As we serve our King...

Pictures are up from our photo shoot :)

2012-01-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Hi friends :)

Check it out - Shannon Leigh Anderson ROCKS! Here is her blog from our recent photo shoot! She did such a good job of capturing all the different personalities. Kebe and Shena tend to not react to people they do not know, SO...their crazy personalities are not quite accurately portrayed here. Its a great time to have documented though, as it speaks in volumes to the way they are dealing with these changes.

http://shannonleighanderson.com/blog/?p=2844

Go with grace....
Kim:)

Its hard to say NO.....

2012-01-24T06:13:00.000-08:00

Friends . . .

I want you to know how hard it is on us to say NO to you...! I know your heart is pure and kind and so giving when you want to help us with our twins. You want to love them through touch and attention. You want to give them a cheerio, because goodness sakes it a cheerio. My heart breaks though. Kebe and Shena finally realize we are not only just 'fun machines' - we are their caregivers. While in the orphanage they had caregivers and we were the fun. So when we came in to see them each day, they chose to reject the nanny and smile and reach for us. We gladly picked them up feeling so honored. Well now here we are - at home - and we are their caregivers and YOU are now the fun. I spend a lot of time fighting back tears as one of them gets hurt and wont look me in the eye to see my compassion as I hold them to my chest and they pull back trying to get down only after they are set down to reach back to me wanting comfort. We are all confused and there are lots of tears in the Kellenberger home. (mostly me)

This is a hard time. People want to come visit. I don't say no (because I want so badly to have them come, I really, really do), but then I cry because after they leave I feel empty but only because I felt like my girls wanted them more then me. I am sure its insecurities. I know its my sin and pride welling up. I hate it. BUT the feelings are real. I am not sure how to process through them. Its like a constant battle of YES and then NO and then ERRGGH...!! I want it and then I know I cant have it and it provides relief knowing I don't have to do it and yet part of me wants it and then when I want it I feel guilty. (see its emotionally draining)

So friends - if you have come and visited me. Don't think it wasnt worth it, it was! (I loved being with you, you are special to me) Its just hard. I am learning how to be less social and still having my social needs being met. Me crying isnt a sign of something intentionally bad you did - but rather feeling emotionally drained.

LASTLY - we humbly ask you to admire our Ethiopian 'princesses' by respecting our space (i say this with much love). We are the only ones that can provide their needs (i.e. change their diaper, put on their coat, feed them meals, pick them up when they want to be picked up, do their hair, give them baths, etc...etc...etc...). We know you are good willed in asking if you can hold them or help us with them. For goodness sakes have you seen us? We look like a three ring circus. I do need help :) BUT its just this season of life that we are in. Its crazy, its hard and its busy BUT its just how its going to be! So as you walk by me and you see me chasing my three year old as I am holding one of the twins as she is crying and reaching out for you to please take her so she can have fun playing with you and being admired....just smile and say HI and add on 'we love you kim and respect you (because this is what you want), so we stay here and pray for you!!' I am okay with you talking to me, please don't ignore me...! I know its hard on your end too when you don't know what is a boundary not to be crossed and what is okay to do. We can work through this together....I will be grace-filled and understanding...and I pray you as well will when we ask you to maybe not hold them or provide them with their needs being met!!

One other thing - please don't feel slighted if it appears others might seem more comfortable with the girls or me. It might be okay that they are acting comfortable (based on levels of safety and security our family has placed around us) OR it might hard on me as it is not safe and secure for us or the twins, but we don't know how to communicate the uncomfortableness to them! (in other words...its hard to say no!)

So there are my thoughts....sorry if it makes no sense. Its just been an emotional last few days of trying to process through all of this. I thought it might be therapeutic to blog all of this for my own sanity. Sorry you get to be part of it.....

Go with grace.....

Operation World

2012-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends....

Our family started reading through the book 'Operation World' and it has been amazing watching our kids pray for others and even LEARN to pray for others. It has been a humbling experience to, at the end of every dinner, pull out the book and pick a country to pray for. This book has tons of stats and challenges for prayer that our family can specifically pray for. Even Jaci gets in on the prayer time. Its PURE bliss to hear our little ones praying that people can get the opportunity to have a bible to read. Prayers for drug wars and poverty and that they can have the opportunity to go to school and that missionaries will flood the country we are praying for. Hearing my 8 year old, with his soft heart, pray that the people need to stop doing drugs and selling them and instead KNOW Jesus. This prayer is coming from our son, who since was little thinks when he gets big he will become a missionary. Oh the heart of a small young one...he has no idea how the enemy will try and steal that joy and that passion. We pray hard for each of our kids....but not near hard enough. Its a blessing to walk through how to pray with Brock - its been humbling to realize how he doesn't even feel comfortable to have an out-loud prayer in front of his family!! God help us to be better examples. Thank you for intervening though and placing this book in our life so that we can get outside of ourselves. That we can start making prayer a BIG part of our lives.

Does anyone else struggle with making prayer a BIG part of their lives? Why is it so hard? Makes me mad....! How can I just pop out of bed and shower and get ready for the day and totally forget to get on my face and thank Jesus for EVERYTHING and to praise and worship Him? Am I alone with this struggle? I don't think so but would love to hear your thoughts!

Pray on ... The Kellenbergers

Lots of changes :)

2012-01-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends :)

We are doing good here. Well under the circumstances :)

I thought it would be interesting to see what things have changed since adding #4 & #5 to the family :)

1) We have open nights if someone asks us to do something (before we had our month booked on the 1st of the month...we LOVE(d) being so busy like that), but its super refreshing to know that most likely TONIGHT we will be home just as a family!!

2) When we go on a date we get to go at 7:00 at night AFTER the twins are in bed (thankful for some flexible babysitters who are good with getting here so late in the evening)

3) I made my first dinner Sunday night since being home!! We became even more appreciative of the meals that have come and are still coming! (seriously you should have seen our kitchen...its hard to cook with two little toddlers standing holding onto each leg!)

4) We missed church 2 weekends in a row. I love corporate worship so it stunk to miss it. BUT we attended last weekend - here is a picture to prove it :) Kebe and Shena were introduced at church!!

Here are some pictures of the girls BEFORE getting to church...I know, right - we had time to actually get pictures taken. Thankful for the 10:45 service that Sunday! :) So this moment cracked me up so much - we could NOT get a picture of them looking at us at the same time. All they wanted to do was GO.....You will be able to tell just by looking at the pictures what I am talking about :) (aren't these outfits adorable by the way ... my sweet friends Tisha and Melissa got these outfits for them! I have been dying to wear it on them so was sooo thankful for an opportunity to actually GO OUT!)

Gross nose break....haha!

Time to move them to the floor before they fall off the bed :)

This picture seriously reminded us of when we first met them in the orphanage ONLY they are chubby now and well its just different :)

5) I don't drive Cailer and Brock to school anymore. THANKS Trent and Tisha for being the awesomest taxi service EVER...! I miss it though and can't wait till I can do it again because it is a special 10 minutes (5 min drive and a 5 min wait in the line as I drop them off) as we sing and talk all the way to school!!

6) I am on a diet. Not on purpose, but Kebe and Shena are magnets to the dinner table and I end up feeding them half my dinner on my plate. OH they love table food!

7) MY HOUSE IS A DISASTER. Seriously I used to walk around all day cleaning up the 5 toys Jaci played with and now there is 100 toys spewed all over my living room. I decided I can only clean my living room twice a day (nap time and at night time!) I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.....

8) We are in bed at 10:00 most nights. CRASHING in and falling asleep in .7 seconds! :) Before Kebe and Shena we were up till midnight 100% of the time!

9) We have not watched a movie in forever....! We even bought a few on Black Friday because they were freakily cheap (like $2 a piece) and they are still sitting next to the TV waiting for some time!

10) I take a bath EVERY night after the twins go to bed. I never got why my mom did this, but now I totally do. I go in there, lock the door, take the ipad and soak and soak and soak. Its quiet, no one can get to me to tell me they need me. (poor neal)

11) Everything is doubled in our home. 2 diaper changes, 2 bottles, 2 (or sometimes 5) kids in the bathtub at the same time, 2 highchairs with girls begging to eat RIGHT NOW, 2 car seats in our van that take up more space then all three of the older kids spaces, 2 snow suits to put on before we can leave, 2 heads of hair that have to be styled every day OR they go 'frizzzz city' (which then causes 2 little girls to be sooo mad at me!), 2 of the most adorable GIGGLERS ever, 2 adorable little back sides standing at the door observing the world as it goes by them (most precious site EVER)

I am sure there are more things, but I gotta go - I have two babies to care for and 1 bouncy princess toddler!

Love you all -
The Kellenbergers

Our new family :)

2012-01-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

This picture brings tears to my eyes! Praise God for HIS faithfulness through this long, hard, tearful, sometimes full of fear, and even laughter as we would think about how crazy we were to add another child (and then it ended up being TWO) to our already crazy busy life! We love all of you friends and thank you for your prayers and support over the last 3 years! Its been a year of God revealing our selfish and prideful hearts as we jumped into the adoption journey. HE HAS TAUGHT US SO MUCH! All I can say is 'Thank YOU Jesus!!!' So here is our 5 precious children God has given to us. We are so humbled as we see a child God created for us to raise up to men and women of God.

Kebe (15 months), Brock (5), Jaci (3), Cailer (8), Shena (15 months)

This was supposed to be posted YESTERDAY, December 26th . . .

2011-12-27T00:49:00.000-08:00

The fact that this was supposed to be posted yesterday, Monday, December 26th is testament to the craziness we are feeling in our home. Neal said as we were scarfing down chili that our dear friends Travis and Jaclyn brought to us that it feels like we are just surviving! Now that is not meant to be a in a bad way . . . its more like 'quick eat so we can move on to what is up next!!' God is providing in some serious ways though as we remain cheerful and upbeat as we anticipate the next step!! We went to bed at 7:30 lastnight and so waking up at 2:30 because the girls want a bottle is NOT a big deal at all, and now I kinda feel like staying up!! Sure, at like 8:00 a.m. I will totally want a nap, but for now - I am seriously awake!! So what should I do???

MEANT FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 26th....

We are home from Ethiopia. We just had our first full night at home and it was awesome! The twins went to bed at 7:00 and just woke up now at 5:00. Shena woke up at 2:00 and just needed a bottle, but Kebe just now woke up. Shena was not interested in falling back asleep when we went in to get Kebe though so they are both playing cheerfully on the floor here in our living room! They are jabbering all over the place! Me and Neal felt so thankful when we realized it was 5:00 so we decided to just get up! We went to bed at 8:00 last night so we got great sleep! Thank the Lord. Getting adequate sleep is the most important part we are learning! Things always seem like less of a big deal when you are not tired....right? :)

We had Christmas as a family yesterday afternoon! It was so fun! Kebe and Shena slept through part of it, and we ended up having to wake up Kebe because we realized it was middle of the night in Ethiopia and we didn't want her not sleeping at US night time! :) Kebe is a great sleeper and usually sleeps a lot longer then Shena! They are both doing pretty good, under the circumstances. Shena was pretty demanding on the plane but we are thinking it was because she was just tired because she started doing it again last night around 6:45 and that was when we realized she was tired:) She didn't do it all day yesterday though so it was great!!

The girls just got bathed and are ready for the day! (I know right? These are NOT Kellenberger hours!!!) haha..... Cailer just came up saying he heard voices up here - oh joy:) He is playing with the twins!! Its amazing how much they are learning right now! Our kids drive a car, then they drive a car. They have never watched older children play and learn from them They are majorly into exploring and crawl all over our living room, kitchen and hallway back to the girls rooms! I LOVE IT:) They love their baths (now....anyways) - the first time we put them in yesterday they looked so scared but after we showed them to splash the water then they were happy little campers splashing all over the bathroom! (haha)

Jaci is being such a great big sister. She loves them and keeps kissing them! The boys are super big helpers. I am sure this is hard on all of them down deep just having so much change BUT so far it seems they are really doing well and grasping it and being so willing to help! They spent the afternoon/evening with their new Christmas presents though so they got a break from entertaining the twins. Neal even went down and played some of their new wii games with them! I stayed up here and tried to clean our 'upside down house' - for real - it was TRASHED!! We made Chicken Cordon Blue (sp?) for dinner and oh my word - we got that made and realized that was all that we had made. We quick made some mac and cheese and that was our meal. We laughed a lot about this. You know - the trick of getting the meal all prepared at the same time, which apparently is quite a feat for Neal to get (he says) so I fell into his rank of dinner multi tasking ... or lack of dinner of multi tasking!! So yes - our Christmas dinner was chicken cordon blue and Mac and Cheese! Fancy, I know....! Kebe and Shena at the Mac and Cheese like it was going out of style - we loved seeing that though!! Praise God. THey are pretty good eaters! I fed them scrambled eggs this morning and they loved them!

