Ordinary Hero....What a Night!!

Last night was my sister Kelly's Ordinary Hero Fundraiser Event Dinner....What an awesome night!!! It was a night filled with great friends, food, entertainment and a room filled with people that WANT to be Ordinary Heroes in the Life of a Child!!! And, the night was a HUGE success!! Praise God!! Above is my sister Kelly and me at last night's event..I'm so proud of all that she has accomplished so far through Ordinary Hero....and can't wait to see ALL the lives that will continue to be changed!!!

Sister Kasey (in pink) was present too!!!

There was a great silent auction too!!

My girl, Karen and her mom came with me!! We had a great time!!

Our table!!!

***Here, below, is the video that was shown last night!! It was so awesome and shows a lot of what OrdinaryHero is about and some of the things they have accomplished.....Enjoy!!! (you'll want to pause my music at the bottom of this blog page )





****Congrats Big Sis on your GREAT night! It was awesome! And, Happy Friday to you all, kj

Ok...So I Tried.....

Yes, I actually tried something NEW with LL 's hair!! You see..I kind of have that "why fix it if it ain't broke" mentality....So...I LOVE the bow headbands in LL's hair...so....why try anything else?? Well, I broke down...I also totally HEART pigtails on my girls...I would still put pigtails on my 6 and 8 year old if they'd let me...but...they ONLY want ONE pony tail in the back now (some how that is much cooler than mom's pig tails )....so....I've MISSED my piggy tails...so I decided it was time to try them on my LL:

Well, she really still doesn't have THAT MUCH hair!! The girl has a fabulous thick, wonderful "mohawk" still...but the rest of her hair is STiLL growing in and is pretty short and thin!!! So, I just split the "mohawk" down the middle and gave it a try!!!! Below she is giving us her "fishy" face while sporting some "pig tails" !!! :) I took many pics of her "first time" piggies and TRIED to get used to it...but I was sooo missing that big bow on her head :) Below she gives us the side view of her pig tails:

Ok, so I am HER Momma and I could eat her up any day any time I think she is soooo precious, and I do think she is just too CUTE any old way I do her hair....but...it was time to head to the park to meet some friends....and....the bow won in the end:

ahhhhhh, I feel much better now!!! I mean...that bow is like a drug....I JUST must have it!! :) Next time I'll try big, huge bows on the pig tails...maybe that will make me feel better :)

Can she go her whole life with JUST wearing headbands with huge bows attached?? Do they come in adult sizes?? :) Happy Wednesday to you all, kj

The Comment(s) of the Week!!

Well, i must share our experience on Saturday while looking for a new cook top:

We were fixing lunch for the 5 munchkins on Saturday when POP...the cook top blew something and ALL the electricity in the house WENT OUT!! The hubby manages to get the electricity back on ONLY to see that the LARGE eye on the cook top is in full HIGH GEAR and NOT turning off...So...the only way to get it to turn off is to unplug the WHOLE THING from under the cabinet!! We unplug the thing and realize that after 8 years and LOTS of use..that it might be time for a new one....So we head out to the local Appliance Store to check them out!!!

**We, of course, have our 5 sweeties in tow and walk in "thinking" someone will hopefully sell us a new cook top quickly and then we'll be out of there....Well...up walks OUR sales person and first thing out of his mouth:

Sales Guy: "Wow, are yall trying to be the Gosselins or something?"

Me: "WHO?"

SG: "You know...Kate Gosselin?? Are yall competing with Kate Gosselin?"

Me: "No, i think she has us beat by quite a few!"

SG: (he starts counting my children) "1-2-3-4-5....No, she only has ya beat by 3"

Me: (I just smile and decide i'm probably not gonna like this guy :)

He continues to show us some cook tops letting us know that "THEY ARE VERY EXPENSIVE"! Again, I just smile and kind of ignore his bits on WHAT a big purchase this will be!! (i'm thinkin...do I look THAT bad today...do I look like I can't afford a cook top or something :)

After looking at a few cook tops, he goes on to say:

Sales Guy: "So, you all really need to research this first on a computer! I mean, do yall have a computer...Can you afford a computer after feeding this many mouths?"

Me: "uhhhhh, Yes, I have a computer!" ( i look and notice my hubby's face turning shades of red)

SG: "Yes, I guess you can probably afford a computer if you can afford to go to Seaside, Florida (and points at my sweatshirt I am wearing).

At this point, i can see the blood boiling in my hubby's face...He's about to let the guy have it, but he's keepin his cool UNTIL:

My 5 year old Hal goes up and opens up one of the ovens on display...

Sales Guy: "Son, don't open that, I keep lives snakes in those things."

Hal looks up at him like "I know that you are joking"

Sales Guy: "Don't think I'm joking son...I really do keep lives snakes in all this stuff."

My hal isn't amused and continues to open the door..

