Christian Alliance for Orphans 2009 Summit V...."For in you the fatherless find compassion..." Hosea 14:3

If you are interested in finding out more about how orphans around the world are being cared for and how you (and your church or organization) can be more involved in this critical ministry then here is an opportunity to consider.

The Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit V is being held April 30 and May 1 at Irving Bible Church in Dallas, Texas.

Anyone who is interested in attending this event can Register online now or can follow this link to learn more about the Alliance.

Summit V is an opportunity to worship God by learning about how He is caring for orphans around the world through His people... and how YOU can join Him.

Detailed breakout sessions and strategic networking opportunities have been designed to equip the lay person, the church pastor & the orphan care worker with tangible steps they can take to love the orphan in their home, in their church, and through trusted organizations.

Don't miss our keynote speakers including Dr Tony Evans,Dennis Rainey, Russell Moore and Rob Mitchell.

Hosted by Irving Bible Church: a Christian Alliance for Orphans Member

Here are their prayer requests that my friend Maridel posted on their site.....Naughty of me to copy them rather than linking. But I think that we are more likely to pray over them as we read through them here without having to 'make time' later....

Prayer requests
The Word became Flesh.In John 1:3 we read “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

In January we celebrate LIFE.

Each member of the Christian Alliance for Orphans is committed to bringing life and hope to vulnerable children around the world. Please join us in prayer that our light may shine into dark places around the world.

Pray for the unborn child……who even now needs rescuing from abortion plans.

For the birth mom in crisis… …will you called to minister to her hurting heart?

For our adoption ministry partners who serve birthmoms and adoptive families……with the kindness and compassion of Jesus.

For vulnerable children around the world who’s parents have died of AIDS……they need a family and food and shelter. Who will give?

Pray for the fathers and mothers who cannot feed their children……can we give so they might stay together as a family?

Pray for the Foster kids in your community……who need the HOPE that is offered in Christ. Are you reaching out in Jesus name?

Pray for the approximately 20,000 foster kids who age out of the system this year...…they don’t have the support to make it on their own. Who will fill in the gap?

Pray for more Christians to stand up and “defend the fatherless” (Is. 41:8)……will you go? Will you give of your treasures? Will you give so others may go?

We believe that Christ-followers are called to care in tangible ways for the vulnerable children of our world. Will you join us?

Feel free to contact us at info@christianalliancefororphans.org

Sincerely,Maridel Sandberg

President, Christian Alliance For Orphans

I love you Maridel and am praying over all these things even as I type!

Joke of the day....Adoption tax credits and our reality....

I love tax season. It's complex, exhausting and has a manageable deadline. For years (prior to turbo tax) I waited expectantly for the new tax guides to come out and read them cover to cover as soon as I could get my hands on them. For me it was 400 pages of sheer entertainment, cheap fun for $20, tax deductible dollars.

Turbo tax isn't as much fun, but it suites my life today a little better than managing the paperwork of the older systems and my hand written notes. Today I got into our 2008 files and started inputting the numbers to complete our filing. The adoption tax credit pages are my favorite - as of 1/1/09 we have $57,000 in rolling adoption tax credit sitting their waiting for us to use it. Problem is, that they expire after 5 years and we don't make enough income to offset our family size.

The adoption tax credit is great if you make enough money to pay taxes. For the rest of us that adopt but don't have a tax burden it has become sort of a joke. Especially with those around us who say that our adoptions should be basically 'free' because of the tax credit. Sure- if we made enough to owe $11,000 in taxes it would reimburse us....but since we don't it's sort of like Monopoly money. It's fun to look at though and it makes me smile every year as that number grows and the blessings around my feet multiply.

Begining week two of the bathroom adventure...

We are reminded of God's overwhelming provision for our family each time Weldon walks through our door to tackle the next phase of rehabilitating our bathroom. Today he started unraveling the mystery of our plumbing....vintage to say the least!

The little ones don't get to spend much time in the construction zone but Jerry hangs on the gate and makes cute faces at us as we work.

This photo is for Pam and Missy and any other friends who have stood on that spongy place at the end of our tub and wondered how sturdy it was. Today Weldon took out that nasty vent pipe and started messing with the floor at the end of the tub. My conclusion (to say the least) that spongy part was not very sturdy at all!

Here is the pipe collection that Weldon removed from the first and second floor bathrooms and the little girls closet. What a joy to have that duct-tape repaired vent on the second floor finally gone!

