Just received news that our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia!  Woot woot!!

A Day I'll Never Forget

13 years ago today I had the privilege of becoming Mrs. Kelli Monks.  I will never forget the anticipation leading up to that day.  Vince and I knew that we would one day be married-I think even after a few months of dating.  We spent many moments sharing our dreams and desires for our life and family.  Once that day came, I felt like God had blessed me in such a way that my life would never be the same.  Sure, we have had times of trial and trouble, but our devotion to one another has never wavered.  God continues to show us the way.  I admire my husband for all that he is.  He loves me unconditionally, and I trust him with my life.  I can truly say that each year is better than the last.  God has been so good to us.

Psalm 37:4
               Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY VINCE! 

I LOVE YOU!

THE GOOD NEWS...

   is that we received our appointment for our fingerprinting today!
The bad news is that my appointment is scheduled for the same day I start Jury duty :(
I really don't want to reschedule this appointment. Please pray that the courts will allow me to leave in enough time to get to my appointment.  Tomorrow I am going to call and see if they will allow that!
They are scheduled for July 19th at 1:00 and 2:00.

~Kelli

Of course, things have not slowed down around our home.  We are patiently waiting for our referral.  Things are coming together for us.  I still have days of doubt and worry, but God quickly reminds me of HIS great power.  I have been encouraged by the love and support of so many people-even strangers that have reached out to us.  I think God has shown us that although this road is not an easy one, it is one we have been called to follow.  Only by God's grace...

Currently, we are getting excited about our upcoming golf scramble.  Vince has been working like crazy to get it all together.  I am so proud of him. 

Vaccinations are also on our mind right now.  We are looking at what is recommended for us as we travel. I will discuss this in detail later. 

Last weekend Vince and I were given an opportunity to get away for a night to Brown County.  We had such a wonderful time.  June 28th we will be married 13 years!  The time has gone by so fast.  The last time we went to Brown County was for our first year anniversary.  I am so blessed to share this life with my best friend and love of my life. 

A covered bridge we visited in Columbus

Love it!

Outside of our room at our Bed and Breakfast

Here are some pictures of some family summer fun

McKenzie, Cassie & Gracie catching fireflies after an evening of swimming

Eating lunch and more swimming

Dropping Abby off for camp at Country Lake

Ready for the week!

Gracie at squaredancing practice.  Not a very good picture, but I had to add because that day was so fun! 

This weekend is another homeschool conference.  I am excited about some of the speakers that are lilned up to present.  It is going to be at Valley View which is very close to our home.  As I learn all that I can about educating our children, I realize what a great opportunity it is for our family as well.  Abby and Gracie are the best of friends. If that is the only blessing that has come from homeschooling,  it would be worth it.  But I can say without a doubt, there have been many more.

Much love~Kelli

Dossier

Our dossier is en route to Ethiopia!  Vince and I are so glad to have that finished.  Now we are on to the next phase which is waiting for our referral. 
We want to say thank you for your prayers.  They mean so much to us. ♥

~Kelli

A little update on our adoption...Last night we were able to review our home study, make a few revisions, and today Vince picked up the final copy!  Yippee!!  We are meeting with Cindy from Arise on Thursday to submit our dossier.  Things are starting to move...paperwork that is.  I know we still have quite a ways to go, but it feels so good to be finished with this portion of the journey.  Sorry I have not updated for awhile...I think I have been in some kind of funk :(  Feeling somewhat overwhelmed which in turn causes me to do nothing.  Vince, on the other hand, just keeps going.  I am so thankful to share this  life with him.  He has been such a rock through all of this.  I know that the days when I feel down are the days when God gives him the strength to help me along. 

I guess I need to recap the last couple of weeks for us.  We have been very busy.  I love summer!

Last Tuesday we decided to take Abby out to celebrate her 5th grade graduation.  Although she didn't have an official graduation, we wanted to take a night to recognize how hard she has worked thus far.  She is about to enter a new season of her life.  She is growing up so quickly!  Vince and I are so very proud of her. 

Friday we had a book swap with our homeschool group.  It is a time to get together and sell any homeschool curriculum or books to other homeschoolers. It was held at Tom Sawyer Park.  This was my first year to attend.  It was a big event, and I enjoyed to talking with other moms.  I did have a few things to sell and did fairly well. 

Friday was also my brother, Kyle's birthday.  We ate at Skyline Chili and then went back to my parent's house to have cake and ice cream.  Happy 22nd Birthday Kyle!

We spent Saturday at Holiday World.  It was such a great time!  I love that park.  Thanks so much to my parents for giving us the opportunity to go. 

Vince and Gracie

Griffin and Abby

Rachel and Cassie enjoying the lazy river

Yesterday we had a guest!We had a nice time watching Ryder.  Isn't he cute?

He worked hard to pull that wagon around.

Much love to everyone!  Have a great week!

Kelli

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

I love days like today.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but we are enjoying every minute.  After school was over, we made our weekly trek to the grocery.  Some weeks it is just another errand; today  it seemed to take on another adventure.  Laughing and sharing...I love having my children home with me.  This year has truly been the most rewarding year for us all.  I see Abby and Gracie's relationship being strengthened.  Each day is certainly not this easy, but I praise God for the good and the bad (or maybe I should say the difficult).

Abby and Gracie taking a break

 God is doing something amazing within our family.  Our desires are changing...they are now becoming God's desires.  Vince and I aren't sure what that looks like in the years to come, but I am certain that even after our adoption is complete, our journey will not be complete. 
 
