Strawberry Pickin'

We went strawberry picking......

Imaginations

"you want some cheese fries mama?"

Oh what a month!!

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind at our house!! We have been busy beavers!! It was about a month ago that David and I went to an adoption meeting with our agency. At that time we had not yet turned in our application and we weren't planning on turning it in until we got back from our big trip in May, and we were only thinking we would adopt one child. HA!!! After that meeting we felt the Lord's call to adopt two girls at once and we went ahead and turned in our application that weekend. Our thoughts were - we could at least get the ball rolling before our trip and we weren't planning to start our homestudy until after we got back. I say HA again - because next week we will have our final homestudy visit. (On top of all that we have been planning VBS and this trip!!) We have been busy!! God must have obviously had other plans in our adoption story and for that I am grateful. The Bible does say "the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."~Proverbs 16:9 And I am soooo thankful that is TRUE!! I cannot begin to share the excitement that fills our hearts!! There are soo many ways that the Lord has gone before us and the joy that comes from knowing He is in all the details is overwhelming. Why I would expect any less of our great God is shameful of me - like Paul I do the very thing I do not want to do. So after next weeks visit - we will go and relax on what will likely be our last big trip alone just the two of us for awhile- Italy here we come -thanks to CFA! When we come home we will begin the rest of the "paper chasing" to have our paperwork sent to China. We will certainly keep you posted!! Much love to you all!

~LeighAnn

You won't believe your eyes

He finally touched an animal and wasn't afraid!!! This is a huge victory!!

Brotherly Love

So (there's that word again..) the other night at dinner Ethan was being a bit of a pill. This is not unusual in the evening. I then said "what are we going to do with Ebear?" Then I made the joke that we might have to put him in the garbage and of course we all giggled and said no!!! Then here are Nathan's exact words very matter of fact ....."Besides the social worker has to meet him on Friday." This cracked me up!! We have our homestudy visit here at the house on Friday. I guess in Nathan's mind we at least need to keep Ethan until then :-) Ethan these days is affectionately calling himself the baby and letting us know that he is still the baby around here. Not that we need reminding :-) We sure love that Ebear and we definitely won't put him in the garbage and he WILL be staying past Friday after all he is mama's baby :)!

Fan of the Game

Nathan was the "Fan of the GAME!!". Go Rome Braves. Shout out to Greg and Michelle Major. Thanks for the experience.

Awards Night

Awana awards night

Party Time

It's Birthday Party Day!!!! Watch out here come the Cowboys and Indians.

I'm moving to a ...

I've moved to a big boy bed. Thank you daddy for making my bed.

3+2= WOW!!!!

"So"........David says that that word is my most favorite in the English language and I use it ALL the time. This is true I do overuse it - he counts the word in my sentences :-). Needless to say I am definitely aware when I use it now - but I still use it. However I am digressing here so... (see) I just thought I would update you in the adoption process. I am super happy to report that we have turned in our paperwork and the process has officially begun. We turned in our paperwork via the internet very early Monday morning ie in my book it was late Sunday night :) We received our first phone call around 10 am on Monday and I think you could have felt our excitement across the world!! I just love the agency and the people we are working with!!

You might be wondering what the 3 + 2 has to do with anything or maybe you have it figured out - you know 3 + 2 = 5 - right??!!! What that means for us is 3 boys plus 2 girls = party of 5 kids in our house!! We have decided to request that we be allowed to adopt 2 girls at the same time!!!! We are not sure how this will all work out but we KNOW for certain that God does. I looked back at my previous post when I first told you all that we were considering adoption and that was in August of last year. That was 9 months ago. During those 9 months God has been molding our hearts to be more like him and preparing us for this journey that lies ahead. In God's graciousness I have been able to look back and see just how he was preparing us for His timing and not mine!!! So :-) there you have it - we are hoping to bring home 2 little girls and not just one.

Just in this week alone God has been all over the details (yes I have been writing them down) and why I should have expected any less is just lack of faith on my part. Needless to say I am most thankful for the cross and what it means for me personally. We look forward to the day when we have the opportunity to share with the girls what it means for them too. After all in John 14:18 Jesus says "I will not leave you as orphans..." Christ adopted us and now we want to follow in His example.

Nathans Birthday 04-05-2011

Seven years ago today I gave birth to this cutie. Happy 7th Birthday Nathan!!!