One way you could help us adopt

In a comment a few days ago someone asked if we have an adoption button. WE SURE DO! I still feel new to the blogging world myself, so I thought I would do a quick step-by-step of how you can add our button to your blog.

Why would you want a picture of us on your blog? Because when other people look at your blog they might feel inspired to click on it and visit our adoption blog. And maybe they'll look at it and think nothing at all. Or maybe they will know someone (who might know someone) who is thinking about making an adoption plan. Then they could refer that person to our adoption blog and TADA we could be blessed with a child. It's that simple. And then you could say, hey, I helped them find their child. That would make you so special in our lives we just might name our next kitten after you! (Sorry, it won't be our child; we already have those names picked out.)

It's easy, just follow these instructions:

1. Right click on this picture and click "Save as."

2. In the top right corner of your blog click "Customize."

3. In your sidebar click "Add a gadget."

4. Scroll down and select "Picture."

5. In the title box you could put something like "Help my friends/family adopt." Or "This couple is looking to adopt." A few months ago I helped my dad post a link on LDS Singles.com and I titled it "Help me become a grandpa."

6. You can add a caption if you like, but this step is optional.

7. In the link box put this: http://joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com This makes it so when they click on the picture it takes them to our adoption blog!

8. Click "Browse" to upload the image and choose the image that you saved in step one. It will take a minute to upload the image.

9. Click "Save."

Its that simple! I just did it on my cooking blog, and it only took a minute.

Also, FYI, we received our adoption pass along cards yesterday. We have 500. If you would like some to hand out, please let me know and I will get them to you. Remember, you never know where our child could come from so please help us. Please leave me a comment if you choose to do this; it'll make me feel are warm and fuzzy!

I need a pick me up...

We were contacted by another scammer.

So in trying to lift my spirits and restore my hope I found these great videos about adoption.

Kittens have a new rule

DO NOT BRING YOUR FOOD/TOYS TO BED.

THERE IS NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE.

The only question I feel like answering is, yes, at least it was already dead.
For a complete list of rules, check out this POST.

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful wife

Hello there all, it's me, Josh, again. I thought I would take this opportunity (Savannah is in the other room and doesn't know I'm doing this) to leave a mothers day tribute to my beautiful and loving wife. She is truly an amazing woman and today, on one of the hardest days of the year for her, I want to tell her how special she is to me.
Savannah, you are my world, no-one else on this earth could have endured the heartache that you have so well. I draw strength from you every day. You are my reason for getting out of bed each morning, my sunshine on the gloomy days. You make life fun and interesting and an amazing adventure. You are there to support me when I stumble, you smile when I'm blue, keep me grounded when I need it, and make me feel that, at least to you, I am the most important man in the world. I am amazed at how our years together have flown by, I am in love with you more each passing day, and I still cannot believe that you chose me to spend the rest of time with, but I am very thankful that you did. I love you dear, happy mothers day from me, Pyro, Missy, Zip, and Sage. Word cannot explain how much you mean to all of us. Thank you for everything.
Love Your Sweetheart

Pictures of Dallon from South Africa

Josh's mom got a package in the mail from Dallon! He included a DVD with a TON of pictures. After looking at it we decided two things: (1) they took all their camera's and combined the pictures to make 1 DVD thus insuring an endless amount of pictures, and (2) Dallon needs to give his camera to his companion more and BE in the picture. After going through the numerous photos I created a few slides shows highlighting my personal favorites. Since I couldn't seem to limit myself I made 4 different slides hows.

Sorry it will take so long to see all the pictures. A slide show was easier to create than to load each picture individually. You can click the "+" or "-" in the bottom corner to speed them up or slow them down. You can also hover the mouse of the picture to make it pause. I didn't take the time to re-caption them so the words are what the pictures were called when they downloaded off the cameras.

Here are some picture of Dallon in South Africa (he's the golden haired missionary)

Wildlife Pictures

More Wildlife (we think another missionary took these pictures, but I love them so I wanted to include them.)

Scenery (I think some of these were taken by Dallon, and others were taken by someone else.)

Pass Along Cards

We finally got around to making up some pass along cards. A friend recommended a great place, Spaces for Faces. I don't know why we put it off. It only took a few seconds and the printer had a proof to me within a few hours. I think they are shipping today so I should have them next week. If you want any to hand out, please let me know.

