Blizzard 2011

The blizzard began about 3:00pm on Tuesday. I had just gotten home from picking Sissy up from school (early) and the wind began to really blow. By that evening it was pretty amazing. Scott saw a couple neighbors snow blowing so he joined in. Before Macker went to bed the snow was already really deep.

Our electricity had been flickering all evening but at around 9 it was gone. Thank God, the kids stayed asleep all night. This morning the house was 49 degrees and I don't know if you can tell but the snow was almost covering the entire window. The lights turned on at 7:00am and we all broke into a happy dance singing 'This is the day, this is the day.....
After breakfast it was time to get to work.

Theses pictures don't begin to do it justice. Unreal!

Our freezing snowman.

The back door.

Scotty made a slide.
Here's June enjoying our patio furniture.

The snow is so deep they just walked right over the back fence.

Is it spring yet?

Scooter worked so hard making a path for our car.

The rest of the day we'll spend enjoying movies and rest in our WARM and cozy house.

LOVE!

Last October we received a referral for the most beautiful little girl. For reasons that Scott and I are totally at peace with, our referral did not continue. For the past couple months we have just been waiting and praying for the exact child that God has for our family. This past week we received "the call" from our family coordinator for a most precious 4.5 month old little BOY!

Scott and I were both on the phone as she told us a little bit about him and his background. She then told us that his given name is S*****. Scott and I both started to laugh (and cry) because his name is the very one that we had decided on using if we were blessed with a boy. Do you get how awesome that is? His birth family and our family choose the same name.

We told the kids and gave them each a picture of their new brother. Amelia's first words were, "I guess I was always meant to be the only Murray girl." The boys were cheering...

Here's what needs to happen next...
*Our agency to obtain/prepare our documents for court
*The Ethiopian court to accept our paperwork
*Get a court date
*Fly to Ethiopia to meet our son and go to court (maybe 3 months from now)
*Fly home
*Our agency to submit paperwork to the US Embassy
*US Embassy to perform an investigation and release a VISA
*Fly back to Ethiopia to pick up our son.

(I got this little list from another adoptive family's blog)

Nothing is ever predictable with international adoption. We are praying that we will receive a court date soon and that the rest of this process process will go smoothly. Please pray for our little S*****, for his health and safety. We are thankful for all your prayers and love.

I forgot to mention that we are not able to publish his picture until he is offically ours.

I'm Baaaaack!!!

It's with great joy that I announce that I'm back. After 6 months of the slowest computer in the entire world and over a month with NO computer at all, I am the happiest person in the world.

Say hello to HP.

So, here's the story... I knew that we didn't have any room in our budget for a new computer so I asked Scoot if I sold things, could I use the money for a computer... He said yes, and I sorted through the entire basement and listed all our junk on Ebay.

(you might see a mess, all I see is $$)

I listed over 20 items on Ebay.... then I packaged them up...

Put them all in garbage sacks and took them to the post office.

I made just enough for the computer! I have never had a new computer and it's awesome.I could not be more thankful and I know for sure the guy at Best Buy thought I was nuts.

Okay, so now in no particular order (phone) photos of the last month of our lives...
We were at the opening day of the first Pei Wei in the western suburbs of Chicago. Oh, yeah!!

Scott turned into Vanilla Ice.

BBQing in the snow...

We got a new shelf from Ikea in our laundry room.

We made a snowman. It's still looks exactly the same right now.

I drive Sissy to school just like this. Brrrrrrr.

The kids are as crazy as ever.

We went to zoo lights at Lincoln Park Zoo.

We finally hung something above our bed.

I became an aunt again to the cutest little brown haired boy!
Theodore John Rozeboom.

I'm sure there are a couple things I'm forgetting but we are all healthy and happy and surviving the cold winter. Check back tomorrow when I have the hugest announcement ever!!!!

Computer Died

If any of you were wondering if I quit blogging.... NEVER! My computer died. Very sad day around here. I miss blogging. Love you all.

First Snow!

This past week it has really started to get cold around here. I told the kids that if they're cold they should just wear their hats in the house. (heat is expensive)

Poor little buddies were freezing...

This morning we woke up early, ready to have a fun day of Christmas decorating.

Teamwork!

Finalllly Macker with a real smile.

Family! The star!!!
Next we bundled up and got ready to play in the first snow of the year!
Ready!?!?
It was a true winter wonderland.
Mac hated the snow last winter but today he LOVED it! What a difference a year makes.
JUNEDOG!
More June....

Sissy flew down the hill.

The kids got pretty tired on the walk home from the sledding hill.
Lucky for them, they have a really strong dad.

We Love Grandpa!

When Grandpa was here he... rode bikes...


...patched walls...

... cleaned and organized the garage and hung bikes...
... planted bulbs...... took a train ride......played at the museum...

... toured downtown......played on the train...
...drove to Iowa and ate Thanksgiving dinner...

...relaxed...

...and we had a great time. He's already back in sunny AZ.