Florida

We've been down in FL for the past two weeks, waiting for my nephew to be born. No baby news yet - but we've been having all kinds of adventures while we wait. For example,

Driving down - sweet brothers! Cory says, "han, han" until Iain holds his hand.


What a face!


Tractor blankets from Mrs. G - the boys love them. Especially Cory!


The day after we got here, we went to the beach for a big Schweizer family reunion. The boys had a great time, and I ended up looking like a lobster (it's much easier to make sure your kids aren't getting burned than it is to make sure you're not). Here's Cory and Grace.



One afternoon, we walked to the 7-11 for Slurpees. Slurpees = good idea. Walking in 99-degree weather = bad idea.



Another day, we all went thrift-store shopping and the kids got free cookies at Publix. Aren't we just so creative?



We got to spend some time with Lauren and Noah (by the way, Noah's baby brother will be born tomorrow - sharing my birthday! Fun!).


And we put Aunt Jenna in jail.


And tonight, we capped off our weeks of fun and frivolity by getting Slurpees again, and walking around on the Big Green Monster (a bridge that goes over the road).




Speaking of Cory, he's really talking up a storm! While we lived in the Middle House, he put his first sentence together: All done, Mama. But after that, back to a word here and there. Right before we came down here, his speaking really took off! He imitates us using words (i.e. "Say Slurpee, Cory!" "Fluur-fees!"), and routinely uses two or more words together. And he uses adjectives - how cool is that! He said, pointing at a tiny box of raisins that he wanted: "that little box." Although it came out more like "da lil bah." I got the point. And he said "Bee baahh" for "big ball."

I love, love, love this stage - watching the language skills develop, finally getting to hear what's on his mind. Love it!

Iain's been eating up all this cousin time. The Nelsons and the Bells are here, and the Alex Schweizers are close by, so there is always someone to play with. He is having a blast. I don't think he'll know what to do with himself when we go home.

He's a trip, that boy. The other day, he informed my mom that he wanted to be called Cat Boy. Um, okay. Later, I asked him why.
Iain: Cat Boy is not a regular boy name, and I wanted a different name. So I thought, well, Cat Boy is a good name.

(Right. I especially liked the "well" in the middle.)

Blessed

“In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.”
(Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV)

I've thought of so many ways to begin this post. Been thinking about it for weeks now. And now that it's time to write it, I don't know how to do it justice.

How do you say something so big? How do you express something so life-changing?

I guess you just say it.

We are adopting a baby girl from Rwanda.


Ever since I was young, adoption has spoken to my heart. They call it the Adoption Gene. There are many reasons why I want to adopt, and I plan to delve into them in the coming weeks and months as we wait for our daughter. But it's always been there, something I knew I would do. Jeremy and I talked about adoption before we married, and decided it was something God was calling our family to. Lately, we've been discussing it more and more, wondering if now was the time.

But we'd always thought it would be from Asia. As many of you know, I have a deep love for Mongolia. I thought a child from my "heart country" just made sense. But all the doors closed. Mongolia only allows two agencies in, and it was an unstable situation. I contacted one of those, and it had shut down its Mongolia branch. Jeremy, like I, had always just assumed Asia was the place for us. So we thought about other countries in Asia, but for many reasons, doors just kept closing.

One morning, I prayed (in the shower, one of my best prayer places) about it. I asked the Lord to open my heart to whatever place He wanted, whether Asia or not. And almost immediately, I just felt a peace - a sense - that Africa was where our daughter would come from. Jeremy was praying about Africa, too. We talked, and prayed, and thought, and got more and more sure and excited that it was right.

So we researched some more, and decided on our agency.  We really like it so far (If you are interested to know which agency we're using, email me or leave me your email address in a comment.  I'd be happy to share!). It are a Christian organization, with a definite heart for the orphans of the world. And we applied for Rwanda. Why Rwanda? We don't really know, other than that we feel very drawn to that country, and we know it is the right place.



So, for the curious: Our daughter will be between 0 and 14 months, most likely closer to the 14 months. We will begin assembling our dossier in the next few days, and the home study will be done simultaneously. It takes an average of four months (we're very motivated, and hope to get it done faster!). Then it will be submitted to Rwanda. From then, it will take an average of ten months to get the referral (again, we hope for faster - but who doesn't?), which will give us the name, picture, and short bio of our daughter. From then, it takes about two months until we go to Rwanda (for about ten days) and bring her home. So total, we're looking at a little over a year from now (but Godspeed the paperwork!).

