Too Long!

Oh My! Time has gotten away from me~ I check in every week and read all the blogs I follow but am bad about updating my own. One I don't think many people read it and two I spend a lot of time on facebook and am posting so much there.

Anyway, wedding plans are on track. We have done a lot in the past week doing all the little things. We met with the florist, applied for our marriage license, ordered the cake, and visited the garden center for ideas and things to rent for the reception. My dress is in and it fits just about perfect, except for the bust area - go figure! I bought my shoes today and have an appointment with the seamstress next Saturday for a fitting. The invitations are all out. I love going to the mailbox to see who sent their RSVP back.

Our school year is still in progress but will be wrapping up within the next few weeks. We finally finished the school house! I spent the last week also moving things out of the house into the school. I can't believe the amount of stuff I have accumulated. I am sooooo glad I bought the building with the loft overhead, because I can hide most of my stuff. I have everything organized in totes by subject so when we finish one year, I just go through all the totes to see what I need for the next. I am also working on making lists of all the books I have so when we study a topic I can look at the list and go up and dig out what books I need.

Here are the boys in the new school house. We hope to run electric from the house to the building by winter so I can run a heater. We have the room all wired up and ready to go. I have added a small futon for a reading corner and a large bookshelf in the back for all our books we use and reference material. Nico will be moving onto 5th grade and Luca will be starting a more organized Pre-K year 2 program. He loves creating his letters with Hand Writing Without Tears and asks to do his lessons everyday.

Both boys played soccer this year. Luca had a blast just running around and making friends. Nico was more serious this year and really focused on his skills. I am so proud of both of them. Nico continues to dance HipHop and does his tumbling. He is excelling at both and hoping to go competitive in HipHop next year. He will be getting one on one lessons this summer. Luca will be starting tumbling and dance this summer. I am really pushing for him in tap and jazz to start with because now I can't get Nico to try tap at all. Luca can't take hiphop until he is 5.

Luca turned 4 this May. I can't believe it has been 3 years since my trip to Guatemala with Brian and Nico to celebrate his first birthday. He is such a character. He cracks me up everyday. He always has something funny coming out of his mouth. He is into so much more than Nico ever was and I mean getting into things. I have to keep a sharp eye on him. Nico is the best big brother ever and is a great help. It does not go unappreciated.

We have been having a good time with our chickens. Well, after the bout of largnyotrachetitis that they had. Many still have garbling breath sounds. I lost about 10 hens this summer. Lucky for me Missouri University Veterninary School took two of my birds and tested them so I could find out what they had. There is a vaccine for it. My 22 remaining chickens (2 roosters and 20 hens) are all immune to it now, but are carries of it. This spring one of the hens got really broody so we let her sit on 10 eggs. None of them hatched. They were slowing dissappearing and the last one she walked away from. We broke it open on day 24. There was a chick inside, but it must have stopped developing. I decided I was going to break down and buy an incubator. We put 15 eggs in it. We candled them and let them all go. I was totally surprised to find that all 15 hatched!!!! I cannot yet determine how many roosters we have ended up with though. I am hoping for more hens than roos. They are all so cute. Our two roosters are white leg horn and rhode island red. Thus, our chicks are mutts. Our hens range from americauna, rhode island red, red/white sex link, black austrolope, and new hampshire red.

We have been blessed to be missed by the horrible storms raging through the midwest. I pray for all those who have lost everything. I can't imagine what it would be like. We went through the house and collected toys and clothing to donate to some of the families. I know it is not a lot, but hoping it gave help to some.

So, until later.....all is good in our neck of the woods.

Say Yes To The Dress!

Since I started looking for a wedding dress, I have gotten addicted to this TV show. (Say Yes to the Dress)

So, I have said YES to my dress!

I am super excited about it and can't wait until July to walk down the aisle in it. I cannot post pictures because I don't want to ruin any surprises. I'll just say I was going to go with what I thought would be a '2nd wedding style' dress, but once I started trying on all the pretty dresses I had to change my mind! I remember my first marriage when I put on the dress I just knew it was the one. I walked out of the dress store last Wednesday evening pretty sure I wanted that dress but not totally convinced. That night I dreamt all night about me in that dress. So, Thursday evening I went up for a fitting and put my deposit down. I have about 4 months to wait for it to come in. I'll also add it is a designer dress, Alfred Angelo. (I had one I sort of liked at David's Bridal, but was so dissappointed with their service I didn't want to give them anything!)

