SHARK ATTACK

Okay, so there wasn't a shark attack, but our day was definitely themed around sharks today.  1st, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so of course we had to take advantage of the sun and go for a swim.

As the clouds started to roll in (more thunderstorms) we thought we'd check out the indoor lazy river.  Luke could have spent hours in here, but the kids and I got a little bored after a while.

After that we took a trip to the aquarium (since it was a bit rainy), it was awesome.  The 2 largest attractions were the sting rays and sharks.  Everyone else obviously had the same idea as us because the place was packed.  It was tons of fun though and cool to see lots of aquatic life up close.  I could have watched the sting rays for hours, they are very graceful creatures.

We thought we'd continue with our aquatic theme and see a movie about sharks playing at the IMAX.  This was fun since the movie was 3D.  It was entertaining watching all the kids in the theater trying to reach out and touch the fish.

You'd think they'd make the 3D glasses a little more fashionable. =)  This is what I learned about sharks today: people have negative and fearful views of them, but really they play an important part in our oceans life cycle, if people don't change their ways they soon will be endangered.

We enjoyed a WAY yummy dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  It was some good cajun boil.  This was of course followed by some more random shopping.  Good thing I don't shop like this at home, or we'd be broke!

Just a bit of randomness I thought you might enjoy. =)  Not something you see everyday, it's a museum in case you were wondering.

Lazy Day

Yesterday we just spent the day hanging out on the beach and swimming at the pools (our hotel has 2 pools, 2 splash parks, & a lazy river).

The kids loved the beach the most, nothing beats hours of playing in the sand and being chased by waves.  Don't let the clouds in these pictures fool you, even though it was a bit overcast the weather was about 80 and we still got sunburned.

daddy made him a mini-pool to sit in

sand makes a great place for drawling =)

I spent what felt like a couple hours trying to build this massive sand castle (you are never too old to play in the sand).  I'm pretty sure professional sand sculptors would have laughed at my master piece, but I worked very hard on this.  About an hour after it was complete the tide came up and washed it away in minutes. =(

This place is loaded with beach shops, they all sell the same kind of thing with a different twist.  Did I mention these are my favorite places to shop!  So, we stopped by another shop last night, just to see if they had anything else I liked. =)  We let the kids pick out some sunglasses.  Kristin of course tried to find the most girly ones possible and Kade chose the brightest.  He looks like he's a kid right out of the 90s, I can believe some of this stuff is back in style. =)

The 2 pictures below are the view we have from the balcony in our room.

Busy Day

So far, it appears that for my husband this trip revolves around food.

He was so excited to find this place, in Iowa it's his favorite place to eat when we visit.

After a nice morning swim, our afternoon was filled with fun at the amusement park.  There were rides for all ages and we all had tons of fun.

So I tried to make my horse ride away like Mary Poppins and sing "supercalafrudgaliciousexpeealadocious"... but no such luck. =)

This video above is hilarious if you haven't watched it yet.  After a morning of swimming and almost 5 hours at the amusement park, poor baby was exhausted and falling asleep while eating dinner. =)  Of course, this didn't seem to deter me from doing a bit of shopping on the way back to our room (in my defense, the kids needed to wear off the ice cream they just had).

Traveling Pictures

Okay, so now these pictures uploaded without a problem.  I guess I just needed to connect to a different server.  So here are some pictures from yesterday.  We are blessed with children who travel very well!  After a couple airplane rides and an incident with security (I accidentally put my big bottle of sunscreen in the our carry-on) we made it.

My husband is currently in seafood heaven.  Living inland the seafood is not of the best quality, but on the coast here, there are tons of seafood restaurants and the biggest shrimp we've ever eaten.

No vacation is complete without some pictures by some random statues.

We arrived during some stormy (thunderstorms) weather yesterday, so we ended our day with a nice walk on the beach (which is just outside our hotel).  The kids enjoyed looking for seashells.

Hello From the Beach

For those of you out there who truly care, we made it to our fabulous beachy destination without any problems.  Unfortunately I will not be posting any pictures like planned until after we get home...the internet connection here is WAY slow and I've been trying to upload a picture for forever now... but nothing is happening!!!  So, in the mean time, I may just put up some random posts that I've been saving for a while.

Bon Voyage

Our bags are packed and we are headin' out for a much needed adventure.  To a place where the weather will be consistently warmer than here (80 degrees one day and 30 the next just isn't cuttin' it for me).  To a place where our untanned winter skin can soak up some much needed sun.  To a place where we can enjoy endless sand and the beautiful sound of crashing waves.  To place where we can just lay by the pool all day without a care in the world.  To a place where I have a personal chef for every meal and I don't have to do dishes.  To a place where I have my own house keeper, so there will be no cleaning or laundry.  To a place where I can enjoy my amazing family without any distractions.  Stay tuned for some fabulous vacation pictures...

Eagle Family

I understand that what I'm about to tell you might sound completely crazy, but I'll share it anyways.  The last couple days this eagle family has become a part of our lives.  All day long we've had the live feed on, and have watched this mother and father eagle take care of their 3 new chicks.  What's even more exciting is that we got to watch one of the chicks hatch while we were eating dinner Wednesday night.  It was so amazing to see this new life, and we (even my husband) really enjoy watching them feed and care for their chicks.  I'm looking forward to watching these little eagles grow up.  This has been quite an educational experience for all of us.   This is one of those times that I'm very grateful for technology.  Click here to see what I'm talking about, and enjoy them for yourselves.

Urgent Prayer Requests!!!

