Meurrier Family

Valentine’s Day!

2012-02-17T20:30:00.001-06:00

I’m a little late posting about Valentine’s Day, but I have felt a little behind with the move and all! We are getting more settled in, and I hope to post some pictures of the house soon!

I had the girls’ little gifts waiting for them on the table. This was them walking in. Ignore the suitcases and boxes! HA!

Selah was MOST excited about her Elmo balloon! Every time we go into the Dollar Tree, she loves to see the Elmo balloons, so I was excited to get her one. The poor guy had to go blow one up because all they had blown up was Valentine’s Day themed ones!

Myla loved her balloon too!

Selah also got a Elmo that gives kisses, so she was “Elmoed” out. Myla got a My Little Pony and some candy. Can you believe My Little Ponies are still around??

Daddy wasn’t left out on the gifts either. This was his bag…17 years…wow!

Of course, I got this idea off of Pinterest, but I got a deck of cards and made a little booklet with 52 things that I love about him. I think he liked it!

Another Pinterest idea, but I made the canned cinnamon rolls into hearts. The girls loved it! They love their “cimmanin” rolls!

I tried to get the girls to pose before we ran some errands. They decided to play an impromptu game of peek-a-boo! I’m so thankful for my Valentines!!

Weekend…

2012-02-05T20:41:00.001-06:00

This weekend has been very laid back and fun! On Friday we had some friends come over and play and the girls anxiously awaited their arrival at the door!

Our friends from church, the Carpenters, just started the adoption process. They are adoption from South Korea, and we are so excited for them to start their journey. Jill came over on Friday so we could brainstorm some fundraising ideas. Oh, the joys of fundraising! They are starting from the very beginning, and although we have been greatly blessed, we still have a ways to go too. I think we have some great ideas though, so we are excited!

Myla stole some hugs from Selah while they waited! For the most part, they get along well. Of course, there are moments where they pull hair, hit and scream, which makes moments like this picture above so precious! They really do love each other!

This may be my favorite picture of all time. I wish the light coming through the front door wasn’t so bright. Selah is so sweet on her tiptoes while Myla is kissing her on the head. Melt.My.Heart!

After our friends left, we had lunch. Selah ate a whole bowl of Ramen noodle with her hands. I’ll let you imagine the mess I had to clean up!

Friday night, Michael and I went to an adoption conference and got to hear Russell Moore, author of Adopted for Life, speak. It was awesome! My parents kept the girls and they, of course, had a blast at Checkers, Holli’s Sweet Tooth, and Square Books, Jr. They got some Sesame Street tattoos, which they all applied Saturday morning. Selah calls it a “pattoo”. She thought it was a sticker, and she kept trying to peel it off.

The girls got quiet Saturday morning, so I went to find them and saw sweet little feet sticking out from under the drapes in our room.

They were hiding in there with their big bag of candy from Holli’s chowing down!

After naps, there was some play time with Daddy!

Lots of dancing and twirling and flipping! Selah wore jeans for the first time, and it was hysterical. It was like she couldn’t walk in them. Too funny!

For dinner, we went and had Mexican. Selah was introduced to cheese dip, which was a BIG hit! She would just lick it off her chip over and over…then she dipped her quesadilla in it and licked it over and over…then just her fingers. To say she liked it was an understatement. She kept us laughing the whole time we were eating. For dessert we went to Sonic and got ice cream. She loved it too!

Myla requested a Oreo Sonic Blast, and she was sweet enough to share some with her sister.

YUMMY!

Love this picture. Myla smiling…Selah shoveling ice cream in!

On Saturday night, we got to catch up with our friends, the Becketts, that now live in Birmingham. It was great to get to visit with them! It’s been too long. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. And, I didn’t take any pictures tonight at our friends, the Northcutts. We went there for the first half of the Super Bowl. The kids had so much fun!! Now…I’ve got to go. Three minutes left and the Giants are marching down the field. Go Eli!!

Cooking for the Month…

2012-02-01T14:27:00.001-06:00

This month, I decided to try and have a better plan when it came to meal planning and grocery shopping. I feel like every week I go to the grocery store and spend over $100 and by Thursday or Friday we are out of food…scrounging around all weekend looking for something to eat! I hope I’m not the only that feels this way. I mentioned on FB that I was doing this, and I had several people that wanted to know more about it, so I decided I would do a blog post about it…and you know I’ll “pin” it as well!

The most important thing, to me, is to make a meal plan at the beginning of the month. While the girls napped on Monday, I spent two hours planning our meals for the month. Actually sitting in front of a calendar, looking at the days I would need to cook and the days that we would not be home, etc. I planned meals to cook on Friday that will last us through the weekend with leftovers. After I did my meal plan, I made my grocery list. I also looked at the calendar to see if there were days that the girls had to take snacks to MMO, and I went ahead and got things for that too to try and avoid “quick” last minute trips to the store that usually end up putting more in my basket than I need. I also bought several frozen skillet meals (Voila) to have just in case. I felt good going to the store with a plan although my list was REALLY long! Another note…my mom came over after school to keep the girls so I could go to the store. I find it extremely hard to take them with me when I need to buy this many things!

So, here’s the list! Long, huh?? It was the first time I ever left Walmart with TWO baskets. I was pushing one and pulling one. I heard someone say as I walked by, “She must have a lot of kids!” Ha!! Many of the meals that I planned could be fixed ahead of time and frozen which will make life even easier! Yesterday, I kept a friend of mine’s little girl which was great because the girls were entertained so I did a lot of the prep work for my meals!

I started out with all of my veggies. I chopped them all up…which is my least favorite thing to do when it comes to meal preparation. So, getting that done was GREAT!!

I made two recipes of “Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken” that I found on Pinterest. Although it was two recipes, I think it will actually be four meals. I went ahead and chopped everything up and put it all in a Ziploc bag. On the day I cook it, I will dump it in the crockpot, add the liquid mixture and leave it alone. How easy is that??? Recipe is linked at the bottom

While I was chopping veggies, I thawed my hamburger meat to make taco soup and chili. I’m going to make those tomorrow and freeze them until needed.

Chopping veggies makes a mess, but at least it’s only one cleanup right??

Another recipe I made for the month is red beans and rice. I actually ran out of bell peppers (I must have misjudged) so I will add those the day I cook it (in the crockpot…best invention ever).

Another recipe I made was chicken fajitas (also found on Pinterest). I didn’t want to add all of the liquid ingredients so I just wrote the recipe on the Ziploc so I wouldn’t have to dig through the recipe box (or look on my computer).

SO…Here is my menu for Feb…

Feb. 1 – Breakfast (pancakes out of box mix)

Feb. 2 – Chicken Fajitas

Feb. 3 & 4 – Won’t need to cook because we have plans

Feb. 6 – Chicken Jambalaya (Zatarran’s box mix) & edamame (LOVE steamable edamame)

Feb. 7 – Chicken Tacos & Taco Rice

Feb. 8 – Pork Tenderloin (Hormel…already seasoned), edamame and sweet potato chips (recipe on Pinterest)

Feb. 9 – Chicken Stir-Fry

Feb. 10 - Leftovers from Chicken Tacos

Feb. 11 – Pancakes

Feb. 13 – Chili & Tortilla Chips (love to make tortilla chips out of Ole tortillas at Kroger – on the Mexican food aisle)

Feb. 14 – Hopefully I’ll be out on a date!

Feb. 15 – Leftover chili

Feb. 16 – Chicken Enchiladas (Recipe is on the back of the Santa Fe Philadelphia Cooking Cream – YUMMY)

Feb. 17 – Red Beans & Rice

Feb. 18 – Leftovers

Feb. 20 – Taco Soup & Cheese Quesadillas

Feb. 21 – Leftover soup

Feb. 22 – Pancakes

Feb. 23 – Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken & Cauliflower poppers

Feb. 24 – Chicken Stir-Fry

Feb. 25 – Taco soup

Feb. 27 – Chili

Feb. 28 – Chili leftovers

Feb. 29 – Chicken Fajitas

I hope this helps someone! If you have any recipes you would like to share, I’d love it!!!

Supper Club…

2012-01-29T22:09:00.001-06:00

Last night we got together with four other couples to have our first supper club! We have been talking about doing it for awhile, but Heatherlea finally got it together and we got it on all of our calendars. We had so much fun getting to visit, and the kids had a blast playing together! We are going to meet every other month, so I will be sure to update the blog whenever we do!

Our sweet host family for last night…The Hopsons – Will, Jamie, Heatherlea & Liz

Little Mia was busy multi-tasking!

Tyler & Myla did a little dancing

Daddy and Selah – Give Selah a cup of crushed ice and she is one happy girl (but I usually have to clean up several spills!)

The Northcutts – Kimberly, Kellen & Jamil – Seriously, I could eat Kellen up…he is the cutest kid ever. And let me tell you, he is going to be a little baller. He had a basketball in his hands the whole time last night and shot on a little goal. He was GOOD! He was wearing his Air Jordans with pride!

Mitzi, Kimberly & Heatherlea

Heatherlea and me – It is so neat how God works…Heatherlea and her husband were in our Sunday School class at FBC Jackson when they were newlyweds. They lived in Jackson while she went to PT school. Well, we ended up moving to Oxford before she finished school, but they moved here after she graduated and now we are in church together again. So neat how God has given us such great, Godly Christian friends.

Mitzi & Jim – I didn’t get a picture of them with their children (more on that later) but Mia and Tyler belong to them!

After I finally pried the cup of ice out of Selah’s hand (and put the cooler in the garage so she couldn’t get to it), she moved onto this riding toy.

Love this picture of Will & Tyler – sweet boys!

Will taught Selah and Tyler how to cut the light off and on in his room. They thought they were hysterical! Every time they would cut it off and back on, they would just die laughing! (Can you tell Selah had mac ‘n cheese for supper?)

Continuing to turn the light off and on….doesn’t take much sometimes!

Ty Ty (as Selah calls him) finally got a turn!

Tyler also enjoyed rocking out on the drums!

Selah gave baby Liz lots of kisses!

Sweet Kellen again - he keeps his momma on her toes, for sure!

Sweet baby Tyler loved this Elmo!

