I love the Christmas season!

The Christmas season is upon us and I am THRILLED! I absolutely love this time of the year and look forward to it all year long. It makes me happy to walk into a store and see beautiful Christmas lights all through the aisles and hear Christmas music playing in the background. I love the shopping, the baking, the parties.....all of it! This time of the year warms my heart and reminds me of the true miracle of the birth of our Lord and Savior. He is the reason for this magical season!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

A yummy treat!

My mom has the best popcorn ball recipe that we use so often this time of the year. They are out of this world delicious! I thought I would share the recipe. (don't count the calories on this one!)

*****Popcorn Balls***** Pop approximately 8-10 cups of popcorn and set aside. Melt 2 sticks butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 large pkg of miniature marshmallows together. Pour over popped corn and form into balls. (they are messy to make, but oh so good!) ENJOY!

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

OH YES I DID!

Favorite Photo Friday

This picture was taken yesterday when my monkeys decided it would be fun to climb a tree. :) As you can see, it is a little chilly here in SD nowadays. Of course the cold doesn't stop the kids!

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for: A loving husband, healthy children, friends that keep in touch, a close family, a warm house, a Savior who loves me so, life in the country, beautiful sunrises and breathtaking sunsets, a wonderful church, the opportunity to adopt a baby girl, all 4 seasons, the awesome responsibility of raising my children, my daily fill of hugs and kisses, a safe community to live in, food on the table, and of course my blogger friends!

Don't ya hate it when.....

You open your son's backpack and find this letter: Dear Parents: We are sending this letter to all parents to increase head lice awareness so that you may take steps at home to help prevent your child from being infested with head lice. We do suspect that head lice is present in our school.

I'm back....I survived!

The week is over and I survived. All went very well with the hunters and we finished up with harvest. (HAPPY DANCE!) It feels great to be at this end of the week. I am going out to supper tomorrow night with some friends to relax a bit......a much needed break.

Here's a picture of our hunters at mealtime. My groceries are quite depleted around here. I am always amazed at how much food several men can consume. They were very appreciative of everything and we always enjoy their visits. They went home with two deer and a lot of fun memories. We can't wait to have them back again next year.

Well, I told you last week that I had some adoption news to share, I'm sorry I kept you waiting. To make a really long story short, we have decided to switch countries. After a lot of set backs with China and so many unknowns, with the waiting time extended to 3-5 years, we decided to pray about it and felt led to look into other countries. We feel really good about choosing Ethiopia. We were brought to tears when reading about the conditions people live in there. We have all heard about starving children in Ethiopia, but to read the statistics was literally sickening. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of only $110 per year. Four million children are orphaned, nearly 1 million die of AIDS. One in 4 women die in pregnancy or birth. Only 6% of births are attended by a skilled health professional. Only 18% of children reach grade 5. It is obvious there is a TREMENDOUS need for families to adopt these babies that may never see their 5th birthday if they aren't taken out of this type of environment. We didn't have to contemplate this decision for very long....we know there is a little girl there that NEEDS us to survive. We have a great peace about this decision and if all goes well, we will have her in our arms by this time next year!

Sorry....I gotta take a little break.

This week is going to be a little crazy at the Arnold house. This is our last week of corn harvest. YEAH! Since the guys can see the end they are working longer hours than usual. Like 5:30 am to 12 am, so sleep is very minimal around here lately. I am very excited for the harvest to come to an end and to relax a bit before the holiday rush. Also, we have friends from Colorado rolling in today to stay with us for a week deer hunting. They have come every year for several years and are very easy to have, but there is extra cooking involved, (a group of men can go through an insane amount of food in one week!). I'm on my way to town this morning to grab some last minute items. So, all of this to say that I won't be doing a lot of blogging this week, but look forward to sharing some Arnold Family Happenings with you next week. I have some adoption news that I will update you with also. Have a great week! Stay warm!

Favorite Photo Friday

Happy Halloween! (glad it's over)

For a parent with small children, Halloween is an exhausting day! There are school parties, trick-or-treating, and the harvest party at the church. Here are a few pictures to highlight the day. (I discovered at the end of the day that my camera was on the wrong setting so my pictures aren't that great...bummer)

Bibleman, Pocahontas, and Buzz Lightyear This is Brylie's preschool class. The Kindergarten class.

Gage got to enjoy the party with the preschoolers.

Aunt Kim did the face painting at the Harvest party. Hunter and Sage, the Pirate

These are my nephews, Alec, Ethan and Noah.

