What's going on with the Hobbs's.....

Wow! Can you believe it, I can't believe it, a new post on the blog!! Happy Day! I miss blogging and I know a lot of our family really enjoyed seeing the pics and hearing all about the crazy things that go one around here. So, while I do have a lot of catching up to do from the past 10 or so mo. (think slide shows of summer, fall and winter!), I've decided to get on here and update it each week, probably on Sundays, so we can all keep in touch better! So, here goes..........

Last week (while Mike was out of town, of course), we had a HUGE snow storm that in the end dumped about a foot and a half of snow on us in about a days time. Thank goodness I'd just gone to the store and stocked up! We ended up staying home from Wed (when he left) until Sat afternoon (when he got back), and we had so much fun! We hadn't had really good snow to play in yet this year so the kids and the dogs, and me too :), had a great time. I got great exercise pulling my kids and the neighbors (oh, and their cousins) around the cul-de-sac and DIGGING out my car just in case I needed it. It's one thing to choose to stay in, quite another to be stuck!

Last Sunday after church we had a blast having Zayne over to visit. His wonderful foster dad, brother and sister, brought him down to hang out and start getting to know our house. I think most everyone knows we're in the adoption process, and patiently waiting for things to fall into place. We found out my fingerprints failed to go through a 2nd time, so I tried a 3rd time this week. Hopefully this one will work, but if not I just have to go to Olympia and do it there, if that fails then I'm off the hook! :) That is the last think we need before they will come inspect our home, meet with us and issue the license. Once we have that license we can begin the transition process for Zayne! We still don't know yet if his little sister, Mia, will be adoptable, but things are happening to determine that and we will patiently wait to see. Our prayer for her is just that God's will for her life will bed done and that she will grow up in a home where she is loved and cherished so much.

This is sweet miss Mia, please pray for her

How many boys does it take to put on a shoe??

He LOVES books!

He also has a huge smile, is a comedian like Cora and a crazy sharp little thinker like Wyatt!

We're still doing homeschool this year after brief discussion recently about switching to public school this spring. In the end Wyatt decided to finish Kinder at home this year and "start 1st grade" at school next fall. Cora too announced that she'd "be ok with out mommy at a preschool." For now we have lots of fun and a flexible schedule!

crayon melt pictures - working "M" this week

"It Looks Like Spilt Milk" books

Mike and I met with a counselor this week to discuss Wyatt's potential anxiety and the tingling that he has in his fingers (likely manifested from the anxiety). She agreed with the pediatrician, sounds like some anxiety either specific to moving or brought on by the moving. He's finally dealing with the fact that we moved, working (painfully) through the grief and I think beginning to accept our current situation better. It's been a tough couple weeks, but we've had 3 good days in a row so far now! Wyatt has his 1st appt with her on Thursday. You could also pray for this guy, he's really been hurting lately.

Cora is A-OK. Life is rosey for her and she turns 4 in two days! Trip to the zoo and a family birthday party is the plan!

Mike's job is going well, things are falling into place and just when you thought it was settling out, he just may change it up again! A new position opened this week, Sgt. of the SIU/ Detectives, and he is one of the few officers who fit the position description and can apply. He's decided to go for it, always did want to be a detective! Wouldn't change things to much for us, we don't have to move, but it opens up a bigger living radius if we wanted to. He's excited, we'll keep you posted!

We finally have a church home here and that feels wonderful!

Our new little niece/ cousin, Maci Elizabeth Olson, arrived on March 1st, 9lbs of extreme cuteness, she and mommy are home and healthy and it looks like brother, Cash, took a liken to her too!

And lastly, I had to spill the beans about the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. I got put on the spot and they were relentless! Actually Wyatt was truly worried about them coming into our home, I believe the quote was "OH! I thought she (the tooth fairy) was going to come in with her big ol bag and her big ol saw, saw a hole in the roof to get in and then put it back when she left!" See, he's quite the thinker. So I had to set the record straight and he was SO relieved. Neither really seemed to care as long as they'd still find a treat under their pillows and have a basket of goodies on Easter - mommy works just fine for that I guess! So far nobody has asked about Mr. "C" - whew!

Cousins

Wyatt and Cora with my cousin Shane's kiddos, Theena and Derrick

James 1:27

*At the moment my munchkins are knee deep in dressup and going back and forth between playing dance class, maning battle stations, and apparently Capt. America is somewhere in Wyatt's room! So, we'll see if I can get this out before the Capt. is done entertaining and has to go home for the day! :)*

