Here are some pictures of Jenna.

Tonight I was able to feel Grommette's babies strong and hard!!! I have been able to feel them in the past couple of weeks, but not very often and when I did, they were very light kicks and movements. Tonight, the babies were kicking lots. Once, I was able to feel a ribcage and once a nose moved across the palm of my hand!!! Being able to feel babies, brings such a delight to me!!

Grommette's due date is February 17. Only 31 days! :)

With all this snow, our neighbor has had to plow our driveway a couple of times, making for a big berm (quickly getting smaller with all the rain we are having). Yesterday it wasn't raining, so all my siblings, except Jenna :), played outside. We made a tunnel in part of the berm and then worked on making a den. We didn't get it completed,and this morning the roof had caved in with everything beginning to melt :(
We had fun though, trying to make other dens and tunnels. I didn't get any pictures of us, or else I would have posted them. Maybe if it isn't to far gone tommorrow, I can get some pictures :P

Jenna came home to stay on Friday!!! We were planning on the Krouses coming down for a visit and then going up the mountain to visit them on Saturday, but Mrs. Krous sent us an email saying that she was bringing Jenna and all her things!! We were very surprised and delighted. :)

After making 8 trips on the snowmobile to bring everything down to the car, they drove here. Several boxes and bags full of Jenna's clothes made their way into the girl's room. We unloaded several beautiful dresses, sweaters, and shirts among other nessacary articles. Then we ate dinner and chatted until about 9:30 p.m. at which time Jenna went to bed.

Next morning found us all eagerly waiting to be able to get her up and play with her. The day went by delightfully with each of us learning more about how to care for a baby. It's been a long time since I had to feed, change, and care for one. Here are some pictures of that first day.....

 

 

 

On Sunday we headed up to see the Krouses and our little girl. We had to park about 2 miles from their house and complete the trip on their snowmobile! It was great fun holding on and whizzing up the hill, while getting snow in our face! We had a great day playing with Jenna, playing Pit (a card game), and eating a delicious lunch. Cherish (Jenna's Aunt) showed me her new horse, Mocha. Mocha is a very pretty white horse with brown spots. She is a very silly, people friendly horse. Then when it was time to go, Cherish, Calvin, Kayla, and I grabbed some sleds and went sliding part way down the hill that had sides of snow built up like a tobaggan run. The ground was so icy that it was hard to stop the sled! Alissa (Jenna's Aunt and Cherish's sister) was going back and forth on the snowmobile bringing people and bags down to the cars. It took about 45 minutes to bring everything down to the cars, but it sure was fun!!! :)

Here is a miraculous story that recently happened to our family. Here goes.

On the 14th of Nov. 2008, two days after I wrote the post about us no longer pursuing adoption, the Harneds, dear friends, informed Mom of a baby girl named Jenna who was being cared for by her grandparents and was up for adoption. The grandparents wanted to be grandparents rather than care for her as a parent would. So, they searched for a family that would meet their criteria. The grandparents were willing to care for the little girl if they couldn't find the family with the same goals, but they really wanted to step into a grandparent's role.

On the 18th of Nov. they came over for an afternoon visit. Our two families were amazingly like-minded.

On the 20th of Nov. they called and informed us that they would be delighted if we would pursue adopting Jenna. Of course we said that we would gladly adopt Jenna!

Both of Jenna's parents had not relinquished their rights, which meant that she was not legally free. This was a major step that needed to be accomplished in order that Jenna could be adopted.

On the 24th of Nov. we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to their house, which is beautifully located on the side of a mountain. We had a great time talking, playing instruments, and getting to know Jenna.

On the 3rd of Dec. the birthfather signed all the papers releasing Jenna for adoption!! We were excited as this meant that only one parent was left to relinquish rights.

On the 5th, the birthmother relinquished her rights by not showing up at her court
appointment! She had also chosen to not participate in Jenna's life prior to that court date. This left Jenna free to be adopted!

On the 11 of Dec. the Krouses came over for a visit and Grandma and Grandpa Fraley flew in from Utah, so we were able to get family pictures with Jenna! It was a lot of fun.

Today our family enjoyed having the Harned's over. Their mom was shopping in some stores near our house and instead of going shopping, Michelle, Matthew, and Brett voted coming over to our house to play! :) Us kids didn't mind in the least!!:) We spent a couple hours playing Capture the Flag. It sure added a fun dimension to the game in trying to run through deep snow! The game seemed to be going in my team's opponent's favor, but at the very end, my team won!!! After that exhausting but thrilling game, we headed in the house to eat and play "in-house" games. Corbin, Brett, and Calvin played Risk which Corbin won. Kayla won the rest of us at a game of Monopoly.

Later that day, we went outside to feed the animals and brush the horses. They didn't have much icicles on their back, but their feet were sure packed with ice. I tried a while to get it out of our smallest pony with not much luck. The bigger ponies were a lot easier.

We had a great time with you....please come again soon Harneds!!!! :)

Here are some pictures that will hopefully be able to give you an idea of what it looks like around our place!

