22 Inches!?!

22 inches people! Unbelievable. 22 inches of snow, and it's -11 outside right now, without windchill. Craziness.

How do you eat an elephant?

Today, the answer to that question would be one shovel full (of snow) at a time. Sorry to post a 3rd time about this snow storm, but now I just want to chronicle a little of it so I can remember it. I was just amazed at how much snow there was. I can't remember a time when I've experienced a place that's gotten so much! The standing record for the largest one-day snowfall is 14 inches set in March of 1965. They still haven't gotten the official recorded total, but I think we definitely surpassed that. We were totally snowed in. We couldn't have gotten down our street. Most churches were cancelled this morning.

The plow went by at about 12:30 this afternoon. So we went out to take a few pictures of the huge drift it left at the end of our driveway along with what it looked like outside.

Here's Liv in our driveway next to the big piles we shoveled yesterday (and by "we" I mean me a little and Aaron a lot!). They were probably about 4 1/2 - 5 feet high. Then overnight it drifted a bunch so we had to re-shovel quite a bit.

Here's Liv and I at the end of our driveway in front of the ginormous drift the plow left. It was about as tall as Liv who's 3 feet tall. The pictures don't do it justice cause it was A BEAR to shovel.
Here' the view from our back porch - the snow was about even with the window line.

We took this shot accross the street from us cause there's a guy in that open garage door literally digging himself out. You can see the snow is about as high as the garbage can there in between the 2 garage doors. He eventually finished his side.
Aaron went out to shovel after the Packer game, and I followed about a half hour later. Shoveling the sidewalk again (it had drifted over pretty bad) and then that HUGE drift at the end of our driveway was a daunting task. The drifts on either side of our driveway are over 5 feet now. It took another couple hours. If we get another snow soon, I have no idea where we'll shovel the snow! I'm going to put Liv to bed shortly and sit with the trusty heating pad again :). So there's my "reporting" of the big snow of 12-11-10! But I will say, with the HUGE amount of snow and the temperatures and wind chill tonight, I'm so very grateful for our snug home and warm bed. The Lord has so graciously provided for us!

Big Snow!

We did indeed get pounded with snow today! The forecast was 12-18 inches. At 11 this morning we'd gotten 8, and on the 5 'o clock new we had gotten 14. I'm not sure if it's completely stopped yet to know the final total. The wind has picked up considerably and is blowing and drifting all over the place. It's hard to tell what's coming down and what's getting blown all over. The picture below was taken a little after 4. It was starting to get a little dark, and though it's hard to tell, it was blowing like crazy!



So we're snowed in and definitely enjoyed our snow day! We did a bunch of shoveling this morning. Liv played outside a bit. We had lunch and naps. Some finger painting and supper. Washed dishes and scrubbed Liv in the tub. A snack, Frosty the Snowman on tv, and bedtime! Now Aaron and I are watching the new Karate Kid. Aaron is icing his back (he shoveled 3x today - the last time to dig our car out). I've got a heating pad on my back, and we're both laughing at ourselves. Now time to sign some Christmas cards!

Jones Family Snow Day

As we were eating supper last night, I told Aaron if we really did end up getting pounded with snow, I was calling a Jones Family Snow Day for Saturday. And according to the forecast, we ARE going to get pounded with snow - as I know many of you who are reading this will be as well. We aren't even in the band of weather that'll be getting blizzard conditions! The forecast here is for 12 plus inches of snow and then dropping to nasty wind chills with high winds early Sunday morning. So I've got Christmas cookies to decorate, our Christmas cards just arrived in the mail ready to be signed and sent, we're going to rent a few movies, I'm going to put ham and beans in the crock pot in the morning, and we're going to make a day of it! I hope you all weather the weather with some fun too! I'll keep you posted :).

Happenings

I don't have a specific purpose for this post, just ramblings... I'd post a few pictures, but they're on Aaron's computer (since it's now the newer computer). The dossier for our adoption got sent out the weekend before Thanksgiving. I sent it off with a prayer and primo postage knowing if it got lost I would - literally - cry. So it feels awesome to have that done. Still no new news. We're just on the waiting list. We could get a call for a referral tomorrow or 3 months from now. We have no idea. And even then we pray to see if he's the one God has for us before we say yes.

Liv is just about the greatest. I continue to be so grateful for her presence in our lives and our family. She's definitely growing but still a tiny thing. I still get a kick out of her wee buns as we call them. Everytime we give her a bath or shower, we lotion her after and she becomes a bundle of naked energy singing and dancing in front of the mirror. It's been so much fun to engage with her and hear her thoughts and watch her learn. She loves to color or do crafts - takes after her mom. She loves to play with balls and run around in the basement - takes after her dad. She's showing more interest in cooking with me and likes to stir whatever I put in front of her. It's just been a blessing.

