We did it!

Finally, after 2 months of hard work, our remodel is done and we are moved in! Here are the before and after pictures that you have all been waiting for. I will just post of the kitchen today and more rooms during the week. We were able to get the countertop in Friday, moved on Saturday and Brylie's birthday party on Sunday. Today we are taking it easy!

BEFORE

AFTER

Worth Watching

Remodel update

I'm sure you are all wondering where the 'After' pictures are that I promised you. Well....there have been a few delays and our countertops will not be in until tomorrow, which has put us back a few days. It has been quite frustrating but in the meantime we have gotten a lot of other tasks done. The countertops will be the final project and move-in day is Saturday. We are having a birthday party for Brylie on Sunday soooooooo, we HAVE to get moved in and organized. We are more than ready to move in and get back on our regular schedule. The kids have had some really long days and late nights and we are all exhausted. Everything is really beautiful though and I can't wait to share it all with you! Just a few more days......

Happy 5th Birthday Brylie!

Happy Birthday to my SWEET, Shy, LOVABLE, Girly, sensitive, responsible, PRECIOUS little girl!

Favorite Photo Friday

I snapped this one before church on Sunday. I was pretty impressed that everyone was looking at the camera AND smiling! :)

To my precious Ruby: I don't know what you look like or where exactly you are or if you are even born yet. I don't know who is taking care of you. I don't know if you have a warm place to sleep at night or a safe place to call home. I wonder if you have little black curls on your head or chubby cheeks or a beautiful smile. I wonder if anyone is rocking you to sleep at night or singing to you as you are fed a bottle. I want you to know that although I know nothing about you, I love you with my whole heart. I pray for you daily. Your brothers and sister ask about you all the time and can't wait to show you your new home. Your daddy can't wait to hold his little princess and kiss your forehead. My heart aches for you. We are told that we may get to meet you later this summer or in the fall. The days seem so long. Until I get to hold you in my arms and look in your eyes and tell you 'mommy loves you so', I will be praying for God's hand of protection over you. He has picked you out for us and we know that you will fit into our family just perfectly. We love you precious Ruby. Love, Your forever mommy

It's crunch time!

The cabinets made it! They are already installed, but I am going to keep you all in suspense until the final reveal...hopefully by the weekend. Sorry. I absolutely LOVE our cabinets and can hardly wait for the rest. Our countertop will be here by the end of the week and the appliances are coming on Thursday. The carpet is being put in this week and Robb is starting on the kitchen floor tomorrow. The painting will all be done by sundown tomorrow. I have high hopes that we will be able to move in this weekend, but Robb is skeptical. Brylie's birthday is on Monday and that has been our goal move in time from the beginning. We'll see. I am trying to get things organized at our current house and doing some packing up. This week will be crazy busy so I won't be blogging much, but look forward to sharing the 'After' pictures with you all very soon. :)

Waiting for a sister can be SO hard!

Brylie came out of her room the other day with a full suitcase. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I'm going to Ethiopia to get Ruby. I just can't wait any longer! I packed my toothbrush and my pajamas and even a stuffed animal for Ruby." I guess we're all getting a bit anxious!

Remodel Update

Our kitchen walls are painted this "nomadic dessert" color.

This room off the dining room is a chocolate brown.

The stairway turned out so nice.

The new railing upstairs

The living room is patiently waiting for some nice, new carpet. :)

Robb is building Brylie this closet for her room. She is thrilled about her new closet!

Since there was no fire escape upstairs, Robb made one in Hunter's room. (the outside windows were covered up when the addition was put on 15 years ago) They crawl out of this window onto the roof of the old house and down to the attic door and then throw out the fire ladder and climb down right by our bedroom. The kids think this is the ultimate in fire escapes! Robb even built a little platform for them to climb out on and a railing around it. Hopefully it will NEVER need to be used!

Yesterday my mom and I pulled out a record breaking amount of staples from the floor. Mom made it longer than I did. My hands were throbbing. Anyway, I will pull out some more today and tomorrow our cabinets and countertops will be here! WOOHOO! I can finally start cleaning and putting stuff back together. The next update pictures should be way more fun to look at!

