If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

We went to Arizona to a beautiful wedding yesterday! It was a KCO couple and we did a little road trip down and back! This is the bride and all of her SIBLINGS!!! Her mom is an AMAZING woman and has adopted all but the four older girls. What a wonderful family!!!

Well, staff is here and KCO alumni are here and the Braner kids went to their first Durango birthday party! One of the kids at the party told her mom, "the new kids are nice," so I guess there may be hope for us! No news to report on adoption. . .tomorrow is Monday. . .maybe something then.

Twelve years ago today! I can't believe it! It has been a great 12 years, but this year has been the best! I think going through all of this change has been so great for us! Being able to dream together has been wonderful! And then being able to put those dreams into action has been so exciting! I married my best friend and he has been a super best best friend since the move! I am so blessed in my marriage and I do know what a treat that is! I love my husband!

Well, we still have no news from Rwanda. . .actually I do have news from Rwanda. I have news of no news. My papers still are not at the orphanage. Very frustrating. I've had my letter of approval for two full months and the orphanage has yet to see it. I realize that we kept it from them for one month, but this last month. . .it is hard to sit and do nothing over here while my papers sit and do nothing over there. I want so badly to get on an airplane and take the papers to the orphanage myself. I have a few hunches as to why my papers are in a holding pattern and I need to be praying about those. I know that ultimately, God is using this holding pattern to bring the right child to our family. I know that. But that fact doesn't make the holding pattern any less frustrating. So, there is my news of no news for today. Maybe tomorrow I'll have something better.

We are putting an offer on a house today! That is really fun and exciting! I love the house! It is just perfect! It is MUCH smaller than our last one and I am thrilled for that! The people who built it thought of everything and put so much time and thought and care into it. I am so excited! I cannot wait to move in! I also cannot wait for my old furniture to sell on Craig's List so that I can get new stuff! I found this great furniture store in Durango. It is called "Oohs and Aahs" and it has some great stuff! I promise to post the second I hear about the visit with the nuns!

A little boy FROM RWANDA just performed on American Idol! Oh my goodness!!!!! He was ADORABLE and he did a SUPER job!!! So fun! What a small world!!! ******************* And Jordin was SMOKIN' HOT tonight! Wow!

No news from Rwanda. . .it is after ten there, so I don't think I'll be hearing anything today. Bummer. I thought I'd share a great recipie with my loyal blog followers, though! EXPO BARS (Kanakuk Colorado Expedition) 3 eggs 1/2 pound brown sugar 1/2 pound sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 pound butter 3/4 pound crunchy peanut butter 4 1/2 cups oatmeal 1/2 pound chocolate chips 1/4 pound raisins sunflower seeds (you can add other nuts if you want to) 1/2 cup shredded coconut Bake in a 9 X 13 pan at 325 for 45 minutes!!! ENJOY!!!

For all you Jordin Sparks fans out there, she is going to be preforming on American Idol tonight. She's singing her new single (available on iTunes), "Battlefield." So fun! Tune in! She is always so fun to watch!!!

Some of the children in the orphanage. . .is my boy one of them? A sign on the orphanage. . .I "borrowed" this picture from a stranger's blog. Well, tomorrow we should know a little something. Tim, our Power of Attorney (POA), stopped by the orphanage (HOH) last week and set up a meeting with the nun in charge of it for tomorrow. I am so excited to get something of an answer. I have heard through the grapevine that they often let the parent or the POA select the child from the home. I have heard different things: I have heard that the parent or POA just gets to choose and I have heard that the nuns pick three and then the parent or POA gets to pick from there. Wow. That was unexpected news. It may be totally outdated information, too. I'm not sure, but prayerfully by this time tomorrow, I will know. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if there is any form of the parent getting to choose, that I will be on the next flight to Kigali (with my girlfriend, Ke

Today was a super Mother's Day. I kind of thought it would be a little depressing because Andy is gone and whatever, but the kids and I had a great day! Church and Chinese food and FOB (nap time) and Disney's Earth and McDonald's. . .home to a quick (okay, not so quick) room clean up and then good night! We had a blast! Sang along with Jordin Sparks and Miley Cyrus on the way home. . .our terrible voices and all of us jamming along with Gabby. It was fun! The movie was good! Dax about died when he heard "Darth Vador" narrating the movie! That was a highlight for him! The movie was well done. . .no references to the earth being "billions of years old" and just a little bit on global warming. . .not too much of the humans are runining the world guilt trip! We loved it! It was a tad long for Dax, but he laughed HARD at a few parts! I recommend it! And Hays informed me that every ticket sold plants a tree. . .he always knows the random details!

