The Kennedy Zoo

First off, the adoption news. We have now been waiting for 13 weeks, which officially puts us in the 3-5 month window that the agency said we could expect a referral. We are looking forward to getting pictures of our little boy any day now. We are being cautiously optimistic that we will make our court date before the rainy season starts, though one of us is much more optimistic than the other. We will let you guess which one that is.

We never updated after the surprise trip to the zoo. It was more like, surprise you have the stomach bug and you get to puke all morning. I (Erin) woke up in the night with it first, then Easton, then Catherine. I was still convinced, even while throwing up my insides all morning, that we could make it the two hour drive to the Tulsa zoo. When you have a plan, you stick to it.

While getting the kids ready to go in between trips to the bathroom, Sophie decided to complicate the morning by emptying the diaper rash cream all over the living room. Here is what our coffee table looked like. It ruined the carpet.

As we walked out the door, Easton threw up one last time in the sink. Zach covered the back of the van with trash bags and we headed to Tulsa. The kids slept on the way over there, but Catherine woke up feeling sick again. Here we are in the zoo parking lot.

When we finally made it into the zoo, the kids perked up and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Catherine only threatened to throw up once, but it was a non-event. I am sure the other mothers at the zoo loved seeing us whip out the Wal-mart sacks in the line for the train.




We ate dinner at the cheesecake factory to end the day of all days. Well, at least some ate. I had to leave dinner and head to the car. I slept the whole way home.

All in all, a successful trip to the zoo. Surprise!!!

The Lord's Prayer

Surprise Trip

We are taking the kids on a surprise trip to the Zoo tomorrow. They are really excited about their surprise, and they have no clue where we are going. We will post some pictures when we get back. Until then, here are some of the recent pictures from the ever growing Kennedy family album.

Easton found the old swimming pool and drug it out to play in. It was pretty exciting, as you can tell.

Catherine wanted to carry her baby like they carry them in Africa. Her daddy showed her how after his trip to Malawi last summer. Of course Sophie wanted to be exactly like her sister.


I think Easton has his daddy's creative side. Above is a model of his mommy, and the red and yellow blocks on the bottom are he and his sister in mommy's tummy. He was pretty proud.

And this is what I did all day today. Literally, all day.

I hate laundry.

Minivan

It is official. Erin has officially joined the ranks of the soccer moms of the world. It has all of the fun stuff in it for the kids, and it is much more convenient and fuel efficient than the suburban.

If only it was a convertible...

Some day Erin, some day.

Week Eleven!

We have now officially been waiting 11 weeks for a referral. I (Erin) get on the blog sites everyday to see who is getting referrals and working out the math in my head as to when ours might come. It is getting harder to be patient, especially with the rainy season drawing near. The kids think they are getting Baby Addis for their birthday, which is May 15th. That is what they tell everyone they want. I am praying we can wrap up his picture to give to them that day.

In other news, my husband is trying to talk me into getting a minivan. Yes, you read right... A minivan. My apologies to those who already own a minivan. It has just been something I have been trying to avoid until I turn thirty. Since I just had my 25th last Saturday, I am a few years off from my goal. We found a used one and are talking to the dealership tomorrow. We will let you know what the final decision is. I know, you can't wait...

We haven't been great with the photos lately, but here are a few of the kids. After all, it wouldn't be a Kennedy family blog post without kid pictures. I actually told Zach yesterday that most people have no idea what we look like, because we never post pictures of ourselves. Maybe I will take a picture in my new minivan.

The twins started soccer.

Easton learned how to cross his eyes. I keep telling him they are going to get stuck, but his daddy thinks it is hilarious and encourages it. It is pretty funny looking.

Guilty - Short Film

Easter

Easter was crazy around here as usual. The kids were cuter than ever and loved the Easter Egg hunt this year. I think we hid easter eggs 30 times for them to go find.

Erin had minor surgery today to "revise" her c-section scar. It was very messed up on one side and it was causing her quite a bit of pain. They made her a new one that should both look and feel much better. In the meantime, she is zapped on Percocet. Pray for a speedy recovery so she can get back to what she loves.

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

A gentleman and two little ladies...

They really do like each other most of the time.

Now.... If you would like to know what our kids would have preferred to wear to church this Easter, take a look at the picture below. Probably one of the funniest pictures ever taken at our house... Be sure and click on it to enlarge it because you will want to see their expressions. Truly priceless...










Don't miss the Micheal Jackson glove on Sophie. Again, maybe the funniest picture ever taken of the Kennedy kids.

Short Film

Here is the trailer for the project I am working on at work right now.

Random Pictures... Random Weather...

More people want to see our kids than hear our opinions on world peace and consumerism, so here comes some more pictures! It has been crazy weather here, and no, the following pictures are not out of order.

Our friends, Matt and Angela Slaughter, had a baby a few weeks ago and Catherine is IN LOVE with him. She can't get enough of Baby Jeb.

Sunday afternoon the weather was awesome, so we thought we would try out the kites that Lovey got for the kids. They were a little too fancy for their own good. What happened to the $3 kite she used to get for me? It worked just fine!