Our little family! This picture reminds me of a funny story that Mitzi told me last night. A realtor at her office asked her recently if “the two little blonde girls that run around with Meredith were adopted too?” I died out laughing when she was telling me this because I say all the time I bet people think Myla and Selah are adopted when they see them with me since they look NOTHING like me! The lady knew we were in the adoption process, so she was curious if we had already adopted two. HA!

The Johnsons – Kaitlyn, Todd, Jennifer & Tyler

Myla enjoyed her cookie before it was time to go!

Mitzi & me – let me just tell you how much of a blessing this girl has been to me. She is a wonderful friend and an awesome realtor. I know she was ready to shoot me several times while we were looking for a house, but thankfully, she has LOTS of patience. She truly wanted to find us the right house, and she worked so hard for us. I am so grateful for her!

Jim had to leave early, and I really wanted to get a picture of Mitzi with her kids, but they wouldn’t come and pose with her, so she just struck a pose by herself. HA!

Heatherlea & Jennifer

Again, Michael and I are so blessed and grateful to have Christian couple friends that we can fellowship with. Can’t wait until March! I will get to host it at our new house!!!! YAY!!

Mommy’s “Meekup” & A Prayer Rock…

2012-01-27T21:24:00.001-06:00

So, you know when things get quiet and you haven’t heard from your almost two year old for a few minutes that something is up! This morning, we were all dressed and ready to take Myla to school when I went to my bathroom to get Selah. I walked in to find her holding my open tube of mascara and she was laughing hysterically… She calls my makeup “meekup”. When she saw me she started saying “Mommy’s meekup” over and over and she immediately handed over the mascara. HA!

She “applied” a good bit to her right eye.

She had somehow gotten a ton on her eyelashes and under her eye!

I am so thankful she didn’t poke herself in the eye with the mascara wand. It could have been bad. But she was quite proud of herself for applying some of Mommy’s “meekup”!

“What…you don’t like me in mascara yet, Mommy?” Little stinker!

Last Sunday Myla brought home a prayer rock from Sunday School, and I thought it was the cutest thing. The poem that went with it is adorable. It is a great idea if you teach SS or preschool! They let Myla paint it, then put it in a white paper sack to send it home with the poem on the outside of the sack.

This is the poem:

I’m your little prayer rock, and this is what I’ll do.

Just put me on your pillow ‘til the day is through.

Then turn back the covers and climb into bed,

And, WHACK, your little prayer rock will hit you on the head!

Then you will remember as the day is through,

To kneel and say your prayers like you wanted to.

Then when you are finished, just dump me on the floor,

I’ll stay there through the night and give you help once more.

When you get up in the morning, CLUNK, I’ll stub your toe

So you will remember your morning prayers before you go.

Put me back on your pillow when your bed is made

Your little prayer rock will continue in your aid.

Because your Heavenly Father cares and loves you so

He wants you to remember to talk to Him, you know!

Random Thoughts…

2012-01-19T15:58:00.001-06:00

Can I just tell you that my blog has taken a back seat once I became A.D.D.I.C.T.E.D. to Pinterest!! Oh my goodness…I cannot quit “pinning stuff”! I LOVE it! I need to do better about blogging and taking pictures! I rarely do a post without pictures, so I am going to put some recent pictures on here, but I’m really just going to ramble about random thoughts. HA!

(Dinner with friends last weekend)

As I mentioned on my last post, we found a house! We had it inspected this week, and everything looked good, thank goodness! We are set to close on Feb. 6th, and I am ready to get settled back into a house with our stuff. Pinterest is giving me some GREAT decorating ideas, and I am ready to “get creative”!

(Selah enjoyed her chili)

I totally love teaching at MMO. To be honest, I signed up to teach just so Myla and Selah could go. I went into it thinking it would be “okay”, but I LOVE it. Those kids have such a special place in my heart. They have grown and changed so much since September. They recognize each other as well as me and Corie, and some of them call each other by name. It is the cutest thing. I will miss them so much next year when they move up.

(Future Rock Stars!)

I never buy Tide detergent because it is too expensive, but this week I bought it because it was on sale and I had a coupon. I actually bought 9 bottles, but who’s counting. HA! Anyway, my clean clothes smell SO good! It’s not that my clothes smelled bad before, they just didn’t really have a smell. I think that it will be hard to go back to the cheap stuff, so I hope I keep finding Tide on sale!

(Open gym at the local gymnastics place…Myla LOVED it!)

Myla is growing up so much. It really blows my mind that in just a few months, she will be in Kindergarten. WOW! She has been telling me lately that she wants me to homeschool her because she thinks she will get too tired if she goes to school. Ha! She currently LOVES playing with her iTouch. It amazes me how much she can do with it.

Every day I miss my friend, Katie, and her kids. I wished we still lived in the same town. It makes me sad that she is going through a pregnancy and will have a newborn, and I won’t be in the close by.

My mom took us out to eat on Monday night to Volta. I love their hummus and pimento and cheese too much! I love being with my mom. We have so much fun when we are together. I love being an “adult” and getting to be friends with my mom. I also love how much she loves my girls and how much they love her. I pray that I will be a mom to my girls like she has been with me.

Selah is the funniest kid I have ever been around. All the days she made me want to pull my hair out when she was a baby, she is making up for now. She makes me laugh everyday. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. I love hearing her talk, and I love hearing her and Myla talk to each other. I want to freeze time at her age now.

Today was one of those days when the stars aligned and the girls played together so well all morning. They laughed and played and read books and pushed their grocery carts around and played upstairs together without fighting one time. I was able to get so much done. They had so much fun, in fact, that when we got ready to run some errands, Myla stated that she did not want to go anywhere. That is very unusual. She is usually a mover and a shaker…always wanting to go somewhere!

(Wearing their new “princess” dresses from Mimi)

One of the sweetest times of my day is when I put Selah to bed. Ever since she was a baby, I have sung, “You Are My Sunshine” to her right before I lay her down. Well, she has started singing it with me. She will sit up, look me right in the eye and sing it too. It almost brings tears to my eyes EVERY time. I’ve got to get it on video so I will never forget it. And, thanks to Pinterest, I have a sweet canvas to paint for our new house with that song on it!

Well, I hope this post hasn’t been too random, I just wanted to do a post, but I didn’t have a particular event or topic to blog about. Thanks for hanging in there!

Play Day at Chick-Fil-A….

2012-01-10T20:17:00.001-06:00

Today we met went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch to meet some friends…mainly Katie and her kids since they were in town. If you read my blog, you may remember that they recently moved to Tupelo, so we don’t get to see them nearly as much as we would like. Well, they were in town because Katie had a doctors appointment because she is pregnant…with NUMBER 4!!!! Craziness. She will have 4 children 5 and under. Makes me tired, but if anyone can handle it, she can!

Selah was happy to be there! She was so excited to see the Buckleys and her other friends! For some reason today, she just looked so grown up to me. Time is going by too fast!

Best Friends…together again! They hugged and hugged when they saw each other…it was precious!

The “big kid” table. Mady, Robbie (who refused to look at the camera), Sage, Myla and Grace! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear their conversation! The chatter didn’t stop the whole time they were eating!

Jamie and sweet August. Selah was so excited to see August!

Charlie was excited to get ice cream! Isn’t he adorable!

We got some great news today! We have a contract on a house and will hopefully be closing the beginning of February. I cannot tell you how excited I am! Woohoo!!!

New Year, New Friends, New Books…

2012-01-09T22:53:00.001-06:00

Well, it’s almost ten days into the new year, and I am just now doing my first post of 2012! I’ve got to do better!!! Oh well, I did want to catch up. We spent New Year’s Eve with some of our good friends, the Simons. We had fun eating pizza, visiting and doing a few fireworks!

Most of the crew waiting for Mr. Jason to get the fireworks started! Myla was so excited to “shoot” fireworks, although she really had no idea what that meant. Ha!

Myla and Elizabeth…sweet friends! Both girly girls that love to dress up and be princesses!

Whitney had gotten some fireworks that made very little noise, but it didn’t stop Myla from covering her ears!

Sarah kept her ears covered the ENTIRE time we were outside. Bless her heart!

Selah loved the fireworks, which would make sense since she is a little “firework” herself!

Whitney and Sarah

This picture is so funny because Myla is covering her ears and hiding behind Elizabeth, who is yelling “Run, Daddy, run” after he lit a very small firework. Ha! She was very concerned for him!

Elizabeth LOVED the sparklers!

I’m not sure what Myla was doing, but she was rolling around on the ground laughing her head off! Funny kid!

After much persuasion, Myla finally wanted to “try” and hold a sparkler…of course, she needed help from Mom.

Mr. Jason did good lighting all of the sparklers despite the wind! Poor Sarah is still covering her ears…her arms had to be getting tired by this point!

Yes, Selah had to try one too! And, yes, she tried her best to touch it (the burning part) and she had a black mark on her hand. I don’t think it burned her because she didn’t cry. Ha!

YAY!! She finally held one by herself!

After a “crazy” New Year’s Eve celebration, we headed home around 8 pm and we were all asleep by probably 10. PaRtY AnImAlS!!!

One of the blessings of our “temporary” living situation is getting to be living close to our new friends, the Booths. We have enjoyed getting to play outside many afternoons and having some last minute play dates. This past Saturday night, we watched their kids while Blake and Jamie went to dinner. We decided that we needed to swap out “babysitting” so we could have occasional dates without the cost of a babysitter. YAY!! Their kids are SO SWEET, and our girls have so much fun with them. They pretty much entertained themselves while they were here. And sweet little August is the most easy-going little guy!

Montana and Myla spent a lot of time cooking something in the kitchen and hiding their “secret” items in various places.

Selah and Sage really enjoyed drawing pictures on the easel. Selah LOVES Sage, but she calls her “Paige”. It is so sweet!

Pretty girls!

I love this picture! It looks like Sage is telling Selah something really important!

Seriously, he is the happiest baby! As long as he has something to chew on, he is good to go!

Of course, Selah had to give August LOTS of hugs and kisses!

The girls got on the couch to watch a movie…but of course, that lasted all of about 4 minutes! They were quickly onto something else!

These two have a huge imagination, and they had so much fun playing together!

Selah is about as big as Sage, but that didn’t keep Sage from holding her in her lap!