Front
Back

We are also using the front of the card as our blog button to our adoption blog. If you want to add it to your blog just copy and save the picture and in the link box add http://joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com. That should link it to our adoption blog.
We are also planning a yard sale to raise some money for our adoption fund. I think it will be the first week of June at my mom's house. If you have anything you would like to donate, please let me know and I will come pick it up.

Malachi 3:3

A friend sent me this email today. It is just what I needed to hear.

Malachi 3:3 says:
"He sill sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all impurities.
The women thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'
He smiled at her and answered,
'Oh, that's easy...when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Just because it was a great day

Yesterday we had plans to help a neighbor work cows, but we woke up to rain. So we had a nice lazy day. We pulled the sofa bed and watched movies.

Zipper and I took a catnap.

I don't know why people assume a catnap is a short nap. Clearly they've never seen my cats nap!

Sage slept under the car to stay out of the rain.

Then we decided to go to town and watch the Shelley Irish Dance School. They are from Provo. It was really good.

Pictures of Sage

A few weeks ago I came home from getting groceries. When I pulled into the drive Sage was wrapped around a pole so I untangled her before taking the groceries in. When I came back from the truck, this is what I saw...She wants to be friends with the kittens, but they still don't want anything to do with her! She danced and rolled around Pryo for a while before Pyro had enough and ran off.We took Sage for her first truck ride since bringing her home. She DOES NOT like car rides. Doesn't she look so sad...
Josh made it about 10 feet down the driveway before she had about worked herself loose. So she rode in the front seat with him. We were taking his parents truck back so we had to drive different vehicles down. But on the way back I sat in the back seat and held her through the window.

She did like visiting the farm.

A few updates...

I HAVE MY CAR BACK!!! I picked it up Thursday night and I am so happy. I missed it so much. Every day I would frantically look for my car keys thinking I had lost them! I am trying to make sure I don't hit any more deer.

We have not heard back from the possible adoption situation. I debated all weekend about calling them, but it really was a bit out of our comfort zone cost wise, so I've decided to let it sit. If we hear from them we will move forward. I know several people think we should pursue this further, but it doesn't feel right. But it was fun to submit our paperwork. It made me feel... excitement. At least I now know someone has seen our profile. Also on that note, I just looked at our Parent Profiles info. Our letter has been viewed almost 1000 times! Our contact us page has been view 85 times and we've even been added to someones favorites list twice! At times I feel like it is a waste of money, but we are going to continue to keep it running. I also want to thank everyone for their prayers last week. They were defiantly felt. After we mailed our paperwork I thought I would be a wreck wondering about it, but I felt so calm. Thank you so much. We are still pondering something else at our home so please keep those prayers coming!

I am trying (but not hard enough) to give up soda pop. On average I was drinking 2 cans a day of Diet Dr. Pepper. I am drinking lots more water and so far I have managed to drop to one soda a day (with my lunch) and I have been able to give up Diet. Dr. Pepper for...

AND

Sadly, I am not impressed with my results. But I promise that once I run out of those to increase my efforts. I don't want to quit cold turkey and I am telling myself that I can still have one on special occasions, like dates (fun) and dividends day at work (not fun), than maybe I can really do this.

Truthfully, I did quit once. It was years ago. I went 18 months without carbonation or caffeine of any form! I even had a Dr. Pepper that sat in my friend for 13 of those months before I finally threw it away. My employer had a machine out in their shop and for months I begged the Pepsi guy to put Country Time Lemonade out there. Seriously MONTHS! Finally he did. I walked out with my two quarters and came back with... Dr. Pepper. But if you had to work there you would understand I why I needed to be drugged in some form. Even if it was only a soda.

I think I am finally figuring out this blogging thing. So far I have 6 comments on my Attention kittens post. I want more! Please leave a comment, even to just say hello. I want to get at least a dozen comments. Also if you are following my blog, be sure to click follow. I want to see my readership increase! If you have anything you would like to see me blog about, just let me know. I love to talk and I love to write!

Attention Kittens!

Dear Cats:

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. Your dish will always be located on the floor. Only my dishes will be placed at the table.

The hallway and staircase was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort, however. Cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It i s not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom!If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - feline attendance is not required.

The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough.

Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:
* They live here. You don't.

* If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.

* I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

* To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.Remember, cats are better than kids because they:

(1) eat less,

(2) don't ask for money all the time,

(3) are easier to train,

(4) normally come when called,

(5) never ask to drive the car,

(6) don't smoke or drink,

(7) don't want to wear your clothes,

(8) don't have to buy the latest fashions,

(9) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and

(10) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children.