Cowboy Round-up

At the summer meetings they had a family night that had a cowboy theme.  If you know anything about Nate, he doesn't wear jeans, cowboy boots, big ole hats or plaid shirts.  He was a good sport and we had a lot of fun.

The two cowboys

Jacob and Nate trying to rope a calf.

Nate teaching Jacob how to strut.  It was pretty funny!

Going through an inflatable obstacle course...Jacob did not like it at all, but by the end of the night hew as saying he did and he had fun...he must have forgot the trauma he had!

Jacob learning how to whip.

and how to rope again.

Eating cotton candy

Jumping on some bouncy inflatables

Nate getting in on the fun.

He was like a little kid.

It was a good night and good summer meetings.  Nate finished it off by going to a prayer breakfast (I think) this morning, he was up way to early and out of the house by around 4:30 this morning...YIKES!  It's a good thing I didn't hear him at all. 

Afternoon at the zoo

Nate had his annual summer meetings early this week, so that means Jacob and I were on a mini-vacation.  He loved the hotel and before we left was absolutely sure that "Bertie the Bus"  (Thomas & Friends bus) was going to pick us up and take us to the hotel.  You may recall back in February we were in a hotel and buses picked us up from our hotel to take us to the Disney parks.  So, other than the fact that Bertie the Bus did not pick us up and we were not going to see Mickey Mouse all was well.  

The weather for the 3 days was not looking so hot at all.  I had a couple outings planned, but it was all weather dependent.  Monday a.m. when we left Sheldon was wet, but clearing.  I figured we should just go to the indoor science museum and try the zoo on Tuesday.  We were probably 20 minutes from Sioux Falls when I changed my mind.  The weather on the radio sounded like the rain wasn't suppose to come until later Monday night and would be gross all day Tuesday & Wednesday.  So I changed my mind and figured, the sun is partly out and that's the best we'll get, we better go when we know we can!  

Let me tell you, this boy was an incredible car rider.  He never once asked for a different toy or different music (typically he's quite demanding at the music in the car).  He fell asleep - 10 minutes from Sx Falls...sigh.  Lunch plans changed and I went through a drive-thru to keep him sleeping as long as possible, because this meant at least he was getting some sort of rest!  I ate my entire lunch sitting in the car at the zoo parking lot while he continued to snooze.  Eventually he woke up and ate and we headed in!  

Last May we had visited this same zoo and Jacob could recall some of the things & people we were with and did.  Quite amazing.  He liked seeing the animals, but always wanted to go see what was next. 

He liked using his binoculars to check out the animals.

He got to see a real cow up close and even pet it!

He's certainly not afraid of animals.

He's asking a zoo keeper for more food to feed the goats...who can resist that?!

He took a liking towards the snakes...gross! 

So proud that he climbed up "Dumbo" all by himself.

He likes giraffes.

And the carousel.

Then we got to the wolf.  He says, "like, the big, bad wolf?!"


It was a great day at the zoo and it was not busy at all!  We saw a baby reindeer that was about a month or two old, a baby gorilla that was super tiny and could barely walk, and a baby rhino (that did not look like a baby!).  It's a small zoo, but it was a perfect amount for Jacob.  The only downfall is that they don't have any live lions.  They have a whole selection of stuffed animals, which includes a couple lions.  So thankfully Jacob still got to see lions at the zoo.

It also worked out entirely perfect that we went to the zoo on Monday.  If we wouldn't have then we would not have gotten to.  Big storms ripped through the area Monday night which dumped a ton of rain.  It would have been a wet, muggy day at the zoo on Tuesday, and Wednesday was wet and windy and cold. 

More posts to come tomorrow (hopefully) on our mini-vacation and adoption news.

Happy Father's Day, Nate!

We had a great worship service recognizing father's and recognizing the love that Jesus has for us.  Living so close to our church, it's so pleasant to walk to and from church.  It gives Jacob a chance to burn some energy on our way so he can sit through church, then the way home gives him another opportunity to expend that energy.  When we got home, we took a few snapshots.  Those are two cute boys!

We decided to grill some steak for dinner, which was marinating while we were gone this morning.  We also enjoyed some garlic mashed potatoes, corn, rolls and for dessert we had some strawberries, freshly picked from our garden!  The boys also decided that they wanted ice cream with their berries, then while eating Jacob decided, hey, I want some cream!  Then daddy got a little silly! 

We enjoyed the nice afternoon playing some ladder golf, so far Jacob likes it.  We look forward to enjoying the game in the backyard, hopefully even more tonight!

