Our Special Dinner Guests....

This evening we had some very special guests for dinner! We first met the Clarno family in Guatemala almost a year ago! This is the second time they have blessed our family by stopping in for dinner (from 2 states away!!) This time we introduced Grant to the pigs...and Charlie (home from Hannah's Hope last December) took a spin on the tractor. We look forward to many more fun visits in the future!

We remember...

On this Memorial Day weekend...we are reminded to honor those who have given their lives for our country... and pray for those who have lost loved ones.
Our family is so proud of those who are defending our freedom today! We are thankful for their service!!
It is such a blessing to live in America...thanks to the many men and women who have sacrificed!!

We also remember the ultimate sacrifice that was made for freedom....the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to free us from sin and bondage!

We are a blessed people!!!!

Good News to Share!

We heard from All God's Children today with good news! They are anticipating that we will be out of Civil Registry on Tuesday! Yippeeeee! Naomi also indicated that we should be submitted into the US Embassy very shortly after that ("a couple of days"). So....if all goes well....we could potentially be traveling to bring our sweet baby Micah home by the week of June 12th....could be a little sooner (or a little later), so stay tuned! We will keep you updated.

Prov. 25:25...Like cold water to a weary soul, is good news from a distant land.

Praise God!

Last Day of School!! Yippeee!!!

Today was our last day of school 2005-2006:

Here are some fun pics of our day!






Brock: Today was the last day of elementary school for me!! We had field day. The super slide was the best part. Next year I am headed to the JUNIOR HIGH!!!!
Erica: I had a great field day!! We had games, rides, water balloons, snow cones and inflatables!! Madi came home with me, we played with sidewalk chalk and then we ate last day of school cake.

We can't wait to have a great summer!!!

"Blog about the kittens!!!"

That was the plea I heard this morning! Brock and Erica are proud to announce that our cat, Cookie, (outdoor cat only, I must clarify) had 3 kittens yesterday. We had just discovered last Friday (only 3 days ago) that Cookie seemed a little fat. I thought "oh, surely not"...but sure enough...we have increased the population of animals on our property (in my humble opinion, we were already a bit over-populated!) The kids are loving it...they can't wait for the kittens to open their eyes and get big enough to hold! We will be looking for a loving home for these darling animals (Nana, I believe you are on the top of the call list!), so if you are interested, please let us know!

Erica's prayer last night included thanking her heavenly Father for: Sugar (the dog), Cookie (the cat), the 3 kittens, the two goats, the three pigs, and the 2 chicks!!!

Is there no limit???????

The "HOME"-stretch!

I thought it would be helpful to list the following steps to bringing Micah home. We will post when we complete each step, so that you all can just follow along with us! Please keep praying that these final steps will "fly"by!!

1. CIVIL REGISRTY - 7 to 21 business days -we are here now. This Guatemalan department is making a new birth certificate with Micah's birth first name and TIMMONS for his last name.
2. IMMIGRATION ZONE - 5 to 7 days -after they have Micah's birth cert., they will get him a passport.
3. TRANSLATIONS - 4 to 5 days - all 25 legal documents will then need to be translated from Spanish to English.
4. UNITED STATES EMBASSY - 4 to 7 days - the "Final Adoption Packet" is submitted. Once approved, they will issue our PINK SLIP!!!! and our travel date. We will most likely travel within one week of the pink slip!!

Sounds like a lot....but we really are in the home stretch now!! We will keep you updated.

Erica's Jokebook

Here are a couple of good jokes I know:

What do you call a bull that is sleeping??
A bulldozer.

Where do you put your dogs when you shop??
In a barking lot.

What do potatoes wear to bed??
Yammies.

Love, Erica
p.s. my mom finished her thank yous!!!

BLOG-ITIS- (noun)-injury due to overuse of the blog

I should have known better...my personality (slightly OCD-ish at times...no comments, Chad!!) lends itself way too easily to becoming obsessed with something like BLOGS. I'm hooked! I have really enjoyed learning how to customize our family blog...it is still a work in progress (can you say HTML??) and I love reading posts of other Christian women/ families on topics like family devotions, home organizing, recipes, etc. AND I am so excited that I have turned a few other people on to the the blogging world (those blogs will be up and running real soon, right girls??)

