Happy New Year!

This past year has been full of amazing adventures and blessings for our family. Two trips to Ethiopia that changed our hearts forever, bringing home our precious baby girl, and seeing our kids go to school for the first time in 3 years are just a few of the changes we saw in our family. It's been a year that will be hard to top!

Can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of magical moments!

Enjoying our First Christmas with Sophia

Just before Thanksgiving Eliza said something that summed up what we were all anticipating this year.

"It's Sophia's first Christmas home! She's going to see our pretty tree, and open presents, and eat good food! It's going to be so fun!"

It's been fun seeing it all through Sophia's eyes and watching the other kids watch her reaction. I'm pretty sure she thought we were a little nuts when we brought a tree in the house. Not to mention the cold weather she endured to pick it out. Now she ventures over to the decorated tree and slowly puts out her finger when she thinks no one is looking.



We have an animated reindeer named Rhonda that plays music when someone makes a loud noise. I have never heard it go off as much as I have this year. Our sweet girl is so full of life and when she and Eliza get going--it is so entertaining! You should see them get out all of my Hallmark snowmen (I have around ten) and set them all off.



This year Emma & Faith were in the Nutcracker Ballet and their school Christmas play. It was so fun to watch them perform. Eliza was so very proud of her big sisters. She told them how beautiful they were with their stage makeup on and the look in her eyes was priceless. Sophia did great at the ballet. She watched the nutcracker so closely when he came to life. She was A LOT louder and animated at the play. The girl knows how to work a room!



God has blessed us so richly! It blows my mind to think what we would have missed if we had let our fears win out and had given up on bringing Eliza and Sophia home. The long wait for Eliza was hard and at times we wondered if God wanted us to keep waiting and last year, when we lost Savannah, we wondered if we should go back on the wait list for a baby. Every time doubt would creep in God would find a way to reassure us and He would use my stubborn streak to keep me going. I'm so glad He did. If you're reading this and you find yourself wondering and waiting, God will give you the grace you need. You can persevere and what He has waiting for you at the end of this trial is beautiful, priceless, a treasure worth waiting for.....

So Very Thankful....

It's been a year. A year since we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. A year since we went out sale shopping for our baby girl, Savannah. A year since we bought the bedding, the high chair, the car seat, and the toys. A year since our baby girl died in Africa before we could ever hold her, kiss her, or tell her we love her. It's strange to me that we sat down, ate a wonderful and filling meal, and all the while the child we were dreaming of and praying for was gone.

I'm sad for us, for the siblings who love her and wanted to know her, and I'm sad for her birth mother who gave up her precious daughter in the hopes of setting her free from poverty only to have her die in a Care Center. I couldn't stop thinking about it today. We sat down to eat another filling and plentiful meal and all I could think of was that somewhere in Africa, someones child is dying. MY CHILD died in Africa.

I watched Sophia chowing down on mashed potatoes in the high chair we bought thinking Savannah would use it and I'm thankful. Thankful for the chance to love Savannah, thankful for the hard times that brought Sophia home to us, and thankful for a God WHO NEVER LETS ME WALK THROUGH THE HURT ALONE.

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever." Psalm 30:11-12

Hearts Knitted Together

"Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself." 1 Samuel 18:1

God could have chosen to have us all go through life without the need of a kindred spirit to share our hearts with, but He didn't. He made us to need each other. He made us with a heart for fellowship.

Not long after we started the adoption process for Sophia God did something amazing. He brought some very special women into my life. At the time I had no idea the connection we would have or the connection our kids would have.

Throughout the wait we rejoiced together, cried together, and understood each other and the toughness of it all without even having to say a word. We prayed, we ate, we laughed, and we shared our hearts. Two of these sweet friends were in Ethiopia when we found out Savannah was gone. I cannot tell you how soothing it was to my heart to know they were so close to where she was.

During our time of sorrow, I had no idea that God was joining our sweet Sophia's heart with her bestie, Davy. These two sweet girls have known each other since Davy was just a few days old. When we were in Ethiopia, visiting Sophia, we brought Davy a toy from her Momma. It was during this time that the nannies told us Sophia and Davy were best friends. The nannies were so excited to know that the girls would live so close to each other.

On my last birthday Davy's Momma gave me some yarn she had spun herself. A few weeks ago I finished a scarf I made with that yarn. The whole time I was working on it I could not help but think about how God knits hearts together. I love these women and I'm so thankful for God's knitting.

An Article Worth Reading.....

Just wanted to post a link to an interesting article.

The United States and UNICEF Wage War Against International Adoptions by Andrea Poe

Happy Harvest

We had a great time watching our kids dress up and "treasure hunt" this Halloween. It was adorable. Eliza had so much fun and could have gone all night. I'm not sure which was more fun for her, handing out candy or getting candy. There was only one kid who was in danger of not getting any candy at our door. He was dressed in a scary costume and right before Eliza was going to hand him a candy she says, "I don't like that one," and goes to put the candy back in our bowl. We made sure he got one before he left.

Here are some pictures from our night of fun and from carving pumpkins. Careful, some of them are so cute it hurts! :)