Temporary Move

Hello loyal followers.

This is just a quick note to tell you that for a short period of time - you can find us here.

We wanted a way for our friends and family to check in on our African Adventure but didn't want to share this blog address with such a wide audience.

We'll return here with stories and pictures shortly after our arrival back home.

Despite How It Looks - It's Not a Costume.

So I don't get any blog-points for posting this so late but I just pulled this picture off of my phone and had to share.

We participated in the Trunk-or-Treat event at our church on Halloween. There was a contest for "best dressed" trunk and this was our entry.


You can't tell in the picture but Sheena is behind the picket fence.

We won.

Court - Passed


We are now the proud parents of two very handsome boys. We got the word yesterday that we "passed court"...the first time around! It is very exciting.

I have many thoughts and words to share but am having a hard time putting them all together. If I wrote something out now it would include random phrases like "oh my goodness" and "I can't believe it" and "isn't it wonderful." What's in my head is much more eloquent and thoughtful. Maybe someday it will make it onto paper.

Now That's More Like It

My mom recently had a monumental birthday and her mom and siblings were here to surprise her. It was great fun. They were at our house one night for dinner. My Uncle John had his fancy camera lens and took some proper pictures of this place. No matter how hard I tried, I could never capture our house with my little point-and-shoot.









I love this picture of two of my favorite people.



Happy Birthday Mom!

(Sometimes blogger drives me crazy - sorry for the spacing issues. I've been working on fixing it for an hour and I'm giving up!)

Old News

So we've decided to include the current chapter of our lives in this blog. It is what has kept us occupied and caused the blog neglect you've seen here. For most of you this will be old news. You may feel a little dejavu but I thought it would be best to start back at the beginning. Someday we'll look back on this and will want to see the full picture (if we'll even be able to access this information on the archaic format called "a blog").

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the walk down memory lane.

April 30, 2009

Things have been busy around our house and we wanted to keep you updated on all the happenings.

After many months of disappointment, planning, and praying...we are finally in the process of expanding our family. We have started the adoption process and are equally scared and excited (okay, Kim is equally scared and excited...John is just excited).

Our initial application to adopt a child from Ethiopia has been approved and we're in the thick of paperwork, notaries, and interviews. Right now the process seems to be taking about 15 months from start to finish. We're two months into it at this point.

Our next step is to have a homestudy done. They collect information from references (thank you references!). We answer questions we never thought we'd have to even think about. They'll assess our house, our marriage, our finances, our families...and hopefully decide that we'd make pretty good parents.

It's a long, unpredictable process but we know it's right. We have felt God's guidance in this decision from the very start and we know he will give us what we need all along the way. Who wants the job of reminding me of this a year from now when I'm impatient and frustrated?

Thank you so much for the prayers you have prayed for us so far. Keep them coming. We're gonna need 'em!

May 5, 2009

Thank you all for your wonderful words of support. Really. It means a lot to us that people are excited and praying for us.

I thought I'd answer some "frequently asked questions" all in one shot.

1. Do we get to choose if it's a boy or a girl?

We do get to choose but we have opted not to. We wouldn't have been able to choose with a biological child either.

2. How old will the baby be when you bring them home?

We have requested to adopt an "infant". On average, babies are anywhere from 6 months to 1 year when they "come home".

3. Are you getting more than one baby?

The official answer is that we have applied for one baby. We have let them know that we are open to adopting siblings. I was struck by this one day, thinking about what it would be like to grow up and know that you are so far away from the people who are biologically related to you. If there are siblings that need a home, we're willing and hopefully able to give them one.

4. Where are the babies now?

Our agency runs two care centers in Ethiopia. One is for children who are initially taken into care and the other is a "transition" home for children who will soon be adopted. Our agency recently sent a DVD of the care center's Christmas party. I'm not sure what I expected it to look like but was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The building is new and clean and the staff was attentive and caring. Seeing it put my mind at ease.

5. Can we babysit?

Yes - would you like to sign up for a time now?

We just sent off another stack of paperwork. This stack included a "homestudy application" that was 10 pages of open ended questions like "Describe your upbringing. What would you do differently?" and "Describe your support system" and my personal favorite "What method of discipline do you think is most effective?" (my answer: "whatever method works to change the unwanted behavior". I was feeling snarky at that point.)