Here's a little more serious post from our family. These pictures were taken early this summer in Leavenworth. That in itself is not that big of a deal, but the reason why we ended up in Leavenworth this day is......
One evening over dinner (a grown up only dinner after the monkeys were in bed), Mike looked at me and said "we're going to adopt." My eyes got a few sizes bigger and my heart started beating considerably faster. This was something we had talked about, even in recent days, but had made no plans about. We have several friends who have adopted in various ways and have seen the amazing difference they are making in their children's lives. Of course we admired, respected and loved the idea of being able to do that also but at that point though, it had just been discussion for the future. He told me that adoption had been on his heart a lot lately, a lot. He knew that most importantly we have the love in our hearts and if that is what God wants of us, He will make the room in our home and the in checkbook.
So that's where the process began, in the days that followed we talked with friends about various adoption related things, did some online research and mostly just attempted to wrap our heads around this idea of adding to our family, but not through a pregnancy. We heard about a place called Antioch Adoptions, a Christian no fee adoption agency, based on the Westside. After a bit more digging, we discovered they have a branch in Wenatchee too. So we made an appointment to go talk with the guy in charge, get some more info, and get the ball rolling. (That's why we were in Leavenworth - we'd been to Wenatchee that morning.)
His name was also Mike, his office was at a CMA church and he's former law enforcement (even good friends with some of the guys in Mike's department), too many coincidences for it to be a mistake for us to be there that day. We'd talked to the kids and took them with us, they had an idea of why were were going and what we'd be talking about, afterall it is a family decision. Mike (the adoption agent) told us about the different avenues for adoption, all about their agency and what they could/ would do for us, and the steps for the whole process.
We don't know of anyone looking for a private adoption (especially with no money exchanging hands for medical care, gifts, etc.), we don't have the financial resources to do an over seas adoption, so the best path for us is to do the foster to adopt program through either WA state and/ or in combination with a Christian Adoption agency.
That realisation sparked a whole new batch of worries and fears for me especially, Mike's just been a rock of confidence since the word "go". I talked with friends who have done and are in this same process, prayed a lot, and over and over again God kept putting to rest my worries and confiming over and over again that we were on the right path. In reading my Bible, in a book I was reading, through friends, ministries at church, etc.
Next step was to get things rolling with the state. We went to our orientation class and got more questions answered, learned about the next steps to be taking, etc. Then it hit....not a week or 2 later we were knee deep in decisions about Mike promoting, moving, and changing every plan we had made for the coming year. In the midst of all of it (and for us it seemed like it happenned so fast) we didn't know how or where all this adoption stuff fit in. How were we supposed to complete all that training, should we really be leaving when a close friend had just started a ministry for adoptive families? Both things were coming from God but seemed to be contradicing.
Obviously we pushed on with the move, which we firmly believe we were supposed to do. So now we're here, with less support, no one to watch the kids while we take the training, less room for more kids and at the moment less money (getting some paycheck issues sorted out!). After we first got here it seemed nearly impossible to make it happen, but we just keep remembering that it's all in God's time and that doesn't necessarily mean "right now". He planted a seed in our hearts this summer and he will keep growing it and cause it to bloom when He's ready. Who knows, maybe some little child who needs a family is part of the reason He called us here, or maybe He has work for us here before He feels were even ready to adopt. We certainly haven't abandoned the idea of adopting, far from it, we're just continuing to learn to be patient, listen for God's leading and enjoy this season of life we're in right now, which these day is being "the 4 Muskateers."
This is a picture that Cora drew right before we moved, and in the weeks leading up to moving we hadn't talked with them about other kids being in our family someday. I love how God speaks through the kids........

Miss Cora drew our family and then 2 extra people and when she told Mike about it she said "sister and brother are kids in our family that we don't know yet", how precious! Notice it's autographed "Ocra"!

Spiders

Spiders don't stand a chance against these guys.....this is the newest way to "get em!"

Mike on the dart gun

Wy on the rubberband shooter

*for the record they've both hit bugs this way (not that our house had/ has a lot of bugs) and so has Miss Cora - she's a good shot! I'm old school and still go for the smack or squish methods. :)

History & Hops

Just some pics of another day this spring. We needed to kill some time in Yakima and I hadn't gone to the Musuem there in forever, so we checked it out and it's really cool! Lots of neat old wagons, machinery, furniture, etc. They even have a place for the kids to climb, play, read, dig dinosaur bones and more. After the tour there is a 50's style "Soda Fountain" downstairs and a park behind it. Lots to do & cheap prices, what a way to spend the afternoon!

Gone Fishin

That's just what the dads from our small group did one spring morning. They packed up all the kids, gear, worms, snacks (can't believe those last 2 words are in the same sentence!), etc. and gave the mommies the morning off. I think a few little slimy fishies were caught and I'm sure everyone had a great time. :) Wish I could say I spent the morning accomplishing ever so much and taking advantage of every second, but it was far from it. You see my sister in law had just turned me on to this fabulous blog, The Pioneer Woman, and I sat there and read her story the ENTIRE time they were gone (thanks Amy!). If you check out her blog be careful if you start reading "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" it'll suck you right in and not spit you back out till you're done!!! (ps I haven't linked her blog yet, but it's linked on Abby's and probably Amy's too)

What is that!!??

one serious fish???

she's not afraid of the slimey fish - she brought it home and chased me into the pantry with it!
(dead fish freak me out)

Yikes....it's been so long!

We are still here and still kickin! We are officially "here" in Mount Vernon and settling in after one roller coaster ride of a summer (more on all of that later). For starters I just wanted to post a couple pictures of the house, I have a ton more things to post about in the coming days and lots of pictures to get on here. For now and in short, we are doing really good. We miss our family, friends, house and town, but here is good too. :) Most things are working out better than I'd figured, though some things are far from what I'd planned (but who am I to go making plans!). Everything fit in the house, it's cute, cozy and even those older appliances I was leery of are working great! Our neighbohood is quiet, safe and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves (which is kinda nice since, I'm not a random drop in person). We're finding all the resources we need or are supposed to have at this point at our finger tips and the kids are doing way better than I'd figured. We've been spending lots of time together and it has been SO good for all of us, as I've said to a few people, the 4 of us are each other's best friends these days. :)
This is just a start, I have the end of spring, all summer, everything about the move and this fall to blog about. That's darn near overwhelming! I'll get there though, just keep checking back!

our dining room - doors lead to the garage and backyard

part of the frontroom - love that stove it keeps it co-zee!

front of the house, we live on a culdesac (sp?), which is great for riding bikes! We also have beautiful blue and purple hydrangeas out front - I was excited about that because I never could grow them in Ellensburg

backyard and deck; the yard is sort of triangle shape, with a big section off to the left too, kids and dogs have loved it - I love all the mature trees and landscaping

ahhh, the new bunkbeds! this is actually going really well, the fact that they can't see each other seems to keep them in bed better. we bought the beds like all of their other furniture, unfinished, and then Mike finished them and constructed them, super fun!