A Day in the Life of a Lewis

Squinkies

2012-01-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

The squinkies have invaded our house...

and the girls could spend an hour just building, pretending and playing...

and they couldn't be more excited!

Blading

2012-01-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

Look who's learning how to blade!

This girl is surprising me left and right...just goes to show that you shouldn't pigeon hole your children =) As little as a few months ago Claire was leary of trying new things, easily gave up when she didn't do something right the first time, couldn't lose a game without tears, cried at the drop of a hat, was easily embarassed but the past month I've seen her change and grow. She's gotten more self confident. She's trying new things. She's going all the way across the monkey bars at school and when she falls off the "hard" one at the park, she tries and tries again (a few tears after about the twentieth time of not getting the higher bar in the middle) But the next day she was back on and did it all by herself!

It's been really amazing to see her grow up since she started school. To evolve more into the person God has created and intended her to be. As she continues to learn, grow, change and become her own person I look forward to being right there for her. Of course, she didn't want me to even touch her to help her on the monkey bars (but she did let me hold her up while trying out the blades). It wasn't easy to see her hanging there and not touch her... I had to sit far away but was always watching =)

Although it's hard to see your baby grow up, it's really amazing to be part of it.

December # and a New Year

2011-12-31T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, we haven't gotten our official email update with our number but everyone else has so we know we are number (took this at Sea World yesterday as we found a parking spot right by our number!):

Can you believe that? Wonder how long we will be #13 but you just never know... we are expecting to wait until #1 because of our parameters so it will still be awhile. We couldn't be more excited about starting the new year being so close to single digits (well I guess we could be if we were actually in single digits but don't want to get greedy or ungrateful here!).

This month we haven't done much to get baby's room together. My mom was so sweet to think of us and him for Christmas and got the CUTEST Hungry Caterpillar quilt kit and will have it made the next couple weeks. I was a blubbering mess when I saw that it was for him. Made me miss him SO much... The girls got a rock painting kit for Christmas and have created many. They were so sweet to think of painting some for baby brother all on their own. They are sitting on one of his shelves:
With the close of 2011, we anticipate this to be the year we welcome baby #3 into our lives. It's hard not to hope and have an expectation so we will wait patiently to see his face sometime this year. God has taught us so much in the year of 2011 and I can't wait to see what He does in 2012!

Speaking of 2012... we had a wild and crazy party at our house tonight to welcome the New Year. You know, one of those parties that starts at 5 p.m. and people start leaving at 7:30 p.m.? 17 kids, 2 babies and 11 adults...My how New Year's Eve has changed with having kiddos =) It was actually a lot of fun to get together with our dear friends in life group to share food, catch up, have the kids play, do a mock countdown at 7:15 p.m. with hats and party blowers. So glad we had those over who could make it and missed those who couldn't be here!

Here was the kid crew for the evening! Look at all those boys (14 to be exact)!! We were missing a lot fo families but glad we had the Gibbins, Craftons, Millers, Lamars and Zimmers to help us bring in the new year!
Celebrating with Channing
Party hats, blowers, glow stick bracelets and sparkling cider
Linden, Ethan and Reef
Hadley
My sweetheart
Crystal and Henry
The Millers stayed for a little longer and the kids were so cute playing together!
May God bless you this year and show you how He wants to use you to further HIS kingdom!

Claire's

2011-12-28T17:29:00.001-08:00

Today was a VERY special day I don't want to soon forget!! Claire got her ears pierced!! About a year ago she asked about it but quickly said she didn't want to to do it so I told her when she was ready to let me know. Honestly, I didn't think she would come back to me so soon but the last day of school she asked if she could get her ears pierced. Neil about flipped out!! After we talked about it we decided that Claire could get them pierced after she earned 7 stars on a chart we made together - Claire made her own boxes! We've been dealing with a lot of whining so it has been a great incentive for her to work on her self control - now to make sure she keeps it up!

So here is our momentous occasion in pictures! She was so brave - I could tell she was nervous but she just got up there, relaxed when they told her to, got a little teary after the count down, let me pick her up and then said she was fine! She didn't even cry and a lot of the other people commented on how brave and good she was.
She thought it was great to see her name everywhere in the store!
Before...
After!! She chose little pink stones - any surprise?
My baby is growing up! So fun to have this special day together just the two of us!
And of course we had to get a sweet treat to celebrate the occasion - this picture is just beautiful. Claire, sometimes you just take my breath away

One of the things I want to remember most about this day is that after driving around the mall parking lot literally for 20 minutes, Claire and I got out of the car and I savored holding my little girl's hand. Without hesitation she still takes my hand. She took it as we walked along the busy sidewalks of the mall and again as we walked back to the car after she braved her ear piercing. As cheesy as it sounds, I don't want to forget how her sweet, small hand fits into mine and how she proudly walks hand in hand with me. She seems to be growing up right before my eyes so I know it won't be long until it doesn't happen as often or even at all. No matter what, she will always be my baby.

Downtown Lights

2011-12-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

Eden ended up running a 103 temp on Christmas so instead of us all staying downtown with my parents that night, Claire and I went to see the lights while Neil stayed home with our little sickie. I'm so glad we did because Claire was SO excited - she LOVES going downtown for whatever reason but with her love for Christmas lights, hot chocolate and her new camera, she was in heaven. What a fun evening to share! Wish Eden would've been well so we could've all been down there together.

Loving her hot chocolate on our river boat ride to see all the lights!
Cheers with Grandma!
Our budding photographer - she's actually pretty good! I love to see her wanting to capture things she loves, things she wants to remember, things she wants to show others...
What a memorable evening!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was spent with Neil's family as usual but we started for lunch this year so we could get to our church's service. We had a great lunch and opened gifts. Neil's mom wasn't feeling well and ended up in the hospital that evening and an appendectomy a few days later. Claire had just gotten over her 4 day fever and on the mend and little did we know Eden would have 103 the next day.... besides all the sickness we had a great time!

Claire found the fish ornament on the tree so she got to open the first gift

Kyle and Justin
Maw Maw and Mary Ellen
Loves to paint even in the bath!
Squinkies!

Shannon and Steve

Our church service went really well - I was a caroler in the drama and conducted our ensemble that prepared a gorgeous arrangement of "Coventry Carol" - we ended it with our traditional candle lighting and singing of Silent Night and Joy to the World. All went well and I was releaved =)

Mike, Heather and Pierce, my parents and Heather's parents were all there and it meant the WOLRD to me to have them there! How awesome to worship with so much family!
Isn't Pierce's Santa Coat cute?!
My mom and dad got to spend time with the Williams and my brother's family while we were with Neil's fam. Couldn't resist snagging this picture!

Staycation - La Cantera

2011-12-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we were given an INCREDIBLE gift from a sweet couple at church - two nights at the La Cantera Westin Resort right here in town!! We love being tourists in our own city so this was the perfect staycation... one night alone (thanks to my parents) and one night with the kids. The girls were SO excited when we told them right before we took them back to the hotel to take part in all the fun kid's activities they have planned for the holidays. Our first night was divine... it's been a long time since we had an evening alone. We went to one of our favorites, Copeland's, for dinner, window shopped a little bit, went to the resort bar for a drink and some live music, sat by the fireplace with my favorite peppermint mocha - it truly was one of the best evenings we've spent together the past year or two!

The first stop with the kids was the snow blower aka.bubble blower! They just ran and ran through the bubbles with the other kids and had a blast!
Then it was off to decorate the gingerbread cookies and of course eat them!
Nothing like crafting for my girls! They each made a photo frame
Spending time by the fire place
Visiting Santa one last time - Eden wouldn't do it but Claire was all about it because she decided she was going to change what she wanted for Christmas. WHAT?! I already got squinkies and convinced her that a hoola hoop would be a great birthday gift =) She was ok with that
Our last stop was getting in our jammies and watching the Polar Express together on a projector in the Kids Club. We couldn't believe that they stayed up for the whole thing! It was all of ours first time to see it. They shortly looked like this around 10:15 p.m.

Thankfully they didn't get up until about 7:30 - woo hoo!! Sleeping in!! We got ready for church and walked around outside a little bit. Claire loved hanging out on the balcony!

The stay was magical... I know that sounds pretty dramatic but it was JUST what we needed. A little retreat and oasis away from the busy and stressful season (even though we had to get through my studio recital in the middle of it!) What a joy it was to make such a special memory with the girls! We were SO blessed to be given such a wonderful gift!

Parties here, Parties there!

2011-12-21T18:45:00.000-08:00

Along with everything else we have had Eden's school program, Claire's class party and our 15th annual Christmas party!

Eden's class were the stars and they sang "Behold That Star" and boy were we proud! She was such a good girl doing the movements and singing as best as she could! I love this picture of her - it's a glimpse to me of what she will look like when she's older.

Here is the video of our little star!

http://vimeo.com/33759033

Eden LOVES her teachers and can't wait to go to her red class! Here she is with Ms. Megan

And here she is with Ms. Myra. They are such a blessing to our family!
Eden and Mateo

Claire's class party was on the last day of school and I was able to go up and help out! They had a craft bell wreath, pin the nose on the snowman, a book exchange and a huge spread of yummy food!

We love Mrs. Lopez =)
Claire with some of her friends - Valeria, Maddie, Nina and Jasmine
Claire and her friend Connor ready for their book exchange
Most of her class!! Some were absent and some had already left
Then it was our 15th annual Christmas party that we host for our friends we grew up with and sang together in middle and high school. Can you believe it's been 15 years? The party has certainly evolved. We used to start late and go till the wee hours of the morning but now we start early and bring the kids (some of us still stay up way too late!!) Didn't get a picture of everyone but here are the ones I got!

Eric, Erin and Cora celebrating their first Christmas as a family of 3
Crystal and Julia
Kate, Jenny, Me, Beth n Lucy and Marie
The girls (Eden, Abbey, Lily and Claire) would come in every 15 minutes with a new fashion show! Lyla was there too but we didn't get a picture of her
Danny with Ali and Erin with Cora
Andy and Aubrey with Ali
Didn't get a picture of Tracy, James, Neil or J.J. but they were all there too! We missed those who couldn't be with us. It's so awesome to see that we are all still good friends even if we don't see each other all the time. We've started a playgroup this year which has helped some of us see each other more often and the kids to grow up knowing each other! We are so blessed with our long lasting friendships!

Christmas Fun!

2011-12-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to get caught up I'm going to include all kinds of things in this Christmas fun post - crafts, caroling, baking, decorating... we have had a fun filled season! So here we go!

Kept things simple this year and only did the door!

We traditionally decorate the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I just love decorating the tree and carefully unwrapping each ornament and remembering where we got it or who gave it to us. Every ornament has a meaning which makes it all that more special as we tell the girls all our stories =)

When I say these girls love to craft it doesn't even come close to explaining but these girls LOVE to craft in any way, shape or form! Here are a couple of these crafts we did (besides painting most every day):

Snowglobes thanks to pinterest! Just took a tiny figurine we found in our toy box, glued it in a baby food jar, added water and glitter and TA DA! Easy craft that they think is the coolest!

We also made salt dough ornaments, painted them, glittered them, sprayed them for preservation and gave them to family, friends and teachers!
Painting ornaments!
We also attached them to these super easy gifts we made for family thanks to my Aunt Barbara - cookies in a jar - just stack dry ingredients in a jar and they add the wet! The girls love measuring, pouring and taking turns. (we also made a TON of soda cracker toffee aka. Holiday Bark)
Play dough is also a favorite around here!
We also spent some time with friends - Here we are with Eric, Erin and Cora at a small beautiful wedding of some friends of ours from church - congrats Emily and Garrin!

Being a musician makes for a busy season of performances! We had two caroling adventures planned for our adult church group (one got cancelled because of weather). Here we are at the airport. What a great group!!

Our life group combined with a couple other young family groups to take the kids caroling at a nursing home. It was so sweet and I didn't get any pictures =( I had my studio recital and had 13 kids perform. It went so well!! We also had a lot of prep to get ready for our Christmas Eve service at church. I conducted a wonderful group that sang a beautiful arrangement of Coventry Carol and also took part as a caroler in the drama. It all went great! Now planning for Ladies retreat music and small group!

And I leave this post with one of the daily activities we do around here... building blocks!! The taller the better but the best part? Knocking it down!

Nutcracker

2011-12-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

The last weekend of November my mom and I took the girls to the Nutcraker at the Majestic - my most favorite theater. When we sat down and Claire looked up at the "sky" she said "I wanna work here when I get older!" It was so cute =) This is Claire's second time to see the ballet but Eden's first. I was a little nervous about how she would do but she was excellent - she did ask me questions throughout the first half and wanted to be down but we were in the "kids" section so it really wasn't bothersome.
Eden doesn't look too excited but she really did love being there!
Her favorite part was the mice and Rat King scene which is near the beginning so she asked me throughout the rest of the performance "Where the rat king?" Such a funny girl!
A few days later my mom found this amazing rat king music box to commemorate Eden's first time to the show. It sat right next to the nutcracker Claire got after her first time. Eden wants to play the music rat king all the time!
And she hasn't stopped talking about it since! She asks to watch it every.single.day. and has to put on her "pretty dress" so she can leap and run through the living room. It's so adorable but Claire doesn't find it amusing to have to always start it at 29 minutes in when the rat king and mice part starts!

I've found one of my old piano books I played from when I was a kid and it has about 10 excerpts from the Nutcracker. It gives me such joy to have my girls dance and sing when I play!!

God's peace

2011-12-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

The last time I wrote about our adoption two weeks ago, I was having probably the hardest time yet with our wait and our process. Those three days were so tough but you know what? God TRULY became my strength when I was weak and I'm so grateful in His persistence with me!! He brought people, songs, sermons, BSF lessons to my heart that really encouraged me NOT to give into the temptation of doubting God's power (David gave an amazing sermon on "lead us not into temptation". One of the many things I've learned and witnessed through our adoption journey is that spiritual warfare is real and among us everyday. And when we are feeling weak and not holding onto the promises of our Lord, Satan can really get to us. We have been in Acts and just finished Hebrews for our BSF study and what amazing words of encouragement about Jesus as our high priest and His superiority over EVERYTHING. This past week's lesson was so encouraging about faith. Trusting and believing in what can not be seen. Run the race with perseverance. And not just the race that is life but the "race marked out for us". Fix your eyes on Jesus. He endured the cross so let us not grow weary and lose heart Heb. 12:1-3. WOW!! What amazing truths that I need to constantly surround my heart and mind with today and everyday. Please pray for me to be diligent with spending time in the word!

