Merry Christmas! part 2

Here we are Christmas part 2! We all had a great time and enjoyed our gifts to each other. Except Will because apparently we (I) left his gift at home. At least I hope it is at home because if it's not, I have no clue where it is! And that would not be good.
Anyway.....We had a grand ol' fun time tonight. Bear got the movie Ratitoulle and so we watched that all together as one big happy family tonight. That was special! ;)
The other big hit tonight for the kids was Bear's Shopping cart. They were pushing it all around and putting everything in it. Too funny... here's a couple other snap shots for you to enjoy. I got another Cricut font!!!! I'm so excited! :) Now that is 3 new fonts and I can't wait to scrapbook with them! Yay for me! ;) TJ got more Itunes money.... so now we will have even more cd's! :) Just what we needed. ha ha ha ha ha ha


I love the look of ice on the trees.


TJ's Itunes gift card. :)


My cricut font and a Christmas decoration...


Monkey got this shirt and tie from Will and Melissa and he was so happy! Mom, now I can wear this to church....it's just what I wanted! :) He's so cute! ;)


Bear's famous shopping cart! They were having a good ol time, putting everything from the house in the cart. Ha

Christmas Vacation

We are having a lovely Christmas Vacation! We got to start early since the weather is wet, snowing, icy, and everything else! We decided to leave last night so we wouldn't have to worry about driving in all the mess today. And we are sooooo glad we did. Tomorrow we are making ourselves, (or maybe I should just talk about myself) and we're babysitting Addy, and another baby for a friend of mine who's day care is not open on Christmas Eve Day. So that works out that we can be here and help someone out. :)
We've had fun so far! I got to go to the best scrapbooking store in the world, and then to top it off we had lunch at Panchero's! The best restaurant in the world.... maybe not the best ever, but I really like it really alot really! :)
Tomorrow we will have Christmas Eve supper at Mom & Dad Wright's house and then Christmas Morning here at Will & Melissa's. Other than that we will fill our time with games, talking, eating and facebook! :) not kidding. We like to sit around and chat with each other on facebook instead of talking to each other's faces. ha ha ha ha
Fun times!
Well, can't wait to fill you in on the Christmas part 2! Tune in after Friday sometime and I'll have a few pics posted.

Merry Christmas! part 1

We Celebrated our first Christmas together! The boys were so excited.

Here's a couple snap shots!

They were so excited to open their stockings....They were sitting on the bench waiting for TJ to get home from work. As soon as he opened the door they just started yelling and talking at the same time. It was funny. :)


Posing by the tree. :)


Bear loves WordWorld, so we got him this DVD....he saw the back first and said, it looks like the pie from word world... then turned it over... ROCKET TO THE MOON! YAY!


Monkey was so cute when he opened this... Wow, this is exactly what I wanted, and you got it for me!!!

God is Good!

Today I find myself in the midst of difficulties...yet I'm smiling and saying Praise GOD!

This is not the usual for me. I will admit I've had a real hard time with the whole praising God even in the hard times thing, but lately things have been different. I see God in a whole new way. Everytime I "teach" my child something discipline wise... I think of myself compared to God and realize how sad I must make him when I make those silly choices, just like it saddens me when my children make silly choices. Even as simple as not trusting, or not obeying right away. Like I said, I see everything in a new way now between me and God. It has been amazing! I'm so glad for all the things He has provided for us, including our wonderful children. I do not know what I would do without God, or my family. :) God has been so good to provide for us and bring encouragement to us through our friends. If it were not so I would be digging a hole and going crazy. So even if you are strapped for money and you don't get your next check until the end of the month, and you just got your car back from the shop with a very hefty price tag..... Don't sweat it. God is bigger than all, and somehow He will pull you through.

I love the lyrics from this song..... Bring the Rain-Mercy Me...

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Home Bound

It's been 12 days since our car broke down. And we got that big snow storm in the mix of that. I was just thinking today how weird it is that I've been home so much that last 2 weeks. I haven't really been out in the snow much. We've played in it a couple times, but I haven't had to worry much about going places since I don't have a car, and when I do have a car it's mainly because TJ is home so then he does the driving. We've been able to get out a couples times and we've had friends willing to pick us up and bring us places if necessary so God has been providing nicely! I was noticing some peoples status' and how they were going stir-crazy because they were stuck in the house for 1 or 2 days with the snow storm. I remarkably am not going crazy by the grace of God! And that's pretty good for me since I'm a goer/mover/gottabesomewhere kinda girl! :) Maybe this is the nice break we needed before the next few busy weeks come up. We will be gone this Friday through Sunday...Home, celebrate Christmas just us four....leave Wednesday through Sunday for Christmas with the Wright family side...Home Leave again Monday night til Tuesday afternoon for the adoption! Who-Hoo!...Home... and Wednesday celebrate Christmas with the Wolf family side... then it's New Years weekend.... and the following there is potential planning of an adoption party. This is still in the works. But I need to move fast because we don't want the party to be too far away from the adoption finalization date.

I'm Stephanie Wright, reporting from Owatonna, MN, for the Wright Family Blog.

Good People

There are still good people around, and thank God for them!

We have been out one car for over a week. But for the first few days Mike and Kristine let us use their car. They were gracious enough to give up one of their vehicles for 6 days to let us use it, and so I could have a way to get around while TJ was at work.
Plus they came to our rescue while we were stuck on the side of the interstate! What would we have done without you guys?! Thanks for your giving spirit. We are blessed to have you as friends.

Today we were invited to a Play Date with some of the MOPS mom's. I said I couldn't make it because I didn't have a vehicle, but someone came all across town to pick us up so we could go to the play date. We had a good time, and I feel truly blessed by their giving spirit. She's also coming to pick us up tomorrow for MOPS otherwise we wouldn't be able to go to that! So again, and in advance, thanks for getting ready a little bit earlier to stop over this way and pick up the boys and I.