And what could be better on Father's Day afternoon than a nap, with remote in hand and the U.S. Open (golf tournament) on tv.  Both boys got good naps in this afternoon while I got the joy of balancing the checkbook and budgeting :). 




To our dad's out there, thank you for all the love, care, prayers and impact that you have made on our lives.  We thank God for the men you are and the role models you have been to us.

This week we look forward to participating in the summer meetings for Nate's company and we are excited to go to Rise Fest - a Christian music festival in Orange City on Saturday!  Jacob has particular interest in Lincoln Brewster!  We are also hoping that this week brings the news that our fingerprints are back and good (the opposite of that is that the fingerprints were not readable, thus having to be re-done...we really pray that is not the case).  We also should have our profile books this week.

Have a great week in all that you do!

Middle of June

 Hi again!  This month is flying by so fast!  It was one month ago that I graduated my students, I am about 1/3 of the way finished with my summer break, that seems unreal!  We have been very busy and after this week we'll be a little less busy with no overnight trips officially planned (there is one we're considering however).  Finding our new summer routine has been more difficult than anticipated, especially with a possible 2 year old deciding nap time might become "rest time".  But, as I write this, both of my boys are asleep, so I get the pleasure of blogging.  On Friday during the normal "nap" time, I am also resting in my bed and Jacob yells to me, "but mommy, I don't want to go to sleep!"  That was after already being in there for awhile.  Needless to say, there was no "sleeping" on Friday, so I insisted he have quiet time in his room until the "beeper" (timer) goes off.  I can't say that I'm too pumped to give up this time, but bedtime has been progressively getting later as well, so somethings gotta give...

One of Jacob's favorite stories to read is "Caps for Sale".  He basically reads us the story.  The other night dad and Jacob decided to change up the story to...

 "Cups for Sale!"

He was the peddler selling the cups and carrying them on his head.

 Since my last post, I did take a picture of Nate and Jacob mowing together.  Jacob is so proud to be helping his daddy.

 Over last weekend, our anniversary weekend, we headed to Rapid City, SD with some friends.  The guys planned a golf weekend.  It was a great weekend away with no children.  This was taken at a restaurant called Sanford's Grub and Pub.  It was super tasty, we had great service and we all had a good time.

 One of the things the girls did while the guys golfed was go to this crazy place called "Cosmos".  It was a place in the 'hills' that is hard to explain, but you have to lean to be balanced.  Here is what their website says:  Our tour consists of a myriad of demonstrations designed to boggle the mind and show the awesome power of the Cosmos "force". From people changing heights on level platforms to water flowing uphill, to sitting on the wall.  The Cosmos is sure to amaze and astonish the mind!

It was fun, crazy, and weird.

This is Crazy Horse Monument...we just drove by on the highway...we got what we needed to see.

 This was my first visit to Mt. Rushmore, it was pretty cool.  When Jacob gets bigger he says that he is going to go see the faces with us.

Happy 7th Anniversary!

 Nate enjoyed golfing, believe it or not, after 45 holes in 2 days, he was a little sick of golf.  But he still had to golf league this week and I talked him into going out and playing Thursday night after supper because I had not played a single hole of golf yet this year!  It showed.

 Jacob had a blast, it's a lot of work trying to teach the little guy all the rules, little by little he'll learn, we will just have to keep taking him.

form does not matter at 2, right?!

Who says you can't tee off with a putter?!

 

We had fun and look forward to going again.

He's such a cheese!

Another hurdle crossed

This past Saturday Nate and I attended an all day training/orientation meeting with our adoption agency.  It was a super long day as we had to drive 4 hours amongst sitting in chairs all day.  It was good to meet other families in our position and meet the people of the office too. 

Many people have been asking if we are "waiting" yet.  No.  Still waiting on our background checks and fingerprints.  According to the time frame that they've been seeing lately, it should be this week or next.  At that point all of our paperwork can be reviewed and if we are approved, we'll be a waiting family.  We have our profile book basically ready, but I don't want to have them printed until I know that our background checks and fingerprints are good (someone we know has had their fingerprints rejected twice...they didn't work for whatever reason!...so if we have to wait 6-8 more weeks pictures can be updated into the profile - especially because a baby is due in the family the end of July!)

My mentality through this all has been that I don't want this process held up because of something I could have been doing.  In reality, depending on how long it takes our books to be printed, there could be a slight wait to have our books shown, but in the end of it all, we know that God is in control and everything will be shown and done in His time.

