Tonight, we went to the women's Maryland basketball game.  Lots of fun and of course, they won!!!  Off to bed as Alex has her last basketball game of the season tomorrow morning, bright and early.  Oh, and Callum's hat won the competition for his grade.  Alex's didn't, but I think it should have:0)

Dr. Seuss reading day!

Alex's pink Horton hat and Callum's two green fish hat for Dr. Suess Day!

Today is Dr. Seuss reading day at the kids school.  They are in a hat contest.  Luckily Gareth is artistic, so he helped the kids this week do their hats.  Alex did a pink Horton Hat.  It was too cute.  Callum did 2 green fish, from "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish".  I am heading to the school now to read to both their classes.  Alex picked a dinosaur book for me to read.  Too bad I can't pronounce half of the names:0)  Luckily, Callum picked, "Are you my mother", which is one of my favorites.  I think it will be a fun afternoon.  

Liam couldn't be out done this morning as I was taking pictures.  My cute little man went and got Callum's football helmet and put it on saying, "hat, hat, cheese."  He is soooooo darn cute!!

 

Anyone else ready for spring???

I seem to be in a bit of a funk the past couple of days.  Tired of the cold, can't get motivated to tidy up my house, and my car, good gracious, it looks like that tornado has been through it:0)

Def. ready for spring!!!!

Yesterday, I had a dr. appointment, and then it was off to the grocery store.  Always fun:0)  I spent the afternoon at the kids school, which I love to do.  Last night, we had a nice family meal and then Gareth went off to his bible study.  Alex and I spent the evening doing her Feb. project.  She did a report on Dr. Mae Jamison, the first African American female in space.  I let her type it.  Don't know what I was thinking.  My patience was not all there, but I held my tongue and hands and let her do it.  I struggle so much and have really have to hold back and let me kids do things themselves.  (control freak, is that what I am??)  In the end, although it took a few hours, she did a GREAT job.  Off to school she went today after presenting it to us at breakfast.  I am so proud of her.  She loves doing school work!!  

I guess that is all for now. I am off to try to motivate myself to do some stuff around here!

I hope that everyone has a great week and please pray for my attitude this week!!!

a Few facts....please pray!!!

***1 in 330 children will have had cancer by the age of 20!

***Each school day, 46 children will be diagnosed with cancer in the US.

Please continue to pray for Abby and her family.  she has started another round of Chemo this week.

Also a request has gone out for Cody.  The end is near for him and prayer would be appreciated!!!

Thank you

It's Official!!!!

We have gone to court and gotten the OK!  I know that this may be confusing to some as the boys are ours, but the way they came home required another adoption recognized here in the US.  It went great!! I was, of course, a nervous wreck.  Before we walked in, our lawyer pulled us aside and said that we have the judge we wanted.  YEAH!!  I thought that this might mean we just stand up there and he gives us the OK.   I still had to testify, which was a little nerve wracking.  I really don't know what I said except for a lot of yes's.  I think that I nodded a few times in stead of saying yes.  When our lawyer finished his questioning, I was about to step down when the judge then decided to ask me a few questions.  Gareth didn't end up having to testify b/c one of the questions the judge asked was if he were to put my husband on the stand, would he say exactly what I said.  Of course, he would, so Gareth got off lucky.  In the end, we were given the approval and the adoption was granted.  We were in there less than 10 minutes!  Praise GOD!!!!  

I will post some pics now.  I couldn't get a great one of all of us.  The boys didn't want to cooperate.  We also had friends come and that meant the world to us!!  The funniest part was when we were leaving the court room and Callum said, "can I talk now?  Is it ok and I won't go to jail?"  Too cute.  Alex had told him going down that if he talked, the judge would kick him out of the court room. Callum interpreted that as going to jail.  Very funny!!

Now we are going to await their new birth certificates and then apply for US Citizenship for them.  I pray that the next step goes as smoothly as today did!!!   We now legally have a Callum and William!!  We do have to do some name changes too, but that is just busy work really!!

Thank you Lord for watching over us today and making it go as smoothly as it did!!

 

Our 10th Anniversary!!

This past weekend, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!  We were able to go away, (thanks to my parents and friends, Helena and Andy) so we did:0)  We went to Hershey, PA Friday afternoon, Sat. and Sunday.  We attended a family life marriage conference.  It was a lot of fun, and pretty motivating.  Saturday night, we went out to dinner.  Just the 2 of us.  Our friends Lori and Brent went to the conference too, but Sat. night was our anniversary and date night!!  We went to a beautiful restaurant at the Hotel Hershey.  It had a dress code, so Gareth had to wear a suit.  (love that man in a suit!!)  The food was phenomenal!!!  We started out with chocolate raspberry bread with chocolate butter.  You know that when your meal starts that way, it can only get better, which it did.  I had chicken that just melted in your mouth. Gareth had steak that he said was the best he has ever had.    Also, the waiter gave us chocolate covered strawberries for our anniversary, (pictured above)   I surprised Gareth with a trip home to England for his mom's 60th birthday next month!  She and I planned this back in Nov. and I have kept it a secret for this long.  That is huge for me!! I was so excited to see his face when he opened it!!   He surprised me with a beautiful bracelet with the kids birthstones.  Very thoughtful!!  All in all, we agreed that this was the best anniversary that we have ever had!

On Sunday after the conference, we headed out and since we didn't have to be home until today, we stopped in Gettysburg, PA.  I love it there too.  I love history, so I could spend an unlimited 
amount of time in a place like Gettysburg.  Since it wasn't planned, we lucked out by finding a B&B right in the heart of town.  We were able to walk around last night and today before coming home!!  It was a very nice and much needed weekend!!!   We did a lot of talking without the interruption of little voices.  We can't believe that 10 years has gone by and also the things that have happened and the struggles we have had.   I am so thankful for a husband that had stayed by my side through thick and thin.  

Please pray for us as tomorrow we go to court for the boys final adoption hearing!!  I pray that everything goes well and that we leave there with the adoption decree needed to apply for their citizenship!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

We are heading out later today to Hershey PA to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary!!  I will post more later, but please pray for a safe trip. Also that my mom and I feel better and for the safe keeping of the kids.  Also, Liam's health.  I am a little nervous going away with how he has been.   For those of you that celebrate Valentine's Day, (instead of your wedding anniversary), I hope that you have a great one!!!