Up until we hit the teens I haven't bought anything (except his caterpillar) or planned much for when our little guy comes home - just makes it a little harder when you have stuff around! Last month we painted some canvas' and this month look what came in the mail!!! 5 stockings hanging on our mantle!! His has reindeer on it and we will get it embroidered with his name next year because he WILL be home by then =)

One more thing I wanted to share!! This is the song that brought me to my knees two weeks ago - well I was driving, holding my coffee and sobbing so not literally to my knees but my heart was at His throne. I pray that this encourages someone who needs this today. The lyrics just hit me - I posted them below the video link!
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=ZLPNNN8X

"Never Alone" by the Barlow Girls
I waited for you today
But you didn't show
No no no
I needed You today
So where did You go?
You told me to call
Said You'd be there
And though I haven't seen You
Are You still there?

[Chorus:]
I cried out with no reply
And I can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone

And though I cannot see You
And I can't explain why
Such a deep, deep reassurance
You've placed in my life

We cannot separate
'Cause You're part of me
And though You're invisible
I'll trust the unseen

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Our church puts together Breakfast with Santa every year and the kids just love it! Eden was so cute - up until the day before she was saying she would NOT sit on Santa's lap but as soon as we got there, she wanted to go right away. Nevermind the pancakes with candy and the craft (which boggled my mind!) - she had a one track mind so off we went. She sat with no problem but wouldn't look or talk to him! When asked what she wanted to pointed to me because she wanted me to tell him. It was really cute! We had a great time with friends, making the cutest hand print reindeer towel, sharing the memory with Grandma and
Eden's first time to sit on Santa's lap!
Eating with the Miller's

Claire and Leyna
Grandma with her girls
Maynard is such a sweetheart to all the kids at church =) The girls and we just love him!! We caught him on a break from an elders meeting!

The girls showing us their craft - what a great idea!

As much as I struggle with Santa it really is a lot of fun to see the kids get so excited to see him!

Santa

2011-12-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

With all the Christmas decorations up and the anticipation of visiting Santa tomorrow at our church's annual Breakfast with Santa, he has been talked about a lot this week. Tonight Claire wanted to write him a letter she can take to him. This is what she wrote:

And a picture for him too =)

She was so excited to write it for him and has it sitting right by her door so she won't forget to deliver it to him. It's a childhood memory I'll never forget!

Honestly, I've struggled with this whole Santa thing. Of course you will hear Claire quickly say "but he's not the most important... Jesus is!" and "we're celebrating Jesus' birthday". Everyday we point back to the birth of our Savior so that our focus is on HIM and not the consumerism of Christmas. But when it's all around you, it's such a challenge to escape. We keep things simple with gifts - one thing from Santa and one or two things from us (then of course they get things from grandparents, uncles, aunts) but agian, it's not all about the gifts. I think our main focus is to be on others - loving people we know and those we don't know. Serving everywhere we are and being intentional. Spending time in the word by doing Advent readings. Caroling and praising Him with the songs of the season in the car, at home, at church.

I pray that the joy, magic, celebration and anticipation of this season is about our Lord Jesus Christ....that I can not only teach my girls with words but as an example of what is the number on priority in my life.

Eden lately

2011-12-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

Our sweet and funny girl... don't want to forget a few things that have happened or said the past month:

- The last line of our traditional meal prayer at my parents house is "thank you Lord for daily bread" and Eden quickly put her hands up in a question and scrunched up her face while saying "I don't have any bread?"

- The picture above is of her bible she got on Sunday. She already has a couple and one with her name on it but when we picked her up from bible class she ran aka. galloped down the hall while waving it in the air. She then had to bring it into the restaurant that we stopped for brunch. She had such excitement and joy to have her bible! Oh what an example of how WE need to be excited and joyful to have God's word at our fingertips. Thank you Eden for your genuine spirit and pure heart!

- Her continued love for rolly pollies, villains, rocks and squishy amphibian toys.

- We asked her a question at the table (in the picture above) and she said VERY slowly "Hmmmm.... let me see...." and after 2 seconds of pause she put her pointer finger to her chin to "think" We laughed SO hard and the best thing? She laughed too!! She knew it was funny =) I love that she can laugh at herself and doesn't get her feelings hurt when we laugh. Claire had a hard time with this even at a young age and still does but that's what makes them each unique. My girls can be night n day!

November #

2011-11-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving we got our November number from AGCI

We are actually unofficially #17 so we've moved back twice since we were unofficially #15 but our official number has stayed the same. Seeing that #16 was a little disheartening but not surprising. We keep up with the movement and referrals on the list serv so we knew there wasn't much going on for refrerrals. Once again we rejoice with the families who got court dates, are traveling, getting cleared by Embassy, FINALLY getting MOWA letters... so things are still happening.

I've been in a funk this past week and unusually emotional. There is a lot going on in our lives right now and I have a lot on my plate - December is the busiest month for any musician - but I realized something yesterday. When we started this journey almost 2 years ago the first question everyone asked was "When will this be happening? When will he be home?" and I said without a doubt by Christmas 2011. I mean, we were told it would be 18 months process so that's a few months cushion. Well, once again this whole process has been completely out of our control (You think He's trying to teach us something here?). Throw all expectations out the window. Trust that God will know the perfect timing for our family. These are all things I KNOW but to truly trust and believe is another thing. I should cling to His promises that are unchanging and not my feelings which can be a bit wishy-washy!

So many of you have been such wonderful support - asking how we are doing and lifting us up in prayer. There were a few of you who commented on my last official numbers post that gave me great encouragement - thank you - I am thankful that God has put you in our lives and crossing our path.

Eden's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-11-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

We had Eden's birthday party with a hand full of her closest friends! It was the first time we've invited friends so Eden was especially excited. She wanted a Snow White party and I had so much fun with the theme! We took it out to the neighborhood park and were blessed with beautiful weather. I was so worried it was going to rain but it all worked out! Thank you to everyone who was there to make her celebration special! I can't believe my little girl is 3 years old

Thanksgiving Pics

2011-11-28T19:02:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pics from our Thanksgiving! We went to Neil's sister's house and spent it with 16 adults and 8 kids - it was awesome! Growing up away from family I never really experienced big family Thanksgiving dinners where kids ran around, you had to make your way through the crowd, etc. My memories are primarily just us and getting together with The Brown Family until they moved out of state. Don't get me wrong!! They were wonderful Thanksgivings but it was really great to see the girls running around with their cousins and their cousin's cousins. We were able to visit with both Neil's grandma's, Steve's grandma, two men from Lackland who had to stay in town for basic training and Steve's brother's families. Good food, good company and so much to be thankful for!

Claire and Justin being silly
So cute!
They loved playing with the wagon
Eden opening her gift from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Steve
Claire with Maw Maw and Mary Ellen - her great grandma and great aunt
Claire with her other great grandma aka Maw Maw from Kerrville!

The kids loved seeing Sheila the bearded dragon

Then it was off to my parents house for our second Thanksgiving! Here is the classic picture of my dad carving the turkey. I wonder what Eden was doing in the background?
I didn't get pics of my mom and sister =( Wasn't using the camera as much as usual but got this one of the table all set and we were finally ready to eat!
Love this picture because you can see my mom's china - my mom LOVES dishes and especially loves setting her table with everything for holidays. Eden was all decked out with her own charger and two forks!
We had a LONG day with two stops but what a blessing to be so close to both families to spend time with them all. One of these days we will host everyone so we can have one Thanksgiving meal. I find it amazing how people have such different food traditions for holidays and even different ways of celebrating! Not sure I'm ready for the task of accommodating them all!!

The Whole Family

2011-11-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my side of the family got together to take pictures for my mom's birthday. We've never had a full family picture done since I was a kid so this was really special and I'm so glad we had it done! Now we'll just have to get them done again after baby comes home!! My amazing friend Jenny with Synergy Photography took them and we were so pleased with how they turned out. Thank you SO much Jenny! Here are some of our favorites =)

Happy Birthday Eden!

2011-11-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that my baby turned 3 today! I can remember that time in my life like it was yesterday... we had been anticipating Eden's arrival any day with me on such strict bedrest but her arrival still threw us for a loop! And she's kept us guessing and on our toes ever since!!

As I remember that day, I'm so thankful that we were able to hold her right after birth for a few minutes before they had to take her to the NICU. Not being able to hold her, touch her skin (we had to wear gowns and gloves), kiss her, feed her and then having to leave her there on Thanksgiving day was one of the hardest times. I praise our God for protecting her and growing her stronger everyday so that she could come home sooner than most babies in the NICU.

We had a party out at the park last weekend which I'll post pics of soon but today the 4 of us went to Pump It Up for open play so she could jump to her hearts content (my mom and dad stopped in too)! We then met Abbey and Lydia for some McDonald's lunch, did a little shopping and finished the evening with dinner and cake with grandma and grandpa! What a fun filled day!

Grandma made her a yummy bday cake... of course she refused to eat dinner but after everyone else was eating her cake, she finally "swallowed her pride" and ate so she could have a piece. Oh, is this just the start of 3? She's stubborn but tonight was a whole new level!
She wanted Claire to help blow out the candles but she actually blew them herself for the first time!

Finally enjoying her cake =)

Happy Birthday baby girl!!! I can't wait to see what this year brings for you!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!! Two days ago I started listing the blessings and gifts of my days and will continue my list until I get to 1,000... and then maybe I'll start over again =) This is inspired by a few friends who have done this while reading "One Thousand Gifts" which I still need to read. I shared my last couple of days with Claire and this morning while talking about Thanksgiving and singing "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good" she said she wanted to make her own list. So I pray the heart of my little girl gives you the smile and joy it gave me.

Just in case you couldn't read it:
1. Lord
2. Mom and Dad
3. Cat
4. Eden (not sure how Rollo got ahead of sister!)
5. God's Word
6. Aunts and Uncles
7. Mrs. Lopez
8. Grandparents and Cousins

1. Baby Brother
2. Neighbors
3. Food
4. TV
5. Markers
6. Friends
7. Squinkies (a toy that she's been wanting and hopes to get for Christmas)
8. Amber (one of the girls we are praying for who is in foster care waiting for her forever family)
9. Rainbow
10. Heart (her heart)
11. Whole World

Chili Cook Off

2011-11-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

On the 14th we had our annual Chili Cook Off at church with our life group and as usual it was so much fun! Our theme was Disney so we chose to do Princess and the Frog to utilize the huge amphibian that has been living in the girls room =) I knew that giant frog would come in handy one of these day! We pulled together to decorate with Mardi Gras stuff and bayou critters. Jayme and Erin made YUMMY chili and gumbo. Our booth won second place which is always good when you put that much effort into it! Neil and I worked on the back drop and I made cute little frog visors for our family. Here are a few pics of our fam and one group shot!

National Orphan Sunday

2011-11-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

Nov. 6th was National Orphan Sunday and after our short video clip we showed last year David said we could do the whole service around orphan care this year to help bring more awareness! Between our partnership with Jeremiah's Hope in the Ukraine, advertising for foster care certifications, families throughout our congregation adopting, supporting and pursuing foster care, it's so exciting to see how God has worked through our church to embrace orphan care the past two years! Since that Sunday I've heard from three additional families who are either starting their foster care research, meeting with a domestic adoption agency and who ready to foster to adopt. The Lord has really been stirring hearts and I pray that it just continues as we all become a source of support and joy to one another!

Our service included a video from orphan sunday resouce page, video created my Andrew Kelly at Jeremiah's Hope, Bulletin insert with 10 ways you can be involved (all over the spectrum!), Heart Gallery photos and prayer cards of children in our area who are in foster care and waiting to be adopted (thank you Tara for your help with this and the prayer cards for the kids at Jeremiah's Hope) and a testimony from a young couple, the Mitchell's, who spent some time in an orphanage in Haiti last Christmas. It was a powerful morning and God's love for these children and for us was exemplified!

If you or someone you know would like to talk or have someone pray about your involvement (something as simple as mowing the lawn for a foster care family) then please let me know! I would be more than honored and will give you other ideas and resources to know how and where you can become more involved. Some of the organizations that I REALLY love are the ones that support families to PREVENT the orphan crisis to continue growing such as:
http://www.kiva.org/ (micro lending to families all over the world)
http://www.bloodwatermission.com/ (empowering communities while providing and then teaching them how to care for their water supply)
http://www.147millionorphans.com/Ugandan-Necklaces_ep_48.html (Mothers in Uganda make necklaces and you buying them will help them earn sustainable income for their families)
http://www.compassion.com/ (sponsor a child to help sustain a family)

Can't wait till next year!!! I already have some ideas brewing and hope to hear from you if you have any others.

Veterans Day Parade

2011-11-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

Claire had a Veteran's Day program and parade at her school. We were able to invite the veterans in our life so Eden and I brought Grandpa to be honored!! He served in the Air Force which is what brought us to SA. I just love how my dad gets emotional at any patriotic celebration. At the end of it all he said that was the most he had done for veteran's day for a long time and I think he really enjoyed the morning! They had a nice program outside with the choir and middle school band. Each veteran got a carnation and was brought up to the front so the kids could see them and honor them. We also remember my brother who served in the Navy!

Claire parading through the halls with her float!
Sportin her red, white and blue
Eden was in a little mood that morning and I couldn't get a smile until I told her I was taking her to chick-fil-a to play with her friends!
One of my favorite pictures - Eden sharing a pear with Grandpa - they are pretty smitten =)
We love you dad and are proud of you!

Halloween

2011-11-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Halloween this year wasn't as crazy as it has been but we still had plenty to do to wear our costumes! With it being the same weekend as the Chosen it made it harder... we had to miss our church trunk or treat but the girls didn't once complain.

Our first fun event was Claire's class party that one of the parent's hosted at their home. It was a pretty amazing party! Games and food galore! A pinata, a ghost hunt, crafts, a balloon artist and the best part? Seeing Mrs. Lopez and her husband (my 5th grade teacher!) dressed up in their costumes! Claire had a blast with her friends as I was exhausted and recovering from the half marathon that morning. I also have really enjoyed getting to know a lot of the other moms through these fun social things for Claire's class!
Claire the queen and Mrs. Lopez the Gypsy
They are such a SWEET couple! Mr. Lopez is still just as nice as can be! I really loved having him as a teacher WAY back when...
Claire with our neighbor and friend Amanda
The next evening we had a birthday party for Katie Clem! Eden especially gets excited about seeing Katie and it's hilarious that she can't just call her Katie but it's ALWAYS "Katie Clem". Lily is just Lily =)
We carved our pumpkin after school on actual Halloween day. I say WE but I really mean ME =) My girls didn't want to touch the insides so they ended up playing while I scrapped it all out. Claire contributed with her face design. Gotta love the mismatched eyes... it's my favorite part!

