Extreme Home Makeover: Spain Edition

Have you ever waited seven years to paint your house? Never had time to do things for yourself or put things off? "Extreme Home Makeover" Spain edition visited the home of Paul and Sarie Anderson in Alovera, Spain. 15 Team members have descended upon this home and the new English house they have started up for english classes. The team scraped and painted the living room and three story hallway - including the ceiling, and painted a bedroom in their personal home. At the English house others on the team cleaned a basement garage room for games, organized the supplies for english classes, hemmed curtains, put together chairs and furniture, and worked on leveling out the dirt (pre-landscaping) in the big yard outside. The team is tired, but very happy that we could do this for Paul and Sarie. We are privileged to be able to do this for them. Diane

Hey Yall! as the English house intern, Anna, who's from Georgia says. From the first night, everyone in the team and the two interns, Anna and Megan, as well as the Anderson family, has hit it off. We're all having a great time here in Spain, and we are enjoying working and helping to make Paul and Sarie's lives just a little easier. We are so grateful that they dedicate their whole lives to their faith, we want to do all we can for them. They spend all their time working with others, that they have no time for themselves, so the team is very glad to do whatever we can to help them. Although some of us are sore and have aching muscles, we are all happy. Please keep us in your prayers for the next week. :) ~Marisa

HI!!!!! Today was a long day. Sarie's house has been painted and almost back 2 normal. The English House's yard and has been leveled by r shovels. Right now i am cutting fleece for the English Camp and we have much to go. I have been able to help with the English lessons for the children at the English house, plays and stories and games. It has been great here everyone is so nice, but I might be coming home a pound or two heavier because of the delicious food. I miss Alex, Daddy, and Allison sooo much, but it already feels like family here. BYE BYE!:)~ AMY

Family photos

Well, it was family photo day today! Between the grass stains, pizza face, grumpy 3 year old, and fake 8 year old smiles, we managed to get a few good shots--thanks to our patient and wonderful friend and photographer, Scott!  

Thanks for letting me share!  

Summer fun!

We are so happy to be back in Minnesota!  The kids are doing great and enjoying the fact that we are finally in our house and settling in.  They were thrilled to get all of their toys from Wisconsin a few weeks ago. 

The kids are growing so quickly!  Matthew is already going to be in 3rd grade and AJ will be in school all day in 1st grade!   Emma is growing so quickly-she turns 3 on September 10!  Wednesday, we have our 6 month post-placement meeting with the adoption agency.  I can't believe it's only been 6 months.   It's like she's always been with us.  She is the perfect addition to our family.  

Thanks for checking in.  Sorry I'm not better at posting pictures more quickly!  

Summer has come!

It's hard to believe it's June 7 and we are just now
starting to enjoy the warmth of summer. Last weekend
we had one nice day to enjoy and today is the first
day all week which has been warm and nice. We have
enjoyed playing outside and taking the boat out on the
lakes nearby.

Emma enjoyed touching a fish when it was being held,
but freaked out when a sunfish flopped off the hook
and onto the dock. She's got a few things to get used
to! Thankfully, she enjoys the boat. She did not,
however, enjoy leaning too far over the end of the
boat and landing in the water head first. Thankfully,
her big brother, Matthew, was there to rescue her
(with the help of her life jacket!). That was not the
best introduction to swimming in the lake.

The boys are surprisingly patient when it comes to
fishing and they enjoy watching their dad catch some
"whoppers". Emma's favorite game is throwing out
her line (with a bobber on the end) and "catching"
either Daddy or Matthew who are swimming around the
boat.

Otherwise, school is out and summer has begun. We
have a couple of fun camps scheduled for the boys, but
mostly, we will be hanging out at the beach, pool and
park with friends. Summers are a huge bonus of being
a stay-at-home mom. Lots of play time!

Thanks for taking the time to check in. I'm not so
good at the updates, but I'll try to get one in sooner
this time!

P.S. Please note that the big yellow Land Rover in
the back of the picture of Emma and me is not ours!

When will it warm up?

Well, it's mid April and we are still cold. It did
hit almost 70 yesterday, but back down to the 50s
today. We had the kites out flying on Monday but 3
kites in a small area is not a good idea. At least
it was windy!

Not much new to report here. We are into the swing of
things and doing well. We still await the sale of our
home in WI and tentatively look at houses around here,
just in case it sells. Justin is enjoying his new job
and Lisa has re-engaged with tutoring and writing
curriculum at church. It's great to be back. The
boys continue to enjoy school and will start baseball
(Matthew) and soccer (AJ) in May. Emma continues to
learn the ways of being a little sister. She loves to
jump on her brothers but screams when she doesn't get
her way (or gets a brother's toy removed from her
hands). She loves her brothers and gets so sad when
we leave them at school and excited when she wakes up
from her nap so we can go pick them up. She is the
perfect little girl for our family. We are so
thankful.

Thanks for checking in. It's so fun to hear from
everyone!

Swimming!

We finally had a more "normal" week now that we have
been home a month. It felt great to have a bit of a
routine. We had friends visit from Racine and had a
great time catching up and having them get to know
Emma.

We took the kids swimming yesterday and we weren't
sure how Emma would respond as we didn't know what her
experience with swimming was. Well, the minute we
walked into the pool room, she started SCREAMING!!
The kind of scream that makes everyone stare and
wonder what you are doing to harm your child. She
settled down and played on the side of the pool for a
while. Then, she slowly warmed up to the water and
splashed around, bounced in the water, and eventually
put her face in the water. She get so proud of
herself when she does something "new". It is fun to
watch her grow and develop.

Emma's words are coming more frequently. She said her
first semi-sentence today. "More juice." Close
enough! She is really good at saying "no", so it is
pretty easy to discern what she doesn't want and we
are working on more words so that we can know what she
does want!

We tried to have Emma stay in her Sunday School room
today so we could go to church together. That didn't
go so well, so I (mom) went back in within moments to
calm her and remind her that I will come back. This
will definitely be a process, but I know that she will
be comfortable one day. She does fine if we leave, as
long as a brother or two is still with her. That is a
step in the right direction. She has only been with
us for 6 weeks. She is doing great.

It's hard to believe it's almost April and the
forecasters are predicting 4-6 inches of snow
tomorrow. The boys have been enjoying playing
outside, which is great for keeping the townhouse more
in order. We are very much looking forward to summer!

Thanks for checking in with us. Write us if you have
a chance!

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Happy Easter!

We hope you have a wonderful day celebrating Jesus!
We wish it were a warm, spring day, without snow, but
it's been a fun day of celebration as a new family.
We are so grateful! Have a great day!

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