Merry Christmas

Grandma Lenz & 14 Grandkids

Only 1 child is missing....

He's in Ethiopia.

Waiting for us to bring him home.

Next year this picture will be

Grandma Lenz & 15 Grandkids!!

Noah (9), Cassie (14), & Jordan (11)

Yes, I made them get close to show how much they LOVE each other!

Noah's presents: SpyGear ATV, nightvision goggles, Brett Favre Minnesota Vikings Jersey, camera, ice fishing tip-ups, DS games, Wii game, socks, sweatshirts, pajama pants

Jordan's presents: cell phone, furry boots, lots of girly-clothes, earrings, robe, Wii game, Wega softball jacket, llama Webkins, sweatshirts

Cassie's presents: Wega softball jacket, earrings, necklaces, vests, shirts, shorts, gift card, purse, wallet, more clothes, University of Kentucky pajamas, sweatshirts

Brad's presents: wallet, ice fishing tip-ups, Menards gift card, bungees, pajama pants, money

Sue's presents: diamond earrings (WAY TO GO BRAD!), sweaters, earrings, tops, picture frame of Mom & Kris and I, money, star wall decoration, hand towels, snow plowing from neighbor, Learning Shop gift card, camera (St. Nick present), Ipod touch (early gift in November)

Brad & I at Grandma Lenz' home on Christmas Day

Girls in PINK!

I LOVE this camera!

I took this picture from across the room!

SO COOL!!

We had an awesome Christmas with our families. The weather was quite YUCKY! I honestly don't remember another Christmas where we got snow, sleet, and RAIN, RAIN, and more RAIN! The roads were all ice-covered on Christmas Eve, while we drove to Kris and Steve's home. I played on my Ipod touch and tried not to watch Brad drive. Brad was happy, so I wouldn't yell at him every second about slowing down and not passing people. Great Grandma Beck wasn't able to join us on Christmas Eve either, because the roads were terrible! We did call her and sand Jingle Bells though! :)

Everyone was asking us when we're leaving for Ethiopia and I just LOVED telling them ~ January 6th! YEAH! I'm getting so excited. This weekend, we'll put all our new things away and then we'll start packing for Africa. I'm nervous, anxious, excited, and just plain giddy, about meeting our little boy for the first time. It's just so much to think about. I can't wait to meet him and tell him that I LOVE him!!

Merry Christmas to everyone! May God bless you and keep you safe!

We're TRAVELING!!!

We found out on Tuesday (December 15th) that we have an embassy appointment in Ethiopia for January 12th, 2010. YEAHHHH!! That's what we've been waiting for...our time to finally meet our son and bring him home.

Once again, on Monday the 14th, I was getting impatient of not hearing anything, and emailed Holt to see if they have any ideas on embassy dates in 2010. I never received an email back, which was really odd. They always get right back to me, no matter if it's good news or bad news.

I also posted a question on the Holt Yahoo group, wondering if anybody heard about embassy dates. On Monday evening, I found out that somebody did hear about the January 12th embassy date, because they received an email that they were traveling. I was so bummed. I figured we would have received an email too, IF we were going to travel for the January 12th date.

After little sleep on Monday night, I waited until lunch time on Tuesday, and emailed Holt again, just wondering if they know of any embassy dates.  STILL, no email back. I was just baffled. They ALWAYS answer back. So, after a long IEP meeting at school, I called at 4:35pm to Holt in Oregon. It was only 2:35pm there and everybody was in a meeting. UGH! I did leave a message but was kind of bummed out.

So, it was 5:04pm and I was at home. Jen from Holt called to say, "Didn't you receive our email today? You're traveling!" WHAT?!?!? Where is the email? Oh my gosh! We're traveling!! I called all 3 kids together and told them our great news. They were all cheering and excited. I called Brad right away, and then Dorinda and my Mom. This was the BEST news!!

So, I had to let work know my plans on Wednesday and also contacted the travel agency. It's going to be a little bit different than I had envisioned, as far as coming home from Ethiopia, but I guess I can do it. Brad will have to leave Ethiopia on Wednesday, January 13th to go to the ATA show in Ohio. I won't be able to fly home until Friday, January 15th, late at night. UGH! That means I'm in Ethiopia for another 24 hours, without Brad and the rest of the travel group. That makes me nervous, but I'm sure it'll be OK.

So, now my brain is going a million miles in so many directions. I'm thinking about all the things that need to be done at school, Christmas shopping and wrapping, packing, shopping for last minute things, making lists for Dorinda, and making lists for everything that needs to be done before we leave. But, this is all GOOD! I'm so glad we finally have the DATE and know when we'll be going and when we'll meet our son. Such a great feeling!!