Radical or Obedient?

So I thought we were being called to do something radical in loving the Special Family, but it isn't radical is it? It's simply living obediently to how the Word tells us to love our brothers and neighbors - in the same way that we love ourselves. So simple, so complex, so totally not the way America works!

No one looks at an obedient child and says "Oh my, how sacrificial, how radical, how amazing it is that you choose to do what your parents have told you and you have not run into the street!" No, we are pleased, but we don't make much of the child for simple obedience. (Or at least we shouldn't!) So it is in my life. It looks hard and impossible and unreasonable to be obedient to the call of loving others as we love ourselves. But it really shouldn't be - and maybe when I grow up a little more it wont be. Until then - thanks for praying over my immaturity and for holding my feet to the fire.

Six new Orange belts at our house......

Yesterday was a big day at our house. John, Leah, Jesse, Josh, James and I all received our orange belts in TKD. Since it was our first belt advancement we didn't exactly know what to expect, but over all it was a fun morning. James came home with a black eye (and all the boy pride that goes with that) and we had to deal with the unpredictable emotions that come with AS and FASD. I wasn't prepared for the extreme emotions and weeping over 'giving up' the white belt that one experienced - we are still working that through but I see progress this morning. The other issue was over our first attempt at board breaking. Three were able to do it, two will need more practice and coaching. I didn't try it - as I was doing a bit of coaching through the ceremony - but I was inspired by another middle age mom who broke three one inch boards at one time with her foot....go mama!

Master Griffin showing Jesse how to use a hammer fist to hit the board.

Jesse doing a skip kick with the kamas.

Joshua receiving his belt....this is huge for him to smile for a camera in front of a crowd of people.

Leah had a great day sparring. Here she is with a green belt, she wasn't deterred when she was picked to spar the black belts one-on-one either...go girl!

This is the match where Jim got his black-eye...

Josh just after breaking the board that he kicked....a high point of his day for sure!

The whole promoted class (less me - I'm taking the photos!) I love the fact that this really is a family activity for many of the people involved.

The real high-light for John was being invited to spar with the 'big guys' afterward. He's in white and the guy in red is Pit Bull (or is it Mad Dog?) AKA Pat. He did great and held his own even though he hit the floor hard a couple of times over the course of the day and hit a few splinters with his foot when he broke his board.

The happy sound of the sawzall.....

Everyone responders differently to construction at our house. The little boys are clingy, the older ones are looking for quiet corners and the sister chicks decided that it was time to pull out all the stops and dress for the occasion.

Lining up to brush teeth is fun..........

And things that had other uses last week have new roles today. My kitchen is a refuge pile....

And my stove is a design center.

Contrary to the early spring that Alaska is experiencing, we still have plenty of winter left to endure!

Mommy alert on Craigslist.....

Just a FYI to all the other moms and dads who are keeping up on dangerous sites for kids Internet use. I was looking around at Craigslist (which I have shopped for years!)and discovered that my Internet filters have nothing to limit the pornographic content of the personals section. Full frontal nudity photos, very graphic and illicit text and it comes up on our search history simply as 'Craigslist' so there is no indication that the last user was doing anything beside shopping for Lego's. I admit to being more than a little disappointed - but I would rather be informed now than blindsided later.

"Why are you doing this thing?"

Just another normal day in our life. My sensible plans overwritten by God's clearly better ones -odd moments overflowing with opportunities to reach into lives and speak Truth. A stranger, who is no longer a stranger came back into our home this afternoon and started asking us those questions that often go unspoken in our lives. "Why are you doing this thing - this experiment - or whatever it is?" "What makes you do it, your life feels different?" "You don't have to live this way, but you choose to - what is that?"

Today was his third visit to our house, twice as a professional, now shifting into that realm where it isn't about work anymore. A place where he started sharing his heart with us and we saw into a corner of his life - a place where I have long suspected there was pain - and a deep and aching need for a Savior and for purpose in a life that has turned out differently than he planned.

Pray for the Lonely Man, that he would turn, find what he is looking for and seize hold with an unshakable faith. My heart is cries out for him - that was me 16 years ago. Powerless to change the realities of life, lonely, scared and absolutely at the end of myself - and in a moment - set free.

I still miss my daddy........