We're winding down the semester, and we're always ready when it comes. It's been a good one, it's nice to not be quite so busy during the weeks for a bit. We have a great group of students, and I so love spending time with them. So that's about all for now!

What am I doing?!?!?

If you go to weather.com, there's a tab that says "Minneapolis Snow Mayhem" - I drove in that this morning. Super fun. I was so grateful to make it home safe where it was only raining. I'm pulling into town half traumatized from driving through a blizzard and every one here is bopping about like no big deal. It amazes me how we could have nearly 70 degree weather on Monday and go to this mess on Saturday. I'm glad I took a few pics of Liv at the playground early this week with the thought this might be the last time this year - come to find out it probably will.

My other "What am I doing" moment lately (besides sitting in my car in a blizzard this morning which would take way to long to explain how I got there) is with adoption. Sometimes the logic and sense of it just isn't there and the certainty of God's call has to step in. I know we're going to come to the end of this and bring Little Brother home (as he's become known around here) and it'll be amazing. We'll see how much he really is ours even though he was born a world away. But the paperwork and the money and the money takes it's toll too. But I've had WAY to many moments of seeing God's provision, the "oh-my-goodness-look-how-this-has-all-come-together-better-than-I-could-ever-plan-because-of-course-God-did-it" times, and the assurance of His goodness and love to know that I'm just going to keep going. His plan is so much better than mine. Our dossier is due at the end of this week, and I think we'll get it there on time. Hopefully. Liv has stated repeatedly that she wants a little sister instead. I'm sure she won't want to trade him once he's home, though. So we keep going. I think our next steps is to just wait. And pray. Because he needs a lot of prayer and so do we :).

Good Report

It had been 2 1/2 years, but Liv just had another check-up appointment with a pediatric cardiologist from Mayo. She had one right after we brought her home but haven't had one since. Fortunately, every Thursday one of the doctors drives to our clinic here in town, and so we didn't have to drive all the way there. This doctor is known for bringing a portable echo-cardiogram machine. So she listened to Liv's heart for a little bit, and then as Liv would say, "She put jelly on my tummy and took pictures." LIV DID AWESOME!!! She gets very hesitant at the doctor's office and has had many tears at times. But we tried to prep her for what to expect at breakfast that morning, and she did so good! She sat really still for the doctor to listen to her heart. Then she kindof laid on me for the echo. She laid so still and was very cooperative. I was so grateful. The overall report is that the hole in Liv's heart has gotten smaller. We'll go back for another check-up before kindergarten. The best-case scenario is that Liv won't need anything done, and the worst-case is that she'll need a patch put in during early elementary school (and that can be done through a catheter - it doesn't need to be open heart surgery). We are so grateful that her health is good.

And she's grown an inch since her 3 year check-up in July. We're at an even 3 feet now :).

October so far...

Hangin' with Dad during football on Sunday afternoons.

Our favorite cousin/nephew turned 2! He's like trying to photograph an active puppy. So this is the best I could do. But he's so much fun and LOVES Liv and always carries a car in each hand. She's edged a little bit ahead of him in height. It was getting close, but thanks to a recent growth spurt she's barely holding her own.

Here he is with Grandma and Grandpa and his delicious birthday cake. Liv can't help but be part of the action.

And here she is sneaking a little frosting. She had accidentally gotten a little on her finger and wanted it wiped off (she hates being messy). Our friend told her to just lick her finger leading to the discovery that frosting on your hand really isn't a bad thing... Needless to say that side of the cake had a couple dings in it :).

And because Blogger makes me really mad at how they load pictures on a post, I'm going to do a separate one on Fall retreat which we just had this weekend.

Apple Orchard

We've had an some amazing fall weather up here and have been loving it! We're trying to take advantage of it as much as we can. Here's our trip to the orchard:

Myself and dear friend Londa. (along with co-worker and boss and available :)
Super Livie! Dad has been throwing her around since she came home - no fear.

Here's the fam! Love the scenery here. There's quite a few orchards all near each other + rolling Wisconsin hills = beautiful :).

