Here comes the bride

Apparently at Livi's school last week they talked about weddings because that was Livi kept talking about all day. I made the mistake of taking Livi into a local children's boutique to look around and Livi found what she thought was a perfect wedding dress for herself. When I tried to explain to her that she couldn't have it, she decided she would try another route. She then went to the store owner and asked and I quote "Can I please borrow this dress so that I can go marry my daddy" Oh my goodness, my heart just melted. :) we decided to compromise and wear one of mommies dresses when we got home. She was beyond proud of this outfit and I must say she was looking pretty adorable! :) Here's hoping she always wants to marry her daddy! :)

Sisa and Grumps

I know that life has not been "easy" lately for my family but I am constantly reminded of God's grace, His compassion, and His deep love for us! I am so thankful for Godly parents who have truly shown what it means to trust God in the dark times and to seek His face no matter what the circumstances or what kind of tough time this world may bring. They have shown me what it looks like to rest in Him and how to have an eternal hope and see Christ's glory in ALL things, big and small. I am so proud of my dad for serving in our church when at times it is still difficult to see people and put on a 'happy' face. I am so proud of his ability to point out that he is learning how valuable we all are in Christ and that no matter the person, attitude, or behavior they are portraying, he/she is loved and desired by Christ, so the same should be true for my view of that person too. I am so proud of him for leading our family when we all miss Will more than we can stand it at times. I am so proud of my mom for being so loving and Christ filled and continually focusing of God's word for her guidance. I am proud of her efforts and important role that she plays at the foundry, being a mentor to women who struggle with drug addiction, and also for her role helping to raise funding to keep the foundry going. I am so blessed to have a mom and dad that love me, my husband, and my girls unconditionally and pour their hearts into helping us raise Olivia and Anna Kayt to be Godly women. I love you both more than words can express and I am so very proud of your walk with Christ and to have you as my parents. Love you both more than words can express!

Thankful!

Last weekend I was beyond blessed to be invited to a brunch for all moms adopting a child from Ethiopia! It was so nice to be able to sit down with other women and share stories, learn where we all are in the process, ask questions, and pray for each other, our babies, and our babies' birth parents. I am so excited to continue this get together with these Godly women and hopefully create a lot of life long friends. I think that it is so neat to think that one day my little boy might be in the same transition home or orphanage as one of these girls babies and that our children might meet again once they are here in their new forever families. So excited about the opportunity to share life with these girls!

Lately...

Apparently I have not been the best blogger lately! Here are a few updates from our little family over the past few months.... beware, lots of pictures!!
We had a little snow fall this year and this was Anna Kayt's first big snow to see. She was not too sure what to think about it and spent most of the time crying because she did NOT want to wear a hat or a coat. :) Once she figured out the jacket was not an option to take off, she quickly realized how much fun the snow can be.

Livi was soo proud of her snow man!! She worked very hard on him and was so proud that she was finally able to make one! I guess that I should be careful of what all I tell Livi because she remembers everything! A few months ago I was trying to describe to her when Christmas would be here and when Santa Clause would come bring her presents. The best I could come up with was that he would come when it got cold outside and snows. Welllllll when she woke up for her nap and saw all of the snow the first thing out of her mouth was how excited she was that hoho brought her presents! Oh no. Let's just say it took a lot of explaining on my part that were not going to be any presents downstairs from Santa :)

Snow ball fights with daddy!

During the winter we love to go to story time wherever we can find one. :) This particular day Anna Kayt thought it would be a good idea to join the reader on the stage. Yes, I was that  mom that let her child break the rules in an effort to avoid a temper tantrum. Oh well!

Livi has spent a lot of time 'talking on the phone' This particular phone call was to her Aunt Ashley to tell her all about Sophia the First!

Such a big girl! She loves getting to sit in the front seat, even if it's just for a minute!

On our snow day, this is the outfit that Olivia thought would be 'perfect' for going outside to make a snow man. I especially like the gloves with short sleeves.

We have a new princess on the block! Anna Kayt has just started wanting to dress up all the time!

Silly girls! Why is it so much fun to sit somewhere other than your car seat?

