March Vacation: Wisconsin Dells

We wanted a fun vacation not so far away and decided to try out Wisconsin Dells: home of waterparks!  We found a deal at a great resort called Wilderness that had three (kind of 4) INDOOR waterparks.  The girls were excited!

The drive took under 7 hours, but we split that up and stopped near Chicago on our way and had some deep dish pizza.  Yum!  :-)  

Plenty of time for playing in the van

and learning to arm and finger knit.  :-)

Here is the view from our room when we first got there.

Then they had another good snow in the middle of the week.  :-)  Thankfully, during the snow storm, we didn’t have to go anywhere because most everything is connected in this resort.  So, we “warmly” walked from our room, to get food, play games, get ice cream or swim. Woohoo!  But, it did look like they kept the parking lot and roads pretty clear.  I think they are used to this up there.  :-)

We bought some lunch stuff to keep in the room.

Girls at one of the parksSwing!

Slide!

Splash!

Fountain!

Silly!

Big Raft ride!

Swim!

Play!

Made it down the slide!  (let’s not talk about how long it took her to go down it the first time!)

TJ and Jaylyn in the wave pool  

Play area

Ice cream!  I think Adley had Cherry, Leighton had Grape

Jaylyn had Kiwi

A little Uno Attack in the room with Dad

Some more play time

You can see Leighton through the slot.  These are nerf ball guns in a big play area that goes three levels.

Adley is quickly gathering ammunition for the guns so we can team up against Dad.

Loading and shooting!

       We loved the Wilderness Resort!

We had a little time at the end of the week so we decided we wanted to try to ski.  Another resort down the road included ski lift tickets with their stay, so we went there for one night.  It is called Mt. Olympus.  It has a cool outside atmosphere, but it didn’t live up to the Wilderness Resort at all.  It had a small indoor water park area and an indoor “amusement park”, but there wasn’t much amusement there.  And the whole place kind of had this weird creepy vibe.  Not sure how to explain it.  But, it wasn’t bad or anything.  Anyway. . . .

Here is the view from our room.  The “Colosseum” is the view from the road.

You can also see the HUGE Trojan Horse which is part of their “outdoor” amusement park.

Here is TJ and Jaylyn on go-carts in the indoor amusement park.  The only other things in there was a small type of roller coaster, train car type of ferris wheel for younger children, spinning tea cups and bumper cars.  They do have a climbing wall and some other nerf ball play area for an additional fee.  There were only so many times we could ride the tea cups.  :-)

The room was a nice size, but had almost no furniture.

They have cool bunk beds though. 

And crazy Greek wall decor.  :-)

The girls liked the bunk beds.

       So, our take on Mt. Olympus was – Go with Wilderness!!  (This was for winter of course.)

We took our ski lift passes and headed to Christmas Mountain.  We weren’t totally prepared with clothing and gear for this.  (for me and TJ anyway), so we just let TJ and older two go for it.

Starting toward tow rope  

All smiles

But then this is all Adley did.  :-)  Jaylyn did give one try, but the tow rope was not so easy and there were too many people on the rope too which she didn’t like.  So she fell half-way up and decided to just ski down the hill.  Apparently she did well skiing down.  I missed it. So, TJ enjoyed some more skiing on his own while me and the girls hung out in the restaurant.  :-)  We needed a lesson for them.  Oh well, next time. . .

Then, we headed home!  We did get to stop and have lunch with Brett and Rachel!  No picture. . .

Then, back to normal again.  :-)

Adoption News

It is so fun to be a part of a family and church family that care so much about orphans.  We had nursery duty this past Sunday and got to spend some time with a friend and their recent adopted son from China.  He is the sweetest and is LOVING his family.  In case you haven’t heard, TJ’s cousin Shannon and her husband Mark are in the midst of paperwork to go back to China again.  So exciting!  Besides adopting, Shannon continues to do more for orphan care and advocating for orphans who need a safe and healthy environment to live and grow before they get a family/and who need a family! 

TJ and have talked about adopting even before we had biological children.  We just knew that God would call us to do that.  It is just an amazing picture of what God has done for us!  We have prayed for a long time about the where and when.  And we have decided that NOW is the time.  :-)

We had been back and forth between international and domestic.  I think I was kind of surprised to feel led toward domestic.  I won’t go into the why domestic, because I’m not totally sure.  :-)  But, I do know that is where we are now.  So here are some answers to questions that we have received the most so far. . .

1. Q:Are you using an agency?

A: Yes, we are using Bethany Christian Services.  They are local, but also a large agency that is all over.  We were impressed with them at their informational meeting.  We love that they are focused on serving families and children through the love of Christ.  We were also thankful that they are really focused on helping the birthmothers.  Whatever reason the expectant mother made a birth plan, we want to know that they have been shown the love of Christ and are offered what they need to cope with this difficult part of their life.  It is great to hear how TJ’s mom has seen Bethany work with expectant/birth mothers personally and has been impressed with them.  That means a lot to us.  Here is a link to their 2011 annual report http://www.bethany.org/assets/pdfs/2011AnnualReport.pdf  It is interesting to read.

2.  Q: What age child?

A: We really felt that for the sake of the children we have now, that we should not interrupt birth order, so we have requested that the child be younger than Leighton.  But, because of the way it works here, the child will most likely be an infant unless we went through the foster-care system. 

3. Q: How long will it take?

A: This can vary. . . . It depends on how fast we do our paperwork, how fast the agency can complete their part, and being “chosen.”  (Our agency will have profiles of families ready to adopt and when an expectant mother is near the end of the pregnancy or at the hospital, they will show her the profiles that fit her situation, and she will select the family she would like to adopt her child.  The family will be notified and also has a chance to accept.  It is possible that since we already have three children at home, we might not be chosen as quickly as a family that does not have a child.  It all depends on the expectant mother.)  Paperwork can possibly take us three months or more to complete.  We should be receiving those papers to start this week.  The time can also depend on how open we are to ethnicity of the child and also medical concerns.  We are open to any ethnicity, and assume that we will most likely adopt a child of other ethnicity. Once paperwork is finished, we could wait anywhere from a few months to over a year.  Average wait would be 9-12 months.  But, it is all in God’s timing so we will see. :-)  

Here are a couple videos Bethany had on their website you might find interesting:

Anyway, pray for us as we prepare for this journey, and please begin praying with us for our child to-be and his/her parents and extended family.  I know there are more questions, but my fingers are tired and who wants to read all of this??? :-)

Easter

Here are some Easter shots. . .

   

Flashback: Adley’s 6th Birthday

November 17, 2012, Adley turned SIX.  She was soooo excited and picked a day to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  We had not been there in a long time!

On her big day, she opened her presents. . .  

and had a Rapunzel Party!

Welcomed in with Rapunzel’s hair

The cake!

Sweet Adley!

Glad she was well for this party.  :-)

Jaylyn made a picture for her to decorate

About to blow out her candles

Presents!

        We love you, Adley!