Finally…new books! The girls got some new books for Christmas, and they have really enjoyed having us read to them. As busy as Selah is, she loves to sit and be read to, which I love. She is quickly learning the princesses, and she will let me know which story she wants me to read to her! “Snow Wipe” is her favorite, but “Punzel” (Rapunzel) is a very close second! I wish y’all could hear her talk…it is the cutest thing ever. She is talking up a storm, and I just love it. I will try to get some “conversations” on film soon.

Tonight before bed, Daddy had to read a story! Love it!

My How Times Have Changed….

2011-12-31T13:20:00.001-06:00

When we first met the Graysons, Lenora and Michael had just started PT school. Chad and Lenora were basically newlyweds, and Michael and I weren’t even engaged yet. A friendship was born at that time that has been such a tremendous blessing to us. We have had so many wonderful memories together, and there is a never a shortage of laughs when we around one another. Now, Chad and Lenora have been married 10 years, Michael and I have been married for 9, and we have 5 children between us. The four of us have always had so much fun together, now it is awesome to see our children playing and laughing together! We were so glad that they came to see us earlier this week! Lenora and I have fun shopping and running around while the men tended to the kids for awhile!

Mr. Chad (the Big Kid) will all of the little kids! My kids love Bro. Chad. Myla just starts giggling when she looks at him. He definitely knows how to make people laugh!

The kids had so much fun playing together. They also enjoyed watching TV, but I’m not sure if they could see it. Ha!

Selah had fun playing in Asher’s carseat.

Why are “non” toys always the most fun things to play with?

Annlee and Myla – Sweet friends!

Annlee and Selah – Annlee and Myla were sweet to include Selah in their playing

The girls!

The girls plus Deuce…obviously Myla thinks he is pretty funny!

Sweet kiddos! I just love seeing them all together

And we can’t forget this precious one…sweet Asher. He is the BEST baby ever! He barely made a peep and just enjoyed watching the kids play

He is so adorable!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011!!!

2011-12-26T09:08:00.001-06:00

I truly think this Christmas may have been the best one of my whole life!! We had a wonderful time celebrating with family, and our girls just relished in all things Christmas! We had already celebrated our “family” Christmases over the past several weekends, and this weekend our parents came to our house.

On Christmas Eve we went to a service at our church altogether as a family. It was a great service where we were reminded of the true meaning of Christmas – Jesus! We partook of the Lord’s Supper which is always a somber reminder of the true reason Jesus came as a newborn baby…so he could later die for us. Selah made it through the whole service very well! There was no childcare so we could all worship together as a family. The girls were in “grandparent heaven” having two sets of grandparents here at the same time! Selah was ATTACHED TO SAE SAE’S HIP THE WHOLE WEEKEND!! Bless her heart…she didn’t want her out of her sight!

Bodie and Mimi with the girls

Our little family…I’m hoping and praying that next Christmas we will be a family of 5!

Sis Sis with the girls

All of us together

Of course, later of Christmas Eve, Santa came to visit! To me, it is so much more fun getting to BE Santa! I couldn’t wait for the girls to see all of their stuff!

Soon enough it was morning, and Myla was up and at ‘em, ready to come down. Daddy had to wake poor Selah up!

Myla checking out her loot!

The only thing she specifically asked for a was penguin pillow pet, so she was thrilled to see it!

Selah was still half asleep and wasn’t sure what to think about all that was going on! It took her a minute to wake up and warm up to looking at her new stuff!

Santa ate his cookies, and I think the elf, “Lucy”, was worn out from all of the trips to the North Pole every night!

Myla loved her “Make a Face” sticker books!

Selah was content to sit in Sae Sae’s lap and watch Myla look at her stuff for awhile.

Myla quickly moved on to her stocking, and she loved her disco light microphone.

Selah finally started looking into her stocking, and she loved her microphone too!

Still a little unsure about what was going on!!

She finally got the hang of looking in her stocking! She was most excited about all of her candy. I think I could have just given her candy, and she would have been as happy as a lark!

Finding more candy!

Myla still searching through her stocking!

I think she finally noticed her other stash from Santa

Bodie helped the girls feed their baby!

Selah finally made it over to the chair with her Santa stuff in it!

I love this picture because you can see how full of candy Selah’s mouth was. I think she ate Laffy Taffy for breakfast!

Selah loved her pillow pet too! And, of course, anything with Sesame Street characters on it is a hit!

Myla loved her necklace from Mrs. Marie!

Selah opening one of her gifts.

Selah tried her best to get into her baby’s high chair!

CHAOS!!

Myla and Sae Sae working on Myla’s sticker book!

Selah LOVES the kitchen. She has played and played with it. While she’s playing on it, she will turn around and say, “I’m cookin’!!”

Mom, Sis Sis and Daddy enjoyed some coffee before church!

Bodie and Mimi

After playing for awhile we had to get ready for church!

Of course, we had to take “posed” pictures (which Michael loves)!! Ha! I think he cringes when I pull my camera out sometimes!

Sis Sis and the girls

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!!

Welcome Home, Asher!!

2011-12-22T22:56:00.001-06:00

This past Monday night Michael and I got to experience our first “airport homecoming” for an adoption. Our dear friends, Chad and Lenora Grayson, brought home their precious new baby boy, Asher, from Taiwan. It was a wonderful night, and I’m so glad we were there to experience it with them! Now, I just can’t wait until it’s our turn!!!!!!!!

Big Brother, Deuce and Big Sister, Annlee anxiously awaiting the arrival of their Mommy, Daddy and new baby brother!

Of course, there were lots of signs welcoming them home!

Deuce had one too

Some of their church members made a big sign as well!

Asher had quite the crowd to welcome him home!

Everyone’s first good look at Asher! Isn’t he a DOLL!!

Annlee couldn’t get enough hugs from her Daddy once he was home. They had been gone almost 2 weeks!

And Deuce had his fair share too!

LOVE this picture! The Graysons are seriously like family to us, and I think this picture shows the love we have for one another. I know that’s kind of cheesy, but so true! We are truly so happy for them!

Chad and Lenora with their families

Grayson…Now a family of 5!

Annlee loved holding Asher!

And I was so glad to get my hands on him. He is the sweetest, calmest, happiest little thing!

He just got passed around like a hot potato and he couldn’t have cared less! Pretty good sport considering they had been traveling for almost 30 hours.

The couple in this picture is my friend, Alison’s, parents. They are members of Chad’s church, FBC Tupelo. It’s such a small world. We’ve known Chad and Lenora forever, then I meet Alison last year through the adoption world, now her parents go to church with Lenora and Chad. Crazy, huh? God is in the details!

Us with the Graysons. Lenora said this picture will be framed in their house, and I think it will be in mine too! That is, whenever we have a house. HA!

Loving on Asher!

Me and Lenora – Love her!

Mine and Michael’s hearts were just so full on Monday night. I looked at Michael right before Chad and Lenora walked in, and he said, “My heart is beating so fast!” I was crying the whole time just thinking about how good God is. Adoption is such a beautiful picture of the Gospel. God loved us and took us in as his children, his heirs. We were hopeless until He redeemed us. We were fatherless until he adopted us. Praise Him for His unconditional love for us, his children. I am so thankful that Asher is ONE LESS orphan. And I am so ready to welcome our sweet baby girl home!

Family Christmas, Take 2…

2011-12-22T15:59:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday we had a great day hosting my family for Christmas! I had been looking so forward to having everyone here, and we had a great time. The kids were so excited to be together and open presents! Selah is figuring out this present opening pretty quickly! I am so thankful for my family! We missed my cousin, Chelsea, who was studying for finals for optometry school as well as my cousin, Olivia, and her family that live in Colorado!

Selah was excited that everyone was coming to her house!!

Trying to get the kiddos to pose in front of the tree…this was the best I could do!

Pey Pey and the kids were listening to something on his phone.

Of course, the kids were so ready to open presents, so we let them open theirs first. Myla loved her Brain Quest game from her cousins, George and Miles.

All was good in Selah’s world because she got several new Barney videos!

Mimi and Bodie gave Henry this plaque. He and my mom have said this saying to each other for a long time. My mom has had it for awhile, but she wanted to wait and give it to him when he could read. This year, he was able to read what it said!

Myla loved her Wizard of Oz book. She saw it in Square Books, Jr. forever ago and loved it. My mom found it online and ordered it. We were in Square Books, Jr. last week, and Myla started looking for this book, and they were all out. She was so excited when she opened it and had one of her own.

Henry and Pey Pey gave Myla this fun game, “What’s in Ned’s Head?”

Selah opening up another Barney!

This was probably Myla’s favorite gift. It is a learning pad that she calls her iTouch (she REALLY wants an iTouch). Ha!

Selah loved her Sesame Street microphone from Pey Pey and Henry

Selah was ready to have one her new books books read to her, and Pey Pey was happy to oblige!

Aunt Be was helping Myla work on her learning pad.

Daddy and his girls!

Myla helped Sis Sis look through the calendar we gave her.

Before Pey Pey and Henry had to leave, we tried to get some family pics! Bodie and Mimi with Henry

Of course, Myla had to jump in to the next one!

Then with the baby!

Henry and Sis Sis

Selah loves her great grands!

Doesn’t Myla look 16 with her legs crossed? She and Aunt Be had fun playing Brain Quest!

Me, Sis Sis and Peyton

Sisters

Peyton and Me

Us with mom

Me and Michael

This is us Sunday before church. I’ve been trying to get pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses!

LOVE these 3! Not sure what Selah was so tickled at!

We Love to Party…

2011-12-16T07:39:00.001-06:00

We have had two Christmas parties this week! Yesterday we had our party at MMO at church, and it was WILD! Thank goodness Michael came for reinforcements since I have a class this year. I definitely needed his help!

Bro. Eric, our pastor, reads the Christmas story to the kids each year. Selah was front and center! She sat and listened to almost the whole story. Michael and I couldn’t get over how still she was sitting!

Very into the story!

This was a shot of some of the people that were there. We put our class in high chairs so they couldn’t run wild the whole time. Ha!

She finally saw me snapping pictures of her…and she quickly ran to her daddy!

Myla sat and listened to the Christmas story too, but she didn’t seem as enthralled. We need to work on that!

