- I'VE BEEN TAGGED -

i've been tagged by diane so here goes!
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RULES:
1) link to the person that tagged you
2) post the rules on your blog
3) share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4) tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5) let each random person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their website
6) have fun!
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MY ANSWERS:
1) i put my shoes on first thing in the morning & they're one of the last things to take off right before going to bed (just like you diane!!!)
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2) i'm love condensing (if there's 2 lotion bottles partly empty, i'll mix them to eliminate a bottle)
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3) i'm OBSESSED with clearing our table when we're at a restaurant (stacking all the plates largest to smallest, stacking cups/glasses, placing all used silverware 'all pointing the same way' onto the same plate, gathering trash throughout the entire meal & handing it to the servers as they go by just to get them OFF our table!!... i think i should get a tip for this!)
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4) when we go to the grocery or department store & we get many bags, i can NOT just toss them in the car, they must all be neat/tidy/stacked orderly, etc. & if one tips/falls over, etc. on the way home, i ALWAYS pull over to 'fix' it & then i feel i can proceed home
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5) when we go on vacation, i'm stressed a little, a lot - not in packing up to 7 peoples clothing for 1-2 weeks, swimming bags, 3 strollers, diaper bags, camera bags, computer, etc. - nope, it's that i want the inside of the van to look neat - i don't want things crammed, 'unkept' looking, etc. so it's better for me, my family, anyone with a hundred miles of me, to let ME pack
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6) i absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to play the 'name game' & do it on a very regular basis - i do this if i know someone's pregnant, adopting, getting a pet, if i'm bored, etc. (spike doesn't like playing this game AT ALL... hmmm, i just don't understand him)
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& I'M GONNA TAG...:
1) angela
2) mom
3) jamie
4) licia
5) lori
6) brittan

- HOUSE FOR SALE -

everyone that prays, please pray that our home sells soon - we've got another showing in 30 minutes & then tomorrow we've got a showing at 9am - we had a showing last thursday & 2 sisters came looked at it, liked it, then went & got their parents as they were looking at the house FOR their parents - they asked if they could have more time (SURE, TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED!), went & got their parents, showed them & we've not heard anything more about it/from them - the showing tomorrow at 9 is with these same people & their parents - we've been told that there are 3 homes they've narrowed it down to, but they all seem to like ours best & are going through them all '1 more time' tomorrow before making a decision - please pray that they love it & that we can sell/move as we're so ready to get on with this thing - thanks & i'll post when i know more (if they want it, i won't have to post, you'll hear me cheering!!)

- MOTHER -

(note: wanted you to know that this story's not about me)

My mom only had one eye. I hated her as she was such an embarrassment to me. She cooked for students & teachers to support the family. There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look & ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, "Ewww, your mom only has one eye!" I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day & said, "If you're only going to make me a laughing stock, why don't you just go off & die?" My mom didn't respond & I didn't even stop to think for a second about what I'd said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings & I wanted out of that house & to have nothing to do with her... ever. So I studied real hard & got a chance to go abroad & study. Then, I got married, bought a house of my own & had kids. I was happy with my life, my family & our 'comforts'. Then one day, my mother came to visit. She hadn't seen me in years & she'd not even met her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, my children were scared & I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house & scare my children!" GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!! To this, my mother quietly answered, "Oh, I'm so sorry." & she disappeared out of sight. One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. After the reunion, I went to our old shack where I used to live just out of curiosity. The neighbors said that my mother had died, but I didn't shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she'd wanted me to have: "My dearest son, I think of you all the time. I'm sorry that I came to your house & scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the school reunion, but I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I'm sorry that I was such a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident & lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with one eye, so I gave you mine. I'm so proud of my son, who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with one of my eyes. With all my love, your mother.

- ARE YOU 5?? -

well, the other day, they were showing our house (yes, it still hasn't sold) & we had to be out, so i took the girls for a late lunch - we went to a local place we love & when we walked in, we were greeted by an older lady (one might say: she had some years on her, had a rough life, fought in 1 to many battles... & lost, etc.) - as we were being seated, kiara says, "are you 5?" - not hearing kiara, the lady tells us that our server will be with us soon, etc. & louder, kiara says, "BUT ARE YOU 5?" - the lady walks off, still not hearing kiara (i'm sure everyone else did!) & i said, "kiara, why in the world were you asking that lady, if she was 5?? - does she look 5 to you????" - she smiled & said, "she must be 5 cuz she lost 3 teeth, just like i did & i'm 5!" - whew, soooooooo glad she didn't hear her ask the, 'are you 5' question!!