14 Inches, Oh my!

We received at least 14 inches of very heavy, white stuff since yesterday. It has tapered to flurries but the winds are blowing so hard, the wind chills are going to be below zero tonight. Brad is STILL not home yet. After sleeping in Minneapolis last night and hanging out at the airport all day, he has now flown to Chicago. He is planning on flying into Appleton tonight after 9pm, but his flight is delayed as of right now. UGH! Gotta love snow storms!

We also found out today that we will NOT be traveling over Christmas to bring our little boy home from Ethiopia. I was bummed. I really want to bring him home NOW. Waiting is SO hard. I try to keep busy, but when you're snowed in for the entire day, it's kind of hard to stay busy and not think about traveling.

I did get one thing done off of my to-do list. I made a book on Shutterfly today for our son's birthfamily. I used the pictures we have received over the months and then added pictures in of our family, pets, and home. I included summer and winter pictures. That's all I got accomplished today. I had big hopes of finishing a few other projects today, but nothing. No ambition.

Tomorrow we'll all go back to school and Noah has his drama play tomorrow evening at 7pm. It's also supposed to be REALLY cold tomorrow, with the highs around 10 degrees during the day and windchills below zero. Brrrrrr! I really wonder WHY I live in Wisconsin?!?!?!

Blizzard of 2009!

We're under a blizzard warning through tomorrow. We're only supposed to get about a foot of snow. And the winds are only supposed to be around 35mph. Sounds like fun...

Now, the really good part~Brad is stranded in Cincinnati. I think. The last time I heard from him, he was beginning to board a plane there, enroute to Minneapolis. Then onto Appleton. Well, I've been checking websites, and see that all the flights coming into Appleton are cancelled. And, when I check the Minneapolis website, they used to show a flight being delayed coming from Cincinnati, but now it shows it as being cancelled. Too funny, but right now, I actually hear an airplane flying overhead. Maybe it's Brad, flying around in circles! LOL!

So, the other really good part about this blizzard and Brad being stranded, is that Brad never put the snowplow on the front of the 4-wheeler. So, I have no way to plow the driveway tomorrow. Oh well, I guess that's what 4-wheel drive is for! :)

So, after coming down from cloud nine with our great news about passing court yesterday, tonight I hear that families were told they were traveling over Christmas for the next embassy appointment. Kind of a let-down for us. We were really hoping we could travel over the holidays, so I would have a longer time home with our little man. Oh well, I should just be glad that we passed court!

So, HOPEFULLY tomorrow, I will be on a Snow Day from school and get to relax a little bit! And, hopefully Brad will make it home sometime too!

We PASSED!!!

We are officially a family of 6! We found out today at 11:32am, that we passed court last Friday in Ethiopia! We're over the moon with excitement!!

I couldn't stop checking the clock~waiting for it to be 10am~that would be 8am in Oregon! So, once I knew Holt was open for the day, I had Brad stalking our home email account. UGH! He had to leave for the airport right around 11am, so I then had to call Cassie at home (home sick with the flu) to turn on my computer and watch our email. Still nothing. So, I went to lunch and came back to an email (on my school email address) that we passed court! WOOHOO!!!!

Now, we wait for our embassy date that will dictate our travel dates. Can't wait to start making some travel plans to Africa!

We love our new little boy and can't wait to give him a big hug!!

Still Waiting to Hear...

Our court date WAS Friday, December 4, 2009. Today, is Sunday, December 6th and we still do not know if we passed court. UGH!! It has been a VERY LONG weekend just wondering what happened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 4th. We're hoping to hear some good news tomorrow, but again, we might not.

All day Friday, I was so excited and scared all rolled into one. I had a smile on my face almost all day until 2:50pm. That's when I received an email from Holt in Oregon stating that they heard nothing about anybody's court appointments. We were really let down, but always knew that that could happen to us. Yes, it's frustrating but it also wasn't bad news saying that our court date was canceled or rescheduled. So, no news is good news so far!

So, tomorrow we start another week, not knowing WHEN our little boy will come home from Ethiopia. We keep saying our prayers and talk about our little boy like he's one of the family. We have a lot of things put aside for him and can't wait to share with him. We're trying to keep busy with Christmas shopping and wrapping, and just doing the usual cleaning and laundry around the home. It's tough though. It's always on our mind~WHEN?!?!

St. Nick did come for a visit last night. Noah received the SantaBuddies movie, Jordan got a Columbia zip-up sweatshirt, and Cassie received some new earrings. Brad got a new pair of Charlie Brown boxers and I got a NEW camera!! Yes, kind of extravagent for a St. Nick gift, but so worth it. Now, we have an awesome camera to take with us to Africa. St. Nick also came to my Mom's home for me! :) I received a new candle and our little boy received a beautiful new blanket that she made for him. It's just perfect!


