we work hard for the money

Life has been very busy lately. Wonderful, but busy. Aside from our normal day-to-day jobs, Richard and I have had some great opportunities to make a little extra adoption money on the side. 

The above photo was actually from a golden opportunity I had a few years ago, performing a crazy character for a church camp for high school kids. The opportunity came at just the right time and helped us tremendously in purchasing our plane tickets to Ethiopia. Once again, we have been blessed with the opportunity. This time, it is Richard on-stage. 

I love this character. To the right is our awesome friend, Ben. One of the most creative and big-hearted people we know. When the two of them get together on stage, you must be prepared for belly laughs. Like this...(p.s. don't forget to pause the music at the top!)

Jude and I have been traveling to camp with Richard the past couple of weekends and hanging out with him in his free time. Here are some pics of Jude enjoying the costumes and candy galore that he found.

In the meantime, I have also been busy painting some custom creations. Here are some pics of Jude and I in our "studio."

Here, Jude is saying, "Ta Da!"

I love watching him at work on his easel

and this is my most recent project,

a painting for a golf lover

this was before I did the shading on the shorts and finished the putter...(Richard just informed it's called a driver!)

I'll post a finished photo soon

We also just completed our home study for baby girl Pruitt and are just waiting on our FBI background checks to come back before we mail everything off to the USCIS (the immigration approval process...our next big step). Our agency's goal is for us to have everything in by the end of December to be added to the "wait list." We can't wait : ).