I think she was ready to get to her singing! She was so excited about ringing the bells that they had hidden behind their backs. She kept telling us we “would never be able to guess” what they were holding!

After the singing we went to find the girls’ spots at their tables. Selah enjoyed her cookie!

Selah and Daddy

Of course, in her picture with me, she wouldn’t look at the camera. I LOVE the Christmas tree made from her handprints that you see on the table. So precious!

Then we made it over to Myla’s table! She was so glad her daddy was there.

Me and Myla

This has nothing to do with the party, but I just had to include it. Myla got this toboggan in her stocking last weekend, and Selah loves it! She has worn it a lot throughout this week. When she puts it on, she just gets it on enough to stay on her head, so it is sticking straight up. It matches her personality!

I cannot look at this picture without laughing. The look on her face cracks me up. She had confiscated a paci out of her bed that she wasn’t supposed to have!

Today we went to a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party at our friend, Mady’s, house. I finally got a decent picture of the girls together before we left. I was so excited!

Myla loved all the goodies they had to eat at the party.

Mady was a great hostess!

Sweet Sage…we live down the street from Sage and her family, and we have enjoyed getting to know them so much!

Kaitlyn – She and Selah are in the same class at MMO

Mary Katharine and her “cheese” smile. She is in my class at MMO, and I love her to death!

Selah especially enjoyed the Oreos with the red icing in the middle!

Whitten – he is Mary Katharine’s big brother. He and Myla are in the same class at MMO

Baby August – He is Sage’s little brother. Selah has quite the affection for August, as you will see in a few pictures down.

Myla found a nice little get-up in the dress up box. This was Mady’s size 18-24 month Halloween costume. She thought she was looking GOOD!

Decorating her cupcake…she loves to decorate them, but doesn’t like to eat them!

Selah gave August LOTS of kisses!

I think he wanted more!

Seriously, it was out of control!

I finally made her stop because I was afraid she was going to knock him over, and as you can see, she wasn’t very happy!

There’s No Place Like Home For The Holidays…

2011-12-15T08:04:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday we had our first family Christmas celebration at Michael’s parents’ house. We had a wonderful day! I love this time of year being able to get together with family to celebrate! The girls had so much fun…anytime they are with grandparents, they LOVE it! They are so blessed, and I am so thankful for two sets of grandparents that love them so much!

Myla and Selah were so happy to see Sae Sae!

We had a new baby with us this year! This is sweet Luke and his daddy, Spencer.

Daddy and his wild woman! Y’all I just have to say, Selah can be a handful, but I wish I could bottle her up at the age she is right now. Oh my goodness, I forgot about this age! She is talking up a storm…repeating anything that you say. And she will laugh hysterically while she runs around bobbing her little head with her pigtails. She is FULL OF SPUNK and I LOVE HER!

Me and sweet baby Luke, or as Selah says, “Wuke”.

Luke and Uncle Michael

I think I could kiss those little cheeks off!

Selah warmed up to Luke as long as I wasn’t holding him. She didn’t like that scenario too much!

She gave him lots of hugs…

…and kisses!

Then she moved on to doing important things…like helping big sister and Sae Sae in the kitchen!

Myla’s most exciting thing of the day was opening presents. I bet she asked 50 or more times when we were going to open them! I so remember that age…just dying to open gifts and adults seemed to take FOREVER!! But, we had to let babies nap! As soon as Myla heard Selah’s first whimper from her nap, she squealed, “It’s present time!”

But, Granddaddy had to give Luke a bottle first!

Waiting patiently to pass out the gifts!

Spencer, Luke and Mary Jennifer

Finally…gift time! Selah LOVES Barney…seriously, it’s probably borderline infatuation! She was so excited to get a Barney Christmas DVD. We have watched it repeatedly this week. She calls it “Barney Mismas”.

Myla loved her “Squinkies” from Granddaddy and Sae Sae, and has played with them so much this week!

I can’t believe how much our family is growing! It was so fun to have a houseful of kiddos! We also had a houseful of dogs, as well. Oskie had to come with us again. He kept Mary Jennifer and Spencer’s dog, Tootsie, and the Meurrier’s dog, Dot, company!

Myla loved opening stockings, of course!

Daddy helped Selah with hers

Selah loved her FurrReal dog, Cookie!

Thanks Granddaddy and Sae Sae for a wonderful Christmas!

We are hosting my family this weekend, so we’ll have more pictures coming soon!!! It’s the most ~~crazy busy~~ wonderful time of the year!

Bittersweet….

2011-12-11T14:20:00.001-06:00

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you have heard me mention one of my best friends, Katie, many times (as well as her children…Grace, Robbie and Charlie). God has brought changes in their family over the last several months. The biggest one is that her husband, Mark, accepted a new job in Booneville, which is close to Tupelo. He has been commuting until they sold their house, and it finally sold. They are moving to Tupelo this week. I am so sad that she will not be in Oxford anymore. I know we will still talk numerous times a day, like we do now, but it just won’t be the same. Katie and I became good friends after our oldest girls were born. We are both stay at home moms, so we spend lots of time together so our kids, who all dearly love each other, can be together. I think the saddest thing about the move is that our kids won’t be playing together as much. Grace and Myla are like sisters! I know God has great plans for their family, but it is still hard to see them go.

Friday we had a little lunch get together with some of Katie’s friends at Boure…YUM! We had fun laughing and talking together. Katie even brought a picture of what she looked like when she moved here in 1995. Let’s just say that she’s come a long way! HA!! Jennifer and Katie are together in the picture above.

Jennifier, Katie, Lynn, and Mrs. Beth, Katie’s mom

Lacey, me and Nicole

Half of our table…(from the left and going around) Mrs. Beth, Janet, Karen (Katie’s sister), Mitzi, Laurel and Angela—our super talented minister of music’s wife that I mentioned in my last post.

All of us! I love all of these girls! I’m so thankful and blessed to have such Godly girlfriends in my life.

Katie, Karen and Mrs. Beth

Katie and me

I hope and pray that each of you reading has a great girlfriend or girlfriends in your life! Katie has been (and will continue to be) someone that I can call and talk to about anything, cry to, get advice from, pray for and ask for prayer, laugh with, shop with, bounce ideas off of, chase kids like crazy with, etc. I am so thankful for her, and I look forward to seeing how God will strengthen our friendship over the years.

A Little Catch-Up…

2011-12-10T20:51:00.001-06:00

I have gotten a little behind lately with blogging! I want to get caught up before the holidays! We are celebrated with Michael’s family today so there will be pictures to come! I love this time of year even though it is super busy!

Last weekend our church had our big Christmas program. I am in the choir, and we spent so much time preparing for the concert, and I think it really paid off! We had 2 performances at the Ford Center on campus and were able to reach over 2400 people with the TRUE meaning of Christmas through song! Our choir director, Tom Barrett, and his wife, Angela, are ridiculously talented. They both went to Juliard and performed on Broadway as professional singers before they were called into music ministry. Our church is so blessed to have them!

One fun thing about this year was that Myla got to participate! She has been looking so forward to being in children’s choir this year. She did a great job! I was worried she would be nervous once she got on stage, but she didn’t miss a beat!

I can’t even remember when this one, but it was one day last week. The girls got in the dryer to play and LOVED it! It kept them entertained for the longest time one night after supper!

Last Friday night I got the girls in their Christmas pj’s, and I thought they looked so cute in front of the tree!

Selah loves to give her big sister lots of hugs! She also likes to hit and pull hair sometimes, but I don’t take pictures of that! Ha! I know the teenage years are going to be FUN!

I love this blue-eyed girl! She keeps me busy, busy, busy!

Sunday morning before church we tried to get some family pics in front of the tree! Daddy and his girls.

Mommy and her girls!

Wednesday morning we woke up to such a treat and unexpected surprise…SNOW!! Myla was so excited to see it out the window when she woke up!

Ready to go to school in the snow!

Selah didn’t know what to think of the snow. She was real tentative about walking out of the garage wondering what was falling from the sky!

Be back soon!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner…

2011-12-02T15:53:00.001-06:00

Last week a friend of mine came over and brought some fried chicken for her lunch. Well, Selah took an immediate interest in what she was eating, and Christina was nice enough to share!

This is hysterical to me because I do not eat meat off of the bone. She obviously doesn’t care!!

She loved it!!!

I guess I should buy her some fried chicken more often.

Can you tell she enjoyed it?? Too funny!

Thanksgiving 2011…

2011-11-29T08:35:00.001-06:00

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone in a flash, and I feel like such a slacker for just now blogging about it! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with our families. We have so much to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving morning the girls woke up and admired the little tree in the kitchen that we put up for them. At this point, it just had lights on it, but that didn’t them from looking at it! Myla was asking Selah what color the lights were, and she was doing pretty good at telling her!

Doesn’t she look amazed! I love those big, blue eyes!

Sweet girls ready for Christmas!

We headed to my parents’ house for lunch. Myla got some of Mimi’s glasses and was acting silly! She asked me to please take her picture! HA!

Here’s our little mischievous one! Doesn’t she just look like she is getting into something she’s not supposed to!

Myla and Henry always have lots of fun when they are together. They love to “build forts” around Mimi and Bodie’s bed and watch movies.

Peyton and Mom – Thanks to Mom, we had a delicious Thanksgiving lunch!!

Me & Peyton

Bodie and Selah watched some football together

Henry is getting SO big! I think he grew at least a few inches since I last saw him!

Myla is super happy as long as Henry is around!

Mom had silver goblets and cups for the kids to drink out of! They got a big kick out of them! Selah felt so big drinking out of her cup!

Myla mostly enjoyed pouring her drink from the pitcher into her goblet. Henry was so funny asking Mom, “Where did you get these fancy glasses?”

Henry and Sis Sis

Sis Sis with two of her great grands. She is up to 5 now!

As I said, Selah LOVED drinking out of her cup!

Us with Selah…she looks thrilled, doesn’t she!!

Each year when Frank orders t-shirts for his basketball team, he orders some for the kids. They are always so excited to get them! This picture cracks me up! I’m not sure what Myla is doing…just being wild!!

This one is a little better!

On Thanksgiving night, me, Katie and Maggie continued our tradition of staying out ALL NIGHT to shop on Black Friday! Yes, we even had matching shirts this year that brought their fair share of funny comments from fellow shoppers! We had so much fun watching the craziness ensue. We got everything that we went to get, so I would consider it a success!

