2009 Winter Photo Session

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Quotes of the Season

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. - Hamilton Wright Mabie
May everyone be surrounded by love this season and all year long.

The Prayers of Children

Night time is so funny around here. It is the cutest thing to listen to the requests that small children petition to God. Tonight Olivia asked God to please make it snow at Christmas. She told me earlier in the day she was going to do this because that was the only way she would get to play in any snow. Logan had is funny prayer moment last night when he was thanking God for everyone and said, "and thank you for somebody else."
David found out today that he has like two weeks of vacation, and he thought he olny had a week of vacation. He also thought he wasn't getting anymore until July. We are super excited about that.
Trying to plan David's birthday. Do I be nice and just do small family get together or go all out against his wishes? We shall see what is to come....

My Favorite Song

From our House to yours..

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And let the festivities begin...

The most wonderful time of year; family gatherings, sitting around the fire drinking your favorite hot drink, shopping for those you love, being in the shopping crowds with all the smiling faces of strangers, cooking candies and lots of others sweets, decking your halls, night drives looking at lights, and the list could never stop. So, our house is decked, inside and out. So excited, we have lights outside this year. We normally just do around the door, but we have expanded and it's so pretty. We have three trees this year, and hopefully will add one to the dining room next year. Such fun.....!
Shopping....sigh...shall we just say I am only half way done, but have big plans to finish Saturday. We have plans every weekend until after the first of the year. Always super busy. Right now busy is a semi-good thing; it keeps me from thinking about not having a referral as much, but makes me even more tired.
We are battling the never ending ear infection with Carson. We go to the doctor tomorrow and will make plans to have tubes placed, hopefully right after the first of the year. I don't think I can take too many more sleepless weeks, and I mean like 2hrs of completely interuppted sleep when i already only sleep very little. That makes for a grouchy momma. Carson is still not talking much, just a few words here and there.
Logan is still our little "Dennis the Mennace." He is always looking to stir somebody's pot, and it is usually his sister. He has his sweet moments too. He saw a picture of a baby the other day and started talking in this sweet, high-pitched voice saying,"Ah, sweet baby. Look at her...Ahhh." It was so quiet I almost didn't hear him. When he was saying his prayer last night he prayed for God to be with Mommy, Daddy, Logan, Olivia, Carson, and somebody else." He also told David and I, the other day on the way to church, that it was time to get baby Leia and where is she. He has been telling us he would like to have a Thomas the Train set for Christmas. We shall see what arrives under the tree......
Olivia is starting to ask about Leia everyday, which naturally only makes the wait harder for me. She is growing up way to fast. She has become very nosy too. When we are talking, she will ask, "Now what did you say?" I asked her if she wanted things to open for Christmas or if she wants to go shopping after Christmas with the girls. At first she told me she wanted to get presents, then the next morning she said she cahnged her mind and wanted to get money. So, I thinh she will be receiving both, because an almost 5 year old cannot not have anything to open on Christmas morning.
I will be posting our winter family pictures soon. I have edited all the ones that I have taken, but am waiting on the ones that Lisa has taken. They are perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better shoot with the kids, but they cooperated so well. And, they had a blast.
We spent Thanksgiving in Texas, at Kevin and Morgan's house. The drive down was miserable, due to not having any sleep from working all night. I felt like it took me 2 days to recover before I felt somewhat semi-normal again.
As far as adoption news...I have none. We wait, hoping everyday is the day. We tell ourselves everyday that maybe today is the day. I know it is in God's timing and constantly remind myself that he has Leia already chosen for us, and that she is perfectly made for us.

Fall Fun

Such a serious face....

Wow, they are all smiling!

My beautiful little girl!

He looks as if he is having a blast.

How sweet is that picture?

Here are some pictures that Mammaw took of the kids playing in leaves. They had a blast.

A Cheerful Giver

Here are a few pictures from our dinner fundraiser that we hosted Saturday night. My mom did an amaazing job of transferring the room into "Italian Villa Ristorante." Olivia was our hostess. Justin, Brittany, David, and myself were waiters. My mom, Linda, and myself cooked. And my mom, as usual, decorated the room. Daniel and Tera came down for the weekend and helped behind the scenes before the dinner. Thank you all!!