I think I'm going to take the kids to see Disney's Earth tonight. Right now we do great when we can get out of the house! So, I went to Disney's website to watch the trailer and I took the quiz: "which animal is your family." Corny. . .I may be a little bored. . .but our family is the Humpback Whale family. Who knew?!!? Mother's day has been great! We got up and went to church (my 9th Mother's Day at the Pine Valley Four Square Church in Bayfield) and then we headed to Durango for some after church Chinese! On our way to Chinese, Dax said, "Mom, in the middle of church I forgot what you looked like and sounded like and feeled like because it was really really really really really really long." Happy Mother's Day to me! Dax likes to know what I look and sound and feel like! Andy gets home tomorrow. I've very excited for that! He posted a great Ode to Mothers (especially me) on his blog! That was really sweet! So, the Humpback Br

I love my Cocomotion!!! It makes the world's best hot chocolate! You add milk and hot chocolate mix and then turn it on. . .it heats it and mixes it and it is the yummiest hot chocolate ever! Add a little Cool Whip and it is a little piece of wonderful!!!

Well, I had my first day out with a new friend today and it was fun! Jan moved from Oklahoma to Durango almost two years ago. She and her husband, Andrew, have two daughters: Olivia (almost 3) and Harper (7 months). We got to play at the park with the kids and just talk. I had a super time and I am looking forward to many more "play dates" in the future! Thanks, Jan!!! I also got a call from another friend, Carrie, to go to lunch tomorrow. God is so good! Last night I had a HUGE moving and transition emotional collapse and today God blessed me with a day with a friend and a call from another Colorado friend for plans! He knows what I need! And to my sister-in-law, Jennafer: please sell my stuff on Craig's list!!! All of my bedroom furniture, my coffee table in the living room, the elliptical, Andy's roll top desk, the crib and changing table, the two rugs and I think that is all for now! I'll get with you about prices!!! Thanks so much!!!! I have found new stuff t

Well, we're here. It was a great drive out and the weather is amazing! Yesterday we went house shopping and I think we found "the one"!!! We'll have to take it one step at a time, but I am really excited about the house and the neighborhood! (Now I just need to sell my furniture back in Branson so that I can get new stuff for out here!) My mom drove out with me. . .that was a HUGE blessing! She has been a great help with the kids and the unpacking! And I loved having her along for house shopping. I love it that she has seen where we might end up--that makes me feel a little more connected! Adoption stuff: no new news. Trust me, I'll be posting like crazy once we get some!!! Durango people: many of you have commented over the last few months! If you are from Durango, please give me some contact information (email or whatever) because I would love to get to know you and ask you questions! Many blessings!

Today my dear friends threw us a going away party and it was wonderful--bitter sweet, but wonderful! I was honored and humbled! I felt so loved! I just wanted to share a few fun pictures with you all! We head to Durango tomorrow. I cannot believe that I am closing this chapter in my life. I have lived in Branson since the day my parents brought me home from the hospital (minus the four years spent at Baylor) and I really thought that I would always be here. I am VERY excited for the move and for all that God has in store for me and my family. I am leaving with no regrets and I know that we are making the right decision! I can leave without looking back!!! However, tomorrow is going to be a very very sad day. God has blessed me with amazing friends who I will miss dearly. I have also been blessed to live right down the street from my parents, my brother and his wife and my dear Gran'ma. Leaving the people I love is going to rip me apart inside. I can't even imagine

Good friends and great family at the art show! Random photo layout, though! Last night was the Branson Elementary Art Reception! Hays had two projects in the show. It was really fun. I think between Hays's fans and Emmy Pierson's fans we made up over half of the attendees! It was nice. My favorite part was seeing Hays beam about his projects and seeing him be there with his grandparents and his great-grandmother. That won't happen again once we move and it was very bitter sweet. Maggie had her first emotional break down of the moving saga when we left the show. She cried and cried. I think she finally realizes that we're leaving and that she won't see those people again. She is really upset about leaving her teacher. That makes me smile that she had such a great teacher! Then we headed to the Nimrods for a fun dinner! They had a huge sign on their front window that said "We (heart) BRANERS!" I loved it! Becca is so thoughtful and has been a s