the vogeltanz family

A kid truly happy to eat broccoli!

for real? choosing broccoli over cookies!

workin' a piece of corn

blueberry picking

enjoying time with Addison

exhausted after an hour of blueberry picking (well, mostly blueberry eating! do I even have to mention how bad the diapers were for the next day or two?? Eek!)

guilty look?

water = pure joy.

delicious.

who needs a cup?

vroom vroom

looking good.

It's important to have the right gear when riding a vespa...like a giant oven mit.

 **Adoption Update: Nothing new to share…just waiting + praying for our baby girl. We think we are about number 24 on the waitlist and should have an official number later this month. Ethiopian courts/government takes a “vacation” in August & September (weird, I know!) so we will definitely be holding in a waiting pattern for the rest of the summer. God is teaching us all about patience and His timing through this process. Thanks for your prayers and support!!

welcome to the beach

Nash and I spent most of the week at Myrtle Beach with my parents and my sister’s family. We had a great time playing in the sand, hanging out in the hammock, and spending time with my family. It was a great week…and I wish I could have stayed longer!  

Sand. Hmmm.

peek-a-boo

sitting in a tree...

Nash + Xavier

ready for the beach...

Nash loves his Obi

taking a rest?

Here are some silly pictures of Nash and I having a little (okay, A LOT) of fun with Photo Booth on my computer. Isn’t Nash getting so big!? I can not believe how quickly he is growing!!

Enjoy the pictures and the little video! 

Say Cheeeeeese!

Nash's classic "Funny Face"

kisses

the pencil effect...very 80's MTV video?

 And lastly, a few other snapshots from our week…

check out my booboo

A rainbow marks the sky above our home

We strolled in from the lake this afternoon and collected the mail from the past few days. In the pile of catalogs and junk mail was an unassuming little card in a hot pink envelope addressed to me and Bryson. Bryson opened the mail while I unpacked. “Oh…my….goodness!” is what I heard Bryson mutter as I turned around and saw his jaw open as he silently read the kind note in one hand and held a check in the other. He immediately read me the note and then showed me the check. A $1,000 check. Not from some rich old lost aunt or wealthy doctor, but instead a 20 year old college student whom we have known for a little over a year had written us this check to go towards our adoption. 

Amazing.

Humbling.

Overwhelming.

Tears. 

We had never asked for or expected money from this college student. It was completely out of the blue, and quite simply yet another reminder that God is in control. A reminder that God uses average, everyday people to do miracles and be His hands and feet in this crazy world. We are blown away by the heart of this 20 year old girl and that she would choose to leverage her finances to help us bring home our baby girl. Every day we are more and more humbled as friends and family come around us and cheer us forward on this adoption journey. I don’t know how we will ever be able to truly thank everyone who has been a part of this process. What an amazing ride! Thank you to everyone who has given…big or small…we are forever grateful, and you are forever a part of our story. 

***We have raised $20,051.05 in 5 months. Only $6,948.95 remains. God is so good. 

Nash enjoying a boat ride on the lake this weekend.

We spent a few days in St. Simons at the beach this weekend. It was overcast and cool…perfect beach weather with a toddler (but not if you are hoping for a tan!). 

On our way to the beach!

Nash LOVED the beach and sand

Lovin' life

Look what I found!

Enjoying our redneck motel accommodations

Drinking water from a Starbucks cup...he'd probably like an iced latte though.

Dad and Nash enjoy the beach

Deborah + Fields, Emily + Nash

Our friends, the Kirklands, who braved the motel life with us

being silly in the car

Nash helped me make pepperoni rolls (a West Virginia classic!) this week. He was such a good helper and really enjoyed playing with the dough. He also LOVED eating the rolls. I only let him have one before bed, but the first thing he asked for when he woke up the next morning was a “woll” for breakfast! 

YUM!

get it just right...

a great little helper

enjoying the final product...caught in mid chew!

so good.

 It’s already summer time in Georgia. We enjoyed some yummy watermelon this week…Nash devoured it! 