I also have some fabulous tuxes picked out for Mike and the boys. We will made an appt. soon for them to try them on to be sure they all look fabulous in them. I am sure they will. Brian is going to be walking me down the aisle. I feel at 19 he is perfect for the job. I asked my dad today if he would be upset if Brian walked me down the aisle instead of him. He said, "No, not at all." With a big grin, "Brian will like that a lot." I think he was proud of my decision. Brian is very excited for me. He likes Mike and knows that we are very happy together. I have lots of other exciting surprises and beautiful things in store.

I am also amazed at the outpouring of help I am getting. My cousin is going to be our officiant - super excited about this. I also have a homeschool mom who I recently met that has offered to help me make the ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket with her lace machine!

On that note, I will leave you with pictures of me in my brother's wedding just two months ago.

Walking with my nephew. I can't believe he just turned 21!

My sister, my new sister-in-law, me having a drink at Hooter's!

Coming Together

The wedding plans are starting to unfold now. Now that we have a date it is more encouraging to get moving. We have decided to look at a hall for the reception instead of the backyard. July in MO can be pretty awful and I was starting to fret about preparing and not being there in the morning. So, the boys had their dance recital and the Knights of Columbus Hall. I was surprised at how nice it was so I called to see how much it cost. I was pleasantly surprised!!! Mike did not get to go to the recital so we are going Sunday to look at it together and take some pictures of it to think about decorations. We are looking at tuxes on Friday.

We have selected our first dance and I have come up with some other great ideas. Most will be kept a secret until the big day. I am trying to make this wedding as different from my first as possible.

Other than that we have been busy with school, work, and preparing for Christmas. We had a nice little snow this week which brought us all outside with a new sled! It was heaps of fun. However, tonight it was freezing rain...ugh!!! Mike is at work so I hope he gets home safely tomorrow morning.


The chickens are doing great and keeping warm. They don't really have much desire to get out in the cold. It's a good thing because today I saw a coyote in the field as we were driving in. He was beautiful, but I don't want him eating my chickens.
here are the girls and two guys keeping warm. We got one rooster (the big white leghorn) from a friend and then it turns out one of the Rhode Island Reds is a rooster. I don't mind I love the sound of my roosters as long as they get along and aren't mean to us. We handle them as much as we can when they are young. I never thought I would have such a fondness for chickens, but they are great!!!!
I just had to add a picture of my handsome Nico. He is growing up so fast!!! Please someone stop time!!! He is such a charmer and a sweet, loving boy. He is truly a dream come true for me. My life is so full and perfect!!!

Wedding Plans

Well, the wedding plans are underway! The date is set for July 16, 2011. This just happens to be my big sister's birthday. She is delighted to have such a big party on her birthday.

The plan is to have it in our backyard. I am on the search for free tables. I figure the less tables I have to rent the better off I am. We are trying to keep the cost as low as we can, but yet still have a beautiful wedding. I know it will work out just fine. I think the most expensive part will be the food and beverages.

More to follow as the plan unfolds.

Adoption Blog Hop

In the month of November, for Adoption Awareness month, there is an adoption blog hop taking place. Even if you do not have a blog or do not want to enter yours, take this opportunity to visit other blogs and meet other families who have been blessed by the miracle of adoption. You can find out more about it here at http://foster2forever.blogspot.com/p/adoption-blog-hop.html

What a great idea to help those who are interested in adoption, are adopting, or who have adopted meet other families in similar situations. The adoption community is full of the most supportive, amazing people I have had the privilege of "meeting".

My name is Debbie, the adoptive mom to 3 wonderful boys.

My oldest son, Brian, is now 18 and living on his own. He was a private adoption that popped up when we were getting ready to start the waiting game with Catholic Charities. He came to us with a few know complications, which turned out to be a misdiagnosis. He was finally diagnosed correctly when he was 7 years old. His dad and I divorced when he was 2 years old. It was a very difficult journey, but he thrived. He still struggles with some things in life, but has gone farther than anyone expected.

(You can follow more of Brian's story at http://lifewithcms.blogspot.com/

When I was divorced I knew I wanted to have more children. Through international adoption I brought home Nico. He was 18 months and is such a joy. I had brought Brian to an Adoption Fair at one of the local high schools. This is where the adoption agencies present their programs. Brian was 9 at the time. He was so disappointed when I didn't bring him home a baby brother that night. I was blessed to select Nico off a waiting list on the internet and bring him home 7 months later. He is now 9 years old and such a charmer. He is so intellegent, funny, and a fantastic brother.