Oh fyi - this update started at 5:00 in the morning and its now 6:17 . . . I have been interrupted like 23 times!! Breakfast, bottle, bath, poopy diaper (yay it didn't go allll the way up her back either....), etc.....! Its been a fun morning:):)

We love all of you and pray your Christmas was special and we are excited about hearing about your day!! Mom/Dad, Dan/Tami and Duane left our house yesterday early afternoon and I think they all went to Hannibal to spend the night and Matt/Kait might have joined them in the evening. Part of me was torn and wished I could go, BUT to tell you the truth yesterday afternoon/evening when the girls were up from their naps and we were all in the living room (that was a DISASTER from opening presents) all I could think about was 'this finally feels real!' - just being home alone and being a family for the first time it was reality finally and we loved it. Don't get me wrong - there are so many things that confuse us. Like how long do we let them cry or whine. We dont want to teach them that they can whine and we run to them BUT at the same time there is so much bonding that needs to happen and we want them to learn to trust US. They tend to reach for the ones that are the most fun as that is what has happened their whole life...! There has never been one person who has been fun and provided for them 100%. Lots of sadness in regards to that BUT God is faithful and doing a big work in all of our lives to give us love for each one of us.

We sure do appreciate your prayers :) TWINS ARE HARD, but - Its super fun to watch them laugh at each other and even take each others toys (i know, it wont be fun eventually!!) but its just a blast to watch them explore and learn and be stimulated!!

We are blessed...

Merry Christmas...

Neal, Kim, Cailer, Brock, Jaci, Shena and Kebe

to lighten up the mood....

2011-12-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

I am just sooooo proud of my big brother!

I think he may kill me.....I don't care....

Prayers Needed.....

2011-12-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

So friends....we need your prayers!

See below an email we from WHFC (our adoption agency).

This e-mail was sent to us after we got an email stating that US Embassy in Ethiopia had requested the birth parent meeting. (things are moving...praise God) We emailed our agency right back after hearing about this and asked for a timeline IF possible - this is what she sent back!

In terms of a time frame for travel, it is hard to know, as we have seen it take anywhere from few weeks to a few months. Given that we just received some follow up requests from the US Embassy, I would guess we are still a few weeks out from a clearance. Given that they are also waiting on the fingerprints, it will be essential to get these to the US Embassy as soon as possible.

The issue we have here is that our fingerprinting, which we did on November 14th, is stuck at the NBC in Missouri and not moving. Our prints expire tomorrow 12/2/11. We do not want NOR need anything to slow our process down! As you can see from the e-mail from our caseworker best case scenario for us could be clearance in 2 weeks (or 2 months) and since its the season of Christmas I walk with a jump in my step so I cant help but be positive and pray that we could actually be in Ethiopia over Christmas. Now do be aware that this is a VERY best case scenario for the Kellenberger adoption AND it for sure will not be in 2 weeks if National Benefits Center and National Visa Center do not RUSH our paperwork through today! I have called NBC twice in the last 30 minute and continue to leave messages for our officer on our case. (she will be very annoyed with me by the end of today...as I plan on continuing to call her until I hear her voice live on the phone!) HELLO - these are our daughters we are talking about . . . AND WE WANT THEM HOME!!

Please pray with us as we move forward in this process! We praise you Jesus! Thanks for letting us come boldly before YOUR throne with our requests!

We love all of you . . .

Neal & Kim

Cry of the Forgotten . . .

2011-11-29T14:34:00.000-08:00

My friend Jessi had a post on her blog today that absolutely crushed my spirit in regards to vulnerable children and then the tears started flowing! 'Where is the Body of Christ?' Please read the blogpost at the link below and pray that your heart is open to serving our Lord Jesus through becoming an advocate for the children in OUR communities that find themselves in the foster system because of a decision not of their own!!!

http://cryoftheforgotten.blogspot.com/

Adoption Support T-shirts

2011-11-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

After selling over 300 'adoption support' t-shirts we are needing to order more....can you believe that? SO...people here is your last chance to order a t-shirt :):) (youth sizes available too) Get me your sizes...and I will add it to the order. We will be placing this order 1 week from today (Tuesday, November 15th) They are $20 a piece or $15 a piece if you order 3 or more! PROCEEDS GO TOWARDS BRINGING KEBE AND SHENA HOME IN A FEW MONTHS!!

Ethiopia Journal via facebook . . .what our day's were like!

2011-11-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

OCTOBER 28, 2011 - Poor guy....pulling an all nighter isn't for us!! Not sure if I have ever done this before! In Chicago and waiting to board to head to Washington Dulles and then off to Addis! Exciting day ahead...(oh and
Neal is gonna hate me for taking that picture!) That's what happens when you sleep instead of watch the bags! Hehe! — with Neal Kellenberger.

OCTOBER 29, 2011 - First connection with ANYONE since getting to Ethiopia IS RIGHT NOW!! Took a taxi across Addis to the Sheraton and now have internet access!! I cant even express the joy of this experience. The twins are BEAUTIFUL and snuggling up to us and smiling and responding. Going to be so hard to leave....

OCTOBER 30, 2011 - Day #2 was awesome! We are relaxing and doing not much of anything other then fellowshipping with other families here for court and embassy appointments. Learning so much from all of them! Tomorrow morning we leave for Court at 10:00 a.m. - which is 2:00 a.m. for you ya'll! This time change thing is weird! Thanks for all the prayers and support. Loved all the LIKES and MESSAGES on my last post! We love all of you so much! We cant wait for you to meet these sweeties! I will try and keep you updated! Kebe and Shena are reaching their arms out to us when we walk in the room. Its breathtaking....! Tomorrow after court we are going to a traditional Ethiopian Restaurant and then shopping with another family as they are celebrating after Embassy Appointment! What a week....! Neal Kellenberger

OCTOBER 30, 2011 - Passed court today! Praise God:) They girls are officially ours according to Ethiopian law! When we got back to guest house and we got the girls and hugged them to me all I could think about was 'they really have no clue how big of a day this really was!!!' Thanks for the prayers! Tomorrow going to 'Bring Love In' Orphanage here in Addis. Excited to be with believers....

OCTOBER 31, 2011 - Morning #3 in Addis Ababa. We went shopping yesterday and it was quite an experience. Anyone want Ethiopian Coffee? Its about $5 a bag for a lb. I hear its 'the best in the world' :):) Meeting Jessie Benkert and Levi Benkert today, excited to see what God is doing with their ministry. Pretty excited to see more of the city! Neal is feeling better. Thank goodness for sudafed from another family that was leaving! (thanks for the prayers) Off to breakfast and then a bit with the girls and then we are heading out for the morning/afternoon! Bless you all! :)

NOVEMBER 1, 2011 - Hanging at horizon house today! It's 11:30 and Neal is still sleeping! I got to feed the girls this morning and I kept hearing the nannies say 'gobez mommy!'. That means 'good job mommy'. Phew...haha! Kebe fell asleep on my shoulder this morning...precious beyond words! Going to a small cafe for afternoon coffee/snack called 'second cup' ... Loving this experience!

NOVEMBER 2, 2011 - Last day in Addis. :( girls just left to get passport/visa. They get to do that because we passed court. Which means according to Ethiopian law we are legally their parents. Now to wait on US Embassy.... Too bad they cannot come home with us this trip. Trusting many to care for all 5 of our kids...nannies here in Ethiopia to watch the twins. Troys, Jason N Maggi Kaeb, and Mathew N Kaitlyn Kaeb to watch the three BIG kids at home...until we get home Friday evening. Thankful for the strength given from The Spirit. I feel it...., — with Neal Kellenberger.

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 - At the airport in Addis and so ready to just get home to see the kids! And eat some Monicals pizza ... Hah!!!

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 - Back in the USA....yea it feels good to speak and be understood and to hear and understand. There are some things I loved about addis and I would love to tell you about them sometime and there are some things I love about being back here in the US and sadly one of them is the Internet speed. Next thing I am doing is skyping with my kids. Then to stick out the layover here in Dulles and then off to Chicago. Killing me that we won't be back home to our kids and Mathew N Kaitlyn Until dinner tonight. So close and yet so far away!

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 - I will probably cry here at home more then I did while in Ethiopia! I definitely put up a barrier so my true emotions didn't show. It crumbled for a second when we prayed with girls before leaving. I told Neal after that to survive I can't think about how hard this is. Lost it again when talking to my sister in law amity this morning on the phone. I can't tell you much I miss those girls in my arms and watching them try to laugh....and that is hard work for them - laughing wasnt a big part of their first year of life. They seriously are Short of breath after we have them giggling. BEATIFUL and yet heart breaking all at the same time. Pray for us.....

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 - I will serve you while I am waiting! I will worship you while I am waiting! — with Neal Kellenberger.

NOVEMBER 5, 2011 - So I stopped out at the KTM Holiday Shop with my sis-in-law, Kaitlynand was completely humbled and surprised by my dear friends Angie DeMeester Mock and Michelle Hermeyer-Jacob as they had a booth selling our Adoption Support T-Shirts. WOW....they have no idea how much that really meant to me and how it penetrated my heart very deeply with gratitude and love for such awesome friends! THANKS GIRLS! You are very special to our family!!

‎NOVEMBER 6, 2011 - .....awake - very awake! This time change thing is not working in our favor with jet lag!! arggghh....5:45 seems okay to wake up refreshed and raring to go BUT 4:45? Noo...way too early! Going to try and make myself fall back asleep in a bit!!

NOVEMBER 6, 2011 - (post from Angie Mock) Today is Orphan Sunday! We had a wonderful service dedicated to raising awareness about orphans and vulnerable children this morning. A group of us at TCBC wore our Kellenberger adoption shirts to show our support for Neal and Kim who are adopting twin girls from Ethiopia. What an amazing morning!

NOVEMBER 7, 2011 - Some of you got a lucky view of our sweeties on facebook!! I was in iphoto working through the pics and getting them organized and I must have pushed upload to facebook! So - if you didn't notice....they are gone again! We will have them back up online as soon as the letter comes declaring them legally ours:):) SORRY!!!

Orphan Sunday

2011-11-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 6th was Orphan Sunday and our church dedicated the whole service to raise awareness for the HUGE orphans crisis in the world! It was a special Sunday as we had just got home from Ethiopia and seeing Kebe and Shena!!

I wanted to share with you all this picture that was taken during the 'orphans meal' (rice & beans) that we had after both services. These were some of the special friends that bought support t-shirts from us! (it was fun to see our shirts scattered through-out church on Sunday) We are so humbled by the love and kindness God continues to bestow on us through this journey! (some of you bought shirts and were wearing them on sunday BUT missed getting you in the picture and I am sorry about that...you mean so much to us!)

My two dear friends Angie and Michelle also sold our t-shirts at the KTM Holiday Shop, unbeknownst to us! What a shock when I showed up there because I was feeling awesome the day after I got home from Africa!! They raised almost $400 in t-shirt sales that day! Did I cry....? Umm, YES...with much praise to Jesus that HE brought such sweet and supportive friends into our lives! It was more then making money off the shirts people - look at that picture. Its rich with friends and love. WE ARE BLESSED!!!

I know many of you are wondering about our Ethiopia trip. Its coming next......

LOVE YOU ALL :) - The Kellenbergers

T-Shirt Challenge for Orphan Sunday...

2011-10-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

(saw this challenge on a blog I was reading....i liked it....sooo...)

I am going to submit a challenge for you:) Orphan Sunday is NOVEMBER 6, 2011. Put away your slacks....your blouses....your cardigans.....your sports team shirts.... Pull out an adoption shirt. If you want to purchase one of ours, we would love the support. If not, choose any adopting family with a shirt, any organization that supports adoption and REP their shirt on Nov 6.