I don't have any updates on our adoption, but it should be very soon!  We are currently waiting to get our home study back.  Our dossier is complete with the exception of our home study.  This Tuesday will be our second family meeting with our agency.  We are looking forward to connecting with the other families that are going through this process.  Such a cool gathering!  I loved seeing all of the families who already have already completed their adoption.  We left our last meeting with such an anticipation to get our children home!
 
Soli deo Gloria
 
Kelli 

New Coaster Style Added

Thanks to a good friend of ours  (Bernetta Trainor) we now have added a new coaster style!!  The new style is of a Fleur De Lis.  Fleur De Lis is french for Lily Flower and is also the symbol of our great city, Louisville. 

See the picture below - and also along the side with our other coaster styles.

Vince

What a busy week!  Is it really Friday already?  We have been extremely busy but productive.  We met with Cindy from our agency on Monday to go over our documents that are completed and what we still need to do.  I mentioned previously that a few things had changed.  We now have to have lab work done.  All of these new forms will have to be notorized again.  All of this work could be frustrating to go through, but I keep my focus on the end result.  Each step gets us closer to bringing home our children.  Praise God!

We were able to get back into the doctor on Wednesday for our lab work.  Today we made a trip back for them to read our TB test.  We plan to travel there again with our notary on Tuesday (thanks Janet) to get the doctor's letter and a few other things finished.  Whew...

Two more weeks of school!  Yipee!  Today we had a field trip to see You're Good Man Charlie Brown at Stage One.  I think Abby and Gracie enjoyed it.  I forgot my camera-no pictures :(
This has been such a good year.  I am ready for little break, but I am already looking forward to next year.  I am so thankful to have this opportunity with my kids.  What a blessing. 


Kelli

Women of Joy

  This weekend has been amazing.  I just returned home from Women of Joy with my wonderful friends and family.  Each speaker was a blessing to me as well as the time of worship with Charles Billingsley.  I was able to take away something from each part.  I enjoyed listening to Sarah Palin Friday night.  I know many people have differing opinions about her, but I love that she loves the Lord.  She even said in her speech that Yes, she clings to her faith.  It is all she has!  She is not ashamed.  She has faced some challenges in her life that have made her stronger.  I applaud her for her courage.
Saturday we were blessed to have Becky Tirabassi and Anita Renfroe speak for us.  They are both great speakers.  God used Becky to touch my heart.  I loved her testimony.   She was inspiring when she spoke about losing weight and overcoming the addictions in her life.  Liz Curtis Higgs was refreshing as always.  Every time I hear her speak, I feel like she is speaking directly to me.  God knows what I need.  He was present the whole weekend.  "He was in the house"!
What can I say about Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W Smith?  They were awesome as always!  Steven Curtis Chapman sang his song about adoption and it was very emotional for me.  I haven't allowed myself to feel some of those feelings yet because of the many unknowns right now.  I could feel it bubbling up inside me as I watched the children on the screen and listen to the words.  I know God has our children already chosen for us.  I am praying for them as we wait...sometimes the waiting is so very hard. Below is a link to the song on Youtube. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIwNZilpTXU

Sharing the weekend with family and friends

My mom and I

Steven Curtis Chapman

Liz Curtis Higgs

I have to finish up by saying how wonderful my husband is.  Can I just brag on him for awhile?  Not only did he handle all the family affairs for the weekend, but he also successfully did a yard sale.  He is a wonderful husband and dad.  Vince is my life partner and best friend.  I am so thankful to God for giving us these years together.  He has given me more than I deserve.  We are on an incredible journey together, and I wouldn't want to share it with anyone else.
May you all have a blessed week ahead.

Kelli

We Have Broke 12,000 Miles!!!

Thanks to all of your generosity in time, talent and treasure, we have now dropped below 12,000 miles to go on our fund raising goal!!!  We are officially at 11,961 miles remaining.  This is in part to the yard sale that we had today.  Huge thanks goes out to our close friends and family - especially Brent and Heather Adams for getting up early on a Saturday morning to help a bro out.  We are blessed beyond measure for all of our friends.

For an update on fund raising - we have booked a Golf Scramble on Saturday, July 24th at the Sun Valley Golf Course in Southwest Jefferson County.  Barry Basham , the Golf Pro, was my golf instructor when I was 11 years old and he is still there!!  God is good.  I have not been able to get a scramble scheduled in a good time frame at many of the other popular courses.  I will be communicating registration information and brochures for you to provide to friends and family.   

More to come soon. . . . .

Vince

We have had a busy couple of weeks.  We returned from the homeschool convention this weekend ready to finish out our school year strong.  There is always a great number of speakers, and I walk away with a lot of information to process.  We were able to see Tim Hawkins in concert Friday night.  Lots of laughs!  Tim in a comedian.  If you have never heard of him, look him up on Youtube.  He is really funny.  We were blessed to take Abby and Gracie this year as well.  They had a lot of fun.  It is always nice to have friends to share these times with.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Lunch with the gang

AbbyGirl Sweets!

So appropriate for my girl

(this is a bakery in Cincy we stopped at)

Easter 2010

Gracie's 8th Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

There are a few more forms that we need before we can submit our dossier.  Some things have changed with regard to the process.  Trying to be patient.  It is hard when things can change without us having much say.  Vince and I are so thankful for the support of so many.  It would not be possible to be where we are without all of you.  God knows all that we need.  We trust him for the supply.

I plan to write more once we get these last few forms completed and the dossier is mailed!

Kelli