The girls with our painted pumpkins and Jack O Lantern
We went trick or treating around our neighborhood that night after Neil got home. Here they are with their decorated pumpkins from Katie Clem's party

Abbey joined us for the 3rd or 4th year! So much fun to go with them!

After our bags were full, we went to trick or treat at Mimi and Poppa's neighbors. We always go to the same three houses and then pass out a little candy too =) Eden was NOT feeling this last photo op! She's giving me a look that I hope not to see often - LOL! Love that Gene is sporting his new Africa shirt that he bought at the marathon. You can find it through the ministry Into the Streets of Ethiopia. Click on the link to find out more!

I missed doing Halloween this year with our church friends and family - we weren't able to do trunk or treat, playgroup and didn't do a planned life group Halloween night... Hope to at least do one next year!

Chosen Pictures

2011-11-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

My last post was about our AMAZING team and this one is pictures of our team members!! Just a warning =) There are a ton of pictures but I wanted to know who was there and remember our time together on such an glorious day! It was about 40 degrees when we all got out in Gruene but it quickly got warm as we started out on our journey. What a beautiful, crisp morning as the sun rose over the river... it's a beautiful course and if you haven't done the Chosen before you MUST do it next year!

Neil and I staking out our spot to meet our team members (and freezing!)

Melynda and Jill - two sweet friends from church
Jenny and Danny (grade school friends to Neil and I) and Danny's dad, David. This was Danny's second year on our team!
Becky and me - friend from church who also walked last year
Jeremy and Lezlee - two close friends from church
Alison (friend of Kathryn Stevens), Kathryn Stevens (Kristi's cousin), Kristi Jayne (childhood best friend and my #1 recruiter!), me, Kim Potter (high school friend) and Sam Plake (husband of a high school friend). This was Kristi and Kathryn's second year on our team!
Georgia, Emily, Monica and Lauren (on team "Chaffing for Change"). This was Georgia and Monica's second time on our team
Friends of Kristi - Erin and Andrea
Stacia and Me! Stacia and her husband, Stefan, are also adopting from Ethiopia and had a team "Chaffing for Change". They've just recently placed membership at our church and I'm SO excited to be on this journey together. I encourage everyone to get ready to be on their team next year!
Neil wasn't able to walk this year with his knees and back so he worked hard the day before to set up and check in bags in the morning of the race!
Me and Jim - an elder at our church who has recently found out his daughter is adopting from Ethiopia too!!
WOW - this view just took my breath away and it's amazing to be part of something so wonderful while experiencing God's beautiful creation
On our way back after the half way point Heather (my wonderful walking partner and friend of 21 years) joined up with a group from our church - Georgia, Emily, Nathaniel, Monica and Heather
Me and Heather - thanks for walking with me and for our team!!!
After I crossed the finish line I was overwhelmed by our family! Nothing like seeing Neil there to give me a big hug!
Shortly after Heather and I crossed, Faith and her father, Tom, crossed as they finished the whole marathon! I knew Faith in my church youth group long ago and was so excited they both could join our team this year!
Gene and Elaine were there!!! I was so excited they came!!
Grandma was there soaking up the grandkids
Claire and mommy - I made these shirts for the girls and my shirt matched

Mike and Heather were supposed to run but they weren't feeling well. They came anyway to show us their love and support. I just LOVE this picture!
After we hung out at the race site for a long time, we went to the Grist Mill for a yummy lunch! What an amazing day!

A week later we had a celebratory/thank you picnic for our team members! Go Team SA Lewis to Ethiopia! We did it out at the neighborhood park

Mike and Heather stayed for the picnic after we took full family pictures that morning.
Not many people could make it but I'm so glad we did it for those who could come!
Tom, my dad and me
Becky and Sebastian
Melynda and Jude Jude and Eden loving on each other! Next year we won't be having a team for our family but can't wait to participate for another team!! I'm going to be recruiting for "Chaffing for Change" and any other team of a family member or friend who is on the adoption journey!!

2nd Annual Chosen Marathon: SA Lewis to Ethiopia

2011-11-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

This year's Chosen marathon was AMAZING!!! When I first started telling people and recruiting for our team, I wasn't going to really push it and I thought if I got 20 people, that would be great. Well... my dear friend Kristi, who is an amazing mom and coach, convinced me that I needed to beat last year's team number of 35. And we did with 50 team members (including myself, Eden and Claire)!!! Each day more people kept signing up and surprising me! God just kept prompting hearts and you all responded!! Out of the 50 people, besides the girls and I, we personally knew 26 members (12 from church), knew 7 through other team members and didn't know 14 of our team members AT ALL (including 6 of the kids)!! And 13 of the 47 were on our team last year. Doesn't that blow your mind?

I want to thank you by name and recognize each of you:

Lezlee & Jeremy Zorn
Melynda Dye
Jill Hill
Jim McDaniel
Faith Thomson
Tom Thomson
Melanie Romero
Danny & Jenny Gonzales
David Gonzales
Mike & Heather Walvoord
Mary Walvoord
Heather Adams
Becky Bounds
Monica Chapman
Georgia & Emily Ockerman
Nathaniel & Sara Dowell
Rick Deaver
Liz Culver
Kimberly Heimbecker
Sam Plake
Kathryn Stevens
Alison Luce
Rebecca Gough
Joyce Bogue
Bridget Emerson
Brandon & Samantha Hopkins
Joseph Leonguerrero
Alecia Murphy
Andrea Owen
Kristi Seitz
Kim Potter
June Shanahan
Leanne Boddie
Erin Wiedenfeld
Avery, Jack & Luke Lindley
Hannon & Parker Joseph
Ace Emerson
Addyson Schlink
Claire & Eden Lewis

This incredible group of people are made up of childhood friends, church family including an elder, friends of friends, spouses, total strangers, a next door neighbor, my immediate family, former co-workers, people from my high school and youth group that I've gotten reconnected with on facebook... I just love looking at who has created this year's team and am so humbled and grateful for the time, effort and commitment they made to help us bring our baby home.

The funds raised will be covering our second trip expenses which means as we have estimated, we are almost fully funded... PRAISE GOD! When we first started this journey 19 months ago we had no idea how we would be covering the expenses but every step of the way He has been faithful to provide and show us a testimony to "His will, His bill"!

Thank you again to everyone who made this year's experience unforgettable and for partnering with us as we continue to wait for our baby boy. You all have played a very important role in this journey! I urge you to not stop here and to find other ways to support adoption, orphan care and foster in one way or another. Trust God's prompting and prayerfully consider where He will take you!

October's official Number (yes, in November)

2011-11-11T21:26:00.000-08:00

Back on Oct. 28th we got our October number update from AGCI

Sadly this is the number we posted the last time I did a number image but that doesn't mean things aren't happening! There has been a ton of great news this week for AGCI families with first court dates, embassy dates, MOWA letters finally being produced after months of waiting, news that people are really advocating for the children in the midst of southern orphanage closures, etc. We actually had moved to 15 but got bumped back up as a family before us lost their referral and was added back onto the boy list. I don't know all the details of how or why but it just breaks my heart to hear that. Again, not sure the situation so hopefully it meant the birth family was able to support and raise him in a loving and safe environment after all. But alas! We continue to wait and wait and wait...

I look at the ticker on our blog right now and it says we've been in process for 1 year, 7 months and 1 week. That's two pregnancies right there. And we've been on the wait list for 1 year, 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days (not that I'm keeping track or anything!) So yes, when I look at the numbers it seems like forever but I know it could be much longer than we will eventually be waiting. I've been a little down about it this week as we approach the holidays. When we first started this process 19months ago we thought he would for sure be home by Christmas. That obviously won't be happening but as always I try to trust God's plan and timing to be better than our own. It still doesn't make it easy.

As we've been waiting this past month we started doing a few things for his room! The girls, Neil and I painted some canvas', used a little hot glue and Hungry Caterpillars decals to create these that will hang around his window:

We will continue to get things ready for him little by little but we also continue to get our hearts ready for him as well. Just the thought of getting that call with his name and picture seems so unreal and almost like it's something I just talk about but won't ever really happen. I know that seems so pessimistic but it's true right now. People ask questions and I tell them the process but it's like I'm just going through the motions of telling them... it still just seems so far away at this point. I'm so glad we have the girls to keep us busy and distract us because I know it would be infinitely harder if we didn't have children at home. It's also going to be infinitely harder of a wait after we get that name and first photograph of our son...Please pray with me that we will hear by March or April!

Yesterday Claire out of the blue said to Neil "Dad, I wish tomorrow we'd be #1" - we were talking about it and realizing that the girls don't remember a time that we haven't talked about adoption and baby brother. They are just as ready as we are =)

Cora

2011-11-11T20:43:00.001-08:00

Look who gets to spend Wednesday afternoons with Eden and me?!! Cora!! After BSF we hurry home to watch Cora for about 3 hours which is such a joy. She is such a great baby and Eden just LOVES having her around. Her favorite part is helping change diapers... she asked Cora this week "Elmo? or Big Bird?" She even came in from playing in the sandbox to help me with a dirty one! Just getting her ready to have another baby in the house =) These were taken on three different Wednesdays and you can really see how much she's grown in such a short time!

On the eve of Cora's Aunt Mikey's 32nd birthday I can't help but think of how much Mikey would've loved on her sweet niece. It's so weird that they will never meet on this side of heaven but I know Mikey is watching over Eric, Erin and Cora. This time of year I always wonder where Mikey would be in life. Married? Children? Where would she be living? Working? She will always be that 19 year old in our minds eye and after almost 13 years, I remember her just as beautiful as the last day I saw her.

The past month

2011-11-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Wow - looking back over our pictures since I posted last I can see that we have been busy... too busy at times but we've done a lot of really amazing things together as a family! So I can feel caught up I'm going to do an overview of the past month:)

-I had a VERY busy season for work preparing my kids (and other kids without voice teachers) for region competition and then judging for two days. I didn't see Claire for almost 3 days between her school and me being gone more than usual... I'm so grateful that I am home most of the time and my job is usually so flexible! Out of my 12 kids that auditioned 10 of them made it and I was so proud of them all. I just LOVE my job encouraging my students and seeing them experience life. While I was gone Neil was AMAZING and took the girls on all kinds of adventures =) Their favorite was their time exploring downtown!

- We spent a Sunday morning remembering little Leo and celebrating his sweet life that was cut too short already a year ago. They organized an amazing run/walk and silent auction to raise money for the scholarship in his name for Texas State athletes. I was honored to sing the National Anthem.

I can't believe it's been a year already. Kristi and Leo have been such an amazing example of utter dependence on our God for strength through this past year. When we can't understand why these things happen, we can usually see how God works through such tragedy to bring people closer to each other and more importantly to Him. They continue to be a testimony to God's love. Here they are with their little Jaydee - One Friday after school Eden and I picked Claire up and surprised her with a trip to Sea World! It was so much fun and what a beautiful day for me to have quality time with both girls! We got to do a lot of stuff we hadn't yet done. Their favorite were the rides in the Bay of Play. Can't wait to go back during the week of Thanksgiving. It was just too hot during the summer to do much more than staying in the water so we need to get around to everything else!

- The next day we had Wagon Wheel Day at Claire's school which is like a carnival. We played games, ate junk food, bounced in jump houses, worked Claire's booth and remembered the days of when mommy went to her Wagon Wheel Days back in the 4th and 5th grade. What fun memories and traditions to now start with our girls! That night Tiffany and I had a girls night our to the Luna Bar for some good music and free cheetos =)

- Halloween weekend: Chosen Marathon Extravaganza, Halloween party for Claire's class, Katie's bday party and trick or treating - this weekend was exhausting as usual!

- We took family pictures with my whole family which was quit an accomplishment with all of us getting the same place on time with coordinating outfits. I am NOT a shopper so I spent all week trying to find jewel toned clothes. They turned out amazing...I only wish our son would be in them =)Here are some Neil caught but I'll post a few of my favs from Jennifer later!

- Had a team picnic for the 50 people who registered for our SA Lewis to Ethiopia team! Not very many people could make it but I was just so thankful for the outpouring of support that I wanted to have something special for everyone! Thanks to my mom and family for being there and helping so much!
-November 6th was Orphan Sunday and we had our entire service dedicated in bringing orphan awareness to our church family through orphan care, foster, adoption... I pray it touched people's hearts and spurred them on to act in one way or another.

- This week has been better... a day or two to just catch up and not be running every which way between work, kids, home, church, helping, etc. We celebrated Veterans Day today and honored my dad and brother for their service in the Air Force and the Navy.

Whew!! And that's not even mentioning our adoption or the things that we do everyday and week... I think I need to slow down before the holidays get here. Fortunately I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. We keep things very simple around here which I'm thankful for!!

one of these days...

2011-11-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

...I'm going to be catching up on our blog =) The past 4 weeks have been a complete blur and I'm just trying to juggle it all! I know many of you have asked about our Oct. # - we didn't get it till almost the turn of November and we are #16. That will be a post all in itself when I get there... time to pass out!

Totally Batty for Candy

2011-10-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

This pictures CRACKS ME UP!! Earlier this week this girl was caught red handed with the most fitting shirt for the occasion=)

I was getting ready for work and Eden just seemed a little more mischevious than usual so I thought "I'll make my shower REALLY quick". As soon as I got out I called for her but she didn't say anything. Of course my heart started racing and I first checked the door to make sure it was locked. It was so I kept calling her name and I finally heard her. She was in the pantry with the door closed. I opened the door and there she was with chocolate chips in her hands and all over her mouth. She looked at me and said "I sowwy". It was the cutest thing and I had to just hold my laughter! Oh she keeps us on our toes!