One more picture from the week. I snapped this photo at church…Nash comes early with me and loves hanging out in the High School area where he enjoys doughnuts and video games. Who said church was boring??

My mother's day gift from Bryson...Love it!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mama’s out there!

I feel very celebrated and loved today. Bryson surprised me with a beautiful card and an amazing handmade Africa necklace I had wanted (www.junkposse.etsy.com). With adoption there is no outward physical signs that a baby is on the way, so I love this necklace because it is a sweet reminder that we are waiting for our baby girl. (**By the way, we are currently #28 on the wait list!) I also got a wonderful hand made card by Nash. I am most blessed girl in the world to have these two boys in my life! What an honor it is to be a mother…it’s not always easy, but it is always a joy!

Thank you Bryson for making today special for me!

We got news this week that we are officially number 30 on the waitlist to be matched with our baby girl in Ethiopia! While that means we have a good 8 to 9 months of waiting ahead of us, we are still thrilled and it is just exciting to know that we are officially “in line” to be matched. We like to think of this stage as the “first trimester”.

In honor of the number 30 here are thirty things we are looking forward to about our baby girl…

1. to see her little face for the first time
2. to hold her in our arms and never let her go
3. to learn about her past and dream about her future
4. to do her hair!
5. to kiss her little face
6. to learn her personality
7. to travel to Ethiopia to pick her up and visit her country
8. to meet the women who have cared for her in Ethiopia at the orphanage and thank them
9. the 20+ hour flight home
10. to watch Nash meet his little sister
11. to helping her adjust to her new surroundings
12. to bonding with her and becoming her family
13. to becoming her mother
14. to play dress up with her (pink, pink, pink!)
15. to tell her about Jesus
16. to watch her grow and be healthy
17. to introduce her to all the people who have helped us financially and prayerfully bring her home
18. to listen to her laugh for the first time
19. to watch her smile at me + bryson for the first time
20. to feeding her
21. to watch her sleep in her nursery
22. to teach her to walk
23. to tell her stories about Ethiopia
24. to watch Bryson fall in love with his little baby girl
25. to learning how to take care of her precious skin
26. to watching the grandparents spoil and love on her
27. to providing for all her needs
28. to watching her play with her new friends
29. to one day when we can bring her to visit Ethiopia
30. to telling her story…and hoping it inspires many to adopt as well. 

Bryson and I pose with our completed dossier and our victory smiles!

Exciting news on the adoption front! Our completed home study came in the mail today which was the last piece of our dossier paperwork we were waiting on (waiting over 6 weeks for, ahem!) I immediately jumped in the car and took our dossier to UPS to ship it off to our agency. Yay! (I admit that I got teary eyed as I packaged up the paperwork at the UPS store!) It’s a big victory…5 months coming! Now we will be officially placed on the wait list for a baby girl and hope to be matched with a baby in the next 8-9 months. Now we wait. 

On a funny note…I ran over my phone last week…with the lawn mower. Eeek! This picture will surely make you smile…

note to self...don't mow the grass.

Easter is my favorite holiday. I love it because it is low pressure, you get to spend it with friends, and we get to celebrate the LIFE we have in Jesus. Amazing. 

I completely forgot to take pictures of Nash on Easter morning in his cute outfit. so I am going to have to stage something in the next day or so and dress him back up to capture Easter 09. I did, however, get a few pictures of our Easter gathering we hosted at our house on Sunday evening. We welcomed about 40 friends to our home for a good old fashioned covered dish dinner. It was great! We had an egg hunt for the little ones and just enjoyed hanging out and playing in the yard. 

(Because of my natural competitive nature, Nash and I “practiced” hunting for eggs a few days before the gathering so he would be ready for Easter Sunday! He did a great job…except after finding a few eggs he would toss them back in the grass and start over…just like we practiced! Funny!)

On your marks. Get set. GO!

Go Nash Go!

Nash and his friend Aiden

Mission accomplished

Courtney + Anders

sweet Anders!

what sweet families!

