Happy Birthday Austin

My youngest turned 11 years old today. I can not believe how fast time goes. It's been so fun to watch him grow into a handsome, intelligent, kind hearted little man. I love to watch as God works in his life and he begins to understand and trust the Lord. You are an amazing son Austin and mom loves you very much!

He loves us too...he designed the cake. Gotta love that. My dad/mom ROCK !!! He is 1 of a kind :)



ADOPTION UPDATE::: I forgot to have the house deeds and the marriage certificate apostiled and a few attachments for the Home Study didn't have our full names on them like our passports do so those all needed to be corrected. Our agent spoke with the social worker this morning and all papers were fixed and on the way to our agent via Fed Ex. I called the Secretary of State 1st thing this morning and apostles are also on the way. Everything was sent overnight so W. said IF everything gets there early enough tomorrow the dossier would go to Russia this weekend with a traveling family.

Jamie is busy busy. He's got another side job this Sat pouring a driveway. We are picking up odd jobs here and there but silly me I forgot to put our ad in the paper this week. I was offered a cleaning job 3 nights a week...still deciding. I need to make sure what I do don't cut into my own business.

We cut our cell phone minutes down and took off all the extras which cut 60.00 off our monthly bill. I canceled the 2nd phone line which I used as a fax and cut 12.00 off that bill and we're also cleaning out our storage unit this weekend so we don't have to pay that 50.00 every month. Jamie also decided to sell the 12ft fishing boat that's been in storage for 2 yrs. We got 250.00 for it, I put it on craigslist and it was gone the following morning. In the last 2 months we've managed to cut 225.00 out of our monthly bills. I'm so pleased and I can't forget to Thank the Lord. I've been praying for financial doors to open and he's making it happen! What an amazing God. I couldn't do this without you and I love you.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! As Jamie and I were driving around today we saw the many people, flowers, and flags in the cemeteries. Some people even take today to put something alittle more personal on the stone of their loved ones. Jamie lost is father 5 years ago very suddenly from a heart attack. We weren't able to go back to visit his father or put something by the stone from us this weekend but he was in our thoughts and prayers.

We walked to the park by our house where they hold the Memorial Service to take a picture of the flags blowing in the wind. Now keep in mind I have a very nice camera but don't know anything about it, I can't give a picture a special effect because I don't know how but when we got home to look at the pictures on every one of them the center flag is much bolder in color, I thought it was pretty and wondered how I accidentally did that and Jamie says, "Jill, it's no accident. That flag is for my dad" What a wonderful thought.

We love and miss you Grandpa Jim

Agent has Dossier

Boy am I relieved! The paperwork all safely arrived at our agent this morning. I know it probably seems weird that I'd be so concerned about it but like I said there's a lot of time invested in them not to mention the checks and cashiers checks in the amount of $12450.00. I've also been informed that with the Memorial Day picnic at our agent's home office there are Russian translators there, if the dossier gets reviewed by the right people today our dossier will be traveling back to Russia with the translators. Yippeee

We started looking for cribs :) and I already have my crib bedding spotted! We are really enjoying the idea of some pink in our blue house!

This song as been on my heart for some time now and I thought I'd share it with all my readers. This is what I want my life to be about. How many lives can I effect by bringing them to the Word of God?

Just pause the player at the bottom to listen...


I hope you all have a safe Memorial Weekend and remember that God is never to busy for you so take a few mins to Thank him.

Dossier has Shipped

All of the precious documents that make up the dossier are now in the hands of the Fed Ex man and on their way to our agent. Once they arrive there which should be Friday since I send them 2 day they will be reviewed one more time and they sent with a traveling family to Russia to be translated. Our waiting time starts when the paperwork reaches Russia so very soon. I have to admit it was kinda hard to drop all those documents in the box, Ive worked on them for almost 4 months and a lot of time went into them. I will be glad once they reach our agent.

Things are moving along well, I'm excited, nervous and scared all at the same time. A lot of doors need to open so please keep us in your prayers.

Our agent is having a Memorial Picnic this weekend and we actually thought about taking the boys then decided we better save the money and go next year with a car full!

Lord I pray tonight for our child(ren). I know Lord that you already have them picked for us and sometimes the road isn't always easy but know that I trust you Lord and we're following you all the way to Smolensk. Keep a close eye on our child(ren) until we get there and take them home forever. I love you Lord and think you're an amazing God.

