a wonderful life

Check out these shirts...

I love these shirts.

When we started our adoption process I came across several adoption blogs that I really enjoy reading. It has been so fun reading about her adoption journey. Then I found these shirts and well...fell in love with them...because it is my heart. I was excited to come across this really cool giveaway on her blog. Talk about a generous giveaway! So, I am blogging about it...because that way it gives me a chance to win. So go check it out and you can enter to win too! (This is a fundraiser for her 2nd adoption to bring her new daughter home.)
 

The countdown begins.

December 1st is an exciting day. It starts the countdown to Christmas. Only 24 days to go. I have several great reasons to celebrate, but one is...ALL of my Christmas shopping done. Woo hoo! 

My kids came home with paper chains today. I love the joy it brings them. It's such a fun time of year.

It was a busy day at our house. Lots on the to-do list. I still can't believe it's December. I think we are going to keep things simple this year. I just want to enjoy.each.day.

We started a new family tradition today..."Elf on the Shelf." Thanks to my mom (and sisters) for introducing this to me. The kids are already loving it.

We went and got our Christmas tree tonight. It was an easy decision. Probably the fastest we've ever picked out a tree. I like it. It's smaller than usual, but simple. It's so fun having a real tree in the house. The smell is amazing.  

I'm looking forward to the next 24 days and the many blessings each day will bring. I am so very thankful for the life God has given me. I'm feeling so very overwhelmed with His love right now!

Here's us. Our wonderful family. Next year we will have one more precious little girl in this picture.

Happy December.

I couldn't resist.

I made my first purchase for little miss Y. She needs a baby to cuddle with and this doll was just too cute and sweet to walk away from.

Y, she's right here at home waiting for you to come give her some love!
  

Referral & The Next Step.

I know I've said this before but, this adoption journey has definitely been the wildest ride I have ever been on.

I was hoping to journal consistently throughout this process, but when there is so much time just spent waiting, it feels like there is not much to say. My heart was yearning for Africa, but yet it felt so far away. I've had this deep heart's desire to go there and meet the ethiopian people, learn about their culture & way of life, meet new friends, and just love on them.....but I couldn't grasp the idea of how far in the future that day would be. I felt like anytime someone would ask me how things were going, all I could say was, we're still waiting. Not much to update. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE talking about adoption and the journey God has taken us on, but felt disappointed at times when my answer was always the same. WAITING is just a huge part of the process. God has shown me so much and I have learned so much about myself during our waiting. He does have a purpose for everything, sometimes I just don't have the patience or the understanding to fully accept it. At times emotions would get the best of me and I just needed His strength to endure. I know His timing is perfect. I wouldn't have my little girl if it weren't for His perfect timing. I would love to tell you more about her story and how she ended up where she is now, but honestly I don't have a lot of those answers yet. And with the answers I do have, I don't think now is the right time to share them. Hopefully in the future I will be able to share more of her story with you. She is amazing.

Our referral of Y (I'm not allowed to say her name on here, so I will just refer to her as Y) actually came on Friday, November 6th through an email. However, we were at Disneyworld at the time and I was not checking my email. Once we got to the airport to begin our trip back home, I made a phone call to Arise just to check in. They called me back and left me a message saying we had an email waiting for us at home. Of course, we were ecstatic, but trying not to get our hopes up. As soon as we walked in the door I ran to the computer. Yea! We did get our long-awaited referral which included a photo and a medical report. The medical report looked a little foreign to us and the picture was so small and pixelated that we couldn't even see what she looked like. We were so bummed since it was late at night and we would have to wait until the morning to talk with Susan. I sent an email requesting a new picture be sent in hopes that we would wake up to one in the morning. Sure enough, as Keith was walking out the door for work I opened my email and there it was. We were so excited and nervous to open it. When we saw her for the first time we both just looked at each other and said, "Ahhh!" We smiled really big and got a little teary eyed. We instantly knew she was ours. We wanted to adopt her. Keith left for work and I called Susan and the rest is history. No, not really. I have to say it was an easy decision though. The first easy decision we've made. We just knew. It felt right. God gave us the instant peace that we needed. We started calling all of our family to share the great news. Lots of tears of joy were cried and lots of smiles were happening. Our hearts overflowed.

Kiki, Jake, & Brady had already left for school when we got Y's picture so we had to wait until that evening to tell them. We wanted to make it really special. We sat them down and told them they are going to have A SISTER! They were so excited. After loving on her picture for a little while and praying for her, we took them to Red Robin to celebrate. We wanted to go to an Ethiopian restaurant, but we don't have one here in Boise. It seems that Red Robin is our place of celebration, so it just felt right to go there. We enjoyed dinner together and the kids even got balloon animals. What a fun and special night!

It was so cute then next morning when Kiki woke up. She came into our room and the first thing she said was, "I had a dream about my sister." It was about when Y saw us for the first time, the first word she said in english was "da da." It was so sweet. I love that my kids talk about her, think about her, and pray for her all the time. They are blessed to have each other.

Well, the next step in our journey has just begun. Now that we are on the other side of waiting for our referral, the waiting changes. We still have a long wait ahead of us before we can go to Ethiopia to pick Y up, but at least we know who our daughter is and we are so thankful for that.