A sign of Fall

Is there any one else that is as sick of these bugs as I am? UGH! I can't stand these gross box elder bugs. As much as I can't stand them, I will take the 70 degree fall weather over snow any day. Sorry, I gotta go kill some more of these little beasts.

Favorite Fall Photos

These are some pictures of our trip to Sica Hollow State Park last month. The fall foliage was beautiful and the weather was hot. We had a fun family day!

Food for thought....from a 6 year old

Hunter: "Hey Mom" Me: "Yes Hunter" Hunter: "I bet Jesus has to do all of the work on Sundays because that's the day God rests."

P.U.

Last night we arrived home at about 7:30 and pulled into our driveway and instantly noticed a skunk wandering around in our garage. Our black lab, Champ, layed in the grass lounging under the stars, unaware of the beast on our property. Our once very attentive watch dog, is showing his age lately. Robb escaped the safety of the suburban and ran into the house to get a gun. While he was loading the gun the little rascal made his way under the deck while the kids and I sat on the edge of our seats in the suburban watching all of the action. Brylie was screaming "Be careful daddy!" I reassured her that he would be fine since he was fully armed and ready for the stinky beast to make his move. Because our deck has lattice all the way around it, we couldn't see him anywhere and despite our efforts to shine the car lights on the deck in every direction, he litterally dissappeared before our eyes. There was only one way out and we had our eye on that spot the whole time. Robb even fired a shot under the deck to scare him out, but to no avail. Honestly, it is the biggest mystery. We have NO IDEA where the black and white enemy went. Finally, the kids and I ran from our safety net into the house. The funky smell that the little animal left behind had found its way into our home. Luckily my mom and sister are in the candle making business, so I had plenty of candles on hand. The kids also went to town with the FeBreeze. We went to bed smelling flowers, sugar cookies, apples and cinnamon. We awoke this morning to the lingering skunk smell and Robb made the rounds outside trying to find our pesky visitor. He is no where to be seen, so I guess we go on with our day and hope he shows up again tonight when Robb is home waiting with the gun! Anyway, how was your weekend? :)

What I'm diggin' right now

Since I like to hear what other people are really liking, I thought I would share a few of my favorite things right now. I mean Oprah gets her list, why can't I have mine? First of all, if you have kids and have not yet seen these Max Lucado DVDs, you really have to check them out. They are animated Christian movies that keep the attention of all of my kids and me too! They are so cute and teach a great message. Nothing says Fall like a cup of good coffee and a Biscotti. Every year about this time I take a trip to S*ams Club and purchase this big canister of Biscotti. If you have never tried these, you are really missing out. YUMMY! There are 3 different kinds; Chocolate Hazelnut (my fav), Chocolati, and Double Chocolati. Sometimes one just isn't enough! Vic*toria's Secret lip gloss is the BEST! These are on sale 2 for $10 and come in so many yummy smells. If you are a lip gloss girl, you will love these. I keep one in the my makeup bag and one in my purse. (HJ, I know you love these too) We just purchased the newest Worship Jamz CD yesterday and we are not disappointed! We have the first one which we love and this one is awesome as well. It is nearly impossible to listen to it without breaking out in dance. I dare you to try to listen to it sitting still. The kids and I are always jamming in the car, so if you pass me and think I am losing it or something, don't be alarmed, I am just listening to the latest Worship Jamz CD. I absolutely LOVE shopping at the B*uckle and ALWAYS find so many cute things. They have the greatest tops and their jeans can't be beat. Their new fall shirts are totally adorable and so stylish. Since style is not always my strong point, I know that I'm stylin' if I wear anything from this store. I think the prices are quite reasonable and the quality is great. (btw, Sunny, I just purchased this shirt :) Well, there you have it....some of my favorite things right now. Please, oh please, share some of the things you are diggin' right now.

Bountiful Harvest

We are one day away from being done with bean harvest. I snapped these pictures on Saturday. Robb is in the combine on the left and his brother Rock is in the one on the right. Not to be outdone by Frazzled Farm Wife and Life in the Country, I learned how to drive the grain cart and have been helping out the last few days. This is a picture of my big rig. My new job is a little hard on the blood pressure! My job is to drive the grain cart to the combines when they are full and drive next to them while they dump their load into my cart. I then take the full cart to the semi and dump in there. I have two combines to keep up with and because I am just learning all of this, they were sometimes waiting for me with a full load. Thank heaven Robb was really patient with me and it didn't take me long to catch on. These are my cab buddies. Brylie and Hunter ride with me and Gage rides in the combine with Robb. More pictures to come later in the week.