BUT....

Here is the problem: blogging (can you use "blog" as a noun, verb, adj or adverb??) has caused INJURY to my "TO DO" list! Items that I had planned to check off my list by Monday/Tuesday (like writing and sending out a stack of thank you's) are still UNCHECKED!!

So, after much analyzing, this is my Rx for healing my blog-itis (as if it were a medical prob! ha!): After finishing this post, I will not blog (verb) again until I check something (in this case, the thank you's) off of my list! Then, I think I will keep doing that (giving myself a task to complete BEFORE I allow myself to be online again)! This way, my blog-addiction turns into a positive MOTIVATION!?!?!?!?

We will see how this plan works (doctors are historically not that great at treating themselves!)!! If the Rx fails, I may need an intervention!! :)

"Hi-Lo" for dinner...

Other than the usual converstation that occurs at our dinner table, our family has made "Hi-Lo" a regular part of almost every meal. At some point during the meal, one of us will just say "Hi-Lo"...and then the discussion begins! We go around the table and each of us shares the "high point" of our day, and then we will each share the "low point" of our day. We do not go in any certain order...but everyone shares something. Sometimes we do the "highs" first, some times we get the "lows" out of the way first. What is usually constant, however, is that the conversation tends to go deeper at some point. Last night was a great example (one that almost made me cry!)....Brock shared that his high was going to the trophy shop to engrave some medals for uncle Tim...which led to him sharing that my (Michelle's) dad was working some too...which led to Chad sharing with the kids that my dad (who now has Parkinson's) is one of the hardest working men he has ever known! It touched me so much to hear my VERY hard-working husband honor my dad in this way! It was a very sweet moment for me...as many of the hi-lo moments turn out to be!

IT'S "OFFICIAL"!!!!!

Our household is rejoicing tonight!! We learned just a few hours ago that this absolutely adorable 6 month old baby is now "officially" a member of our family!! The adoption is final! PRAISE GOD!!! We have been waiting months for this moment... and it is finally here!

There are still several things to be accomplished before we can actually travel to bring him home. He needs a new birth certificate, a passport, a final medical exam, etc. All of this should take about 4 to 6 weeks. Stay tuned....

This picture is from a video we just received from AGCI, taken just two weeks ago. The video is so FUN! He is so happy...laughing and "talking" so much! We can not wait to wrap our arms around this little guy again...to see the smiles and hear the laughs "firsthand"!!

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!" Psalm 118:24

Old McTimmons' had a farm...

Two goats.......Three pigs.....Two chicks......












These are the recent additions to our "family"!! I (Michelle) will admit that I had to be talked into each new addition! I will also now humbly admit that I am thankful that I "caved in" to the family pressure. The kids are loving it...and are learning much about responsibility as they faithfully feed and water twice each day (rain or shine!!).

On a gravel road in the midwest...

....we make our home.

I am so thankful for the skilled hands of my husband who built the roof over his family's head.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day, Mom!!! You are great! Bye! Love ya'!

From Brock and Erica

Why are we blogging??

Welcome to our family blog. We are hoping that this will be a fun way to journal our family experiences...and keep our family and friends up to date on what is going on in our lives. We named our blog "As For Our House" based on Joshua 24:14-15. As a family, we desire to throw away the "gods" of our society and have a household that is wholeheartedly serving the Lord.

What can you expect to read here? I am not sure, really. My (Michelle's) hope is that we will share the good, bad, happy, sad, and even the everyday normal things that happen in our lives...and how we feel about it.

What is the purpose of our blog?? Several things I think...
1. To keep a record--a journal, I guess--of our family experiences. My plan is to print out entries regularly and keep a "hard copy" in a binder for our family to keep forever and reflect back on. Hopefully, we will all be making entries from time to time.
2. To share with family and friends, especially during this exciting time in the life of our family...the addition of Micah Jonathan Timmons. We hope this will be a fun way for our loved ones to know what is happening in our happy home.
3. To glorify the Lord. I pray that through our reflections, the Lord will be held high and lifted up!!

Please visit us often ...and leave comments!!