It's been 5 years and 5 days since my dad lost his battle with cancer. He knew all my kids down to Lydia and had seen her new born photo before he died - Noel, Lily, Joe and Jerry are all grand children that never had the chance to know and be loved by him. Little ones who will never fly his paper airplanes, share his toast, or pick black berries at his side. Five who never knew grandmas house with grandpa in it.

There is a father and grandfather shaped hole in our lives - and it hardly seems possible that it's been five years since he hugged me and said good bye.

Dreaming of tile (and showers!) .........

Of course - with bathroom changes come about 100 decisions that I have never had to make before, all in addition to the usual 500 I make in an average day as the mommy to this crew. I think I'm going to need input from you guys to make those extra 100! How about this for a 'dream' idea? It would work with both the potential claw foot or the existing tub and would be a larger than average subway tile (white or off white) with some cool deco tiles or small glass squares inset in the top border shaded area and the center of the shower 'focus.'

How about this for the floor.......... (2x2 is about the size of the white tiles.) It has the coolest depth to the blue and isn't too expensive!

And this for the trim and shower focus....or maybe just using more of the floor mosiac....

And maybe a tub like this one....or should we reuse the old one? At least I know what is for supper!

Photos of before and day one of the bathroom remodel adventure...........

This is Weldon. He is a great guy who just figured out in this photo that the shut off for the sink is broken. Good news was that there was another one under the floor that did still work!

4 feet wide and 10 feet long - this is a pretty compact space. Nice grey plastic tiles aren't they?

Half the room is wallpapered because that is where the plaster was falling off and it's the only part of the bathroom that you can see from the kitchen. Sneaky aren't I?

Here is a shot of what the bathroom looks like now - Weldon has taken the toilet and sink out and torn down most of the lath and plaster. Later in the week he will come back to work on the next phase..cleaning it out and reorganizing the plumbing.

Anyone need a laugh? Here is my mighty plumbing outfit. Last week when it was -20 I ran down to rescue the neighbors mother from an overflowing toilet. I jogged down the street - plunger in hand and this amazing hat that has 5 inches of sheep's wool all around it. Wonder that the other neighbors thought? :)

A new level of chaos....

In an amazing gift of love, our friends Patty and Weldon have offered to remodel our main bathroom this winter at a fraction of the cost. It's chaos and disorder here right now - 10 non-napping, non-schooling kids and plaster dust starting to roll through the first floor. More later tonight with the first round of photos.............prayer for safety, patience and household management would all be appreciated!

It's been a little chilly here......

There were some pretty impressive temperature lows here in central MN this week. One morning it was -26 with a chilling wind that made it feel more like -35. The kids only got to play outside once or twice when the temps jumped above zero, so we had to entertain ourselves inside for the most part. Add to that the sleep deprived mom and we are all glad to call this week a wrap!

Being who I am I decided to sort through the medicine bin that is on the top shelf in the 'cold pantry' with our enforced isolation. We have a few kids that have lack of control issues as part of their makeup so we figure keeping the poisons seven feet up in a freezing room might deter them a bit. It runs about 10' warmer than outside in there so I have to be careful what I try to store in that space. Toilet paper is fine, diaper wipes are a bad choice (they freeze solid), soda and sparkling juices are a very bad choice as they sometimes explode when frozen, dish soap is ok as long as I take it out overnight before I try to refill the bottle. Pretty much it's an extra garage temperature freezer space for the winter months. But I digress... Joe and Jerry were helping me sort the bottles of frozen liquid Tylenol and Benedryl. They both hated holding them (too cold!) but they both were fascinated by the slushy stuff inside.

Once I was done sorting the bins and washing the big roaster oven, Joe (almost 2)asked if he could sit in it like a boat - I said yes because opportunities for entertainment were running low. James (6) then asked if he could plug Joe in and I said no! And promptly put the boat away in the basement. Good thing James asked - can you imagine Joe sitting there as the temp rose to say...350'?!

There have been a lot of hot drinks here lately. White tea, Tang and hot Coco with Marshmallows. Jerry and Joe don't get glass cups but everyone else does - I'm doing pretty good so far this winter. It's January and I still have enough matching glass mugs for all of the big kids.

Tapestry Lapbook Sale starts today.....

For any of you who missed the email from TOG on Monday they have a limited number of their pre-made lapbooks (all years - classic and redesigned) on sale starting today. That means that instead of $25 each they are $15. That's enough of a shift to make them tempting to me! (If the link doesn't work let me know and I will redo it- many seem to be failing on blogger lately.)