John and I had to answer separately. Here's a little insight into our personalities. John started and finished in a few hours. It took me 5 days.

It was emotional for me to be honest. To see a collection of words describing your parents, your spouse, your family and friends, your life experience - I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. (And I got to feel lucky twice because when I finally finished - I closed the document on my computer and lost it. I had to do it all over again.)

There probably won't be much to update for awhile. The next steps will be really boring stuff like getting physicals and submitting applications to immigration. I'll spare you those monotonous details.

June 21, 2009

We're here with an update on our adoption process. It's been a busy couple of months of what I've been calling our test of endurance. Sometimes this process feels like an obstacle course and we're being tested not on our merits but on whether or not we have what it takes to make it to the end. Can we jump through the hoops set out before us? Will we break from the task of answering the same questions over and over again? Will this step be the one where they say, "We're sorry, but thanks for trying."

We keep jumping and answering and they keep telling us we've passed and can move on to the next step. Here are the highlights of the last couple of months.

1. We were both seen for physicals and passed with flying colors. You'll be happy to know we are not infected with any communicable diseases...in case you were wondering.

2. We found out this week that we officially passed our homestudy. A social worker came to our house twice. Once, to ask us questions we'd already answered on the homestudy application and once to have us proofread the assessment. To be honest, we were pretty unimpressed with this part of the process. I'm not sure if it's because of my professional background or because we (okay I) had unrealistic expectations of how this part of the process would look. They had initially told us that the homestudy would consist of three visits. One in our home, one in the office, and one where the social worker would meet with us separately. What actually happened was much easier for us but I'm not so sure "easy" is really the route you want to take in determining the capability of people to be parents.
The social worker didn't seem interested in going into any real depth with our answers to her questions. Short simple answers were all that was required. After all of our anticipation and preparation the whole thing was very anticlimactic. When the social worker left after the first visit I said to John, "That was a hoop and we jumped through it."

3. Our next step is to complete several government applications that will allow us to adopt internationally. This will help expedite the process of our child becoming a U.S. citizen at the time of adoption.

4. We're signed up for a two-day parenting course at the end of this month through our agency. They'll address issues specific to international adoption and we'll be able to meet other families in our area that are also in this process. We are actually looking forward to these classes. It makes sense to gather information and prepare ourselves for the upcoming life change.

5. We're working on completing our "dossier", which is a large stack of information that gets sent to Ethiopia. It's basically our entire lives in a neat stack of papers. Financial records, medical records, homestudy assessments, visa applications, background checks (in addition to the one they've already done), fingerprints (in addition to the ones we've already done), etc. This is a big step that right now seems daunting. We'll slowly but surely make progress and tackle one piece of paper at a time.

When our dossier is complete, we'll submit it to our agency who will approve it and send it to Ethiopia.

6. Then we wait. We'll be "in line" for children that are awaiting adoption and who fit with our profile. When the needs of a child match up with our application...well, I hope it will feel like one of the best days of my life. We'll finally get to know the little person that my grandma says God meant for us all along. These days that wait time is fairly short. This isn't necessarily a good thing. It means there are a lot of children who need families and not enough families to take them. Our agency is working hard to meet the needs of those children (whether they are awaiting adoption or not). Right now the wait time seems to be about 6 months.

So that's where we are. We're strong and determined to finish this obstacle course.

Several people have asked for specific ways they could be praying for us. Here are a few:
- Pray for Ethiopia. They are experiencing a famine and many people are in need of even basic needs. If you'd like you can find out more about this at http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/world-vision-ethiopia and http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10324&item=1754360
- Pray for the health and safety of our child/children. It seems so strange but if they are here on this earth, I hope and pray that they are healthy and safe. Sometimes it's all I can think about.
- Pray for the resources necessary to finish this process (finances, cooperative governments - ours and theirs, etc.) So far we have wanted for nothing and don't anticipate having any difficulties financially. We have talked several times about how we feel very blessed.

Thank you all once again for your amazing support. We'll keep you posted on our progress.
July 9,2009

John put together this update on our adoption process. I'm having a hard time putting coherent sentences together.