My heart is heavy right now for many concerns with what is happening and might happen in the adoption world.  Spiritual warfare in the adoption world is VERY heavy right now.  Please pray for God to move mountains, and chains to be broken.  I'd like to ask to you be praying with me:

1. Pray for our government as there is speculation of them shutting down tomorrow.  Pray that our President and Congress would come to an agreement in regards to the budget so their isn't a shutdown.  If the government temporarily shuts down this could have a huge impact on adoptions that are being processed right now, especially through USCIS and the US Embassy.  There are currently families in Rwanda and other countries trying to bring home their children right now, and this shut down would delay this as they would have trouble getting their child's U.S. Visa.  Please click here for more details.

2. Pray for families adopting from Ethiopia, things have really slowed down in the process and many families are now waiting a very long time for court dates.  Pray for clarity in Ethiopia's government and their adoption process.  Pray that they find an effective way to eliminate trafficking without slowing down the process for families and children who need to be together.  Not only is it hard on the parents, but for the children waiting.  They know they have a mommy and daddy who will be coming for them, but after a long time of waiting it's hard to believe this.  For more information about this, click here.

3. Pray for families adopting from Rwanda, things continue to be sporadic and inconsistent.  Specifically pray for the families who are still waiting for their referrals.  There are many who received approvals over 3 months ago and are still waiting for a referral (this typically takes 1-2 months).  Pray for everyone working in the ministry, for them to have wisdom and organization as they process so many dossiers.  Pray also for the families who have heard nothing, yet many around them have heard something.  The silence can be hard and cause you to jump to many speculations.

I want to thank you all for praying with me.  I still have hope that we will bring our babies home soon and that many of my other friends who have also been waiting for so long will soon be united with their children.

Psalm 37:3-8

"Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord and wait patientely for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways;
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret - it leads only to evil."

Baby Fix

It has started to become a routine for me to get my baby fix every week.  But I don't just love on any baby, I love on my sweet nephew whom I think is the cutest thing ever.  So this is what I did yesterday, I went to visit him at my mom's (she was babysitting), I think she was a little sad that I came to see him and not her.  The bonus for my mom though is that she got to see her other 2 beautiful grandchildren as well, so it all works out! =)  But look at these pictures, he's just so stinkin' cute, you can't resist him.

 

In case you can't tell, I'm a VERY proud auntie! =)

Only At Grandma's House

Last week my children started a joke telling phase of their lives and I owe this all to my mother.  The video below is the joke my mom taught the kids last week at their sleepover (which by the way, I'd rate this as a pg-13 joke, so use caution when playing this around your children). 

Since my kids learned this one joke, they now keep telling random jokes constantly.  Here's an example:
      Kids: knock, knock
      Me: who's there
      Kids: banana..... at this point both of my children laugh hysterically for 5 minutes and you can't help but laugh with them, not because you think the joke was funny, but because they are laughing so hard and they think the joke is so funny.  If everyone had a sense of humor like small children, comedians would be the richest people in the world.

Love for Books

I love that both of my children love books.  They love having books read to them, they love looking at books by themselves, and they love reading books to other people as well.  I enjoy trying to find books that really interest them.  My daughter currently loves Flamingos, so we've enjoyed many flamingo books from the library.  My son loves Disney Cars, and to my surprise the library has many Disney Cars books.  Here's a video of him reading one of these Cars books to daddy.

I apologize for the terrible quality of this video.  I'm still working on perfecting my video taking skills.

Favorite Books

Many people on their blogs like to give book reviews.  So, I thought I'd do the same with a different twist.  You see, I enjoy reading, but I personally find most adult books rather boring.  There are a few that I love and just can't put down, but the majority of them I take FOREVER to read.  But I must say, I LOVE children's books.  I always said this is why I became an elementary teacher, so I could have an excuse for reading children's books.  They are just much more entertaining, have great humor, and use much more imagination.  So here are a few personal favorites that my kids and I love.  I highly encourage you to check them out.  These same authors by the way, write many other great books.  Click the books below to get more information, I highly recommend checking all of these out at your local library!

Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type
Falling for Rapunzel
Skippyjon Jones
The Grouchy Ladybug
Green Eggs & Ham
My Lucky Day
How I Became A Pirate

Jam Recipe

I've had multiple readers ask about the recipe we use to make our jam.  So here it is, it's really easy, we just follow the easy freezer jam recipe off the sure-jell box which you can get at any grocery store, usually in the section with jellos.  ENJOY!!! =)

Project "Jam" Complete

Once a year, in the spring, when strawberries are on sale, we make lots of freezer jam.  Usually enough to last us through the whole year.  That is what we did this weekend, although we made a bit more than normal to give some to my sister.  Some of our best childhood memories are eating this same yummy strawberry jam at my grandma's house.  I can just taste it right now, it made rolls and sandwiches taste 10 times better.  Me and my cousins lived for this jam and have very fond memories of it.  So, I carry on the yummy tradition for my children, and of course for me as well, so I can re-live those great childhood memories of grandma's strawberry jam.

Funny Girl

The birth mothers on my new babies are on my heart often.  I always wonder how they, where they are, what situation they are in, etc.  As this adoption has progressed and many people in our lives have been pregnant, we have done a lot of explaining to our children in regards to adoption, birth mothers, and babies in tummies.  Keep in mind our children are only 3 and 4, so its been a pretty basic, age appropriate discussion.  Not too long ago I received a rather odd question from my 4 year old daughter.  Her exact question:  "Mommy, where's my birth mother?"   A little baffled, I smiled and explained that I was her birth mother and she grew in my tummy.  Her very plain as day response, "no you aren't."  Then I replied, "yes honey, I am your birth mother."  Again she had the same reply and this went back and forth multiple times.  This girl just cracks me up with some of the things she says.

On the way home today she was singing "Jesus Love the Little Children" in the car.  Her change in words had me laughing for a good 5 minutes (see her version below) and made me think that if there are green aliens out there, this song now encompasses them as well.

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, black & yellow.....(long pause)......green & white, they are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.