God does send angels

One guess.


No, no and no you are all wrong.



We had a gas leak!!! This is what was left after the repair. They say "they'll be back". We'll see, I get the uneasy feeling this is the same thing as "the check's in the mail." By the way, Dad, your check is in the mail.

Anyway, that was the drama at our house yesterday. It took about an hour to find the source of the smell, then another 5 hours to get it fixed. Luckily on the city's dime. This is one of those times I'm happy to pay my taxes. God really protected us in spite of our stupidity. We actually smelled a strong gas smell in our garage last weekend, but then it kind of faded so we forgot about it. I know, no comments on that please. Yesterday I see the atmos folks hanging out in my driveway. When I went to find out what was going on, they said that a jogger just called them and gave them our address. The jogger said they smelled a very strong scent of gas and someone needed to go check it out. THANKS ANONYMOUS JOGGER!! Apparently the leak was pretty bad according to the workers. We were smelling it in the garage because the wind was blowing it our way when we had the door open. The busted gasket was towards the end of the driveway by the sidewalk.

Anyway, I'm glad it is taken care of and we are safe now. Unfortunately that was the most exciting thing that happened yesterday. Sorry guys, I'll try to do more adventurous things so I'll have more to entertain you with. Now accepting ideas! Except you Tim, because we all know what you are going to suggest. I am not running naked down our street ever again!!

Hee hee, you all know I'm kidding right?

Love ya,
Tra

It's Official!

We have entered the crazy season. At our house that happens every morning when we wake up but that is an entirely different subject, so let's move on. The wonderful, beautiful, joyful, spirited, silver bells, baked goods, laughter, wrapping paper, music, acts of kindness and of course.... SHOPPING season has officially begun. WHHHAAA WHOOOOOO!! Bring it on!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was nice. The Goodwins had a great time here at home. I made a feast to feed 12. No, it was just the three of us. Only 2 eating adults to be exact. It's the old adage if a tree falls in a forest with no one around does it make a noise? If you cook a feast to feed 12 but there's only 2, does it disappear?

It doesn't matter anyway because I had a blast making it, and my table looked beautiful thanks to my darling husband and son. Here are some pictures, because a blog without photos is boring. You don't see the homemade lemon ice box pie I made. (thanks mom!) yumm!



I have to say Black Friday rocks my world. I was up at 3:45am, I got amazing deals and I'm done with almost all my Christmas shopping. Now I'll have more time for baking :) OH... and I didn't even get cranky until about 3:00 in the afternoon, NOW that is something to be proud of.

Love you guys!

Tracy
PS- Here are some pics from the Prince and Jones family visit. We went to see the Opryland Hotel lights.

Ginny, Kaitlyn (the big ones, my sister's kids) Broke, Braddock (the little ones, my brother's kids) and Nathan (mine!).

All of us.
Daddy and Nathan sent an email to Santa. I hope he gets it!!


This one is of Nathan saying "merry christmas" in his funny voice. Very entertaining.


OH...one more thing, I added a link at the top left side of the blog titled "where were are now". If you click this it will take you to a quick summary of where we are in our adoption process. As new things happen, I'll post it here but I will also update the "where we are now" link.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Almost Turkey Time!

For those of you searching for the perfect Turkey baking recipe, may I suggest Nathan's how to cook a turkey....

Get a big pan.
put some toast and rice in the pan.
buy the turkey.
put it in the pan with some cookies.
put on some curry and paprika.
put it in the stove and cook for 10 minutes.
then we eat it!
throw the rest in the trash can.

I can't think of a more perfect recipe. Enjoy!

Guatemala

Last night our church did a little video on another couple adopting from Guatemala. They showed footage of the country and it's culture. It was so nice to see some familiar sights. They also showed footage of children living in an orphanage. That part was overwhelmingly heartbreaking! It just made us want to go get Joseph, and many more, and bring them home! Although Joseph IS NOT in an orphanage - PRAISE GOD!!! Joseph is well taken care of and hopefully is being loved on. We also have put that part in God's hands and fully trust in that.

So, on to other happenings. Did anyone see the meteor showers this weekend? Tim and I tried last night, at the supposed peak time, but we were unsuccessful. Here is a link to some pictures of what others saw this weekend.

http://www.earthsky.org/radioshows/51797/leonid-meteor-shower-november-17-19

I'm off to go play with Nathan. He's getting restless.

P.S. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE PRINCE AND JONES FAMILIES THIS WEEK!!!!

Hijacked

Tra has taken over the blog! When I first set this thing up, she didn't think it was all that great. I figured I was on my own with this thing. Maybe that is why it has been updated so infrequently. Yesterday she decided to jump in and boy did she ever! Changed the look, added posts, added links, added pictures and youtube video! She rocks.

Tim

Halloween07 take 2

Here is Nathan decorating his pumpkin before trick or treating.

halloween07

Here is a little video of Nathan on Halloween!

The sun is shinning bright!

Wow! We haven't posted anything since August!! How do you guys put up with us?? Well, I'm here to ramble and bit, and give a little update. I do mean tiny little update. I got an email from our attorney this morning telling us we are permitted to visit Joseph again :) Yeah! Tim and I are very happy about that. We will probably make plans to go sometime in January. In her email she also wrote that Joseph is a happy little boy, and loves to dance to the music that plays on the toys we sent down to him. I titled this little entry the sun is shinning bright for a reason. On this journey I have endured some very dark days. One thing that is always constant, and the one thing you can always count on, NO MATTER the circumstance, is that the sun will rise in the morning. I have been asking God to let me feel joy again. He is doing that, and I give him praise for that. I am feeling encouraged today and looking towards what God is doing for our future.

This weekend our church is going to be talking about adoption in Guatemala, as there are others who are in this uncertain process too. They will be praying for us, please join them in praying.

I'll leave you with the latest pictures of Joseph. Thank you God, he is finally smiling!!!! And, what a smile, right??





And here are some of Nate the great, just because he is pretty awesome too!!!! These are from our vacation.

This is his first time on the airplane, and he couldn't have been happier!



There was a lot of walking in the airport, Nathan saw an opening and jumped on!


The computer is being a little slow. I'll post more Disney pictures later.

Love you all!!

Tracy