Fall Adventure

Adoption updates first: We received a Court Date yesterday of November 26th. That is a lot later than we had hoped and may mean that we do not get to travel until January. Super dissapointed, but not much we can do about it. Keep praying for us! We have been super blessed with gifts for Zion Degamo, also, our finances seem to be falling into place so that is good.

This past Monday was suppossed to be one of the last warm days for a while, so we took off and went to a local lake. So wonderful. The kids (including Curt) played in the sand, we ate a picnic lunch, went for a hike that included many discoveries, and did some fishing. The fish were biting so much that before the bobber had landed completely, it went under. We caught around 8 bluegills in a 45 minute period. Enjoy some shots from the day.


Bucket of Snails (catch and release of course):


Daddy, I am coming up your mountain!

Daddy is soooo King of the Mountain~!
Click on the pictures to make them bigger, you have to see Curt's face!

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gratzmom/

What we are up to around here

Short absense again. Sorry. It is kind of the story of my life, I can only be consistant for short bursts of time and then I fall off the wagon (which I guess means I am not so consistant after all). We have been trying to enjoy the remaining nice weather of fall. This has included a leaf raking party at friend's house (with 12 kiddos involved, so much fun).

2 weekends ago, Curt and I went to an adoption information meeting in Madison. I went into it with the expections that this would be just more info to add to my already confused and crowded mind and that we probably wouldn't come away with any answers. I guess sometimes it pays to set your expectations low, because sometimes when you least expect it, God will simply blow you away. We arrived at the open house style meeting an hour later than I wanted to ( I am a time person, I like to be on time). But this just happened to be 10 minutes before the next set of informational meetings was beginning. We had been going back and forth between whether to adopt Internationally or adopt through the foster system domestically. Well, we had to choose an information session to attend. It was good because it kind of forced us into a corner and made a choose. From the beginning, we had wanted to adopt Internationally, but in the recent past we had been questioning that decision. We picked the International information session. We were the only people in that session which meant that we had the Social Worker completely to ourselves. She asked a lot of questions and shared a lot of info. We shared with her that our heart is really to adopt Internationally but the $ is scary ($20,000 to $40,000 depending on the country) and that we were having a hard time choosing a country. So she asked what country, if any, we were leaning towards. We talked to her about Haiti. About the connections we have there. About the missionaries we have supported there and the prayers that we have prayed for that country and their orphanages. We just talked. She looked me in the eyes and said "I never tell my families what country to choose, they have to make that decision themselves, but I just know that your country is Haiti." Sometimes in life, you need an audible voice. She became that for us. So Haiti it is! What a relief to finally know what direction we want to go. We will be starting the long and expensive process in January. Yeah!!!! After the meeting we went out to lunch and then just walked by the lake a bit. I will always remember that day and these photos are so special to me because they somehow capture a bit of what it feels like to finally know a direction.

On a lighter note. There has been crafting going on (always, you just don't always get to see it). I put together a Fall Craft Day for the local homeschoolers. I loved it. I had put together 10 different projects that were just set up around stations for the kids to do at their own pace. I love how creative kids can be. I had made simple examples of each project but really wanted them to feel free to do their own thing, and they did. I made a simple boat out of a paper plate and a popsicle stick and some paper. They made SHIPS with the same materials. I made simple napkin ring holders out of beads and wire. They made bookmarks and rings and bracelets. I made a simple Thanksgiving card. They made 3D cards. I did a simple stitching card with an acorn and backstitching. They did cross hatching and added beads. Amazing.
Oh, and I volunteered to test out a pattern for Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio. So now I have a lovely new scarf too. Yeah!