Fun at the Zoo.

Point Defiance was cool, but I know next time it would be worth the drive to go to Woodland. We had fun just the same.

Hanging out @ home

Tim is away for his hunting trip with his father. He is out in Colorado hunting Elk. When he was flying out of Seattle, the ticket agent bumped his ticket to first class, so he had a nice flight down. Jaiurs and I have been hanging out at home, and playing on the trampoline. Other than that, not much is going on. We love you.

Jairus' new toy

I was watching the Zitny kids, and they have a trampoline. Jairus spent almost the entire day out on that thing. So I was on a mission. We got this trampoline for $70! We just need to buy the enclosure for it. Donations accepted :) In regards to the boxer briefs, we are in the process of potty training our little man. He pooped in the toilet today and peed a few times! Hopefully soon, he will be all done!

Silly Jairus

Here he is helping me. He loves to vacuum!

We put him to bed. He didn't want to sleep, so he got out of bed, put on his boots and climbed into bed, and fell asleep. I took this picture at about 11pm.

Update on Adoption....
We are finishing our first chunk of paper work. We plan to have it sent in by the end of this week. The next phase is waiting for our fingerprints, and doing the mandatory training.

Adoption Needs

Tim and I are getting ready to rearrange our home a bit to prepare ourselves for our coming child. If anyone you know is getting rid of the following please let us know...

We are looking for sturdy bunk beds. I would like a handsome set, solid wood, something that will grow with the kids, and ones we can separate.

We need a large bookcase. No more than 77" in length. Solid wood, we have a lot of books, and would like something we can keep forever.

We believe God will supply our needs, but we are trying to be resourceful, and make every dollar stretch as far as possible. If you don't know anyone, prayer is welcomed. Tim and I are nervous and a little stressed looking at the mountain of changes and provisions we have to make. God bless all of you who do keep us in your prayers.

Lazy Monday

Today Jairus and I hung out in my bed room a good chunk of the day. It is the coolest room in the house, so we ate popcorn and read books, and watched VeggieTales. Later in the day, he went out and played on this toy and in his pool, then we had a berry shake. Love the cheesy smile.

Paper Pregnant!

Tonight, Tim and I spent a couple hours filling out paperwork to get our adoption on the ball. Wow, do they ask you all kinds of things. We had to make an evacuation plan, and write how we would deal with certain aged children in certain situations. We still have a lot of work to do. I have a list of questions for the caseworkers, but we are one step closer! Hopefully we will have our paperwork turned in within the next couple weeks. We have to do CPR training, Aids/HIV training, TB testing, and a 30 hour training course called PRIDE. So some of you may be seeing a lot more of Jairus during those things. Tim and I also have to have our prints taken at the police station.
Now, him and I are rearranging the house in our heads, where the office is going to go, and we are going to have to get bookshelves for our books, we have a garage to go through, and all kinds of stuff....... I think the paperwork is the easiest thing so far!

Splish Splash

So once again, we have been blessed. I have been wanting to get Jairus some kind of play structure, but I am not willing (nor are we able to) spend the kind of money for one I like.

Anyway, there was a home down the street from me with this structure outside their fence with grass growing all around it. To make a long story short, they sold it to us for $30!!!! On Craigslist they are going for $150-$200, so we really made out. God bless that family for their generosity!





So I got action pics of Jairus going down the slide...























BIG SPLASH!





































Going up again!

































Playing peek-a-boo

Were doing it!!!

Last night, I told a member of our family our plans to foster adopt. I had expected a much more positive reaction to the news, (beings this person was a child of the state foster care system) but instead I was torn down. This person rocked my core and made me second guess mine and Tim's heart for unwanted children. It is amazing how the people who influence us the most sometimes are the ones who hurt us. But today I made the official call..... To order our packet to get liscensed for foster-to-adopt! The woman on the phone was so gracious and gave me all the words of encouragement I needed to hear. She reaffirmed me, and now I am sure my heart is right, and no longer am I going to let that other person speak death into me. So pray for us! We love you!

Our Sunday!

