NEWS FROM KAZAKHSTAN...
OK, so we haven't added anything to this since Easter, but its because all of our updates have been going in the adoption section since it is the main thing in our lives right now. Currently, we are staying in Astana, Kazakhstan for 1 to 2 months while we complete the adoption of our baby girl. We had to make a lot of arrangements at home to make this happen, but seeing Katie for the first time made it all worth it.
Aside from our adoption, there is really not much else going on in our lives. We have devoted almost every spare second to this adoption and since we're currently taking up residence in a foreign country, there is not much else going on.
If for any reason, you haven't seen the pictures or read the updates yet, do it now. Keep checking back every day (in the adoption section) to see what new pictures we've posted and what adventures we've had. For now, fare well and God bless.

EASTER WRAP-UP... (click the blue links to see related pictures)
Well, our wonderful Easter week has finally come to a close. Although Sarah's daycare was still open last week, Kevin got the whole week off (yet another benefit of teaching!). We both really enjoyed getting to see each other all day, every day for 9 days in a row! During the week, we worked on updating the website and adding more pictures for everyone to see. We also worked around the house cleaning out the closet in the nursery (which had previously been used for storage) and getting things ready for the next fundraiser garage sale. It felt so wonderful to do a little "spring cleaning" while getting to hang out with each other at the same time!
In addition to working around the house, we also had fun helping at our church's Easter festival. Since the building our church rents is very small, they decided to put up large tents and have a large Easter celebration on the piece of property they own in town. Kevin spent Friday helping to set up one of the tents that was going to be used, as well as assisting with pouring a large concrete walkway leading from the parking lot to the various tents. We were also both a part of the clean-up & tear-down crew, so on Sunday we stayed after the festivities, breaking everything down and transporting it back to the church.
Other highlights of the weekend included getting to spend Sunday afternoon at our friends' house for a special Easter dinner. We enjoyed getting to spend the holiday with Jamie and Robert, their son Jacob, and both of their parents. It really made Easter special since there wasn't enough time to make the long drive to be with our own family. (Thanks for inviting us, Jamie and Robert!)
The other special part of our weekend was taking the day on Saturday to get away. After waking up, we jumped in the car and headed east. We had never been to Coloma together so we took a bunch of back roads and finally made it. We didn't really care about seeing the state park, and since you had to pay fees to go just about anywhere, we decided to just walk around the town. Afterwards, we drove on and found a small BLM nature area (without any fees!). We had a great hike and found a wonderful spot to sit by the river. It was nice getting to just sit back and talk as the water flowed by (as well as a bunch of river-rafters). We even found some odd rock formations that we had to take pictures of. To finish the day off, we headed back down to Sacramento for dinner, some Easter outfit shopping, and a nice movie at the cheap theater. (We saw National Treasure, which was an awesome movie!)
Over all, we both got the chance to finally relax and just hang out together. God really blessed us with the ability to not only worship Him this Easter, but also to recharge our batteries.

03/22/05

WAITING...
After six months of researching, contemplating, praying, and filling out paperwork, we have finally jumped through every hoop for our adoption and are now beginning the hard process of waiting for a referal. We have been told to expect to travel in June so in the mean time, we are tyring to find ways to take our minds off the adoption. (See the updates page for more info.)
One thing that has kept us busy is Kevin's attempt to finally finish his credential. He is currently completing an on-line Linguistics class (with help from Sarah) and will soon be starting his classroom time (first in his own classroom, then in a public school classroom). In addition, we've been busy moving our office out of the spare room and into the living room. This involved a long search trying to find a desk for our dining room that we could each agree on. After finding the desk, we were able to really start the planning phase for the nursery. We already have the furniture moved in and have decided on colors and a theme (see baby registry page for more info). The next step will be painting the walls, putting up the waines coating, adding trim to the window and attaching the crown moulding. In the end, we hope to have a nursery that will work for either gender since we won't know what to expect until we arrive in Kazakhstan. Finally, we've really been keeping busy with enjoying the spring! Kevin is enjoying coaching the Jr. High track team and Sarah is enjoying going out into the yard and taking her kids to the park. We also enjoy going for long walks after work and fixing up our backyard. We even fired up our barbeque!
Despite being involved in so many things, and having to wait for a referal for our child, we have really felt God's blessings in the past month. We're enjoying getting to know more people from our church, working together on planning for a new baby, and just getting to spend time together.
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SNOWED OUT (click here to see the pictures!)
We just returned from the longest road trip our our lives! (Well, OK. It was shorter than our cross-country trip, but it felt REALLY long!) On Wednesday, we headed up to Reno for a night away... read more
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