Jerry Slept All Night!

7:00pm-6:20am he did it! And so did the rest of the family. Anna may have given us the clue we needed yesterday when she emailed about how he had slept in their home- he was ALONE in a dark bedroom with no noises. Sort of a trick in a household with 4 bedrooms and 12 people but we tried it last night and he slept.

"What people should know about special needs kids..."

My friend Jan forwarded me the link to this current MPR survey on peoples interactions and experiences with special needs children. The survey title is "What people should know about special needs kids." I took about 5 minutes to fill it out and it asked excellent questions.

I would encourage those of you who's lives have been impacted by special kids to participate, as you have valuable insight into this particular topic. Let's floor them with God's perspective on these kids who we count among the treasures in our homes.

12 hours later it's a much easier life...

From the emails and comments I've received over yesterdays post it sounds like it was universally a bad day in mommy land. Today is better in our home, the balance has been restored and I am praying that your day is better also. What a blessing that our 12 year old son took leadership of the kids this morning and not only got chores done but allowed me a little extra margin by keeping all kids happily playing for two hours while I reigned in a few household chores. With both dryers happily humming, 20lbs of ribs cooking in the roaster, a clean kitchen counter and math checked off for the day - it can't help but run better. Regardless of the temperature (it was -21 this morning with a windchill of -30 or so) or my amount of sleep this is a much better day ....I have been storing up fun things to post this week so here are a few to help brighten your day.

Our never ending mouse problem seems to have ended. A nine year battle with the little critters has made them more of the rule than the exception for our family. This winter I haven't found a single dead one or evidence of live ones. I am truly thankful and fear I am letting down my guard a bit...I even left the floor unswept last night!

Joshua finished his Math-U-See Primer level just after the New Year. This is huge because it means he can count to 20 as and link the verbal, quantitative and written numbers into a framework. This has been 2 years of hard work for him and we are so excited! For a kid with short term memory issues as well as all his other challenges this is huge.

John applied himself is a wonderful manner over the Christmas holidays and completed his Teaching Textbooks Math 7 program - even with the distraction of Tony being home. He started their pre-algebra last week and has been able to test out of the first 40 lessons. What a bonus thrill for him! I was overwhelmingly blessed by him earlier this week because he saw that the baby-gate at the top of the stairs was flipped and that it was causing it to bang into the wall and gouge the sheet rock. On his own he reversed it, straightened the whole thing, and only mentioned it in passing a few hours later. He's growing up! Problem solving, self motivation and moving past the ranks of the children and into the young adult responsibility phase. I love seeing this maturity in him - even in the small things like celebrating his success as well as his brothers.

As part of the research for John's science fair project we picked up a couple of books on dried beans at the library. He was fascinated by a recipe for making fudge using pureed black beans so he and Jesse took to it and made up a batch. I was quite tasty. I used the other 7 3/4 pounds of beans and made burrito filling for lunches.

8 pounds of dried beans fills the 20qt cooker when hydrated = 7 burrito meals for our family.

This is our main bathroom. If the Lord allows, it may look dramatically different in the next few months. Maybe a shower, real tile (vs the plastic on the walls and the crack and peel linoleum on the floor) Dare I think of better lighting or a mirror that I don't have to straddle the toilet in order to see into?

Better not get too worked up - the Lord's plans are mysterious and I don't want to be disappointed when I set my heart on earthly things and loose site of those eternal ones. After all this bathroom has served us well for 9 years and we have always chosen another adoption over improving it in the end so it can't be too important. :)

It's a toss up Mt Dew or week old red wine while I clean the kitchen tonight.......

Some weeks have two Mondays in our family - this is one of those for sure! Anything that might go wrong today did, anything left out was instantly discovered by the little ones and I am four weeks into the battle with Jerry's new disrupted sleep pattern so I am tad to dependant on coffee and calories to stay well balanced.

The topper was when the two little boys found a big jar of Aquaphore (like Vaseline and probably spelt wrong!) In my office and proceeded to smear large handfuls all over themselves and any near surface. It doesn't wash off or out of hair in these quantities - it's more like scraping and rubbing with a towel and calling that good. An hour earlier Joe (22m) had found my cell phone and made three hangup calls to my best friend Pam who was sure that we must be having a crisis - sorry Pam!)