Catherine was doing a lot of running, but the kite wasn't doing a lot of flying.

Then, two days later, it snowed! We bundled the kids up and took them out before it all melted away. The boys had a snowball fight while Catherine made "hot chocolate with extra whip cream" out of the snow. Think she's heard that phrase a few times at the Starbucks drive-thru anyone? I don't know how you make something hot out of snow, but that is her imaginative little mind at work.



In adoption news, tomorrow marks 5 weeks on the wait list. One more week down, and it FLEW BY!

Pictures and More...

We have now been on the waiting list for 3 weeks. The time has flown by. Looking ahead at how many more weeks we might have to wait isn't fun either though. I just realized today that Easter is only 4 weeks away. For a family that is in the ministry, that means life is fixing to be CRAZY! We will do 6 services between the two campuses over Easter weekend, so it always leaves us completely worn out.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. They are getting so big!

This is typical Sophie, not wanting to cooperate. She can be a bit emotional.

She calmed down long enough to get a good picture.

This is on Valentines day at Grammy's house.

That smile will brighten anyone's day!

America's Ugly Export

I ran across this article in Christianity Today that infuriated me. The prosperity gospel has made it's way to the poorest of the poor, who are being told to give all they have to "God" and he will give them 10 fold in money, possessions, and good fortune.

It is nothing more than idolatry, worshiping the gifts instead of the giver. Here in America, many christians (myself included) just laugh at the pleas for money on the BPN (Bad Preacher Network) without every considering it's global impact. It is one thing if Betty from Alma sends in her $200 she was going to use for a new sewing machine, but it is all together different when people who make $2 a day are asked to give $200.

Americans should be taking the lead to get this message off the air and expose their lies. It is a lie that is spreading to the poorest of the poor. Those who Jesus called us to protect. In fact, if you believe Matthew 25, then it IS Jesus who is being manipulated with this message.

Someone sent me this video from John Piper that communicates these thoughts more eloquently and with more conviction than I. Watch and be changed.

Snow!

We had a little snow here in NWA. The kids love it when it snows, so we got out to make a snowman. Enjoy the pictures...

The kids were in awe of the snow coming down outside.

So we bundled everyone up...



And made a snow man. We took a picture with Erin too, but she threatened to kill me if I posted it.

Funny story: We made the mouth out of fruit snacks, which just happen to be Sophie's favorite things on the planet. So... She stole them while we were distracted making snow angels.


You should have seen the fit she threw when the snacks were all gone! No wonder she is so "healthy."

On the list!!!

That is right folks! The Kennedy crew is officially waiting! We got word today that our dossier is on it's way to DC. It might be the quickest time from application to waiting list in the history of adoptions, considering we requested an application on October 22nd. That is only 3 months!

We are more excited than ever to bring our little boy home. We are going to name him Addis, after the capitol city of Ethiopia. The twins pray for him every night... "Dear Jesus, help baby Addis come home to us soon."

Now, we just sit and patiently wait. God has obviously had His hand in this from the beginning, and we are trusting Him with our baby in the meantime. They say this is the hard part, but we have 3 things that should keep our mind occupied; Easton, Catherine, and Sophie.

Thank you all for your prayers and support along the way. Please pray for our baby boy when you think of us. There is a good chance he might have already been born.

CIS Approval!

That might be the quickest CIS approval in the history of adoptions. The CIS office in Fort Smith received our Home Study on the Tuesday, January 15th and we got our I-171H in the mail today!!!!!

This news is only slightly dampened by the fact that the FBI left out the "letter of procedure" from our clearance packets. I had to call them on Thursday and get them to mail it out to us. It should be here sometime next week, and our dossier will be complete. Kate at KBS actually already has quite a bit of the dossier authenticated (we sent most of it to her a month ago), so the waiting list is almost here!!!!

Approved!

We got our approval email from Gladney today! They are sending us copies of our home study, as well as FedEx-ing a copy to CIS. We have all of our Dossier paperwork completed, and most of it has already been mailed to Kate at KBS. Once we get our home study here, we will mail the remainder of the papers and then wait for CIS approval. Kate will then send all of the Dossier paperwork to the state and federal government for authentication. Once authenticated, we will be on the wait list for a referral.

Hopefully CIS will be quick!

Marshmallows

We were given some money for Christmas so we bought a handy dandy fire pit. The kids love roasting marshmallows. By the way, I had no idea marshmallow was spelled with an "a." It looks strange. I would think marshmEllow, but no one asked me apparently.

Here are some marshmallow pictures.

Easton wouldn't get it close enough to the fire...
Catherine wasn't fond of the smoke...
They both loved the end result.
And Sophie ran away with the marshmallows.

In adoption news, our Home Study is complete and has been sent to Gladney. We haven't heard from Gladney that they received it yet, but it should be any day. They will turn around and mail a copy of it to CIS (Citizen and Immigration Services), and the word around here is that the Arkansas CIS office takes less than a week to send out the approval once they have the Home Study. The waiting list is coming closer every day.

As you go, here is a picture of our crazy kids in their product RED stuff they got for Christmas. They wouldn't stay still, and Sophie kept trying to get away. Makes for a funny picture though.