The process from here goes a little something like this. First our paperwork will be matched with Y's paperwork. Next it will be sent to the local government for approval. Once it is approved there it will go to Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA). It will need approval there as well. Once we receive that approval it will be sent to the court in Addis Ababa (the capitol city) and we will wait to be assigned a court date. We will not go to Ethiopia for this court date. Someone else will be there to represent us. If we pass court, receiving their approval to adopt Y, finally we will travel about 6-8 weeks later to go get our daughter. We still have a long road ahead, but we are just praying that God will guide and things will go quickly and smoothly. There is really no way to tell what the time frame will be from here, but we are hoping we'll be able to travel sometime in the first part of next year. Please, please, please pray about this! 

Feeling so blessed and happy these days!

Excited to fully experience the miracle of adoption!

We got our REFERRAL!

After 1 year & 1 week.....372 days.....of waiting.....and waiting some more.....we found out.....

It's a GIRL!

.....an absolutely beautiful, precious little 3-4 year old girl.

We have a daughter.....in ETHIOPIA!

I have the sweetest picture of her.....that I cannot stop looking at. She is wearing a cute pink dress and sandals and has a bracelet on. Her hair is all shaved off. She has the cutest little features. She is so petite. Her eyes are a gorgeous chocolate brown. Her complexion is beautiful. She is just perfect.

She melts my heart. I am already so in love.

I can't wait to hold her in my arms and kiss those sweet lips.

We will soon be a family of SIX.

Wow.....2 sons & 2 daughters.

God is SO good and His timing IS perfect!

This is a very HAPPY week at our house. Praise God!

The Eye Accident.

(I wanted to get this journaled for my own records, plus share some more pictures.)

September 21st was a very scary night at our house. We were having a wonderful time with friends. Enjoying a BBQ, bonfire, & s'mores. The kids were playing outside and practicing their golf swing. Right before putting their clubs away, Brady went to pick up his whiffle ball and just as he looked up, his friend swung the club and hit a solid hard plastic ball smack on Brady's eyeball. He was only about 15ft. away. It was a total accident and a scary moment for us all.

Brady instantly started screaming and his iris filled with blood. The bottom part was solid red. We tried to calm him down, but he was in lots of pain. I knew it must have been pretty bad because he is a tough little kid and usually doesn't cry much when he gets hurt. Keith and I both remained pretty calm and decided to call our friend who is a pediatric surgeon. He suggested calling our eye doctor and taking him in right away. About an hour after the accident I met our eye doctor at his office. After he started examining Brady, I realized the seriousness of this. He could not see anything out of his eye. Poor little guy. I could tell he was embarrassed and scared. He didn't know what to think, but he was in such good spirits.

The optometrist started telling me how bad this could be. I called Keith and he immediately joined us at the office. We were definitely more concerned by this point. We just began to pray to ask God to heal our little guy.

We were sent home and ordered to have Brady on bed rest.....only if we could make sure he would abide by the rules. Oftentimes kids are hospitalized for this condition. He had to sleep elevated. Let's just say the first night was a very long night. None of us got much sleep. He slept in my arm in the recliner with Keith on the couch next to us. Keith set his alarm for every hour to wake up and make sure Brady was still elevated. He woke up at 3 am in lots of pain. A little motrin helped him to fall back asleep.

After returning from the eye doctor that night my mom suggested we take him to an ophthalmologist. In describing my eye doctor's response, I was made aware that there is a difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist. I had taken him to an optometrist. We called our friend back and he gave us a referral to a great doctor in town. We called first thing in the morning and they got us right in. She was wonderful. She was so loving and informative. She described to us the seriousness of this injury and what some of the long term effects could be. A detached retina, glaucoma, vision loss, cataract, etc. He was put on strict bed rest for 5 days. He was only supposed to get up to use the restroom. He started taking 4 different medications. I have to say, he was such a trooper. She was quite amazed at his response to all of this. 

The next several days consisted of lots of couch time with my boy. Games, movies, books, talking, resting, and lots of eye drops. We saw the doctor everyday that week.

I kept people updated on Facebook throughout the process. Here are my entries.....

Facebook entry on 9/21:

Please, please, please pray for Brady! He was hit in the eye with a ball tonight. We took him to the eye doctor right away, but he could not tell what the damage is because his eye is filled with blood right now. He will be rechecked in the morning. As of right now, he can't see out of his eye. Poor little guy. It hurts me so much to see my baby go through this. We are asking that God will completely heal him and we have the faith that He can do exactly that! Thank you so much for your prayers!

 

Facebook entry on 9/22:

We just saw the ophthalmologist this morning and she was great! Brady's eye injury is called a traumatic hyphema. It can be very serious so he is on strict bed rest for the next 5 days. He has to wear an eye shield at all times. The biggest concern right now is that his eye pressure is extremely high. Eye pressure above 30 is considered really high and his is at 48 (to give you an idea, his good eye is at 12). She was amazed at how tough Brady is. She couldn't believe he was just sitting there so still and calm. She said having eye pressure that high is extremely painful. That's my tough little guy for ya. He is on several eye drops for the inflammation, pressure, & to keep his eye dilated. He will be rechecked everyday over the next several days. She could not tell me any long term effects at this time because she could not see his retina due to the blood. She said basically it is a waiting game. However, his vision has increased since last night so that is good. She seemed very positive which helped this momma's heart. I appreciate all the comments, support, & prayers so much!!!

