Bike Ride

Yesterday we went on a bike ride.  It was quite comical!  Thankfully I had my friend Holly with me on her bike I affectionately named, The Dino.  She has had it since 7th grade...and, well, it brought back memories. :)

Shortly after we got all of our bike gear out of the car and loaded the children into the bike trailer we realized we had two problems.  One, her bike had no brakes and two, I couldn't get my bike to shift into a lower gear.  She could go uphill and I could go downhill, but together we could go nowhere.  We were riding downtown and here in Asheville everything is either extremely uphill, or downhill!  You don't realize that until you are on a bike pulling 100 lbs. behind you!  :)

So, after about an hour of riding around and stopping every three feet we decided to just to circles in the parking lot.  It was hard to get up the parking lot, but once I did there was a long driveway that took us downhill fast and made the kids squeal!  

So, I did that about 10 times and today I'm sore.  Tomorrow we are going riding with GG at the Biltmore Estate.  I've requested small hills and flat ground since I have a two other people behind me.  

I wish I didn't have to use a car but could just ride my bike everywhere with my kids.  Maybe I could get a little motor to put on the back to help me out a little.  :)  If I felt like it was a safe choice I would train myself to do it.  Too bad.  For now I'll just enjoy paved trails and the bike lane occasionally.

A Worldly Room

One thing I have been excited about since I found a bunch (like, 75) old maps of Drew's granddad's, was being able to decorate our son's room in maps.  (Like my cheesy play on words..."worldly room") I LOVE maps, especially vintage ones.  And, although we do not know if we are adopting a girl or a boy-I just have a feeling it will be a boy and that is so exciting to me!  Because we will never have a huge house and we plan on having lots of kids, our children will have to share rooms.  I think there is something so beautiful about this!  So, how perfect will it be to have our new baby in a room decorated with maps, celebrating life here and life in Africa.
Last time my mom was here we went to the fabric store and bought some fabric to make Asa a quilt for his bed.  It is all inspired around a map pillow I got from my favorite store of all time, Anthropology.  Yesterday I scoured the Internet looking for pictures of quilts to give her an idea of what I want, and look what I found!

This is called a water color quilt, and it takes hours upon hours upon hours to make!  This will not be the one she is making for Asa, but maybe one day down the road??  Why do I feel like I hear her saying, "nope.  if you want it you can make that one."  :)  Asa's will be awesome and I cannot wait to see it!
I'm off to go bike ride with my kids.  This will be my first experienced pulling 100 lbs behind me while I ride the mountains of NC.  :)  We'll take pictures and report back!

How Can You Help?

Soccer Gal & My Pal

My Quinny has started soccer.  I have waited for this moment for five years.  :)  Now, I can only hope that she loves soccer as much as I do.  I will confess, the first time I saw her in her over sized soccer uniform I got teary eyed!  :)
Quinn took this picture of me last October, 2009 after one of my games where I brought home our rabbit, Elliot...

Now, its my girls turn...

She loves to run, and its fun to watch her get so carried away with running that she sometimes forgets where she is going.  Maybe she will be a track star one day.  :)

While Quinn plays soccer Asa stands on the sideline cheering, "Go sissy!  Good job sissy!"  or, he fills his pockets with rocks and dirt.  Every Saturday he asks if its his turn to play...two more years buddy.

Our soccer games are so early in the morning there is still dew from the previous night on the ground.  I try to look at the bright side, I'm not having to sit in the heat...and we can make a Starbucks run after practice/game and still have the rest of the Saturday to play with!

Quinn has started Flint Stones with our church.  It is really kind of hard to explain what exactly that is.  Our church does not do Sunday school, so every other week they have an intensive time for youngsters to learn God's word (and when I say learn, I mean like memorize whole books of the Bible and so on...)  This past Sunday I asked Quinn what she learned and she said, "I learned that disobeying is sinning, and sinning makes God sad."  Yes!  Beautiful truth she is learning.  While she is in Flint Stones, my pal Asa and I go on dates downtown because also during this time Drew is busy with the youth.  This last week we went to go get custard downtown at the Grove Arcade.  When we were half way done with our ice cream I realized we hadn't had dinner!  That's what a late lunch and a family nap will do I guess.  Asa didn't mind...can ya tell!?

 My beautiful, silly boy!!

And, for those of you that are wondering, our homestudy was ALMOST done, but I am actually going to hold it up a little because I want to go back to the doctor to get a new medical form filled out.  There have been some changes since it was done.  Patience is the name of this game. 

Its all coming along

WOW there has been a LOT going on in our lives lately.  We have been kicking in the Sole Hope fundraising and that has been exhausting-good, but exhausting!  We have been going through many transformations with Sole Hope...but I am going to try to stick to family on this blog since I have an outlet for Sole Hope. :) Our home study technically SHOULD be done on Monday...but I am prepared for it to not be ready.  It has been 11 weeks since we started the home study process and I've been pretty laid back about the whole process so far.  I am starting to have moments of exciting anxiousness as this whole adoption process gets more "real".  I just cannot wait to lay eyes on our baby-even just a picture.  I love to watch my daughters heart through this adoption...she is so excited to get a little brother or sister from Africa.  She shares our excitement and love for Africans and I think that is so beautiful.  She loves beyond boundaries that hold most people back from loving.  

Here are some highlights from our week:

As we cleaned out our garage for the Sole Hope yard sale and the kids had so much fun playing in the driveway while we cleaned.  Here they were pretending like they were watching fireworks, otherwise known as "boom booms" to Asa.  Like his "happy face"?  :)

GRRR-I wrote about 7 more paragraphs complete with pictures...then the Internet crashed!  So, it is time for me to go to bed...maybe tomorrow I will rewrite all I said.  :(

Enkutatash!

