Family Time for Thanksgiving...Wonderful!

Dustin and K.J. celebrating with TOM

What a wonderful four days we've had with our family! Dustin's dad, stepmom, brother, gran, and grandaddy came from Georgia to celebrate Thanksgiving with us in our little house! It may have been a tight squeeze, but it was sure sweet squeezing in all together! We had good hang out time, delicious food, and many hugs! Here are a few pictures of our fun time together. 

Daniel hanging with Fat Bax!

On Tuesday night when the family arrived around 10pm it was raining!! Unfortunately, as everyone was bringing in suitcases and bags, our fat kitty Baxter decided to try to escape. In ninja-like fashion, Dustin sprinted for the door to stop him....Gran and I were in the kitchen and heard a large boom after a cry of, "No Baxter! No!!!" I ran into the living room to find...my strong man sprawled out on the floor! As he was running, he slipped on a large slick spot, feet flew out from under him, and he landed straight on his back with enough force to smack his head on the floor causing pretty good whiplash.  The first couple days he was in a lot of pain! But, the kinks soon worked themselves out!

Gran hanging in the Living Room

Baby Kitty, Libby, won the hearts of all!

 Since it was so cold, the boys went in the yard and chopped a ton of wood! "Little" bro, Daniel showed off his strong muscles as he "hiya...kamachuwa" the wood!!

Meanwhile, inside Grandaddy was busy fixing our terrible little table that bends every time you put weight on it! (Dustin has promised to build me my dream table from his family's walnut wood for three years...maybe this Christmas??)

 Gran, as beautiful as always, cooking away in the kitchen serving all of us with yummy meals! Maybe one day she'll let us serve her! Thanks, Gran! (However, we did weight ourselves once the fam left...we put on FIVE pounds! WOW).

 Cozy and snuggly, Dad and Ta Ta hanging out on the couch. Quite a few times, Baxter crawled up on Dad's lap to snuggle. So much for Dad and Grandaddy not being cat people...I think they fell in love!

 Yes, you too Grandaddy...you can deny it, but we know you love all of our furry kids!

Dan the Man! College man now...all grown up (well, almost!) Handsome as can be!

We had to bring in more chairs since we packed out the Living Room! "Dustin, can I join you on the flimsy camping chair?"

Tom the Turkey!

 Dustin, carving my delicious turkey I made...if I do say so myself. We had lots to eat and plenty of leftovers to eat turkey sandwiches, dinner, and homemade turkey bone marrow broth soup! That's what's cooking now!

The Family...

All the cups of the family!! We loved every minute. Only thing we would have loved even more was if every person in our family could have been present...wish there were many more cups up there so we could ALL be together (although you would have had to stay in the shed...no more room in the house!). 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! LOVE YOU!

R.I. P. RUDY...In Honor of Thanksgiving

Not cool, Dustin. Not cool! There I was growing an attachment for my sweet, pretty chickens. Named my chickens: Rudy, Dot, Martha, Bonnie, Brie, Alice, and Tammy. Pets, you would say! I knew that we only could have one rooster in the coop since they get a little aggressive and start harassing the little hens, but I didn't think it would come to this...end this way...

Meet, RUDY. Such a pretty rooster. Loved life. Always the first one out of the coop when free-ranging. Always crowing...always. Always happy (so it seemed for a bird brain).

R.I.P. Rudy

A few weeks ago, Dustin alerted me to the sad fact that two of our three "hens" given to us by a friend, turned out to be roosters...and there was a reality that must take place soon. As the hens (we have five) are getting to egg laying age, two roosters is one too many for them. It was time for me to say, "Goodbye." The lot fell to Rudy since he was not only "discovered" to be a rooster second (we had already promised Dot he could stay), but the louder and more aggressive of the two.

My parents were coming in for the weekend! Dustin was itching to take Rudy to the chopping block. I told my dad the situation and how heart broken I was to see my dear Rudy, well, headless. He said, "Well, Jo, sounds like you need to eat him." Ah! And then I told my animal loving mama and she said, "That mean rooster is attacking the ladies?...kill him!!!" What!? Hello...Mom....is that you on the phone? So, since they were for the murdering of my pet Rudy, I told them if I had to eat him, they would too! 

 
 So, Dustin chopped Rudy's poor little head off (not really, but that sounds better than what actually happened) and boiled off his feathers. 

And I helped burn little hairs off his little body, seasoned him, stuffed him full of veggies, and shoved him in the oven! (Maybe I'm a better farmer's wife than I thought!)

