Wednesday, August 29, 2007

New house

Well, we've taken the big step and become prospective homeowners. Our offer was accepted last week, and we're wading through all the paperwork and procedures. If all goes well, we should close on October 19th. I can hardly believe how quickly things have gone, we really started looking the beginning of August.



Our new home is in Poynette, which is just a few minutes up the highway from DeForest, where we live now. We will still be in DeForest often, since I work here, and since our great church is here. Anyone who wants to join in our painting party, let us know!!





This is my beautiful new kitchen. I love the glass fronted cabinets. Not so crazy about the pink countertop, but I can live with it.










And our backyard. Not sure yet whether or not we'll keep the pond, with a hoped for little one running around, it may not be the best idea. Even so, isn't this a pretty backyard??















This is our front entrance. We hope to paint the trim and add a trellis with some climbing morning glories to the front. That should spruce things up a lot!!








And finally, the deck off the master bedroom. Yes that's right, we have a deck off of our bedroom...sweet, huh? I'm sure it will look much like this once we move in, as Chris' green thumb ensures plenty of plant life around our house. Eventually, this may become a screened in porch, but for now....we're content.





Stay tuned...God is working out some major stuff right now, and we'll update as we can.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Pictures


Just some pictures for your viewing pleasure - this was a picture taken at my parents house several Christmases ago (notice the reindeer antlers on Sadie's head). My dad found it on his computer, and we used it for the front page of our adoption profile.



This one is from our first Thanksgiving at our home in 2006. The Meixner/Sharpe clan came down to join us. My turkey turned out ok, although I left the bag of stuff inside. It still cooked ok! We loved having family here, but determined we need a bigger dining room and a bigger dining room table.









We joined some friends for a game night and they took this swell picture - it's nice when someone else takes the picture because we can both be in it!





This was from our 2nd or 3rd anniversary - I can't remember which. We decided to get really dressed up and go to a fancy restaurant - and quickly learned it wasn't worth it - too little food for too much money! I think we actually stopped for food on the way home. I guess we figured out when we want to go out for a nice dinner, Olive Garden is good enough for us!!


Don't know why I share these, other than there are some of you reading this who haven't seen us since our wedding - we haven't changed much, but it's nice to stay current. I have a few more gray hairs (nicely covered up in the pictures, of course!) and we're a few years older. But we're coming up on five years of marriage this December, and it makes me reflect on where we've been.

How have you spent your last five years? Have you made every moment count? Have you made wonderful memories? Have you reconciled with people? Or have you wasted time complaining and being bitter? Have you isolated yourself from those who love and care about you? Have you let the cares of life turn you in on yourself? The answer for me is all of the above, to some extent...hopefully more of the positive than the negative. We can only aim, we can't guarantee we'll hit the target every time. But at least aim! Don't let your problems become mountains ~ God is able to see you through. If you don't know Him, get to know Him before it's too late. You'll find He is all you need.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Talking about adoption

We had another class on Tuesday - this one was on child development and some of the stages children go through as they deal with adoption. We also discussed how to talk about their adoption with our kids, and with all of you.

Here is some positive adoption language vs. negative adoption language. We try to use the positive language when talking about adoption. I give you this list so that you can use positive language when speaking to others about adoption


Positive/Negative
Our child/Our adopted child
Birthparent/Real parent
Born to unmarried parents/Illegitimate
Terminate parental rights/Give up
Make an adoption plan/Give away
To parent/To keep
Parent/Adoptive parent
Search/Track down parents
Child placed for adoption/An unwanted child
Child with special needs/Handicapped child
Was adopted/Is adopted

Any questions, please ask - you only become more educated when you ask questions!