P.S. Thanks for my life

Thinking

I want to do outside pictures with the boys so today Jamie and I went to a friends farm and I found a few places that I think would be really cool. Now I just need to wait for a nice, warm but cloudy day. I like to prep them when I have these ideas that way they know it's coming so I showed them the pictures and told them what I wanted to do. Austin said "Oh my mom" and Tristan says "mom there could be ticks there". He is horrified of bugs!

A close up by the tree and the window behind them. Too cool


Inside the barn looking out thru windows with arms folded.



Jamie said he would cut down a few of the small green weeds and then have the boys stand by the tree...

Our Rock

We have had this rock for almost 9 yrs. We did some landscaping around our home when we 1st moved here and Jamie found it. It's almost hard to believe, there was so much rock Jamie had to use the skidloader to move it around the house. How he ever found this rock is amazing but he did and we've had it ever since. Every once in awhile it comes out and tonight Austin's was looking for something in the closet and comes out with "the rock". I believe God is telling me something so this time I'm not putting it back in the closet...it's going to stay out so everyone can see it! Lord, your words are so quiet but so powerful. I love you!

Jamie has also picked up another side job helping a guy build storage units in town. God's helping us raise the money we need and I love it!! If you or someone you know needs an extra hand let us know!

Have an amazing Sunday and as always take a moment to thanks God for your life and all your blessings. Even if life "sucks" somedays, just imagaine what it would be like if we didn't have him watching our backs. Whew scarey thought!

Done!!

Whew I got everything done today, there were a few change in plans but they were actually to my advantage. I faxed the Dossier to our agent this morning so they could proof everything one final time before it got sent to the Secretary of State of be apostilled. Everything looked great, W even gave me an air high 5 over the phone because I did so well and everything was so organized and in order to the check list. I think that may have to do with he fact that I went over and over and over everything to make sure. After I got the OK, I ran to the bank to get the cashiers check, to the Fed Ex drop box to get envelopes then back home to print labels online. I had the Dossier complete in an envelope with prepaid label and I thought maybe I better call just to make sure I'm not forgetting something they need, you know how that works, they get it and somethings missing so they sent it back they we send it back and you lost at least a week. The news I received was shocking yet pleasant, she said that they do not want people sending all the documents to them in case something would happen, me not knowing says, well they have to be apostilled and she said all we need is the notary name, the date the document was signed and the # of pages. She told me she could fax a form and I could just put all the information on there along with requesting country. I turned around and asked her if I could get the info and call her back if I would pay over the phone. Her answer was Yes! Easy enough I paid $5.00 for each of the 39 documents that needed to be apostilled and she told me they would be in the mail on Monday and I should have them by Wednesday. Perfect! I called our agency right away to verify this was an OK process and she told me that some states don't require the documents be sent it. So for all my fellow Iowans going thru adoption, save yourself the time and just call in your information.

As soon as I get those from the Secretary of State I will attach them and sent everything off to our agent. Our offical "waiting" date is getting closer and closer, actually kinda makes me nervious at times.

I did get the approved HS in the mail for USCIS so now we just wait for our I-171H form.

I believe that God has a reason for everything and He was looking out for us today because if I would of mailed the Dossier to Iowa, I was going to give them a prepaid label to sent everything to our agent which mean that I would have also had to mail some additional forms plus the $12450.00 but now that I have to wait for the forms from the state I'll just mail everything together, that gives us, hummm....about 1 more week to figure out the money deal! God is good.


This is a Dossier check list from our agency. I can remember looking at this thinking, No Problem, little did I know the time, effort and of course the waiting that goes into it.


Finished project...the Dossier


God told me to drop everything and follow him and that's what I'm doing. I feel I can't go wrong as long as I don't push Him out of the driver's seat. I do that and I'm in trouble because I'm not real sure of the way. You drive God, I'll rest!

Love Jill

Life is good..God is good

The HS (Home Study) was picked up yesterday, if you know me I had to go thru absolutely everything to make sure we didn't miss anything before I even left the office. Everything was fine. We received Wait List Documents late yesterday afternoon from our agency so we got those filled out today and we will take those to be notarized in the morning. There are allot of things I love about our agency but 1 is they proof everything before you waste your time getting them notarized and then have to change them. As soon as we get those notarized our Dossier is complete and ready to be sent to the Secretary of State to be apostilled. I have to call our agency and go over all the documents 1 more time before the envelope is sealed. I also need to send approved HS to USCIS. If all goes smoothly everything should be in the mail by 4pm cst tomorrow.