We're supposed to get some snow this week, which could actually cause some travel problems due to accumulating snow and wind. UGH! Brad is supposed to leave for Cincinnati tomorrow and return late Tuesday night. Then he's off to Illinois on Thursday through the weekend. Hopefully he'll have safe travels!

I got all caught up with my Christmas wrapping tonight, so now I have to start shopping again. I really want to make sure I'm on top of everything, just in case we get that call that we could travel soon to Africa.

Hopefully the next time I post, it will be some REALLY GOOD news to share!

A Rollercoaster of Emotions

One moment, I'm so darn excited, I can hardly contain myself. Within minutes, I feel so sad that I could start crying.

The court date is looming...December 4th. So many things can happen. Court could be postponed. Paperwork could be missing. Family members might not appear. The list goes on.

But, then we might pass court on the first time...that would be wonderful! But, then the worry about when we'll get our travel dates. Will we get the December 29th assemby date? Will we be pushed into January? Will Brad be able to travel to Africa in January around his business travel schedule? Will we be pushed back even further?

Yes, these are the thoughts running through my head. 24-7. I can't stop thinking! I'm trying to stay positive. I'm trying to keep busy. And then the thoughts come back into my head and play like a recording~over and over and over.

I know I need to get my Christmas shopping and decorating done. I know I need to clean Noah's closet and get ready for 2 boys to share the closet. I know I need to start thinking about travel supplies, packing lists, and everything else that would lead to a safe travel experience to Africa.

So, I sit here and type. I didn't get to the closet. I actually didn't do much of anything today. I went to 2 craft shows with my Mom and then headed to Kmart for Cassie's prescriptions. Came home and watched some HGTV with my pups, and then Christmas shopped via online. Again, not much of anything.

So, tomorrow I vow I need to get something done. Maybe even start a list of things I need to take with us to Africa. Maybe, I will begin cleaning out the closet. Maybe, I'll get to Kohl's to spend my free money. Or, maybe I'll just sit and think. And pray! I know God is holding our little boy and giving him comfort while he waits for us to come. God has a travel plan for us. I just need some patience!

Court Date & New Pictures

December 4th! Yes, that is our court date in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We're over the moon with excitement! I can't believe it! There's still so much to do around here to prepare for our little guy to come home. Looks like I'll be cleaning Noah's closet out this weekend, while everybody else is in the woods for deer hunting.

We also received 2 new pictures of our sweet fella. He's just so darn adorable! I'll be going to bed with a big smile on my face tonight. We probably won't find out until December 8th or so, if we even passed court, but at least I have some idea of what we'll be looking at for travel.  YEAH!!!

Still smiling and thanking God for this most awesome day!!

Christmas Shopping

Yes, I went shopping 3 times this past weekend. Not specifically for Christmas gifts, but at least thinking about it. On Saturday morning, I headed to Appleton with Dorinda. We hit the mall, which was already packed at 10am. We ate lunch at 10:45am and had a hard time finding a table to sit down and eat our food. We checked out a few stores, bought a few things at Younkers and Target, but then decided we needed to go to Kohl's where I had a 30% discount. I found rugs, towels, candles, and a few shirts for Muluken. Dorinda found a new Columbia jacket (great deal!). We spent a lot and saved so much!! (At least that's what I tell Brad!) We then headed to Walmart. I needed groceries and we also checked out the clearance rack. We just couldn't go wrong with outfits for $3. Boy, it sure was quite a day!

Brad and I decided to go back to town and look around for a few things for Christmas. We didn't find too much, but it was fun looking around and spending time together.

On Sunday, Cassie really wanted to head back to town and do some shopping. She knew I had the Kohl's discount, so that would be a good place to start. She only found 2 tops at Kohl's, so of course we had to go to the mall. She found a few things that she would really like for Christmas gifts, but I didn't buy anything in front of her. I like the surprise on the kids' faces on Christmas morning. When they open that present and realize that Mom and Dad were REALLY listening all that time!

Here's to finding that perfect gift without breaking the bank this Christmas season! Here's also to making sure my family remembers the true reason for this Christmas season!

We LOVE you Murphy!

Today was a very sad day. I had to take our 11 & 1/2 year old yellow lab to the vet today, to have him put to sleep. It was so heart-breaking. He's been with us for so long and was such a loyal dog. He was our protector~I never had to worry my kids when Murphy was around. He didn't like many people, so I always knew he would let a stranger have it if they came too close to the kids.

Murphy loved to be outside and watch people go by. He would bark at everyone who moved too slow. He would also chase the cars and trucks when they stopped to stare at the deer. Murphy liked to go out in the field and get all muddy. He also enjoyed taking the puppies out there, because then they had to get baths.

Murphy always slept on the floor along my side of the bed. He would howl at night in his sleep~always waking everybody up except himself. Murphy was our dog! He was one in the family and will be truly missed!

WE LOVE YOU MURPHY!!