Medina

2011-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we went to Medina for the Annual Friendship retreat which is a reunion between Neil's mom's youth group from the church she grew up in. It ends up being a sort of family reunion for Elaine's side of the family and one of the only times we get to see Neil's aunts, uncles and cousins. We also visit with family friends who have known Neil since he was a little boy. One of the families we visited told us their son just announced that he and his wife are adopting from Ethiopia!! We had a lot to talk about =)

The girls are getting old enough to really enjoy their time out at the camp! They played and got all dirty and we even got a chance to get into Medina for the pumpkin patch. We had a blast! My girls are getting good wear out of their pumpkin shirts =) Here they are on the hayride...

Big girl Claire
They loved the petting zoo
Neil and Claire on the tractor train ride - this thing was fast!
Eden and me holding on for dear life!
The girls each got a pony ride
It was Eden's first time!! She's always been too hesitant to ride even though she loves to pet and see the horses
Big girl riding her horse!
Isn't this tree amazing?
It was a perfect hiding spot for the girls
Here they are with their second cousin Annabelle who traveled with her parents from Colorado
The kids having their "experiment" in the tree trunk!
Looking forward to next year and hopefully having more family there!

Pumpkin Patch take one!!

2011-10-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

My sweet Eden is still sleeping and it's almost 8:45 am!! Poor thing came home sick yesterday from school so she is getting much needed rest. She's never slept this late =) So... I will share the pics from our first pumpkin patch visit with BOTH girls. Claire was so upset that I had already taken Eden and couldn't wait to go check them all out. We chose a big one to carve and to go with our five little ones that we already painted and did sticker faces. There's just something about pumpkin patch pictures. Always some of my FAVORITE to scrapbook and a great time to get some good family pictures. We will be going out with all four of us sometime soon to capture this years family picture!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Around here...

2011-10-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is just a random post of happenings around here =) Love to do these every once in awhile and got inspired by my friend Rachel and Tara as I try to find the blessings in every situations...

- Look what Claire won at school! Her name got drawn randomly out of the whole school for a fundraising prize. She was the coolest girl in school that day and I have no doubt she will never forget it =)

- Although the weather cooled down this weekend, it's still been unseasonably hot and I've been getting my fall baking itch - everything pumpkin - pumpkin pie and two batches of pumpkin raisin muffins - Yummo! Did you know soaking your raisins in warm water before mixing them gets them plump and oh so much more flavorable? I didn't but I learned that last week and wanted to pass along that tidbit.

- The Pumpkin patch at Eden's MDO has finally arrived so we will be visiting frequently =) It's one of our favorite weekly outings to just go, look, compare and contrast and take an insane amount of pictures. We picked up 5 today to represent all FIVE of us! We will paint them this week =)

- Loving my red door this fall especially with my fall wreath that my mom made us last year. She put three scarecrows to represent our three little ones =) We painted it red during Spring break and I've always liked it but now I REALLY like it with the season hopefully turning.

- Our air conditioner broke Friday - yuck! But what a blessing that it happened the coolest weekend we've had in a LONG time so we could just tough it out during the day, loiter in HEB and Target and sleep with the windows open. Also a blessing that we got paid Friday and can pay for that new motor that will hopefully be installed Monday.

- We were SO blessed by some boxes full of boy clothes from a high school classmate of Neil's that he hasn't seen since graduation. I ran into her last year, told her we were adopting and she wanted to give us clothes from her boys. Isn't that amazing?! SO we picked up the clothes and also got some decals to start getting the nursery together... getting excited to get ready!
- Loving teaching my students this semester - I have 14 in my private studio and they are GREAT! I'm so blessed to have a flexible job outside the home between my teaching and my responsibilities with the music ministry at church. It keeps me so busy but what a joy to still be teaching music and encouraging others!!

- Claire had her bike rodeo at school and she was so cute! Not very many kids from her class participated and I was so proud of how hard she concentrated to stay between the lines, swerve around the cones, balance, etc. She has surprised me with her ambition and drive to want to do EVERYTHING that Mrs. Lopez sends home. I pictured her being cautious and timid to do new things but she has gone in with hardly any hesitation. Love seeing this bold, confident side of her!

- And two quotes I want to remember from Claire:
1. C: "Mom, I think Jesus has dark skin"
Me: "Why do you think that?"
C: "Because He is so close to the sun and they don't have skun-screen in heaven" (she still says it wrong and I love it)
So cute and started a great convo about what we think Jesus looks like, where he lived here on earth and where heaven is.

2. C: "What's this song called?"
Neil: "Love, Love Me Do" (the girl loves her Beatles just like her daddy & mommy)
C: "I'm going to play it at my wedding!"
Me: "Why?"
C: "Because it's about being in love!"

Port A

2011-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

After our homestudy visit the morning of the 16th, we packed up the car and headed to Port Aransas to meet up with my parents and my older brother's family. We have never all taken a trip together so we were really looking forward to it! We've been planning it for months! Wished Billy and Jenny would've been there but hope they can make it next year.

After riding on the "roller coaster" aka bridge, we stopped at Snoopy's for a YUMMY seafood dinner. My parents met us there and it didn't disappoint! Then it was next door for ice cream at Scoopy's and some fish watching.

Then it was off to the beach - the girl's had been anticipating it for WEEKS so I couldn't wait to see their faces. Especially Eden's because she's never been to the beach before. This is currently by FAVORITE picture of our big girl Claire...
Us...
And here is Eden...
Yup... asleep and we tried three times to wake her up!! She sleeps just like her mama =) She was so exhausted that she slept right through it and missed our first beach visit. We were only there for about 25 minutes or so and once we got to the town home, we just put her in bed. (Something I NEVER want to forget - When Mike and Heather arrived late that night, both girls woke up from Pierce's cries and I ran upstairs to check on them. Eden stood at the top of the stairs in her sleepy haze, rubbing her eyes and said "Brudder here?" Melt and break my heart at the same time!! It was so sweet and sincere... she's anticipating him just as much as anyone.)

The next day we spent almost 6 hours on the beach soaking it all in! The girls had a blast and never slowed down! We all had a great time swimming, body boarding, looking for shells, hanging out in the canopy shade, eating lunch, reading, building and shoveling the sand, etc.

Eden n Mike
Fun with Uncle Mike!

We were surprised at how brave and persistent Claire was with the body boarding! She got some face fulls of water but kept going and loved riding in the big waves!
Daddy n Eden
Pierce getting some love from mommy and daddy
All smiles
Loving the sand
We had a great dinner back at the townhouse and celebrated Mike and Heather's bdays with a yummy cake. Then it was put the kids to bed and start a game. We played Scattergories and had a great time!! There was some competitive moments but a lot of fun and even more laughing! We left early the next day to make it to a afternoon rehearsal at church so the trip was short and sweet but so worth it. Can't wait to go back (hopefully as a family of 5)!!

One Year and a new number

2011-09-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

A year ago today we got our call with the greatest news - we had officially made it onto the waitlist. After months and months of paperwork and waiting, we had finally gotten to where we could relax a little bit. I remember it feeling like a HUGE sigh of relief and how the first week of not having anything to do for adoption paperwork felt wonderful. We were #69 and today we just moved up to #16 (i think!). A lot can happen in a year...

God has truly revealed Himself to us throughout this process. People always ask "If there are so many kids who need families why do they make it so hard? so expensive? such a long process?" Honestly, sometimes I wonder the same thing when we are having to jump through hoops over and over again. A lot of it is for the safety of the children but a lot of it seems excessive (ie. Pet Vaccination Records). But I will tell you that if we hadn't had this year's experience (or the total 18 months we've been on this ride) of totally relying, trusting, questioning, pleading, praying, praising, wondering, submitting and so much more, we wouldn't be where we are today.

Just as His word says in James 1: "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."

This period of waiting has been one of transformation but I know that our journey has just begun. Our son has already taught us so much and we don't even know who he is yet. I praise God for how He has continued to give us the strength and perseverance only He can give when we are feeling worn and weary. Over the past two weeks I have had one encouragement after another. God's word through my BSF lesson & sermon on God saying "Not Yet, text from Evening of Spiritual Harmony songs, a song sent to me by my sweet friend Ashley called "While I'm Waiting" and an article posted on our listserv entitled "God's Will for your Wait" by Paul Tripp. If you are reading this and going through a waiting period (waiting for a baby through pregnancy or adoption, for a job, for a answer, for direction, for recovery of an addiction or sickness, etc.) YOU need to click on the above links! They were a great encouragement to me and I know they will be to you as well.

Now on to how we celebrated our one year =) Now that we are in the teens the girls and I made a paper chain to help us count down. We have always written our number on a dry erase plate in the kitchen but this will be a better visual for the girls and they can actively participate by tearing off links as we get closer. Here they are showing off the chain that is now hanging in their bedroom.
Neil and I met for a little lunch date =) I bought us a little present and had Neil open it. It's a really great adoption memory book that we can start filling out while we are waiting! It's called "My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families" by Zoe Francesca and I really like it a lot! It has a lot of the elements of a life book that I've read about and researched.
We had a nice quick lunch between work and picking up the girls. Of course we couldn't get away without a quick pic =)
Thank you to EVERYONE who has been a wonderful support and sharing our excitement as we get closer and closer. Although we are moving up, we still aren't expecting "the call" until probably March or April which means hopefully having him home sometime during the summer. So we still have awhile as we continue to anticipate him being home. It is much more exciting though because I've really resisted any nesting or "getting ready" urges to avoid getting my hopes up too soon. I'm now looking at the empty nursery and thinking it might be time to start changing things around =)

Training

2011-09-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Training for the Chosen: Marathon for Adoption is well under way!
These shoes have seen a lot of miles which reminds me I need to buy some more asap so I can break them in before the big day on Oct. 29th!! I will be walking the half marathon for our team "SA Lewis to Ethiopia" and I can't wait!! As of tonight we have 27 members on our team including myself. (Praying to break 30 since we had 35 last year) I'm up to 6 miles but haven't been very diligent the past week or so =( Need to get on the ball! I'll tell you, it is HARD to be motivated to go walking after the kids are in bed and I'm exhausted. It's also HARD to go by myself. But to hear the clanking of my charms on my necklace with each step is a reminder that we are getting closer and closer to our little man.

If you're interested in any information on how you can join our team to walk/run or support us even if you can't walk/run, leave a comment and I'll get in contact with you! Or visit: www.marathonforadoption.com

Please keep us in your prayers!

Official September #

2011-09-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week on the 14th we got our official September waitlist number...

We're in the teens!! And two nights ago we were moved to 17 after a 2 yr. old little girl was matched with her forever family. It's all still a little surreal for me to be in the teens. We will be making a paper chain to help the girls count down now that we are closer. I'm actually having to think of "what's next?" A lot of people have asked the same question so here is the run down:

- right now we are still waiting for our homestudy to be officially renewed. We've done everything we're supposed to after we completed our home visit on the 15th. Just waiting for our FBI clearance to come back so please pray for a speedy return! We can not get a referral without an updated homestudy.

- When we get in the single digits (YIKES!!) we will be starting our rounds of vaccinations for travel and finding an international pediatrician who we can have on deck to look at our son's medical history when we get "the call"

- We get "the call" which will include knowing his name, full history and first time to see his face on pics sent to email while we talk to our case manager.

- Print pictures of our sweet boy =) We won't be able to post pics on facebook or blog until after our US Embassy is passed which is the second trip.

-We accept referral after completing a ton of paperwork, paying a hefty fee and hearing back from the international pediatrician.

- Wait for another call for our court date. Then we will know when we travel. We won't be able to buy tickets until we get confirmation for our court date which could be only days before we have to leave.

- We (Neil and I - girls will be staying here) fly to Ethiopia for the first time and meet OUR SON for the FIRST TIME!! This still feels like light years away and another surreal moment I've been dreaming about for so long. Hard to even imagine how this will take place. On this trip we will spend time loving on him and the other kiddos at Hannah's Hope, learning about Ethiopian culture, hopefully have a birth parent meeting, delivering donations, connecting with other adoptive parents, learning as much as we can and most importantly, bonding, holding, wearing, kissing and loving our little guy as much as possible.

- We fly back to SA without our baby =( This will be so hard... then we wait for a US Embassy date in Ethiopia and fly back for that date for our second trip. There is usually very short notice for travel so we have to just be ready and buy whatever tickets we can. We are reunited with our baby and will never have to let him go again!!!

- We come home and start our cocooning and bonding as a family of 5 - THANK YOU LORD!!!

So there is the heads up on what the next steps of our process are =) As far as the wait, I've had a harder couple of weeks. I've just been more emotional than usual about everything. Really longing and missing him which blows me away... how can you miss someone you've never even met? don't even know his face or name? Oh but my heart knows him and this is almost an indescribable feeling. Once again the Lord is teaching me through this waiting period in my life.

This Monday marks one year on the waitlist and 18 months in process. This timeline keeps ticking with every passing day which grows the yearning to have him home even more. I've been super calm and at peace up until now but I've found myself a little more consumed with the wait lately. The other day I starting crying when I saw my sweet friend Kristin rocking her newborn baby boy in bible class - it just hit me! There are babies and pregnant people all around me which makes it even harder sometimes although I sincerely rejoice with each blessing that comes!

This past week I started my BSF for the year and we are studying Acts. There was a great lesson in how the disciples and Jesus' family waited for the Holy Spirit to come after Jesus had ascended to heaven. They were together praying and just simply surrounding themselves with other believers while they waited. What a great example to constantly be in prayer and have HIM as my focus during this time. What does HE want to teach me? What does HIS plan have for us? Do I trust that HIS timing is perfect and not my own? We've already grown tremendously in our faith during this process and I pray I can truly surrender to Him and His ways every single day while we wait and every day after the wait is over.

A Princess Surprise

2011-09-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Back in July, Kate called and asked if Claire and I wanted to go to a Disney Princess show at one of the large theaters downtown. I knew it would be something really special for Claire and I to do together so we got tickets. The best part is I kept it a secret until I picked Claire up two Fridays ago (Sept. 9th) and got to surprise her!! Her expression was priceless and she was SO excited! Of course the girls had to dress up for the occasion as most of the other little girls at the show had. Claire wore her "queen" dress that she got from Heather Adams last year(thanks Heather - it's our Halloween costume this year too!)
We sat on the first row on the first balcony which was a great spot because the girls could stand the whole time. They had the Mickey mouse characters introduce the princess stories - Snow White, Beauty n the Beast and Cinderella.

