It makes me smile...

It makes my heart happy too see a snowman in half the yards in our neighborhood. They're adorable. Our neighbors made one shaped like a dog with sunglasses, and I saw one down the street with whiskers like a cat, and two that were as tall as me. Now that's dedication when you have very little snow to work with. I've missed snow, and the kids down here LOVE it or so it seems! Here's what it looked like at our house today.

So it wasn't much..but I LOVED it.

Also..today Ikea closed at 2 pm because of the winter weather. Seriously..this was the worst of it. Oh how I love Austin!

Things I'm excited about.

1. I had two days off this week..in a row. Whoa.

2. I slept in two days in a row.

3. We have found out two weeks in a row that we have friends that are pregnant! Yay for new babies!

4. Our dear friends Preston and Courtney had a beautiful baby girl this past week. She's perfect from what I can see from the pictures.

5. We have spent time together in the last week, and it was nice!

6. We had an awesome Valentine's day celebration together. It was perfect!

7. We're officially trained now to be foster parents, a few more steps and then we'll see what's next.

8. Spring is coming! It's been BEAUTIFUL this week here!

9. I went for a run outside today and through I totally hate to run, it was AWESOME!

10. We're going to watch I can Do Bad All By Myself this weekend. Silly to be pumped about this, but seriously..it's awesome.

11. We're going to paint our guest bathroom and bedroom soon.

12. We bought a dining room/kitchen table today. (Not sure which yet) I am SUPER excited about this!

13. Nana and Papa are coming to visit soon!

14. We have skype..and I got to skype with Sarah, Phil, and the precious girls this week!!

15. I'm in this phase where I'm REALLY excited to decorate and finish our house.

Random..that's all I have for the night! Have a great week!

What happened to the updates...

We've been home for approximately 30 minutes daily that don't involve sleeping or getting ready for the day over the last 2-3 weeks. I mean it's just madness. I have to say though...the Lord has been working our hearts lately. I feel like we're growing and changing and it's hard to believe how our own plans can change in an instant..and I really like it.

Here's a short update of the last month...

There was an earthquake in Haiti..and our hearts were broken.

We went and worked at a concert to benefit Real Hope for Haiti and our hearts were softened.

This guy joined our home...

This guy turned 27...

We celebrated that with his parents...

And lots of awesome friends!!

And then we decided to get trained to be foster parents. Which is a long story. And one I can't really explain...but it started with Haiti...and it ended with us getting trained. I don't say this lightly..like one day we woke up and decided to be foster parents, but it was a pretty crazy change of paths for us..and it did happen pretty quickly. Basically, we don't know what this looks like for us. We don't know if we'll be having children in our home right away, or after we try to have our own biological children. Or even if we'll just be babysitters for those who have foster children. We just don't know.

But here's what we do know...
1. We both feel called to this.
2. We know there is a need.
3. So we're trying to respond as best we can for now, and we're watching for the Lord to guide us from here.

So that's the reason for no posts...busy busy. But all is well and awesome and we're cool with that. Have a great week.

Seriously.

I left work at 6:20 tonight, and I made the decision then not to go to the bathroom even though I had just finished a diet coke, and knew I had a 30 minute drive.
What's my reasoning you ask?
Given the choice between my clean bathroom at home, and a public staff bathroom at work I choose CLEAN.
Given the choice between 5 more minutes at work and arriving home to Brad 5 minutes earlier -I choose home to Brad.

So, I left work, and then I came home and Tom had ordered us all pizza! (What up awesome roommate!) So I grabbed a spot on the couch next to Tom and Brad and ate my pizza, and then decided that sitting with Brad was more important than going into my nice clean bathroom. So here it is- 9:19 pm, and I'm still sitting here thinking about getting up and heading into the ladies room.

But more importantly, I'm thinking of all the things I'd rather do..such as grabbing some time with my Bible, showering, and blogging. So here I am, marking blogging off my list...there's something wrong with my priorities.

Christmas...who's a month behind?

So Christmas was fantastic! We were able to spend time with both our families, and to get some rest over a couple days off! We needed it and we loved it! I somehow managed to only have pictures on my computer from my side, I believe all the pictures we took with Brad's parents we took on their camera..so none to post. So here's the pictures Luke, just for you!

Watch the progression here, Anna was in the basket first by the way.
Emily kept saying..Anna wants out..and pushing (gently) at AnnaAnna, however, was completely unaware of Emily's frustration.
And out she went...
Stole a pillow from GrammyAnd plopped it back on Emily's lap. I love watching these two interact! They're adorable! We miss them so much!Christmas with the whole family! I love our family...it's so nice to be together at the holidays! Haven't had a picture with both of these two since high school...whoa.
He hasn't been home for Christmas in forever!
Brother..this is the only one I have of you..where were you?!
Kyle and Erika

Anna loved Kevin
One step closer to smiling with Aunt Rach


Precious little girl!

I think she's my bff...
Anna and sweet Auntie Margaret
Love the girls in my family


Emily loves Bradley



Anno and Nano
I asked Em if she would smile for the camera and she struck a pose. We love our nieces!
That's all the update for today..hope you all have a great week! We had a fantastic weekend with Brad's parents in town and a surprise party for my awesome husband! It was so great celebrating with our friends...so I'll post pictures soon!