This is the wedding cake my sister roped me into doing for her friend.lol. My sister loves a challenge, by the way she is my twin, so since she always does her girls birthday cakes, all deck out, she thought...yeah...why not! She has never done a wedding cake....crazy...but never say die. And as you can see it turned out great and they loved it. So much so we couldn't get it served fast enough. The bottom was white with a raspberry custard I made. The middle was chocolate with mocha cream filling..yum. The top was just banana nothing special. But needless to say it was not easy. We had to rebake two of the cakes and then at 9pm after we had gotten them all together and crumb frosted (1st thin layer of frosting to keep crumbs in) a peice of the back on the white cake started to fall off. So after some panicing we kicked it into gear, because there was no way we were starting over, and came up with a genius idea.......tullin....We wrapped the cakes in tullin. God is good! It looked great and tasted great. Nice to see I'm still up for the challenge. What's next!

challenges.....

COURT DATE!!!

Marc was on vacation this week. We took one day to go to Tawas and relax, but after that we did work around the house. There's alot to get ready and finished up before our little princess comes home. This coming week I will finish up the girls room, hopefully. In the midst of this week we got some unexpected news......We got our court date! I thought for sure it wouldn't be till MOWA was back in session, but Praise God! it came. AUGUST 17TH!!!! So that means the courts aren't closing yet. "Lord, Please bless our court date and let us pass." It's also my niece's birthday and the day our 1st dossier made it to El Salvador (good date). Now we wait till then.

I also got alittle bad news, the couple that was taking our carepackage, to our little princess, can not. They have a family medical issue that came up (praying for a good outcome). Now I need to see if anyone else is going to Ethiopia soon and can take it, or I'll just have to spend the money to sent it.(YIKES! expensive) But I really want her to have it before we get there, so she can have something from us and pictures to get her farmiliar with us. God willing it will get there.

I really can't believe we could be going to Ethiopia as soon as September, WOW! It didn't seen real for so long. Then it was all of a sudden and moving fast. God has moved mountains and I know He will continue to move. I can't wait to see what's next.... Following God is truly and adventure...one well worth following.

Peace and Joy in our Savior.

UPS...AND..DOWNS...

Yesterday we had a conference call because MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs),the agency in Ethiopia that handles the paperwork, referral letters and courtdates, has closed for training until July 23rd. Which is crazy timing for all who have referral, with a court date or without (which is us), because historically courts have closed for the rainy season (1st of Aug-1st of Oct.). We have been told to perpare to have to wait till the begining of Oct :( We've have also been informed that some of the departments within the court are not closing, these are ones we would need open in order to complete all paperwork for travel. So it's all up in the air (well for us "people),But our Mighty God knows and He is working it for the best of EVERYONE, not just us. America World has been amazing in this whole process. They tell us everything they know, and they aren't receiving any information but "wait and see".

We have not yet rceived a courtdate, so we are preparing ourselves for an Oct. courtdate. Yet I know we have a Great God and God willing the courts will not close this year. Also, I know are children are now in a safe place, being cared for by wonderful people, who love these children dearly. So I can breath a sigh of relief.......and pray for God to continue to heal,protect,cleanse,and nurish our little girl. "God bless you and hold you little one till we come to get you. Thank you Lord!"

PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS!! God Bless.

keion and squirt

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!

I'm not good at keeping up with this:( But we've been buisy! We got out refferal! A little girl 7ish. We can't wait to share more about her amazing God story and photo, but we must wait till after we pass court. That makes us her offical parents in Ethiopia. Court is a funny thing, you never know whats going to happen. They tell us we have a very good chance of passing court the first time, because the profile on her is extensive. But we never know........ Were waiting to heat when our court date will be. It should be within the next week or two, God willing.

A family in our yahoo group is traveling to Ethiopia in 2 weeks and has asked if we would like them to take our little girl a care package. We of course said "yes" and we thank them very much for doing that for us. So, today I sent out our care package which included: a little jean dress jumper, a princess soft doll, a photo album of her new family, and a little bag to carry it all. I can't wait for her to get it. I hope she loves us as much as we already love her. "God bless our little Ethiopian princess".

Also, we are in the midst of redoing rooms. (craziness). We have just finished keion's (our son) , all we have to do is move him in, which includes a new bed. Now the fun part, the girls room. Bailee (our daughter) has decided on purple for the paint. We will get the same white day bed as Bailee has for her little sister. Bailee has a camp rock theme for her bed, and her sister will have a princess theme. I'm going to have fun doing this room, thinking of her and Bailee playing in there one day real soon. Yea, can't wait. Welll we let you know the court date when it comes. Blessings.