This was my van when we were done shopping at 8 am…we had gotten to Walmart at 9 pm!

Van continued!

On Saturday we had a lazy day…pretty much staying in our pajamas all day watching Barney and football!

We did get around to finally putting ornaments on our trees! I let Myla decorate hers all on her own! I thought she did pretty good, and she even set up her Nativity (or as she calls it her “activity”) around it!

The big tree! I LOVE putting my ornaments on the tree! Last year I wrote a post about a few of my favorite ornaments. I even started wrapping some of the things I bought on Black Friday! I can’t believe Christmas is just around the corner, but I CAN’T WAIT!! It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!

The Holidays Are Here…

2011-11-20T14:57:00.001-06:00

Well, the holidays are upon us, and I still cannot believe it! I feel like we just celebrated Christmas last year to be honest with you, but here we are again! I really do love this time of year. I’m just ready for the weather to get a little cooler so it will actually feel like the holidays!

Last Wednesday, the girls had their “Thanksgiving Feast” as school. It was a little more chaotic for me this year than normal because I teach a class. I was sad that I couldn’t devote more of my time to the girls because I was having to make sure that the kiddos in my class were being taken care of. I pretty much held Selah the whole time because she was in a mood! Poor Myla wanted me to come sit with her at her classes table, and I couldn’t. Oh well, Daddy is going to have to be recruited for the future parties! The picture above was the ONLY one I took at the feast. Myla’s class did sing two songs, which was so cute. Let’s just say, she likes to “sing out”. She could easily be heard above everyone else. I’ll work on getting that video uploaded!

Yesterday we went to Batesville to have Thanksgiving with Michael’s parents. Selah woke up with a severe case of bedhead, but she didn’t let it get her down!

I mean, it was BAD! I just died out laughing when I got her out of the bed because she was just smiling away and her hair was going every which way! Sweet thing!

Once we got to Granddaddy and Sae Sae’s house, Selah quickly planted herself in front of the TV to watch Barney…it is by far her favorite thing to do these days. In the house we are in, I have a TV on a little table that is at her eye level, and I’m praying she’s not blind by the time we move from here because she watches it UP CLOSE….like her face 2 inches away from the screen.

Kicked back watching Barney. I have recently started putting her hair in pig tails, and I love it! They stick straight out and look so cute, and they seem to match her funny personality so well! They also make her look so much older to me!

Before lunch, Myla got some piano playing in!

My wild child! She is so darn cute, but oh my goodness, she can be a little stinker. I tell her all the time she better be glad she’s so cute! Ha!

This is Rocco, the new dog at Michael’s parents. They always have random dogs coming up to their house, but Rocco is SO sweet and so pretty! I want to bring him home with me!

Myla was occupied most all day by picking up pecans. We told her before we went that we were going to pick pecans up, and boy, did she take her job seriously. It was all she wanted to do all day, and she pretty much didn’t stop! She did a GREAT job!

Daddy and Mommy picked up their fair share too!

The girls got in the wheelbarrow for awhile with some of the pecans we picked!

This was one of the wheelbarrows. We filled another one up too! We should have plenty of pecans until next season!

Daddy, Rocco, and Myla handing out on the porch

Sweet Myla

Selah was attached to Sae Sae’s hip for most of the day!

Oskie went with us out to the country! We weren’t sure how he would do, but he LOVED it! Of course, he’s not fully “country” because he got to go in and out of the house whenever he wanted to, but when he was outside, he didn’t stop running! He ran and ran and ran for most of the day! He was very protective of the girls around the other dogs, which we have never witnessed before. Even though he was the smallest dog, he wasn’t afraid to go after the bigger ones when they would get close to Myla and Selah. He wore himself out! He slept the entire way home and slept all night!

Myla enjoyed playing “office” while Granddaddy was on the computer.

Of course, Selah has to do whatever Myla is doing, so she joined in. This picture cracks me up!

Working away!

We have taken Selah’s pacifier away during they day, and she now gets it only when she sleeps. Well, she evidently snuck in and got one out of the crib while we weren’t paying attention. She looks proud of herself, doesn’t she!

We are looking forward to getting to see our families this week for Thanksgiving, and Katie, Maggie and I are excited about Black Friday shopping! We are going to repeat last year and stay out all night for the good deals. We will miss you Susan!! Updates will be coming for sure!

Yes, We’re Still Alive…

2011-11-18T15:51:00.001-06:00

Wow, this past week has probably been one of the most hectic of my life. To sum it up in two words that immediately involve the rising of my blood pressure…we moved. I mentioned awhile back that our house had sold and we found a house in town. Well, after we had that house inspected, we decided to not buy it. There were some issues that were going to require some repairs that we didn’t feel that we could afford at this time, so we decided it was best to let that house go. We both were fine with it, and thankfully a family friend ours had a furnished house that we are able to live in in the meantime…while we try to find something else. Anyway, moving is SO HARD! Michael and I moved the entire house (pretty much) into storage last Saturday. I told him he better be thankful that he is married to a woman that can help him lift heavy furniture. Ha! Moving has been stressful and difficult with putting some of our stuff in storage and bringing some things with us…it has felt quite chaotic. Anyway, we are somewhat “settled” after a very hectic week…hence the last of blog posting lately. I’m sure I will have some new posts with Thanksgiving coming up. Please pray for our family as we try and find a new house. We want to make a good decision, and we want to be where God wants us. Hopefully, I’ll be back soon!!

Can You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get to Sesame Street?

2011-11-09T21:18:00.001-06:00

Selah is really into Sesame Street characters right now. She doesn’t ever watch the show, she just loves to read books about them! She can name every character…it’s the sweetest thing! Anyway, we went to Walmart yesterday, and I saw this Big Bird costume on clearance from Halloween. Selah doesn’t have many dress up clothes that fit, so I thought I would get it for her. She tried it on last night after supper!

I think she makes a right cute Big Bird!

She thought daddy might make a cute Big Bird too!

While Selah was trying on the Big Bird costume, Myla went and got the Cookie Monster costume out of her closet that she wore two Halloweens ago. Selah wasn’t too sure about the head on Cookie Monster, but I was able to snap a cute picture! By the way, she calls him just “Cookie”! While typing this post, I remembered when I was pregnant with Selah, I asked Myla if she wanted a little brother or a little sister, and looked at me and said, “I just want Cookie Monster!” I guess she got it! Ha!

Halloween!

2011-11-01T20:50:00.001-05:00

We had a fun filled Halloween day yesterday! First we had parties at Mother’s Morning Out, then we went to the Kid’s Karnival last night at church! The girls loved dressing up and getting candy!

Myla had fun with all of her friends at her Halloween party at school!

Here is Selah’s class eating their fun snacks at their party. I think Selah is happiest when she’s eating. Ha!

Sweet girl loving some cheetos!

We met Daddy at church and headed to the karnival.

Myla was super excited about the bouncy slide again this year! It was the first thing she did!

Sliding down

We had a healthy Halloween supper of hot dogs, chips and popcorn!

After we ate, we headed inside the gym to play games. Selah really enjoyed playing everything, but most of all she loved getting candy. The first game she played was Plinko. Michael gave her the golf ball, and she turned around and was about the chunk it towards all of the other people. Thank goodness Daddy was there to put a stop to that! She eventually played it the correct way!

The girls loved digging around in these beans trying to find a marble. Selah started trying to eat the beans, and it really alarmed the lady working at this game! Oh, the adventures of a toddler!

Myla remembered how to feed the elephant from last year!

This is the PERFECT picture to sum up Selah’s night! She was just amazed that people were giving her candy. She spent half of the night just staring in her bucket in amazement. It was so funny!

Myla threw the ball through the hoop!

And, with a little help from Daddy, Selah did too!

Daddy and Selah shared several tootsie rolls throughout the night!

Myla was really good at this tic-tac-toe game! She did it two times in a row perfectly!

Selah had to go back and feed the elephant too!

My endeavor to try and get a picture of my two girls continues, but as you can tell, Selah was a little more interested in her candy!

Daddy took her piece of candy and was going to try and get her to smile…didn’t work!

I guess Selah started getting tired towards the end of the night because she just laid down on the floor (while eating a sucker) and watched the other kids!

Just For Fun….Pumpkin Patch Through the Years….

2011-10-27T14:12:00.001-05:00

Myla – 2007 – 3 months old

Myla – 2008 – 1 year old

Myla – 2009 – 2 years old

Myla – 2010 – 3 years old

Myla – 2011 – 4 years old

Selah – 2010 – 7 months old

Selah – 2011 – 1 year old

Sisters - 2010

Sisters – 2011

It’s so much fun to have little traditions each year that help us remember things. I can remember being so excited about one day being able to take my children to the pumpkin patch to take pictures. Now, my head spins when I think about how much Myla has grown since we started doing this! I can’t wait to add another beautiful girl to these pictures! I would LOVE for her to be in the pumpkin patch next October…I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Welcome Fall!

2011-10-27T08:51:00.001-05:00

Fall is here and it has brought a flurry of activities with it! It also seems to have brought a blogging slump! I’m going to do my best to get caught up with this LONG post!!

Ole Miss Football Game

Weekend before last, Bodie and my brother, Peyton, took Myla and Henry to an Ole Miss game. Myla was so excited to get to go with Bodie, Pey Pey and Henry. She had a great time and made it until eight minutes left in the game!

Frank said about two minutes into the game, she started asking when they were going to leave. Ha! He entertained her with his phone and lots of concessions! He sent me a text saying, “She and Henry are eating everything in the stadium!”

Joshua’s Birthday Party at Fiddlin’ Rooster Farm

Last Friday night we got to celebrate Myla’s friend, Joshua’s, 5th birthday at Fiddlin’ Rooster Farm. I have heard so much about this place, but this was our first time to go! It is the cutest little “farm” in Water Valley that has a ton of fun activities for kids. Myla had a blast!

Here she is riding the cow “train”. It’s a bunch of barrels painted as cows that are connected together and pulled by a Gator. I really wasn’t sure if she would do it, but she loved it!

She also loved pumping water into these pipes to race rubber ducks. She wanted to do this for the longest time!

