HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIERRA!!

Today is Sierra's 6th birthday. I remember the day we got a call that we had a baby girl waiting for us to pick up. After a long pregnancy with a birthmom, we went to the hospital to endure hours of labor in the waiting room. Finally in the middle of the night, a baby boy was presented to us. We held him, took pictures of him, called him by the name we had picked out for him, and then left the hospital to get some sleep. The next morning, the birthmom changed her mind and decided to parent her child. It was heartbreaking, but we actually expected it by her actions and words throughout the pregnancy. We headed off to Portland to go hunting with family. The day before we left, we got a call that another birthmom had given birth to a healthy baby girl and she wanted us to parent her child. WE WERE THRILLED!!! We postponed our hunting trip to travel up and get our new daughter. She has been a joy in our lives ever since.

This is a picture of her when she was around 6 months old. This smile and light in her eyes shows you what an amazing, happy little girl she is. Sierra is talented, happy, loving, and goofy all at the same time.

This is her at her first dance recital.

We love you baby girl!!!!! Have a great birthday. You are a joy to us and bring light into our lives!!

Boundaries

Today was the first day of my new bible study, "Boundaries". It sounds like it is going to be an interesting and very informative class. We meet at CTK every Wednesday at 10am for the next 8 weeks. It is great to do something with adults from church. I miss going to Mom's Cafe, so this is a great thing for me. Maybe I will even learn how to set some boundaries in life. The title of the workbook is, Boundaries, when to say yes, when to say no, to take control of your life.

I'll keep you all posted as to how it goes!!

Findings around the farm

It was brought to my attention yesterday that I haven't been blogging. I know, I know. My excuse? LIFE!!!! Between getting back into the school mode for the kids, studying, and preparing for Fall, it has been busy around here. Not to mention that three days a week are dedicated football and soccer practices and games. In October, Sierra will be starting dance again!! Crazy right?

Anyways, during my study break today I went outside and walked around with the camera. I found a hugely pregnant spider. Isn't she cool?

I also found a dead, almost completely intact dragonfly. This is not the best picture, but I couldn't get my camera to focus on it very well. I intend to take it to the kids' school and give it to their science teacher.

Then I went to check on the goldfish in the cattle water trough. They started out as tiny, itty-bitty fish and have grown into nice 2-3 inch goldfish.

The last thing for me to share with you is a frog who thought they were camoflauged enough that I wouldn't see it. Wrong! I spied you and decided you were a pretty cool picture. Look at the nail head next to it. It is a good size frog.

Well, I will try to be better about blogging, but I'm not going to make any promises. It is a busy time of year and I am trying really hard to finish my studying so I can finally get a job.

HAPPY HARVEST EVERYONE!!!

Help! Aliens have invaded my garden!!!!

Ok, maybe not really. But I just had to get your attention. The other day Gordon and I went out and started digging up all our potatoes to put into storage for later use. I ended up with a lot of red potatoes. I love those! My california whites didn't produce as many potatoes. I finally figured out why when I got to the second to last plant. All the nutrients were going to this monster potato. The one on the left is a good size baking potato. The other one....who knows. Aliens, maybe?

Sierra- - -my big girl!!!

Today was Sierra's first day of Kindergarten. She has been sooo excited to get to her new class. We laid out an outfit last night for her to wear, brushed her hair so it wouldn't get all tangled in the middle of the night, and got to bed at 8:00pm. She woke up ready to go!! She was excited to have a lunch in her new lunch bag, and couldn't believe that she got to ride the bus! I met her at the school and took a few pictures. The first is talking to Daddy on the way to the bus shelter; next, in the bus shelter; getting on the bus; at school; in her classroom. Yeah!! My big girl is growing up! How fun.

egg cartons

I am writing this post to plead for egg cartons. We have run out of the hundreds that we bought and have decided to use other cartons. We made our own labels with a note in red saying to please return the cartons for re-use, but we have now run out. People didn't return them and we have gone through about 3-4 hundred cartons.

So, if you have any cartons available that you aren't using, please save them for us and give me a call to come and collect them. We will use all clean, non-ripped cartons.

Thanks so much-I hope you all have a great 3-day weekend!!!

BTW-Evan never made it into the paper. I guess the photographer chose not to use his picture.

The start of another journey....

Today, Evan started the 3rd grade. It is unbelievable how fast the time goes. I still remember his first day in Kindergarten. He was very excited this morning to get to school. He knows all of his classmates, except for a couple of new ones. He was excited to meet his teacher, Mrs. Som. I got a few pictures of him as we waited in his bus shelter, got on the bus, and also at the school. While I was taking the picture of him in front of the school, someone from the Bellingham Herald took his picture also. Evan will be in the paper tomorrow!!! How cool is that? He doesn't even know it yet. Maybe I won't tell him. I will just buy a paper and then show him. That would be fun!