Heidi - The 'Humbling Sports Moment' contest winner

Sovereign Grace Ministries was running a contest for the most humbling sports moment and Heidi was one of the 10 winners. We don't know exactly when the actual story will be posted...but we'll keep you posted. It is well worth the 2 minutes it will take to read it when it gets posted.

Olivia is having fun walking

Fun Superbowl Sledding Day!

We spent the afternoon at Nana and Papa Greenups house and they have a great sledding hill (as long as you put your feet down so you wouldn't go into the river). These are some pictures of our experience. It was Ezra's first time with his Daddy and it surprised us all how fast you can get going, as seen on Dustin's face:)

Dustin and Ezra before the big plunge.
Nana Greenup and Connie Naresh went tandem. They ended up going down most of the hill backwards and on the way down Donna's boots and socks came off.

Dustin had to help Ezra go down by himself. Ezra has a very intense look on his face.

Yogi and Connie Naresh have a business called Mt. Spokane Adventures and we got to use their ATV's to pull us back up the hill. (Click on the link to find out more details.) It made for a fun ride up and many more trips down.

Ezra and Papa riding on the ATV

We eventually did go inside to watch the game, but were sad for the Cardinals. Oh well, good game!

We are 'expecting' !.....from Ethiopia

We just wanted to let everyone know that the Lord is leading us again down the road of adoption. We started the application process back in the first part of December but the paperwork process is what is in store for us for the next several (2 to 5 months).

Below are a list of some FAQ's that we thought we'd try to answer



When will you get your child?

- We don't know for a while (at least several months)

- We have countless amounts of paperwork, dossiers, home studies, USCIS certification, fingerprinting, background checks, etc. before the US & Ethiopia will give us the 'ok' to adopt.



What sex and age of child & how many are you considering?

- Another question we don't know the answer to.

- We have no specific preference to a girl over a boy or a boy over a girl.

- At least this time around, we will probably be adopting a child who is under 3. We are letting the Lord answer this for us when the referral comes

- Most likely 1, but if a situation came around with a young sibling group or twins, we'd have to pray hard and see how the Lord is directing us.



When will you get the referral and go to Ethiopia?

- If it is anything like our adoption with Ezra, there is no way to really know for sure...but if the adoption process goes 'smooth' (which they never do) probably sometime between June and December of '09


*We ask for your prayers: That God would prepare our hearts and family for the addition of another child. Also for the Lord to provide the finances in a time of economic recession. And lastly, for our faith to trust in Him as He does provide and to believe that His sovereign hand is over every detail of the adoption. Thank you!

A way overdue Christmas posting

This is the view looking out the 2nd floor back of our house.


The kids in their Christmas outfits from Nana and Papa

I wish you could hear the giggle going on in this picture. It's infectious.

Livie taking a ride

The Naresh cousins. We all had fun at the Greenups' house Christmas morning.

Awwwwe, a Daddy-daughter moment

I think these are the faces of kiddos being tired after unwrapping all their Christmas presents

Cousin Ethan holding Livie

Ezra gets so excited when he gets to hold his little sister

He also likes flying like Superman

The New Year

Welcome to 2009. Heidi and I were working through a list of some questions we have via Justin Taylor's blog to consider for the new year. They are very helpful and here are the questions and the link to the whole list.

http://www.biblicalspirituality.org/newyear.html

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?


http://theologica.blogspot.com/2009/01/ten-questions-to-ask-at-start-of-new.html

Schuknecht's, Bath Time, and a wedding

Troy, Stevi, and Jude are in Spokane for a a few weeks visiting family and we were able to have them over tonight. We all had a great time...Ezra especially loved having another person who would look at books with him and Olivia loved having Jude around to climb on & play with. (Jude is 11 months old and Olivia is 9 months)

Olivia and Jude using the walker.

Olivia and Ezra LOVE bath time as you can see from this picture

Ezra gets a bit over-dramatic when we pour water on him.

We are blessed having a baby who loves her car seat. We know that is not always the case with every child, but we are thankful nevertheless.

Lisa Skaer and Logan Peabody were married a few weeks back...and Ezra got to dress up in a suit for the wedding.

This picture was taken right after bath time. Two things Ezra loves...wearing hats (especially daddy's) and running around commando. So, it was especially funny when he ran out of the bathroom after we dried him off and the next second we saw him in the middle of the living room with daddy's hat on, saying 'cheese'.

(This picture is edited for good reason)