Maybe you go to a church that will not emphasize Orphan Sunday? Well, here is your chance to put the idea in their hearts that serving orphans and the "least of these" really is "church".

So if you want one of our shirts... email me at nealkim1921@gmail.com or message me and I will get you one! :) (we have sizes s-xl available) They are $20 a piece and the proceeds go towards our adoption and bringing our baby girls home! :)

November 6.... Don't Forget!

Pumpkin Carving with adopted students :)

2011-10-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

We have an 'adopt a student' program at church where you can sign up to be a family for a student or two :) We offered to have 2 students and we were blessed with Minyona Mason and Karen Li. Both from Chicago and both SWEET and CARING and KIND and listen to this - LOVE KIDS....! Phew.....

So we had them over last night for the first time and we carved pumpkins and ate enchilada's together as a family! I cant express to you how much fun this was! These girls are amazing...! They have so much patience with our kids and they care about them....and they even stuck their hands into gooey pumpkins to gut them AND got Cailer to do it as well!! (he was completely grossed out BUT it become a competition to see who could get their pumpkin cleaned out first!)

Here are some pics from our fun evening!

Jaci at the Pumpkin Patch picking out the pumpkins! She was loving it. I kept saying 'eek be careful'....I thought she was going to drop one and it would squash...

Diva Jaci in the pumpkin patch...

Washing the Pumpkins and getting ready to start carving

Big Sister....Little Sister! Karen and Jaci

Minyona's first attempt at cutting off the stem.....Neal ended up doing it for everyone cause it was so much harder then it looked :)

Cailer getting ready to pull out the guck...he was not excited about this!!

Everyone carving away :)

Karen free-handing her spider - it was so cool!

Big Sister - Little Brother - Minyona and Cailer

All our kiddo's - Karen, Brock, Jaci, Cailer & Minyona

Minyona's amazing bat and pumpkin carving. Look the eyes ended up being straight...hah!!

Karens sweet spider

Brocks Bat

Jaci's Smiling Pumpkin Face. She spent the next 30 minutes painting it all over!

Cailers Ghost

The whole family and the created pumpkins!

"Fill the bags to 50 lbs. challenge" :)

2011-10-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Dearest Friends & Family :)

Some of you have been asking if there is anything we can take over to the orphanage in Ethiopia!! (some of you have not asked BUT thought I would share this opportunity with you anyways! *smile*) Here is a link to the specific bottles they are requesting. http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-GentleFlow-Bottles-9oz-3pk/dp/B00155ZVW6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318529843&sr=8-1 These are actually going to the ministry Bring Love In. (Indigenous ministry bringing widows and orphans together to make families!) Here is their website: http://bringlove.in/ We are visiting this orphanage and am so excited to do this. Some of you may remember the ministry called 'Drawn from Water' - they were rescuing kids called 'mingi' - kids that were considered possessed and people were actually drowning these children for fear of the evil spirit they thought the kids were possessed with. That is when 'Drawn from Water' stepped in. They have changed their ministry slightly and what they are now doing is creating homes for the orphans WITH the widows in the communities as their mothers. I am not sure if they are still going out and finding mingi children BUT I am excited to visit and learn more about it. SO - they are wanting bottles and chocolate chips :):) I guess you cant get chocolate chips over there! If you live near us and want to donate a bag of chocolate chips that might work OR order on amazon, otherwise it might be tough to get us a bag through the mail for fear of them melting!! (although the hot days of summer might be over!)

Kebe and Shena's orphanage is in need of:

baby oil

baby Shampoo

baby lotion

sterile wipes

Vaseline

ear-cleaner

Hand sanitizer

Diaper rash ointment

We have a huge bag we can use and as long as it doesn't go over 50 lbs. we are good!:) We have not gotten any sterile wipes, ear cleaner, hand sanitizers. We have one of each of the other things. Obviously we can take more of each item! If you have a HUGE duffle bag you would be willing to let us use to deliver these that would be awesome - we only have one realllly big one and we feel that is the most effective way of getting most of this stuff over there. We want them weighing right at 50 lbs. :):) I suppose its a challenge of sorts . . . Lets call it 'fill the bags to 50 lbs' challenge:) hah.....! I will keep you all updated as to where we are at. Keep a look out on facebook . . .I update that regularly!! OR come back to my blog!

Please do not feel obligated BUT I did want to let you know about this in case you were interested! I am pretty sure we will be able to fill up two very large bags of stuff as me and Neal each get to take 2 - 50 lb bags and I am thinking we will not need that much space for all our stuff (haha) SO lets fill the bags up!! (oh and feel free to let others know about this) - it might work best to find stuff on amazon and have them mailed to us. Our mailing address is: 616 Hawthorne Drive, St Joseph, IL 61873. OR if you are within driving distance we totally can come get the stuff!

An update on our traveling time frame - we leave on Friday, October 28th and arrive back in Chicago on November 4th. We beg for your prayers as we embark on a journey that only God could lead us on. His will is written all over this and affirmed by a peace that only can come from The Holy Spirit!

Also say a prayer for my dear siblings who are so willing to come and serve in a way that blesses us MORE THEN THEY REALIZE!! Troy/Amity/Tristyn/Maelyn/Rylen, Jason/Maggi/Kyson AND Matt/Kait - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for sharing in the responsibilities of taking care of our kiddos. Our kids are excited and that helps so much as it breaks my heart to be gone from them for 7 days! They are blessed kiddo's to have aunts and uncles who care so much about them!!!

Love you all :) AND thanks for serving in this way! God be glorified:)

Kim

p.s. - if you get something off the list...post what you got so others can see and maybe they can get something else! THIS IS SO EXCITING :)

Changes in 2011 :)

2011-09-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

So in the last 5 months, or so, LOTS of things have happened:

1) Received Kebe & Shena's referral (we are going to be parents of twin baby girls from Ethiopia)
2) Started attending Twin City Bible Church, a non-denominational church in Urbana
3) Became an advocate for 'The Forgotten Initiative' (You want to know in detail about how this has affected my life and time? email me . . .)
4) Our Brock started kindergarten, Cailer's in 3rd grade
5) Jaci is not potty trained (still)
6) Received court date for Kebe & Shena (traveling over to Ethiopia end of October)
7) Norwex business has picked up (did two months straight of 6 parties a month. . .thats a TON for me)
8) Shuffled, it feels like, 29 beds around in our house
9) Cailer & Brock moved to the basement in anticipation of twins taking their old room
10) Found mold in our basement - which means lots of cleaning and work and organizing and decontaminating. Fun, fun . . . (not)
11) Joined BSF - studying Acts together with 200 other women. Most over the age of 60...love this!
12) Joined International Women's Connection at church (love this. . . making relationships with women from all over the world)

......lucky Neal, all he has to each day is get up and go to work for 10 hours! Sounds easy to me (don't tell him I said that) :) He is pursuing starting a bible study at work though so that should add some change to his life!

*sigh* I am going to bed. After writing that I am realizing I need to start saying no to things maybe?? What do YOU think??

Referral . . .

2011-06-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yes - that word gives me goosebumps! That word actually didn't feel like a reality for the last year or so! That word has brought tears! That word brought, ashamedly, anger as I saw others speed through the system faster then us! That word was the MOST BEAUTIFUL word spoken on June 28, Tuesday afternoon when our caseworker called and shared with me and Neal that God had finally granted us the desire of our hearts :) At 4:06 p.m. came the call stating that we were matched with a child - oh wait we were actually matched with children! Yes people we were matched with 8 month old twin girls! Did I scream you may ask? YES I screamed....! I was in awe at the mercy and grace God was plenteous in giving us! Are you kidding me? Two girls? Oh and did I mention two BEAUTIFUL girls! I am still in awe . . .I look at their pictures every moment - like right now they are laid out in front of me! We are calling them Kebe and Asch right now (those are shortened versions of their names)! Due to Ethiopian policy, the pictures of them cannot be posted - but trust me if you run into me . . . I will be packing them around with me everywhere I go :) Just ask to see them....or maybe before you get a chance to see them I will be shoving them in your face because I just cant help it. :)

So the first question's people ask us are: How did they come to the orphanage? Are their parents alive? Please know that we don't think you are crazy for asking these questions . . . we wondered them right away as well - but after prayer and talking about it we feel this information is incredibly sensitive and private for Kebe and Asch. For now we are not sharing with anyone as this is very personal for them. We feel this will be their story to tell someday. So as hard as it might be to not know this . . . we prayerfully ask you to support us in this decision. Thank you:) You are such dear friends and we would love to bring your along in our journey as much as possible and I pray you can understand the importance of this.

The next question is: When are you bringing them home? (our kids are good with tomorrow!! Probably a little bit of it has to do with Grandma is coming to stay with them while we are gone!) We talked to our caseworker yesterday and we are hopeful it will be within 7 months. Estimated travel for court is around 4 months and then we will travel within 1-2 months after coming home the first time. So around Christmas time (December/January) . . . maybe before, maybe during, maybe afterwards?! :) Either way - God is good all the time AND all the time God is good!!!!!

We are signing paperwork and getting a large referral check ready (twins changed the amount by quite a bit)! We have their medical records at an international clinic in Chicago and thankful for their extra set of eyes! After that is gone over and we have spoke with the doctor in goes the acceptance. If you want to know our hearts though - there really isn't anything that can scare us away at this point. God is showering - I mean pouring his peace all over this decision! We know HIS will is far more important then any 'go ahead' by a doctor :) Thankful to rest in HIS sovereignty on this situation!

I was listening to 'Beautiful' by Mercy Me this morning. I thought of these girls and I thought of how they are so treasured by our God, they are sacred to our God, before they even took a breath, LONG before the earth was made, They were the ones He was madly enough in love with . . . enough to die!!! Thank you Jesus! Praise God He is allowing us to parent two more little ones in HONOR of the kingdom!! Thank you for letting us experience physical earthly adoption so that it can strengthen our understanding of Spiritual adoption! We are so humbled . . .

Thank you friends for being so supportive over the last 22.5 months as we waited anxiously for our referral! Now please pray the next 7ish months go at God speed . . . which is perfect speed!:)

We love you so much!
Neal & Kim, Cailer, Brock and Jaci Jo :)

Forgotten Initiative . . .

2011-06-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Get ready, Get set, GO . . .

We are getting ready to launch 'The Forgotten Initiative' (TMI) in the Champaign area:) I just wanted to give all the heads up to be prepared to see more blogging from our experience(s). We are so excited. If you want to see what TMI is about, see their website below!!!

http://theforgotteninitiative.org/#story

Basically its our desire to step along side the agencies (i.e. DCFS) and lighten their burden and to bring joy and purpose to the 'forgotten' - i.e. foster children, vulnerable adults, foster parents & agencies. Please pray that this ministry accelerates at a speed and passion that others would see and say 'its ONLY because of God and His favor!' Its Jesus in us that anything like this can be done and for it to glorify HIM!

I am very excited to be part of this and to see where we can be used in the Champaign area! God has placed an amazing person named Michelle in my life and her passion for the forgotten is evident in her desire to step along side and jump head first into visiting the agencies and see where God can use us! THANK YOU MICHELLE for inspiring me to get this going!!! This is going to be so much fun!!

Blessings always -
Kim

Enough Said. . .

2011-04-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Praise God :)

2011-03-24T10:47:00.001-07:00

I CANT STOP SMILING :):):)

News we received - we want to give all glory and praise to our Sovereign God!! This sounds very promising! Continue to pray.... Our love, Neal & Kim :)

MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) posted a notice indicating as of March 10th they would be reducing the number of adoptions processed through their office to 5 cases a day.

Within days of this announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members from the ministry have been terminated.

Today we want to update you on the feedback we received yesterday from our foreign staff in Ethiopia, which was confirmed in a discussion with our adoption colleagues in a Joint Council caucus call later in the day.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full effect.

We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the recent posting by the US State Department this morning at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Based on the information we are receiving, MOWA is concentrating on processing the current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their jobs.”

Prayers please.....

2011-03-08T14:41:00.001-08:00

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html

12 Reasons Adoption is good for the Christ-follower

2011-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

Twelve reasons adoption is good for the believer…

December 5, 2010 by David Leventhal

Let me say upfront that first & foremost, adoption is about finding the right family for a child (& not vice versa). It is about providing permanency for another human being.