I think her favorite thing, though, was the big slide that came out of the top of the barn. It went really FAST, and she came down it probably 20 times! All of the kids loved it, and I think they would have done this all night!

Joshua…the birthday boy!

Pharis, Myla, Elizabeth & Sarah on the hay ride on the way to the corn maze.

Myla and Jack about to go in the corn maze. Jack was so funny! He wasn’t too sure about the maze. He held on tight to my hand the whole time!

The Busby clan…Caroline, Hattie and Jack

Myla and me on our way back to the barn for supper!

School Day Pictures

This past Monday, we had pictures made at MMO. I tried to snap a few before we left, and let me just say…I hope the real photographer had better luck than I did with these two!

Selah smiliing…Myla not so much

Myla smiling….Selah smiling, but not looking at the camera

Focused on Barney!

Princesses and Pirates

On Tuesday night, Chick-Fil-A hosted “Princesses and Pirates”. All children that were dressed up received a free kid’s meal. We picked Daddy up after work and headed there for supper!

Daddy and Selah…AKA Minnie Mouse!

Myla as Tinkerbell!

Selah spent the majority of the meal like this…. Her eyes were glued to the big cow! She didn’t want it coming close to us!

Minnie Mouse having fun on the playground!

Myla was so excited to get to see Grace before we left!

Pumpkin Patch

Last night before church I took the girls to the pumpkin patch at the Episcopal Church. We almost waited too late to go this year! There were not many pumpkins left at all, but I knew I wanted to at least get a few pictures since I have pictures of Myla in it every year of her life, and I want to do the same for Selah! I can’t believe how much she has grown!

My BIG girl in front of the sign

I tried my BEST to get a decent picture of the two of them! Will the day ever come????

Sweet sisters in the hay!

I can’t believe how big she is getting!

Myla showing off her little pumpkin

Sweet little spider!

We wandered back to the hay to try again for a “group” picture…no luck!!!

The ladies that were working gave the girls some stickers before we left which quenched any chance of getting them to look at the camera from that point on!!

Happy Fall Y’all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Painting Pumpkins…

2011-10-18T13:35:00.001-05:00

I sometimes feel like “that mom” that never really does anything fun/different with my kids. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut doing the daily grind. So, last week, I thought we would do something fun together…so, we painted some pumpkins. The girls loved it!

Selah started off being fairly neat about her painting project…

Squatting down to get a closer look at things!

Myla was a lot more methodical and particular with her painting…although their end products looked about the same.

As you can tell, things started getting a little messier with Selah…notice her forehead, feet, shirt, pants, cardboard box and driveway. HA! She was having a good time regardless!

Needless to say, we came straight in and got in the bathtub! I will say that the paint was washable and came out of everything just fine!

Updates…

2011-10-12T15:30:00.001-05:00

I have 3 important updates! I feel like I have been MIA lately on the blog…sorry!

1. We sold our house. Yes, you heard that correctly. We found a great deal on a house in town about a month ago and we made an offer on it. They accepted it, and we put our house on the market. It sold in 21 days. Craziness. We will probably be moving sometime around the middle of November. It has all happened fast, and we have very bittersweet feelings about it. We love our house, but we are about 8 miles out of town, and we really want to be in town…mainly for convenience. We are excited about moving but sad about leaving the first house we bought together as well as the house that we brought our girls home from the hospital. Tear. But, I know there will be many more new, wonderful memories in our new house!

2. Poor Selah is still struggling with ear infections. She has had fluid on her ears for several months, so our ENT decided that it was time for another set of tubes and to remove her adenoids. To make a very long story short, we are going to Jackson bright and early in the morning for a consult with an ENT at the University Medical Center. With Michael being an employee of Ole Miss and having their insurance, one of the perks is receiving 20% off of services at UMC. So, after our deductible is met (and we are only a little over $100 away from meeting it), we can have her surgery done there for free. Happy face! Poor baby that she has to go through it, but I am praying that she will get relief! Thanks for your prayers!

3. On the adoption homefront, we had a conference call with our agency on Monday, and we were told that our wait time was probably going to be longer than we thought. They are finally seeing the effects of the courts severely cutting back on the number of cases that they see each day. This is sad to me, but it is all being done for the right reasons to make sure that the children being adopted out of the country are true orphans. We will wait patiently for the little girl that God has for our family. We will be having some fundraisers coming up soon to help raise the rest of the funds we need!

Wedding Fun…

2011-10-05T15:37:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, we got to travel to South Louisiana to participate in a very special day! One of Michael’s dear friends from college got married. John Kirk and Michael are about as opposite from each other as you can get, but they are so close. They have remained close since college, and I love John like a brother! I am so happy for him and Lydia, his new bride, as they start their life together!

We had to make a pit stop in Jackson because Mary Jennifer had picked up Michael’s tux for us. We were so excited to get to see baby Luke. He has grown so much! Isn’t that smile precious!!

Uncle Michael and Luke… Michael got some great smiles out of him!

Me and Luke

We finally made it down to Abbeville, LA, for the festivities! I didn’t do a great job of taking pictures, but I did get a few. This was us with John at the rehearsal dinner. I’m such a blubberer at rehearsal dinners. I cried when Michael spoke, then I tried to say something, and cried the whole way through. John is so sweet, and I am so happy for him. He has been so patient in waiting for the right “Catholic” girl! HA!!

The church was gorgeous! It reminded me of the many cathedrals that I saw in Europe. Absolutely beautiful!

Lydia and John dancing their first dance. I love how happy he looks!

The newlyweds! Their day was beautiful!

One last picture of Michael and John before we got back on the rode for our long drive home.

Congrats to John and Lydia! And a great thanks to Mimi, Bodie, Sae Sae and Granddaddy for taking care of the girls while we were gone!

Spoils of the Bank…

2011-10-04T15:06:00.001-05:00

My kids LOVE going to the bank!

They know the drive-thru is always good for a sucker…

and it’s even better when we get to go inside (which I avoid at all costs) because they get a cookie too!

Music To My Ears…

2011-09-26T19:11:00.001-05:00

Myla has been anxiously awaiting to turn 4 years old so she could be in children’s choir at church. She has enjoyed going each Sunday night, and they made their debut this past Sunday morning, and they did great!

This was them practicing before the 8:30 service. They all looked a little apprehensive about singing in front of lots of people!

When Myla came out to sing, she had to wave to her adoring fans!!

This was the actual performance…SO PRECIOUS!!

Myla had lots of people come and watch her sing, and she was so excited to have all of them there! Here she is with Granddaddy and Sae Sae.

Sis Sis and Myla

Mimi & Bodie, of course, made it too!

I just can’t believe how big these girls are getting. Grace did great singing too! There is nothing more precious than seeing those sweet children sing to the Lord!

Fun, Fun, Fun Weekend!

2011-09-26T14:53:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was one I have been looking forward to for 9 months! Last December, my friend, Katie, went to a Deeper Still conference in Birmingham. While she was there, they promoted the .MOM (dot mom) conference that Lifeway would be putting on in September 2011. Katie called me and asked me if I wanted to go, and I said SURE! We recruited a few more friends to go. There ended up being six of us, and we had such a GREAT time! I don’t think we stopped talking and laughing (except for when we were in the sessions) the WHOLE time we were gone. I felt so blessed to be surrounded with other Godly women who the Lord has used to greatly encourage my heart!

Katie and Jill – Jill left her two little ones at home with her husband. Her husband, Joey, has such a testimony of the Lord’s protection and provision. Last year he was hunting by himself and suffered an aortic dissection. I think that’s what it’s called. Nonetheless, he really shouldn’t have survived, but God miraculously provided a way out of those woods where he went on to have open heart surgery. He is doing great now!

Katie, Jill, Hilarie and Emily

Jill, Hilarie, Emily and me

We were so blessed to hear wonderful speakers at the conference…Angela Thomas, Angie Smith, Vicky Courtney and Priscilla Shirer. The worship was let by Melissa Greene and it was incredible! On Friday night, we were surprised to hear that the Duggars were there! They had just returned from Israel. The smallest baby, Josie, got sick while they were there and had to remain behind with her mom, Michelle, and sister, Jill, until she got better. I know some people think this family is crazy, but I am in awe of them! I can’t imagine having that many children. They are so well behaved, and I admire how Jim Bob and Michelle live out a Christ centered life and include their children in Kingdom work all of the time!

I was so excited to have my picture made with Priscilla Shirer! She is such an incredible woman of God! She brought an amazing message that just encouraged us to keep on being faithful in what we are doing, and God will meet us where we are.

I was also thrilled to hear Angie Smith! Her husband, Todd, is the lead singer for the Christian band, Selah. And, I guess it’s obvious by my daughter’s name that I really like that band. (That is not the only reason we named her that, but the band was the first time I had ever heard the name). Angie has been given an incredible ministry that was birthed out of the death of her fourth daughter, Audrey. She has written two books, but the first one, I Will Carry You, is the story about Audrey….her life and death. It is a great book!

After the conference was over, we went to The Summit and had a nice and ~~healthy~~ YUMMY dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! The menu there is quite overwhelming, but everything is so good!

As I said earlier, I felt so blessed to be a part of this weekend. The Lord spoke some amazing things to me, and I am so grateful for that. I would encourage you to attend some type of conference like this every once in awhile!

Woohoo!!!!!

2011-09-17T22:18:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe I am just now putting this on the blog, but last Monday, September 12th, we found out from CHI that we are now are an

OFFICIAL WAITING FAMILY!!!

We were thrilled to find this out after several months on the paperchase! Our agency does one comprehensive waiting list. There are not individual lists for boys, girls, older children, sibling groups, etc. Everyone is on the same list. We are #77 on that list, but we really don’t know exactly where that puts us for an infant girl. There could be 30 (for instance) families in front of us that are waiting for little boys, so that would make us higher on the list, but we have no way of knowing. I know that God’s timing is perfect, and he will bring our sweet girl to us in His time. We are just excited to be where we are….simply waiting!

Hence, this image….

Not really, but I know God will provide it!!

We are gearing up for a few more fundraisers. Our next one will be t-shirts! I am meeting with a designer next week to hopefully get a design together. We will be doing pre-sales, and I’m sure we will order a few extras as well. As soon as we have a design, I will quickly share it on our blog!