The cost is low for an international adoption, but it's still high. We plan to fund some of it ourselves, apply for grants (and possibly an adoption loan, which is interest-free), and fund-raise. We figure that there is pretty much no better way to spend our money than this.

We ask for you to pray with us and rejoice with us! We're thrilled to be walking this road which will end with a new little girl in our arms!

Cow Days and Beach Days

Friday: Cow Appreciation Day. Dress like a cow and get a free meal at Chick-fil-a. Iain was especially excited, holding his costume the whole way there. Who am I kidding? Jeremy was the one who was really thrilled. We met friends from church there and throughly enjoyed ourselves.





Saturday: Lake Day. Go to the lake and play until you're tired enough to take a good nap. We LOVED the lake! Why haven't we gone before? A nice sandy beach, not crowded at all, clear(ish) water, so fun! I think we'll be doing a lot more lake time this summer. Plus, there were open water swims going on (5K, 3K, 1K) so we got to watch the excitement of people taking off and returning down at the other end of the beach. Made me want to swim a 5K! Or an anything K, for that matter.

Look at this guy: surfer hair, cool hat, big blue eyes, dashing smile, a dimple! We're going to have to beat the girls off this handsome dude!


This one is cute too. You just can't tell here.


Loving the water:



Iain's hidey-hole.


Later, the tired boys (and the tired mama!) read books.

Monsters Under my Bookshelf

Contrary to Darwin's theories, mutations are never beneficial. This case is no different. Our sweet, darling, little bookworms have mutated into something terrifying. Aunt Kelsey can attest to the degree of fear these two book-mutants can instill in the heart of anyone kind enough - or foolish enough - to enter into our home.



All you have to do is come in and sit down. They smell your fresh blood. And they stalk you, circling closer and closer with books in their outstretched little paws.

"Boooooo...k"

"Boooooooooooooo...k"

"Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...k"



And then they have you. They lure you in with their cute big eyes and sweet little voices. But then, when they get you on the hook, when you crack the first pages of the first book, you are theirs forever. You will never escape.

You will be reading Dr. Seuss for the rest of your life. If you're lucky. If not, it'll be endless renditions of "You're My Little Love Bug."

I cannot sit during the day. As soon as I do, they attack. They sense a weakness, a momentary shift in my ability to withstand their charms, and they descend upon me, books in hands.



We worked so hard to get these little guys to fall in love with books, as their parents have. One of my baby showers, when I was pregnant with Iain, was a book shower. We read to both of them long before they could understand the words we spoke. We delighted in the times they asked to read. We especially loved seeing them sitting quietly, both lost in the worlds of their imaginations, the only sounds the gentle hush of the turning pages.

But we never anticipated that we'd be creating these monsters. Book-monsters, that is. We are imprisoned by their demands.



Today, I took the boys to Bed Bath and Beyond to look for a lamp. Iain saw one he liked and said, "Mama, that one looks like a Hut-Zut!" And if you can correctly identify the book that he was referencing, you will know that you too have been caught.

Summer Days

More pictures, not much to say. I think my brain has checked out, or at least gone on vacation. I do have at least two posts cooking, though. Anyway, on to the pictures:

These two were from yesterday, July 4th. Iain had a fever, so we couldn't do any of the things we had planned. But we did go at his request to see the caboose. Cory is fascinated with spitting. It's his new favorite hobby.




This is my Kitchen Elf's newest creation: saucepan + spices + chopsticks.


Here's Cory looking cute and sleepy after a nap.




We spent the night with Curtis and Jenna last week. Iain talked on the whole drive over about riding a tractor "If Uncle Curtis says yes." Which he did. Before we left, Iain told the cashier at Aldi that we were going to see Aunt Jenna. The cashier asked where Aunt Jenna lived, and Iain replied, "About two hours away." She was impressed. :)



This is at Jenna and Curtis' mini golf course.



The day we left for J&C's house, we had our septic tank worked on. Talk about some pricey entertainment for the boys! Next time I think we'll go for a toy car.



We had a week-long visit with Grammy and Papa. They painted and worked the whole time they were here! Got so much done! And they kept the boys overnight for us so we could go out for Jeremy's birthday (belated). We went to a cool historic hotel in the city and spent our first night away from the boys.


And Cory. Sometimes one "pah-pah" just doesn't cut it.