That being said, there are a lot of other secondary benefits for those who are led to adopt. If someone came to me with one of these reasons as their primary reason or motivation for adopting I would encourage them to tap the brakes because, as I said above, adoption is first about providing a home for an infant/child/teenager. But like many things in life there are layers of benefits.

Here are 12 secondary reasons why I believe adoption is good for the Christ-follower:

Adoption & the adoption process provide a venue to trust God like few other things can
Adoption is a visible picture of the Gospel – adopted children are brought into the family & receive all the blessings, rights & inheritance of the biological children
Adoption enables us to enter into the pain, loss & grief of another human being which is good for our hearts & soul
Adoption reminds us that we are not put on this earth for ourselves – we are here to serve, especially those who have no voice
Adoption is what God has been up to ever since Genesis 3 – setting the lonely in His family
Adoption teaches our children, both biological & adopted (& the local church – HT @schneidleraj), that God’s people look out for those who cannot look out for themselves – it’s just what we should be doing
Adoption forces us to confront our motivations, beliefs and expectations about how we build our family
Adoption demonstrates that love is a choice, not a fleeting emotion
Adoption is one of God’s answer for the orphan…one day there will be no more orphans, but for today adoption is needed
Adoption helps foster compassion
Adoption is infectious – those who watch a family go through the adoption process will be more likely to process it for themselves
Adoption teaches perseverance & endurance because it can be hard – really, really hard

T-Shirt Order SUBMITTED:)

2011-02-08T07:58:00.001-08:00

T-Shirt order SUBMITTED....for those of you waiting on them we will let you know when they are in :):) I am super excited....! We sold 165 t-shirts.....GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES:):) I cant wait for this shirt to start circulating and raising awareness for orphans and adoption!! We will probably be making another order within a month or so - if you are interested in purchasing one at that time - e-mail me OR facebook me and we will mark you down!! :):)

Adoption Update:)

2011-01-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

We are nearing the referral stage (when we will be matched with a child 0-12 months old boy OR girl OR twins) and we are preparing for the phone call anytime between now and April 2011. First trip over will be within 1-6 months after referral and Second trip will be within a month after coming home the first time! Prayers for our child is paramount as difficult/hurtful/sad moments are possibly happening right now! This breaks our hearts but we know Jesus is comforting him/her and we pray their family can also feel His presence!!!

All our love and appreciation for your support - Neal & Kim, Cailer, Brock and Jaci

2011-01-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

Adoption Support T-Shirts.

PRICING:
1 t-shirt for $20 or 3 t-shirts or more for $15 each.
(Mail checks to Neal Kellenberger with 't-shirt' in the Memo Line....for address message us)

Sizes are as follows:
Adult S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL (Charcoal Color)
Youth XS, S, M, L, XL (Black Color)
Toddler 2T, 3T, 4T, 5/6T, 7T (Black Color)

THANK YOU for your support....we are humbled!!

We are taking pre-orders for a week or so....after that you will just need to email or message us to see if we have your size in stock :):)

Adoption rambling:)

2011-01-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

The adoption process can be daunting when you set your expectations at a certain place and then not budge! We have learned from day one that what we THINK is going to happen never has happened even one time!:) God has provided us ways to keep our minds busy with other things. Maybe its the fact that I have three children already and have experienced waiting for each of them and realizing there isn't much I can do while pregnant other then watch my belly grow! You can read a million things and learn a million things on what to expect BUT honestly ... what you think will happen, even with how you feel while pregnant, labor, what its like when you come home - NONE of that can be written down from one person for another person to follow! Each person really is different!

We added twins as a possibility for us! Its additive to our 1 child, male or female and 0-12 month old at referral. Who knows if that will change anything! :) We are so close to the end...feels like that anyways. We began the paperwork process two years ago this February 2011. Some of you might be thinking 'why twins?' - well let me share a bit of the journey we took to be in this spot. First off unless God has other plans He will reveal to us later in life we plan on adopting a second child at some point over the next 5 years. Adopting two children versus just one isn't a requirement but we have researched and feel that our child would benefit with a child born in the same culture or even just brought into his/her forever family in the same way. We know things in life are not always easy...even for us that have seemed to have had it so easy! In our way of trying to possibly ease the pain of rejection or struggles some day we have prayed hard about it and feel that 2 children coming into our family in the same way would benefit from each others support and love.

We are in the process of renewing our dossier! This is something that has changed since the beginning of our process. Ethiopia requires its updated within two years of when submitted. Ours will be two years this summer. Hopefully we will have a baby by then BUT there is a chance we will not have brought him/her home so we are beginning the mind boggling gathering of all our paperwork AGAIN!:) I was like 'for real....we need referral letters and original birth certificates and marriage certs AGAIN!?' :) Thank goodness when I ordered them 1.5 years ago I ordered two of them! WOW what a blessing. So that was easy! We still have a spare after even using 2 more originals! Doctor appts. AGAIN!? :):) Sigh.....! I do believe doing it the 2nd time is easier though! I am not so gung ho though and not so worried about detail AND I AM SUPPOSED TO BE! I wish I could notarize my own stuff so we didnt keep having to bug the notary .... or maybe its really me thats bugged:) hahaha!!!!

Our case worker lives by the standards of worst case scenario! She tells us worse case all the time :) In some ways its good because haven't really been disappointed BUT at the same time we are like 'are we prepared for best case scenario??' Through conversation we realize maybe we are higher on the list then she is letting on! From talking to her (they dont give us number where we are on the list) BUT we gathered we are in the top 5 or so for 0-12 months! Now obviously we are assuming this because of stuff she says. 'Now if 0-12 month kids come in this month it could be in January' BUT if none come in but other age groups come in then it could be April :) So we are are assuming we are at the top of the list for 0-12 month! So it depends when the Lord wants to grant us our forever baby and THAT is when 0-12 month old baby will be ready to go for us to adopt!

Life outside of the adoption process....We are good! Busy with our 3 kiddos. Cailer just started basketball this past weekend. He is in 2nd grade! He has so much energy so its good to put him in about anything extracurricular so he can wear some of it off :):) Brock is in preschool and is 4 - he goes to kindergarten this year (eek!) Jaci is in her TERRIBLE 2's :) for sure!! She is our first kid that we actually see it right at the age of 2! She is all sass....! BUT wow she can make us smile and it can be right after she wrote all over the wall with permanent marker....!!!

Christmas was good! Emotionally draining due to being in Kansas for 2 weeks. It was lovely being with family though and special to be with my sister Tami and her husband Dan who recently moved home from spending a year in Mexico serving others ... and more specifically sharing the love of Christ with 5 mexican children by parenting them. We do continue to pray for the special children whose lives they touched!! It feels so good to be home :) Finally got the tree put away yesterday and that feels REAL GOOD!! House is back to normal....that I love!

Right now its just me and Jaci here at home. Brock and Cailer are at school! Its so quiet and Jaci just wonders around not knowing what to do! I guess this 3 day a week mornings might be BEST for her to get used to him being gone all day next Fall when he goes to Kindergarten!!

Love and prayers....
Kim

Norwex Presentation...by my kids....and me :)

2010-10-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

SO for all of you who do not know yet! I am joining the Norwex Team:) I have become a consultant of this amazing product! So....how to do you convince your friends who live too far away to see an actual presentation LIKE TODAY....?? Well you make a video to share! See below how our windows go from 'DRAB TO FAB' haha....that was fun to say :) NO BUT SERIOUSLY....see how it goes to streak free just with a few swipes from each of the kids (with a little help from my OCD self...)

*Disclaimer* - I look disgusting! Sorry .... :(

ALSO - I am having a party this Friday night if you would like to come :) If you want to have a party at your home and see what awesome things you can earn for free - let me know! I would love to come and rock your world :):)

Mark & Heathers Wedding....

2010-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a picture of the lovely couple we celebrated with this past weekend at their wedding!! We had such a fun time!!! Seriously- it was the most fun I have ever had at a wedding....!

Congrats to Mark and Heather Miller! We love you guys and cant wait to hang out as couples!

Update :)

2010-10-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

We are officially once again fingerprint updated! We were able to travel to Indianapolis a day after our 8 year anniversary so were able to throw in a special day away to celebrate our marriage and love for each other! AND move forward one more step towards the end of our adoption. When you begin the journey of adoption, the RENEWAL part of fingerprinting seems SO FAR away and here we were...renewing! God is so good and has provided graciously over the last year and a half since we started the paperwork to adopt our 4th child into our family! Seriously...its been amazing when we think back to how we thought it was going to go! GOD IS SO GOOD...He allowed the process to be a gruelling 2 years (most likely) for so many reason! Jaci turns 2 next month! We began the process with her only 3 months old! Our middle child, Brock, has grown up so much and is such a little helper around the house. 18 months ago - he felt like my little baby boy still :) Cailer is doing steller in school and loves it!

Who knows - our baby could be born?! What a funny questions....who knows? Hmmm....I know someone who knows! The most important being ever....my Creator, my Father, THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.....THE God of the Bible! How about that? I will take Him knowing over anyone else. Our prayers consistently are that our baby feels Christs arms wrapped around him/her. We are well aware that whatever is going to happen OR is going on is going to be tough on a newborn. Father reach down and comfort our baby way over in Ethiopia! Its such a comfort because I KNOW He is faithful.....!

Just an updated on timing! February 2011 is 18 months. That is how long people have been waiting for referrals! So about 4 months away from knowing who God has chosen for us! YAY! :)

Just this last weekend we reunited with a couple who adopted a baby domestically....loved seeing their excitement and love and joy! Thanks Jeremy and Christy for being so awesome! We loved sharing a table with you at Mark and Heathers rehearsal dinner :) I pray for this everyday....to be able to hold and comfort and love our baby! I am realistic though.....it wont be all peaches and cream. Feel free to start praying right now that I can love as Christ loved ........! I also met another couple (well I guess I kinda knew them before BUT nothing like now....I mean how can you not grow closer after dancing the hours away with them at a wedding...haha!!) Jon R.....you are a stud at dancing! Bethany...way to support :) You guys were so fun and I loved hearing you tell about your adoption journey thus far! Keep us updated:)

We love all you readers....even though I do a horrible job updating :) I can feel your prayers.....

Neal, Kim, Cailer, Brock and Jaci Jo :)

Kyson Paul

2010-08-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world Nephew Kyson Paul :) We had a fun fun time meeting him AND seeing first time parents Jason and Maggi! Congrats to you both! We love you guys!!

Kyson Paul Kaeb - my second nephew - born to Jason and Maggi Kaeb

Our kids were in LOVE the instant the saw him :)

Brock has so much love to give and he was giving to Kyson - i promise you that!

Proud Uncle Neal

Proud Aunt Kim ( I LOVE KYSONS FACE IN THIS PICTURE)

Just chilling .... oh and totally annoying Kyson by taking off his blanket to look at his toes and fingers :)

Can you tell I am in love? :)

Awesome mommy with her first son!

Jason and Maggs, Kyson and Cailer

Jaci LOVED Kysons little swing! She was a bit too big for it :)

Adoption Update

2010-05-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I have shared exactly where we are in the stages of adoption. We are still smack in the middle waiting. We plan on renewing our fingerprints in July this summer. Which means another trip to Indy. We also are now required to travel two times within this process. That increases the adoption costs by around $5000 which has really concerned those that are at the top of the list. Its caused some of them to be put on hold which unfortunately for them moves us up closer on the list. These people can come right back on list one they are financially ready though to where they were the begin with so it probably will even all back out and our referral time will be when we thought. 12 months waiting is in August 2010. Typically people have been waiting 18-19 months. That puts us at February being 18 months and that is just for the referral. We will probably travel both times within the few months after that. We pray that a year from now we will have our baby home with us :) God knows though!

At this point - our baby COULD be born OR possibly not! Thankful to know that God knows though:)

So there you have it - our latest update! Just in case you cared...haha!

Essential vs. Non-Essential

2010-05-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

So I have been pondering on how to deal with people concerned about certain choices I make or how I look or what I say.....

Well I ran across this maxim today in the book I am reading 'What is a healthy church member?' by Thabiti Anyabwile.