***************************************************
July 8, 2009

Can it be?…
Kim and I have been talking more and more about the adoption these days. A couple of nights ago we turned the TV off and just spent some time talking about what we were looking forward to, what we were scared of, and how tough it was not knowing what changes were coming.
We have been working quickly to get our dossier done because things are moving faster all the time. Because of the current food crisis in the horn of Africa more and more children are being given up by parents who cannot take care of them. Kim recently read a blog post of a couple who only had to wait two months after their dossier was complete before they received a referral. We were expecting to wait something like six months or so, not two, so it was shocking how quickly things were starting to move. Kim said "If we get a referral two months after our dossier is done, I might pass out."
Another reason Kim and I were talking about adoption a couple of nights ago is because we had just learned that we had our first "hiccup" in this process. We have always been interested in adopting a sibling group if we could. And we have tried to word all of our documents to say "We are interested in an infant. Also open to an infant with an older sibling." But when Kim went back to review our Home Study she found that it stated "approved for an infant 0 to 2". Upon calling the adoption agency her fears were realized in finding out that we probably would have to resubmit the Home Study with revised wording. But there wasn’t much we could do about it until the next day.
On Tuesday Kim contacted Holt to give them the revised wording and to say "call me back if you have any questions." We were both in lots of meetings during the day but during a brief break where she was back in her office Kim got a phone call. Caller ID said: Holt International.
"Hello"
"Hi Kim, I talked to headquarters about your situation."
"OK"
"We have a couple of boys for you, one is 10 months, and one is 3 years old."

"Are you taking notes?"
"Um, yes. We… we, don’t have our dossier complete yet."
"Yes, I know. We talked about it and we think the timing will work out perfect. Would you like us to send you the referral?"
"… I’ll have to talk to John."
When I called Kim back in response to her important and urgent sounding text message I could tell that she was having trouble breathing. After telling me the situation she said "So…" And I said "Great. It’s what we wanted, let’s check it out."
The email was sent to us both but Kim wouldn’t let me open it without her. She called me back when she was done with meetings and said she was ready. I said "You’re OK with this? We’re not really opening it ‘together’ we’re just opening it at the same time."
She said shakily, "I don’t know, what do you think?"
"Let’s wait until we get home."
Kim, relieved "Ok, I’ll see you in a bit."
When we got home Kim set up the laptop on the kitchen counter and pulled up her email. We looked at each other and decided we were ready. There were two emails. She opened the first of them. "Congratulations… blah blah blah", my eyes scanned down. "Frequently asked questions… blah blah blah" "Kim, don’t read this, just scroll down." Kim scrolled down.
There at the bottom of the email were the pictures. Kim froze. She pulled her hands back from the computer and covered her face. And she cried. There were two boys. Two handsome boys.
I was immediately drawn to the older boy on the left. I started to say to Kim "What a great looking kid." But before I could say anything her hand shot out and she pointed to the kid on the right and said "He is so cute." I refocused. Oh wait, this is the email for the younger child. The kid I was looking at wasn’t even our kid. "Yeah, I said. He is."
We sat and stared and cried. Then we opened the second email for the older boy, and there he was, the boy on the left side of the first picture. The older brother. He looked so smart, and serious, and sometimes worried, but good. And Kim cried on.
We figured out that there were newer pictures that showed them in the current care center. They look good. Well fed and cared for and in a good place. There are also older pictures that appear to have been taken when they first came to the care center where the younger one is wearing a 2006 St. Patrick’s Day Old Navy shirt and a bewildered expression.
I finally walked around to the other side of the kitchen island where I could just stare up into Kim’s face. Stare and drink it up. My mind went to the Bible passages of Mary when it said that she stored all those things up in her heart. I could tell that Kim’s heart was full and overflowing.
Kim said "I don’t know what to do."
"Well" I said "I think it’s pretty obvious that we want these boys."
She just nodded. "Well then, that’s what we’ll do."
*******************************************************
We are beyond excited. The timeline their giving us is 4-5 months until we can travel. We still have to finish our dossier and schedule a court date in Ethiopia (probably in September). If we are approved through court we could travel sometime in November or December.
The boys are both healthy and developmentally on track. Praise the Lord!! We have pictures but can't send them through email or post them anywhere. If you're in the area - stop by - we'll be happy to share.
Ways you can pray:
* Praise for good health and well-being.
* Pray for cooperative governments
* Pray for our finances (we thought we had several more months to plan and save). God will provide!
Thank you again for all your support and prayers so far. They are working!
July 29, 2009
Things are moving right along in our adoption adventure.