I thought I was finished adopting and started getting rid of the baby items I had. Suddenly I felt the pull for another child. By this time I was living with Mike and told him I wanted to adopt again. I proceeded with the paperwork and had to have him involved even though he was not adopting. He was such a trooper through it all. It took me 8 months to get the dossier ready. I was so frustrated because Guatemala was going to stop taking referrals the end of Dec. 2007. I finally received the referral for Luca mid October. I was on cloud 9...3 boys!!! Again, I hit all the lucky spots as I got Luca home in 9 months. I visited him twice because I was so worried he wouldn't get home. (Sadly, several children are still stuck in the changed process in Guatemala).

My life would not be as full if these wonderful boys had not come into my life. People always tell me how special I am and how lucky the boys are....they are so wrong. It is the other way around. My boys are the special ones and I am the lucky one to be blessed to be their mama!

A Few Pictures

We have been crazy busy since we started full swing back to school. All the sports and extra curricular activities started back up and it's go, go, go.

Nico is continuing his tumbling and hip hop. He is in an advanced hip hop class at a new studio. It is my sweet 9 year old and about 10 teen age girls. It is so adorably cute. He doesn't have all the hip swinging, chest wagging moves, but he has the floor moves such as the worm and head spins. The recital should be quite spectacular! He is also playing soccer this fall. We really like his coach this year. Hopefully it is a team he can stick with.

Luca started hip hop bitty bop this semester. For two weeks all we heard was, 'hip hop, hip hop'. We get to class and all he does is stand there. I was so disappointed, but we will try again next week. He was paying attention because he heard the song the other day and immediately said, 'hip hop'. I told him yes, now show me the peanut butter smash, and he did. Thus, he was totally paying attention!

As for me, it's work, create lesson plans, teach, work with the now 30 chickens we have, finish the school house, make a small chicken coop, and driving the kids around. I love my life!!!



We took a one day trip to Springfield, IL. Mike had training to do there, so we made a family trip out of it. We visited Abraham Lincoln's Home and the Museum. It was a great museum and trip. He we are at the corner with the house behind us.


Here we are posing with Lincoln and his family.

I couldn't pass up this picture of Luca walking down the sidewalk with the picket fence. Nothing like running your hand across the fence as you walk.

Luca and I sitting by the lake at the Air Evac base in Springfield, IL.

Here we are in our MOGUATE t-shirts on our trip to Tan-Tar-A for the MOGUATE get together. It was a beautiful weekend and a lot of fun.

My handsome, charming Nico on our trip to Daniel Boone's home right here in Defiance, MO.

Sweet, baby Luca. This has become his official PreK - 3 year picture.

Big, Bad Brian. This is him post 2nd surgery on his jaw. He can now bite with his front teeth. But still refuses to smile for a posed picture.

Time Gets Away

Wow, where does the time go? I can't believe kids are starting back to school already. For us, as homeschoolers, we attend school all year long. We take off when we go on vacation and cut back to a few classes during the summer instead of the full load. This summer just seemed so short for the 'regular' school kids. Nico gets a week off next week because he is attending a pottery class for 4 days for 3 hours a day. After that, it is full steam ahead for us too. I am looking forward to new text books and new topics. I am also starting Luca's year 1 preschool. I looked back at Nico's book and realized I started everything with him when he was 32 months. Luca is now 38 months. He is doing great, but I really need to start focusing on one-on-one time with him. I am also going to have his hearing checked as there are many words he has a hard time saying (I can't even begin to understand them). Often though, he speaks very well with 5-8 word sentences. Today he told me, "No, I stay here with dad." when I told him we had to leave.

Since our big vacation to the east coast we have also gone to Santa Claus, Indiana which has a super fun water and amusement park. There is a campground (Lake Rudolph) right next door where we camped. This is our second time there as it is only a 4 hour drive and a lot of fun. We attended MOGUATE at Tan-Tar-A on the Lake of the Ozarks. It is an annual get together of families with children adopted from Guatemala. It started out 4 years ago focusing around families from Missouri. It has now turned into much more with families from Ohio, Minnesota, and Louisiana. It was great fun. I hardly took any pictures. (We spent a lot of time in the pool). The kids all grow so much.

We have a mini trip to Springfield, IL coming up as Mike has some training to do there. We also have a family camping trip planned. Well, my cousins planned it (an annual trip for them) and we are joining in this year. It is at a campground within 25 minutes of our house. Super fun times coming there. My cousins have LOTS of boys near my boys ages.

Phew, that wore me out just thinking about all the fun we have had this summer. We have been truly blessed being able to spend this time together.

(I will post photos hopefully next week. I want to fix some up before I post them).