We have had fun play dates and even got to hang out with a new friend! They thought it would be fun to both wear pjs. :)

Fun before bedtime!

This funny girl makes me laugh and cry all at the same time. She is definitely not lacking in personality! This is her playing in mounds of paper from a shippment box.

And our new favorite thing to do is brush our teeth!! All by ourself just like big sissy!

Yay, Yay, yay, it is almost ballet recital time! Livi LOVED her new costume and I can't wait to see my baby up on that stage! Might be an emotional night for me. :)

Last weekend we got to keep this little man while his mommy and daddy had to go out of town to work on an amazing new ministry they are starting in Haiti. More of that to come later. 

Paxton is an absolute dream baby!!  He is so quiet and easy going. My girls loved on him all day and Livi was soo proud to have her baby cousin at her house!

This is AK feeding his some puffs! :)

Happy Boy!

Fun picnic at the park, minus Livi who was upset about who knows??

Happy Weekend!! Hopefully lots more posts to come soon!

Adoption Update

I realized today that it has been quite a while since I updated our blog about how the adoption is coming along. So far we have completed 4 different home study appointments and have 2 more left to finish. We have both of these scheduled for this month and hope to be finished with all home study paper work by the end of January!! That will be a giant sigh of relief to have literally hundreds of pieces of paperwork, article reading, and course training, completed!!

 Because each country is so unique in how they process adoptions I will give you a quick little update on how Ethiopia does theirs. Hopefully starting in February we will begin getting together our Dossier (paperwork that goes to Ethiopia). I have no clue how long it takes to get ALL this paper work together but I have heard it a massive amount!! My prayer is that we will get this completed quickly and have that sent off at the end of February. That is probably very unrealistic but I will hope for the best. :) Once the paper work reaches Ethiopia and gets processed we will be given the much anticipated and highly coveted "Waitlist Number"for the referral of a child. Each month we will receive a new number depending on how many families ahead of us received a child. For example, as of right now we will start somewhere in the 90's and each month hopefully move up until we reach spot number 1. When the Ethiopian orphanages have a child ready to be adopted they start at the number 1 family on the list and try and match that families requests (age, gender) with the child they have available. They go up the list until they find a family that matches with this child. I am so beyond ready to finish all this paperwork and to start the "waiting" process. :) As of right now the timeline from start to finish is around 18 - 24 months but we are just excited that we are at least moving one step farther in this process. Thank you all sooooo much for your outpouring of love, words of encouragement, prayers, and financial donations! Without all of these things in combination, it would be very difficult to move forward in this process. We are thanking God each day for allowing us to be on this journey to bring our little boy home! I will definitely be posting updates as we finish up each of these steps to keep you all updated!! 

And even though these two really don't know much about what all is happening I know that they will be overjoyed to have a new little brother to help take care of! :)

Christmas Family Fun

 Every year at Christmas we get together with my mom's side of the family and it is a fun group! I believe there are around 28 of us so it is always fun having everyone together. :) Usually we gather at my mom's or aunt's house but this year I think I lost my mind for a brief moment and offered up our house. :) Just Kidding! I LOVED hosting it and was glad to open up our house to everyone! It is truly a blessing to be able to have everyone in your home!

If you're checking the blog for just pictures, your in luck.... There are A LOT!!!

 All 6 great grand baby girl cousins had so much fun with each other!

These three are a mess!! :)

My sister made little sticks with cute little Christmas things on the ends to take pictures with! It was adorable and made everybody excited about taking some fun pictures! 

(In case you can't read, these say nice and naughty)

Good ole Nick!

Too funny not to share!

 These two sweet girls had such a good time together! Can't wait for our annual family beach trip, they are going to have a blast!

 Silly silly!

 Love :)

 My girls got a bounce house for Christmas and all six girls wore themselves out in it! I am thinking this is going to have to make its way to the beach as well!!

Present time!!!!

My cousin Steph and our Grandparents

All 6 great grand babies, all girls :)

She was concentrating soo very hard!

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

"May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace." Numbers 6: 24-26