After a little nagging from Kim, our addendum that allows us to adopt more than one child has arrived. We then mailed it to the Kansas Secretary of State for certification. We received it back and have included it in our Dossier (the big packet of paperwork with more information about our lives than anyone should have to know).

As of 10:00 this morning this precious packet of paper left our hands and is on it's way to Oregon where the agency headquarters is located.

We also sent two handmade "My Family" books with pictures of us, our pets, and our house. With help from the Kinko's guy...the books are printed, laminated, and spiral bound. Each boy has their own book and will be able to learn our faces and hopefully feel more comfortable when they see us in real life.

And finally, we've sent two birthday cards. The oldest of our boys turns 3 on Sunday and the youngest will be 1 on September 2nd. That was a weird feeling. Shopping for birthday cards for your children who are half a world away. A very good feeling...but weird.

Here are some answers to a few of the frequently asked questions we've been asked.

1. Will you get to name them?

We will. We have a list of potential names that we hope will be narrowed down soon. We will keep their given names as their middle names. The 3 year old's given name is Mebratu which means "light". The 1 year old's name is Mitiku which means "replace". With a little help from a new Ethiopian friend we've learned more about the meaning of their names. In Ethiopia the meaning is often more important than the actual name. Everyone knows what their name means. The actual translation is difficult but from what we've heard, Mebratu means something like a radiant, strong light. Mitiku means something like a replacement in my soul. If someone close to you dies and you're pregnant, you name your baby "replace", like "take the place of". I hope that makes sense.

2. When will you be able to bring them home?

They're telling us it will be about 4 to 5 months. The Ethiopian court closes for about 6 weeks during the rainy season. Typically they re-open in September. Our agency is hoping to get us on the first round of hearings in September. If we "pass court", which means that the Ethiopian government has given us custody of the boys, then it takes about 4 weeks to arrange airline tickets and lodging in Ethiopia.

3. Why are the boys available for adoption?

Because they have a mother who did the most unselfish thing she could do. She gave them the gift of a better life.

4. How long will you be in Ethiopia?

About 10 days. We will travel and stay with other adoptive parents. We'll get to spend every day with the boys and hopefully by the end of our trip, they'll feel comfortable enough with us that they won't be scared to get on an airplane. We go as a family to the US Embassy for our final visa appointment. As soon as we do that, we can come home. What a day that will be!

So that's where we are now.

Thanks again for your support through all of this. We're getting more and more excited everyday.

We'll keep you posted as things progress.
September 2, 2009
...And so we wait.

The Ethiopian courts are now officially closed for the rainy season so nothing much will happen this month. That doesn't mean that we're not busy with preparations however. We're still able to get pictures and updates (more on that later) and we're discovering the art of nesting. Here's a rundown of what we've been up to.

Names:
We'll start our rundown with names so that I can refer to them appropriately throughout the rest of this post. As you might recall, we had decided to keep the boy's given names as their middle names and we would give them new first names. So without further ado...here they are!

(Sorry - names have been removed to protect the innocent. If you know us in real life - I'm happy to share - just email me.)
Pictures:

One of the caseworkers from our agency was in Ethiopia in July and was able to take pictures of the boys. I still can't send them to you but I'll do my best to describe them. Since the first pictures we got that were taken in April, C has developed rolls on his arms (yeah for normal weight gain!). He always has a confused and surprised look on his face. In the latest pictures he's wearing a striped shirt with a baseball on it which made Grandpa very happy. S, who looked sad and serious in the first set of pictures, now has a charming little grin. He looks happy - which gave me a big sense of relief. His early pictures made me a little sad.

We'll be able to send pictures as soon as we "pass court" and the boys are legally ours. Hopefully that won't be too much longer. I know you are anxious to see them and we're anxious to send them to you.