 

Facebook entry on 9/23:

Saw the doc again this a.m. His eye pressure made a huge improvement. It's down to 17! Thanks to the power of prayer. His vision also improved a little from yesterday. Yeah, such happy news. We're still hanging out on the couch the next few days, but that's ok. It's great bonding time. I love this little boy! Makes me so grateful for our family's health. We are so blessed. Thanks a ton for all the continued prayers!

 

Facebook entry on 9/24:

Had our morning visit to the doc. B's eye pressure is down to 10. She's amazed at how fast the pressure has come down. It is rare for that to happen. She thinks B is a such great patient. The staff always comments on how well he has tolerated all of this. I'm so proud of him. She said he's going to come out of this injury pretty darn good, as far as she can tell. His pupil looks round, which is good. Sometimes it can become distorted. His vision is getting better everyday. Praise God! As far as long term effects, she is pretty optimistic. He is down to only 1 eye medication instead of the 4 he started with. He is sleeping good at night and following the doctor's and his mama's orders. I want to thank everyone SO MUCH for the support you have given our family through this scary & difficult time. We are extremely grateful! Thank you for all the PRAYER, phone calls, comments, support, gifts (to keep my boy entertained), & love. We are so blessed with amazing family & friends. God has been so good to us. We have witnessed His hand of protection through it all. Thank you God! Sounds like Hungry, Hungry Hippos is calling my name.....only 3 more days on the couch. :)

 

Facebook entry on 9/28:

Brady got off bed rest yesterday & is back at school today! Yeah! His eye is almost completely healed. Saw the doc on Fri & she said everything looks great. She feels that his vision is going to be fully restored. Praise God!!! Thanks again for all the prayers.

 

We are extremely grateful to God for healing Brady. His presence was so evident during this entire process. We received so much love and support from our family and friends. This was definitely a learning experience. We are thankful for each moment in life that God has given us and the amazing ways He blesses us, even in the little things. He is good!

Here are some pictures taken over the course of the week:

These first few are a couple days after the accident. His eye is looking much better at this point. I had a hard time narrowing them down, so you get to see several.

Hanging out with momma on the couch.

Such personality.

A memory indeed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I love having kids.

They're so much fun.

Kiki was hollering at me downstairs to come look at her. I knew it was going to be a photo moment from the sound of her voice. I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs to find her like this.

Pure delight.

I think daddy put a few too many bubbles in the bath. Ha! She was lovin' it.
 

A little FALL around my house.

Holy cow, it's been forever since I've blogged. Lot's to catch up on!

While Keith & I were out of town, my mom (and dad) did a little fall decorating around my house. I absolutely LOVE it! My porch was a wonderful welcome home. It looks awesome. And my table display looks like it's straight out of the Pottery Barn catalog. I think my mom needs to go work for them. Just to brag on my mom for a minute...She really is an amazing decorator. The ideas she comes up with are so unique and fabulous. She just pulls things out of my seasonal cabinet in the garage and goes to work. The result is such a beautiful art. It makes my house so warm and cozy!

Here's some of her handy work.....

 

Amazing! Thank you mom. You make my heart happy.

My parents also took the kids to the pumpkin patch while they were here. They found some awesome pumpkins.....orange, white, red, & green. They each got a pumpkin to carve & a pumpkin to paint.

Here's the kids' artwork.....

 

So cute.

And.....I have to share this fabulous table that my mom made for me.

Here's the story behind it:

I saw a log side table this spring at Pottery Barn that I loved. Only it was $299. I don't think so. So after showing it to my mom, she got to thinking. One summer day while they were at the lake boating, she saw this huge log/tree trunk. She told the guys that she wanted to take it home. They looked at her like she was crazy, but they listened, and they loaded it up in the pouring rain. She brought it home and went to work.

And waa-laa, here is my AWESOME log table!

Perfect.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Happy Grandparents Day!

(yesterday)

To our fabulous Nana & Papa

.....from your 14 grandchildren. We love you bigger than the beach!

 

To our fantastic Nanna & Bobby

.....from your 8 grandchildren. We love you bigger than the farm!

 

(our newest addition...Parker, not pictured, but oh so cute.)

Our grandparents ROCK. Thanks for being so incredible. Hugs & Kisses to you!

09.09.09

Craziness.

Today is 09.09.09

Keith called me at 9:09:09 (to share this interesting information with me).

He's so thoughtful.

I was sitting at the computer, browsing facebook. Still in my pajamas. Eating a piece of really healthy, organic, whole grain peanut butter toast. Enjoying the smell of coffee in the air. The sun shining through the windows. My worship music playing in the background. A fall candle burning. My washing machine humming. 

It is a great morning! 

What were you doing at 9:09 on this special day?