This one is for the Grandma's

If you didn’t know my husband is a thespian!  Yes, Colin decided to try out for the Wyo-theater’s Gala this year, Any Thing Goes.  Apparently, anything does go because he made it, JUST KIDDING!  That was just too easy! Seriously, the show is awesome and Colin is the best darn steward I have ever seen. If you live in Sheridan you should go, if you can.   The unfortunate result of this amazing production is that it has required my husband to be at practice 5 nights a week for 2-4 hours.  We have missed him and can’t wait to have him back.  Needless to say, evenings can get a little long with his absence, so we have had to mix it up a bit.  We had several dinner dates with friends which were wonderful and I have invented several new nighttime routines.  Once a week we have been having BedTime PartyTIME, if he brushes his teeth and gets to bed with out a fuss all week, we break out the books and the animals and P-A-R-T-Y, library style.  It is honestly so sweet, one of those things that you want to remember forever. 

 This week he really got into and while I cleaned up the kitchen he set up the party.  If you notice all his favorite animals got their own books and the others had to share. 

 (for aunt nunu, i helped get this guy to stay in the chair)

 He loves this baby fox and is funny with it.  He was having a hard time reading to it and hold it, so he came up with the idea of zipping it up in his shirt...

 I have no idea where he would have come up with this, do you Colin?

And then there were 4!!

Well, not yet, but there will be soon!! We are hoping that within the next year there will be forth little Wyoming Betzler running around!  After lots of prayer, then some more prayer a strong and clear consistent feeling that this is the way that God is calling us to expand our family and then some more prayer, we have taken the leap and are working to adopt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo!!!!

AND we are excited! ALL of us as you can see!

We had originally thought we would adopt from Central or South America, as it seemed like the natural fit with our spanish and consistent interests.  However, the more we prayed and the more we researched  about the orphans of our world we felt like God was leading us to the DR Congo.   There are a variety of reason for this, with the main one being the immediate and great need there as well as the general situation of the country.  Some basic facts on the Congo:

• It is the third largest country in Africa by area and the twelfth largest in the world.
• The country has been marred by years of war and AIDS, creating a humanitarian crisis with more than 5 million orphans struggling daily in conditions of extreme poverty and famine. 
• Child headed families are the norm here. It is said that "it takes a village to raise a child," but the villages are overwhelmed with the shocking number of children in this country that are without families (littlemiracles.org)
• Children die faster in the Democratic Republic of Congo than in all but 10 other countries in the world ( United Nations statistics).
• 515 of every 1,000 children will die before turning 5 (IRC). In the United States, the comparable statistic is 6 of every 1,000 children.

And so the journey begins! We have been accepted into One World Adoption's Congo program and are plugging away on the paper work involved in setting everything in motion for adoption. We will keep you posted on this intimidating adventure...please pray that God would be using it for his glory.

The other big and exciting (exciting because we can't wait to how God will answer His promise) piece to this puzzle is the finance piece.  We aren't exactly sure what this will look like, but know that God has promised and will provide and so far he has.  Right down to free copies at FedEx last week! - more on that in a post to come! One way we hope to make money for this is through selling our projects.  As many of you know, we tend to be project people.  We love working on projects that involve taking old stuff and making cool stuff (eye of the beholder) with them.  We have historically focused our project energy on fixing up houses and making things for them.  But, as we are nearing completion on this house and can't imagine what our life would look like if we didn't have a few projects going on, we thought we would take this passion and try to use it to generate some of the adoption finances we'll need...so this Saturday will be our fist official go at it!   We will be joining Angela Brugger and potentially a few other families who are working to adopt, for a shopping EXTRAVAGANZA. Angela will be selling Sak Saum items.  This is seriously an amazing organization, that works for the restoration of human trafficking victims AND sells the most beautiful products. Check out their website, Sak Saum, to see all their great stuff.  We will be selling a few of our projects.  I will post more this week about what will have and what we will do. But come on Saturday to check it out and to get your Christmas shopping done in OCTOBER!!! Does it get any better than that??

WHERE - Cornerstone Church - 4351 Big Horn Ave

 TIME - 1-5pm

WHEN - Saturday, October 20th

2 is his favorite number!!

But it may not be his lucky number.  H rung in his 2nd year Birthday with hand, foot, and mouth disease (not to be confused with hoof and mouth disease!).   Fortunately, for him and us, he had a really, really mild case of it and was hardly even sick.  However, since it is so highly contagious we had to cancel his B-day celebrations and lay low at home. Which, for H, is probably what he would have wanted anyway.  Honestly, playing at home with Pa and Lala, was this little boy's Birthday dream come true!!! Here are a few quick pics or the b-day weekend. Breakfast donut tradition, followed by blocks playing, playing and more playing and more b-day treats!

BLIZZARDS!!!!!!

He is definitely his mother's child, he wanted to try everyone else's blizzard and then took a liking to Pa's (everyone always orders better!)

Practicing for pancake breakfast.

Another Blizzard? :)

H was so happy at home, we had to twist his arm to go to the pumpkin patch.  Once he was there he had no regrets.  It was really fun watching him run around looking for the perfect pumpkin...

"I want this one."   "Oh wait, this one is nice!"

Ahh, another one.

"But this one is really nice!"

More Birthday desserts!

If his 2nd Birthday celebrations are any indication of the year to come, this year will be full of sugary treats (so much for the sugar-free all natural diet I worked so hard ton the last two years),  lots and lots of love, and lots of fun. Thanks so much for coming to be with us. Pa & La, a.k.a Paula (H likes to say their two names fast and together so it sounds like Paula)!!! And thanks to everyone else for all the b-day wishes and love.  It is good to be 2.

GOOD chocolate news and a recipe for panqueques

Just a super quick post to share some great chocolate news!!!! Guittard Chocolate, is "licensed by Fairtrade Labelling Organization® - for greater profit for the farmer" and they "source cocoa beans that are Rainforest Alliance Certified - for greater sustainability"  And most importantly they can be procured at your local Safeway for around $5 :) YAY!  It is still expensive, I know, but it is better than the $8 ones at the health food store and I don't have to make an extra trip. Which means we can 1- buy them and 2- we can start making chocolate chip goodies again! Which we wasted no time doing.  Here is a quick recipe for Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  I know the picture isn't that good but the pancakes were!  Colin even said, "These are as good as any other pancake I have ever had."  

Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

1 Cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten free flour
1/2 Oat flour
1 tbls. oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 small banana mashed up
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbls. honey
3/4 cup warm water (plus more to desired consistency - I like thick doughy pancakes)

Mix, everything together and make pancakes

I know I need to work on my food pictures if I am going to post them, but it is always an after thought.  This was the last one left and I had to snap a pic quick before some little hands ran away with it. :)

Go and buy some chocolate chips with a happy conscious and make so yummy panqueques for a happy belly!!!