Love These Kids

Andrew and Ava Spiller children to my wonderful sister Gina and her amazing husband Eric, however I'd take them any day. Sure wish they lived closer. They love eachother to death altho Andrew does not seem to be enjoying this HUGE kiss from his sister!! Love you both

Popcorn Anyone?

Yep I did it, I squeezed 1 more thing into my life. It all fell on me like a ton of bricks when I was up late one night filling out application for grant money and wondering where the $$$$ for this adoption was going to come from esp. if we'd be blessed with 2. As I sat there wondering and thinking and waiting I decided to heck with this waiting I'm going to find a way to fund this no matter what so here I am introducing you to my newest fundraiser....POPCORN Sales. I didn't know how I'd find the time but I keep coming back to the same thing...God will provide. I decided that Sat. was going to be the big day to start this however it got started alil early. I was getting ready to log into my work site tonight when I came to the realization that my work website was down...for 1 min I thought oh maybe I'll do a load of wash or rest. That thought didn't last long cause soon after I saw the popcorn order form laying on the table. I grabbed the order form, put my coat and mittens on and off I went. I know some of you are thinking wow was she scared or nervous, yes I was all that, I didn't even know for sure how I was going to do this or what I was going to say when I got to the door but I also knew it was up to me. Well I'm going to tell you I loved it, I'm still alil giddy about the whole thing. I left home at 5:30pm walked to every house on my block and the neighboring block, everyone that came to the door bought. I arrived back home at 6:45pm and sold a total of 173.00, we get 47% so that's 81.31 toward our adoption. Here's my thoughts, if I do this 4 nights a week and have those results in a week it's 325.64. See why I'm so excited, I'm making things happen. The money is great but visiting with my neighbors was so refreshing. I didn't know I'd see God move like he did thru this adventure and this is why I say that. My neighbor Linda Reichle decided to order a small bag of popcorn and as she handed me the check she said "Jill we really don't need the popcorn we don't even eat it, just take the money", of course I told her No I'm bringing you the popcorn, little did I know when I got home the check from Linda was for 25.00 not the 5.00 like her bag should of cost. I immediately called her and she said "those children don't have a home so people that do what you're doing deserve the 25.00". God is good. I don't know what God's plan is with me or my life but if things go like planned my deep desire is to continue this mission and start our own Adoption Fund for Northwest Iowa families.

I know budgets are tight but if you can we would love your support. My goal is to raise $5000.00 thru fundraisers so I will be doing other things as well including a huge water balloon fight this summer for our town! If you're able to help shoot me an email with your order and than you can send me a check payable to: Jill Verduin or I can accept credit cards. Popcorn should be delivered in 3 weeks. Thanks for all your support and prayers.


Prices are as follows:

Cheddar Cheese,White Cheddar, Chicago Style, Kettle Corn and Rainbow
Snack Bag(4 cups) $5.00 Classic Jar(1/2 gal) $10.00 Value Bag(1 gal) $15.00

Gourmet Carmel
Snack Bag(4 cups) $6.00 Classic Jar(1/2 gal) $12.00 Value Bag(1 gal) $16.00

Cookies n Cream, Chocolate Drizzle Caramel, Peanut Butter Drizzle
Snack Bag(4 cups) $7.00 Classic Jar(1/2 gal) $14.00 Value Bag(1gal) $22.00

Caramel Nut, Macadamia Butter Crunch
Snack Bag(4 cups) $8.00 Classic Jar(1/2 gal) $16.00 Value Bag(1 gal) $24.00

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Chocolate Drizzle ~ Caramel Corn Our chocolate-loving cooks at Popcorn Palace decided our unbelievable Gourmet Caramel popcorn just wasn’t enough. So they drizzled rich, creamy, premium milk chocolate over a fresh batch of caramel popcorn and ‘viola’… just like that a star was born! Try it soon, it runs out quick….

Cheddar Cheese ~ Cheddar cheese originated in the English town of Cheddar. It took almost 1000 years for Popcorn Palace to come along and perfect this wonderful flavor by melding it with delicious, crunchy gourmet popcorn…and our many satisfied customers are sure glad we did!

