GOLF SCRAMBLE TO BENEFIT OUR ADOPTION!!

A golf scramble was identified as a fun way to raise money and at the same time bring awareness about adoption. The event will be on Saturday, July 24 at the Sun Valley Golf Course in southwest Jefferson County.  Registration will be from 7:00 a.m. - 8: 15 a.m. With a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m. 

Please email me at vincemonks@gmail.com in order to get more information - including the golf scramble brochure and the business specific registration form.

Here is how you can help:

1. Contribute: Businesses - I think this would be an excellent event to sponsor or provide giveaway donations. All sponsorships are Tax Deductible.

2. Participate: I need to have teams and players willing to participate in this event. I think you will find this to be a very reasonable priced scramble - $260/team of four.

3. Communicate: Please get the scramble information from me and then forward to others who you think would be interested in participating in, or sponsoring our event.

Vince

Summer Days and More

We have been enjoying the start of our summer break.  Last weekend the pool went up.  Abby and Gracie have been in it every day so far.  I love warm lazy days where there is nothing to take us away from home!  I say this all the time, but I am so thankful that the Lord has provided me the opportunity to be home with my kiddos.  It is a blessing I don't take for granted.  I can't wait to have a few more little ones running around. 

This weekend is our Hague training.  Sometime next week, we should have all of our paperwork sent in.  Hopefully that means that a referral will be coming soon after!  I can't wait to get some pictures of our children!

Yesterday was field day for us.  We enjoyed our day with friends and had a lot of activites to do.  Thank you to all of the people on the committee that organized this event.

The whole gang!

Abby relaxing with friend

Gracie and McKenzie

Kenzie, Abby, Gracie & Kayley

Below are some pictures from Saturday when we put our pool up.  As you can see, Abby and Gracie couldn't wait to get in.  They played while the pool was being filled up! 

Even Bella enjoyed getting wet!

Gracie and her friend Levi digging for worms...Gross!

It is one of her favorite things to do

Thanks to our friends, Gracie now has 2 turtles for our pet collection. 

Daisy and Shelly

The fun never ends :)

Kelli

Many, Many Thanks to...

Rachel Kissling for all of her help Saturday at our yard sale!  We had a good day overall.  We are a little closer to our goal which is great!  We may wait until the fall to have another one.

Rachel and me at the PCS yard sale

Vince has been busy working on our golf scramble.  He is working hard to make it a wonderful day for everyone planning to attend.  Vince will be posting more details as it gets closer to the date.

This Friday, May 21st, our friend Heather and her sister Carrie are hosting a Scrapbooking Party for us!  I am not a scrapbooker (not sure if that is even a word?), but I am again thankful for all of the ways that our friends have offered to help us with our fundraising.  If you are interested in coming, please let me know!
This is a great opportunity to get caught up on all of those pictures you have laying around just waiting to be organized!  We will have lots of food and lots of fun!

We had a very busy weekend, but it was a great deal of fun.  Friday night a friend of ours gave us tickets to see Walking with Dinosaurs at Freedom Hall.  Gracie and her friend Kayley loved it. 

Saturday started out with our yard sale, then we went to a Hoedown fundraiser for our friends who are also adopting from Ethiopia that afternoon.  We were so happy to be there to support them in their journey.  They are wonderful people, and we are glad that because of our adoption we have had the opportunity to get to know them better.  I get excited just thinking about all of the families who are going through this process like us.  God has placed many people in our path to help us as we grow our family.  I am blessed to now consider them our friends.

After church Sunday, we had a cookout at our friends home.  Thank you Tom and Debbie!  We had a blast.  I love our group of friends.  I wish I had remembered my camera because it was great seeing everyone gathered at one time in the kitchen and living room. We had about 30 people or more in there at one time!  Great memories!

I don't have anything new to write about our adoption.  We are just anxious to get our training completed.  Then we should be able to move on to the next step.  I have been spending a lot of time praying for the days to come.  Each day that passes brings us one step closer to bringing our children home. 

Soli deo Gloria,

Kelli

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2010 has come and gone.  It was a wonderful day.  I ended up taking a very long nap.  Abby and Gracie helped Vince clean up the house while I rested.  Boy are they special to me! 

I got to thinking yesterday about what next year will look like...2 more children who will call me MOM! 

We didn't have a big turnout at our yard sale Saturday.  Although there were several yard sales going on, it just didn't seem like we had many people stop.  Because our weekends are so busy for the next several weeks, we decided to wait until August to have another one.  

Kelli 

We have yet another opportunity that will help us with our fundraising.  Our friend Rachel has decided to graciously donate her next Avon campain sales to our adoption.  Please see the link below for more information.  You can also email me for more information.  I am so thankful for our friends who have reached out to us in such a mighty way.  It is amazing how God works! 

http://rkissling.avonrepresentative.com/online_event/view.php?rep_spnsr_evnt_id=40223

We will be having another yard sale this weekend.  It should be a beautiful day.  If anyone has any items they are planning to take to Goodwill, let me know.  Vince and I would be happy to come pick your "junk".  We have had a great turn-out at the  last two yard sales.  We are again thankful for all the help that we have had to make them a success.  THANK YOU! 

We were able to attend our family meeting with Arise, our adoption agency on Tuesday.  They are truly a great group of people.  I am honored to get to know each of them. 

We will be doing our Hague Training on May 28th and May 29th. Yah!  After that is completed, our home study will be approved.  Our dossier is complete except for that.  It is an exciting time!

I wanted to close with some family pictures from that past couple of weeks. 

Yesterday Abby and Gracie had square dancing practice.  The home where we practice is on a farm and they invited us to spend some time "creekin it"  They had a blast!

I wish I had taken more pictures.  They ended soaking wet!  And to think...I didn't even think Abby would get in...

  

We stayed home derby day and had our 2nd annual hat making contest.  My family is creative!

Blessings,

Kelli

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth..

I John 3:18