As for the family... everyone is well and healthy. The boys got out of school at 11am today and no school tomorrow because of our annual Tulip Festival. Jamie told them they had to help me around the house before they were allowed to go to the festival. I love my husband, he always makes sure the boys are helping me out. Austin mowed when he got home from school and Tristan was suppose to dust and vacuum the basement but I believe he got alittle side tracked on the computer and what he did do really only got done 1/2 way in my opinion. I asked him why he don't pick things up when he dust instead of dusting around them and his answer was, mom do you really think dust gets under things, well yes I do and you can't get all the dust going around everything. Did I mention I'm really fussy and don't care much for dirt or dust! It was nice to have help tho so I better not complain. Austin spent the rest of the day with a friend and Tristan and Jesse rode there bikes to the Tulip Festival.

Jamie is putting in long days at work and is picking up some side job from our Family Handyman Service. He's done some small repair jobs for our Pastor and his wife and tonight he got another job doing some yard work for a man, planting and watering his grass. He is elderly and unable to do the work himself. I thought it was very nice of him to call us and help raise money. God is smiling :)

For me, I've done child care for 2 families and have the opportunity to do it 3 days next week as well if it works for my schedule. I really need to commit to selling popcorn a few nights a week for an hour or so, that has been our best fundraiser. Besides that I work work work just glad I'm able to run my business from home. God had a plan when he put this opportunity in my path. Thanks God!

I will be back tomorrow night to hopefully let you know the paperwork is in the mail!

God is busy hand picking our daughter(s)and in the meantime I want to let my little ones know I love them even tho I don't know them yet, I pray for them every single day, your brothers talk about you tons, and mommy and daddy are taking necessary steps to bring you home. God Loves You and so do We!!

Family Handyman Service & Update

When I shared my new idea with Jamie his exact words were, "I'm game but what else are you going to come up with"? Hummmm let me think ?!?! I told him whatever I have to in order to complete this adoption without digging a financial hole! I'm just thankful God gave me such a creative mind and good work ethics. (thanks mom and dad too)

We are calling my new idea.....Family Handyman Service and that's just what it is. We will do almost anything. Thank goodness my hubby has allot of talents especially in remodeling, home repair, and concrete to name a few. It don't end there the boys and I will be helping in this adventure too so besides small construction jobs we will run errands for you or a family member that can't get out so easily or maybe just too busy, take care of your home and/or pets while you're away, yard work, cleaning gutters, also I am a full time mom working from home so I will do child care day, night or weekends in our home. If there is something that you think either Jamie, Tristan, Austin or myself would be able to do please give us a call. We have a long ways to go to $50K but our shorter goal is $12,450 that needs to go to our agency as soon as the Home Study is done....like a week. Yikes. $12,450 seems like allot and it is but the fees that need to be paid before our dossier can travel to Russia are as follows, just so you see the reality of cost. We are going for 2 children but are only paying fees upfront for one, when we get the referral for 2 we will have to send in additional fees where it says per child.

- Post-placement Administration Fee - $550/per child
- Dossier Fee - $2,400/per child
- International Processing Fee - $4,500/per child
- Deposit for Foreign Country Fee - $5,000 (comes off foreign country
fee of $21,000)


I am going to put a ticket on the website to show where we are in relationship to the $50k needed to complete the adoption. Right now we are roughly $1000.00 ahead in PROFIT from our fundraisers + we already paid $6400.00 to our agency and Home Study agency which came from personal savings. I actually have everything organized on an spreadsheet so will post that ticker asap.


UPDATE ON POST FROM YESTERDAY...
We had hoped that our Home Study would be complete today however when I called this morning they told me that they had a walk in audit and would be busy with that until Tuesday. As long as no other unforeseen things happen I will go pick it up on Wednesday morning.

Happy Mother's Day

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God upon every remembrance of you. ~Philippians 1:2-3

My family is so wonderful. They told me today was my day and I could pick what I wanted to do. I've been telling them all week that I didn't want anything that cost money. I know...I'm budgeting :0), I figured they could make cards on the computer and I'm a lover of Lilys but they die so fast so I decided that all I really wanted to do was head to Lake Okoboji, ride around and check a few things out. It was a wonderful day, we went to early service so we were finished at church by 10am, came home to change clothes and headed to the lake. Jamie showed me some houses that they build and we just crusied around the whole lake. We were checking things out so for me that means driving slow...Sunday Cruisers. This really shows my age, I even asked Jamie once to pull over and let the car behind us pass so we didn't have to drive so fast. hehe We were home by 5pm, ordered pizza and here I am doing another thing I love, blogging. I think tonight will be an early to bed night as last night was very late. I'm doing a new advertising campaign and worked all day and all night setting the ads up so I'm starting to drag! A quick update on our adoption. Our Home Study is suppose to be complete tomorrow so I plan to go pick that up so the it and our Dossier can be send to our agency which will then be send to Russia with a traveling family. I spoke with W on Thursday and she said we should be getting an email the 1st part of this week for specific regionS. Yes! she said regions...plural which is good news, the more regions the faster we get a referral. I will keep you posted as I know more.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms or soon to be moms

Lord, Thanks for the wonderful day and my family. You truley have blessed me. I Love You!

