Randoms...

No adoption updates, so here's a few random facts/information about current life at the Cook house...

Kenny has continued to work on our partially finished basement. The plan is to have the new play room/family room/office done by the time the boys come home. Seeing as their arrival is somewhat indefinite, we plan on finishing ASAP.

This weekend I had my first experience, albeit brief, playing in Elk Creek with the Jolly girls! Definitely will be doing that again when the boys come home...or before!

I (and my lovely Mother-in-law) planted flowers in our side flower bed on Easter weekend. This weekend, I did my best to further their continued survival by using the coolest tool in the world, a Garden Weasel, and adding mulch and some Seven Dust. Oh yeah, I watered them, too. I have very sore hamstrings as a result. (Don't worry, Lisa...they are looking...okay. We are having some bug/rabbit issues.)

We have had roofing materials sitting in our driveway since sometime last week. Kinda wishing that the roofing company would now follow up that shipment with someone to put those shingles ON the roof instead of IN the driveway. (Thank you storm damage and Allstate for the new roof!)

Kenny brought home a copy of Dr. Moore's new book Adopted for Life last week and I'm really looking forward to reading it...and finishing the 17 other books I've started and haven't quite finished yet. So unlike me to start tasks and not finish...I think I have reading-induced ADD.

Saw a camel walking down Main Street in Taylorsville this weekend. I would rather leave you wondering why there was a camel in Spencer County, but there was a parade for "Carnival for a Cure" to raise money for juvenile diabetes. Also saw a hairy backed clown scooping poop. Camel? Interesting. Clown? Little disturbing.

I'm loving my new obsession...The Grocery Game. And coupons! I have to admit...I thought the Grocery Game was far to confusing for even the college educated among us to understand, but turns out, it just matches up the sales at the store with the coupons from the Sunday paper! Easy enough! Now we are saving almost 50% in groceries each week!

Today I came home to what ended up being the phone line laying in our front yard. Little scary...thought it was a live power line! Fortunately, doesn't really matter to us since we don't have a home phone. And fortunately I wasn't home when our semi-sane neighbor decided to visit and bombard Kenny with questions about why she no longer had a functional phone.

Got a new laptop the other day (old one died...sorta...) and loving finding fun, new things it does that I didn't know about. Did you know that most laptops have a photo card reader?? Super cool!

And to wrap up, this fellow adopting family is leaving Wednesday to go pick up their little boys. And they will probably get to see Charlie & Sam...extremely jealous? Yes. Little envious? You bet. Wishing it was us? Absolutely. Overjoyed that some more kiddos will be united with their forever families? Yeppers!

Look who's 1!!

I know he's in Alabama and I'm in Kentucky, so I don't get to see him as much as I would like... but 1 year ago today, little fella made his grand entrance! He had a rough start, but has more than made up with it in attitude!!


Happy Birthday Ty!!

Need a laugh? I do.

I just found a picture of our two year old BOY dressed complete in a purple princess shirt with a crown and hot pink pants.

Can we say identity crisis??

We gotta get these boys outta the princess clothes and home fast!

MIA: Court Date

New news: We have been waiting since February 25th to be rescheduled for court with the boys in Ethiopia. We thought that we had been rescheduled, but they had been unable to communicate the dates to us. But we got an email today that our case is considered an "open case" and has not, and most likely will not, be rescheduled right now. Their hopes are that instead of rescheduling the case that they will be able to see our case sooner when they have time in between other cases........

Makes me a little sick to my stomach. But I'm going to look at it this way...The boys could be seen in court tomorrow or the next day, which would be great! Or, it could be days, weeks, months, etc...

Join us in praying each day that the boys are being seen THAT DAY in court. That's all we can do at this point. As each day passes, we pray that God will provide an open window of time to allow the judges to review the boys case. All I'm praying for is 5 minutes. Each day. Until we pass court. Could be tomorrow........!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 11

Pie Your Leader, Round 2

So, we had "Pie Your Leader" night a couple of weeks ago at church. Just to remind you, we let the kids earn pies for the amount of Bible verses they learn throughout the year. Here's how it went...

We look like we are ready for battle! And just to preface the picture, we purchased 85 containers of Cool Whip the night before. Just use your imagination...



Bring it on! With our goggles, ponchos and hair bands, we can't be defeated! (Sorry Nicole. I had to post it!)



Ummm...Pastor Nick? Do you need help with your hair bonnet?



Excuse me, but you have something on your face...



Get 'em, Emma!!



Rock on!! Dwayne sporting pie face.



How exactly did Kenny escape with only minimal Cool Whip in his hair?? I'll have to make certain this doesn't happen again next year!



In case you are keeping count, we made 50 pies last year for the kids to hurl through the air into our unsuspecting faces. This year...170!! Yeah, 170 plates of cool whip. I'm certain that at least 169 of which went up my nose!


No matter how silly we look, I'm super proud of our kids for learning so many verses this year!

I was wrong.

When your mom told you not to spread rumors, she meant ALL the time! My rumor below about no TB test if we pass court before May 1st was just that...a rumor. Here's how it will go...Once we pass court, the boys will be tested and we won't purchase plane tickets or make travel plans until we hear back that they have both had negative TB skin tests. (We're not even going to discuss what happens if it's positive. Just pray it's not.) Still holding out on a date for court and hoping that we get in this month.

Some of our friends in the process will be going to pick up their boys the beginning of May, so I'm going to send another couple of goodie bags. Any ideas on what to send?? There is only so much Dollar Tree and Target stuff I can send. I'm running out of creative ways to fill a gallon sized bag for two little boys I've never met before!

Rumor has it...

So, I don't want to share rumors that aren't true...but the latest word on the street is that the kids that pass court BEFORE May 1st don't have to have the TB testing that I mention before in order to obtain a visa to travel. And while there are also rumors that our court date may already be rescheduled, my prayer and yours can be that we pass court before the end of April and we can escape dealing with TB testing!! Don't you worry...if they aren't TB tested in Ethiopia, I'll do it here! I would just rather handle it here, than there, if I have my way about things.

Didn't your momma teach you not to spread rumors? Yeah......

PEOPLE make it happen!

For your FYI, my pessimistic mood is pretty much dissolved. Thanks for your uplifting words and prayers...we all have bad days, right? For some reason, I just chose to display mine to the world!

On to other, totally non-related subjects...I'm sitting in a parking lot downtown (don't tell my mom), passing time before my next home visit and I found this...

We Gave Our Volunteers The Week Off...

Hilarious.

I go to church in a school. The nursery is in the library. We change diapers on card tables. Most of the kids meet in a hallway. Bible Fellowship classes are in the computer labs. The students are in the cafeteria. The band room houses the couples class. The baby wipes go home each week so they aren't a frozen block of ice when it comes time to wipe tiny tushes (becoming less important as spring arrives). The sound system doesn't set itself up each week. The preschool rooms don't just populate themselves with toys. Doors don't open themselves. Table and chairs don't just appear. Needless to say, "church" is more than a building for us. The "stuff" is housed in two large trailers. But our church is comprised of all the PEOPLE that make it happen each week. The PEOPLE that show up each week to set up, tear down, love on babies, greet each person and teach each class is what church is about. There are definitely downsides to not having a building, but on the plus side, we have seen what a blessing it is to not have a building and have to totally depend on PEOPLE to make it happen each week. And man, is our church packed with the best folks in the world! We are so blessed to be part of such a great church and surrounded by such great PEOPLE! So, while we love our volunteers, don't get any crazy ideas about not showing up! I will get you some doughnuts if that makes you feel better...any volunteers to pick them up? :)