Nash had his 18 month appoint this past week. Yes, he is 19.5 months old, but I’m never on time for anything unfortunately. He had his last vaccine (for awhile at least) and the doctor declared him happy and healthy. He is off the charts (in my book and in theirs!) coming in at 36inches tall and 30lbs. He’s a big boy! 

Nash discovered his pockets...

pondering deep thoughts while taking a ride on the blue whale

this is so fun!

Nash enjoys mowing the grass with dad

Proud to visit the Athens-Clarke Co. Fire Hall

Nash even got to drive the truck

Eating at the counter like a big guy. Gosh, he is getting so big!

trying to "wink" and enjoy a biscuit at the same time.

**ADOPTION UPDATE: I got word today that our Home Study is being Fed Ex’d to us as we speak and i should have our Dossier turned in by the end of the week. PRAISE GOD!

How do you spend your saturday? Do you play in the dirt like me? 

Dirt 101: 

go on, get those nails dirty…

give that mud a toss in the air…

what the heck, go on and take a bite…(be warned it does get stuck in your teeth.)

then head in for a bubble bath…

We also like to mow the grass on Saturdays…(okay, “like” is a strong word…but mom likes to “strongly encourage” dada to mow the grass on saturdays)

And if we are lucky, we get to swing by the Hall’s house for Brian’s Saturday homemade breakfast and hang out with the clan…

**ADOPTION UPDATE: Our home study report was apparently scheduled to be reviewed by the agency yesterday. We hope to have some news on Monday from our social worker and have our Dossier turned in by mid week. Praying and being patient!

We had a very good time in Costa Rica last week. We were carefree the whole week and just went wherever the wind took us…which ended up being a whirlwind tour of the west coast of the country putting over 500 miles on our little car. The tickets were free via Sky Miles and the goal was to do the trip MUY CHEAPO. It was a fun challenge and we had an awesome time! Here is a glimpse of our week…

________

A little slice of paradise. Ahhhh….I took up residence in that hammock for several hours while Bryson conquered surfing. 

Like I said, I was very cozy in my hammock….

Yes, that is a pig in the picture. Her name is Lola and she is famous at this particular beach. She even has a restaurant named after her. 

Another slice of paradise. This was taken at our new friends’ home in Ocotal. We stumbled upon their guest house and rented it for a few nights. It was a sweet deal at only $50 a night! (Quite an upgrade from the $6 a night youth hostel that proved to us that bed bugs really do exist and we have become far too old…and maybe just a little too high maintenence for youth hostels. Sigh)

the view from the deck…

The main house…

Costa Rica has a rule that no beach is private…so you technically can go to any resort and hang out at their beach. We tried doing this at the Four Seasons (since we could never afford the $500 a night price tag, we thought we would at least like to look at it)…but we never made it to their main beach. They dropped us off at another beach for people like us who are trying to get into the resort. Funny. It was still a nice beach though. 

We tore up those dusty Costa Rican roads. Windows rolled down, wind in our face, 99 degree weather, (and a little sun poisoning)….We had a lot of fun just hanging out together…

But the roads were not always kind to us…

We loved the drive from the coast to the Arenal Volcano…

The zip-line canopy tour through the cloud forest of Monteverde was quite an adventure. (Seriously, like that stupid blue plastic hat is going to do any good if you drop from the cable 300 feet above the ground??? Was it just to make us feel safe??!!)

That’s me flying above the canopy….

Bryson and I getting cuddly in the hammock. I love to travel…especially with my sweet husband. I cant wait to see where the wind (and free Sky Miles) takes us next!!  

Nash is thrilled that spring is here and our days can be spent playing in the yard…

and doing silly things like bouncing on giant balls

and getting covered in mud from head to toe…

Cheering for the Georgia Bulldogs at Tennis matches…

and from the outfield at the baseball games with dad…

we love playing outside…

but most of all we like to eat ice cream when the weather gets warm…. (thanks Grandpa Vern!)

***ADOPTION UPDATE***

Still waiting for our Home Study report. Learning patience with each day!

