Kayaking with the girls.

This was such a fun day...

Lots of laughs.

And chest bumps.

And apparently some martial arts.

Thanks Ladies for an awesome, much needed day!

Kitchen update and some good news.

Here's a few pics of the kitchen so far...

Life's been getting in the way of me finishing the bottom cabinets this past week, so I will start them this week.    I did however organize every cabinet and made things a little more efficient even though it has seriously confused my husband. lol!!!

I made this our coffee and tea station and painted the inside of the cabinet with chalkboard paint.  And by the way I am so not a morning person:)

Here is my pantry, I had bought all of these bins on clearance last Spring.

I got these bins on clearance as well and moved an old shelf into the kitchen for extra storage.  I purposely left the lower half of the wall unpainted on purpose, you'll see why in a later post:) 

I'm really happy with it so far:)

And for the good news...we got our fingerprint appt.'s today for USCIS!!!  I'm so excited!!!  We are so close to bringing Sergey home!!!

Avery turned 7!

In all the chaos of painting my kitchen and getting ready for a craft show I completely forgot to do a post for Avery's birthday:(  Her birthday was September 14th.

I think my husband said it beautifully...

"Today our beautiful little Avery turns 7!!!  She has such a servants heart.  Always wanting to help with whatever she can, whether it be with mommy in the kitchen or daddy pulling weeds...she even attempts to change Sadie's diapers!  As she puts it, "I just want to spend time together"...that my friends is a beautiful heart of helping that warms my heart and makes this world a better place, by showing the love of Christ through servants hands and a desire for fellowship."

We love you Avery Karis:)

Making progress

Something I have always wanted is white cabinets, so for my birthday I asked if I could paint our kitchen cabinets.  So for the past week and a half I have been painting and painting and painting.  It has taken me 5 coats to completely cover them and that is using the Behr paint plus primer!  This last weekend my husband added crown molding to the tops of the cabinets.  It looks so much better!

I wanted the walls to be a soft true gray and to say that it has been frustrating picking the perfect gray color is an understatement.  I have gone through four different colors trying to find the right color, one looked lavender, the other was to dark and one just looked white. Finally I think I found the perfect color, here is where we are today.  Please excuse the mess and the poor lighting, I only have the upper cabinets painted but I will be working on the lower cabinets this week:)

How do you like my tupperware Amy?  I definitely need to work on that cupboard:)

I still need to add a second coat of paint on the walls and I have a few more goodies in mind for the kitchen.  This is sort of where my brain is going.

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So there's where I'm at, I'll keep you posted on the progress:)

Winner!

The winner of the Willow House Apron goes to....

Jaime!!!

Congratulations, email me your info so I can send you your new apron:)

That was fun, my mind is already turning for another giveaway so keep checking back and go visit Denise's site, the 10% discount is still good if you mention my name at checkout!

Today...

Was the first day of school for four little Farley's.

A long awaited dream became reality.

AND...

WE RECEIVED OUR COMPLETED HOMESTUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can now move forward.

It is such a wonderful feeling to be that much closer to bringing Sergey home!!!

Don't forget about the giveaway!  You have a couple more days to enter, it ends Thursday at Midnight...Good luck:)

A Giveaway!

I have been so blessed these last couple of months by all of you.  So many of you have sent encouraging emails and comments, telling us that you're praying for us and still following along on our journey.  It really means a lot to me and they usually show up just when I need to hear them.  So I wanted to say thank you to all of you that have stood beside us during this journey.  So I've been concocting a plan with my dear friend Denise, who is a Willow House consultant, and truly is the cutest thing around with her sweet Texas drawl.  I could listen to her talk for hours.  We met a little over a year and a half ago when I was looking for a Willow House Consultant (formerly Southern Living at Home) to have a home party.  I love, love, love Willow House products!!  Here are just some of the things I own from Willow House...

French wired tiered stand

Trivet trio

 Glass dome

I really love their products and can assure you that the quality is wonderful.  I always know whatever I buy is going to be gorgeous and well made.  So I've asked Denise if we could give away a beautiful Willow House apron as a way to say thank you!  I'm really excited about this because I love to give presents!

Here's how you can enter~
1.  Visit Denise's Willow House site and let me know which item was your favorite!

For additional entries~
2.  Like Denise's Facebook page and let me know that you did!
3.  Are you a follower of this blog?  If so, let me know!
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Denise is also offering a 10% discount on any order $25.00 and above!  Just tell her that Danielle from Loving Every Moment sent you in the comments section at checkout!  How exciting, thanks Denise:)

The giveaway will end Thursday, September 8th at midnight, the winner will be drawn by random.org and announced on Friday, September 9th.  Good luck!