Thanks Frazzled Farm Wife

The Beef/Bean casserole was a hit! Thank you to all of you who shared your recipes with me. It is great to have new ideas to work with. The guys love hot meals during their long work days. This recipe got 2 thumbs up!

Favorite Photos Friday

We have 2 cats that Gage absolutely LOVES. Luckily they like him too!

Embarassing!

Today when I went to pick up Hunter from school all of the kids were talking about the Book Fair that was going on at the school. They were all excitedly looking through the brochure and picking out books that they wanted to buy when one little boy said, "Well I won't be coming to the Book Fair because my family doesn't have any money." Hunter quickly responded with, "Why? Doesn't your dad work hard enough?"

Household Jobs

As I was busy tending to household jobs today I got to thinking about the jobs I don't mind doing around the house and the ones I wish I never had to do again. There are definitely tasks that get put off way too long because of my great dislike for all they entail. There are also some daily duties that I don't mind at all. It got me wondering how you all feel about those day to day jobs we as domestic engineers are forced to do. So please share, if you had to choose a favorite household task and a least favorite household task, what would they be? I'm so curious. In case you're wondering what my picks would be I would have to say LAUNDRY and VACUUMING are my favorites and SCRUBBING THE SHOWER AND DUSTING are my least favorites. It's not that I actually like doing the laundry and vacuuming, but I really don't mind those 2 very necessary tasks. I do know for certain, though, that I really dislike cleaning the shower/tub and dusting. Those are the tasks that always get put off at my house. Okay, now it's your turn. (yeah, the whole post is pretty lame, but I'm curious)

Huntin' Buddies

Hunter: "I'm so glad you guys named me Hunter." Me: "Why is that"? Hunter: "Because I really like to hunt!" I really love to see that special bond that Hunter and his daddy have when they go hunting. It warms my heart and they come back with a lot of great stories. I snapped this picture just minutes ago as they were walking out the door to sit in a tree stand to look for deer. I'll let you know if they get the big one!

Favorite Photo Friday

Gage was looking in the mirror last night as I was combing his hair after his bath and I said, "Who is that monkey in the mirror?" Without hesitation he said, "MOMMY"!

Fall Fun

While Hunter was in school I raked some leaves and Brylie and Gage had a blast jumping in them. Our pile didn't get too big, but soon there will be enough leaves for a really fun pile. I am really diggin' this 75 degree weather. It just doesn't get any better than enjoying the beautiful fall in short sleeve shirts. Enjoy your day!

Good News

I opened up our agency blog this morning and this is what I read:

Today we received our next group of 30 China waiting children, those children who are older or have special medical needs. The China team will translate these waiting children files and prepare their information for CHI Family Net. More information will be provided as to when these children will be available for review on CHI Family Net.

I'm thinking it will take a week at the most to get all of the files translated and ready to review. I can hardly wait!

My mind is elsewhere.....

Some of you (HJ) have been wondering why I am slacking so much on my blogging. I do feel guilty that I haven't given you anything substantial to read for quite some time, yet I still selfishly take in your good reads daily. I do apologize, but my mind has been elsewhere. Our adoption agency is now telling us to expect 3-5 years before we get to meet our little China girl. As you mothers can imagine, that seems unbearable. With a lot of prayer and a few tears we are trusting that God will bring us our little girl very soon. We have looked into what is called the 'Waiting Child Program' which has all of the children that are considered "special need", which if you ask me, I think ALL orphans have "special needs", the most important NEED is a FAMILY. Anyway, our agency comes out with a new list of waiting children every 3-4 months and is due to release a new list any time. After much prayer we have decided to be open to these children, as that may be where our little girl is. Many of the needs are minor and very correctable, yet they have to be in a class of their own, since they are not "perfect". My heart aches for these children as they are classified differently mostly because their birth mothers had to hide their pregnancy and not receive any prenatal care and more than likely give birth at home, just to avoid public scrutiny, which in turn caused their 'special need'. These children are innocent in all of the communism and deserve a bright future just as the "healthy" children do. The Lord has really softened our hearts to these little ones and we are fervently praying that when we see her face, we will know without a shadow of a doubt that she belongs to us. This adoption process has definitely had it's challenges, but we try to keep our eyes on the end result, which will be the fourth addition to our family. I have a pit in my stomach and an ache in my heart that will not go away until we are united with our precious little girl. Please say a prayer for us as we anxiously await the next list of available children. I'll definitely keep you posted.