Not a Great Moment

I was on the phone with Michele last night when I heard a HORRENDOUS crash.  Like, furniture falling, glass breaking, children screaming crash.  I hung up and went running upstairs - I thought that it was a bookcase tipping over and our aquarium falling.  I knew this couldn't be the case, because the bookcase is attached to the wall, but that was the first thing I thought of.  I realized that wasn't it, and I could still hear children screaming.  Like, I thought someone was going to have to go to the hospital screaming.  It was not upstairs. . .

Before.

During. . . 

Nobody was hurt!  They were so scared of the crash and the glass breaking that the boys were all hysterical.  And I mean HYSTERICAL.  David and Henry cried until they threw up.  That pushed Chris and me over the edge, and we were cracking up laughing.  Perhaps not the most appropriate.  And, of course, I wouldn't let Chris clean anything up until I took a photo!

After

The glass in the doors didn't even break - this is a solid piece of furniture!  We had a Rock City birdhouse on the top that was a casualty, and one old glass milk bottle.  Nothing else broke!

Pinewood Derby Day

Today was the Pinewood Derby for David and Henry.

They were both very proud of their cars.

And they each won a few races!  

No trophies, but they had lots of fun.

Wordless Wednesday

In Case You Missed It. . .

For those who may not know, we have been working hard for almost a year to adopt a little girl.  Her name will be Katie, and she has Down syndrome.  She is four years old, and we are ready for her to come home!  Well, we're one step closer. . . We have a travel date!

We leave on February 25th to fly to Katie's country.  We will have some official meetings, learn more about her medical history, family history, and things of that nature, and then FINALLY get to meet our girl!  To say I'm excited would be like saying that the ocean is big.  We are thrilled!  Make sure you check our other blog, The Simpson Six, where I explain more about the process of international adoption, and we are counting down every day until we get to her!

Coins for Katie Add Up!

This is our Coins for Katie jar at home.

It's an old dog treat container that I've taped a 5x7 photo of her onto.

And added a hair bow.

To give you an idea of the scale, this is the jar next to a coffee cup.

This is what it looked like last night.

Chris and I counted it and rolled it, and there was over $140 in there!

The entire premise of Coins for Katie is that a little bit of change goes a long way.  Well, all of the change - literally pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters - we have collected has totaled over $5,000.00 so far.  FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!  That is money that people literally sometimes throw away, drop on the street and don't pick up, lose in the floor of their car. . . I could go on and on.  $5,000!  And we have about 25 cups still out there!  

When we started this adoption process, Katie's family sponsorship grant through Reece's Rainbow had $87.49.  Some kids have $10,000 plus.  We didn't pick her because her grant total was appealing - we picked her because she is supposed to be our girl.  We didn't have the amazing amount of money needed to adopt her in our savings account.  We had a modest amount, but nowhere near the total.  Chris' exact words to me were, "I want to do this, but how will we afford it?"  We are a single income family with three children, one of whom has special needs and therapies not covered by our health insurance.  We certainly make enough money and have a lifestyle that is conducive to one income, but not one income when we are also looking at spending tens of thousands of dollars on adoption.  I told Chris that if we were on the same page with the adoption, not to worry about the money - I would make it happen somehow.  And we will!  We are so close I can taste it.  In less than almost exactly 4 months, from August to December, we raised over $20,000.  I am so proud of our family and friends.  When I think about it I get butterflies in my stomach. 

 And now we will get to meet our girl, in what could be just a few short weeks.  If you have Coins for Katie change you have collected for us, we would like to have you send it to us either through our FSP link on Reece's Rainbow, through paypal directly to us, or by a check in the mail so we have that money for our first trip.  

Thank you so much for helping us bring Katie home!