Bryson spent last week in Nicaragua with 17 college students from UGA. He led the spring break mission trip and needless to say, had an amazing time.  Five of the girls on the trip are in my Freshmen girls small group that I lead every week and it is already evident that the trip for them was a life changing experience they will carry with them the rest of their lives. Here are some of the faces of the beautiful Nicaraguan people….

And just for fun…Here is a picture of Pig intestines…Yum? (one of the students actually ate it!)

Laying in bed sick has it’s perks. For instance, I am so bored I have posted 3 new blog entries!

Update on the Adoption: 

• We have raised just over half of the $27,000 needed to pay for all of the adoption expenses! Amazing! We are believing God will continue to provide every single penny needed. There are two quotes that have been encouraging to me these past few weeks as we have been working on fundraising: “God always funds his callings.” and “Capital always follows courage, and ‘what’ always precedes ‘how’.”
• We completed our final Home Study meeting this morning. Our Social Worker has been such an amazing blessing to work with. I am so grateful we have not had a nightmare experience like some adoptive families have gone through. Now we wait for her to write up our Home Study report. Once that is complete, we will send in our Dossier paperwork and the true waiting begins! 

Nash These Days: 

• Nash is trying harder and harder each day to speak more and say new words. 
• His hair is growing in like crazy, we are going to have to trim up the back or he is going to be sporting a mullet if we arent careful! 
• He has definitely entered the “terrible two’s” stage, and even told me “NO!” a few times this week. Uh oh, we are going to have to nip that in the butt quick! 
• One of the most funny moments of the week was when I went to get him up from his nap and I found him in his crib with his diaper ripped off and laughing at himself. It was quite hilarious…but i tried to not let him know that I thought it was funny! 

What a little Gerber baby…

Here is a funny little video of Nash. In the video you will hear a few things…

1. He says the word “off” like a German. Not sure where he picked that up, but it sure is funny to us. 
2. He shows you his favorite book and points out Jesus. 
3. You get to watch him run around in his onsie. 

Enjoy!

Earlier this week the south got a little taste of true winter. Athens was covered in 5+ inches of snow and it was complete mayhem around these parts! Here are some pictures of Nash’s first time playing in the snow…

IT’S SOOOOO COLDDDDDDDD…….AHHHHHH

I’m going inside….

Our week started off with Nash attending his first official birthday party for his friend Evy Cole. Chuckie Cheese was a big hit with all 20 toddlers in attendance. Nash even devoured an entire cupcake…a very big treat for him! On Tuesday we got to go to the Georgia Aquariam in Atlanta with our friends Kris and Addison. It was my first time there too and it was awesome! On Wednesday mornings I have been attending a women’s bible study and Nash has been making some new friends in the nursery. The change of pace has been good for both of us! Today was a busy day of running errands trying to gather all the needed paper work and notaries for our Dossier. Exhausting! We did manage to visit a park since the weather was so amazing and even swung by the library to watch a puppet show. The puppet show totally captured Nash’s attention and he sat and watched the whole thing! 

All in all a great week! 

I was never able to get a good picture of the kids together…they are always on the go! 

We arrived a little early, so we played in the park outside for awhile. Nash enjoys being on this side of the stroller! 

Fish…lot’s of fish…

This picture is blurry…but I like the colors in it. Nash was mesmerized by the fish…

Oh “The Cheese”…the best part is that he didnt even care if he had coins in the machines or not! He just loved climing all over them! Here he is playing with the birthday girl. 

He loved that silly rat. 

cupcake + drool all over his face…He had the time of his life! 

Waiting patiently for mama at the courthouse while I get ANOTHER form notarized. I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel though! Our Dossier (basically our life in paper/forms) is almost complete! 

waiting not-so-patiently…and hoisting himself up on a chair to reach the computer….

This is why I waited to feed him red sauce on his pasta…

It is a MESS! But it makes for a super cute picture. (Nash has learned to say “cheese” when we take a picture now!)

After a dinner like that…you have to strip ‘em down and send them straight to the bathtub!