A day of homeschool......

Okay, so you all know that I didn't send my kids to school yesterday because of the extreme cold. They are only 4 and 6 years old.....too little to be out in -24 degree weather. To add to that, on school days I have to make 3 trips to the school. I take them in the morning, go in at 11:00 to count Hunter's carbs and give him insulin after lunch, then pick up Brylie from preschool, then go back at 3:30 to pick up Hunter. So that is 3 times I have to drag Gage out in the cold also. Yeah, not fun! Also, influenza is going around the school. We all had our flu shots that apparently aren't working, so we have kind of been hibernating. Influenza with Hunter's diabetes would be a NIGHTMARE! It is important to keep him healthy.

So, what did we do on our day home from school? Well, Hunter completed a 10 chapter book that we had just bought the night before, we practiced counting money, Brylie and I did a lot of coloring, we read more books, practiced our counting, and just enjoyed our day in our warm home. That was actually the only day of school they had this week, so we are home for the rest of the week. Yeah, I'm one of those weird moms who really likes having all of my kids home! :) Today we will be working at the farm house. I will take some pictures to show you of the updates. It is coming together.

Brrrrrrr!

What does a mom do when she sees a forecast like this?

-26°F Feels Like -40°F

She keeps her babes home from school!

One Month Down!

Our paperwork has currently been in Ethiopia for 1 month now! We probably still have at least 3 months to go before getting a referral, but I will celebrate each month down. The wait is not easy, but it is such a great feeling to be in the countdown. We're really hoping for a referral the beginning of summer and travel to get her the end of summer. That would be ideal, but of course our trust is in the Lord. The only time table we are getting from the agency is to expect a child in 2008. Things change so frequently with international adoption, that is the only safe answer for them to give. Whenever we get her...the wait will be worth it! For today I am going to celebrate the first month down!

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetie!

My little reader

Hunter has always loved learning and it has always come very easily to him. When he was 16 months old he knew all the letters of the alphabet and would often pick out certain ones on signs or posters. He would amaze people around him. We would drive by McDonald's and he would point to the sign saying, "MAMA", meaning that was the letter that mom started with. So cute! He began reading when he was 4 and his teacher has now started him in the accelerated reading program at school. The Kindergarteners don't participate in AR but because he was reading so well his teacher thought it would be good for him. The teacher's aid takes Hunter to the library every school day and has him read a book and take an accelerated reader test on the computer. He loves this and has been doing so well. Today she told me he is at the 3rd grade level and she still doesn't know if he is challenged. We are very proud of him!

Remodel Update

The tape and texture guy has been REALLY slow, so we are still waiting for him to get everything textured. He is also going to paint the kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom. We are hoping he will be done with everything by Thursday.

We are also tearing up all of the carpet in the house and replacing it. I am VERY excited about this because the carpet was quite worn and the bid was less than we thought. Yay! As you can see we still have to get that border off. That is on my list for tomorrow. Ugh! We will then have the walls textured and painted.

With the living room completely empty the kids just ran in circles while Robb and I worked. I can hardly wait to have all the extra space.

Favorite Photo Friday

Tacos anyone?

Adoption News

Sorry I confused some of you with the adoption time table at the top of the page. The ticker is actually counting up from when our official wait time began. Our paperwork was sent off to Ethiopia on January 18th and that is when we were officially added to the waiting list. It is a great milestone and I thought it would be fun to see it count up and know every day that we are closer to our baby girl. Also....I think this would be a good time to share the name that we have picked out for our daughter. Unless we totally fall in love with her Ethiopian name, we have chosen the name.....drum roll please.........

Ruby Katheryn

Ruby is a name that we both fell in love with and Katheryn was Robb's grandma's middle name . So there you have it......what do ya think?

