Day 1 - CAFO Summit VI

We are at the Christian Alliance for Orphans in Mnpls, MN.
What an Exciting, Spirit-filled, challenging and exhausting day we had!
The morning session was very good, with some keynote speakers introducing themselves and their heart for adoption.  There was a guy their named Peder Eide that led worship.  He was amazing and he shared some stories about his family and how God used orphan ministry to change his heart.  He sang this song called "Why wouldn't I".  I didn't know if I'd ever stop crying from this one.
Then, we hooked up with some friends from Estherville, Iowa who are adopting from Ethiopia.  They just received their referral and are awaiting a court date.  Their 2 new kids will be home with them some time around July, Lord willing.
We spent the morning and afternoon in and out of breakout sessions.  The one that most impacted me was Tom Davis, author of Fields of the Fatherless, talking about engaging youth and college age kids for reaching out to orphans and engaging in orphan ministry.  It was so exciting to hear him tell about how God has used orphans to teach middle school kids about Christ and having a relationship with a savior.  But it all happened by doing.  Going to an orphanage, or developing a project that brought help to an orphanage, or something tangible that kids could do.  One ministry called Both Hands is an amazing ministry.  You have to go to their website.  Read the story, that will help you understand :)
The most difficult part of the day was a session about child trafficking.  Girls especially are being exploited all over the world in this horrific evil.  Tom Davis, again, shared ministry opportunities with this from sites like Not For Sale and his new book Priceless.
For supper, we gathered all of our friends that joined us at the conference, (Nordstroms and Beavers and Estherville Friends) and went to our FAVORITE ethiopian restaurant, FASIKA's. This was no easy task, because we were in Eden Prarie, MN and had to travel to St. Paul, with 2 cars and 17 people and mega 5pm traffic.  We lost the Beavers at one point, but we smacked our tails on the pond (using cell phones) and they found us. It was so fun.  JJO met us there and ordered for everyone.  The food was amazing, the fellowship was very fun, because they have never eaten authentic Ethiopian Food before.
FINALLY, we headed back to the Summit site and got to hear Mary Beth Chapman and Steven Curtis Chapman speak about how Christ has moved their family through the loss of their sweet Maria Sue.  SCC performed.  HE WAS INCREDIBLE.  I am in awe of the incredible talent that God has given him.  He stood up there with just his guitar, after hearing his wife pour out her heart about their daughter who is now in heaven and then sang SO beautifully and just worshiped with all of us in the room. It was an amazing experience that these words can not express.  I REALLY MISS OUR KIDS right now, and I'm so thankful to my parents and Tanya's parents for taking such good care of them!  Thank YOU!!

Now for some pictures.

Another busy weekend in the books

Well, if you haven't already noticed, we have turned our little Kbugg into a blogger.  She is better at keeping things updated on here than either of us, so it's good to get her writing on here and fun to see her perspective on the henn-life.
Saturday's culminating activity to wrap up a hectic day of mowing, bike-rides and grocery shopping was a doozy.  Let's just say we now know why one of our children has the letters E.R. in her name.  She has officially made the most trips there of anyone in our family.  Her tally is at 4.  2 lacerations, a collision with an aluminum bat and a dislocated elbow.
Below is a picture of the latest trip.  She tripped and hit the corner of the fridge...YEOWWCH!

The same Dr. was there that recently glued her laceration near her right eye, so he came in, called her by first name, and proceeded to glue it shut.  We then made our way over to the DQ for a strawberry shortcake blizzard.  That seemed to smooth things over pretty well.  many thanks to bopie and bompa, who left the movie theater, met us at the ER and took the boys too a concert!  She then came home, bathed everyone for church and got them too bed!  HUGE BLESSING!

Sunday was a MUCH better day, way less eventful.  Church was great, girls got some shopping in afterwards, while boys went and hunted down some MEAT for lunch (BK Buck Doubles...YUM).  Headed home for naps, while mommy and daddy had a lunch date at applebee's (our fave).   Kaylee had a concert tonight at Eppley for Philharmonia... it was VERY good, they got a semi-standing ovation.  (pictures to come).  Headed home for some ice cream cones and put kids to bed. 

Short week this week because we are excited to go to Minneapolis for adoption conference!
MUCH thanks going to meemaw and bumpaKK for covering Thurs and Fri at our house this week!

Fridays are Always Fun

Friday night we had our friends the Millers over to talk about adoption and eat strawberry shortcake! In my opinion those two things go perfectly together! The Millers have a girl my age and then another girl Iceman's age. We had a great time doing fun skits( The Hippie invasion and The war of the Popstars) and I think the adults had a pretty nice time talking! Also just some random updates: Sunday I have a Philharmonia concert, I am super excited! Then Tuesday mom has a doctor appointment with this Egyptian doctor from Sioux Falls. Please pray that this appointment will go well! One more thing we are counting down the days to is Iceman's Golden Birthday!!! He is turning 9!! I think that is all the news from the hennhouse for now! Thanks for reading!

K

3-D ultrasound!

Today mom had her 3-D ultrasound! The whole family went with her and we were in awe the whole time!  It was really cool to see the baby move and to see what she looks like before she's born, technology these days blows my mind! This is mom's last ultrasound unless something goes wrong so it was neat to go with for the last one! We also saw that the baby is not breach, PRAISE GOD!!!
Have a great day!
K

Just Some Updates!

I thought I'd just post some updates because if I don't post them nobody will! Friday night we went to the circus. It was super fun and were very tired when we got home. There were tons of great acts, but some outfits were a little strange, otherwise it was great! Saturday, me and E had a violin playdate and we had so much fun! That night we went to international night at our church and brought injera and wat.(An ethiopian dish, the injera is like bread and the wat is like stew) We had missionaries who talked that night. It was so moving and good for me to hear! Today the missionary talked for church, and did a sermon on how we are just jars of clay and God is the treasure inside of us! It was amazing! Tomorrow mom has her 3-D ultrasound and we all get to go with her! Well, I think that is all the updates I have for right now but if I have any more I will post them! Have a great day!
K

A New Layout

Here are some pictures of Easter and the treehouse.This is my first time doing this so I hope everything turns out ok. We also got a new background on the blog( you probably already noticed that!) Isaac has a soccer game tonight and we also have to clean the church! There is not much to update on but I thought I should post something so we don't go three months without a blog post as we have before! Ha Ha! Have a great day!
K

Tree House!!!!!!

Yes!! I am so excited to start posting on our family's blog!!( This is Kaylee by the way) We had a GREAT Easter and spent time in Cherokee with my grandparents on my dad's side. Cousin  Nate planned a awesome egg hunt and all of us kids were eating candy and bouncing off the walls for the rest of the day! We got home from there at about 9:00 and hit the hay. This morning we all woke up and rushed outside to finish the tree house we started on Friday. We've been out there all morning and it is coming along pretty well so I thought I'd post about it! Mom has been feeling pretty good but has been having contractions lately. Yikes. Otherwise we are SUPER excited for our new baby sister!! We have a ton of names that we like. My favorites are: Eliana, Lily, or Ivy. Names have become a topic of major discussion at our house. Ha Ha! Well I think that's all I have to write about for now. Have a great day!
Kaylee