We have been so blessed with such wonderful people in our lives. We received an anonymous $2,000.00 donation last week that completed the rest of our financial need for the adoption. the giver asked that we please continue with our plans of our Dinner Fundraiser, that took place on Saturday, for any hidden costs in the adoption that we may not be aware of. We are so thankful for that cheerful giver and all others who have donated their time and money to help bring baby Leia home. We love and cherish each and every one of you. We will continue setting aside money every month for when we travel to Taiwan. David and I plan to make it a many mission trip. We want to see as many orphas as we can. We want to be able to bring firsthand stories that are real to the people here, so that they can know the needs and "cries of the orphans around the world." Justin and Brittany, Lord willing, will be traveling to Taiwan with us when the call comes for us to travel and bring our baby girl home. We are so excited about visiting the orphans in Taiwan. I watch videos and see pictures all the time about the orphans and dream about hugging them, smiling at them, singing to them, putting shoes on their feet, and the list could go on. I dream about doing these things, even if it is only for a few days. I know that if the Lord wills us to live to that day; that trip will be far better than any vacation I have ever been on.

Please remember the orphans of the world, as this is Orphan Awareness Month. They need out help one child at a time. Anyone can help an orphan, and I don't mean adoption. There are so many needs of the orphans and so many ways we can do the work that god commanded us to do. Sometimes you might have to go without something, or forgo plans that you have made, drop things that you think that need your attention. We need to prioritize our lives and see what things really need our attention. So many things consume us and our time, and we need to change, and change now.

Sickness, Fundraisers, and Laughs

So, this week has been quite the headache for us, literally. From excruciating headaches that are on the same level as a migraine, to raw sore throats, stuffy to dripping noses, loss of pounds because of no appetite, some with high fevers (so high causing broken blood vessels in and around the eyes), nausea and the oh so terrible diarrhea, a cough that stabs you all the way through, aches that make you move like a worm, and fatigue that makes you lay in the bed like the dead. That has been the week of myself and David. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Linda for keeping Olivia and Logan. We would have never made it. It took all of our effort to make it to and from doctors and the drug store. We were diagnosed with Swine Flu and for me, pneumonia as well. We are mostly all recovered, just a little weak from laying around like the dead for so long. The kids have survived with just an ear infection, and who knows what Logan has (he is just on antibiotics for swollen glands, sore throat, and fever). The doctor is arranging for Logan to be sent to an allergist, something she says they do not like to do at this early age but feels very necessary. He does not eat, has a horrible rash that will not go away no matter what we treat it with, multiple GI issues, and overall looks bad. He just needs something. So pray for the little man, he needs to feel better soon.
Tonight we had another fundraiser to help with the cost of bringing baby Leia home. Moe's, in Benton, donated a portion of their sales made from 5-9pm tonight. We will know sometime Monday the amount that will be donated. It was very generous of them to do this for us, especially since they do not even know us. David and the kids, my parents, Linda, Vickie, and April were there, and Anthony came for pick-up. I will be surprised if we make even $100.00. But Olivia said it was "a very fun night mommy...can we do this again...I like making money for baby Leia." She was handing out coupons to everyone, smiling from ear to ear, and saying thank you to everyone that walked out. She was the perfect little door hostess that you find at nice eateries.
And oh the laughs we have had over Carson this week. Every time you take his clothes off you find all kinds of treasures. We came home from Mammaw's house Thursday night and David changed his clothes and found all kinds of Jenga blocks in his pants. I changed him last night and had a panic attack because I found crushed and chewed chocolate teddy grahams inside and outside the diaper area. You can only imagine what I thought I saw at a glance. Exactly!!! David laughed so hard.
Logan has started continuing his sister's legend of singing himself to sleep at night. I heard him over the monitor singing I love you, You love me, Daddy Love me, Mommy love me, over and over. And then, of coarse, Carson echoing in somewhat harmony in the background.
A new Fundraiser is in the works. More info to come very soon. I think this one will be a blast for everyone involved. Hopefully details to come tomorrow or Sunday. Return soon for more info. So, save the date, November 7, 5:30-8:00pm.

Maybe tomorrow......

So, to all who are wondering and have asked, no we have not heard anything. We do not know if they have any babies, much less any baby girls. Olivia asked the other night why we ahve not gone to get baby Leia yet. She wanted to know if she needed to wash more cars and make some more money. I tried to explain to a 4 year old that we do not know when we are going to get baby Leia. And she went on to tell me that she has been waiting "hundreds of years for her." She prayed at supper that night that God would give her some money to bring her baby sister home. At church that same night, her Little cousine Lane brought her a ziploc bag of all their change they had been saving. She was so excited. You should have seen her little eyes.
We painted the girls' room this past weekend. We haven't gotten it decorated yet, but everything is organized. We have some baby things, but haven't really bought anything yet. Trying to wait until we have a referral. I have given in and bought a few things. when the room is all finished I will post pictures.
Carson has been a little toot lately. He is into everything. He gets out of bed every morning with a mission, I think, to get into anything and everything he can find. And everything is a ladder. He has more knots on his head. Logan is talking nonstop these days, and gets louder and louder if he thinks you are not giving him his undivided attention. By the way, the child only has 2 volumes as it is, loud and louder.
So, not much new around here. Hope everyone is staying well.