Phil is WHERE?

It was completely unlike Phil. If I hadn't been standing in right in front of him, looking into his face, convinced that the Twilight Zone doesn't exist, except for on TV, then I would not have believed you if you said that this was Phil's idea.

"I think I should go to Ghana"

"Okaaaaay, why?"

That was how our conversation started out and after I recovered from my disbelief, we had a long conversation about his recent loss of sanity.

So yes, Phil is in Ghana and he went to help Romana (the saint who rescues children and gives them LIFE!) and to see if we could possibly get some things done to bring our baby home sooner. (Is sooner a word? I mean if you are not from Oklahoma, Dana!) So sure enough, Phil has done both! I believe God has a GREAT sense of humor because even though Phil loves his own babies, babies in general are not so much his "thing" But since arriving, he has held MANY, MANY babies. (I plan on calling him "the baby whisperer" from now on:)

Phil's YUMMY dinner:)

All joking aside, Phil is doing what God told all of us to do: "Care for orphans in their distress..." That is PURE religion. He took a huge leap of faith on November 10th, doing something waaaaaay out of his comfort zone (more like the Twilight Zone...OH, I said all joking aside!) and he INSPIRES me. If you had told me 2 years ago that Phil would be in Africa for the second time in 1 year, adopting a 3rd child, and eating unknown foods, I probably would have laughed, seriously, I would have, but that was before God became more than just an idea and Christianity became more than just going to church...hold on...who knows what we'll be saying in two more years!

Superheroes spotted in Lynden

Our Halloween was VERY fun! We went trick or treating in our old neighborhood, down our favorite candy-loaded street in Lynden, and at church. We came home with over 25 pounds of candy (so gross!!!) We ended up donating MUCH of it to our church kid's program (they can use it as prizes all year long...there is that much candy). Kathryn loved trick or treating and almost gave the home owners massive heart attacks by SCREAMING "Trick or Treat" at the top of her lungs each time someone answered the door. She had practiced all week, but I forgot to remind her not to scream. So we had to have a family info meeting mid trick or treating to inform everybody (Kathryn) that we can't yell or we will scare the person answering the door. FUN, FUN, FUN.

Look at ALL that candy!!!
Superheroes...Mr. Incredible, WonderWoman, Batgirl, Spiderman, and the Incredible Hulk

There's Mr. Incredible!

Family of Superheroes.

ALRIGHT, ALREADY!

I am back to blogging after our having MANY people complain about my lack of recent posts. One word for all "you people"...MOVING!!!
So in case you were wondering, we have moved into our new house! Phil totally outdid himself on this awesome, energy and space efficient, cost effective, beautiful house. I will post pictures soon. We are so happy to have a little more space than we did in our rental, and equally happy to have LESS space than we did in our previous house. Phil and his dad worked sooooo hard the last month, so that we could get in faster...WOW what a team. And Phil's mom came and helped every Saturday doing the jobs that no one else wanted to do (servant's heart) and my mom came and measured and drilled every single one of my cabinet doors so that I could put my cabinet handles in precisely the correct spot (as most who know me, that is impossible for me to accomplish:) So that is the moving update.
Here are some totally unrelated pictures, but so sweet from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend (yes, we actually can do something on the weekends now besides work on the house and go to Lowes!)

The kids saying "pumpkin patch" Evalin obviously is still stuck on "paaaaatch"

Sigh, my heart...

Is is just me or is he about the cutest thing ever?

Almost as heavy as her own body!!! HA!

Say "cheesy"
Am I really that white or do I just appear so compared to my daughter?
My very cool 1st grader (notice his hands...HA!)

Five More Days

(Due to the overwhelming response I received from my last post, I will no longer be posting political views...HA! FYI: If I don't know you, I won't post your comments; nothing personal, just my policy.)

Because my husband is so incredibly AWESOME (not to mention my father-in-law, who has made the completion of our house his full time job!) we will be moving this weekend! HOORAY!!! I am sooooo happy to be moving into our house. Not that this rental hasn't been great because it has, but I can say with certainty that everyone is ready for more SPACE. Especially Lukas who has shared a room with the three little kids and has just about had a nervous breakdown over it! (Poor little stressed out kid:)
I am taking pictures today of our house and will post them for all of you who live far, far away and can't come visit us:-(

I have had ENOUGH!!!

I have NEVER posted a political blog in my life, but this made me FURIOUS!

After years of listening to our media tell us that the Democrats were on the side of the downtrodden and poor and the Republicans were greedy and selfish Americans...I have had enough.

In 2007, Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $319,853 in adjusted gross income. How much of that did they give to charity? LESS than 1% of their income. Over the past decade they reported giving an average of $369 a year to charity!
Obama and his wife made $1.2 million dollars between 2000 - 2004. There "generous" gifts to charity...less than 1%

In 2006 AND 2007 John McCain gave more than $202,000...26% of his income.
Of George W. Bush's taxable income, he gave 11.5% in 2004 12.2% in 2005 and 12.1% in 2006

Need I say more?

First Day of School

Here are pictures of Lukas on his first day of first grade. (no further comment from his mom at this time)

Day of Dread

The day that I have dreaded for six and a half years is only 4 days away...the first day of school. It hasn't snuck up on me because I have known it was coming; and I haven't just known it was coming, I've dreaded it's coming. I am not shocked that it is here, but I wish it was still six and half years away. Now when I ask "Where did that little, bow-legged chubby faced baby go?" I can answer, "He grew up and went to school" Oh my heart...