What does Jacob think about all of this?  He said the other day...God will give us our baby, we just have to wait until He says it's time.  He gets pretty excited when he sees babies out in public.  He says that his baby is going to be "so cute!"  Some times he refers to a sister, some times he refers to a brother - when I ask him what we should name our baby he usually says "baby Jacob or baby Jericho" (that's his cousins name)  But when I tell him we can't use those names he doesn't really get it.

Nate and I are looking forward to purchasing some of the necessary baby items that we don't have.  Not sure when we'll do that, but that will be exciting as we haven't purchased anything for this baby yet. 

We'll continue to keep the blog updated, but know that we cannot and will not post everything about the adoption.  There are things that are the child's story that the whole world doesn't need to know about like
     -where was the baby born
     -why did the birth mother choose adoption
     -how old is the birth mother
     -does she have any other children
...those are just a few, but answers to these questions could be difficult and it could skew your idea of the baby and have different expectations...we're sinners and we judge...we don't want you to have any pre-conceived thoughts about us or the baby.  Ultimately, it's the child's story and it should be theirs to tell if they ever decide they want to share any of those details.

There are things we have to do because that's the way adoption works - even though it seems nontraditional or unfair - adoption is different and that's what we have to do.  For example, attachment is huge and important and Nate and I need to form healthy attachments with our children.  In order to do that no one else will be able to hold, change diapers, feed our child for a period of time.  And some of you will not like that, but that's too bad for you.  It's not because we're being stuck up or wanting to be hurtful to you, but our baby needs to learn our voices, smells, touch, heartbeats so they learn to feel safe with us - that they have a need and we are filling those needs.  We need you to understand this now so that when baby does come home it's not a surprise.   We understand you'll probably want to help in some way or another and there are ways you can do that while we care for the baby. 

Thanks for understanding and following us on this journey of adoption!

Days of Summer

 Summer is here and I think Jacob is a little confused as to why he isn't going to his "school" any more and why his daddy can't be home all the time too.  It's been tricky to find our routine and our new normal.  I don't think we've necessarily found it yet, but it may be getting a little easier.  We have found ourselves at the pool quite a bit already - use it when we can is my motto.  Yesterday, we used it twice!  It was near 100 degrees, so we hit the pool right after lunch and then after supper after Nate was able to get some of the yard mowed.  When we returned from the pool at night Nate had some more yard to mow and Jacob and I sat on the deck eating ice cream cones together!  He loved it!  He wanted one for a snack this morning already.  Normally this boy does not do well with ice cream - like he eats one or two licks of it and is done.  I knew not to put too much in his cone and it seemed like it was just enough. 

I need to pull my camera out more as I have vivid memories in my head about Jacob mowing with his bubble mower behind his daddy last week  - it was cute!  He was so proud to be helping his daddy.  He also has been a huge help in my garden and watering my flowers too.

He is truly "ALL BOY" as the saying goes - picking up sticks and hitting it on any and every thing.  Last night after his cone was finished he was walking around the sidewalks "ruining" the ant hills and as he says it he sounds like he says he is "mooning" the ant hills!  (However, pretty sure he doesn't know what that means)  He tries to scale things...like the refrigerator, he grabs the handles and starts walking right up!  He also likes to do that in bathrooms that have the handicap railing - I've tried to avoid those now too.  His knowledge of loaders and diggers and scoops is beyond mine.  He has a little mini gator that is his monster truck that breaks a tie rod or blows a tire and often puts a stick in the back for his flag.  His imagination is great.

And as I write this I am reminded that he is completely potty trained and often likes to do it all by himself.  That's great too, especially not having to deal with those swim diapers. 

I can't believe that by the end of summer Jacob will be 3!  Crazy! 

Well, the temperature for today is already at 85 and expected to hit in the upper 90's again today.  Personally, I love the hot temperatures!  You'll find me at nap time sitting on the deck reading my book if I'm not napping as well.  The difference between yesterday and today - about 25-35 mph winds.  Yesterday there wasn't much wind at all.

Enjoy SUMMER!  It's here, and by later in the week it'll hardly seem like it as we'll see highs in the 60's.  For today, the plan is the pool and ice cream.  We'll save the library for a rainy day.

Today is the Day

Jacob loves singing and listening to music!  Not only does he enjoy singing songs he knows, but also making up songs!  It's so fun to listen to what he comes up with.  This is one of his all time favorite songs.

On Sunday before we left for church he found his little Bible and was pretending to sing from it.  Here's one of his songs...