Rainbow ~ Looks good, tastes better! Kids just love this one. Our Tangerine,Wild Cherry, Spiced Apple, Grape, and Lemon popcorn flavors are fruity, fun, delicious and… irresistible!

Gourmet Caramel ~ Our famous popcorn, dripping with our secret recipe of real butter-based caramel. The “other guys” try this flavor but Popcorn Palace has perfected it - all with the help of our many satisfied customers. Rich, creamy, crunchy and sweet!

White Cheddar ~ Not quite as sharp as our signature Cheddar Cheese but just as incredibly delicious. If you like cheese and you like popcorn this one is a natural choice. Serve it with hors d’oeuvres or as an appetizer for special events…just make sure you have enough in the cupboard to keep refilling the bowls

Macadamia Butter Crunch ~ You won’t have time to pick out all the genuine macadamia nuts loaded into this unbelievable gourmet surprise. Munch and crunch your way to the bottom of the bowl and savor the creamy, real butter in this sweet and nutty treat. A Popcorn Palace exclusive blend!



Kettle Corn ~ Premium pure cane sugar and select sea salts, mixed with our delicious, original, gourmet popcorn will bring you back to the bowl over and over again. The most sweet and savory sensation you will ever have…and a Popcorn Palace classic!


Cookies and Cream ~ What do you get when you mix the most famous cookie ever and our famous gourmet popcorn? That’s right, Popcorn Palace’s signature Oreo’s® Cookies & Cream. Real Oreo Cookie crunch and real Oreo’s cookies too! Everyone knows about Oreo’s and everyone will love our Cookies & Cream popcorn.



Peanut Butter Drizzle ~ Peanut Butter and White Chocolate hand drizzled over our own kettle corn recipe begs you to try it. One of our newest hand drizzled chocolate flavors is sure to please everyone.

Chicago Style(caramel/cheddar mix)We took our two most popular flavors, Gourmet Caramel and Cheddar Cheese popcorns and combined them together to create a “sweet/salty” taste sensation. We have created a true hometown favorite in honor of our great city - - Chicago!


Caramel NutCaramel Nut popcorn is the “nutty” sibling of the Gourmet Caramel bathed in a thick, premium mix of cashews, almonds, and peanuts. An amazing sensation like our famous Gourmet Caramel popcorn but loaded with a lot of extra crunch.Yum!

Thanks A Million

I know you are all wondering if I gave up blogging, nope not the case I've just been buried over here in work, kids, and adoption paperwork. I did order a new Creative Memories digital scapebooking kit from a friend so pretty soon you'll see just how untalented I really am :) Jamie said I shouldn't work past midnight cause it cuts into my beauty sleep so I haven't had time to work with this program like I want to. Ok seriouly now, the real reason I'm here is to say THANKS. I'm super excited and I wanted to share our latest news. Our Home Study agent called today and we set up our 1st 2 visits which are Mar. 2nd and Mar. 10th, our adoption agent has also asked us to start collecting documents for the dossier, this means we're moving forward at a slow but steady pace and I guess that's all you can ask for with international adoption. Anyway I wanted to thank all of you who helped with our references, our HS agent was very impressed at how fast they got responses from you, so big THANKS for your prompt attention.

Tristan Makes Honor Roll

Make a Smilebox greeting

Super MOM !?!?!?!