Assigned to a Region

We are please to announce that our future child/ren will have a birth place called Smolensk Russia. We got the call on Friday from our agency that this is where our dossier will be registered. Smolensk is about 3 1/2 hours southwest of Moscow and close to the Ukraine border. I have been doing some research on that region however I still have allot to learn. During my search I found another family that is currently waiting on a referral from this region as well so it's been fun getting to know them. They are actually close enough we could even visit each other which would be really neat for the children...we'll see :) We still don't have an official date for our "paperwork pregnancy" since we are still tieing up some loose ends. I will keep you posted as to when we are logged in and officially waiting. God has opened and closed some doors so far in our journey and sometimes he's even destroyed "our plan" with the "perfect plan" which isn't always easy. We believe that we are going to Smolensk Russia for Him and we are put on this earth to do just that...Glorify Him! Thank You Lord and We Love You!!

How we spend our Sundays

Jamie and I love our bikes. Jamie has always had a love for Harley's and I really didn't care either way. In all honesty I didn't think I'd even care to ride on one. I was wrong we got both our bikes 2 summers ago, Jamie got his 1st and I rode on the back thinking I'd be OK with that well after a short month we started looking for another Harley. I think it may be a control issue!! We were very lucky to find one identical to Jamie's for sale in MN. Keep in mind that I have never drove a motorcycle in my life so Jamie buys the Harley and an old 1983 Honda 650...this is my "practice bike" and let me tell you she was a dandy. I started off in the church parking lost across from our house, in 1st gear going in circles...1st one way then the other. Slowly I worked into shifting and going all the way around the parking lot. I felt pretty comfortable but again this was a little 650 my Harley is a 1500 much bigger, heavier bike. Jamie had confidence in me so I decided to give it a try it was honestly no different then the little one, it's all in the balance. The rest is history...we now have a love for Harley's and in the summer try to get a family ride in on weekends. Austin will not ride with me so I always get Tristan which is perfectly fine with me. I'm not sure if the girl on a Harley, it's my mom or that he's really scared of my driving is keeping him away, however we tease him about it often. We took our family ride yesterday thru a few neighboring towns, to my parents house and then by some friends. We love it...freedom...fresh air...and time to think. After our ride yesterday we now have a family joke about buying side carts(or whatever they're really called) for the bikes since we're adding to our family.

I have some adoption news that I'll be posting later tonight...Yippeee until then have an amazing day!!

High Chair Project

Ever since we started our family I have had this desire to have an old wooden high chair. Our boys have been out of that stage oh let's see...almost 10 yrs but since we decided to adopt I've once again begun my search for my dream high chair. We found a few at antique dealers and flea markets but they've always had a hefty price tag on them so we planned to hit some garage sales this summer to find one. I'm now happy to say that garage sale season is just starting and I already found one. I didn't even know there was a garage sale going on in town yesterday but since I had to be up so early to take Austin to football registration I saw "the sign" of course Austin was not happy. He will not wear anything or use anything from a garage sale or thrift store which I don't understand cause I've been doing both for as long as I can remember. Anyway as I speed by I see a wooden high chair (painted of course) however I can't stop because I only have 5 mins to get to Orange City,I couldn't get to Orange City, register Austin and get back fast enough. I keep thinking Oh please hurry or my high chair will be gone, please hurry! Heading back to Alton my Denali wouldn't go fast enough and as I pull up to the house I see it. Just waiting for me all painted up! The gal had $8.00 on it but being on a budget and alittle tight I asked her if she would take $5.00, she said yes, I paid her and away we went. Then the work started...I needed to get all the paint off so I can get it back to the original look. My neighbor is an antique dealer so he helped me allot. I worked roughly 6 hours just to get the paint off, now I need to use paint thinner to get the remaining off before I can stain it. He told me that I got a heck of a deal for only $5.00, he said that it was made in the 1930's. He could tell by the shape of the tray, the way it's beveled and the curve for the body (tummy). I'm super excited about my purchase and think it's going to turn out just as I've always dreamed! I will post finished pictures when I complete my project!

Have an amazing day and don't forget to Thank God for your Life!!