Health Updates:

We received new health and developmental evaluations yesterday. The boys are perfectly healthy and developmentally on-track. For all you teachers out there - and there are a lot of you - C can follow simple commands, looks for hidden objects, pulls to stand, finger feeds, etc. S can name 8 objects in pictures, can stack 10+ blocks, understands sharing, and shows affection. He does not enjoy playing alone however.

Nesting:

John and I are working on getting their room ready. We passed the ultimate right of parental passage last night and put the crib together successfully and with our marriage intact. The boys will share a room at first. We thought it would better for their adjustment if they weren't alone in a strange place. We'll use the loft as the playroom and slowly but surely these rooms are coming together. Once I get everything in order I'll send pictures.

The Next Step:

Our dossier (the big packet of paperwork) has arrived in Ethiopia safely by way of Eugene, OR and Washington D.C. From there we will be assigned a court date. We hope it will be some time in October. We do not have to be there. There's an attorney that works with our agency who will represent us. It's not unusual for people to not pass court the first time. It's better for everyone if we do though.

Once we "pass court", the boys are legally ours. It will then be about 4 to 6 weeks before we can travel to go get them.

We're still thinking that they will be home with us by Christmas.

Things to Pray About:

- that Ethiopia will get lots of rain (which they need) in a short amount of time.
- that our paperwork doesn't get shuffled around or lost while it sits and waits for the courts to re-open.
- that my baby feels blessed and happy on his 1st birthday (that's today - don't talk about it or I'll cry....oh, too late!)
- that John and I can tie up some fairly big projects at work so we'll be ready to travel and focus on our boys.
- finances - we're doing okay but again, this is happening much sooner than we planned.
- that we pass court, the first time.

So there you have it. Thanks again for all the encouraging words. I don't care if I sound like a broken record - we really could not do this without the support and love of our friends and family.
October 22, 2009
John took over the reigns for the latest addition of our adoption update. As you can tell, he's less wordy than his counterpart. :) I've added my commentary in parenthesis...I just can't help it.

**********************************************************
This is John writing the update this time. Kim and I wanted to send something out to keep everyone informed on our progress. The courts in Ethiopia were supposed to be closed for the month of September for the rainy season and then re-open at the beginning of October.
At the beginning of October we got an email from our agency that the rainy season was indeed over, but that courts were going to be closed for an additional 3 weeks for staff training. That same email had more bad news about a delay in processing immigration in Ethiopia. So, it looks much less likely now that we will be able to have the boys home for Christmas this year. (I cried once and moved on - this is the life in international adoption. Don't set your expectations too firmly - plans change all the time. I mailed off a care-package to the boys last week with cards and stickers and coloring pages - mostly for my own benefit. Right now we're just waiting to hear that our court date has been scheduled.)
We are happy to report that we have made a lot of progress in being ready for the boys’ arrival. We’ve been blessed by so many people donating clothes and other useful things to us. We have the nursery all decked out with a crib, a changing table, and twin sized bed.
Currently there are piles of clothes on the bed as well, thanks to everyone helping out by passing on those hand-me-downs. We've also found some good thrift store sources. We feel more comfortable buying used when we don’t know for sure what will fit. (We were pretty happy to put this together without buying any new furniture. We refinished the night stand and changing table. People recommended that we keep their room simple because that's what the boys are used to. It's simple - but inviting I think.)

Kim recently spoke at a women’s conference at our church. She and two other women who have already adopted talked about their experiences and shared information with people who were interested in adopting, or were just curious about the process. Her talk was well received and there seems to be genuine interest from people that we know.
Thanks to everyone for your support.
November 16, 2009
I told John last night that I was giving our agency one more week of silence and if we didn't hear anything about a having a court date scheduled, I was going to let them know just how I felt about it. Someone must have told them because we heard late this afternoon that WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!

This is what we've been waiting for since July. We knew there were delays and closures to tend with but this part of the process has been hard for me. I remind myself that we received our referral (the initial photos and demographic information) much sooner than we anticipated so it is just our time to wait. Turns out I'm not that patient (hush family!).

Our case will be heard in the Ethiopian courts THIS Wednesday 11/18. There's always a chance that things will run late and they won't get to us but we're at least on the list. Our agency has a good reputation with the courts and most families are approved during the first court hearing. It's not too worrisome if we're not approved. It usually means that a document has to be updated or redone.

