Thinking of You Today and Always

There isn't a Hallmark card that exemplifies my heart and the gratefulness that I offer up to the Lord on behalf of our Birth Mothers. Both selfless and special in their own way, two different stories, two different births yet two women who made INCREDIBLE sacrifices and adoption plans.

If you're reading, I'm thinking and praying for you today. Our girls are growing into tender, loving, smart, God fearing girls and Im truly THANKFUL.

H lost her first tooth last week, she's singing and dancing for her school play, she doing 2nd grade work and truly loves people and her family. E is high energy off the charts, she's a friend to all, kind and loves the outdoors IMMENSELY.

I'm thankful to celebrate today, Mother's Day! God used our Birth Mother's, their families and these sweet girls to make me a Mommy! 

What a title with such VAST meaning.....thank you!

More of Easter Season

Happy Easter

In our home we call it Resurrection Sunday, the last 40 days we have been talking about what took Jesus to the cross, what He did on the cross and the empty tomb on Easter Sunday!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to invest, teach and love on our girls daily. Part of sharing our faith is closest to our hearts as we hope and pray one day they will make it their own.

Our family is staying busy with swim lessons, school, church activities and family time.

First grade and preschool will be complete before long, both have been growth periods for all of us. No one every warned me about all the activities that could go on, Im thankful we have committed to only two nights out a week and the rest get the ever famous NO!! We need quiet, down time, together time, focus time and the world wants our attention, time and money.

We aim to eat around our table together 4-5 nights a week and our girls look forward to it and Rick and I love that time. The book "Seeing is Believing" by the National Center for Biblical Parenting is a favorite and Rick uses it weekly. Our girls have really seen what scripture is saying through the experiments included in this book.

We pray our friends and family are well. 

We continue to covet your prayers as we parent and do ministry full time, its no joke not for the faint of heart!

Happy 2015!!!!

Each time I look at these pictures I'm having a hard time believing those are my gifts, growing so fast, learning well, keeping us on our knees, fun and oh so demanding.

I find myself in an attitude of prayer, petitioning the Lord to give us wisdom and keen ears so we take each opportunity to direct their hearts to Jesus.

Last week, I had a real heart check as I found myself a bit embarrassed over one of them needing to be corrected at church. Quickly, the Lord spoke and reminded me to be more concerned about directing their hearts to Him and not worrying about what people think.

Everyday is a new day to begin again, a new opportunity to show grace and have those open Mommy arms!

Our school year is going well. Hope is reading like a champ and LOVES IT! Most days you'll find her with a book in hand and by her side in the car. Her true love right now is art and writing. I cant tell you how sweet it is to find little notes around the house and hidden in my purse just when I need them. Both girls are swimming this year, how neat that they both shared a lane with me yesterday and swam back stroke and free style with me for a total of 12 laps (so proud).

Emmi is enjoying preschool, her favorite part is recess. Help me Lord!!! But her personality is full speed, loves to race, play and make others laugh. The things that come from her little head keep us laughing. Emmi is soooo good at making friends, she is literally recharged by being with friends. Our true extrovert that does not meet a stranger. I say she's my child that makes me talk to people that I dont want to talk to, bless her heart! God is using her sweet Spirit to touch loves, including mine.I never want to be the me before her!

Much love to all of our sweet birth families, friends and those I know are praying us through this great adventure of Parenting. It is a JOY!

 

"If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:5-6

Simply Magical

In order to celebrate E's Adoption, we vacationed "Where Dreams Come True!"

It was the first vacation we took with just the four of us since E arrived in 2012.

WDW is simply magical for girls the age of our girls. They loved it in every way....one of their favorites had to be meeting Elsa & Anna. I always say they named Anna wrong, she should have been called Emmi! The beginning scene where she jumps on Elsa to wake her up...is just like our E!

We are extremely thankful for time away, time together, laughter, imagination and all God has given us to have fun. Elsa about froze us all out there that week (39 degrees one day) but we prefer that over heat and the girls didn't mind as long as a Princess Dress fit over their jackets each day!

The girls are still talking about our trip and we arrived home 2 weeks ago. I'm working on a video and hope to post as soon as its complete.

We wont be WDW fanatics that attend every year.....but we're already talking about our next trip! Such a fun place!

 

 

Announcing.....

Family and Friends, please celebrate with us....We finalized our adoption last month, Emmi's birthday month. We will be forever reminded that she is a GIFT! To know her is to love her sweet, kind, outgoing, brave, fun loving, full of energy, climbing the walls before noon personality!!!! We are grateful for who God created her to be....blessed to be a part of her life!

 

 

You may ask, why the yellow and green?

Often, Emmi pronounces her name as

"LemonLime Rose!

Who wants to correct something that cute???

They Love Bugs

My Lady Bug & Butterfly

The Fall festivals in our area were adorned with one million Elsa''s, that's not exaggerating! Therefore, Im thankful my girls wanted to be bugs and flutter!! They received these dress up clothes in their Easter baskets and love them.

The imagination of a child is AMAZING! Crafted so sweet and creative by the Savior. Each of my girls loves to hold and catch their bug of choice, which leads to question on just how they were created!