Church was great. We were teaching and had 19 kids! A record for us! Today was our first service on our Church property for the summer. This is the second annual Church on the Dirt! We meet at the elementary school the rest of the year, but for about three months every year (now since buying the land) we raise up a big "revival" tent and hold our service there. There is a house on our land where the kids and babies go. It is amazing what God had done there. The basement of the house used be wet and dark and dirty. Now it is all carpeted, sheet rocked, lighted- the whole she-bang! Most of the supplies and all the labor was donated! We are blessed! I never want to have church at the school again! Anyway, after that, we had lunch with some friends, stopped by Tim's parent's house for a bit and came home to hang out!



We finally are getting around to cutting down our forest in the back! Daddy got lots of help from a special little guy!











Daddy hanging out in his tree stand in the back yard.




















Daddy and Jairus



















He needs his own stand!




















"Where am I supposed to go now?"

















Tim wanted to show off how he is making use of our old couch cushions.

The adoption orientation

Today was the adoption orientation in Puyallup. Tim had made prior plans to help the boy scouts at the bow range, so I ventured into uncharted territory alone. During the meeting, I couldn't stop crying. I felt the heart of God for these children. I know for certain we are to adopt. I want to do it now, this very moment, but it is going to be a long process. We are going for foster to adopt, which means we will be taking a child from the state foster care system, and going through the process of adopting them once the biological parents' rights have been terminated.
There are 10,000 kids in Washington State's system that are in need of either good foster homes or need to be adopted. 3,000 of those kids are ready to be adopted RIGHT NOW! My heart could not help but think about how these kids must feel. To be so young and to be fearful or lonely. Our next child is out in that system waiting for us! These kids are waiting for someone to tell them they are loved, wanted, and that they don't have to be scared anymore. Imagine a child around Jairus' age- being scared, and lonely! I can't bear it. Our family is going to save a child from that- and I am so excited about it- and scared!
Tim and I feel we are going to adopt a child at least a year younger than Jairus. We are still praying and waiting on God to tell us when. We may start the paperwork to have it out of the way, but him and I have some more talking to do.

Once the meeting was over, I went to get Jairus from Grandma and Papa's house. He got to hang out with both of them today. He just loves being over there, it is definitely a place I would want to be if I was that age. The girls and Jairus are so amazingly loved by them. We are blessed.

Jairus and I got home to Uncle Chris working on our car for us! God bless him! And Daddy working on the yard, so we went out in the back for fun!

The last two days have been very emotional for me. The false pregnancy, now the foster-adopt meeting. I just want to know our map, our destination for our lives. This is definitely a suspense story at this point! Stay tuned, we love you!

False Positive

I woke up this morning with cramping and bleeding. After 5 hours in the ER and an entire audience of medical people checkin' out my goods, we have come to the finding that the test I took last week was a false positive. My heart is sad and okay. It is better than the alternative, yet we were very excited about another little addition. Such is life I suppose. The doctors assured me that all my piping and plumbing is working top notch, so that is good. At this point I am confused and drained emotionally. I KNOW I want to be pregnant for sure again, I just don't know what the Lord wants for us. We are supposed to be going to an adoption "seminar" tomorrow- as adopting is in BOTH of our hearts now. I just want God to tell us what He wants. My best plan is to have a baby and adopt, but we will see. Thanks to all of you who keep up on us, we love you!

Our Camping Trip

We started out for our weekend adventure late Friday night. I didn't get off of work until 9pm, so we pulled out at about 9:57. Jairus did not seem excited to begin our ridiculously long car ride, but we did it all the same..





















At about 10:04, we arrived at our destination. And Jairus was asleep already. Those long car rides can be exhausting. Tim had the tent already set up when we got there, so we left Jairus in the car while we got the bed set up.









Tim and I got to be alone by the fire, enjoying gourmet polish sausage and smores. It was really nice!

















The next day, we had sandwiches for lunch with a side of 2 pounds of cherries. Needless to say, Jairus and I have had no problems dropping the poo since that lunch.











Later on Saturday, Tim, Jairus and I went to the flat range so I could try out my new bow. I love it. The grip fits my had perfectly, and I am better than I thought I would be. I do need to practice though. I am thinking Tiger Lilly or Killer. Haven't decided yet.

Jairus is a pretty coordinated little boy. I was surprised when he threw that ball how good he was.

















