Passports!

We got a great surprise in the mail today. We were origionally told that passports would take between three and four weeks to process, but ours came in under two. We can officially flee the country (just joking), or Lord willing go and adopt a baby or two for our family! We really, really, REALLY pray the rest of our adoption process is as speedy as the passports were!

Adoption!

We have now officially started our new International Adoption Journey. We are in the process of getting approved to work through the agency All God's Children International. We would like to adopt a young sibling group from Ethiopia. We have started the application process, but trust me that is just the tip of the iceburg. There is tons of paperwork, fundraising, paperwork, waiting, fundraising, paperwork, waiting, travel, and more paperwork. It is excited to be getting started on it and we are so excited. We will be better (we promise) about updating. The computer is up and working great! (Thanks Jer!) The journey is just beginning. Dan and Tara

Dog Sitting

We are dog sitting for Bobbie Jo's new puppy this weekend (Labor Day). This is Piper. She and Mickey have become very good friends over the last couple of days. They spend a good portion of the day playing together and would like to share a kennel at night if we would let them. They are both really cute as you can see.

Tumbleweed Festival

Today was the start of the Tumbleweed festival. Betty, Nana, and Jer were here for it 2 years ago. Last year I took Bobbie Jo's kids and they begged me to do so again this year. It is a fun festival with kid crafts, a kid stage with different entertainment, and also two other stages with different musical acts all day long. It's a lot of fun. This year it was a bit warm (96 degrees or so).

Here are Brendan, Trevor, and Macy doing a craft.

Macy doing another craft.

Trevor getting his face painted (they all had them done)
Macy and Brendan both got picked to help in this little show.

Then there were Indian hoop dancers and Macy danced in that. Here she is on the end.
And here she is again (the little one just left of the Indian)
And this year we also had Grant. He had a pretty good day as well.

It was fun, but I am now a bit tired. A long day in the sunshine with just me and the kids (Dan had to work).

Later we went to a luau dinner that was going on down at Garden Valley, where Fuller's apartment is, so we all went there and had dinner and enjoyed ourselves.

Now it is home and relaxing a bit before bed and church tomorrow.

Hot Air balloon festival

This weekend a lot is going on, a hot air baloon festival, the Tumbleweed festival, and a luau. And, that's just today - Saturday.

Here is Brendan, Trevor, and Macy in a hot air baloon basket this mornng.

This is before they got in and were just checking it out.
The balloons didn't get to launch this morning as planned because it was too windy, a common problem in Southwest Kansas, but they did get to take off later. The kids had a good time going around and talking to the people and looking at their stuff.

sorry!

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted. No pictures today, but just wanted to update what we were doing. Bible Bowl started today. It's going to be a learning year. It is from the Old Testament - 6 great prophets. It should be a lot of fun. Dan and I are going to join the kids and learn the verses for the quoting bee. There are 200 verses that are memorized over the year. It should be a fun challenge. Dan is also helping out with the jr high youth group this year. I think he is going to have a great time. He really enjoys working with youth. It should be a fun and busy year. More pictures later. T

Five gallons of fun?

Actually I think that he would probably fit in a one gallon bucket, but this is the one that was laying out while I was working on the yard.