What a fun evening to share with our best friends!! I love this girl!
Had to take a pic with the chandelier =)

Eden's first day of school

2011-09-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a little MIA lately but ready to do some catching up!! Eden and I had two weeks together after Claire started school and she started her school year. I can't begin to tell you how much she grew up those two weeks because she wasn't competing for my attention. It was such a precious time for us to have our one on one time we had never had before - especially before baby comes. Her language has exploded and she has become a little less hesitant in new settings. She is still my guarded girl around new people =) She is going to the same MDO on Tuesday and Thursdays while I'm teaching. Her "meet the teacher" day was on my first day of work so Grandpa took her. Thank you SO much dad for sharing in this special day!
My dad was shocked to see the quiet, withdrawn, cautious side of Eden when in new situations. It's something I've talked about a lot but she is never like that with my parents so they haven't experienced it.

Eden LOVES her teacher Ms. Meagan and loves being part of the red class. She is also part of a purple class for BSF so you will often hear her say "two classes - red and purple" - too cute!
Her first day of school was on Sept. 6th and it couldn't have gone any better. She went right in and started playing right away. Her teacher has been WONDERFUL! Her favorite class is music with Ms. Heather. Here she is on the first day - she had to wear a jacket because Claire wore hers to school. It was about 65 so it was a little cool for us - a nice break from the sweltering heat!

This picture was taken on the second day of school and I couldn't help but post. I just love her rainy froggy shirt!
Eden....like I said before has changed SO much the past month. She is such a goofy, silly girl at home and when she is in comfortable situations. I just LOVE this side of her but am so thankful for that cautious part of her personality. She will be such a leader and be herself. I don't see her being easily persuaded so I guess that stubborn streak will be a blessing!
She continues to be my boy at heart - loving to climb, run, bounce, throw but is learning more and more everyday what it means to be gentle. Her empathy for others sometimes surprises me when seconds earlier she was oblivious to others. Her personality is so multi-dimensional... i just LOVE this girl to pieces! Always keeping me guessing =)

Here are a few things I want to remember:
- When asked what her favorite color is she always says "Brown" and always goes for the brown crayon first
- She favors the scary parts and villains in any movie or show. Not sure exactly what that means but it makes me laugh when she says "I like that guy" or is obsessed with the "Mean Queen" from Snow White.
- She is extremely into shoes and purses and I often find the most random assortment of things stuffed in the many purses around our house including the cell phone I couldn't find =)
- She has surprised me with how well she has transitioned to her bunk bed. I'm SO proud of her!
- The past 3 weeks Eden has caught on to the sticker folder that sister has been doing for a long time. If they don't go to time out all day, Neil puts a sticker on their nose before bed and they go nuts to put it in their folder. Amazing how much of an incentive this can be but we still have our days full of time outs at times. She is definitely improving!
- her favorite phrases "tiny bit?", "oopsy daisy" (just started this one), "I want" - we're working on this one,

Wisconsin

2011-08-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

A month ago I took a trip up to Wisconsin to visit extended family and spend some special time with my grandma. I got to visit with my wonderful aunts, my cousin Kaitlin and even got to see my dad's family at my cousin Sandy's wedding. I did all of this while Neil stayed home with both girls for 6 days. He says it's what dad's and husband's should all do and he was fine with it - I say he's amazing!! Without two kids my focus was on actual conversations and I read like I've never read since college. It was so enjoyable! I also got to spend some great quality time with my parents as we drove up together and stayed together most the week.

Here are a few of my favorite photos:

Barbara and I at the farmer's market - it was an amazing market and I got those beautiful flowers for my grandma's room for $6!
This is the tiny church in the middle of the corn feilds where my cousin Sandy got married. It was amazing and I called Neil right away to tell him I found the place we are renewing our vows =) I just loved it even though it didn't have air conditioning and we were all sweating up a storm!
Aunt Marge, Aunt Faye, Dad and Mom
My cousin Sandy and he groom Mike with Sandy's kids (Angie and Aaron) and grandkids (my second and third cousins) - we have a lot of years between us so it gets a little confusing!
Sandy's parents, my Uncle George and Aunt Carol (my dad's oldest sister of 7)
Kaitlin and I visiting Grandma in the sitting room at the nursing home
LOVE this picture!! Linda, Barb and mom touching "the queen"!
Out by lake Michigan for a festival
Visiting the Sheboygan History Museum next door to the nursing home - Judy came that day too!
What a blessing it was to be there and see everyone! I pray it's not long before I can get back to visit grandma again and take at least one of the girls with me!

GO!!!

2011-08-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

This week was Claire's first week of kinder and it couldn't have gone any better!! She as had a wonderful week - loving her teacher (we really like her too!!), making new friends, playing games in PE, singing songs in music, reading a new story every day and what does she say is her favorite? Playing with Layla on the playground and Snack!!

I surprised Claire with a new foo foo outfit for her first day and she was so excited! She's been eyeing it at Costco all summer =) The day before she painted this lovely picture for Mrs. Lopez...

Eden, Neil and I walked her into school and to her classroom.
Do you think she was excited?! She really was fine (and so were we) until we had to say goodbye. We didn't actually get to walk her into the classroom but dropped her off by the door. When we told her we were going to leave, she went and sat next to a couple girls and started talking to them right away. I'll never forget that look on her face when we were leaving... the first look of uncertainty and worry... as soon as we were around the corner Neil and I were teary and just praying the day went well. I was fine until one of the counselors during the parent breakfast read a book to us about the first day of school - I pretty much lost it.
When I picked her up after school (it was a madhouse), she saw me and there was no smile. My heart sank and my eyes stung...again! She was so quiet but the instant we got to the car she started jumping up and down, holding onto her backpack saying "Mom!! My day was AWESOME!" I was so relieved and she just raved to everyone about it.
To celebrate the first day, Eden and I took Claire to get a snow cone and visit grandma and grandpa!

The week actually flew by and although Claire was fussy in the afternoon due to being tired, everything went so smoothly. Here she is on Friday for Spirit Day! Yeah, she wasn't feelin' the picture taking that morning =)
There are a few things we just HAVE to remember =) A lot of funny things - the serious, touchy-feely things are already written down to go in her scrapbook!

- Every.single.day. Claire asked to wear her foo foo dress! She would change into it as soon as she'd get home.

- She told us that she met her Art teacher "Mrs. HotGoose" on Friday!! Holy Cow we couldn't stop laughing!! We had to look up her name to check it out. It has a "goose" in it so she was close =)

- She said "yes dam" to Neil and we were so confused until we understood why she said it =) Women are "yes mam" and since dad starts with "d", it must be "yes dam" lol - we quickly taught her sir!

- This is the best one! Claire is choosing one day a week to buy her lunch. She was so excited to buy on Tuesday (I was nervous) so this was our conversation after school:

M: "How was lunch honey?"

C: "Good but I didn't think the chicken looked good so I change my mind. I got a hamburger. But I didn't like it"

M: "So what did you eat?"

C: "Well, the boss (she meant "principal") told us we had to finish all our food so (she whispers and her eyes get really big)... I tricked him..."

M: "You tricked him? What do you mean?"

C: "I rolled up by hamburger in a ball and stuffed into my napkin!"

It was so funny because she thought she was so sly! Don't worry - I talked to her about how that was being dishonest and that I would ask her teacher that evening if they had a rule that the kids had to eat everything =) She just didn't want to get in trouble but it was good to hear that isn't the rule. I assured Claire that she just needed to eat as much as she could.

Here's to a great second week after a fun, busy weekend! Eden and I had a blast together this past week just the two of us. Even though we miss having Claire around we REALLY enjoy our one on one time that I've never consistently had with her! I'm looking forward to this season of our family's life!

On your mark, get set....

2011-08-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

We've been gearing up for Claire's first day of kinder this week and I can hardly believe it! When I was a kid I LOVED going back to school - getting school supplies, picking out my first day outfit, meeting my teacher, seeing my classroom, picking out stuff for lunches, etc. Claire may just be following in her mama's footsteps! Here are a few fun pics from the week...

Supply shopping! I bought three sets of folders because I kept finding cuter ones =) (The others will be donated)

Going to meet the teacher - Mrs. Lopez! She actually recognized me from when I had her husband as a teacher way back in the 5th grade. She is a veteran teacher and so sweet!
Claire and Mrs. Lopez by her cubby

Mrs. Lopez had cookies for the kids and when people would ask Claire if she liked her teacher after meeting her she would say "YES!! She let me have TWO cookies!" She knows the way to my little girl's heart - cookies and books! Here she is in the reading corner!
Today was the much anticipated "Kinder Box" presentation at church. I've been watching this for 7 years and thinking about when I would have a little one up there and the day had finally come! They each got a school box full of supplies that represent different things (crayons = God created us all different and unique; scissors = rightly divide the good decisions from the bad; glue stick = remind us to stick with God; eraser = God will erase our mistakes if we ask Him; tissues (mainly for the parents) = God's soft love for us). They also got a "big" bible with the new and the old testament. They all went up in front of our church family for the presentation and then the elders sat and prayed over them. We are so BLESSED to be part of this amazing family! Claire couldn't have been more excited! She picked out her dress and pearls for the occasion. Here she is with Abbey
It's so amazing to see all these kinder kids! So many of them have grown up together since they were in-utero!
Grandma and Grandpa came and then we did a celebratory lunch at Chipotle
The Zorn's came too!! Leyna and Claire - such big girls
The crew making silly faces =)

Official August #

2011-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

So at almost 11 months on the waitlist and 16.5 months in process, we are officially #21!!! (started at 69)
not only are we excited about it being lower than we thought and us being close to the teens, it's also Duncan's number! Neil was lovin' that!

Right now we are waiting to hear from Lutheran to schedule our home visit (round 2) to renew our homestudy that expires already in September. We had about a week where we thought we weren't going to have to renew after all but there was some kind of communication lapse between Lutheran and AGCI so we do have to renew!! Just as an FYI for those who are in process/waiting in Texas, you have to renew when your USCIS immigration expires - not 12 months! Please pray for our backgrounds checks to come back quickly!!

A lot of questions arise around this time of year in regards to the Ethiopian court system closing for 2 months. This will slow things down a little but it doesn't mean there won't be referrals, travel for final trips/embassy and more! I posted a great Q&A from AGCI about the closures for those who are interested!

Court Closure Q&A
Q: When do the Courts close?
A: The Court closure occurs each year for approximately 2 months in August and September. The actual dates of closure and reopening vary from year to year.

Q: When do we find out when the Courts close?
A: The dates for this year’s closure have not been released. Typically, we do not receive advance notification of when the closure is to begin and end, but our staff at Hannah’s Hope do notify our office as soon as possible after they hear word.

Q: Why do the Courts close?
A: Many refer to this time of year in Ethiopia as “rainy season.” It is definitely true that Ethiopia experiences a good amount of rain during this time of the year and it can make getting to work a bit tricky at times. However, we can also look at the Courts closing for a recess period as the staff’s opportunity for a vacation.

Q: Do the Courts still accept new cases and issue court appointments during the closure?
A: Every year is different in exactly how the Courts operate during the closure/recess period. In some years, they have been completely shut down. In other years, the Courts accepted new cases into their “cue” then once they reopened, court appointments were issued. Even last year, we were able to submit new cases and received a few court appointment notices, but the appointments were not set to occur until October. Unfortunately, it is not clear how the Courts will operate or not operate during this year’s closure, but our staff will continue to submit new cases until the Courts no longer accept them.

Q: Is MOWA also closed during the period of time the Courts are closed?
A: The Federal Courts of Addis Ababa and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) are separate government offices, though they must work in partnership to complete adoption cases. MOWA does not typically close while the Courts are closed. We are hoping that given that MOWA is supposedly processing around 10 cases a day, they will continue to review cases and issue opinion letters to the Courts during this court closure period. Historically, though, we have seen that the motivation of MOWA to process cases and issue letters during the court closure has been low, since the Courts were not open to process the cases.

Q: Will the Courts process MOWA opinion letters that are issued during the closure?
A: It is not clear at this time if, during this court closure, the Courts will process the letters from MOWA for cases that have already completed court appointments. It is our hope that these letters will continue to be processed so pending cases can be approved, but again, right now there is no clarity on this.

Q: Can families still travel for the second trip and complete a visa appointment with the US Embassy to bring their child(ren) home during the closure?
A: _You bet! The visa appointment is conducted at the US Embassy, which is part of the US government. The Embassy has historically been open and processing cases and visas during the time the Courts are closed. We have seen times in the past where the Embassy processes fewer cases during the closure time, but the US Embassy holds complete jurisdiction over its processing of cases.

Q: Can children still be assigned and admitted into Hannah’s Hope then referred to their forever families during the Court closure?
A: Yes, children can still come into Hannah’s Hope through government-licensed orphanages and referred to adoptive families while the Courts are on recess. One thing to keep in mind is that a great deal of investigation and follow up work must go into each child’s history before a child can be referred, and this can slow things down a bit at the front end of a child’s process. Overall, there is never a set or average number of children who will come into Hannah’s Hope and/or referred to their forever families in any given month, and August and September are no exception.

A few fun things!

2011-08-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

With the end of summer winding down, we've had a ton of fun!! Going and doing and just being together as a family while Neil had the first two weeks of August off. I just can't get enough of the girls learning, trying new things, discovering... these years amaze me and I never want to forget!

First up was VBS at our church. The girls had a blast! It was Eden's first VBS and I think she's hooked (especially on the "Slippery Fish" song!) Isn't this wall of deco awesome? My amazing friend Tiffany took care of this wall and another =)
I helped the last day since I was finally back in town from Wisconsin!
Adam, Carly, Leyna and Claire (Abbey was there too!)
The girls were invited to Leyna's 5th bday party and they had a blast playing in the water out back!

Meeting Cora Lynn!!! We got up to the hospital to see Cora, Eric n Erin but couldn't get too close because Claire was complaining of an upset tummy. It was so hard to be there and not be able to hold her!! I got my chance the next day =)
Eric joining the club - all girls but hopefully not for too long!!
Getting as close as I could! (Claire sporting her new "grow out the bangs" look)
We had tickets for the Children's Museum from a silent auction we won so we took the girls downtown.
Milking a cow
"Shopping" at HEB - their favorite part!

Later that week it was Eden's first time to bowl! We went to participate in Strikes for Tikes which is a fundraiser for Urban Connection in SA.
We got to bowl with the Dyes and met a number of others!
Bowling with pizza and drinks

And finally swimming! We've been swimming a lot lately and the girls have turn into fish =)
Wow - lots of fun things!! I'm exhausted =) and looking forward to a more routine schedule when school starts... Claire going to Kinder!!? Yes, I'm nervous!

