first fire of the year..

geesh.

can some one please let me know when this happened?
they are literally changing everyday,
and new haircuts don't help.

in response...

so much heartache is being played out,
and given the public nature
i felt i needed to respond.

we whole heartily, one hundred percent
love our friends.

they are the bravest people
i have ever met,
both of them.

and we support them
completely,
forever.

the end.

my crew for godspell

and they were absolutely perfect.
could not have asked for better company.

Godspell :)

2 days till show time

stage make-up :)
he would make a really pretty girl...



more stage make-up... and today, they like each other



and micah with his freakishly large eyes..

eight years ago...

let them eat cake

birthday goodness...

hannah's new specks

and my baby boy....

happy birthday isaiah

today my isaiah is twelve.



i am so, so proud of this boy.
he is sensitive, and caring, funny, and outgoing.

he loves people,
and he loves his God.

he is not afraid to dance, or sing, or get straight a's, and be on student council.
all while being such a great athlete.

he excels at everything he does,
but because he works hard.

we are constantly being told what a hard worker he is,
how he tries harder, stays longer, and practices more than most.

i cannot wait to see what he decides to do with his life,
i don't doubt he will make a difference.

i love you so much sweet isaiah,
happy birthday.

in a funk

and i don't know how to work my way out of it.

emotionally i think i am spent.

and my eyes are tired.
my jaw is tight.
my head is pounding.

and i don't feel like that even begins to scratch the surface.

the gravity of it all is,
there will be more.

i just feel so ill prepared at times.
and like there is no floor below me,
just falling, and falling,
with no end in sight.

i wish i could land for a sec.
catch my breath, you know?

guess it's time for some more ibuprofen.

spring is coming... i think

on valentine's day, hannah left this silly string heart outside of micah and brody's window..



a super fun ice tunnel slide thing



and sunshine, and blue sky, and no ice on the branches..

us... almost.

valentine love

micah made me a valentine.
he told me he couldn't wait to give it to me, so i received it the moment he walked through the living room, in snow covered boots.

i said i loved it,
and asked if it was a picture of a giraffe and an elephant.

he said,
"yes, because they have those animals in africa, you know, where our sister is."

i smiled.

then he said,
"did you notice that the elephant has a wristband on his trunk? because, elephants wrists are too big for wristbands."

so true.

they love me :)

little road trip

to the golden roof place :)
drove five and a half hours
for a certificate that took 30 seconds to get to me...

and i would do it again
every single day
if it meant one minute more
with my sweet girl.

adoption painting :)

so, jody agreed to list one of my paintings on her blog.. for a raffle to help bring our sweet girl home.
you can read all of the details here.

pity party

so, last night it snowed again.
enough to cover the roads, and driveway, and yard,
but not enough to cancel, or even delay school

i got up early,
went outside,
and shoveled a path up to the street,
so that no little feet had to get wet
as they walked to the bus stop.



in addition, i scraped steve's van,
warmed it up (as i do EVERY morning),
and shoveled a path to it,
so that his sweet little feet wouldn't get wet either.



and guess what?
no one said thanks, mom.
or thanks, hon.

whatever.
lame-o's.

they love her already, so...

they let me practice doing hair on them. :)

isaiah's hair is almost too short.. but i made it work :)
steve told him that he should wear it like this to his next basketball tournament.
that made me laugh.





and emily's hair,
it took five thousand years to do...
but it actually looks really good.
she has great hair.

kind of amusing.

last night while watching idol, i decided to practice "doing hair"
i started doing some tiny two strand twists, on my own hair.
well,
i ended up watching a dumb movie on IFC (international film channel),
and by the end, my entire head was twists.
(i am not really good with high intensity movies.. too nervous)
that said,
i was exhausted, and fell fast asleep.

when i woke up this morning,
i realized i still had an entire head full of twists,
and no time to take them out.
so,
i had to run brody to school, looking like a fool.
i tried to mask it, with a scarf,
and pretend that i wanted my hair to look that way,
but not sure it was too convincing.
oh well.

my girl em.

yesterday a teacher approached emily about setting up a table for water at school.
she came home and asked me if we had any bracelets left..
nope.
any stickers?
nope.
any ornaments?
nope.
any tattoos?
a few.
so she went to work.. was up until midnight MAKING clay beads, and stringing bracelets and rings, and necklaces.

when i picked them up from school, she said she was almost sold out.
so she walked in the door, and began again.
she hasn't stopped.
she loves water.
and i love her.

oh iowa...

today there is ice.
so the kids are home.

emily made a cake :)






silas had the right idea...

referral

we have our referral
our daughter will be home with us in months
and she is beautiful
absolutely one hundred percent a smith

we are blessed today indeed

today.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

do. not. forget.

this comes direct from the ground, outside of the main city, via this blog.