They both had a bath and we rounded out the evening with two full glasses of milk spilling on the kitchen floor....I won't bore you with the rest of the details. If you know me well this was the convergence zone of all things that drive me crazy - every single button was hit today. But we haven't broken a window yet (a chronic issue at our house)...there are still 3 hours left to this day.



So............I did everything I could to recover the pieces. Made hot tang, took a nap with the little ones (7 out of 10 did sleep!) fixed chips and hot roast beef sandwiches for dinner and had everyone ready to head off to church in good time tonight. Tried to pray at every corner and sought out those little ones who I had too harshly reprimanded earlier in the day. Tomorrow will be better, but this has been one very long day. I went with the Shiraz - not to bad- but I think the rest is going into soup tomorrow. Maybe it will be a little warmer and we can all get outside. :)

Please pray over those waiting to be adopted and those adopting....

It's a tough season in my adoption circle. Placements are falling through, hard to parent children are languishing in foster homes, and medical diagnosis on potential children are coming back with devastating challenges. Over it all is a sense of fatigue, that of swimming upstream through adversity and never getting anywhere. I think prayer is the answer and encouraging words in due time. I want to hand out Hershey's kisses and post-it notes to each of them, with words like Trust and Hope, Suffering, Steadfast and Faith - because those are His words for times like these.


I'm re-posting this poem as my encouragement to those families. I think that these kids are worth the effort, the investment and the life changing reality of becoming their parents. I trust that God has bigger dreams for us than we can even imagine - once we release our own.

I posted this in 2007 and 2008 now in 2009 it is still valid................

"I was working outside on the garden today (obviously not written today as the snow is falling!) and I started thinking again about the reasons we have for not adopting particular 'hard to place' children. I imagined what one of those unadopted children might say to us if we ran into them later in life.What would they do? Would they smile weakly and offer the words that we offer others as our justification for living safe and not bringing 'them' into our families. Or would their hearts cry out to us even as adults? Here is my thinking on how one conversation might go......

"I understand that you couldn't make room -
that there wasn't a place,
I was not of your womb.
That my age was all wrong,
and my history belonged,
to a place and a people you know have all gone.

I see in your eyes that my life was a chore,
that my needs were too big,
my emotions to raw.

That you were afraid I might never leave home,
or I might find anger and by failure be known.
That my heart was too broken
my mind was too slow,
That the drugs in my system
defined me, you know.

And maybe, just maybe,
I wouldn't love you -
for my mind was too battered
too deep were the wounds.

But I wish you had tried,
I wish you had found room,
For this one tiny boy who
so achingly stood
and looked in the windows and watched
as you prayed,
and asked the Lord Jesus
to move you each day.

To bring out the family
that He had prepared
but none came forward
as I stood lonely there.

I understand - that man would say
my childhood has slipped away.
I have a father, this is true,
I know the same strong God as you.

But I wish that I had, had a mom -
a brother, a sister, a dog, some lawn.
That you had tried to reach me there
not left me to my own despair.

To people who were paid to feed,
and paid to wash and paid to read.
To those who didn't stay too long
and those who chose to teach me wrong.

I wish,
that you had found a way
to wedge me in and let me stay."

It's about time! Jerry's birthday photos for Anna...

Jerry doesn't really like cake so we gave his the default brownie with a candle in it (unlit for one-year olds at our house!)

Daddy blessed him.

Jesse read him the birthday card from his foster parents

It seems every first birthday there is a present the child hates - for Jerry it was the stuffed moose that Jerry took an instant dislike to. (But he likes it now.)

I settled on buying a new black parka for Jerry with his birthday money - warmer than the trendier Land's End ones and 75% off on clearance. I bought Joe a matching one (I love dressing them alike) and both got hats and mittens to match. I invested the rest of the gift in three new (to us) fleece snuggle suits to put over his jammies at night, an insulated snow suit, and a pair of Robeez insulated booties off of ebay. The boy is styling!

Nanee sent Jerry soft golf balls which he was not afraid of....

I think Jerry is sending a hug to Anna and the rest - here is their letter and his response was to throw a hug.

Thanks to whomever sent coats....

This afternoon the mailman delivered a box that contained two new kids coats (tags on them- almost unheard of in our family. :) and three adorable long sleeved shirts with glittery gems on the front. The little girls are going to have fits of happiness over those shirts - it's almost as special as "toe paint.' (toenail polish) and I love the coats.

