Inauguration Day

We've been very busy trying to get well over the last few days. Sam had a couple of very good days and then started feeling bad again yesterday. I think it must have been the antibiotics at work, because he was crying at the drop of a hat and just wanted to lay around. A friend of mine told me these particular antibiotics cause kiddos to sleep a lot on day 2 or 3, so that is what I attribute to his odd behavior.


In order to help him feel a little happier, and especially since we could not go outside in the 5 inches of snow, we built a sheet fort in our living room. As you can see, he was thrilled with it.


On another note, I have been meaning to post this picture for a long time. A friend of mine asked me to do a cake for another friend's baby shower. I got some extra help from yet another friend of mine in designing the cake and...voila! I put a Winnie the Pooh figurine on the final product, but wanted to share the cake with everyone. It was my first real attempt, so it's obviously not very well done, but I am still proud of it. It took me over four hours! I don't think I could ever decorate cakes for a living - it's too much work and takes too long.

On a final note, my laptop died yesterday. It's been whining for a while - the fan has been broken off and on and there are a few other issues. But, we thought if we replaced the fan I could hang on to it a bit longer. Instead, the fan not working seems to have destroyed the screen and it is no longer working. I think I might be able to hook it up to a different monitor to get the information I need from it, but we're not exactly sure how long that will last. Maybe Bill will still try to fix the fan and get an external monitor - I don't know his plan yet.

In this economy, I don't need to tell you how much it hurts to lose something so expensive. But, another difficulty is this upcoming adoption. We had been saving money for it for many years and had not planned on coming back to America, buying a house, two cars, furniture (some, anyway) and, lease of all, thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

We have recently heard that the orphanage "donation" for China has increased from $3000 to $5000, not to mention gas prices have driven airfare up an enormous amount.

Bill and I have prayed about it for a long time and decided to apply for an adoption grant from Shaohannah's Hope, which is Steven Curtis Chapman's organization. We finished some extra paperwork for them today and are hoping to hear from them soon. I have also approached our church to see if they can help us start a fundraiser.

All this to say, we are still trusting that God will take care of our needs regarding this adoption that we know He has asked us to follow through on. We are still greatly desiring to hold our little girl in our arms. We are just trying to do all of this without breaking the bank. Any suggestions would be welcomed!

We know the Lord is faithful and will provide for all our needs. We are blessed in this nation and know that our situation is a great one to be in. What a blessing to be able to stay home and be with my child/ren. Not every woman has this opportunity and I am fully aware of that.

I'm not sure why I felt led to share all of this with you, but there it is. Maybe you can pray with us regarding all of this as well.