Aspen in the Fall

I think you will agree...there is nothing quite like the aspen in Colorado this time of year.

My friend Amy & I, spent an afternoon in the mountains west of Colorado Springs yesterday, & here were some of the views.

STUNNING!!!

Our Creator shows His handiwork with such variety, doesn't He?

This time of year, we see it vividly everywhere we turn, no matter where we live!

Brisk wind made our hike a little chilly, but all in all, it was a fun day!

Alayna, Anjali & Ana taking a well-deserved break!

Ruth hanging out in the Visitor's Center.

On our way back down the pass, we saw a fire on Mt. Manitou. We pulled off the road for a short time to watch it burn, & the girls were treated to the sight of shooting flames & ariplanes dropping slurry to put out the fire.

This morning, the fire is almost out, & last time I checked the news, no buildings were threatened, & no people injured, PTL!!!

BUT, it did really impress the girls!

Woo!!! Hoo!!!!!

JUST GOT UPDATED MEDICAL ON NATHANIEL!!!!!

This just came from our case worker/agency!!

"New photos and a medical!

At one month 23 days old he weighed 7.10 and was 49.5 cm long with a head circumference of 35 cm. The doctor says he is normal, active, with good muscle tone, strong sucking and crying, good weight gain, cardio normal, soft abdomen, yeast infection in diaper area. He is being given a topical cream for that and doctor recommended more frequent diaper changes.

What a bonanza week for the Dillon family!"

Yes, I'd say so!!! It is a BONANZA week for us, as yesterday, we got news that the DNA had been taken. This is the step that stops the adoption if it comes back not a match w/ his birthmother. We should hear results on it w/in a couple of weeks, but they do not expect this to be a problem, as the birthmom is Ruth's as well.

Thank-You, Lord!!!

Now, please tell me how cute he is!!! :-)

Ana & Work

This was very funny, in a twisted sort of way:

Yesterday morning, I asked Ana to clean up her breakfast spot, like I always do. She broke down in tears, crying that,"I always have to do ALL the work around here."

She first informed me that she wished she was a princess or a queen so that she wouldn't have to work.

But the funniest thing was what she asked next, tears still STREAMING down her face. She asked, "Are we too poor to have a servant? Is that why we don't have one?"

Oh, it was all I could do to hold back the laughter!! :-)

We had a long chat after that about how important work is to the heart of God. Did you know that work is mentioned in the Bible 717 times? God prepared good works for us to do before the foundation of the world.


Here are some of the verses we talked about:

Eph. 2:8-10:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

She saw that even though we are not saved by works (according to these verses), doing good works is still very important to the heart of God. And, yes, cleaning up after yourself (w/ a good attitude) is a good work.

Anyway, life soon returned to normal, w/out any more complaints on how hard she has to work. As if I really am a slave driver :-). (& you all should be proud of me-I didn't mention once how much work I do EVERY DAY!!)

Hope this gives you the chuckle it gave us!!

Here is a picture of the princess-wanna-be! (Don't we all want to be princesses? )

Even though she obviously needs a little work on applying her make-up, she is still beautiful, don't you think? I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

Love to all!

Kim

New pics of my girls!!!

Love the matching outfits! We LOVE to match! After all, we are sisters!!

We visited the Guatemalan Consualte this day, & I (Ana) spoke some Spanish to the people behind the desk. They thought I was pretty good "con mi Espanol." :-)

My goofy face!!

Just hang'n out!!!

Watching the Broncos w/ my Dad!!


Even w/ my eyes closed, I can play the piano!

I love balls! If they're just the right size, look, I can sit on them!!!!


My attempt at doing my own make up!


Another rocking chair pic. I LOVE TO ROCK!!

These are our friends the Salves.

We just took this picture last night for our dossier (the file of all our paperwork that goes to Guatemala). I thought it turned out so well, I just had to post it!

Rainbow

As some of you may know, Colorado is famous for it's storms, & its rainbows after the storms. Here is one from today.

It was a full double rainbow!!!

Our crazy day

How about this?

Ana, Ruth & I ran all over town today, trying to get paperwork together for our dossier and homestudy.