Bunk Beds

2011-08-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Look what these girls and their bed head are so excited about...
they got their bunk beds!!! We finally sold Claire's bed to a sweet family from church so we were able to get the bunk beds ordered and moved in before school started - yippee!! They really love having them and it's been great to get more space in the bedroom. The stairs on the bed have drawers so we can have more storage. Something at a premium when moving kiddos in together.
They especially love the top but Eden is doing fine with having to sleep on bottom. She is doing great at staying in bed and sharing a room - even better with the beds instead of mattresses on the floor. I think it's because they can't see each other and it isn't as easy to get out =)

This is a big step for Eden - her first big girl bed! Do you think she likes it?
Our big girl keeps growing up right before our eyes! I'm SO thankful that this transition was actually pretty easy (especially compared to Claire) and it's one more check off the list to getting things settled while we wait for our little guy!
Bottoms up!!

Grandma Ann

2011-08-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

When I came across this picture on my mom's camera from her trip to Wisconsin in May, my heart melted.

To most this is just a window but this window and especially it's view holds so many memories for me. It's the window that sits right above my Grandma Ann's kitchen sink. I've seen such beauty through this window as I spent time at my grandma's condo. The glorious trees, bunnies, deer... but I mostly see my Grandma by this window, peeling her morning orange with her elbows on the counter, one leg bent and the other straight. Her CD player running. I see her fruit bowl on the counter top across the way and the magnetic cross stitching still on her refrigerator that I made when I was just a kid. Her big sliding glass doors that led to the deck out back - our favorite spot for pictures. It's amazing how one picture can evoke so many memories and so much emotion...

Last week I traveled with my parents to Wisconsin and spent my last time in her condo but she wasn't there. Her place was sparse with almost everything gone. Grandma has been moved to a nursing home and has been in and out of the hospital. She is not herself physically or mentally but she still has her wit! My mom said I was able to see her on really good days. I'll never forget her reading the recordable book that Aunt Barbara got for her to read to Claire, Eden, Pierce and Baby Boy Lewis. She didn't miss a beat and what beautiful inflection. With a smile she agreed when we told her she did a wonderful job reading and said "I have the gift of reading you know".

Here we are sitting in the sun room. What a joy it was to spend this time with her and I'm so blessed to have had this time with her and my other family.

I'll share more photos of my time in Wisconsin but wanted to make this post one of it's own.

Catching up

2011-08-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

This summer has been FUN but exhausting with all the activities... After a long trip to Wisconsin, I just feel behind on everything right now and trying to catch up on it all - blogging, sorting and giving away clothes, getting the girls room settled, organizing pictures, cleaning off the laptop, adoption paperwork, school prep, scrapbooking, grocery shopping, sleeping, purging the house, thank you notes, etc. Tonight, after a long bedtime battle, I was going back and putting blogs in where they belong according to date but sometimes I wonder if that will give the impression to my kiddos that I really had it all together. I'm here to tell you, I don't!!! Juggling it all and being a person who doesn't like saying "no", it makes me look forward to having more of a routine to our days come fall time (not that I'm looking forward to Claire being in school). I'm feeling the need to really embrace stillness and quiet.

Babies, I LOVE being a mom - there's nothing more I'd rather do - but it's hard. My total reliance needs to be on my God and Savior and not myself. If there is one thing I want to teach you, it is to hand it over to Him daily. It's ok for life to be overwhelming at times because in our weakness HE is our strength and that's when we really can practice our utter dependence on Him. Off to sleep...

Happy birthday Neil!

2011-07-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my one and only, my best friend, my groom, the love of my life!!
We love to take every opportunity to celebrate so we headed out to La Tuna Grill and oh my goodness was it good!! Neil had been before and always wanted to share it with me so we went and already can't wait to take someone there! Super casual, super yummy!
We were supposed to go to a movie but at the end of dinner Neil said "Let's do something different!" - there's just something about spontaneity that I love so we ran with it. We stopped in to see my brother at his place downtown to check out the work he's been doing on his patio and some recent art projects.
On the way to Billy's place we passed an outside bar called The Friendly Spot so we went back to check it out. Another place we can't wait to take someone else to - outside bar, kids playground, yummy sangria, full menu, everyone brings their dogs - had an Austin feel to it and can't wait to go back!

We were back to my parents to pick up the girls around 9:30 just as they were watching Winnie-the-Pooh. Thanks mom and dad for helping us get out to celebrate Neil's birthday!!

Congrats Kate and Tracy!!

2011-07-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Kate and Tracy's wedding day and what a beautiful ceremony and reception at Scenic Loop Cafe!! Claire was so excited to help by passing out bubbles to the guests. It was a wonderful, intimate day to celebrate the union of two families! Can't believe Kate and I've been best friends for 21 years. There's not much we haven't been through together.

Me with the beautiful bride!
Kristi, Kate, Karla and Me

Mr. & Mrs. Rickman

The girls (minus Eden) - Abbey, Emma, Lydia and Claire

Grandma and Grandpa with the girls

Congrats Kate and Tracy!! Praying for God's blessing on your new marriage and family!!

Big girl bed & Sharing a room

2011-07-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

Monday was the big day - the start of "Operation Share a Room"! The girls have been so excited to share a room since we started talking about it 6-7 months ago. With Claire on the brink of starting school and Eden potty trained the past 3-4 months and needs to be able to get to the bathroom, we are trying to spread out the transitions as much as possible. So far, it's going...ok... could be better, could be worse but hey!! Everyone would need adjustment time to a big bed and sharing a room. The girls have some different sleeping habits so that has been a challenge. Eden is a singer and loves to sing herself to sleep - loudly - and Claire can lay there silently till she falls asleep. Eden is also learning that she no longer needs someone to help her out of bed so she's all about not staying in it *sigh* To say the least, it's gotten better and easier each night although we are all a wee bit more tired around here this week. Praying things are ironed out before August 22nd for Claire's first day of school!

Monday morning we got started with rearranging and getting a few new things that were needed. We got Eden's mattress and then the girls went with me to pick out a new rug (pink of course) and new sheets for their beds (we only had one set of twin sheets). A huge thank you to Dianna, Kay and Maddie who gave us the cutest comforter for Eden's new bed!

We also got to organizing! With sharing a room comes less space so we needed a plan for all the "stuff" and toys. Still a work in process as we make room in the closet and dresser drawers. If you have any tips let me know!

I remember sharing a room with my brother and older sister at different times and I loved it. It was a learning process but I think a great experience for us to share our stuff, learn about privacy, give and take, etc. We are waiting to sell Claire's bed so we can buy bunk beds for the girls and that will be another time of excitement! Claire keeps saying "Sorry Eden, I get to be on the top because I'm older" =) Eden couldn't care less right now but I know she'll be wanting to hang out up there!!

Reunion

2011-07-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

The old high school gang got together and it was almost surreal to see us all there watching our kids play together. Karla was in town from Kentucky and Christina in from Houston. Most of us have known each other since we were in middle school and some even younger elementary. Those of us who could, met at Kate's during the day and then it was off for a GNO in the evening to celebrate Kate's upcoming wedding!

Here we are with all 11 kiddos =) Christina (and Manny) with Dimitri and Valentina, Karla (and Mike) with Evelyn and Kaitlyn, Beth with Lucy, Me with Eden and Claire, Crystal with Julia in-utero, Aubrey (and Andy) with Lyla, Jenny with Lily and Ali, Kate with Abbey
Just the kids!

That night the girls went to Carinos - can't believe it's been so long since we've been together!! Danielle made it from Austin, Christina, Me, Crystal, Aubrey, Beth, Marie, Erin, Karla, Kate and Jenny!
Danielle and Christina
Marie, Beth and Crystal
Jenny and Aubrey
Erin, Karla and the bride-to-be, Kate
Me, Crystal and Danielle

Kate and Karla saying hello to Julia!!

What a fun night! We are blessed to have friendships that even though we don't see each other all the time, we can pick up where we left off. We've been through a lot together!

Turning 31

2011-07-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't feel old until I went to the movies (yes, we actually went to see a movie - "Larry Crowne" - just us two) and I saw a movie preview with George Clooney and then I saw Tom Hanks... what happened to those guys?! Anyone remember "ER" and "BIG"? I guess you're supposed to look older as the years go by but they certainly made me feel MUCH older =) I've learned with years, we have experience which gives us wisdom and we are blessed with each day we have with our loved ones here on earth.

Neil and I not only went to the movies but had a real date night with dinner too! My favorite, Italian! Neil always knows what I like for my celebrations... a big bowl of pasta =) We went to Carrabbas which always makes us reminisce about a double date we went on there once loooooong ago although we weren't on it together (circa 1998 maybe?) =) Can you believe we both remember what table we all four sat at? HA!! Must write at another time about the three double dates we went on with all different people while never being each other's date. Kind of funny!! Our date night was Thursday so my actual birthday on Friday started with sleeping in (THANK YOU NEIL!!), breakfast in bed with homemade cards and poems, a spa morning with the girls (gave them a bath, did their hair and nails!) and then it was off to see the new "Winnie the Pooh" movie. The girls had been looking forward to celebrating mommy's bday like this for a looooong time... boy have bday celebrations changed for us!! Wouldn't have it any other way - we had a blast! It was Eden's first movie and she really loves Pooh right now so she loved it. My mom came and all five of us enjoyed while eating a bucket of popcorn bigger than Eden's head!! Here are my sweethearts all dressed to coordinate thanks to my mom and a HUGE sale =)
Eden mesmerized by the big screen!
Thanks mom for coming with us!!
sweet sisters (and "Brownish" the puppy)
"Pooh" was a big part of my childhood - only wish Billy could've been there too as we shared a lot of memories with the original movie. After the movie it was off to dinner at my mom and dad's. Billy came over and Mike and Heather brought Pierce in from Austin. A yummy dinner and the next morning a swim with everyone before they had to head back to A-town. What a wonderful way to celebrate!! And that wasn't it =) Sat. evening it was off to Neil's parents to celebrate my bday along with Shannon and Neil's bdays - we always do a group thing since we all have birthdays close together! What an amazing birthday weekend!! Thank you to everyone who made it so special!

July Number

2011-07-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

I can hardly BELIEVE that our July number is...

And the same time we checked email to get that number there was an announcement of another referral so we are now sitting at unofficially #23!! We are elated and so encouraged by the number of referrals that went out this past week. It's amazing how much it continues to move when we were all so worried about everything drasticly slowing down. So far our agency hasn't seen that and they are still quoting us 18 months for our waitlist time. We have been on the waitlist for 9 months and 3 weeks.
The courts close in Ethiopia starting at the beginning of August for 2 months for the rainy season. We don't know the exact dates until it happens. Closing court doesn't neccessarily slow down referral movement since Hannah's Hope (our agency's transitional home) isn't to capacity right now. It will slow down the process for those waiting to travel for their first trip for their court date. We will see how it affects our wait time. Please pray for it not to slow things down too much.

People ask us how we're doing and right now we are doing fine. We really feel at peace with our wait right now but ask me next week and I may have a different story for you =) It's a little emotional at times but we are truly trying to savor this time to prepare for our little guy. Honestly, it's amazing how at peace we are most of the time and the only explaination for that is God. He has given us so much through this process and we are amazed at how much He continues to confirm His plan for our family.

The girls are getting more and more excited as we move down on the list and move them into the same room. They pray and talk about "baby brother" all.the.time. It's so sweet and right now that might even be one of the hardest parts - them not understanding and anticipating this brother we've been praying about for as long as they can remember.

Diner Delights & Dive-in Movie

2011-06-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have been incredibly blessed by many in our church family through our adoption process. The heartfelt support, prayers, inquiries, donations... God has truly moved people's hearts to be PART of our journey and not just spectators. We are so humbled.

The latest endeavor came from Karen and Rob Anderson who asked if they could host and prepare a gourmet dinner with a fun twist for a fundraiser. The evening included 5 couples (in addition to us) eating a 5 course meal and then watching "Blind Side" outside while swimming. They got the college age bible class involved to help with decorating, serving and babysitting. Did I mention babysitting?! What could get better than that?!

A huge thank you to everyone who came to enjoy the evening - The Craftons, Gibbins, Richardsons, Kneibs and Schraeders. Also a HUGE thank you to those who helped put this together - Rob and Karen (chef) Anderson, Mark Dye (sous chef), Marissa Anderson, Taylor Tucker, John Banton, Meghin Morris, Tyler Allen, Kiersten Ramey, Ranae Jenkins, Karen Gordon-Cummings, John and there's one more babysitter I can't think of! If I missed anyone I'm sorry! Here are a few pics of the fun:

The Craftons, Kneibs, Gibbins, Richardsons and Schraeders - thank you for sharing this evening and supporting us in so many ways - not just financially but with your friendship, prayers and genuine hearts for our journey!
Shelly and Craig Schraeder
Tara and Dan Richardson
Troy and Lauren Gibbins (we watched the movie on the screen behind Troy)

Stacia and Stefan Crafton - thank you to Stacia for most of the food pics and the group pic! Stacia and Stefan are also adopting from Ethiopia and we are ELATED to be attending the same congregation as another family who is going through what we are going through. They are in the paperwork phase. Praying there will be more joining us - not just from Ethiopia but adoption from anywhere they are led!

Allison and Greg Kneib

The tables were beautifully decorated!

Each table was set for two couples so after each course we switched tables so we could visit with everyone there. Isn't that fun?!

1st course - play off of diner favorite of grilled cheese with soup - garlic buttered bread grilled with fontina cheese and prosciutto served with tomato basil soup
2nd course - a play off the diner favorite of burger and fries - amazing slider topped with crab meat, cheese, avocado on a sweet roll served with roasted rosemary sweet potatoes
3rd course - Sorbet with a wine reduction sauce - a palate cleanser =)
4th course - a play off of the diner favorite Tuna Melt and coleslaw - amazing marinaded tuna on a fish shaped pastry with jicama coleslaw (cabbage, red pepper and cabbage) - This was my favorite!
5th course - Troy Gibbins made this AMAZING chocolate mousse for dessert
Neil and I on cloud nine - humbled by everything that had gone into making the night special for our family!

Taylor and Tyler - some of our wonderful servers!
My prince =) Karen - the chef - in the background - didn't get a picture of her =(

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! Such a fun evening and the girls were ready to party when we picked them up at 10:45 p.m. They had a great time with all the other 7 kiddos!