- THE CARWASH -

i took brittan to the carwash right after she came home (at 3.5 years old) - it was the first time we'd done this & she seemed excited - she was all dressed up because after we got the car cleaned up, we were meeting her daddy for lunch - we went through & she was squealing with delight all the way through - when we stopped at the other end, i called back to her & said, "so, did you like that?" - she said, "yeah!" - we got all the way to spike's office, i stepped out to grab her from the back seat, only to find my daughter sitting in her carseat (the carseat that was soaking wet!!!) - i said, "what happened?" - she said, "i don't know, i just rolled my window down & i got wet!!" - we'd gone through the whole carwash with her window down!!! - she'd not said anything going through, nothing when we came out, nothing at all - we'd to go home right then before having lunch as it was winter & it was freezing outside - for a long time after that we'd always say, "make sure the windows are all up", just before going through the carwash - she's a hoot!

- CLACK-CLACK SHOES -

over the weekend, the girls all wanted to sleep with us in our bed - we let karleigh on friday, kiara on saturday & then last night it was rubys turn - everytime someone would move to our bed, the 2 leftovers wanted boo (brittan) to sleep with them - last night she went to head in there & said, "mom, come look at karleigh!" - i went in there to find this sightwe removed them from her & everyone went to sleep - this morning when brittan woke up, she found karleigh with her clack-clack shoes ON! - she asked karleigh when she put them on & karleigh said, "i got up in the middle of the night & my clack-clack shoes weren't on me, so i put them on & went back to bed!" - this girl's so into 'looking good'!

- THE BUNNY -

we were eating lunch today after church & started talking about blogs - dustin went with us & started asking things like, "have you ever blogged about...?" - "are you gonna blog about...?", etc. - we were laughing so hard thinking of the stories he was bringing up, everyone that is... except brittan - the reason she wasn't laughing, was because they were mostly all about her - i've gotta share some with the world so here goes!

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when she was in elementary school in about 4th or 5th grade, she came home from school one day all shook up - here's how i remember the story:

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she said that she'd gone out for recess & saw a cute little baby bunny rabbit - now, she knew she wasn't to touch wild animals, but being she's "the boss of her own self!" (phrase she used to say when she was little), she disregarded everything she knew to be true & did it anyway - she picked up this little bunny & carried it around for the entire recess time - she said she would pet it, sniggle up to it with her face, love on it, carry it around like it was her little baby, etc. - then when the bell rang, a teacher noticed what she had & made her put it down - she went into class & was repremanded for her actions & later on in the day, they'd a convocation that was NOT planned - wanna know what it was on??? (scroll down & you'll find out!)

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HOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO PICK UP DEAD ANIMALS

WHEN YOU SEE THEM AS THEY MIGHT (& PROBABLY DO)

HAVE SOME KIND OF A DISEASE!!!

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she'd carried around a dead rabbit for the entire recess!!!!!!! - we said, "could you NOT tell it wasn't alive???" - ugh

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more 'brittan funnies' will follow in the days/weeks to come, now back to our originally scheduled broadcast

- WE'VE CHANGED OUR MINDS -

well, we'd decided on the home we were going to build, but recently found another home we like better that's much bigger & cheaper than what we were going to build, so we're changing our minds a final time & going with ryland.com & you can click here to see the virtual tour of the home of our choice

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(NOTE: you can click on the pictures above

to enlarge them to make viewing easier)

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when you're looking at the floorplan (above), you'll see when you enter the main level the living room & dining room on the right will be spikes office, the family room will be the living room, the hearth room will be the dining room & bedroom #5 will be brittans room

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on the upper level, bedroom #2 will be kiara/karleighs room (they do much better sleeping together), bedroom #3 will be barbaras room (hehe, had to give her a room of her own!), bedroom #4 will be rubys room, the bonus room will be the loft/family room/homeschool headquarters, etc. & the sitting room (which's off of the master bedroom) will be my office & our music room