"In all things essential, unity; in all things non-essential, liberty; and in all things, love." - (a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits)

A healthy church member committed to understanding and becoming a biblical theologian WILL work to know the difference between beliefs that are essential to biblical Christianity and beliefs that are non-essential to the integrity and continuance of the faith. Just because something is non-essential doesn't mean its unimportant....but there will be inferences in non-essential doctrines.

I, Kim, am committing myself to defend the essential things of the gospel, while avoiding strife and contention over the things that are not essential to the gospel. 2 Timothy 2:14-17

In Galatians 1:8-9 Paul instructs the church to guard the gospel. WE NEED TO GUARD THE PURE GOSPEL!!!

Now I am not saying that we only take parts of the word and ignore the rest because its unimportant. See Charles Spurgeon article below....its powerful! :)

Charles Spurgeon on "Non-Essential" Doctrines:

If you say that any one part of the truth is unimportant, you do as good as say - to that extent the Holy Spirit has come upon an unimportant or valueless mission. You perceive it is declared that he is to teach us "all things"; but if some of these "all things" are really of such minor importance, and so quite non-essential, then surely it is not worth while disturbing our minds with them. And so to that degree, at any rate, we accuse the Holy Spirit of having come to do what is not necessary to be done; and I trust that our minds recoil with holy repulsion from such a half-blasphemy as that..

[If more understood this] they would surely study a great many things that they overlook now, and I think they would not be so apt to excuse their own need of diligence in the school of Christ, by saying:
"Well, there are some all-important doctrines; we have studied them, and that is enough."

Brethren, when a boy goes to school, he may say, "If I learn arithmetic,
I shall be able to be a tradesman, and that is what I shall be; [so I do not want to learn those other subjects]." But the schoolmaster says, "My boy, you are put under my teaching to learn all things, and it is not for you to pick and choose what class you will attend." Now, we are scholars under the teaching of the blessed Spirit, and it is not for us to say, "I will learn the doctrine of justification By faith, and when I know that, I shall not trouble my mind about election, I shall not raise any question about final perseverance,
I shall not enquire into the ordinances, whether believer's baptism or infant baptism is right; I take no interest in these things; I have learned the essential matter, and I will neglect the rest." Thou will not say this if thou art an obedient disciple, for do you not know that the ministers of Christ have received a commission to teach all things that Christ has taught them, and do you think that our commission is frivolous and [annoying]? Do you think that Christ would bid us teach thee what it is no need of thee to learn, or, especially, that the Holy Ghost would himself come to dwell in the midst of his church and to teach them all things, when out of those "all things" there are, according to thy vain supposition, some things that were quite as well,
if not better, left alone? . . .

There is a tendency, among us all, I suppose, to choose some part of the truth, and attach undue importance to that, to the neglect of other truths. It is a grave question if this is not the origin of various divisions which are to be found in the Church of Christ - not so much heresy, as the attaching of disproportionate importance to some truth, to the disparaging or neglecting of others equally necessary.

Some brother speaking to me the other day, declared of a certain truth,
"You cannot have too much of a good thing." Whereupon I remarked, that a nose was a good thing, but it might be possible so to exaggerate it that you would spoil the beauty of the face; a mouth is a good thing, and yet it may be very possible to have such a mouth that there would be no particular beauty about the visage, for the beauty of the man consists in proportion, and the beauty of divine truth consists in the proportion in which every part of it is brought into view. Now, there be some who exaggerate one feature, and some another.

There are some brethren who are fond of what is called "the high side" of doctrine. I am fond of it, too, very fond of it, but there is a temptation to bring that out, and to neglect, perhaps, the practical part of the gospel, and to ease into the background, possibly, the invitations of the gospel, and those truths which concern our usefulness in the world. Then, on the other hand, there are some who are so enamored by "experience" that nothing but experiential truth will suit them; they must be always harping upon that one string, and they look down with contempt upon those who hold fast doctrinal truth, which is very wrong, and shows that they have not yet been led into all truth. ...

It is all truth, and not some truth, that the Holy Spirit comes to teach.
To teach his children truth in all its harmony, truth in all its parts, truth indeed, as a whole. But it may be said, "There must be some truths which are not so essential as others!" That is granted. There are some truths that are so vital to salvation and peace with God, and there are some others that do not vitally concern the regeneration and conversion of the soul, and upon these men may be in error, and yet not risk their souls for all eternity. But still, even these [less vital] truths are part of the whole body of truth, and the body cannot do without its head, its heart, though it might lose a limb. Yet is that a reason why I should chop off a limb, or consent to have it maimed, because I could still exist without it? I could exist without an eye; shall I not, therefore, mind being blinded? . . .

All truth must be necessary for you and for me, or else the Spirit of God would not have come to teach it to us, and that while we may give more prominent importance to the greater and more vital truths, yet there is not one truth in Scripture to which we are allowed to say,
"Be still, be quiet, we do not want you."

Brethren, how many of you would be happy if you did but study doctrinal truth! You go lean and starved through the world, because your minister does not preach the doctrines of grace, and does not give you the full weight of the truths of the sovereign grace of God. Still, if you but studied them for yourselves, you might yet have a bright eye, and an elastic, bounding footstep, and rejoice in the everlasting love of God, which never leaves his people, but preserves and glorifies them in the end.

--Charles Spurgeon, The Great Teacher and Rememberancer

An excerpt that really spoke to me from above.......

That is an amazing part – I love the analogy of how we can live without an eye or hand, but not without the head or heart. Some truths are essential, some are less vital, but NEVER unimportant.

I pray this speaks to your heart like it did mine!

For Christ and His church....

Headband Giveaway :)

2010-04-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Head to my friend Anne's blog - she is having a drawing for a free headband from Frills and Flowers (this is where I buy headbands for Jaci.....!) Good Luck :)

http://dahlhauser.blogspot.com/

Cousins:)

2010-04-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed - I am kinda just catching up with pictures from the past!:) I havent really been on top of blogging so here are some pictures all the way back to Christmas 2009! Mostly I am just putting them up because they are cute pictures of my nieces and our kiddos!:)

Kellenberger Cousins...Brock, Raegan, Kami, Ashtyn, Cailer (Amor & Jaci are missing)

All the cousins minus Jaci. We are singing Christmas Carols and they are playing instruments to it! It was so adorable and so much fun....I think a tradition as begun!:)

Neals oldest brother and his wife Beth

Neals brother Galen and his wife Shannon

The kids got a white Christmas too - they enjoyed sledding outside at Grandpa and Grandmas

The kids table :)

Kaeb Cousins (although next Christmas it will almost be double this size)

Cailer, Maelyn, Tristyn (celebrating her birthday), Brock and Jaci

Some of my siblings, Amity and my oldest brother Troy, Jason and Maggi & Dan and Tami (with baby Kaeb in her tummy!!)

Kansas City cousin time and a wedding thrown in as well :)

2010-04-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to be able to go to KC and attend Christy Miller and Cory Finley's wedding. We were also very overjoyed to spend the weekend with my brother Troy and his wife, Amity and their girls!!! Cousin time is not near enough for these kids! I cant even imagine how much time we would be spending time between our two homes if we still lived right up the road in Olathe!! How fun :) But we aren't so we just hope and pray for more times like these when the kids can get together and make special memories!!

Brock, Jaci, Cailer and cousin Tristyn

Maelyn

Me with my two adorable nieces - Mae Mae and T

Cory and Christy - CONGRATULATIONS...such a beautiful wedding!

Old friends reunited! Neal with growing up best buds, Ben and Mark Miller

...and of course.....me and my honey...Neal :):)

Family Vacation....

2010-04-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

What a fun trip....and oh such a blessing to spend time away with our precious children! They are growing up so fast and we really cant spend enough time like this with them. It was so valuable! We got to for the first time go on a vacation just us, the Neal Kellenberger Family! We had a wonderful fun time at the 'Mall of America' in Minneapolis, MN. We were there for 6 nights and oh it was filled with tons of awesome memories!! Below are pictures from our trip and looking at them reminded me of the special time we had together as a family!! Thank You Jesus for each part of each of our special children! We are so undeserving!

Cailer on the water slide at the hotel on our way to Minneapolis. We stayed at a Holiday Inn with an indoor water park.

Brock loving his independence....was so excited he got to go alone on the slide!

Jaci enjoyed the water too - so much that it was hard to keep up with her as she 'Jaci ran' (those of you that know here know exactly what I mean) all around that people filled place!:)

Our first day at Mall of America! Neal with the kids!

Cailer took a picture of me and Neal before we headed into the hugest mall I had ever seen!

Neal enjoying time with his kiddos!

Brock got to celebrate his birthday while we were there. He was so excited to open his presents at the hotel!:)

Jaci at the hotel pool

Neal with the kids in the hot tub (where they spent 90% of the time)

Loving the down time and just relaxing!!

Taking the shuttle bus to the Mall of America. The boys were getting our day all figured out with the map! The had that thing out and planning things all day:)

At Nickolodean Universe. Kid heaven :)

Kim, Cailer and Brock on Log Ride

Brock was scared to death of Diego :) Had to take a picture of him standing there freaked out! (thats what he said 'mom he freaked me out!)

Us at Rainforest Cafe - Brock is once again 'freaked out' :) HATED the gorillas. He kept saying 'when are we going to leave? I had this place!'

Bumper Cars!!!

Brock wasnt scared of Sponge Bob. I think it helped that Cailer was totally comfortable :)

More rides at Nickelodeon Universe

The girls :) OH HOW I LOVE HER!!

At the underwater aquarium

Neal and his boys!!

Candy Stop :) We took them to 'Candy Candy' (are we crazy??) and let the boys pick out some candy....it was a LONG process.....couldnt figure out what they would like the MOST!' They had so much fun with it though!:) Jaci got a princess sucker!

LEGO LAND - a HUGE favorite. Could have spent hours there playing and seeing the HUGE Lego creations and of course the boys thought they had to buy out the store :):)

Adoption

2010-04-14T11:01:00.001-07:00

If you're an orphan, you don't adopt parents; they adopt you. If your adoptive parents are named Smith, you now attend the Smith family dinners with the parents and siblings. When the teacher at school calls out attendance and says 'Smith?' you raise your hand like your older brother did before you and your younger sister will do after you. And you do this not because you decided to play the role of 'Smith,' but because someone went to the orphanage and said, 'You will be a Smith.' On that day, you became the child of someone and the sibling of others.

Only your names not Smith. It's CHRISTIAN, named after the one through whom you were adopted, Christ (Eph. 1:5). Now you are part of whole family of God.

I just read this in 'What makes a Healthy Church' by Mark Dever. Loved it.....now back to reading more:) aaah.....

Drawn From Water

2010-04-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

This story breaks my heart...and yet I am so thankful to have come to know of this Ministry. I pray you to will find this touching and then it breaks you down in prayer for these precious children.

"It Began with Bale" from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Women...I urge you to consider this conference....

2010-03-03T08:50:00.001-08:00

Free Hairband??

2010-03-01T05:40:00.001-08:00

Go to ...

http://mouseymom.blogspot.com/

Leave a comment and you could win a free hairband - they are absolutely exquisite! Jaci has 5 hairbands from Tricia and they are beautiful! She custom makes them as well to match outfits you might have. Just in time for Easter!

Good luck:)

Repentance....

2010-02-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

I love this mental picture of repentance! A change - a turn around (only)!

Its been a tricky thing teaching Cailer about being repentant. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be!! He can say sorry very easily BUT thats not just what repentance is ... its a turning around/away and not doing it again....a new life, a new way! So to teach him this part about changing and not doing again is the hard part! Thank goodness for prayers and for a merciful Father in heaven!

Christmas Presents 2009

2010-01-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Each of us with our Christmas presents :) We are so blessed!

Christmas Traditions....

2010-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

And let a tradition begin! We decided that our kids are getting older and we need to start some of our own traditions thus the nasty tasting gingerbread house building was began in our home! :) It was a blast and so much fun to play in frosting and powdered sugar and to see my kids actually rejecting to eat the candy so they could decorate our awesome gingerbread home!:):)

Finished product with the creators! :)

An hour or so spent in a 1st grade classroom :)

2010-01-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

I got the opportunity to help out at Cailers Christmas party at school! THANKS to having my mom here to watch Brock and Jaci! I never get this opportunity due to having two little ones at home! It was fun to see Cailer interacting in the classroom! I wish I could have gotten more pictures BUT I was busy helping the kids play bingo!