Family Time

2011-06-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Had a special gathering for my dad Father's Day weekend - what a joy it is to have us all together! We missed Billy but everyone else was able to make it. This isn't the best picture but it was the only group shot we got!
The best three dads!!
Isn't this the cutest?

Aunt Jenny with the three little ones!

Just can't get enough of this family time!

8 year Anniversary

2011-06-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

8 years of marriage... only 12 more before we get on the big screen at church!! Woo hoo!! Every month at church we celebrate the couples who have been married 20+ years and I just love seeing the old wedding pictures of couples. It's so fun to see how young people look, what the style was and how much has changed. What an awesome way to celebrate marriages when sadly 8 years is a long time these days. As many of those couples would say (including us at 8 years), it's not always easy but life just wouldn't be the same without your "helper", friend and lover. How I want to be thankful for EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. that Neil and I have together.

Here we are on that wonderful day!!

And here we are 8 years later on our way to dinner!!
The girls stayed a couple hours with my parents so we could go out to dinner (Zio's) and get some coffee. Amazing what a big deal that can be. I do remember our first two and a half years together when going out was no big deal. We could go and do whatever we want, whenever we want!! Looking back, it wasn't like we were dating at all but NOW... now we have to plan, look forward to and anticipate our dates which makes dating more exciting than ever! We might even put some perfume and cologne on =)

Some time this summer we will use our amazing groupon we got to a cute little place out in Castroville for a night away!! Can't WAIT for us to be able to celebrate again!! (btw, we are unofficially #28 on the waitlist!)

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

To the most wonderful father and husband! Our girls are so blessed to be given such an amazing example of God's love and how they should be loved and cherished!

Remember when...

2011-06-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

If you know us, you know that Neil and I are very nostalgic people. Thank God He brought us together or we'd be driving someone else crazy with "remember when..." and our shoe boxes full of notes from people =) We like to remember when things happened to us, what we were doing, what we were wearing, where we went, what we ate... you get the picture. Well, we're at it again! Tonight we talked about the significance of this time of year. As June rolls around, we remember a lot that has happened to us as a couple so come with me down memory lane if you'd like to learn a little more about us!

Today, 6 years ago on June 16th 2005, we closed on our house and moved in! We just can't believe we've been in our home for 6 years and what an amazing place of memories for us. The most significant being bringing Claire and Eden home and having their first memories here - first steps, sleepless nights, playing in the back, learning the three stairs and so on. The best thing about having a home is watching our family grow as we now anticipate bringing our son here for his first memories too. I know we won't be in this home forever but I dread the day we decide to move. There's just something about your first house that you we will always cherish.

In June 2004, 7 years ago, Neil was diagnosed with skin cancer, melanoma. He was only 27. Talk about scary as we were celebrating our first year of marriage. It was on his face and the dr.'s were so surprised by the results that they retested the sample a couple of times before calling us to come in (3 weeks later so we were pretty much shocked and a little irritated). That was a day we will never forget along with the day we actually had to go into the office so they could personally tell us "you have skin cancer". We had just gotten the news, went to Ruthie's for breakfast and Neil got the call for an interview for a full time teaching position. We didn't know how to feel - one minute you're so low and the next you're up. Neil had mohs surgery and had to go back three times (all in one day) before the margins were clear. PRAISE HIM for allowing us to find it early enough that it hadn't grown deep and that his Mom noticed that the mole on his face had grown. We know there are others who weren't as blessed so we certainly thank Him for protecting Neil. Looking back we are amazed at how calm we were and how we just felt the peace of God's mighty hand working. (Once the surgery was completed, we were off to China to teach for three weeks. That's a whole other post in itself!)

March 2004 before surgery

After surgery

PLEASE watch this video that's been floating around facebook. SO powerful and reminds us we need to be careful with the sun and take care of our skin. Melanoma is growing in numbers you wouldn't believe. Pass it along to anyone you think needs to hear it!

And finally, June 21st we will be celebrating 8 years of marriage. The best 8 years of my life. Not that it's all been roses but I wouldn't want to go through the peaks and valleys with anyone else by my side. My best friend. I'll be writing more when that special day comes =)

On our honeymoon cruise

July is full of birthday celebrations for both Neil and I and we love any reason to celebrate. I know some people who don't do anything for anniversaries and birthdays but not us!! Even if it's just an ice cream date or sitting at the coffee shop, we take these times to truly celebrate what we have EVERYDAY!

July 2006 with 4 month old Claire

OK enough reminiscing but wanted the write about things before blog world happened!

Official June Number

2011-06-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yup - you read that right - 30. Not the number we were expecting when we were having a party over here about two weeks ago when we unofficially entered the 20's. Anything can happen! Some of you are asking what? how? Well, there were some families on the girl and sibling lists who opened their parameters to the boys list. When that happens families are placed on the waitlist according to paperwork date so if they had their dossier in before us, their placement affects our waitlist number. Although hearing we are higher than we thought, we praise God He is opening others hearts to more children!

The latest we've heard from our agency is that although the MOWA is said to be only preparing 5 letters a day, they aren't seeing the affects of it yet. The families who have gone to court since the March 8th change in policy with MOWA have continued to pass court at the same rate (this is where the delay would happen). AGCI has been amazing with communicating with us and encouraging us to wait to see how this policy is changing the timelines before we estimate or even jump to conclusions. They have really helped put our minds and hearts at ease with the continued talk of things slowing down.

New Hair-Do

2011-06-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Claire's been asking for a few weeks now for a short hair cut "like Leyna" so we took the plunge! It looks super cute but in our eyes, aged her greatly... she just looks like such a big girl now. The first thing she said to me after she got it cut was "Mom, my other hair was so hot" so I think this will be great for our 100 degree weather.

This whole event brought on good conversations about how God has made us special the way we are and we don't need to try and be like others. Such a hard thing to teach because it's a fine line - it's ok to like someone else's hair but I just don't want her to be so easily influenced and for it to lead to wanting what others have. To be happy with YOU and be content. And on the other hand it also gave me an opportunity to teach her that it's just hair, it grows back and what's most important is our heart... not our cute haircut! Amazing how something so simple can turn into so many different life and heart lessons.

Catching up

2011-06-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

What we've been up to the past three weeks...

Hanging with Bruce Bowen (former Spurs) at the Arms of Hope dinner! Well, maybe not hanging out but got to hear him speak as well as some incredible kids and women who have been blessed by Arms of Hope. Thanks to Josh for the free tickets! Excited to use our family fun day package we won at the silent auction =)
Hanging out with the fam! Mike, Heather, Pierce and Jenny came into town in mid-May so we got together for dinner. Love these moments...

Claire captured this one
Claire's t-ball season ended and she finally got her trophy - the whole reason I think she wanted to play in the first place! I think going to Chuckie Cheese for the team party would've convinced her to play too =) She did well and enjoyed being part of a team. I think it was a great experience for her before she goes to school! Here she is with Coach Joel:
Claire and Victoria - these trophy's set a pretty high standard
The whole team
One of the daily to-do's around here has been to stay cool! Memorial Day we went to a graduation party and got to swim. We've also taken some time in the sprinklers while hand watering the grass. It's only going to get hotter =( The only down side to living in San Antonio (well, the Texas education budget cuts too). Here is Claire sporting her new hair wrap that I put in for the swim party. She loved it even though she had to stay still for almost 40 minutes!
Daddy and his girls getting lathered in sun screen!!

Looking forward to a fun filled summer!! I'm only teaching 2 kids this summer and keeping it really low key. Can't wait to live it up with my girls especially with Neil having Fridays off =)

Eden's 2 and a half!

2011-05-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week our baby turned 2.5!! She has changed so much – especially the past three months as she is turning into such a big girl. Eden’s sweet spirit and strong will keeps us on our toes!! She has such a complex personality! I’ve had this conversation with a few people as we say “You can’t just describe her in two or three words” like a lot of other kids her age. I’m still trying to figure her out sometimes but I do know that she is just the way God made her: empathetic (concerned with anyone upset or crying), an observer, gentle spirit, class clown goof (always trying to make someone laugh), stubborn with a capital S, determined to accomplish things herself (doesn’t easily give up), creative and imaginative, nurturing,

Now for things she really loves and is into! She still gravitates towards a lot of typical boy interests such as trains (especially a train book we got a few weeks ago!), building blocks, roly pollies, turtles & balls. Not sure how much of her love for dolls and kitchen play is her or because Claire has instilled that in her. She certainly has the nurturing, mothering side with her dolls! She continues to love animals of all kind and playing outside. About 4 months ago she mastered climbing the rock wall at the playground in seconds flat which amazed me! Everyone always asks me "how old is she?" I have to really keep an eye on her =) If she isn't on a slide, she's scaling the wall. Eden also continues her innate love and skill for music. She has been able to keep a steady beat for months and match pitch since I can remember - I often find her playing the piano!

Here are a few pics of our sweetheart!

"Share-you-go" - this is what Eden says if she wants t o give you something and it's SO cute! Neil and I LOVE this and will be so sad when she stops. Ever since she could talk she would say "share" if she wanted you to take something from her (her cup, plate, toy, etc.) It slowly turned into "share-you-go" which comes out sounding like one word. Here she is sharing her cupcake with Daddy - two of her loves!

Eden is still trying to grasp the idea of our adoption as she continues to wonder where the baby is in my body =) She has still lovingly patted my chest asking "baby?" but the past three weeks when I've asked her "Does mommy have a baby in her tummy?" She will say "no" and I will explain as best as I can in her words. Two weeks ago she prayed for baby brother in her night time prayer when thanking God for everyone and when asked the question again about me having a baby in my tummy she said "no, Birth mom" - pretty much brought tears to my eyes to see her starting to get it the best her little 2.5 year old mind can.
Loving the water these days but will cling to us in the pool! Will be doing lessons in the fall =)

One of our biggest milestones the past three months was potty training!! After her time with the stomach bug was over about a month ago, she has been completely out of diapers both nap and night time. This blows me away because although Claire was potty trained at this age, she was never dry at night so she was in diapers for a very long time. I think I hindered her a bit in that area so as soon as Eden was dry twice (we watch her evening liquid intake closely), it was bye bye diapers!! We went straight to panties which worked for both girls but she was pretty self motivated and for the first three weeks of trying the potty she was motivated by chocolate chips! I'm so blessed that she didn't make it into a power struggle because that's what I anticipated. I think because I took it so layed back with her and took HER lead, she felt like she was in control and it was never something I was making her do. I don't know - just glad she's done and we can now work on moving her into a big girl bed =)

I'm going to sound like a broken record but here it goes again - time is FLYING by and although she will always be my baby, she's moving on and growing up too fast!

Maw Maw

2011-05-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

What a sweet, sweet visit we had with Maw Maw, Neil's grandma, in Kerrville last week! Lunch at the usual mexican restaurant and some nice time down by the river. The girls fed the ducks, read books with Maw Maw and even surprised her with a "picnic" with their pretend food and plates. Maw Maw made some yummy freezer oatmeal cookies. It was just what memories are made of.

God's Provision and a lot to celebrate!!

2011-05-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on posting some fun things we've done the past two weeks but wanted to quickly and temporarily post about our 6th and hopefully final HUGE garage sale we had today. (I don't keep fundraising posts up for any length of time so in case our blog gets searched by Ethiopian govt. Better safe than sorry!! I don't want to set my blog to private) We haven't done one since November so although a little rusty, it seems like we've become garage saling pros =) Of course we couldn't do it without all the wonderful people who continue to call us and ask if they can bring stuff over! We accumulated a bunch the past few months and are just so thankful for God bringing stuff to our door! We also couldn't do it with our amazing parents who helped with the girls and for my parents who come sit in the 100 degree weather to help us sell just one more thing. We are SO blessed!

It was a late every night getting it all sorted and priced since everything we were selling was new to us. Over all God blessed us with $982 and we are still working on selling a mattress set that will hopefully knock us over $1,000! All funds raised will go directly to our adoption expenses (right now it's helping us pay for our second trip)I know I say this every time but isn't that amazing? Who ever heard of such a crazy thing? Well God keeps showing up and as it's "God's will, God's bill" He is choosing to pay it with garage sales (and marathons!!) and blessing us through our efforts. I feel like we truly have it down to a bit of a science and it's prompted me to later write a post on garage sale tips. We put a TON of time into it and although exhausting, so worth it!! Just like most things - you get what you put into it.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us!! Something else to celebrate is we are in the 20's!!! We are now unofficially sitting at #29 which seems a little unreal!!

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where does the time go? Neil and I laughed the other day when we realized that all those parents who told us that time would fly when you have kids were right!! And it's seemed to have sped up exponentially since Eden entered our lives.

Our baby is now 5 and we celebrated her preschool graduation today! What a fun program the school put on with all the kids and then each graduate got called in their cap and gown to get their certificate and bible from Mr. David. They also took the time to do a slide show with every child's name and picture. I can't tell you enough how amazing this MDO program is. They truly make the kids feel so loved and special!

Here is a video of Claire being called up front

Untitled from Kathryn Lewis on Vimeo.

We took a ton of video of the songs that Claire and Eden's classes performed for my parents who were out of state visiting my grandma and aunts. So cute and they looked like they had a great time! Here is the graduate!
Such a proud mommy! These roses came from a garden that I was taking care of at the time and she just loved them.
Daddy and his girl

Claire with her wonderful teacher, Ms. Claudia!

Eden on the run =) She was there enjoying all the music!

The graduate with Mimi and Poppa! So glad they could make it to celebrate with us!

Claire chose to go to "I-Pop" for breakfast afterwards as a celebratory treat! What a glorious day to see our sweetheart continue to grow, learn and become all that God has intended for her to be at 5. She is an amazing little girl - yes, she knows all she needs to know to move onto kinder. Her letters, colors, numbers, rhymes, opposites, etc. But that's really not important in the long run. She would learn it eventually anyway. Most importantly, she has a heart of gold - always looking out for others. Who Claire is and is becoming as a young lady just blows me away and in so many ways, well beyond her years. Her character is what is most important as she soon embarks on a whole new world going to school everyday with all kinds of different people. Can't wait to see what all He has in store for her as she continues to grow and seek Him.

We are so proud of you, Claire!!