Enkutatash!  Or, Happy New Year!

So you wanna know something really fascinating? The Ethiopian new year occurs on September 11 in the Gregorian calendar, except for leap years, when it occurs on September 12. The Ethiopian calendar year 1998ˈAmätä Məhrät ("Year of Mercy") began on September 11, 2005. However, the Ethiopian years 1996 and 1992 AM began on September 12, 2003 and 1999, respectively.

This date correspondence applies from the Gregorian years 1900 to 2099. Generally, because every fourth Ethiopian year is a leap year without exception, while Gregorian years divisible by 100 are not leap years, a set of corresponding dates will thus apply only for one century. However, because the Gregorian year 2000 is a leap year, then in this case the correspondences continue for two centuries.

These beautiful girls are celebrating the Ethiopian New Year in Africa!  Are they not GORGEOUS!

Too Much Cuteness

Today Quinn and I continued our daily playing pretend.  It usually consists of her talking and me listening.  This was part of our conversation today!  :)

In this second video she talks a lot about knives.  Don't be alarmed... :0 She is referring to a photo I took in Africa of an 8 year old girl cutting salad like stuff with a knife and she was cutting into her hand, but was so skilled at it the knife did not cut her.

3 AM

It's 3:00 am.  I should be sleeping.  But, instead I scan blogs I love while in my insomnia-tic stooper.  I just finished reading my favorite adoption blog, Babe Of My Heart.  My friend Andrea is so inspiring.  She and I knew each other before the adoption process (they just adopted from Ethiopia in June), and even Africa loving days.  We go back to when we were both children and family photographers....and now she is a step ahead of us in the adoption process and is such a HUGE inspiration to our family.

Mind you, this blog will NEVER have as many pictures as hers does, or as many crafts for that matter...but I hope it does someone some good, besides being my own therapy.  :)  Andrea posted THIS blog about Drew and I yesterday...such a sweetheart!

I'm the all or nothing girl.  My head is in the process of finishing up the Sole Hope shoes and doing everything in between.  I am helping organize this first Sole Hope trip to Africa in December and WOW are there a lot of details.  Good thing I like details and I like the people I am working with even MORE!  :)  By the way, you can sign up for our newsletter now at www.solehope.com!  It only took me a million hours to figure out how to put the sign up on my web page...so go sign up!  :)  One thing I had to do during my late night was buy one of these beautiful necklaces!  You should see what the money goes towards.  I know we are on our adoption budget, but this is ministry...and how can I ask people to give to Sole Hope if I am not willing to give.  These necklaces are made by ladies in Uganda!  You can buy one HERE!

One thing I have decided to take on is sewing.  My mom taught me how to sew when I was...oh, maybe seven and I had a love/hate relationship with the craft ever since.  I think I somewhat took it for granted because I had a mom that could make me anything and it seemed like no big deal.  And I hated it because I had sensitive issues and the seams in my homemade clothes seemed to bother me more than in store bought clothes.  I was a weird child, I know.

I ran across some patterns today that I am absolutely going to try to make, as soon as I get a machine!  :)  (That will be tomorrow...or really today since its so late/early)  Since we are on the "adoption budget" it does not allow for a nice new sewing machine so I will be borrowing one from a friend I am sending to Africa with Sole Hope.  See, that's how you do it...you find a friend who has something you want-you send them to another country and then tell them you will kindly care for their item while they are gone.  :)  Just kiddin!

Back to my mom.  She used to teach sewing classes in our living room every Saturday.  I would roll my eyes as my peers came over with their fabric triangles they had cut out at home-ready to sew their quilt together.  I begrudgingly made a quilt when I was seven.  Then, (I guess I forgot how much I hated to sew) I asked mom if I could make a doll dress.  Of course she said YES...and I think it is still half done in her sewing room to this day.  One Saturday my sister and I were SO excited to stay inside and sew our own denim skorts (ew!) until about 2 O'clock, when they were half done and we decided we had enough.  Mom made us finish, and that was the last time I remember sewing.  All that to say, a miracle has taken place because I really want to do it this time.  10 years later-I think I am going to stick with it.  :)

For now I will go get some rest.  I have a beautiful little boy with the biggest blue eyes who will come wake me up before the sun rises, with no words...just sucking his thumb banging his head against mine (in love).  He's a boy, what can I say?

**Please excuse my typos...its late!  :)

LAST Homestudy

We took the kids to Splashville this morning for a few hours.  We had a picnic downtown and then had to swing by Starbucks!  Mr. Crewe (that would be Asa) passed out when we got home.  Quinn stood in the closet by me while I changed and critiqued the clothes I was picking out.  Apparently I don't match today.  Oh dear... have my hands full.

I am reading a fascinating book by Dr. Jim Foulkes called To Africa With Love.  Can I just say-WOW!  I was up reading until 2am...I had to put it down because my eyes were swollen from crying.  Then, my mom called this morning and I could barely hold back tears as I told her about the book.  I can't wait to finish it tonight...oh, and PS-I do NOT like to finish books.  It will be only the second book I have actually finished since high school.  Not the second book I've read...just the second one I've finished!  Does that tell you something about the book?

Today we have our last homestudy!  I am so excited.  I have no idea what will happen time wise after this...do we get papers in the mail?  Do we get them today?  What the heck does our dossier consist of anyway and how do we know whats involved?  

We love our agency, but one drawback (for some people) might be that they are kind of hands off.  If we have questions we can call, but they don't exactly hold your hand through the process.  I'm okay with this-at least I have been so far.  So, maybe I'll find out after today what happens next.  :)  

I believe the meeting today will consist of interviews of the kids.  Just the thought of that makes me laugh. Like what's Asa going to say?  We'll find out.