'll keep you posted.  More good things to come!!

front yard tree swing {best thing EVER}

So, we've been wanting to do this forever- about 5 years!  And today it was going to happen- I was deteremined!  I will spare you the ugly details of the events leading up to the sucessful installation but let me just say there were:  tall ladders teetering precariously against the tree, organic bags of beans and wheat berries exploding all over the ground, a roof rake, threats, and some grumpy words being exchanged.  We almost gave up several times until a combination of all of the above finally worked.

And boy, was it ever worth it.  This is SO FUN!!  The kids are in love.

 

Some friends stopped over to give it a whirl and they all had a blast.
I have to be sure to get pictures of the boys on it next time!
A special thank you to dear, sweet husband/daddy for risking life and limb for the kiddos happiness today.  You are the best!

good things

I was long overdue bring my sweet friend, Wendy her birthday present.  You see, I had it in my head that I wanted to stamp her birthdate on the tag with my library stamp but I couldn't find it anywhere... for days!!!  I became obsessed and would not give it to her without finding it.  Lucky for her it only took about 2 weeks!  Ugh...  Oh well, maybe the cuteness of the wrapping made up for it??

I used a recycled dessert box from the grocery store and cut up some old book pages for the fluff at the bottom.  Then I wrapped up a vintage tea towel, some of her favorite tea, and a tiny ceramic tea spoon from Crate and Barrel.  I wrapped the outside with a strip of vintage Holly Hobby fabric and some cute tags I bought from the gals at Modern Textiles a long time ago.  I've been waiting to use them.  The top tag I recycled from a used one I had and covered up the writing with scrapbook paper and washi tape.  And of course, we cannot forget the added touch of her birthdate stamped on it!  Ha!
I kind of like this cute packaging thing... my mom is the master at it, as I've mentioned and shown you here before.  I will have to keep thinking of new things to try out in the future!

I wanted to share this too- I stopped at a yard sale yesterday after picking up Mary Beth from Art, lunch and recess... and spotted these beauties!  The chair was only $5 and it just needs some piping added around the edges of the fabric.  And behold!  Vintage sheets!!  I've been collecting these to use for the crafts I'm making to sell at Unglued and the Junk Market coming up next weekend.  You won't believe it but the really nice gal who was having the sale GAVE these to me for free!  We got to talking and I found out she is from The White House Boutique(love their stuff by the way!) and she told me she had wanted to come to our sale but didn't make it so to consider this a donation.  How sweet is she??  I know I can make good money with these items in the future- I'm so excited and blown away by the kindness of others once again.  But that's not all!!  She also offered to sell the vintage jewelry I have left from the sale at her booth at Junk Market!   Yay!!!

And in closing, a shot of the sunflowers Jeffrey planted at the community garden- they let him cut some to bring home last night.  Gorgeous!

Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion {Rollag- 2013}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So fun here!!  If you've never been and you live around Rollag- please go next year.  It was really fun.  I just wish it had been about 20 degrees warmer!
The day before was HOT and then it was FA-REEZING... this area has the silliest weather I tell ya!
Steam Threshers is so inexpensive by the way- 50 cents for a box of popcorn and the same for a big cup of hot apple cider(which really came in handy!)- and the bestest thing:  $2 GIANT ice cream cones!  The kids were so excited- they each got their own big cones!  Normally we share things to save money.... but they had participated in a treasure hunt(digging around in sawdust for coins and prize tokens) and found enough money for 2 cones!  And MB won a train whistle. :)
The train ride was free, as well as the kids admission and everything else there besides the food.
We will definitely be making this an annual tradition- the kids loved the playground(see-saws!) and towards the end of the day we discovered the best part:  old-fashioned Main Street!  Story of our life...

a photo-shoot, a baby pool, and a power outage {another scorcher!}

It was in the 90s again today and the school in our neighborhood had to call off class possibly for the remainder of the week(they don't have air conditioning).  Today we watched Norah and Emma and decided to head outside after lunch to have another water fight.  Well, we weren't even set up yet when a photographer from The Forum stopped by and asked if he could take some pictures of the kids.  We got all the necessary permission and he snapped away!
This yard sure is popular with the media lately! Ha!!

Later the kids begged me to try and find the pool- we were sure regretting not setting up our big one this year!  I didn't think we still had it but ta-da!  One baby pool coming right up!

can you believe they all smushed in there??

 

there was also some chalk self-portraits done- notice Jeffrey's sloth shirt :)

 

Then... if that wasn't excitement enough for one day, the power went out tonight!  We managed to scrounge up some candles(I thought I sold them all!) and played a game of Pick 2 by mood light.  I won by the way but guess what?  Apparently we weren't keeping score... how convenient! :)

Island Park Show and a Squirt Gun Fight {today was HOT}

We knew today was going to be hotter than blazes(as my grandpa used to say)... but the Island Park Show could not be missed so we tried to go as early as we could.  Mary Beth brought a spray/fan bottle that didn't sell at our sale and we made it without melting.

There was some really great music and we sit and listened to the Irish band until the heat overcame everyone and that was that.  I got to walk around the whole show so that was good- didn't buy anything like usual!  I pretty much never do at these things but I still like to go!

The afternoon was in the upper 90s so we skipped out on Streets Alive(sadly too... we've yet to go to one!) and John had a brilliant idea.  He filled up a bunch of buckets, told the kids to get their suits on and initiated a water fight.  They had the time of their lives out there!

 

Oh yeah, and I thought I'd better show everyone Boo's buzz cut.  Those ears!!  I don't even recognize her now and she's running around like a nut case.
I guess it probably feels good to finally be able to see! Ha!

Our Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale {day 4-last one!} Complete Success!!!

So, I found this picture on my phone of the first day of the sale... seems like so long ago now!

and here's some pictures I snapped today towards the end.

The story behind this:  I wanted to sell the horse but the kids wouldn't let me so they decided we could just charge kids to ride on it!  Win, win, right?  ha!

this penguin, which was part of the display advertising our sale, was probably the biggest hit of the whole week!  He was the most coveted item- we could have sold him at least 100 times, I kid you not!
That and:  the globes, the chalkboard, and of course the teepee! :)

Most of the big items sold- we were down to this assortment this morning.  By the end of the day, many of these were gone too.

I know everyone is curious about what the grand total was so here we go!  You will NOT believe it- we cannot believe it ourselves.  After many donations and hundreds upon hundreds of sales our huge yard sale made:

$7000

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!
This means so much to our family- you have all become part of our daughter's story...
in a big way.
I will be blogging more soon about all of the acts of kindness we have encountered over this past week so stay tuned!  We feel honored to live in a community that is so supportive, so generous, so kind.