"I do not pretend to understand the suffering that is happening right now in this country. I know we all feel like we had had enough over the years. The staff has come in to work. They are praying for their loves ones in town. They are hoping for news and believing that they will soon here from them. Mothers and father are weeping for their lost children. Children are crying for their lost parents. One of Enoch’s friends was trapped inside his house with his (the friends) two brothers and his mother. They all died and people were trying to rescue him. He kept yelling at them to stop and leave him alone. He wanted to die with his family. They asked what they could drop down to him and he asked for a gun to kill himself. The reality is even when the outside world begins arrives what can be done. Most of the city is damaged and needs to be torn down. Thousands upon thousands of dead bodies are laying all over the place. We have heard they are digging huge mass graves in the dump area."

heartache.

please,
join me.
give here

haiti was my first international love.
my heart aches for her, and her people.

we know people who are there.
who have seen unspeakable things.

please, please, help.

words fall short,
photos don't give the utter destruction it's due.

people are trapped.
and lost.

give generously to those who are on the ground, and know how to help.
and then tell everyone you know to do the same.

i dare you.

brief..

heading out for the night to a city that houses:

trader joe's

ikea

nordstrom rack

costco

that makes us west coasters feel like home...
well,
except for the -6 temperature as we head out.
that, not so much.

amazing

(straight from jody's blog)

Numbers (as of Dec. 31, 2009):

In the 14 months that Water For Christmas has been in existence, the total of money raised is $275,000.

Which amounts to $650 dollars a day for 14 months.

In just November and December of 2009: $175,000.

That is equal to 55 community wells.

The total that can and will solve very close to 1% of Liberia’s water crisis. (that’s more amazing than it sounds. Yes, we still have work to do…)

And these are my favorite:

That’s 13,750 people.

32 people a day for the last 14 months have received the life-changing gift of clean water.

How did this happen?

Because you all acted. You all allowed your heart to break and your hands to move. You raised your voices with us. You held your resources in generous, open hands. You rallied your friends and family. You spoke. You gave. You changed the world for 13,750 people.

This is amazing. We thank God for allowing us to be a part of His heart.

And more than ever, I feel like we are only at the tip of the iceberg. That it goes to show that we do not need titles or positions or large resources to do something. That we can come together to dream dreams of compassion. We can collectively raise our voice, combine our efforts. We can join together as mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in America to fight and change the reality for mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters across the ocean. There is power not in celebrity and economic status and prestige…but in passion. You have taught me that.

And I cannot wait to see where 2010 takes us.

fifteen years.

today, in all the snow,
and cancelled school,
steve and i have been married for fifteen years.




fifteen years is the longest i have ever done anything.
ANYTHING.

what a blessing to have spent it with him.

happy anniversary baby, i love you.

last week...

you can see, silas wasn't much help.

snow day again :)

it snowed last night.
it's still snowing today.
school was cancelled.

AND,
we are experiencing a veritable heat wave.
it is 16 degrees...
the kids were begging not to wear hats.

that is where i draw the line.
if the temperature still has the word teen in it,
you must wear a hat.

but no coat is perfectly acceptable
once we hit twenty. :)

12 lives.

it is a new year,
and it is time to sign up for recurring giving
at water4christmas.com

last year, when the christmas season ended,
we had been changed.
we needed a way to keep water in the front of our minds,
so we created a way to give twenty dollars every month for a year,
we called it 300 voices.

this is the exact same thing :)
and if you were a part last year, you need to sign up again :)
but don't do it yet...
wait until tomorrow,
so we can all do it together, collectively,
as one ocean of change.



the thing is,
we here in america like to do things big.
we super size everything.
we somehow feel that if our portion is BIGGER,
we are getting a better deal.
if we are given the best, the biggest, the most, that we are really living.

so why should this be any different?
give big.
give recklessly.
be the best and biggest giver possible this year...

and start by signing up here.
if you don't have a paypal account, you can send in a check, to the address listed here.

12 people.
12 months.
20 dollars a month.

that is what we are asking...
tomorrow.
give with intention.
give life to 12 people this year.
this is an opportunity to join our voices together,
to be the change we want to see.

but why not do more?

super size your donation.