Sales Guy: "Kid, seriously DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

That was it...The hubby takes LL from my arms and in one second flat gathers all our other kids and heads straight out the front door RED FACED AND ALL without saying a word...BUT LEAVING ME STANDING WITH THE SALES GUY ALONE!!! I smile at him and say, "ok, well I guess that it's time to go...I better go help my husband" (that's all I could think of at the time :) and I turn and go too!! ( I busted a gut laughing all the way back to the car...cause I couldn't wait for my hubby's reaction :)

****Yes, I dont' think he's winning "Sales Guy" of the year!! And, we still have our cook top broken and yes, my hubby is still talking about the RUDE, INAPPROPRIATE sales guy at the local appliance store!! All I can do is laugh....things like that just crack me up...or maybe it is just seeing my hubby GET SO MAD!! Seriously, funny!!!

Just had to share...Happy Tuesday to you all!! kj

Ethiopian B-day AND April's African Fellowship....

What an awesome day!! We started our afternoon off by attending one of LL 's buddy's FIRST bday party!! The bday girl looked adorable, pictured below...AND, LL and all my other little peeps had a fabulous time at her party!!!

LL especially LOVED the jumpy house thing.....She just laughed out loud the entire time she was on there.....

We took a little break at the bday party to chat with some people...and LL knew the routine...she handed me my camera to take her picture!! :) funny girl!!! Happy B-day Sweet "K"....your b-day party was amazing!!!

****We then headed straight from the bday party to attend the April African Fellowship Group!! I LOVE this group of awesome families!! Just being around these people inspires me more than you could ever know!! The Fellowship Group for April was held at a local park...and I do believe everyone had a GREAT time!!!!

The food is always yummy!!! :)

I love watching everyone cutting up and having fun together...such a blessed sight!!!

Oh, the fun that was had on the twisty slide!!!

You have families in the WAIT for their child......

Others are HOME with their adopted children....It is so much fun to see all the families in different stages of the game TOGETHER!!!

Oh, he loved his baby sister.....so sweet!!!

One of our many beauty queens from the group!! This girly has only been home a short while and was just having the best time today....

Poppy Dip's daughter from http://www.itspoppydipblog.blogspot.com/ These two friends were just too adorable!!!

Above is LL's friend that will start Kindergarten the same year at the same school....so neat to have a friend in class with you that shares the exact same adoption story from the same country!!

This little guy above has only been home a short while....such cute brothers!!!

LOVE these two sisters!!!

Another family going for #5 just like us!!!

And, here's Tracy and me!!! Tracy organizes our group and I'm so grateful she's in charge!! She's still running the show beautifully EVEN AFTER bringing home a sibling group of 4 recently!!! She's my hero!!!

This above family was cute....They just came to the park to play with their kids...and well...they happened to have just adopted from Ethiopia....We have instant new friends!!!! So neat!!! Hope they'll join us next time!!! :)

Tracy with her oldest Ethiopian and her youngest Ethiopian....so cute!!

Siblings that ONLY God could CREATE!!!!

above, Amy from http://www.filledwithpraise.blogspot.com/

Rachel, above, with her three.....She's sitting pretty at the TOP of the AGCI girl list....it won't be long now until they see the face of #4!!! yayyy

My Hal with his cousin Nathan....These two are such GREAT buds!!!

LL was enjoying hanging with Momma at the food tables!!!

My JuJu and her buddy "R"!! Such cuties!!!

Oh, these two just love each other!!! It is just too cute to watch!!!

I had to get a couple of pics of the 3 little princesses present!! These 3 are all around the same age....too cute!!!

Ok, so yall help me here!!!!! These LAST 3 pics are of the sweetest thing I've ever seen!! This lady that was sitting at another table with a totally other group....and she couldn't speak English, but she came over and first gave me MONEY and told me she wanted to make a donation to my daughter!!! I insisted NO..that our adoption was over and she just insisted that I take the money....She then just hugged LL and CRIED and CRIED:
It had everyone crying sitting around us....but we were all left confused because we had no idea what was going on!!! I have no idea WHY she took to LL so much...but she singled her out from the other 100 Ethiopian children and just loved on her and CRIED and wanted to give her money!!!

I finally felt the need to step in and quit taking pics of this situation...She just thanked me and cried some more and walked away!!!

Wow, what a beautiful sight!!! We may not have spoken the same language, but LOVE has a universal language and it was EVIDENT here!! She seemed like a beautiful person and I just wish I KNEW WHY she was so emotional when seeing Lucy Lane!! ?? I guess I'll never know....Any thoughts??

****So, are you ready to join this group yet?? Are you ready to take that leap of faith and give another beautiful child of God a home?? It really is simple....a child needs a family....and you have one!!! Simple as that...and if you still aren't convinced, go read my friend Andrea's latest post...it is so good: www.babeofmyheart.com :)

****Well that's it folks!!! Thanks to everyone for coming out today!! It was SO much fun and I can't wait till our next event together!!! You all are some awesome people to hang with!!! :)

Happy Sunday to you all, kj