A successful Walk

Once again we had a very successful Walk to Cure Diabetes. We had 23 family members and friends that came out and walked for Hunter's Team. What a blessing! Our team alone raised $4000 for diabetes research! That was our goal this year and because of the generosity of so many of our family and friends we were able to meet that goal. Hunter is very loved and we are truly blessed. There were 500 people at the mall walking in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It is such an emotional event because we see first hand all of the families that deal with this disease daily, just like we do. We are definitely not alone in these challenges. JDRF is working very hard to make a cure a reality. It is going to happen and I feel very confident about that. Seventy thousand dollars was raised this weekend at the Sioux Falls Walk. How amazing is that? That money will definitely help with the research needed to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Walk to Cure Diabetes

This is the letter I sent out to family and friends recently: Dear Family and Friends, We are once again preparing for the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes. This year’s walk will be held on Saturday, Feb. 2 at the Sioux Empire Mall in Sioux Falls. This is the fourth year we have had a team in the Walk. Hunter’s team raised almost $3000 last year and we had close to 30 people walking on our team! We are so thankful for all of the support you have given to us in Hunter’s honor. He has earned 1 plaque and 2 trophies for the money raised for his team! Last August we were invited to a Sioux Falls Canaries game and were awarded our team prizes there. Hunter is so proud of his trophies and keeps them right by his bed. He is already wondering if he will win another trophy this year and has the perfect spot picked out for it! J It has now been 5 ½ years since Hunter was diagnosed with diabetes and he is doing quite well. The insulin pump has been wonderful and we are now looking into what is called a Continuous Glucose sensor that would be attached to him and monitor his blood sugar continually, eliminating several finger pokes a day and giving us great peace of mind. This would be in addition to his insulin pump, which means 2 things attached to him, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Hopefully in the next couple months we will have him started on this. This sensor would allow him to go to sleep-over’s and it would eliminate the highs and lows. This is very exciting! We are very hopeful for a cure. There are so many kids who face the same daily challenges that Hunter does. We pray for great advances with all of the money that the Walks across the country raise. I feel very confident in the work being done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A cure is so close! If you would like to make a donation to our Walk, your check can be made out to JDRF and sent back to us by Jan. 30th. Also, if you are interested in walking with our team, please let me know. We all wear camouflage shirts and have a great time raising money for a great cause! Also, we are having a huge rummage/moving sale on Saturday, Jan. 26th at the farm with all money going toward our Walk. We hope for a great turnout! Thank you so very much! Robb, Teresa, Hunter, Brylie, and Gage If you are interested in donating to our Walk, you can donate here. If you want to walk with us, the walk starts at 10 am. Let me know and I'll have some extra camo shirts. :)

Adoption News

Our paperwork is now in Ethiopia and being reviewed by the Ethiopian government. I am very excited that everything made it and we are one step closer in this journey. Now we wait and probably won't hear anything until we get a referral, which is a match with an infant girl. Our adoption agent can't give us any time frame as things are always changing, but I am hoping that in 6 months we know who our daughter is. After receiving her picture and information we will still have to wait about 3 months before traveling to get her. Patience is going to be so much tougher the closer we get.

What's up at the Arnold home?

Hello all. The moving sale went wonderfully and we raised almost $600 for our Walk to Cure Diabetes! We were thrilled with the number of people who ventured out into the country. We got rid of a ton of stuff and I am especially excited about that! The rest is going to goodwill and then I need to start cleaning and getting ready to paint. Here are a few pictures of how the remodel is coming along.

The sheet rock is all put up! Robb and Rock made a beautiful archway for the upstairs. I just thought this picture of Gage "helping" was pretty cute!

This week the tape and texture guy is coming and he will also be painting the kitchen, dining room and master bedroom. Yay!

HUGE SALE

Are you looking for something to do this weekend? I am having a HUGE rummage/moving sale tomorrow from 9am-3pm at our farm house. There is SO MUCH stuff and I don't want ANYTHING left at the end of the day tomorrow. We have furniture, beds, lots and lots of Christmas decor, dishes, pictures, home decor of all sorts, clothes of all sizes, books for young and old, movies, toys, toys and more toys, bar stools, and so much more. The best part is all money goes toward our Walk to Cure Diabetes, which will be held next weekend in Sioux Falls. (more about that later) There have been several people who have donated items for the sale so the house is seriously overflowing. Email me for directions if you are interested in coming. :)

Our remodel progress

Well, we've been at the remodel for 1 week now and things are going quite well. Of course there has been a few bumps in the road, but overall we have gotten a lot accomplished. Here are some pictures of what has happened so far...