May God Bless you all for your kindness to us!

Holiday Train

The Holiday Train stopped in our town tonight, and Waseca. We actually went to Waseca to see it since it was there at 7pm....that way we saw it in the dark instead of at 4 when it wasn't quite so dark yet. It was pretty neat. We actually saw the train from a distance on it's way to Waseca when we were driving there.
Here's a couple snap shots of the train, us in the cold and Santa. :)

Here the kids are, waiting, jumping around, trying to stay warm. It was pretty chilly out there.


Here she is pulling in! There were tons of lights on every car. It was very neat.


They opened the doors and there was a band and Santa inside. Santa started things out with a little holiday rap. It was pretty funny.... When I say Santa, you say Clause... Santa ---- Clause ---- Santa ---- Clause!!!


Towards the end Santa came around and handed out candy canes to all the kids. That was exciting. :)


This is the Holiday Train Band. They did a pretty good job. We got there at 6:30 to wait, the train pulled in at 7....opened the doors at 7:15, and we left a little before 8. It was so neat though. I was glad we waited to see it in Waseca in the dark instead of in town here in the afternoon. :) Plus TJ was able to go with us, instead of just me and the boys.

Monster Jam

Saturday night we surprised the boys with Monster Jam at the Metrodome. They did not know where we were going. We just said we'd take a car ride and see where we end up. :)
Here are a few pics and highlights from the evening.

This is Maximum Destruction. It is supposed to be one of the best ones. But he did not have a good night. Right away when they were just introducing them he rode over one of the jumps and broke off one of the front wheels. So he didn't get to be in the first racing part. But he came out at the end for the freestyle. As soon as he came out I said, this can't last long. They fixed the whole tire in 2 hours.... this was his first jump and then the axle broke and he couldn't finish his 90 seconds. Like I said not a good night for him.


They brought out a camper and Grinder drove right through it breaking it apart. This was the second time he hit it, but this time didn't work out so well, right after this his he flipped over.


This is yet another truck that tipped over. He said something about, nothing like tipping over and breaking his $150,000 truck.


El Toro Loco....looks like he tipped over but it was just a close call. He regained control and kept going. :)


This is us, right before we left the Metrodome. It was about 10:30pm. We all had a great time though. We'll have to do it again when the boys get bigger or some other time later!

Interstate Breakdown

First I'm going to say some positive things. Atleast we didn't get in an accident. Atleast we have a friend who was willing to come help us immediately and give us a ride home. Atleast we are safe. Atleast I didn't break down on my way to or from the funeral today in the middle of nowhereville. Atleast TJ's fingers didn't get frost bite. Atleast we didn't get kidnapped and tortured by communists. Atleast our car didn't start on fire. Atleast we have another car. Atleast the chicken was on sale today. Atleast we have clothes. Atleast we didn't waste our money on a ChiaObama.

Now with the story.

Today I went over to Jeffers to a Funeral. Shortly after getting home I got our stuff ready and we headed over the church to decorate for the Senior Brunch tomorrow (Saturday) morning. On the way there, we took the exit for Faribault and when we went to turn the first corner to the church the car died. TJ restarted it and slowly headed up the hill, and then the Coolant Temp Light came on and beeped at flashed at us. So we were trying hard to make it up the hill and into the church parking lot. TJ thought it just needed more coolant so we borrowed Cathy's car and went to the store to get some. He put it in, and the car sat and cooled down while we were in the church. When it was time to go, we started down the road and had just pulled onto the Interstate when the light starts flashing again. So we pull over. We shut the car off and waited a few minutes, started it again and then headed for home. We barely got up to 60 mph and the light started blinking. So TJ went out to look under the hood trying to see if there was a leak in the coolant. It wasn't empty so if there is a leak it's not that prevalent. Finally we called Mike to see if he knew of a quick fix so we could make it another 9 miles down the road to town or our house. But not so... Mike decided to come take a look. In the meanwhile we are sitting in the car, freezing... :) And a police man pulls over and comes to check on us. Making sure we have help on the way, or if we needed some help.... and what not. Then while we are waiting the boys are just constantly talking.... Why was the police man here? Is he going to give you a ticket? Why did he leave already? Is there another police man coming? Are we going to call TowMater to come get us? This is not fun. I don't like sitting here. I'm cold. I'm tired. How are we going to get home...... You get the drift. :) Finally Mike comes, checks things out.... thinks we might be able to drive it and he follows. Start down the road and smoke is coming out like crazy so we pull back over. We called Triple A and got "TowMater" to come and get the vehicle and bring it to town, and we rode home with Mike. Thank the Lord for great friends who are willing to come help at the drop of a hat! :) God Bless you Mike!

So the boys got their first vehicle break down experience. TJ got his first breakdown on the interstate with his entire family in tow experience. And I don't think any of them liked it much.

Mike thinks its going to be the head gasket... Yipee!!! Just what we needed, another bill we can't afford... oh wait, I mean, atleast we have a car so we don't have to walk everywhere. :)


.... fun times.

Almost There

Today is a relatively big day. We have been waiting for what seems like FOREVER for the state of MN to finish our paperwork. Well we finally got it in the mail today! Yay. That means that we can send in our other paperwork that we've been holding on to in to the court for them to pick the court date for us to sign papers and put our names on their birth certificates as their legal parents! Now the biggest prayer request we need from you guys is that you pray really hard about getting the court date before the end of the year. We would really like to have it done before Christmas, not to mention the end of the year, as far as filling out our tax paperwork for next year! We are so ready to get this stage behind us, so please, please pray with us!
Thanks! We'll keep you posted for that most important adoption finalization date!
Yay!
-Stephanie