A Cold Winter!

This has been a crazy winter, and I've got to say, I think we are ALL happy that spring is just around the corner! We have had quite a few snow days with cancelled activities and days where we were better off just staying inside our cozy house! The kids love the snow, though. They feel that if the temperature is going to be below freezing, it better at least snow! Here are some pictures from the first week of February - hopefully our last snow day of winter 2014!

 For the following picture I had the kids take a piece of black card stock outside to observe the snowflakes. They were so BIG that I didn't even need a macro lens to get this image! The kids were amazed at how detailed the snowflakes are! Our God is so creative and magnificent! 

And of course, with snowflakes that big, you just have to try catching a few on your tongue!

The snow this year has been fun, but we are ready for Spring!! Hope you have all had a cozy winter!

The Grand Prix!

On Valentine's Day afternoon, some special people arrived at our house. GiGi, PopPop, and Frankie! Ok....so Frankie isn't really a "person", but he was the only one I managed to snag a picture of somehow. Also, this was Frankie's first trip to our place and the kids were SO EXCITED that he was there!

GiGi and PopPop had come to see the Grand Prix! 

Gabe's Car is above - the black car with red stripes. Selah's is below - the bright pink VW bus!

Selah's group raced first - she is so tiny! She could barely reach to put her car on the track!

Her car made up for in cuteness what it lacked in speed. She was very happy with the consolation blue ribbon and is already planning her car for next year. 

 After Selah's age group was finished racing, it was time for Gabe's group.

Gabe designed his car for speed this year and was determined that this would be a super fast car!

Unfortnately, his car was not very fast. In fact, during one of his races, his car jumped the track and never made it to the finish line!  (They all get to race at least 3 times.) HOWEVER, he still got a trophy!!

Gabe's car won 2nd place in AWANA's theme! His group in AWANA is called TNT (Truth and Training). Gabe's car had a stick of dynamite painted on the end and said "TNT boys - AWANAS).  He was so excited to  receive the trophy and has already said that next year he will be going for another AWANA theme prize. 

 Both kids had a great time at the Grand Prix and PopPop had a great time watching it! We are so thankful for the AWANA program at our church. It has provided our kids with opportunities to socialize, join events and most importantly to hide God's word in their little hearts! 

Unfortunately, during the Grand Prix, invisible flu bugs were beginning to attack my body! I spent the rest of the weekend terribly sick and was so sorry that I couldn't enjoy my parent's visit. Even worse, my mom took some of those invisible flu bugs with her and they are now attacking her body! Poor thing. They say that if you get the flu after you had your flu shot (which we did), it isn't quite as bad. Praise the Lord for the flu shot then! The flu has actually hit all 5 of us now and I hope it stays away for a long time. 

I do have a little bit of news on the adoption front. Our dossier has gone through the critical review process. There are two small things that were caught and that we will have to change, but they are quick and pretty easy fixes. Once we have those two changes made, our dossier will be perfect and they will begin translating and binding it before sending it to China! Please pray that the fixes are in fact quick. I am anxious to see our little one's sweet face - and that won't happen until after the paperwork is logged in at China. 

Valentine's Day fun!

This year for Valentine's Day the kids and I attended a Home School Valentines Day party! 

It was at a home schooling family's house/farm. I set up a Photo Booth at the party for all of the kids, complete with props! The kids had fun being goofy!

There were yummy snacks and Valentine theme games:

There was a lot of land to play and run and have fun with other homeschooled kiddos!

This a sweet picture of Gabe and his bud, Brave swinging together. 

Each kid left with full tummies, happy hearts and a bag full of Valentines!

That evening, Byron and I attended our church's Valentine's Day Banquet - and guess what?!? They had a photo booth set up there, too! 

Isn't my guy handsome?!? 

We were able to enjoy a Mexican dinner, Mariachi's and a lesson in love and marriage from our own Tommy Nelson! Best of all - there was child care! 

What a lovely Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Hope you feel loved!!

Our Dossier is complete!

 On Tuesday morning our final documents arrived with the coveted authentication stamp from our Chinese Consulate in Houston. 

This completed our paper chase for our adoption!!! I stayed up late that night pouring over each document, organizing them and getting them ready to send to our agency. The next morning the kids and I headed out to send them.

I had to take a few pictures first, though. :) 

This packet of paper has consumed a big part of my life for the last 10 months....it was REALLY hard to put it in the mail. Part of me wanted to buckle them safely in a carseat and drive to Colorado (where our agency is located) where I could personally hand deliver them. Instead I paid way too much for overnight delivery and tracked the package until it reached our agency!

To celebrate finishing and mailing off our documents, I splurged on some gourmet cupcakes for all of us. 

So I know you may be wondering - what now? Now, our agency takes 9 -11 business days to critically review each document, translate it into Chinese and bind it with our picture on the cover. They will then send it to China. So we wait. We are guessing that we will get logged in at China by mid- March and could possibly be matched with our child within a month from then. 

By the way - a quick story of God's provision. On Monday I put the first picture in this post on my Facebook page with this status update: The final documents for our Dossier arrived in the mail this morning!!! We are officially finished with our Dossier!!! I will be sending it in the mail to our adoption agency tomorrow. Along with it will go two BIG checks. Adoption is beautiful, but expensive. We would love your financial support if you are able and thoughts and prayers if you are not. To give go to:https://www.purecharity.com/serna-family-adoption?aff=41qag  By the end of the day we had $1155 in our pure charity fund! One of the checks sent to our agency was $1180! Thank you to all of you who donated. You have blessed us and are now a part of our adoption story. And praise the Lord for using each of you!! 

Thanks, friends!

Spring Dance Clinic

In the fall Selah participated in a local High School's Dance Clinic and LOVED it. I have a sweet friend that is the director of the Drill Team and she let me know that they were offering another clinic - so of course Selah wanted to sign up! She spent Saturday morning with Drill Team members learning a routine and then presented it to all of the parents at noon. It was adorable!

Here is Selah with a  few team members right before her group's turn to dance:

Here are two of Selah's friends that did the clinic with her. The one on the left is the director's daughter and the one in the middle is another sweet friend's daughter (her dad is the tennis coach at the high school). It is so neat that these girls can grow up doing things together!

And finally - here is the kindergarten performance!

Such a fun time!!