Thanks for all of your prayers up to this point….keep them coming! We cherish them!

School Days…

2011-09-16T14:33:00.001-05:00

I’m a little late with this post, but better late than never, right?? Wednesday before last, the girls and I started Mother’s Morning Out at our church. Myla calls it “school”, and she LOVES going! Selah has done pretty well so far. As long as she doesn’t see me, she is fine. It’s like when she sees me, she thinks, “Wait, I’m supposed to be with her!” and she gets upset. But as soon as I’m out of sight, her teachers say that she calms down.

Myla was fired up and ready to go on the first morning! I think she wore her backpack around for a good twenty minutes before we left. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I’m not used to having to get up and out of the house that early. Kudos to all of you working moms!

Selah wasn’t much in the picture mood, but at least I caught one little smile behind her pacifier. She is seriously attached to her pacis. To sleep, she has to have one in her mouth and one in each hand. I’m not looking forward to the day we have to take those away. Oh, and that flower in her hand is supposed to be in her hair, but there is NO CHANCE of it staying in…sister’s not having it!

Myla is in a class with 3 & 4 year olds. She is the oldest on in her class, and some of the other kids seem like babies compared to her, but she still loves going. The teachers kid me that Myla is just their 4th teacher, not really a student. Hopefully she is a big helper and doesn’t drive them crazy!

Selah is in the older 1’s class. I haven’t heard any reports so far of her hitting her friends, so that makes me happy! When I peek in her room every now and then, so is playing and looks to be having a good time! She is worn out by the time we leave!!

I am teaching the younger 1’s, and it has been quite a challenge so far, but I know it will be better! The first day, seven out of our ten ~~screamed bloody murder~~ cried the ENTIRE three hours they were there. It was insane! Even after just two times of coming, they are already getting better, thank goodness!!

Jesus Loves the Little Children…

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Jesus loves the little children,

ALL the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white,

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world!

Love these dresses that my mom got the girls. As soon as I saw the, “Jesus Love the Little Children” popped into my head! We’ve been waiting for Selah to grow into hers, and they finally got to wear them to church this morning!

September 11…10 Years Later…

2011-09-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

I vividly remember that day…September 11, 2001. I was a senior in college, and I had woken up and gotten ready for class like any other normal day. I walked across the hall and a couple of doors down in the dorm to get Joanna so we could walk to Mrs. Jones’ Family Life class. I will never forget opening her door and seeing her standing in front of her chest of drawers, her face about 8 inches from the television screen. She looked at me and said, “Have you been watching this?” I told her that I hadn’t…I had no idea what was going on. We watched the coverage for a few minutes, then headed to class. I remember walking through campus and life just seemed dimmed and quiet. People weren’t really talking and laughing and joking around. When we got to class, someone had already brought a tv into the room and had the news on. We all sat there watching the terror unfold, and shortly after we sat down, we all watched the second tower fall. I can remember thinking to myself, “This is really, really bad”, but I had no idea the magnitude of the situation. After class, we talked to a girl whose fiance was in the World Trade Center during the attack, and they had not yet hear from him. He did get out fine, but it dramatically changed his life forever. Next I went to work. I was working as a secretary/paralegal for an attorney. One other paralegal worked there, and when I walked in the office, they (Doc and Amy) were both sobbing. Doc was on his knees in the floor, and Amy was sitting on the couch. This is when I started to realize that our lives…the comfort bubble of living in America would never be the same. We had been attacked, and I was scared. I called Michael after work and went straight to his apartment. I just remember wanting to be with him, hug him, and thank God for him. It’s interesting how during a scary/tragic time, our perspectives are very quickly narrowed onto what is truly important in life. We sat and watched the news. It was like a train wreck…it was horrible to watch, but I couldn’t quit watching it. And it remained that way for weeks.

I can’t believe it has already been ten years. I can still remember so many details about that day. Exactly what I was wearing, exactly where I was when certain things happened, etc. I’ve heard my parents and grandparents talk about days like this in their lives. The day of Pearl Harbor, the day that JFK was assassinated, etc. Now, I had one of those days to remember. I can remember flying for the first time after 9/11…I was truly scared. It’s like our lives had changed and our fears were heightened. I am so thankful to live in America, and I am so thankful that God brought us through those darks days. It is my prayer that our nation would turn BACK to God, and the Biblical principles that this country was founded upon.

AWANA…

2011-09-03T16:40:00.001-05:00

Fall is upon us, and that means we get to start our “scheduled” activities back. One of those activities is AWANA at our church on Wednesday nights. Myla is a '’cubby” again this year. She was so excited to get started again! She loves any activities where she is around other children. She was so excited to go back, and I love for her to go as well because she is hiding God’s Word in her heart at such an early age!

This was after we got home, but I wanted to get a decent picture of her in her vest. I’m such a bad mom…I’ve had her patches from last year as well as the little cubby bear that is supposed to be on her vest since May, and I haven’t had them sewn on. She was a little upset! I’ve got to get on that.

This was Myla during the song time. I love this smile! She was so thrilled to be there!

This week we start Mother’s Morning Out. Myla is so ready to be back in “school”! Selah and I will be joining her this year on Mondays and Wednesdays. I am going to be helping teach the younger ones. Selah will be in the older ones class, and I’ve already warned her teachers of her hitting problem. She is a hitter!! It’s usually not out of meanness, I think it is just how she plays. I don’t know how to get her to stop! I’m hoping she will not be a bully!

What a Week!!!!

2011-09-01T13:34:00.001-05:00

Wow…what a week! If you recall, our Favorable Determination Letter came in the mail last Thursday, so the countdown was on to get all of our documents state certified and sent to our agency. On Monday, I headed to Jackson to take them to the Secretary of State’s office to have them certified. A sweet lady in our church, Mrs. Laura, kept the girls, which was a HUGE help!

I got to Jackson right at lunchtime and was able to meet three dear friends for lunch. Mandi is one of my dearest friends from college, and I was so excited to see her (even if for just an hour). When I pulled up to the restaurant, she said, “Who would have thought ten years ago that we would be meeting for lunch driving our minivans!!” Tamah is my sweet friend that I dearly miss in Jackson. We talk almost daily, and I was so excited to get to meet her newest, precious addition, Amelia! Alison is my friend that I have met through this crazy adoption world. She is one of the first people I emailed about adoption, and she has ben SO encouraging and supportive. I was so thrilled to get to eat with these sweet girls! We had so much fun visiting…it was just much too short!

After eating lunch, I found my way to the Secretary of State’s office. Before I went in, I just prayed that everything would go smoothly. It took a little while because I had 23 documents to be certified. Each document had it’s own page that had to be attached to it certifying that the notary was a true notary in the state of MS. When everything had been certified, I looked through all of my documents and compared it to my “dossier checklist”. While doing this, I realized there was one document missing. Panic set in…big time! I realized that I didn’t have a document that I needed from our homestudy agency. I was SO upset…I did shed a few tears, just out of pure frustration. I was ready to be done and get our dossier in the mail! (I’ll finish this part of the story later)…

After leaving the SOS office, I went to visit my sister-in-law, Mary Jennifer, and our nephew, Luke. I couldn’t believe how much he has changed and grown since we saw him eight weeks ago!! He is such a little chunk. He let me hold him the whole time and even feed him a bottle…he was so sweet!!

After I left Mary Jennifer’s I went to Tamah’s house so I could get my hands on Amelia for a little while. She is OH SO SWEET!! She just let me hold her while she snoozed! I was still a little panicked and upset about the whole dossier shenanigan, but holding these two sweet babies made me feel so much better!

So, here is where the dossier story continues…. On Monday, I called Marcus, our wonderful social worker who did our homestudy, and told him about the document I was missing. He promised to do it on Tuesday and overnight it to me so I would have it Wednesday morning. Being the head strong person that I am, I decided that I would drive BACK to Jackson on Wednesday to get that ONE last document certified. My main reason for this is that our agency send dossiers to Washington, DC, each Thursday. On Fridays they have a courier in DC that takes them to the Ethiopian Embassy where they are authenticated then sent back to our agency. It is at this time that we will be on the “official” waiting list! I was DETERMINED to have our dossier to our agency by Thursday! So, we got up on Wednesday, got ready to go, and waited on UPS to come and deliver the letter that we needed! I took the girls with me this time, and they were great. I definitely found out that traveling with a portable DVD player and a Miss Patty Cake DVD makes Selah enjoy car rides much more than normal! Myla was ready to go with all of her bags packed. She LOVES to pack a bag!

Don’t they look thrilled about the trip? HA!

Besides my children, this was the most important thing in my possession yesterday….my “dossier” folder that contained all of our documents. I’ve been so protective of this folder for the past several months. I am NOT an organized person by any means, and I was so paranoid I was going to lose something very important, but I managed to keep it all together in this folder!

We stopped for lunch with Aunt Mary at Chick-Fil-A! The girls loved getting to play on the playground after being cooped up in the car!

Aunt Mary and Myla. Baby Luke stayed at home with Uncle Spencer, so we didn’t get to see him. But, we will be seeing them this weekend!

Selah loved the playground. Notice the huge ketchup stains on her outfit. She somehow managed to squeeze open a ketchup packet and get it everywhere!

After lunch, it was finally time to get down to business!!! We went back to the Secretary of State’s office to get our one LAST document certified!

This is Myla with Mrs. Nan. She is the lady that does all of the “certifying”! She thought I was crazy when I asked to take her picture!

Here they are again the receptionist (I think her name was Debbie…I feel bad for not asking). She helped me so much on Monday by looking up all of the different notaries that we had. It’s neat how so many people go into making an adoption happen!!

Then, it was FINALLY time to go to the UPS and get sent away forever and always to our agency! It was a very scary feeling handing over our dossier to the lady at the store. I know she thought I was nuts. I recounted the documents three times, made her double check the address twice, then asked her to take our picture! She kept saying, “Hon, you need to calm down. Everything is going to be just fine." Ha! I wanted to say, “This is not just some random package! It’s the last six months of my life, and I would die if something happened to it!!!” Well, not to worry! It has been safely delivered to our agency, and now I’m just waiting to hear that everything is okay. Hopefully it will be sent to DC today!

