More SNOW

Playing inside.  

Again.  

It is a good thing that I found this piece of fencing in the closet to add to the barnyard.  My mother-in-law (aka the garage-sale-best-deal-finder-queen) saw it when Timothy was still a baby and snatched it for an incredible deal I am sure.  It helps that she was a preschool teacher and mother of 3 boys.  She sees the potential for play in lots of things.  :)  Anyway, Timothy has been busy corralling his animals and himself in his barnyard.  I find it amazing that when we gave him the fence, he knew exactly what it was and how to use it.  He has a problem with his pigs escaping though; they are always knocking down the fence and climbing in the toolbox.  They always get a good, "No, NO!" and a timeout in the barn.  :)  He also will move a section open and closed like a gate for his tractor to come and go.  

Here is why we are playing inside.  This is the 3rd snowfall since we got our early veggies in the ground.  Thankfully, it hasn't been super cold, just snowy.  We are hoping the wind calms for a little bit so we can play in it a little later.  It is supposed to be 70 degrees by the weekend.  One can dream...

Happy Monday!

Adoption Update

Lots of things have been happening with our adoption process!

1.  We are almost done with our home study (which gets us approved to bring a baby home!).  We need to have our social worker come out to our house to make sure we have the necessities like smoke detectors and fire extinguishers and then we can check the home study done.

2.  We have a working version of our profile done (a set of papers that the birth moms see when they are choosing a family!).  It still needs some work in the polishing area, but we have a good start so far.  When we meet the criteria that a birth mom is looking for, our profile will be made available...hopefully this will start happening this spring and/or summer!  We have also been praying for our birth mom and dad and our baby...we hope you will too!

3. The Nies Adoption Fund has been started at our local bank.  A few people have been asking about sending checks.  You can send them directly to the BankWest in Gregory, SD with "Nies Adoption" written on the check.  Thank you in advance!  The money issue is still our biggest roadblock.  We are making lots of changes in our personal budget to squeeze every penny we can, but our goal is to pay for the adoption as we go and not borrow any money.  This makes fundraising a necessity for us!

4.  Fundraising is starting!  After confirmation is done, Jared's schedule lightens up a bit at church and we will be planning a dinner here in town.  I am also planning on a Thirty-One catalog party in May (when the new catalog comes out!) and maybe a Pampered Chef party a little later in the summer (both in person and online).  You might notice an Amazon link on the blog too.  This is how it works...anytime you click on that box to the right, it will take you to Amazon.  You place your order (whatever you want) and we earn a percentage of what you buy.  It doesn't matter what you buy and we can't see what you buy, so don't let that worry you.  Just know you are supporting us by buying online with our link!

5. Craft show sewing is in full swing.  I have been working furiously on some really cute items and I'll put a separate entry up later this week.  I have learned that I am not cut out for the type of sewing where you make the same thing dozens of times to build an inventory.  I am going to specialize in a few patterns and make lots of those, and then make some unique, one-of-a-kind type items so I don't drive myself crazy.  I am more than happy to do it for our adoption, but not planning on doing the craft show thing on a regular basis.  I have been mulling over maybe selling my things online, but not sure about that yet.

Thanks for your support and love!  Please keep us in your prayers as we get closer to welcoming a new little one in our family and as we approach difficult anniversaries that make our arms ache for our little Evelyn.

Spring Storm

Remember how I planted some seeds this weekend?  Well, they got some moisture.  :)

We spent the first half of the week in Aberdeen for the spring Pastor's district conference and were greeted by this lovely, heavy, wet snow when we came home (about 12 inches of the wet stuff, although it drifted much deeper in some spots).  We were even delayed coming home a day because of the snow (and ice that came before it).  Fortunately, Timothy is a fish and there was a nice pool and lots of friends to play with.  When we pulled up to the house, there were a few high schoolers from our church that were digging out our garage door and had started on our sidewalks.  What a welcomed sight!

Jared whipped out the snow blower to finish up.  That snow is mid-thigh!

A late afternoon nap was then had by the weary (yes, even mr. smiles up there slept eventually).

Garden 2013

The "plant as soon as the ground is workable" seeds have been planted.  Spring is officially here!  This is the official before picture of the garden.  Carrots, onions, turnips, and peas are planted and the compost pile (far left) is starting. (As well as asparagus and rhubarb that haven't come up yet) 

Do you see the crazy plant over by Jared's head?  That is the raspberry bush that we need to figure out how to tie up and/or back.  Any ideas on how to rein in those crazy stalks are welcome!

We are really looking forward to seeing our trees provide more and more shade this year.  It is crazy that it was the height of the stake only 20 months ago!

Daffodils and perennials are all poking out of the ground...praying that we don't get another hard freeze!

work, work, work

Confirmed:  We have an outside-playing-loving boy on our hands.  Every minute possible was spent outdoors at grandpa and grandma's house the past couple of days.  Of course, it helps that they have heaps of small pebbles right off of the back deck...

I love how his shirt matches the activity.  :)

"Enough of this looking at the camera mom...I gotta get back to work!"