I'm not sure what a Super MOM looks like but I found myself starring one in the face today as I looked in the mirror. Some days I think my brain is flashing overload and that's the days everything comes crashing down. Well that's was my day yesterday so I'm praying my whole week don't go this way. It all started with the Post Office, I hope I'm not alone to say the post office is a not a very friendly place for me, it mostly delivers bills and bad news, however I'm anxiously waiting for the fingerprinting kit from South Dakota to arrive so we can get our fingerprinting done for our Home Study. Hoping it would be there I went right at 9am to find out that nothing was delivered except a cancellation notice on our auto insurance, so I called them and seems I was having a blond moment when I wrote the check out cause I shorted them 19.00, so without notice they cancel due to non payment unreal, like that 19.00 was going to make that huge of a difference in our budget for last month or something. I decided this was the price I pay for switching carriers 6 months ago from my local agent to save a few bucks. Well needless to say she got my business back...OK local is better! Shortly after cooling down from finding out we didn't have auto insurance the Home Study agency calls and informs me she forgot to tell us we all needed physicals done and wanted to know if we would get that done by tomorrow, Super mom is kicking in. 4 appts., kids go to school, Jamie works out of town and clinic cant get us in till Thurs so tomorrow don't work. On top of that Austin's teacher has decided that since I work from home and have a flexible schedule (what's that?) I can help with the Marsville Project which means 1 day a week for the next 4 weeks I have to be in school for 1 1/2 hrs to help my group of kids and the 5th week we have link up day with the OC Elem 4th graders to build our habitat, that's an all day project. We had our 1st day yesterday. Super mom is going high speed now. Ive now made it thru supper and Jamie frantically needs help finding something on the internet ( the computer to Jamie is like a foreign language) he can't even find the address bar, OK now he can !! Austin needs help with science and he also reminds me that luch money needs to be paid online, Tristan is calling my name from the kitchen cause he hates math and don't get it, did I mention I don't like math either however I'm a pretty good help as long as he remembers his text book so I can teach him the way he's taught and not my way, yep you guessed it, he forgot it in his locker so I began to search the net for help, plus I have business calls booked until 9pm, how can I do all that at one time? Brain begins to flash overload and I kindly in my nice motherly voice say OK family mom cant do everything I'm only one person. I'm not too sure if Jamie ever found what he was looking for but I did manage to get my phone calls in and also the boys homework without having a major meltdown, however I did come to the realization that my plate is too full and that moms should be the new Super Heroes. All because of my personal mini meltdown I wanna say.. Good Job, Moms. You're the Best!

Out Numbered....Again

I have a favorite quick and simple recipe, everyone that knows me is alreay thinking wow this ought to be good Jill never cooks. Its SIMPLE and I have been craving it all day so for supper I suggested it and it got a big no. Im going to share this receipe with you cause someone needs to enjoy it and it don't look like it's going to be me. We had a few big reasons why it got ruled out, don't tell anyone but Jamie is watching what he eats, I think that's his way of saying "diet" LOL, and Tristan will not under any circumstances eat it cause it has chicken in it. I know what kid don't like chicken, he did until we got a bird that he loves and he thinks chicken is part of his birds family. WOW kids now days. He's been on this kick for awhile, I tried to pull a fast one on him the other week cause we went to the Pizza Ranch...didn't work he wouldn't eat it! Austin was gone tonight so he didn't have a voice in the supper menu. This originally came from my sister, Gina, when she gave it to me I was like is this a real recipe or something you made up, she informed me it was "real" so go ahead try it for a fast meal, the kids will love it unless they have birds!

Box of Mac n Cheese (make it like normal, however I use alil more milk so it's nice and creamy)
12.5 oz can of Chunk Chicken
sm. can Cream of Chicken
shredded cheese

That's it, I make the mac n cheese, cut the canned chicken into smaller pieces, mix the cream of chicken soup in, add a handful of shredded cheese, more milk if needed and eat. It's amazingly good, fast and easy.

Welcome to our Blog! We have started this blog to record our experiences as we work towards adopting from Russia. We hope to get a referral and have added family member(s) by Thanksgiving 2009, or my Bday in Oct. would be even better :) Of course this is the world of international adoption, so anything could happen!

As of right now we plan to take the boys along with us on the 2nd and final trip to Russia which could be anywhere from 10 - 21 days. They are super excited and since alot of the time is spent away from the orphange we thought we could do site seeing as a family of 4 before we add to it.

We welcome you to follow us from start to finish as we fullfill this command from God. We will update our blog all the way even from Russia!!

James 1:27

NET ~Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

NIV ~Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

NASB ~Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

NLT ~Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.

MSG ~Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

BBE ~The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

NRSV ~Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

NKJV ~Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Prayers are always appreciated.