We are getting dumped on. It is kind of hard to know how much it snows, because where we live, the winds blow a lot and drift the snow. Yesterday the snow was approxamently 1" to 1' high. Today it is 1' to 3' tall!!!

Wow! It sure has been piling up snow today, even though the forecast only showed flurries. Well, I suppose even the 'Forecasters' are wrong sometimes! We have been 'enjoying' freezing temperatures and having to fill waterbuckets up by hand. :P I am sure thankful thought that we have wood heating and hot water to warm us up with!

Corbin had a wonderful birthday on Dec. 5th. We went 2nd hand shopping and Dad met us at Costco for lunch. We were able to quite a few things at the stores. Then when we were done shopping, we came home and Corbin received his gift. It was money to get a pistal. Corbin is very excitedly shopping around to get the best pistal to fit his needs!!

Dad celebrated his birthday four days later. He had to work, since it was a Tuesday, but when he arrived home we played Monopoly. Corbin won!


My Grandpa and Grandma came up on Wednesday to celebrate Corbin's 16 birthday, Dad's birthday, and an early Christmas. They live in Utah, so we see them about 3-4 times a year. We have had a great time shopping, playing cribbage, talking, and working together.

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving day with food, shelter, and everything else that we have to be thankful for.

Some of the things that I have to be thankful for are:

The Lord, who always gently guides me into paths of better character and is always there to talk to and share my heart with.

The Pilgrims, who started this country in Faith, Love, and a Christian heritage.

The freedom of being able to pray, read the Bible, sing hymns, and share the Gospel with others.

Family and Friends, who encourage me, love me, play with me, and sharpen me!

Corbin got his pins out! They came out easily and with hardly any pain. Corbin has been trying to strengthen and loosen that arm now. It is amazing how much the arm loses it's strength and mobility in five weeks!! To hold the arm straight out in front of him, was like for one of us, holding a ten pound weight in your hand!! He can now lift his arm above his head.

Thanks for all your prayers!!

Velvet is a Nubian doe that gave birth on my property this January to two girls and one boy. I sold her along with one of her daughters to a wonderful family. They cared for them this summer and really enjoyed them, but recently, felt God leading them to move. So they called me up and I bought them back. Dad and I decided though that 13 does were too much for us to comfortably manage, so we are selling them.

We found a buyer that should be picking them up on the 20th. I will be sad to see them go, but glad that they found a good home.

Hello Everyone,

I don't know if you all knew that we were planning on adopting, but we have been working on adopting since February. At first everything was falling into place, but recently, all the doors have been shut. We are not wanting to start all over again, so unless God brings some children to us, we are not planning on trying to adopt.

This has been somewhat hard on us, but we understand that God knows what is best, and we don't want what God doesn't want for us, so we aren't going to try to open doors that have been shut.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and support.

My brother loves hunting. This year, Corbin read several books and studied, studied, and studied. He bought new better hunting gear and researched where he should hunt this year. Unfortunatly, his hunting season only lasted from Friday to Monday! On Monday, he was hunting at a friend's house. Danny (one of Corbin's friends) was accompanying him. Next to a pond stood a tree and tied to the tree was a rope swing. Corbin looked at the swing and thought that it looked fun, but unsafe, as it looked like the handle had been shot by a gun. On further observation, however, he decieded to give it a try. It bore his weight, so deciding that actually swinging would be a lot more fun than being still, he stepped off and taking a running start, grabbed the handle of the rope swing and swung out. The next thing he knew was that he was lying on the ground, and having fallen about six feet through the air and digging a two inch dent in the dirt from his shoulder, was not feeling too good. Corbin jumped up, but hastily learning that he hurt, layed back down. He then had Danny try to lay his hurt arm across his stomach, so he could then try to get up, but that hurt too much. He had Danny try to hold his arm tight against his side, but that didn't work either. Danny called up at the house and learned that Dad had just pulled in. Dad drove down to the pond which is where the rope swing was. Once he got there, he pulled Corbin into a sitting postition, then up all the way. Danny drove the car back up to the house, while Corbin hanging on to Dad, made his painful, slow way up to the house. After sitting at the Wylie's for a while, Dad drove Corbin to a InstaCare center. The doctors there thought that it was dislocated and sent him to Sacred Heart. Once at Sacred Heart, Dad searched for where the emergency room was. After finally finding it, they sat down and waited for admission to see a doctor. Mom arrived at the doctor's office about 5 hours after the accident. Corbin was shaking from pain. Mom ordered some pain meds for him and Corbin soon began to feel a little better. After several x-rays, the doctors determined that it was broken and that he would need a surgery to put the bones in place. (The humerous bone had snapped up by the clavicle bone.) Dad, Mom, and Corbin got to bed at about 2:00, only to have to get up and be back at the doctor's by 7:00. Corbin had his surgery at 11:00 a.m. and has since been resting here at home with four pins sticking out of his arm- to keep the bone in place. We were hoping that we could get a lot of school done, but have put that ambition away for a couple weeks and are watching lots of movies and listening to tapes.