There's been a recent change in the court procedure for adoption cases. They won't tell us the outcome of our hearing until they receive the written report, which can take up to a week. We, of course, will update all of you as soon as we hear.

We'll obviously not be in Ethiopia for the hearing. There's an attorney that works for the agency who will represent us. They have our dossier (the big packet that describes everything - and I mean everything - about us) and will make a decision based on that information.

If we "pass court" then the boys are officially ours. They of course have been "ours" in our hearts already but we can bring them home without being charged with kidnapping. It will be another 6-8 weeks before we can actually get on an airplane to go get them. The good news for you is that once we "pass court" we can send you pictures of our beautiful children. We can't wait for you to meet them.

Things to pray about:
- That court will run smoothly on Wednesday
- That the judge will look favorably on us
- That the hearts of our children are prepared for such a big change

As always - thanks for the love and support you've shown so far. We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything.
Congratulations - you made it to the end. We'll try to be more diligent about updating the blog from here on out.

The Temporary Return of Pet Pic Friday

John is working from home this morning and caught this picture.



I call it "Bookends"

Who is Winning Here?

Hello everyone.

John here.

Being married is a new experience for me. I have only been married once, and although my calendar says it will be three years coming up on Wednesday, I still haven't figured this whole thing out yet.

One of the things I can't figure out is what happened to all my stuff.

Case in point. I talked to my brother a couple of weeks about about how to smoke things with apple wood. So when I got home, I found a branch that had broken off of our apple tree and I used my chainsaw to cut it up into 3 or 4 inch sections. Then I stacked these in front of the garage until I was ready to smoke something.

A few days later I am perusing my living room, and I come upon a strange sight.


It appears that my wife has decided that my wood chunks were "just the thing" for adding to her fall decor. Now rather than adding their delightful smoky flavor to steaks on my grill, they are adorning our piano nestled around a candle, gathered together by a metal... um... well I don't know. I'm sure there's a name for it. I'll call it a basket I guess.

Anyway, let's continue on around the living room just to prove the point. If you move a mere 3 feet to the left of the metal basket of wood with pine cones and candles, you find this:

Now when I bought this property 8 years ago and found this old wooden thing in the barn, I foolishly assumed it was a ladder. I even used it as a ladder... for several years no less. Anytime there was a spot just over my head where I needed a little boost, I would pull it out and use it.

Imagine my embarrassment now that I am married and it is explained to me that this old wooden structure is actually a magazine rack. Who knew that the early farming inhabitants of this place would need such sturdy structures for their magazines. Perhaps they hung whole Sears and Roebuck Catalogues on them. You know, for when they couldn't find things in the General Store.

I have decided to fight back.

One of my quirks is collecting things. I get it from my mom who has every copy of Reader's Digest dating back to 1962. So the other day I was walking with Tim and Chad at work and I came across a couple of acorns. Not just any acorns, but the big, fuzzy-headed kind. I think it's Chinkapin Oak (Quercus Muelenbergii if I recall my biology class correctly). I think it would be great to have one of those at our place. So I scoop up a couple of acorns and drop them in my pocket thinking someday I will plant them and then, viola, a short 30 years later we have a cool tree or two.

But then, what to do with the acorns until I'm ready to plant? I can't leave them sitting around the house or Kim will scoop them up and throw them in the trash. So I cleverly dropped them in the basket thingy. "Very well hidden." I think to myself. Genius. Pure genius.

But then yesterday Kim spots the acorns. I brace myself. But then she says "Awww... they're perfect! Where did you find them?"

For a few brief moments I congratulate myself on a job well done. I pulled something off rather cleverly.

But then I think about it more and I wonder...

Am I just being brainwashed into decorating the house?

Its Like We Were Meant to be Together

...in an artist - fan sort of way.

So, it's well documented here (and here) that I am a slightly obsessed fan of a certain artist and his band. He was scheduled to be here with Willie Nelson (also a fan - I know its weird). I've driven by the billboard every night on my way home from work with a tinge of sadness because I wasn't going to the show.

With our recent adventures, we're a little cash-strapped and spending $100 on concert tickets just wasn't going to be possible this year.