Thank you so much -
may there be as much joy in the giving as there is in my receiving.

Coming soon....Jeremiah's birthday

Blogger isn't uploading photos - but I have them sitting here waiting for the system to go back up......soon....hopefully they will be here for our expanded Alabama family. Praying over you very specifically today.

Shift in the Science Fair topic ...

Thanks for sending me links to articles that discussed the use of super absorbent polymers in diapers and landfills. After discussing it with John again this morning we decided that tackling the 'hazardous materials' (diaper contents) portion of the project according to the International Standards would have drove us batty and ruined the object which is to make science fun.

His new topic came out of my failed sweet chili recipe from this fall. The chemistry of dried beans is interesting to him and we do so many in our home that I can benefit from his research also. Food Chemistry - homeschool 101 for this month.

Mommy crisis...who else read the article on diapers being good for landfills?

Ok, so I have been brainstorming science fair projects with John and he is really excited about an article I mentioned to him a few months ago where landfills have been using the same super absorbent gel that is in diapers to bind toxins. Great...different...he's excited...and I can't find the original article to save my life. Anyone out there see it or have a clue where I might have? I almost wrote a blog post on it since I have contributed 48,000 diapers or so to the landfills in my days of diapering (I did go cloth for John - but gave it up when Leah arrived) and the thought that maybe I was in some way HELPING the environment just struck me as too funny. I can find details on the use of gels to bind and the gels in diapers - but nothing that ties the two together in a positive manner like the article I remembered.....maybe it was all a dream to relieve me of my eco-angst about a mountain of diapers with my name on them!

What I am reading on this chilly Sunday before real life hits......

I have really enjoyed reading Andree Seu's essays in World Magazine over the past few years. Through widowhood, child rearing and faith-wrestling I find much to think about in what she writes. Robert bought me two of her collections of essays for Christmas and I am enjoying them immensely in my sunny reading chair.

Miss Lila's question.....how do we get a rebate through AMX?

Our AMX card is linked through COSTCO. I believe that Sams Club has a similar deal with Discover where applying through the sponsor (COSTCO or Sam's) makes you eligible for the rebates. It works well for us since we shop regularly at COSTCO, and get both of the rebates (AMX and COSTCO) on all COSTCO purchases - we spend about $700 per month plus we get AMX rebates on almost all of our other credit card purchases - even gas and airline tickets.

(On the other question - sending a fax/copier/printer to the Special Friends. I doubt that it would be worth sending it due to the cost of mailing nowadays and the drop in prices on new ones - thanks though we are all encouraged that you wanted to bless them in this way!)

God's warehouse overflowed for our Special Friends! Only a few needs left.....

Wow... Amazing... Too Cool! Today we took over a load of things for the Special Friends and realized that almost everything that they needed to set up a household has been provided over the past 4 weeks. From a vehicle, to a house, to a roommate and lots of new supportive friends, they are feeling well settled. The shortage in the monthly expenses is still out there - but that feels so much easier to deal with now that they actually have a place they are living. Thank you God - for motivating your people in such great ways!

The few remaining things that they would love to have (we are getting into the wish list level vs the really need ones now - isn't this fun?!)

• Lamps for living room, kids' rooms, Mom's room
• End tables for living room (furniture is black and light wood) and Mom's room
• Dressers for boy's room, teen girls' room and Mom's room
• Desk(s) for kids' rooms and/or for home office
• Small table or cart, etc. for workspace/storage in kitchen
• Shoe rack/shelf
• TV-DVD player
• printer/copier for homeschool use (they have their laptop)
• sled or 'boy' toys for the 7 year old
• gift certificates for the local thrift stores (Goodwill or Unique) so they can fill in gaps on their own are another great idea.
• a cozy chair or two for in front of the fireplace
• wood for the fireplace - what good is one without it?!
• Math U See Alpha student book - blocks and teachers guide already promised.

Jerry's birthday is almost here! Baby shopping torture.....

Two weeks ago we received Jerry's legal paperwork that finalized his adoption into our family. On Sunday the little guy will turn one and his foster family wants to help keep him warm as well as stylish this winter so I took him shopping yesterday....
He liked this one but the fur kept getting into his eyes.

I liked this one (and I think I might go back to get it today.) Slimming don't you think? :)

After trying on three coats reality hit - he's all boy and nothing I could do was going to convince him that shopping was fun.