We got done:


*****Witness statements dropped of for our friends to sign.
*****Went to the bank for a statement re. our bank accounts.
*****Dropped off paperwork at the girls' physician for both the HS & the dossier.
*****Requested a police clearance report for our HS.
*****Went to my doctor to schedule an appointment for tomorrow.
*****Made a copy of my driver's license.
*****Sent off for a copy of our marriage certificate & my birth certificate.






We still have to:


*****Get one photo taken w/ our dear friends the Salves (to prove we do have friends, Ha!)
*****Print photos
*****Wait for paperwork we've requested to come back
*****Get a letter of employment form Dave's boss.
*****Request Dave's Birth certificate from WV.
*****Get Ruth's new passport ordered (this is only so she can go back to Guatemala w/ us-not really related to this adoption)

I know this may be boring for most of you, but it does help me to think things through. :-)
Now, here are some pics of my cuties, for those of you who have put up w/ my ramblings!

Me, holding a baby chick!

Me & my sis. I love "big people" chairs, & the bigger the better. I love a WILD rocking experience, too!

Me & my friend Analise Salve. Aren't we just the cutest????

That's all for now!

Yellowstone National Park

This summer, we went to YELLOWSTONE NP, w/ our dear friends the Johlmans.

I used to babysit these mature-looking guys when they were little. Their oldest could not be w/ us as he joined the military. Thank-you, Tim for your service to our country. But, it was SO fun to see these two all grown up! Where does the time go? I'm sure their parents are wondering the same thing, too :-)

(I'm really sorry! The spacing is off on this, but I can't get the post to save the way I want it too. Doesn't seem as easy to read. Also, seems like the smaller pics space the way I want them too, but the bigger pics do not. Not sure what that's all about.)

Ana in front of the sign! Gotta prove we really went!

Here we all are. L-R: Dave, Kim, holding Ruth, Ed, Janie, Hannah, Daniel, & Ana in front.

This, I really got a bang out of, as I graduated from Washburn University! Here we are at the top of Mt. Washburn.

Through a series of events, we ended up picking Hannah up, & taking her on to the park w/ us. Ed, Janie, & Daniel met us a day later in the park. She was a HUGE help to us, both on the drive up, as well as setting up camp & entertaining the kids! THANKS, HANNAH!!!


The funny thing was, of course other people thought she belonged to us, so everyone kept wanting to take our picture for us w/ her in it!!! We didn't mind! We happily claimed her for a day!!!

Here we are in front of the Mud Volcano. Notice the sisters holding hands! How precious!!

Here are a bunch of pics of my cute kids!

Ana loved dancing ON the their truck!

Part of God's creation!!! The heavens do declare the glories of God, & so do some of these other pics.

These trees were burned during the 1988 fires in YS. The bright blue sky & the clouds behind them were striking!!




There was some debate as to whether or not this was a Black Bear (I know...he's a brown color), or a Grizzly Bear. I personally do not think he was big enough to be a Grizzly.






A Black Bear.







And, one can not go to YS, w/out seeing these guys!!

Yes, the buffalo are walking through our campsite!!! YIKES!!!!




My kids at bedtime!

Ruth is not walking yet, so after playing in the DUSTY campsite, she was filthy!!!
This was the only way to get her clean & then in bed quickly.
She had to be close to the fire, too, because it was cold for her when she was all wet!








Ana in the bathroom, hard at work on her teeth!















By the end of our time together, Ana had declared that Hannah was her new BEST friend. I bet you didn't know YOU had a new best friend, did you Hannah? :-)







And Ruthie just lived here for the whole vacation! Thanks, Daniel!!! You saved our backs!!!
Sorry she screamed in your ears so much! Hopefully, they survived!


I can't believe these are the babies I used to take care of!!!!! Look who's taking care of my babies now!!!






A couple of family shots!!







And my exhausted children!!!! By the end of our time in YS, every time we got into the car to drive, both of them would pass out!

We had SO much fun w/ you guys & can't wait to do something fun like this w/ you again! All that was missing was Tim!!
Love, the Dillons!