Bon Appetite! Dinner is served! 

 A Special Note to Rudy: Dear pet rooster (R.I.P.) you were delicious! Thank you for your purpose in life...to give me joy watching you and Dot have cock fights as I looked in the back yard and to feed my belly! Job well done!

And a note to my Chicken Killing Husband: Darling, if you plan on making me eat my chickens, in the future, please don't have me name them first! I get attached! (Dustin promised me he would obey this rule...and that my puppies and kitties were safe cause he loves them too much...and gross!)

Here we Go!!! Step One: The Home Study...

Wow! So, things seem to be moving. We have decided to take an alternative adoption route! Instead of being conventional and getting an agency, Dustin and I have had the incredible opportunity to be connected with a women's resource center in Georgia and a labor/delivery nurse in South Carolina. We were told to get our home study completed ASAP and have an attorney on standby. This means that we could be parents in a couple weeks...or a couple years! Incredibly crazy to think there is a possibility that we could be parents by Christmas. We are excited with every glimmer of hope the Lord gives us...whether it is two weeks or two years. Might be the world's fastest "pregnancy!" But, very cool to think our first child could already be baking in the oven!!!

So, in the next week we would like to get our home study done and have an attorney on standby. 

Here's where you come in...

1. Prayer!!! Please everyone pray! We have no idea what this process is going to look like. Pray that the Lord amazes us and provides for us financially. We know He is going to direct us and the birth mother, so He places exactly the baby he wants in our family! 

2. Financial Help. If you feel the Lord leading you we could definitely use help here. Now that the labor/delivery nurse knows us, she encouraged us to get the home study done quickly. We know the Lord will provide some way and if need be, we can get a loan. But, I just think it is so much more exciting to think of who the Lord may be calling to join with us on this adventure by helping in this tangible way. The home study is the first hurdle. It is about $1,300. The nurse said the total cost is probably going to be around $9,000 (depending on attorney fees and birth mother medical). Over the semester break, Dustin is planning on making some furniture pieces so we can auction it off to raise some money (he is so, so talented!!). For now we will just throw out there this need. Any help is incredible help, even $10!!! For real...

After our experience raising support to work with the addictions ministry and only being there five months...believe us...we are nervous and gun shy about raising support again for adoption. But, the Lord reminds us often that none of us owns our money...God owns all for His glory. We know He is working and can't wait to watch this journey unfold! Making much of Him and making more worshipers!

If you do want to help us financially grow our family, please send me an e-mail to jojonally@gmail.com and I will send you our address.

Thanks friends and family...this is so exciting!!!

Future Children...Pray with Us

The Lord reminded me this morning: God's timing is always perfect, it is without delay! After teaching a session for my church's Women's Day on Psalm 46, you would think I had this lesson down. Nope! Yesterday morning was a difficult morning...tears of desiring to be parents and being lost in the confusion of why not, Lord? However, in my faithlessness, my Good and Loving God is always faithful. He gave Dustin and I a wonderful day yesterday and reminded us (normally through Dustin's Christ-centered words) that He has blessed us in so, so many ways and cares deeply for our hurts. He is going to allow us to be parents, in His perfect timing, without delay.

So, with that joyful truth we ask that you would begin praying for us as we begin the journey of adoption. We aren't exactly sure when or how this will look, just that adopting as well as (we pray) having biological kids, are part of the Lord's plan for our family. As we soon finish seminary, we think now is a good time to start this process. There are many questions and so much paper work we are fearful and overwhelmed to begin this journey, but we must trust our Abba Father who Adopted us into His family. He has been through this journey many, many times and will help us through ours!

Please Pray:

1. That our hearts would not be discouraged, but excited during this process.
2. That the Lord would provide all the finances we will need (we have $0 right now!)
3. Pray for the agency/lawyer God would want to work through.
4. Pray that God would prepare the woman to give us the gift of adopting her child.
5. Pray for our future plans...since we don't know where or when we could be moving, this could be a transitional time (which is why we were waiting). 

We don't know the time frame God has, but we need to raise money for the adoption and do a lot of research and paper work before we can even really get started. That is why, even in this transitory time, we figured it was okay to get started! So, all we ask is for you to begin praying with us! Oh, and if you know of any babies being given away...send them our way! ;) 

Thank you for asking our Great Father to answer our prayers in extraordinary ways! He gives marvelous gifts!