My friend Susie (also a slighty-obsessed fan and my DMB concert buddy) got an email on Monday from the venue telling her about a chance to win 2 tickets at an area grocery store. We knew it was a long shot but why not try. So Susie registered at her local store and I went to the store by my house. I also called John and asked him to stop by and register. He did.

Here's where its important to note that we live in the country. We have a large grocery store but the number of people who frequent that store is pretty small. The chance that there's even another DMB fan is even smaller.

We were supposed to be notified by email on Tuesday if we won. None of us heard anything.

We thought our chance was gone and we moped around Wednesday talking about how cool it would have been to go. Oh well.

I was searching online for pumpkin muffin recipes. I figured if I wasn't going to the concert then I would cook my sorrows away. John called. "I just got off the phone with a lady who called to tell me I won tickets."

I told him it wasn't a funny joke. He wasn't joking. It was 4:00 the day of the concert.

I was dressed in my most matronly work outfit. Totally unfit to attend a concert. I ran into Susie's office. We screamed and scrambled to finish our work.

I scurried to Wal-mart for an outfit...it was cheaper than driving all the way home (my commute is an hour). I made it to Susie's house with a $12 pair of jeans and a clearance rack sweater. I wasn't gonna win any beauty contests but it would work...in a crowd...in the dark.

John had to drive downtown to personally pick up the tickets at Will Call. Susie and I met him there and off we went. I walked into the arena with a huge smile, a sense of anticipation, and bedazzled butt-pockets.

The concert was amazing! Our seats were up high but centered.

Kudos to John who did two of his least favorite things (driving downtown, and being in traffic). He was sitting at a table outside of a restaurant downtown when we walked up to meet him. He had the same giddy grin on his face that I did. He wasn't going to the concert (Susie and I were going together no matter who won), but he was excited that I got to go. He said later it worked out great because he could say that he got his wife tickets to DMB but it didn't cost him a dime.

What a night!

Here's a horrible picture from my phone but it serves as proof that I was there.


Triathlon Report


Here is the long awaited triathlon report. First of all, thanks to everyone for the well wishing, the support, and for believing in us.

The triathlon started out Saturday morning around 8:30 when we pulled the bikes out of the garage. We pumped up the tires, checked the seat height, and we mentally prepared ourselves for the grueling race to come.

The First Leg

Then we were off. Down the driveway, hard right turn, and churning through the gravel in the first leg of the triathlon. Kim immediately settled into a rhythm setting the early tempo and I settled in next to her on my trusty Mongoose Rockadile.

After about one and a half miles we attacked a gigantic hill, spinning our way to the top when we were beset by a wild animal.



After zooming down the other side of the hill, we completed the first leg of the race. Kim chucked her bike into the grass beside the road and we were off on the second leg of the race.

The Second Leg

Biking becomes impossible about 2 and a half miles from our house at the construction site where they are building a new railroad underpass. This is where the footrace begins.

After the dirt and mud, we reached the railroad crossing. Note Kim's athletic pose as she sprints across.
Two grueling miles of pavement later, we reach the transition to our third leg: Price Chopper!



The Third Leg


The third leg of our triathlon involves eating giant pancakes. Pancakes as big as my head.


We are athletes. Fear us.




Under New Management

Testing... 1... 2...

Greetings everyone. This is John. I apologize for the previous management's lack of updates. It is because of this serious lapse, toward you, our customer, that I am taking over for the time being. While I am in charge you can expect lots of blog posts on physics, computers, and rodeos. Oh, and sports. And to kick things off, look for a post this weekend after Kim and I complete our first triathlon on Saturday morning.


Wish us luck.

Aloha

We're back from our vacation. We spent a week on the island of Kauai with my parents and my sister. Here's a quick picture review.

Our hotel

(Photo by Kelly)

Mother's Day


Monday at Poipu Beach for sunning and snorkeling
(photo by my mom)
Shaved Ice - a Hawaii staple
Don't they look like the epitome of vacation?



Monday was John's 30th Birthday. He opened cards while we watched the sun set on Poipu Beach.

The Sunset


Tuesday at Waimea Canyon


and the Napali Coast

We headed to the north side of the island on Wednesday.

Anini Beach

Ke'e Beach

John and I hiked along the Napali Coast

Here are a couple videos that probably aren't entertaining to anyone but us. The first one is my attempt to follow John down the trail. The second one is me saying hi to the rest of my family down on the beach below.