Cailers 1st grade Class

Mrs. Gherna reading them a story

Cailers 1st grade Christmas Program

2010-01-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

We were so blessed this year to my sister and her husband and my parents here for Cailers first grade Christmas Program at school! It was awesome and love seeing Cailer singing his heart out! :)

Cailer all decked out in his Christmas outfit

Cailer with this world class best 1st grade teacher EVER...Mrs. Gherna!

Our Mexican siblings :) Thanks for coming Daniel and Tamra :)

Just hanging out after the Program!

Having mom and dad here was such an awesome blessing! THANKS FOR COMING!

Jaci and her beloved Papa :)

My big brother turns 30 (he is sooo old)

2010-01-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

My sister in law Amity through the worlds best surprise 30th birthday party for Troy! We were soo impressed! We were able to go to KC and surprise him! It was awesome! Even Dan and Tami were able to come! It was so much fun! See the pictures below of some of the fun!:)

And let the surprise begin.....

Happy 30th birthday old man :)

Maelyn NOT SO EXCITED about all the attention

Please please take me away from here.... please?!

Guests of the hour - Dan and Tami had just flown in from Mexico (see the tans)

Our kiddos at the party! (jaci with her icky cold eyes)

THE LOVE BIRDS :)

Tristyn Riley :)

Cousins and Bestfriends :)

Some of the crew (and Troys lovely wife and the organizer of this fun party)

Bedtime stories with Santa...

2010-01-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

A local womens club that I belong to puts on a 'bedtime stories with santa' each year for all the kids in the community to come to in their jammies! They have around 8 stations they go to enjoy eating cookies and milk, telling santa what they want for Christmas, musical chairs, playdough, reindeer food, crafts, etc....! I was in charge of the group Cailer and Brock were in ... we had so much fun!

Jaci loves her big brother!!

Jaci DID NOT like Santa this year!

Cailer and Brock listening to Santa tell stories and sing Christmas songs

All the kids enjoying Santa

Craft Station

Annual picture with Santa

She was a trooper and (mostly) sat in the stroller with no complaining

Cookies and Milk

Jaci turns 1

2010-01-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

We wanted to share some pictures from Jaci's birthday a while back! We are very behind on blogging! Its feast or famine here baby! :)

We are blessed with some amazing friends! Thanks for all the love and time you give us Darren and Sue! :)

this might be a strange thing to blog about BUT oh well

2010-01-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

so today i found out that a neighbor of mine....that has existed since we moved here over two years ago is a believer. I realized this after becoming friends with her on facebook. A couple things came into my mind. #1 I KNEW IT....there was something about her that always caused me to think she is a Godly person. #2 shame....am I so ashamed of the gospel that I never just out right asked her is she was a believer?! #3 PRAISE....I might have a great possibility of a friendship with a sister in Christ RIGHT UP THE ROAD!!!!! #4 cailer LOVES her son ... they are in the same grade in school! parents....you know what its like to pray your kids have 'good' (aka Godly) friends!

so there.....WOW i am in awe!! neighbor girl (i know your name....just didnt want to make you uncomfortable!) if you are reading this I AM SO BLESSED.....and THANKFUL! you have no idea how amazing this is for me!

Praising the Lord.....

Loving others...

2009-10-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." - 1 John 4:7

So I read that verse this morning it confirmed it once again in my heart that loving others doesn't come from anything we can do - I sometimes try sooo hard to love others that maybe aren't all that easy to love OR I just ignorantly have overlooked them. 'for love is from God' - its something God gives us and we have to allow Him to flow it over us!

"Dear Lord I give up my ability to love others and fully allow You to work in my life and that I may love others because YOU have given me that love!"

So humbling to know that God really is controlling all aspects of my life....AND so comforting!

Go with God....its the only way that brings blessed eternal life...!

Jaci Walking

2009-10-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

Jaci started taking a few steps a month ago or so and has been randomly standing up in the middle of the floor for quite some time BUT just in the past week she started toddling across the room. She is quite clumsy but we are quite proud of her perseverance!:):) Thought we would share this video with you!! OH and you gotta love the electric toothbrush - its a must when babies are teething - they LOVE the vibration!! :) Actually any toothbrush will work - they love chewing on the bristles!

Hi from Jaci Jo :)

2009-10-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Be sure and turn off music on right side of screen!:)

I should have posted this a long time ago :)

2009-10-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

We got an email on August 15, 2009 stating this....

Selam Neal and Kim:

I hope all is well with you. I wanted to extend our congratulations on your official application to the WHFC Ethiopia Program.

Your official application date is 8/14/2009 to adopt 1 child in the age range of 0 to 12 months at the time of referral.

At this point referral takes around 12-14 months! So we are hoping best case that we will receive referral around August of 2010! We are so thankful to be at this point in the process! Thanks to all that willing and selflessly blessed us with your financial help! We are so humbled!

Lots of love and prayers to all you faithful blog followers out there! (We know we do a terrible job of keeping you updated!!)

Neal, Kim, Cailer, Brock and Jaci Jo <><

Enter to win a tract handbag :)

2009-09-14T15:27:00.001-07:00

4th of July

2009-07-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

We spent 4th of July with Travis and Jaclyn - we started the afternoon off by meeting them at Chipotle...which we ended up not eating there but rather at Flattop Grill (sure Jaclyn appreciated that). Brock thought he was going to throw up and made a few trips to the bathroom with cramps and I was so sure it was going to happen! Then he started eating and felt better. Not sure what was up with that!:) So we went back to T&J's apartment to get water and then headed to a parking lot near them that was for a building under construction. We enjoyed playing bags all evening and the kids colored and ran around and had a ball. I had to put a silly attempt of the fireworks just so you know thats what we did when it got dark BUT it looks awful!:) We were pretty far away BUT we didnt have to deal with the traffic - that was a plus!:):)

Dossier has been approved :)

2009-07-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

Below you will see a letter we recieved via email just minutes ago! We are so thankful and so excited! Please pray CIS Approval comes quickly!! Once we are officially on the list we have 12-18 month wait for referral! Thanks for all the prayers...for us as parents as we learn to continue daily raising our children to know Jesus Christ. For Cailer, Brock and Jaci that they will deal easily with the changes ahead of them and that they can embrace it. For all the 'fatherless' children in the world that they can feel the presence of Jesus and be comforted! God bless all of you our dearest friends...we love you so much!

Dear Neal and Kim,

Thanks for sending your dossier to the Ethiopia Program. We have just been able to review it, and I’m happy to say that it looks great. Your dossier has been accepted to the Ethiopia Program! This is a significant milestone in your process, so congratulations!

In order for your family to become officially waiting, and eligible for a referral, the Ethiopia Program is in need of the following: CIS Approval. Please remember to fax/email/mail a copy of your USCIS Approval to the Ethiopia Administrative Coordinator as soon as you receive it.

At this time, we encourage applicants to begin researching one or more doctors in their area who have experience with international adoptions, if you have not done so already. Establishing contact with a doctor in advance is important to ensure that you are able to speak with him or her in a timely manner after receiving a referral. Please find below some contacts that you may find helpful, but feel free to expand your search beyond the doctors listed here.

In preparation for travel if you do not currently have a U.S. Passport, you should apply for one at this time. If you already have a passport, be aware of the expiration date as your passport will need to be valid for more than six months at the time of visa application in order to receive an entry visa to Ethiopia. You should also contact a local travel clinic or your doctor to discuss recommended vaccinations for traveling toEthiopia. During this visit with the doctor you should also discuss any recommendations for medications that help address common travel illnesses such as travelers’ diarrhea, head congestion or sleeplessness. (You should let your doctor know that your travel may include regions outside of Addis Ababa to meet birth relatives.)

Please do not hesitate to contact your Ethiopia Case Manager or the Ethiopia Administrative Coordinator with any questions, and congratulations on finishing your dossier!

Katie Landry

Administrative Coordinator

Jonathan & Melanies Wedding :)

2009-07-05T13:32:00.001-07:00

So last weekend we headed to Indy for Jonathan and Melanies wedding! Such a fun weekend....Neal had a blast being in his bestfriends wedding and I had a blast relaxing at the hotel!:) We missed being with him BUT the boys had a blas swimming and spending time with their mommy (right!) I just uploaded a ton of pictures from the weekend! Enjoy them :)

Adoption News:)

2009-06-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord! :) I just this very minute received news that our home study was approved by the DCFS (Illinois Department of Children & Family Services) and is now being submitted for approval through our Adoption Agency (Wide Horizons for Children) and CIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). We have fingerprinting scheduled for our I-600a (which will be submitted with our Dossier to Ethiopia) which is on June 23rd in Indianapolis at 10:00 a.m. The I-600a is a set of forms used to officially request permission from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to classify a child in a foreign country, who fits the definition of an "orphan," as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, so that there can be an expedited processing and issuance of a visa to that child, allowing it to be brought into the United States, either after having been adopted abroad, or in order for it to be adopted in the United States.

I spent a bit on the phone with our case worker at WHFC (Wide Horizons) this morning and she said that our dossier can be submitted to them now and will match it up with our immigration approval (they will receive 4-6 weeks from today) and then we will be added to 'the list' and from that point it will probably be 12 months. So probably 13 or so months from now we will be matched with a child!! (of for that day........*smiling, heart beating rapidly, stomach in knots!!!!*)

We, just today, submitted an application to work with Lifesong for Orphans - they help finance and do matching adoption grants. Please pray that God will provide financing for this journey we are taking in faith that God will provide! We know He will :)

Kentucky Kaeb Camping

2009-06-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

Gods Love Letter to us all...

2009-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Camping Fun...

2009-06-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

And let a yearly tradition continue!:) We camped with Travis and Jaclyn over memorial day weekend. Jaclyns parents and two of her siblings joined us also - it was a blast! So much fun sitting around the fire and talking and having such a relaxing time - OH and lets not forget about the food.....amazing - ribs, chicken, brats, etc....it was wonderful! We cant forget bags...that was a highlight of the trip for most of us!:) I have some pictures from the weekend below! Enjoy!:):)

The Mansion

The Shack *wink*

Travis our cook...Cailer and Brock actually sitting!

YUMMMMMY FOOD!

Jaclyn and Jill relaxing by the fire - and eating puppy chow!

'Grandma Vicki' playing bags with Cailer

Ken's favorite spot:):)

aaah relaxing...so nice!

Jill and Jaclyn playing bags

Me and Jaclyn playing bags

Cailer was 'in love' with Jillian :)

Travis and Neal playing bags

Jaclyn....I think you are pretty amazing by the way!:) Love this picture!!

Travis and Jaclyn....awesome couple!

My response to us winning - only we didnt... pooey....!

Last day rain.....thanks for making breakfast in the rain for us guys!

Enjoying hot chocolate

Under the canopy away from the rain

putting everything away IN THE RAIN...icky!

Boys playing as we put everything away!

First swim of the year....

2009-06-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

AND let me tell you the water was cold and as you can see in the pictures it was evening and the backyard was shaded....crazy kids! Brock is not intimidated by it all though....we were dying watching him!! He was diving right in and then coming up gasping for air AND then laughing! He didn't even take time to change into swim shorts so he is wearing his shorts that keep falling down in the water.....too funny!

Check out Brock behind Cailer....this was a typical dive for him!

Then this was a typical face he had coming up!:)

Then this was a typical response by their mother:) I was about falling out of the hammock I was laughing so hard!

Typical....:)

Another way to jump in the pool:)

Oh my ... Cailer went up?! He was all like 'its too cold'...the opposite of Brock!

Brock again....look at Cailer in the hammock with me!:)

Neds graduation

2009-06-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Neals youngest brother graduated the Sunday after my youngest brother graduated. It was a busy weekend but a fun fun one! Ned had the opening speech and it was truly one of the best graduation speeches I have ever heard. Congratulations Ned. He is going to be attending school at Wichita State pursuing a musical career! God be with you....we love you!

Neals parents getting bombarded by Cailer when we got there!:)

Ned giving his opening speech...

Ned getting his diploma

Duanes graduation

2009-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Our family made a quick trip back to Kansas for my little brothers graduation! Such a fun time! I got to spend some special time with my mom on Friday - made me miss being able to just drive two hours to see her! AND for her to drive two hours to see me:):)

The big bad high school graduate - congratulations Duane:):):)

Mom and Brock at Duanes grad. reception on Saturday

Uncle Duane teasing Cailer! Brady....come on now - save him:):)

Beautiful decorations and amazing food!