At about 7:30 Saturday night, we had dinner and some more smores. Jairus was so tired by then. We walked around pretty much all day, and he got up really early this morning so, he was really ready for bed. Once we got him down, Tim and I walked over to the Flat range and shot our bows for about an hour. It was so much fun. We got to just be husband and wife for a little while and enjoy each others company. Probably the best date we ever had. He was instructing me how to shoot and all of that, and I was staring at his butt most of the time. It was awesome. He has a nice butt too. When we were done with that, we went back and sat next to the fire for a while. Nice date! I think I might ask him out again.

Tim Scores Again!

I was amazed how fast those lines showed up! I wasn't even done peeing on the stick, and there they were! We are very excited. The day before I took the test, I was thinking maybe if we were planning on having only one more, we should just adopt, but here we are! Pregnant! Tim and I are still going to be going to a meeting about adoption later this month. We don't know when or how we will adopt, but I think we will at some point- if God wants us to. But I am excited, and nervous. I am in no hurry for this baby to come. I think there is even more preparation I need to do this time around. It was an awesome early Father's Day present!

BBQ @ Mike's

He looks so accomplished!

The three of us. Finally I am actually in a picture. I spend most of my time behind the camera, who would know I was even there!

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Jairus and Tim exploring

An update

So the Barnard life is blessed as always. We are lucky to have a God so big!
Tim is busy at work, it is hectic for him most of the time, and he is at work for an average of 12-15 hours a day. He is going to be out of the military in under a year now, so we are excited to see the new path the Lord has for him. He has been spending some much needed time with his bow, as it is usually his only escape from the daily grind and sometimes ominous tasks I put on him. But he is a trooper and a loving and serving husband.
Jairus is definitely a boy. Eat, Destroy, read, dance is usually his recipe for the day! I love it though, he is learning so much, and his language is getting better and better each day. We are learning about taking care of our toys, and he is actually pretty good about putting his books away after we read them. Speaking of books, he loves the same 6 books.... over and over and over. I know all of them pretty much by heart! Dr. Seuss anyone?
As for myself... I have allowed my walk with the Lord to become pretty stale and complacent. So He is now working a few uglies out of me at the moment, and I am getting back on track with reading my Bible and walking it out. Work is going good, I am just ready to not work for awhile. February is not that far away! And for those of you who don't already know, we are trying for another baby! We have been for the last few months, and haven't gotten there yet, so hopefully this month around, we will be blessed! We are also praying about adoption. We don't know yet how we are called to be involved, when or anything like that, I have been praying about it, and I know we are supposed to be involved. But I think that we will be adopting at some point. We will see what the Lord has in store for us! I have gotten this Bible verse a couple times in my last Bible study: Psalm 68:5-6: A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads fourth the prisoners with singing... Who knows where The Barnards fall into that Scripture, but I know it will be somewhere good!

A poopy experience

Yesterday, after Tim got home, I ran to return some movies, and to grab a couple things at the store. Ouch, the cost of food now!!! But that is a different story.... Anyway, I pull into the driveway, grab the grocery bag and walk up to the house, and though the open window all I hear is Tim's voice, "Drop it, don't touch, oh my gosh, oh my gosh..."
All I am thinking is, oh no, what did Duffy do now. So I walk into the house and set the bag on the island, and call for Tim, and he just replies, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Then I turn the corner into the hallway. And there is Jairus with a poopy diaper in his hand, his hands are covered in poop and so are his feet!!!! Stunned, Tim is holding his elbows to keep for spreading the contamination any further. I just looked at him and thought "I have no idea where to start." So we get him into the sink to rinse off before giving him a real bath. While I am doing that, I ask Tim to look around to see where else he may have gotten the poop. Tim goes into the living room, and there is poop all over the carpet! Luckily we have a mini carpet machine, so that wasn't so bad. And Jairus didn't eat the poop, so I guess that is a good thing. Anyhow, this was our first really nasty experience with that sort of thing, so I thought I'd share it. Wish I would have gotten a picture now, but I was so stunned, I didn't know what to do. Hope our story made you laugh. We love you all.

Hanging out with the girls... and more

How cute are these three?

Bear Crawling down the hill

Running on the trail.

He loves the sun!