May number

2011-05-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Got our official number today! (as of 5/23, we are #30!) It was one less than we thought it was so that was a pleasant surprise! We were 34 in April so although slow movement, there IS movement. This is always encouraging as we have now been on the wait list for 7.5 months (in process for a little over 14 months). Our caseworker sent us an email with our number along with the news that they are now estimating wait list time as 18 months. This is not what they currently have seen (the last referrals were at 11 and 10 months) but what they are estimating with the slow down and more detail and time taken on paperwork/investigations to make sure the children are truly orphans. The MOWA is being much more careful with each child's case to make sure nothing unethical is taking place. The US Embassy in Ethiopia has also been taking a little more time on a case to case basis.

We continue to trust God's timing for our family. Meanwhile we are working on big transitions in our house to get ready for the big transition of traveling and bringing brother home - potty training (Eden has completed this one - even naps and nighttime!! No more diapers!!), moving the girls into the same room, Claire starting kindergarten in late August, Eden and I having some one-on-one time we've never had before, working on the baby's room. We are also continuing to read as much as possible on adoption and Ethiopia - I'm close to cooking my first Ethiopian dish! We are staying busy and anticipating a really great, fun summer together. Savoring each moment we have together.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

The moment I found out I was pregnant with Claire 5 1/2 years ago, I became a mom and my life was forever changed. Then she was born and my life REALLY changed!! 2 1/2 years later along came Eden and our world was turned upside down once (again!). These two girls are the light of my life and I yearn for my little guy who will again, create a new normal for us. I don't have the eloquent words to describe this feeling I have for him already and I don't even know his face or name yet. I PRAY he is home by next Mother's Day so I can spend it with my three little ones. As always, I also continue to pray for our sweet ones birth mother as I can only imagine what she is and will be going through by having to say goodbye to her baby boy. Just breaks my heart.

Although being a mom is accompanied by tough days, the past 5 1/2 years have been one of the most molding, eye opening, humbling, and amazing experiences that has ever happened to me. It is the most rewarding job I am honored to hold as God has entrusted me to mold their little lives to be His servants and live for Him alone!
This year was so fun as Claire really understood what we were celebrating and she took so much initiative starting a week in advance! She wanted to check out a fingerprint art book from the library to make me a card and she made me this all by herself (Neil did the writing!) These two are of a cat and a beaver.
Here is a bee, spider and lion
And this one is a caterpillar, flower, turtle, girl with long hair, a pirate, a frog and three little people at the bottom (maybe a bunny? =) She is such a craft lover!

The girls made these great gifts at MDO for me with their pics inside shoes they have outgrown. On the leaves it says "Plant in a loving family, sprinkle with kisses, bathe in the light of the Lord" How cute is that?

And this is my favorite =) Claire made this and told the teacher what to write about me! She was more than excited to show me her drawing of her and I on the front.

And this page just about made me cry. So wonderful to hear her "say" that I like to play and that my wish would be to have baby brother! What a sweetheart! And yes, my favorite food is pizza - I could eat it everyday =)

So this mother's day was wonderful as the kids are getting a little older and showering me with extra love and kisses. I got breakfast in bed, pizza for lunch, a nice long nap, a visit to Neil's mom (my mom was out of town) and throw up all over me after dinner!! Eden started her 4 day stomach bug that evening which just reminded me why I celebrate mother's day in the first place... to take care of my babies and that no mother truly gets a day off!

Kindergarten Round Up

2011-04-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this day has come - kindergarten roundup!! Claire was beyond excited while I was a little apprehensive and skeptical. So much so that I didn't even register her. It's my baby. I can't let her go to school everyday and be with other people more than she'll be with me!!
Moving on... did I mention Claire was BEYOND excited!! She couldn't wait to see the school, meet her teacher (which she was disappointed when I told her she wouldn't be doing this) and she was really excited to see her friend Layla. Layla and Claire have been in the same class this year at MDO and we are hoping they will be again this year.

Here they are - two peas in a pod waiting for the school tour and eating their goodies from the lunch line! They were so giddy and cute holding hands through the hallways.

Claire is more than ready for school - academically and socially - but I am getting a huge dose of reality that time is flying by at lightening speed. Where has the time gone? I have four more months with her to primarily be with me and I want to make EVERY moment count!

A few things I want to remember:
- It was so surreal walking the same halls with my baby as I did when I was in 4th and 5th grade. How awesome to have her going to the same school as I did!
- As soon as we walked into the cafeteria, she met the principal and gave him the hardest and loudest high five I've heard in a long time. I think she took him by surprise =)
- When the nurse was introduced she leaned over to me and said "She looks like a good nurse!" So sweet
- We went through the lunch line for a milk and treat so they could see where and how they would buy their lunch. She looked at me worried when we got to the register and said "I don't think I'll have enough for my lunch" Poor thing thought she had to pay for it herself - I reassured her that mom and dad would be giving her money if she wasn't bringing her lunch. So glad she spoke up and wasn't worrying about that any longer!
- She is so excited about having a library at her school. She didn't say anything to me but a few days later told someone "And we have our OWN library at our school. Isn't that special?" So glad she loves books and loves to read. She can't wait to check them out "all by myself"

Easter Festivities!

2011-04-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Easter is one of my favorite times of year as we celebrate our risen Lord!! Although we celebrate this every day, I love the traditions our family has for this time of year: dying eggs, egg hunt with church family, Good Friday service at my parent's church, resurrection buns - yummy!, meals with family, Sunday morning service, resurrection eggs (we added this one this year), matching foo-foo dresses, egg hunt at Neil's parents with the cousins. There is nothing like the time we have with one another.

So here are A LOT of pictures to help us remember our celebration this year! I LOVE the age the girls are at right now. Just soaking up the bible, asking questions, giggling, sharing - I pray I never forget this time in our lives.

First thing we did was the annual Northside Egg Hunt! Always a great time!Here is Eden in her Easter dress looking sweet =) She's really started posing lately!

Our Claire Bear
Abbey and Claire - what a blessing it is to have Abbey and Claire growing up in church together!

Abbey, Leyna and Claire - this is one of my favorite pics of the day! My prayer for our girls is to have strong, Christian friends so they can encourage one another. Claire is blessed with these girlfriends at such a young age!
Neil and I with our little egg huntress =) Once she got over the roly poly that was in her bucket (she didn't want to crush him with her eggs) she was off to find her loot!

Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate with us!

Neil and Eden looking cute

Before Good Friday service, we had Billy over for dinner and we dyed eggs. This was something that Billy and I loved doing as kids so it was especially fun to have him there while doing it with the girls! The eggs got put into almost every cup so we had some very colorful eggs this year =)
Love this picture

Neil's Uncle John came into town for our dinner and egg hunt celebration with Neil's family. We hadn't seen him in awhile and Claire had a great time hanging out with him!
Cousin Egg Hunt!
Kyle and Justin getting eggs from the tree!
Claire checking out her candy and other goodies!
Maw Maw came too and Eden was in heaven sitting next to her at dinner!
Justin brought his lizard, Sarah and the girls LOVED holding her and letting her crawl all over them!! We might be a reptile family which I don't mind - we had an iguana, turtle and ball python when we were growing up. Here is a great pic of Justin holding her =)

Before bed we made resurrection buns so we could have them for breakfast! Super important to have the kids make them with me - we roll up marshmallows in crescent rolls, seal them up (like the tomb), sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon, bake and then when you take a bite on Easter morning, it's empty - just like the tomb!!

Empty resurrection buns Easter morning!! HE IS RISEN!!
Claire with her basket after church! So proud of her chocolate bunny and cross necklace from mom and dad - this basket was given to my mom for her first Easter so it's extra special!
Eden was in candy heaven!!
What a glorious day to celebrate!! Praying that our little guy will be home for next Easter!!

Baby fix

2011-04-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Austin to get our baby Pierce fix!! Neil hadn't met him yet and Claire has been asking me everyday when we would see him again =) I didn't mind holding him most of the day either!! We had a wonderful time and hoping we helped Heather out a little bit with Mike's first day back to work.

Claire wouldn't be more than a foot away from Pierce unless we insisted or he was in his bassinet. Look at that gaze!
Then it was Eden's turn to hold Pierce. She likes to call him "MY baby"
We were there for his first real bath and what a treat! The girls had so much fun watching over the counter. He wasn't too sure about it but as soon as Heather gave him her pinkie he was all set.
Look at those stretched out legs! So cute!
Neil got a chance to hold him too =)
Love this picture of the beautiful momma, her sweet boy and cousin Claire
Pearl was such a good girl! She and Eden were quite a pair!
Picking strawberries from the garden
Uncle Mike came home and the girls were all over him!
Silly!!
Mike took Claire out to help plant the carrot and cucumber seeds.
What a wonderful weekend to get to know the newest member of our family! I can't WAIT to have our little guy home to meet his cousin - I know these two will be good friends and probably get into some trouble =)

Fiesta Parade

2011-04-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

The annual Fiesta Battle of the Flowers parade was so much fun this year!! For the past three years we pack our cooler, grab our lawn chairs and find the greatest spots down by the Alamo in the plaza. Such a wonderful tradition that my mom and I have with the girls - it was Eden's first year and she did great once the parade actually started! Eden's favorites were the horses that she so desperately wanted to ride and the bands. Claire's was of course the Princesses on the floats. Already can't wait for next year!

Grandma with her girls - Eden eating all the watermelon until it was gone!
I took Eden on a little walk to pass the time as we waited for the parade to start. Here she is with the Alamo...

My Fiesta Princess We started in the shade but eventually had the sun right on us so we brought out the umbrellas. My mom was a trooper trying to help me keep those girls in the shade =) With Neil's melanoma 7 years ago (can't believe it's been that long) we are VERY careful with them in the sun. Eden was just hugging all over my mom's head and rubbing her hair - it was hilarious!
My mom has loved parades since she was a little girl and I remember her always wanting to go when I was growing up. I pretty much dreaded them and thought she was crazy. Well, now I understand =) We have such a fun time with the girls and it's one of my favorite traditions. One I hope the girls will hold onto for a long time!

Official April #

2011-04-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Our official April waitlist # is.....

Yipee!! That was 2 less than we thought we were - always a good surprise =) Things haven't seemed to slow down yet but we will feel it when all the kids at Hannah's Hope have referrals and everyone is waiting for court dates. No news on how the policy is really going into affect. We are just waiting and about to start heading up a garage sale, dog sitting, lawn watering and marathon/half marathon team gathering =) While we wait, I'm also reading a few books on adoption, finding international pediatricians, researching vaccinations and ready to start my ethiopian cooking! It'll be here before we know it (the power of positive thinking!)

Curly-Q

2011-04-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Eden sportin' her curly-q's and lollipop! Hard to believe she was sick this day playing hookey from school (again) after she got her school pics taken!

One Year

2011-04-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

One year ago today we officially started our adoption journey. It's hard to believe it's already been that long. This has been one of the most challenging, heart-transforming, eye-opening, faith-building experiences of our lives and this is just the beginning! I can't wait to see how God continues to reveal Himself in His plan for our family. Our son has already captured our hearts and we don't even know who he is yet. But God knows and He is preparing us for this blessing that will come into our lives hopefully within the next year. We've been on the waitlist for a little over 6 months now and dream of the day we will get "the call", hear his name and see his precious face for the very first time!

Harrison Pierce Walvoord

2011-04-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Harrison Pierce is here!!

March 31st at 10:20 p.m. at 7 lbs. 6 oz. 20 inches We waited for him to make his appearance all day and thought he might be an April Fool's baby! I drove up to Austin with the girls on the 1st to meet him. He was only about 14 hours old! The girls were more than excited - Eden was a little cautious at first but soon warmed up and couldn't wait to love all over him! Mike holding Pierce with his cousins! First picture of all three together Claire didn't want to get too far away from him =) She wanted to love on him a little too much at times! The proud mommy with her love - Congrats Heather!! These videos are priceless of the girls comforting and "petting" Pierce's head. I think it's safe to say they are in love!

Untitled from Kathryn Lewis on Vimeo.

I'm in love too! As we were leaving the hospital Claire was very concerned about when we would see Pierce again and wanted to make sure he would still be small =) She also asked me why his poop looked like chocolate pudding!! HA!! I laughed so hard at that one. One more thing I wanted to remember was her concern over Pierce going home and Pearl barking loud enough to wake him. She's looking out for him =) Before heading back to SA my parents went with us to the Ethiopian restaurant Aster's right off 35 in Austin. We've been there once before and it was my parent's first experience with Ethiopian food. They were more than willing to try which made me SUPER happy and excited to share this with them. Silly shot! May not look yummy but it is awesome!! Such a unique flavor and one I'm excited to start trying out in our kitchen. I bought berbere which is an Ethiopian spice and will be trying it out very soon. Now I just need to get the teff flour to make the injera (the flat, spongy "bread" they eat everything with - literally - no utensils!) A huge thanks to my parents who stuck around after I realized I locked my keys in my car =( I'm so glad they were there with us! The girls were amazing!

Go Philies!!

2011-04-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Oh T-ball season!! It's our first shot of having our Saturdays dictated by game time but so far so good! About 3 months ago Claire asked me if she could play and I wasn't too sure how she would like it but she really does! Even though she got hit in the ribs (pretty hard!) at the first practice and hit in the face at her first game (she did say she didn't want to play tball anymore but 3 minutes later was willingly back on the field). She's learning a lot and I'm glad she's getting experience being on a team. Here are a few photos from the first practice and first game. Don't miss the video =) She runs the bases for the first time with all her might and doesn't touch a single one - it's hilarious! Claire with her team hat and pink/black mitt and cleats =) She SO wanted to have pink as one of her team colors so I told her that when you mix red and whi, you get pink! Next best thing! Claire is a great batter! She hits it the very first try and has really good form! First team circle - one, two, three...Go Philies! Watch this video for a good smile!

Untitled from Kathryn Lewis on Vimeo.

Some of the things I want to remember about her first practice: - The kids had no clue how to run the bases =) SO cute!! Then when they got to home one of the kids called it "house" - I asked Claire the morning of practice "Claire, what if you get to practice and there are only 2 girls and all the rest boys?" "That's ok" and then I asked "What if there are only 2 boys and all the rest girls?" A HUGE gasp and big eyes "THAT'D BE PERFECT!" (there are 5 girls and 6 boys so pretty even) - She was so excited to see that her teacher's daughter, Victoria, is on her team and I was excited to see Ms. Claudia there! The first game they played a team that seemed a little older and experienced but they all had fun! Love this picture of her waiting for her turn to bat Oh how they love snack time after the game! So glad the grandparents could come and support Claire! Thank you! Claire and Victoria