Santa Pictures

We thought that we were being really smart this year by going to get our Santa pictures taken right after Thanksgiving. Surely no one would be there yet! Boy were we wrong! The 2 hour wait was VERY long with two kids but we survived and took our treasured Santa pictures. Thankfully Bass Pro has a

 lot of entertaining things for the kids so we spend a little time....

Riding the Merry Go Round (many many times)

Visiting with Santa on his break

And my favorite, laying on the floor eating candy canes (Gross!!!)

All in all we had a great time and loved our visit with Santa....

Except Anna Kayt :)

On a side note, we have a cookie decorating tradition at the Millington and this little girl had a blast!!! She rolled dough (playdough as Livi would say) and cut out cookies for close to an hour! At one point in time she was the only one left at the table still decorating. :) I love this sweet little girls attention span, it amazes me sometimes! 

On the way home Anna Kayt was just too tired from all the cookie making and eating. :) Notice all the chocolate on her face. Yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know this is a little late but wanted to share our Thanksgiving pictures. We got to have most all of our family over to my mom's house and had a great time relaxing and eating lots of wonderful food! 

So glad that we were able to take a family picture. I will aways treasure this!

Will loved my girls so much and was always playing and loving on them. Such sweet pictures of them.

A Temporary Love Lost

 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 

2 Cor. 1: 3-7

This is a verse that I have clung to over the past few weeks. Exactly 3 weeks ago my younger brother left this earth and is now with our Heavenly Creator. I miss him so much it hurts at times but I know that if Will could trade places with me right now he wouldn't. He is with his loving Father and with the only person that could possibly love him more than his earthly family. I rejoice in the day that I will get to see Will again in all of his heavenly glory.

This is a blog that my sister wrote last week and I loved her wording. I am not great with words, especially in a time like this, but I echo everything that Ashley put into writing. Here is her blog post...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks ago my life changed forever... 

Two weeks ago today, God called my baby brother to come home. To know my brother was to know humbleness, forgiveness, and acceptance. Will was not perfect, none of us are, but he was forgiven and he forgave. Will was humble and he accepted each person into his life for who they were. Someone made a post about Will that day and it said "Today we lost one of the good guys..." and we did, that day, we lost one of the good guys. 
I came across this poem that Will had and I've had it on my fridge since I found it. I don't know where he got it but I know he looked at it often because the paper is worn. It doesn't have a title and it may not mean a lot to some, but to me, these are the words I believe my brother would speak. This poem has brought me a lot of comfort over the past two weeks. Those times when I am missing him so bad that I don't think I can take another breath, somehow, I am reminded of this poem and it makes me smile a little. 

When I say... "I am a Christian", I'm not shouting "I'm clean living."
I'm whispering "I was lost and now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian", I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian", I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian", I'm not bragging of success,
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean up my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian", I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian", I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian", I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner who has received God's good grace, somehow!

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," Phil. 4:7

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Each year, I LOVE picking out and sending Christmas cards.  I am always drawn to the great deals and great card designs at Shutterfly.  They have so many great cards to choose from that you will definitely have a hard time deciding on the perfect card to send to all of your friends and family.  One thing is for sure, I have always been very pleased with my orders from Shutterfly. 

Here is a link to look at some of the great card designs at Holiday Cards

Also, here is a link to look at some of the specials offered by Shutterfly...http://www.shutterfly.com/special-offers. 

So, go to Shutterfly, and begin designing your perfect Christmas card!

*This is a sponsored post from Shutterfly.*

Happy Halloween

My little bumblebee and Rapunzel, all dressed up ready for some candy!! And lots of it!!! :)

With their Sisa and Grumps (my parents)

 Our 'B' (J.R.'s Mom)

Sweet little friends, but for some reason would NOT take a picture together :) So this is the best I could do!

Had to post a little time line. We have taken Halloween pictures with Livi's friend C every year since they were born! Such sweet babies! Cannot believe how time flies so quickly!

Lamb, Monkey, and Hippo - 2009

You would never know they are sweet friends from these pictures! I wonder if the halloween costumes kind of confuse them a little bit! :)

Bumble Bee and Firefighter - 2010

Cupcake and Captain Hook - 2011

Rapunzel and a Power Ranger - 2012

Sweet buddies!!!

And New Baby Makes 5!!

Let me start by saying, "I am not pregnant!" :) We are adding to our family in a different way this time... we're adopting! J.R. and I have known that we wanted to adopt ever since college, but we never knew when, where, or how. Over the past few months, we have felt the Lord calling us to adoption and more specifically a little boy. Our hearts have always been set on a little girl, but God has a funny way of showing you sometimes that His will is so much Greater than our own! We are excited to anounce that we are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia that should be around 2 years old or younger. :) We are so extremely overjoyed to welcome this little guy into our family and can't wait to meet his sweet face! All of the beginning paperwork has been finished, and we are waiting to begin our first home studies. This is going to be a very long process, estimated to take about 24 months from start to finish. We know that there are going to be many difficult days ahead of us, but I have a feeling the moment we get to look in his precious eyes it is all going to be worth it. He will be named after J.R.... John Randall Millington, III. So, we will call him Trip (since he is the 3rd) :) I will be posting many new updates in the upcoming future to let you all know how our process is moving along. Thank you so much for your love and support so far! We can't wait to meet our sweet baby boy Trip!

This is a journey that we're not going to be able to travel alone. The Word of God and His Holy Spirit will provide us wisdom and guidance, your prayers are highly coveted. Please, pray for focus on and direct vision of our ultimate goal, that God has a baby waiting for us to love and welcome in to our family. Pray for paperwork, government agencies, and waiting times to run smoothly and quickly. Also, please pray for funding. Adoption is not cheap, but oh, how I wish it was! Our grand total from start to finish is an estimated $29,700. If you feel led to help, we would love any and all donations. All money will go to our adoption process. I have posted a donate button to the right where you can donate to help bring our baby boy home! We'll be purchasing a large jigsaw puzzle, and for each person that donates, we'll write your name on the back of a puzzle piece. Once our adoption is finalized, we'll put the puzzle together, frame it on both sides with glass, and hang it in his room. This way we can always take it off the wall and be able to see all of the names. It will always remind him and us of every person that loved and prayed us through this time. Moreso, it will serve as an even greater reminder of the love lavished on him by his Heavenly Father. Thank you in advance for your love and support, and I can't wait for you all to meet him!!

A long overdue summer update!

Where has the summer gone? Here are a few pics from the last few months of our lives. :)

 For Christmas last year my parents gave us a beach trip and they volunteered to watch the girls while we went. It was amazing!!! I can't remember the last time I laid out all day, floated in the pool for hours on end, and went out to eat dinner at 7!! Ha!! We took another sweet couple with us and needless to say we had a blast and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Love this girl!!!

This sweet pea had her tear ducts unclogged and it has made such a big difference in her little eyes. 

Happy girl with some chocolate pudding!

 We went to the pumpkin patch this year and ran into one of Livi's best buddies! They had a blast together!

 We spent MANY fun days at the park!

This post wouldn't be complete without these lovely school pics! Please notice Livi's unbrushed hair and face tatoo! No, I didn't know that it was picture day!! :)

This little girl is always keeping us on our toes! She is always up to something and giving me something to laugh about! :)

I also spent a little time this summer refinishing some furniture. I refinished the piece below and two others for Olivia's room and actually really enjoyed it! I am loving her new turquoise furniture!

 Keep checking the blog, there are going to be lots of updates coming soon :)