Like I said...amazing food!

Grandpa and Grandma with their boys:)

Me and my little bro - cant believe he is going to be in college next year!

Grandpa getting some Maelyn and Jaci time

THIS is a very typical evening at the Kaeb house when all us kids are home - so much fun!

Uncle Duane ... wow boys can multi task!:) He is holding Jaci and playing computer:)

My cool big brother Troy and his wife Amity!

Surprises, Motorcycles, Landscaping, Dinner

2009-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

Travis and Jaclyn surprised us the other night - so much fun! We put T to work though right away moving hastas from our front landscaping to the side of our house!! Well actually I just mentioned something about moving them someday and in class Travis style he was like 'lets just do it now!' We have great friends:):) I quick threw steaks on the grill....it was decent!!:)

Cailer thinking it sooo cool to be sitting on T's really cool motorcycle! (I think its for sale by the way...!!)

Jaclyn and Brocky! :)

Moving hastas...! I am so pumped - they look awesome on the side of our house!

Neal making holes so we can fill in the empty space beside our house!

Brent and Janelle are leaving us :(:(:(

2009-06-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Sooo we had a wonderful evening with Travis and Jaclyn and Brent and Janelle at our annual picnic out at Homer Lake (before it gets too hot) and then at the end of the evening Brent and Janelle told us they were moving back home to Tremont - so sad...we will miss you guys BUT seriously living an hour apart shouldn't stop us from hanging out. We will come visit you in Tremont too so don't think it has to just be coming back to Champaign!

Cailer and Brock sitting by the lake waiting while Travis grilled supper

Jaclyn, Neal, Travis, Brent and Janelle

Travis being superman to our boys...he is fishing - YES superman:):)

Brock playing frisbee...

Travis teaching Cailer how to fish!

The guys...

Maya....our newest addition (well I guess actually Jaci is...*smile*) to our group of friends:):)

Jaclyn and Janelle hanging out while guys are fishing...Jaci enjoying the grass...yes she was really trying to eat it!:)

Do you know Him?

2009-04-23T19:51:00.001-07:00

Amazing Video . . . I absolutely loved this video so wanted to share with you!

Loved this...

2009-04-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture on a friends blog. I had to post it. Its been something I have mentioned when sharing our testament of our decision to adopt. Us being pro-life...so totally pro-life and not really doing much about it started convicting us prior to us deciding to adopt. I always told Neal that YES, I am pro-life but really what am I doing to help this cause other then to say abortion was bad. In the back of my mind the thought of adoption started growing stronger and stronger and now in our little way we can bless a girl that chose life instead of death by raising this child, that she, the birth mommy, for unknown reasons to us cannot take care of...and even more awesome raising this child to know about Jesus Christ...our savior and redeemer!

Cailer Hula Hooping

2009-04-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

I remember being able to do this with no effort....not so much anymore!! I am pretty stoked though because I have mastered it quite well on the Wii and might even hold the record...well in the Kellenberger house that is!! Why are things on the Wii so much easier?? i.e. bowling, golfing, etc...!!:):)

GOOD JOB CAILER!! I think you are an amazing little man!!

Be sure and pause music player on right side!

Alyssa's baptism weekend....

2009-04-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

What an amazing weekend with family! We missed seeing Neals parents and are thankful to know they were back in KC praying for Alyssa and probably missing everyone just about as much! Alys....it was a wonderful weekend sharing in hearing your testimony and hearing what Christ has been doing in your life over the past 6 years or so. WE LOVE YOU!!

us with Alyssa Sunday morning before her baptism...

Just waiting till it was time to leave...we were actually ready like 1.5 hours early!:)

Wyss girls...Alyssa, Kendra and Michelle

Klopfenstein Resort...take your pick...shuffleboard, basketball, go-karts, gator, motorcycle...and there is even more...! :) Here is my stud husband whooping up on all the rest I am sure!! :):)

Neal and his diet coke. Jake (future U of I goer...gotta love it!), Troy and Brock enthralled by something Neal is saying)

Matt & Scott

Jaci NOT getting enough attention

Cailer & Brock discovering Kray's amazing closet full of toys! Too bad it was RIGHT when it was time for bed. Hard time settling them down because of this!:)

Kayla loving up Jaci

Cailer and the ... badumdedum...GAMEBOY!:):):) Thanks Kacie...

Good talks and lots of great memories

Lys and Jaci (check out Cai in background with gameboy...he is boy after his daddy's heart)

Neal with his cousin Austin

Cailer & Cliff

Jonathan & Melanies Indy Shower..

2009-04-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was blessed to be able to go to Jonathan and Mel's Indy shower on Saturday and it was so fun to be with them and also Carol, Holly & Amity! Bless Neal for letting me go because he got to just hang at Jonathan's house watching the boys! Thought I would share some photos of the shower!:)

Jonathan & Melanie standing behind brunch table (food was amazing.......)

Happy Couple!!

The gift Neal & I gave...! :) Somehow I got in the picture with them...wierd!

All the gifts they got...so blessed!

Awesome friends....

2009-04-21T08:15:00.001-07:00

Thursday, April 16th

Thank you Jesus for our amazing friendships and memories we are creating here in Champaign! Thanks to you Travis & Jaclyn and Brent & Janelle for blessing us with an evening of yummy food and fun games!:) I just love laughing with you guys!! Here is a picture from the evening of all us - minus the photographer...Neal!:) I could have put some others but not sure if the people in them would approve! :):):):) (i.e. travis.......)

Go serve your King...

Yogurt, we have found, is not created equal...

2009-04-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Me and Neal are on the prowl for the perfect yogurt. A couple things we are looking for.

1) Healthy

2) Tasty

(yes I know...very simple requests BUT we are not finding it easy...)

We randomly purchased three different yogurts to begin the test....Yoplait, Horizons & Rachels. Here is what we found out.....!!

So far we have found them to be either tasty OR healthy! Not both...! HELP!:) We have found Yoplait (pronounced Yoplay for those of you who dont watch TV...we heard a commercial and thats how its pronounced...yeah I didnt know it a few weeks ago either!) to be the tastiest....! Rachels is healthier then Yoplait, but not as tasty. Horizon is healthier then both but tastier then Rachels but not tastier then Yoplait. As much as I wish the healthy would win out as most important I think that tasty is better!:) Lastnight Neal kept saying, as he was eating his Horizon Yogurt, 'this is sooo healthy!!' (probably convincing himself why he was eating something nasty!) I was eating Yoplait and I think he was secretly wishing he was eating my yummy but yet not so healthy yogurt!:):) Sooo I am beseaching your help....! What is the healthiest YET yummiest yogurt you have eaten??

Rachels.....

Yoplait....

Horizons....

Kellenberger Cousin Fun :)

2009-04-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Amor, Kami, Jaci, Raegan, Cailer, Ashtyn & Brock - all the Kellenberger Cousins!:)

Little Ashtyn...she may be little BUT she has a mighty personality and super duper cute!:)

All the kids doing what they probably shouldnt be doing at Grandmas house....The kids had sooooo much fun together!!

Brock and Amor got to celebrate their 3rd birthday together! Aunt Beth made cupcakes and they were a HIT!! :)

Brock, Amor, Cailer and Kami at Matt Ross Center - an awesome playset!:) Next time we are hitting up the pool...it was indoor and super kid friendly!

Cailer and Amor playing at Matt Ross Center

Look at Kami...upside down!:) Too funny!!

Brent & Beths and Red Robin...

2009-04-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

First stop once in KC was at Brent and Beths home. The kids enjoyed ring around the rosie and lots and lots of bouncing around! We then enjoyed going to Red Robin with Mom, Dad, Beth and her girls! The balloons were a hit!:)

Me with niece Kami

A TV in the floor? The kids thought it was cool - so did the adults!:):)

Ring around the Rosie...! :)

Cousin Amor holding Jaci...Jaci not liking it!:)

Cousin Kami holding Jaci....getting used to being held by them by now:)

The Wonderful Cross

2009-04-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Wonderful Cross

2009-04-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

6th-12th Graders sang this song at the Champaign AC Easter Program. They sound amazing...! Kudo's to Greg Schumacher and his amazing talent of helping the kids exceed their potential!!:)

Brocks Birthday in Kansas City

2009-04-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

SURPRISE TRISTYN....

2009-04-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Me, Cailer, Brock, Amity & Maelyn surprised Tristyn at school on Friday and ate lunch with her! Check out her surprise below! :) It was AWESOME!!!

All the kids waiting in line to eat lunch at Tristyns School

Cailer LOVES his big cousin T

This one is for you Dan & Tami...you were lucky enough to grace the walls of Tristyns school!! She did a project about dolphins! It was pretty great!

Cailer & Brock even got to go play at recess with Tristyn!

Haircut...

2009-04-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

I got a haircut today....! :) I cant wait till me and Jaci can get our 'do's' done together!:) Having a little girl is so much fun! Now if only she had some hair....! :)

Church Easter Program...April 5, 2009

2009-04-06T08:58:00.001-07:00

One word - BEAUTIFUL!!

Champaign-Urbana Sunday School Teachers outdid themselves this year with an amazingly beautiful 'Journey through the heart of Easter' program through song, stories and poems! I wanted to stand up and clap after each song. It was amazing....AMAZING! Cailer said his peace without a hitch too! 'Hurray for Jesus, riding to Jerusalem, riding to the city, up a steep and dusty track.' :) Its amazing how some people can pull some of the shyest kids out of their shell to sing loud and wow they have beautiful voices! I can get you a CD if you want...it was awesome!!!

I wish I had it videoed...I would post it here!:)

Something New...

2009-04-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Soo this idea of blogging started because we wanted to keep you all updated as to what was going on in our lives in regards to our adoption process BUT we decided that its probably more boring to you then it is to us!! :) Sooo we are expanding this blog to talk about our kids and our lives and everything else in between!! :) I dont think I am as good of a blogger as Amity...BUT I will try and keep up with her!:):) You do awesome girl and if I can do half as good...well then I will be pleased!! :)

Love you all -

The Kbergers...

Sourdough Bread....

2009-04-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

IT WORKED :) I made sourdough bread from a friendship starter that a friend (duh) gave to me....! Well its a long story that I will try and keep as short as possible!! The first time I made sourdough bread via the starter it didn't work out so good - actually it was a terrible flop....a 10 lb flop....! :) Neal was so excited about it when he got home he quick took it out of the bag and was going to cut a piece and about dropped it - it was so dense and heavy and quite small looking for the weight! We died with laugher for quite some time!! So yeah after feeling I was obviously quite inadequate in the kitchen and with my bread-making skills I called my sister Tami and she was lamenting the same situation and so was Maggi, my sister-in-law!:) We realized we had done something wrong - we came up with the solution that we must have suffocated the yeast!! BUT check it out below - I revived the yeast and walah....they turned out and they are beautiful!! :) Well my boys sure thought so...! I was quite proud...! Right Maggi? She got a call the minute they came out of the oven - I was quite excited!!! This is what we had for dinner tonight....well that and other things as well! Cailer would have just eaten this though!:):) I will go to bed a happy lady tonight....I am not inadequate in the kitchen and with my bread-making skills...!! *aaah life is good*

Cailer and Brock so happy for homemade Bread :)

Brocks Birthday...

2009-04-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well Brocks birthday started at about 7:00 a.m. this morning with Cailer and Brock climbing into bed with us asking about his presents. After we declared it was okay to start celebrating Cailer took off to find the presents we hid yesterday after wrapping them and we proceeded to have Brocks 3rd year birthday party right in our bed!:) What a fun day though - it started with waffles and then a neat treasure hunt that Neal put together which lead them to Brocks favorite thing in the world - candy! (special day let me tell you ... we NEVER give it to them that willingly!!). Then it was a picnic lunch in the park and baseball and just enjoying the beautiful park. We then headed to Mcdonalds for ice cream cones for everyone - another pleasent surprise for Brock. He wakes up asking for Ice cream....nice! We got home and played outside the rest of the afternoon! The finished the day off with an awesome game of Jenga...guess who knocked it over too...ME (Kim) :( What a blessed day...we sure love our kids....and its been a loooong time since we got to enjoy a day like today!! Enjoy the pics...!!

