18 Months DTE

A year and a half since that envelope full of paperwork headed to Ethiopia.  So hard to believe it has been that long already!  


Unfortunately in the last month, nothing has changed as far as the numbers go.  We are still...

Infant Boy (0-18mo) = 40

Young (under 4 yr) siblings = 24

Siblings with older child =6

Toddler Boy (19-47) mo = 15

 

17 Months DTE

Wow - 4 months since I've blogged!  Thanks to all of you sweet friends who have commented, emailed, left FB messages and wondered where I was - yes, I am happy to report that I am still alive!!  :)  I've come to find out that blogging is one of those things where if you take a break from it, it's really really hard to get back into the habit.  But now is as good a time as any - so here's the update!

It has now been 17 months since our paperwork was sent to Ethiopia.  If you happen to be keeping track, that's one month longer than our original time-frame.  Currently the wait time stands at around 26-30 months, but we heard this week that basically for each month we wait, the wait time increases about a half a month.

Infant Boy (0-18mo) = 40

Young (under 4 yr) siblings = 24

Siblings with older child =6

Toddler Boy (19-47) mo = 15

So there's our adoption update....here's some other things that have happened in the last 4 months...hopefully at some point each of these will have their own post :)  .....

*J turned 7 years old!!

*thanks to my in-laws, the whole extended family was able to go to DisneyWorld for a week!!

*C is taking a gymnastics class once a week and having so much fun

*J is playing baseball again this spring

*we hosted a Japanese exchange student in March

*we went through the process of updating all our adoption paperwork, home study, fingerprints, medicals, etc 

*I'm still having lots of fun with my Thirty-One business!  I promoted to Senior Consultant and it has truly been a blessing in our lives - most of our adoption fundraising happens through 31 now!  I have a team of 9 lovely ladies and I'm hoping to promote again soon!!

Is there anybody still out there?  I'd love to hear your updates too!!

13 Months DTE

Yesterday marked 13 months since our paperwork was sent to Ethiopia!

(source)

 And our numbers on the unofficial waiting list....

Infant Boy (0-18mo) = 47

Young (under 4 yr) siblings = 27

Siblings with older child =7

Toddler Boy (19-47) mo = 17

Thanks for your prayers!

Merry Christmas!

May you experience the magic & wonder of the season as we celebrate the Birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Reindeer Root Beer & Christmas Popcorn

Just in case anyone is looking for a last minute fun Christmas activity with your kids....

 Reindeer Root Beer & Christmas Popcorn!

Christmas Popcorn = popcorn with red & green M&Ms :)  I saw a friend on facebook with similar root beer reindeers, so I made my own version based on the materials I already had laying around the house.  I bought plastic bottles since I thought they would be safer with the kids, a word of warning - the labels were a PAIN to remove.  My advice is to go with the no-label glass bottles and just pour the kid's root beer into another cup when it's time to actually drink it - that's what we ended up doing anyway.

We ate & drank our special treats while watching a Christmas movie and then had our annual weekend before Christmas sleepover under the tree.  I love making memories!!

 Linking to:  simply {kierste}, The Frugal Girls,

Candy Bar Christmas Gift

The kids & I put together some Christmas goodie bags for J's teachers.  Nothing fancy because I wanted J to be able to do most of the work, so it was really from him and not me.  I have seen different versions of these candy bar gifts, but we made up our own based on the candy we could find.  We appreciate J's teachers and his school so much and I hope these treats were a hit!

Each bag contained a copy of the note and each of the candies (and Shout wipe - random I know) pictured above.

If you can't read the note, it said...

KUDOS to you...I want to SHOUT it from the rooftops!

You are EXTRA special, a real ORIGINAL, and one of the RIESENS I love school!

I have MOUNDS of fun here and you are a such a life LIFESAVER, helping me become a SMARTIE!

I wish I could give you 100 GRAND for your PAYDAY ~ you are worth a MINT!

Enjoy your Christmas break, TAKE FIVE, relax, and have fun with your family!

The finished product was definitely not fancy & crafty, but it was filled with love from a student to his wonderful teachers!

 Linking to:  simply {kierste}, The Frugal Girls,

Easy Christmas Card Display

I absolutely love the anticipation of going to the mailbox every day this time of year.  In a time when 99% of our correspondence is done via email or facebook, it is so special to me to actually get Christmas cards from friends and family.  I love every card I get, but I especially love photo cards.  I like to display them throughout the Christmas season, but we do get a lot and sometimes it is hard to find a good spot for them.  For the past few years, I have been taping them to my freezer, but this year I wanted to move them to an area where we would see them more often.

I thought the kitchen or the dining room would be the perfect place since we spend a lot of time in those rooms.  We have a lot of wall space, but I didn't really want to use tape, so that took that idea away.  (Although since then, I have thought about using painter's tape, so that might be an option someday!)

In keeping with my "simple is better" theme, I hung twine from the curtain rod over the sliding doors that lead to our screened-in porch.  I used mini clothespins to attach the cards, and voila ~ instant Christmas card display!

(You can also see the Christmas Burlap Table Runner I made a few years ago, and the Red Chair that we use because our other matching black chair broke!)

Here's a closer view so you can see those cute mini clothespins!  (Find them at places like Hobby Lobby or Michaels).

How do you display your Christmas cards?

Linking to:  simply {kierste},