I Think She Will Love the Outdoors with Daddy

I will never be able to get away from this, so I'm not even trying! She is just as cute in camo as she is in pink.
I don't mind the camo as long as it has some lace or pink in it! If thats missing then I'll just add her pearls.
Mommy's been under the weather so the pictures have been slim. Now Mommy is fine and Hope is on her 2nd round of teething. I only pray she feels much better for our trip to Ohio.

Adoption Update

Due to God's Amazing Grace, the prayers of our family and friends, our selfless birth mother and a host of others we will finalize Hope Victoria's adoption on March 11th in the State of Ohio. On February 10th when we received the paternity test results it was like getting her all over again and each preparation now is exactly the same.
On this day, by choice, we will leagally accept Hope Victoria as our daughter for life. This day comes almost a year to the day when Jane first made the call to Rick in reference to our unborn child. God continues to blow our minds when we look back and see how He directed our paths each step of the way. Through hurdles He gave peace, when decisions needed to be made He gave direction and over the past three years we know that God Made A Way.
Our "hope" is that we never stop marveling in what we've seen Him do and take every opportunity to share our story as it may touch the life of another.
Psalms 62:5 "Trust, O my Soul in God alone, for our Hope comes from Him".

Last Sunday Night Hope Learned to Feed Herself

She used both hands! According to the pictures she was a bit skeptical at first then you see she decided that she liked'em and wanted more!

Mommy's Favorite Valentine Picture

I Love you T-H-I-S Much!!!!!!!

A Gift to Daddy

Hope (and mommy helped) made a special gift for Daddy at Pot & Palletts. He now has a favorite coffee mug that says "I Love You" and has a very special hand and foot print on it from his Princess!

Valentine's Day Morning

Hope awoke to breakfast and a gift t o open. Her gift was a Musical table that plays a song for the alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes! She can listen in English or Spanish....we'll stick to the english so she can speak to us first!

Daddy's Valentine to His Sweetheart

Daddy is the same at Valentine's Day as he is at Christmas, it kills him to hold a gift. If he gets it a day early you gotta open it!
As you can tell by the look on Hope's face, she didn't mind opening her gift from Daddy early.
She was quite surprised and excited to get her first set of ear rings from Daddy, beautiful white pearls!
Guess we have to get her ears pierced now!
So sweet to watch their relationship unfold, she is crazy about him and he her!

Two Guys in White Shirts and Dark Ties

The Lord wanted the "neighborhood missionaries" to hear our story. So, as I layed Hope down to sleep and the door bell rang, I opened the door to two guys in white shirts, dark ties and name tags that read "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". As they encouraged me to have my family sealed in the temple (so we can go to heaven together), I encouraged them to seal their faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us and the victory He accomplished 3 days later when He rose from the dead. I went on to share how He is living and active in this world and the answer to prayer that He recently accomplished in our lives. For some reason they felt lead to tell me it may be my lucky day and I went back to say it could also be your's if today is the day you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone and walk in personal relationship with Him. I welcomed them back when Rick is home and they ask if it would be a heated debate, haha. Not with my husband who is very firm and forthright when it comes to His personal walk with Christ. I will not stop sharing our story, I will not be silent, not when it comes to an amazing God who can do more than we can ever ask or imagine even in the life of two "neighborhood missionaries". Pray for them today!

February 10th, It Was Like Getting Her All Over Again

On February 10th the attorney called with the best case scenario. Hope and I happened to be in a meeting with the lady youth leaders right next door to Rick's office. All of sudden we heard a scream arupt and my heart fell, I knew it must have been good news. So I turned to wait for Rick and he came quickly around the corner and said, "he's not the father".I held tightly to "OUR" little girl and wept. I told Rick, "of course its negative thats what we prayed for". We hugged, cried and cried a little more. We immediatley bowed our heads and gave thanks for answered prayer.It was great to have so many among us that love Hope and have been praying for God's intervention. The picture to the left was taken by Pastor Kurt as we embraced as a family. To us, it was done, there is no case, we can now move to finalization as God has slayed the giant!

All Things Are P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E

Since learning of the paternity suit in September, we have a few favorite songs that we've been singing around the house ie., Praise Him In the Storm, All Things Are Possible, Mighty to Save, My God is So Big, God is So Good, All to Jesus I Surrender, God's Grace and Im sure there are others.
However, I can say it was those songs of praise that allowed us to live in peace and take each new day as a gift. Not to say we didnt have our tearful moments filled with fear of another child taken, another broken family and so on. But through the prayers and praises we have made it.
God slayed the Giant...He is mighty to save!

Of Course, it's Negative- Thats Just What We Prayed For

We are forever a family! Rejoice with us as we knew God could take him out with the first stone, we knew God could fight this battle for us and He has, we know God is God! Amen!

A Walk in the Park

Today was a beautiful day for a walk in the park! The park where we love to go to pray and don't we have much to pray about? On our walk we were reminded of all those Spring and Summer days in 2008 when we petitioned God and acknowledged Him to direct our path with Hope Victoria. We recalled many answered prayers so our time became that of praise! God cares about us and the deepest part of our hearts, He wants the best for us and for baby Hope. In this time of waiting we have been reminded of our verse, God's spoken word to us, "trust, O, my soul in God alone for my Hope comes from Him". We continue to trust and believe that God is working out the details.

Still Waiting for Mondays Test Results, Pray

Hope is Better Today

Wow, we have had a long few days and nights. We are so blessed with a baby that likes to sleep through the night since she was 7 weeks old. Then BAM, she gets sick! Fever, runny nose, coughing and all she wanted to do was cuddle. Which is alright by me. Laying on my chest and shoulder became her new favorite places to sleep, last night I stayed up in the comfy chair for a while until I knew she was in her REM sleep. Before that I had layed her down three times and she woke right up. I think she is teething still and a mixture of the pressure on her ears and head when layed down was uncomfortable.
As I rocked her and held her it gave me sweet time to pray over her and thank the Lord for those baby moments that I love so much but have really flown by. Hope is a treasure and we will never grow waery of holding and snuggling her.
She is feeling much better today and awoke with no fever! Thank you Lord!
Look to the left, it may have helped that we gave her her favorite snack back!!! YUM YUM Toes!!!