Thursday found us exploring the beaches and trails around our hotel. We lounged by the pool in the afternoon.

Aren't they the cutest?!

(photo by Kelly)

Friday we kayaked on the Wailua River. We didn't take our cameras for fear of flipping the kayak. We kayaked and then hiked to swim at the base of the "secret falls". Here are someone else's pictures of the falls (apparently they're not that "secret").

(photo by a stranger who put their vacation pictures on the internet)

We spent Saturday in Honolulu before catching our flight home.

Pearl Harbor



Thanks for humoring us by looking at our vacation pictures.

Aloha!

Wise words from the Office Mate

We had lunch brought in today for a meeting. They provided a few vegetarian options. A veggie sandwich with cheese.

Office mate: Do vegetarians eat cheese?

Kim: Yes. I thinks its vegans who don't eat cheese. I wouldn't know though because I eat everything. What do we call people who eat everything?

Office mate without skipping a beat: Fat. We call them fat.
I may have a very long to-do list before our Hawaiian adventure. But my toes are ready!

Life in the Country - Go Fly a Kite

We're supposed to get rain soon so the Kansas wind was strong this morning. It was the perfect day to fly a kite. I knew I had one somewhere so I searched through the boxes in the basement and found it. The problem though...no string.

John said, "No problem. I'll take care of it."

He comes out of the garage with his solution.



Fishing Pole Kite Flying



After one little mishap which involved jumping the fence and untangling the line, it worked like a charm.



This picture makes it look rather "beachy". But I assure you it was not.

Well Worn




You may not believe this but I didn't do this on purpose.

It just happened.

I still like looking at it so it works out well for me.

10 Things I Like About My Sister...

She’s a natural educator and is admired by many in her field.

She’s a snazzy dresser.

Her friends are young and old(er).

She got every thick luscious hair gene in our family.

She’s generous with her time.

She cries when she laughs really hard.

She coordinates colorful socks with her outfits.

She makes decisions carefully.

She’s witty and fun to be around.

She taught my dog to be “calm with Kelly” and it works.



Compiled with love on her birthday.

Things you don't want to hear on a Friday afternoon...

Oh Kim, thank goodness you're here. Every other social worker has left already."

Paradise Prophecy

Someone sent a big box of fortune cookies to the office this week to say "Happy Chinese New Year".

I opened my fortune cookie and here's what was inside.




"Pleasures await you by the seashore"

Which is weird because ten minutes before that, I bought our tickets to here.

All Those Hours of Watching HGTV Finally Paid Off

After several months of just enjoying the house and not feeling like we have to spend every spare moment building, painting, sanding, staining...we're back to our Saturday routine of working on the house.

We have a pretty good system I think. We alternate weekends. One week John gets to choose what we work on and I'm the helper. The next Saturday, it's my turn.

This weekend was my turn and I had big plans.

Remember this...when I said that "eventually there will be tile..."



Well that time has come and you're invited to come along for the ride.

Sometimes we get these ideas about how to add small details that make our house unique (you know...other than the fact that it's made out of logs, has trees in the kitchen, and was built by amateurs). We also have some ideas about how not to spend money. This was one of those ideas.

We needed a back splash for the kitchen island. I was drawn to those strips of mosaic tile you can buy ready made. Like the trim in our shower.



We still had pieces of floor tile left and I thought, "How hard could it be to make our own?" Turns out that it's not that hard. Long and tedious but not hard.

We took a sledgehammer to the tile (and for the sake of full disclosure I'll add that my preferred method was throwing them down on the concrete driveway but John scoffed and made me use the sledgehammer.) We rolled the broken pieces around in this bucket to rough them up a bit.



I made a template of the space and set to work on putting the pieces together.





John adjusted electrical outlets and secured the cement wall board.

We taped off sections of the tile to speed up the actual application which worked like a charm.





We almost got away with not spending one more penny on this project. But what weekend home improvement project is complete without a last minute run to that place that rhymes with "Foam Repo". Turns out our old grout was a little too petrified.



So for a whopping $13 - Here's the finished product (almost anyway - it still needs to be washed and sealed).







Not too shabby!