The Birthday Boy :)

Jaci is always full of smiles....

Eeeek...dont knock it down Cailer - he didnt...I did :)

The Kellenberger boys :)

The Kellenberger Girls....(ooh I love saying that...)

The coolest park ever....the boys call it castle park...!

Cousin Fun :)

2009-04-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

A few pics of the kiddos last weekend with Brent & Beth! :)

just another update:)

2009-04-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well we are still plugging away at paperwork!:) We are working on our dossier to be submitted to the Ethiopian Government right now! I have learned some awesome things though - you can order multiple birth certificates and marriage certificates quite easily these days! www.vitalchek.com - its amazing! No more having to go the actual courthouse to get them! Great for people like me who now lives in Illinois and was born in Kansas OR even for Neal who was born in the Chicago land! We have to have original marriage and birth certificates for me and Neal. We didn't even have an original marriage certificate in our possession. Just a duplicate. So I anxiously started digging in to see how we were going to accomplish this long list of 'to do's' and it was a snap to get that stuff! Praise the Lord!:):)

Now to call the local police department and ask for them to write a clearance letter attesting we are citizens in good standing and do not have an arrest record within their jurisdiction!:) Good thing they don't have to go to past jurisdictions right? :) hehe...kidding!! We are fairly confident this one will be an easy one to get done!! Just time consuming and phone calls - not my favorite thing to do!:)

Reference letters....! What a humbling experience! Nothing like asking our close friends to write good stuff about us, huh?? :)

Thank goodness I am a bit OCD about paperwork! :) Its actually fun for me sign paperwork and be organized with stuff like this. Neal walks in the door and I shoo him over to the desk and say 'sign this, sign this, sign this, copy this, date this, mail this to this person, and also to this person!!' :) He loves it!! uh huh....! Well he does after I remind him that I spent all afternoon filling out paperwork for him to just sign....then its all smiles from him and a big thank you!:)

Thats all the adoption news for now folks....

Cailer, Brock and Jaci are doing amazingly well!:) Brocks bday is this Friday - we were hoping to take him camping in our mansion tent BUT its supposed to get in the 30's during the night - NO THANK YOU! Oh speaking of mansion tent....we set it up lastnight in the basement! What the world - this thing is HUGE! It filled our entire 1/2 of the basement! The kids were so excited running in and out of the doors and wanted to sleep in it lastnight! Guarantee the first warm night (i.e. mid 40's) we will be out camping in this thing! Its awesome!

Cailer just left for school! His last week before spring break. He went to a butterfly show at Krannert Center yesterday for a field trip - he loved it! He starts soccer next week and THAT he cant wait for! I am sure we will be seeing him from the sidelines in his bright green shoes he picked out!:) He has been breaking them in every day after school as he goes out and practices in our backyard!!

Jaci is a trooper! Sleeps all through the night - from about 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. - I know I am blessed with a good sleeper so I do thank God very often for this. She is actually still sleeping right now - so is Brock! Cailer rode school bus this morning so I didn't have to shower and kick things into serious gear this morning! Its a lazy one for us here and I love it!

Me and Neal are doing well! We cant believe sometimes we have been married 6.5 years! WOW! Its so cool after you have been married that long because you have a history with each other. I know this might seem wierd BUT when we were first married I would think back to the past and it didnt include Neal...i.e. family vacations, etc...! Now when I think back to my past Neal is in them - I LOVE IT!! I am busy as a stay at home mommy and I love it most of the time! :):) Neal loves his job and what he does - a little bit of everything sometimes! He enjoys his co-workers! Thank goodness for Todd Friel and his podcasts....He spends Neals 40 minute drive with him to work in the morning and coming home!:)

We enjoyed Brent and Beth and their girls here this weekend!! Cailer and Brock had a blast with their two cousins, Amor and Kami! It was neat to see the kids connect right away even though they don't see each other very often! After church we had a some friends, Kurt and Staci Feichter (Bluffton) and Dallas and Beth Steidinger (Fairbury) stop by and of course - Mark and Ashley came as well! :) Such a fun afternoon and evening! God has blessed us with amazing friendships!!

I am off.....(wow I jabbered alot this morning!)

Relying on Jesus....!!

2009-03-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

So this morning after Neal e-mailed a form to Wide Horizons for Children (adoption agency) we get an email back that caused us to say 'wait a second...' - it said that according to their requirements we cannot adopt a child within the ages of 2-4 because of disrupting our biological children's birth age!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes those exclamation marks are for a reason....we were like 'what????' - soooo me and Neal talked and felt that we still wanted to keep moving forward and change it to an infant...SO that was the newest change in this process UNTIL we said is there any other requirements we might be missing so she asked the ages and sex of our kids and our ages and how long we have been married! All is good until she says oh wait - you have two boys and one girl? 'YES' I said...! Well you can't request a girl then if you already have a daughter at home - soooo we are now on the list with no sex requested! We might be getting a daughter OR a son! That made our heads spin!! :) I guess you don't get to request a girl or a boy when choosing to get pregnant, huh?? :) :) Our heads are spinning for reasons of already praying for her and with our first request of a 2-4 year old we had the understanding she was already born so we have been praying specifically for her and what she would be going through in the next year that would cause her to become an orphan! God will provide though...! We understand the need to be flexible and know God will bring us to the child He has picked out for us - boy or girl! :):) Wait time is longer for an infant also - 14-22 months!

THANKS for your prayers!:)

How Marvelous....How Wonderful!!!

2009-03-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

Things went amazingly well last night! Fingerprints done, 1st out of 5 meetings with caseworker done! :) Next one at Mcdonalds (seriously how awesome is that???)...kids can play while we chat - we are blessed by an amazing caseworker! :) She is a believer and follower of Jesus Christ also - God has provided in so many ways! We are actually going to miss going to the training course - getting to talk about it freely and be in such a good environment of positive people going through the same thing you are!! Sharing struggles, fears, excitements! Last night a mom of 7 adopted children came and spoke to us! We were so encouraged by her and her method of loving and forgiving and allowing God to lead her and her husbands life! I cant imagine stopping with just one adopted child. The joy we feel in our hearts as we go down this path is hard to explain - its bubbling!

Let me encourage you - if you have thrown around the idea of adoption and you feel that God is putting it on your heart - WALK THROUGH THE DOOR! There are millions of orphans waiting for their mom and dad that God has stamped as theirs! Don't ignore that feeling! The feeling of doing what God is asking is amazingly rewarding! I am just so thankful God has adopted me as His daughter through Jesus Christ. How marvelous....How wonderful! :)

Meetings, Meetings....

2009-03-05T07:06:00.001-08:00

Today we are heading to Peoria again for our last 12 hour training course that the home study requires. We are 'killing three birds with one stone' - fingerprinting at 2:45, meeting with our caseworker from 3:30-4:30 and then training course from 5-9 p.m. Hmmm I wonder if there are any good home study agencies here in Champaign (smile) - we are going to know I-74 quite well by the end of all this I think!:):) I can say one thing for sure though - we have found the jackpot with our caseworker - she is amazing and we have so much confidence in knowing she is going to help this process be as enjoyable and easy as possible (if easy is even an option that is!!!) We are working through Counseling and Family Services in Peoria! GREAT experience thus far!

Lets just hope and pray Jaci deals with all these meetings as good as she has for the past couple training sessions! Evenings for her are probably the hardest so I just hope she makes it through. We are packing the swing along with us so hope that helps!:)

Cailer and Brock will spend the afternoon at Darren and Sue's (they cant wait...) until around 4:30 when Ashley gets out of class then she will pick them up and bring them back to our house. We are blessed by all the help with babysitting! It gets tricky because we have no family near us and know that its a sacrifice on so many peoples parts! Lots have offered to help so we are thankful! THANKS Darren and Sue and Ashley for helping out today! :)

Lord willing - us in the next year :) This is joy...pure joy! :)

2009-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR-1yN__fZo

2009-03-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Can I exclaim enough of how we feel so blessed by our family and close friends and our church family! Its such a humbling thing to share of how God is using us to do His work in caring for His children. I am continually reminded that we are all Gods children and I absolutely cannot wait to meet our new daughter that God created so beautifully and so perfect in His eyes!!

Its overwhelming to think that the daughter we will bring home in the next year or so is born already and maybe wondering herself when a mommy and daddy will come and take her home and provide her with love! I have to say my heart is torn up about this situation. I wish we could have her NOW! The paperwork stands in the way...! We know the importance of it though and pray we can remain positive and encouraged!

After coming home for our 2 out of 3 adoption training courses on Saturday - Cailer said....'did you bring home my sister?' Oooh....I love his excitement! We told him she is still in Ethiopia and we really need to pray that she feels the peace and closeness of Jesus since we cant be with her right now! Now he gets confused and called Paxton Ethiopia. We met my parents there for dinner last night (his exact words were...'are we almost to Ethiopia?' :):) Made us smile!

Thanks again for the love and prayers and the support! Please know one thing - we are not doing this solely be the savior of an orphan child BUT more importantly following Gods leading in our hearts and fulfilling the instruction in the bible of caring for orphans.

Just the beginning...

2009-02-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well so begins the journey God has called us to take - adoption! We are super excited (and apprehensive) to be walking through this door holding on to our creators comfort and provision.

A little under a month ago we first started the daunting amount of paperwork to bring a little girl home from Ethiopia. As of now the plans are to adopt within the age of 2-4.

A BIT OF WHAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH AT THE MOMENT:

Telling our families about this amazing experience God is calling us to.
Praying for Gods hand in all things.
We are in the process of attending the required 12 hours of adoption training.
We are filling out paperwork to prepare for our home study.
We are filling out paperwork for Wide Horizons for Children (www.whfc.org) our adoption agency.

Thanks for the prayers...! We feel so blessed! :)

As we serve our King...

Pictures are up from our photo shoot :)

Its hard to say NO.....

Operation World

Lots of changes :)

Our new family :)

This was supposed to be posted YESTERDAY, December 26th . . .

to lighten up the mood....

Prayers Needed.....

Cry of the Forgotten . . .

Adoption Support T-shirts

Ethiopia Journal via facebook . . .what our day's were like!

Orphan Sunday

T-Shirt Challenge for Orphan Sunday...

Pumpkin Carving with adopted students :)

"Fill the bags to 50 lbs. challenge" :)

Changes in 2011 :)

Referral . . .

Forgotten Initiative . . .

Enough Said. . .

Praise God :)

Prayers please.....

12 Reasons Adoption is good for the Christ-follower

Twelve reasons adoption is good for the believer…

T-Shirt Order SUBMITTED:)

Adoption Update:)

Adoption rambling:)

Norwex Presentation...by my kids....and me :)

Mark & Heathers Wedding....

Update :)

Kyson Paul

**Adoption Update**

Essential vs. Non-Essential

Headband Giveaway :)

Cousins:)

Kansas City cousin time and a wedding thrown in as well :)

Family Vacation....

Adoption

Drawn From Water

Women...I urge you to consider this conference....

Free Hairband??

Repentance....

Christmas Presents 2009

Christmas Traditions....

An hour or so spent in a 1st grade classroom :)

Cailers 1st grade Christmas Program

My big brother turns 30 (he is sooo old)

Bedtime stories with Santa...

Jaci turns 1

this might be a strange thing to blog about BUT oh well

Loving others...

Jaci Walking

Hi from Jaci Jo :)

I should have posted this a long time ago :)

Enter to win a tract handbag :)

4th of July

Dossier has been approved :)

Jonathan & Melanies Wedding :)

Adoption News:)

Kentucky Kaeb Camping

Gods Love Letter to us all...

Memorial Day Camping Fun...

First swim of the year....

Neds graduation

Duanes graduation

Surprises, Motorcycles, Landscaping, Dinner

Brent and Janelle are leaving us :(:(:(

Do you know Him?

Loved this...

Cailer Hula Hooping

Alyssa's baptism weekend....

Jonathan & Melanies Indy Shower..

Awesome friends....

Yogurt, we have found, is not created equal...

Kellenberger Cousin Fun :)

Brent & Beths and Red Robin...

The Wonderful Cross

The Wonderful Cross

Brocks Birthday in Kansas City

SURPRISE TRISTYN....

Adoption Update