Hi Sweet Pea,

On this anniversary celebrating the day you got to see Jesus face to face, I find myself thinking of you and even more so thinking of heaven. What's it like? What are you like? Are you a bounding 4 1/2 year old continuing to explore and discover? Do you have favorite places that you like to go? What do you play? What do you sing? Do you just get to sit in the warmth of His light and listen to songs of heaven all around you? Do you dance? Do you go explore? What are you learning? What does it feel like? Does time pass or does it feel like a day and an eternity at the same time? Can you see little sister and little brother? Do you know who little brother is before we do? What are your gifts and talents? Mama is reading a big long book about heaven, and it fills me with so many questions and so much longing. And I always think of you. There. In it. Experiencing it. And I can't wait for you to take me by the hand and show me around and introduce me to all your friends and angels you have met. Oh Sweetheart, sometimes it's hard to remember that heaven is really real. But it is. I'm going there someday, and I can't wait. In a blink it'll happen, and my eyes will look wide-eyed for Jesus and for you. I'll finally be home. Forever.
Kisses and Love Sweet Girl.

I John 5:11-13
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

Adoption Update

I wanted to let you in on where we're at. When we finished our homestudy the end of July, our social worker said it would be about 6 months before they'd have us start our dossier - probably January - because it expires in a year (?), and they want to time it to when they think you'll get a referral. We didn't need a dossier for Korea, but it's required for Ethiopia. Here's what a dossier is... more paperwork!!! This time, it's not paperwork to fill out; it's paperwork to collect. Most of it is documents that we need to get notarized. We have to get statements from the bank, our employer, the police department, etc. and have them all notarized. A few documents we have to send to our Secretary of State's office to be authenticated. Anyway, imagine my surprise when we got an email last Tuesday with instructions for completing our dossier! Much earlier than I was expecting! Apparently they think we may receive a referral quicker than we thought. Granted it's still probably going to be months, but we were wondering if it would take a year or more. So that's where we're at. And we have to have our dossier completed in 7 weeks... We'll keep you posted!

Pictures from the summer project before it's officially fall...

Here's the beautiful and wonderful staff women I got to spend our 6 weeks with. From left to right: Jess, Kristina, and Erin. Love them!

On Aaron's birthday we went to visit this 600 year old tree. It's huge! Obviously. It has a huge canopy, and there's lots of tables and chairs under it to drink tea. It was really fun to see.

Here's one view from our apartment balcony. We lived in the part of the city that was more "hilly", and I loved being able to look out over the city to the hills beyond.

One of my best friends shares her birthday with Liv. She also lives in this country. It was such a treat to have her visit and celebrate their birthdays together.

Here we are with our big 3 year old! So far Liv has only had one b-day in the states...

We had an amazing little farmer's market a couple blocks from our house. In the same weekend it was Liv's b-day party, Father's day, and friends visiting. So that week I ran over by myself with a backpack and carried back 20+ pounds of produce which I bought for about $20? Produce was definitely a bargain over there.

Here's another view from our balcony.

With limited space to pack toys, I brought water colors, glue, and little scissors. Liv got introductory lessons in all 3 and loved it.

Here's our staff team at one of our favorite restaurants downtown. They've been open for over 100 years and only serve one thing - a cultural dish that they're known for and is delicious. Might I add there's a "butter guy" that walks around with a skillet of melted butter to pour over the dish. I declined, but man, there were people in that restaurant that had to get close to a stick of butter on their dish. They didn't mess around.

From left to right: Top - Erin, Emily, and Jess. Bottom - Luke and Kristina (our roommates as well) and Aaron and I.


One of the fun things about being overseas is observing the random things that are sold. One of my favorites to look at is the freakish looking toys. This doll looked especially "pleasant". After taking this picture the security guard made us put our cameras away. But truly, there's some scary toys out there...

Adoption update

Part of what's made the summer full was coming home from project the beginning of July and, after unpacking, starting immediately to get ready for our homestudy visit which we had a couple weeks later. So now our homestudy is done! We're officially on the waiting list for a boy from Ethiopia! So now we wait... potentially for a long time... The wait for a healthy child is 18-24 months just for a referral. Then it's another 6ish months before he'd come home. However, we're open to another heart baby or some other (hopefully not major) health concerns so our wait may not be quite as long. We'll see. But I wanted to update on where we are in the process. There probably won't be any more news for a while. I know this winter we'll get our dossier together - not sure what all is in that cause we didn't need one for Korea. But I'm sure it'll include more fun paperwork to fill out, assemble, or both! :)
In the meantime we're praying for this little guy who will someday join our family.

WAY BEHIND...

So many posts... I posted a quick one below from a social outing with our students to an "amusement park" while we were on summer project overseas. All the rides looked like second hand and just a little bit shady. But we had a good time! I'll get some more posts up soon!

If you're going to cheat death...

Why not do it on a second hand amusement park ride in a foreign country...
With your friends...

Closed in a cage...

Upside down...

Why not!