My mom, sister and I removed this lovely wallpaper in Brylie's room.

We then tackled the wallpaper in the master bedroom.

Then it was more wallpaper in the dining room. My mother-in-law LOVES wallpaper, can ya tell?

The walls got insulated.

This new beam was put up to replace 3 other smaller beams. (this baby weighs 700 pounds! It took 5 guys to bring it in the house) I'm thinkin' the ceiling won't be falling down anytime soon!

What do ya do when you discover 3 layers of wallpaper that are stuck on so well that trying to remove it is tearing the wall off? You just tear the wall down! (I was just happy I got out of some wallpaper work!)

Hunter and Brylie helping with the clean-up between jobs.

Gage thinks the shop vac is the coolest thing ever!

Hunter does an awesome job pulling out nails!

This weeks goals are to put up sheet rock, tape and texture, and of course, more wallpaper removal! I'll keep ya posted!

The remodel has begun.....

See you next week!

Friday's Favorite Photos

Thanks Grandma Pat for the new pajamas!

Uncle Tyler got the kids gift cards for Christmas and so we sent him this picture of their purchases. Hunter picked out a lightsaber and a Transformers game, Gage added to his Scooby collection and Brylie scored this beautiful dress up outfit. Thanks uncle Ty!

Kitchen remodel

Yep, that's what we have goin' on for the next couple months. We are still working on the layout and picking out cabinets, appliances, counter tops and flooring. Any suggestions? Robb and I are having a hard time picking out pretty much everything. It sure is a good idea we are not trying to build a house! Anyway, I love kitchens and really want a lovely space since I spend so much of my day in that room. Don't worry, I will get some before pictures up shortly. It is going to be a giant mess for awhile, but I can hardly wait for the end result!

Another year older

On December 23rd I turned 32. Turning 30, two years ago, was a little difficult for me, just because it seemed as though I was entering a completely different phase of my life and I didn't quite know how to approach it. Honestly I still felt 21 and wasn't sure if I was acting it too! :) After the initial adjustment into the thirties, it has been great. The girlfriends trip that Heidi Jo, Carrie and I took last summer to celebrate our thirties only made me feel younger. We laughed like we were teenagers and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Of course we came home to a house full of kids, which quickly set us back into reality. I know that this decade will be extremely busy with raising kids and such, but so many rewards go with that also. I don't know at what age I will feel 'old' but right now I am enjoying this stage of life and look forward to each year of my thirties!

Doin' the Happy Dance!

FINALLY! Today was the big day that we sent all of our adoption paperwork off. It is a huge relief to have everything done. I have been staring at these papers for months, making sure all I's were dotted and T's crossed. On Christmas Eve we received the final paper in the mail that we had been waiting for. We then had to send everything off to the state capitol to get state certified. We received the papers back today and I had to make 3 copies of everything and send the originals plus 2 copies to our agency. The agency puts the papers through what's called a bundling process and then every paper needs to go to Washington DC to be authenticated. All of this will take approximately 3 weeks and then off to Ethiopia they go! Yay! After that we just wait to be matched. We are told it could take any where from 2 to 9 months to get the referral. We're praying for God's perfect timing and can hardly hold back the excitement as we get closer to meeting our 4th child. We all went to town this afternoon to send the papers off UPS. When I got back in the car we said a prayer that the papers would safely, and without delay, make it to Ethiopia. Hopefully everything is done correctly and things will go smoothly from here on out. This in a huge step closer to our baby girl! This how my desk looked today as I was organizing all of the papers. This isn't even all of them! It's been a long process but all so worth it to be blessed with a child at the end of it all.