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our current home's 1800sf & the williamsburg is 3900sf so this' a god thing that we'll be blessed with so much room - to what you see on the floorplan, we're adding a 4' kitchen kitchen nook extention, gormet kitchen with double ovens, large island, flat top stove, garden bath in master bath, under stair storage, 12x16 concrete patio, service door in garage, grids on all the windows, oak stair rails, a loft, an upstairs laundry room, an extra bedroom, an in-home office for spike, an in-home office for me/ music room, huge closets, an address block, yard completely sodded, a corner lot, wainscoating in the entryway & everywhere that's visible from the front door, full etched glass in the front door, wrought iron railing on the front porch & brick across the front!

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oh my goodness, we're so excited - please, pray that our current home sells quickly as we lovered the price (as of this week) to a very reasonable price & really need it to sell soon - hope you all like it as we LOVE IT!!

- YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT IF... -

1. The fact that there are 143 million children

without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

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2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.

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3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.

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4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child

there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.

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5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families

who've experienced the blessing of adoption.

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6. It drives you crazy when people ask you

about adopted child's "real" parents.

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7. You've been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer

than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)

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8. You'd no idea how you'd afford to adopt,

but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing He'd provide. (& He does!)

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9. You've taken an airplane half-way around the world

with a child you just met.

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10. You believe God's heart's for adoption.

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11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart & family

is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

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12. You know what the word "Dossier" means

& you can actually pronounce it correctly!

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13. You've welcomed a social worker into

the most private parts of your life.

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14. You shudder when people say your child's so lucky that you adopted them,

knowing full well you're the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

- HAITIAN CAMP WAS WONDERFUL! -

barbara & some of the children from haiti

L to R: ruby, maddie, karleigh & abby

L to R: maddie, kiara & ruby

the treasure chest dumped water on kiara

karleigh, slip sliding away!

treasure chest as it's dumping

kiara shooting out of the end of the 'big slide'

karleigh & maddie sliding out the side of the pirate ship

karleigh

ruby

kiara

katharine

noah

maddie, "is that a big enough bite there girl?"

we'd a wonderful time this weekend at haitian camp - everyone that came, seemed to really enjoy themselves & we're planning on using the same facilities next year as well - there was a regular pool, 2 hot tubs, water park with slides, shooting canons of water, pirate ship that sprays water, baby pool, water basketball & 'treasure chest' that fills for about 10 mintues & then dumps water on everyone below - here's some pics of the fun we all had - enjoy!

- LEAVING FOR HAITIAN CAMP -

well, we've been busy around here dealing with family stuff, but wanted to let you all know that i'll be gone for the weekend at haitian camp - we're leaving in the morning & returning sunday evening - we've got about 150 coming (135 confirmed) & we can't wait - some we've known for a long time, some we've not known long & others we'll just be meeting - there's new kids that are coming for their first time & that's always exciting - we'll post pictures when we get home & blog sunday night - c-ya!

- SHE'S HOME! -

yes, madisyn's home where she belongs!! - dad left saturday morning heading to haiti & ended up flying first class (we don't know how that happened, but never complained as he didn't pay extra for it!) - he arrived in haiti, spent the night & then flew out of haiti yesterday on the 5pm flight (first class again!!) - guess what... yep, they missed their connection & had to overnight in miami, but they slept well & flew into indianapolis today at 2:30pm - she had her first american meal at hometown buffet & she was like a celebrity in that they gave her the entire meal free!! - she's beautiful & we're so thrilled to have her home - here's a picture (below) of her in her room tonight before we left - she was looking at everything & just in amazement - she just smiled from ear to ear all day long - welcome home madisyn... we love you!!

- PRAISE THE LORD!!! -

praise god!!! - the MOI has a new lady that's getting all the dossiers out really fast - let's all congratulate dad & mom as they're bringing my sister home today, sunday february 3, 2008, just 10 months from IBESR to home - our prayers have been answered & we'll continue to pray for all of you, that you'll be done very soon too OH MY GOODNESS, PRAISE THE LORD!!!