Happy Halloween!

What a day for trick-or-treating! It was cold and windy. Brrrr! Noah and Jordan had sweatpants and sweatshirts on under their costumes. Jordan wore a coat over the costume too and they both had gloves on. I cheated and drove the kids around Fremont. They jumped out of the truck, ran to any homes with lights on, and then ran right back. We all stayed fairly warm and they filled their buckets within an hour. Now they're checking out their loot!

Today, we took it easy. I did laundry and downloaded music from itunes. Brad bought me an Ipod Touch last Saturday and I LOVE it! I've been downloading all kinds of new music. I also put in the weather and time for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I need to add all my contacts with their phones, email addresses, and regular addresses. The girls are liking my new interest in downloading more music, because then I put it on their Ipods too.

This week was kind of a downer. I attended the funeral of one of my early childhood students. I NEVER imagined I would ever have to attend a child's funeral. It was so sad. I was so sad. My heart breaks for the parents of this beautiful child. I'm glad to see such a strong support system for the family and I hope they know how much we're going to miss that sweet angel!

I also heard that the court cases that were supposed to pass court last week, were postponed until the last week in November. BUMMER!! That means that our court date will probably be in December or later then. And that means we probably won't travel until February or March. I've been bumming all week about this. When I emailed Holt to see how many other families were waiting for a court date; they told me there were at least 40 to 50 others waiting with us. UGH! That just seems like too many. I know I should be happy to think of how many children are finding forever families, but I've been dwelling on how long it is going to take to bring home our sweet boy.

On the hunting front: Brad leaves tomorrow for Kansas and then he heads straight to Iowa. He won't be home until late Thursday, November 12th. This is really going to be hard on all of us. I can see some very crabby days ahead!

Exciting News!

I received an email today from Holt in Oregon, and it stated that our dossier has arrived in Ethiopia! YEAH!! That is such exciting news! It took 19 days to get there, but it's finally there. Now, we just wait for a court date! This is SO EXCITING!! I really needed to hear this today.

Jordan isn't feeling well and stayed home from school today. Luckily Grandma Lenz could stay with her so she wasn't alone. Cassie leaves for Indianapolis tomorrow for the National FFA Convention. She even gets to go to a Toby Keith and Taylor Swift concert. I'm so jealous! She's totally excited but I have mixed emotions. I've never let one of my kids go that far away without one of us. Guess I have to let her grow up sometime.

We had a really busy weekend. On Friday night, we headed to the high school football game. Cassie played in the band, Jordan did her cheer routine at halftime, and Noah and Brad were announced for Pee-Wee football players and coaches. It was cold (for me), so we left after halftime.

On Saturday, we headed to Jordan's cheer competition in Westfield. We arrived at 10:45am and needed to sit in the bleachers until 1pm, just so we could have a seat for the actual competition. Jordan's cheer squad got a 1st!  YEAH!! They were awesome and should be proud of themselves.

On Sunday, Brad helped Great Grandma Beck move into an assisted living home in Oshkosh. Noah and Brad loaded his van in Winneconne and then unloaded in Oshkosh. They loaded again in Winneconne and brought lots of things home for us.

Jordan was under the weather when she woke up on Sunday morning and stayed on the couch or in bed all day long. She had a fever and was pretty lathargic. I just hope she gets over this quickly and it's not H1N1.

Hopefully I can post pictures of the cheer competition soon.

What a great start to a busy week!

Weekends are so FAST!

I LOVE weekends! I love being with my family. I love staying home and wearing comfy clothes. I love cuddling with my pups and being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. I love laying around in my bed or on the lovesac, under a cozy blanket and watching HGTV.

But, then you add in grocery shopping, errands to run, hunting season, yard work, animal clean-up, sports and games for the kids and extended family, church, and catching up with housework and seeing friends and family, there isn't much time left of my weekend.

Overall, another weekend is over and I don't have a lot to show for it. I did get to spend time with Dorinda on Saturday and Noah found his Halloween costume. But, I woke up with a terrible headache on Sunday, so I felt that I was in slow motion all day.

I need to stay busy though. When I have downtime, it seems like I get down on not traveling to Ethiopia. I feel like time is just dragging and I can't get it moving. I just want to bring our little guy home. So when I have time to think about everything I'm missing with him, I get down. I need to look to the positive side and know that we're getting closer to bring him home and I need to find my PATIENCE!! Now that's SO HARD for me, but I can do it. I'm trying to convince myself right now. :)

Here's to another week of work, school, trip to Milwaukee Dept of Homeland Security, football game, cheer competition, and days closer to bringing our little man home from Ethiopia!

Cassie's First Homecoming

Last weekend, Cassie had her first homecoming parade, football game, and dance! We all went to watch her march on the field for the football game, but then I headed home after halftime since it was so cold and damp out. Also, the football team was losing, 45-0 at half too.

On Saturday morning, Grandma Lenz came out to the house to paint her nails and take her to her hair appointment. The rest of us were at Noah's last football game (freezing again). Jordan cheered, Noah and Brad were on the field, and Dorinda and I huddled together under 2 blankets to stay warm.

Dorinda, Jordan, Ally (Cassie's cousin), and I watched Cassie get dressed for the big night. Dinner and dance! We took pictures of my little girl and Jordan also showed her how she was supposed to pose for the camera. Cassie had a great time and danced the night away.