Camping....again

We are camping fools. I am so happy that we are becoming a camping family. I have always loved camping and being outdoors and I love that it has become something that we love doing as a family. It is such a great thing to do with little boys too because they just love being outside, discovering news things and getting dirty, very, very dirty.

We went with some of our good friends and there three boys, and we had such a great time. It was nice to go with them because they are expert campers and could teach us the ropes a little more. They also have a lot more stuff then we do so we didn't have to rough it quite so much this time. Here is the view from our campsite.....

Lisa and I cooking up some yummy dinner.....
Our boys with their Clone Trooper masks....

Jason went fishing from about 10:30p.m. to about 2:00a.m. Yes, he fished in the dark, and it was pretty cold that night too, but it was worth it when he caught a 12 to 15lb catfish. The thing was huge! He brought it back and we ate it for lunch, all of us, and they still had a huge bag of fish to bring home. It was delicious!!

Here are all of the little guys with the fish, they were so impressed. Kaden and Oliver had never seen someone catch a fish, clean it, and eat it. I think they were disturbed by the whole idea, but they did eat a little bit with lunch. We did keep them away while he was cleaning it, we didn't want to scar them for life.

We had such a great time and the boys are already asking when we are going to go camping again. Hopefully we can fit one more trip in before it starts getting too cold, we shall see.

One Year Ago Today....

Our paperwork left for Ethiopia and we were put on the official wait list. On that day I never thought that we would still be waiting for a referral twelve months later. Instead of making this a negative post about how much this wait sucks, I thought I would write some things that I am thankful for as we wait to meet our new child.

I am thankful for my mom and her willingness to open up her home to us. She has made us feel so welcome and loved.

I am thankful for Kevin's parents and there support as we venture out into a new ministry.

I am thankful for our baby Oliver. My baby is not a baby anymore but he is becoming such a fun little boy and he is learning and talking like crazy. I can't believe my baby is almost three, it just doesn't seem possible.

I am thankful for our sweet boy Kaden. I can hardly believe he is four and that he will be starting Kindergarten next year. He is such sweet spirited, loving, and outgoing little boy. He is such a blessing to our family.

I am thankful for my sweet husband Kevin. He is such a good dad and husband. I am thankful for his willingness to follow Gods calling. I am excited to see what God has for us in these next twelve months.

I am thankful that we aren't in this wait alone. I am thankful for all the encouragement from other adoptive families, it is really nice to talk to someone that understands how we feel.

Although this adoption journey has been much more difficult then I had imagined, I am so thankful for Gods many blessings.

Wondering...

I keep wondering if I can wait to update this blog until I have news of a referral, as you can see that has not happened. Our agency hasn't given out a referral, that I know about, for two months. Two months!!! That seems like FOREVER. We have got to be due for some referrals soon.

Our New Blog

We have some new and exciting things going on in our lives right now, if you would like to learn more about it Kevin has started a blog to keep everyone up to date, it is kmattshoes.blogspot.com.

Camping

This past weekend we took out first family camping trip. We drove to a beautiful lake area in the mountains and drove until we found the cutest little campsite and set up camp. We had a blast exploring the mountains, collecting firewood, building our fire, making smores, and seeing the beautiful stars. Sleeping was another story, as you can see below our tent isn't very big and we found out as we were sleeping that it was on a bit on an incline, so all night we all kept sliding to the back of the tent. Then our early riser (Kaden) was up around 5:30 very excited for the day to begin. So needless to say we were not very rested on our first family camping trip, but we did have a great time. Here is our beautiful campsite. My boys sitting on the log that Kevin rolled down the hill so we would have more seating.

My handsome boys!

Here is our campfire that we worked so hard to build. We had fun roasting marshmallows and making smores. The next morning we went to a lake for some hiking and the boys favorite past time.. throwing rocks in water.
We had such a fun time camping. It was nice to just get away for a little bit, no computers, phones, cartoons, or other distractions. I can't wait for our next camping trip.