I CANNOT WAIT for January 27th–29th, 2012…

2011-08-27T08:22:00.000-05:00

Because on that weekend, I will be back at the Created for Care retreat for adopting mommas. I went last year, and it was incredible! I have been looking forward to it again ever since I left it last year. This year, Andrea, who is the ring leader in putting this all together, did an amazing job of encouraging us with speakers, videos and awesome breakout sessions. Even if you are just interested in adoption, I would encourage you to come.

Registration begins September 1st!! You can register at www.createdforcare.org, and you can also find lots of information on their site about the retreat. Last year, the conference filled up in less than 48 hours! This year, though, because of the great interest in it last year, they have increased the number of ladies that can attend. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the retreat will be the only thing going on at the awesome conference center/hotel.

It’s going to be AWESOME!!!! I cannot wait!! Hopefully, I will see you there!

Also, my new adopting momma/blog friend, Meaghan, is having a blog giveaway and selling adorable t-shirts to help bring her baby boy home from Ethiopia. Hop on over to her blog and show your support!!

Help…

2011-08-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

I REALLY want to change the widths of my blog, but I have no idea how to do it. I want the middle part, where all of my posts are to be wider, and my sidebars to be all the way to the outer edges of the page. Can someone help me???

Lots of Steps Closer…

2011-08-25T23:16:00.001-05:00

I wanted to do an adoption update, but I didn’t want the post to be all words, so I am adding some pictures that have nothing to do with the post itself, just so it won’t be so boring!! Although our latest news in anything but boring!!!

{Selah is completely obsessed with books these days. She will let you read to her for as long as you are willing! Myla even “reads” to her sometimes!}

Okay, so on the adoption home front, it has been a very exciting week! On Monday, Michael and I traveled to Memphis to have our biometric fingerprints taken at the US Dept. of Homeland Security. We really had no idea what to expect. His appointment was at noon, and mine was at 1:00 pm. We waited for a little while because we were early, but they called me back a little after noon, then they called Michael back and we were both done by 12:15 pm! It was quick and easy.

So, we came home and prepared to WAIT for our Favorable Determination Letter (the letter that basically says you can bring an orphan back into the country) that you get after your biometric fingerprints. From what I had heard, it could take up to six weeks to come back. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, “Okay, I’ve got plenty of time to get those last few things done for our dossier.” All I have left to do is get one document notarized, arrange our pictures on a piece of paper, and get our two recommendation letters from our friends that are writing them.

Well, I was SHOCKED TO DEATH, when I went to check the mail today, and a mere THREE days after our fingerprints, our Favorable Determination Letter was in our mailbox. I thought when I saw the envelope from the US Dept. of Homeland Security that it must have just been a receipt or something from our fingerprint appointment. I opened it up and literally started shaking with excitement! I couldn’t believe it was already here!! This is such a big deal because it is the last piece of paper we need to complete our dossier. Once our dossier is completed, certified and authenticated, we will finally be on the waitlist!!!

{Obviously, something was really funny!}

So, tonight, I pulled out my thick dossier file folder and double checked everything in it to make sure we were good to go. I am going to get the things notarized that we need tomorrow and collect our recommendation letters, and then it looks like I’ll be taking a trip to Jackson (hopefully Monday) to the Secretary of State’s office to get all of our documents state certified. I so hope everything we have is good and nothing will have to be changed.

{Selah got some new, sparkly shoes for fall/winter, and when they came in the mail, I had to try them on her! They squeak, and she loves them!}

The next immediate step is the state certification, then our agency will send our dossier to Washington, DC to be authenticated. After that we will be on the official waitlist. At that point, there is nothing we can do except wait for a referral. No more paperwork, no more notarizations, no more fingerprints, etc.! Our agency’s average wait time for a referral after the dossier is authenticated has been seven months. This could obviously change because with adoption, nothing is a definite or a sure thing as far as a timeline. BUT, we know that it is all in God’s timing, and it will be perfect. (Also, if you are unfamiliar with the process, after we get our referral we will have to wait a little while to travel to Ethiopia. Ethiopia requires two trips for adopting families. On our first trip, we will meet our daughter and get to spend some time with her, and we will also have our court date. We will have to leave her there (I can’t even imagine that separation), and return several weeks later to actually bring her home). We are praying that we will have her home by the end of next year!

{Seriously cute shoes!}

I knew I would be excited to get our Favorable Determination Letter whenever it came, but I was way more excited than I thought I would be. I was almost downright giddy. I can’t imagine what the day will be like when we get our referral and get to see our baby girl’s sweet face! I love her so much already and find myself thinking of her so often. Has she been conceived yet? Has she been born yet? What is her birthmother like? What is the situation her sweet birthmother is in? What will she look like? When will she be in our arms? We cannot wait to meet her and have her home!

This adoption journey has been incredible up to this point, and I know it is only going to get better. One of the main themes of adoption is waiting. Waiting to get paperwork done… Waiting for documents to come to you in the mail… Waiting on a referral… Waiting to travel… Waiting to travel again… The Lord has already taught me a lot about patience, and I know He will have to continue to teach me as the time will seem to drag on and on before we will have our next daughter home, but He gave me this scripture this morning during my quiet time, and it ministered to me so much….

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,and he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what HE has done and will be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.”

Psalm 40:1-3

We pray that through this adoption that many will see what the Lord has done and be amazed…I know we have been! He is so good!!

First Letter to Write and Mail…

2011-08-16T19:33:00.001-05:00

One day last week, Myla wrote and mailed her first letter. The recipients were Mimi and Bodie, and she was so excited about doing it! I had been writing notes, so she decided she needed to write a note too. Her handwriting has gotten really good, and she loves to “practice her letters” over and over! She even picks practicing her letters over playing Pretty Pretty Princess at nighttime before bed!

Here she is with the finished product. On the back, she put about 500 stickers!

She even wrote on the envelope!

She did the honors of sending it off, as well!

Can you tell that she felt “big” doing this!!

She couldn’t wait for Mimi and Bodie to get their letter! Mom reported that they got it, loved it and put it on the refrigerator!

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen…

2011-08-13T21:52:00.001-05:00

This morning I made muffins for breakfast, and I had plenty of “helpers”. Myla loves to help in the kitchen, and it usually causes quite a mess! Now we have another two hands to make messes with us!

Probably not the safest way to help, but they felt so big standing up in their chairs! This is Selah’s “cheese” smile…whenever she sees the camera now, she immediately starts saying “teese, teese”.

Notice that even Oskie was in on the muffin making!

As we cooked, the girls ate a granola bar. Selah thought hers taste a lot better dipped in the muffin batter!

“This is really good, Mom! You should try it!”

Myla smiling… Selah dipping…

Myla had it all over her hands by the time we were done!

A Way to Help...

2011-08-11T13:46:00.005-05:00

My friend, Lara, over at The Farmers Wife Tells All, is adopting a little boy, "A", from Uganda. They are so close...in face they are just waiting on a court date! As all of you know, adoption is expensive! Two of Lara's friends "hijacked" her blog and are throwing her a virtual baby shower. But, not the regular gifts are wanted this time! They are trying to raise money to travel to Uganda to get "A" in the very near future. You can go to her blog and help by donating some money! To make it more interesting, they are offering a giveaway along with it. The grand prize is a fancy schmancy Canon camera with a big lens!! I don't know anything about cameras, but I know this is a nice one! There are also several runner-up prizes that are fun! This is one opportunity for you to live out the scripture James 1:27! We are ALL called to do SOMETHING!!

It’s Not Everyday….

2011-08-08T14:31:00.001-05:00

…that you get a letter from the US Department of Homeland Security, but I was so excited when I saw this envelope last Thursday in our mailbox!! Almost five weeks to the day that we mailed our I600A Application, this notice came that we have our biometric fingerprints appointments on Aug. 22nd!! This is our last big step to complete our dossier. After we have had our fingerprints done, we will again wait for another envelope from the Dept. of Homeland Security that will have our “Letter of Favorable Determination” in it! This will be our final piece of paperwork. Yay!! At that time, we will have to take all of our papers to the MS Secretary of State to be State Certified, then we will be able to send it all to our agency and get on that wait list. I keep telling people that we will start “officially” waiting at that point! We are slowly but surely getting closer and closer! We can’t wait to bring our baby HOME!

Markers, Rain Puddles, and Dress-Ups…

2011-08-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

This week has been pretty low key for us. Myla got some type of yucky bacterial infection in her eye, so we stayed home a good bit. We had several days that we stayed in our pajamas most of the day. Those days are sometimes fun, but after several days, we all begin to get cabin fever! It’s really to hot to do anything outside, and trying to keep these two active girls entertained inside can get very tiring!! I’m ready for some cooler weather so we can get outside more!

One morning, Selah got very quiet, so I came to the den to investigate. Sure enough, she was quiet for a reason. Myla had been coloring, and Selah had gotten a hold of one of her markers and colored all over herself!!

She kept saying, “Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh” and pointing to her arms and legs where she had colored! We took a quick bath, which happens a good bit with Little Miss Selah Sue! We have lots of impromptu baths most days. Sometimes she takes 3 baths a day! She knows how to get dirty!

By Friday, cabin fever had really set in! I was so thankful for an afternoon thunderstorm. After it rained, I took the girls outside to play in the water puddles. It had cooled off a little bit, and the girls were thrilled!

Selah loved the water and just squealed and laughed the whole time she was out there!

Myla loved it too, and they were both pretty soaked by the time it was all said and done!

We had not been out there long when I noticed that it was still lightning. Talk about “raining on our parade”! I would have stayed out there the rest of the afternoon had it not been for the thunder!

This was Selah’s face before I uttered the words, “We’ve got to go inside because it is lightning.”

And this was her face after. She was NOT happy and she had a little pity party for awhile before I ask the question, “Do you want a popsicle?” After she had a popsicle, things were MUCH better, thank goodness! We were so happy when Daddy got home from work. It was one of the those days where I felt like I needed a badge that said, “I survived the day!”

Daddy came home bearing gifts! One of his patients had brought the girls dress up outfits, and they were so excited and wanted to put them on right after dinner. Myla looked lovely as Tinkerbell and Selah looked darling as Minnie Mouse.

After a grumpy afternoon, this really brightened their spirits!

Sweet girls!!!

Soon, Selah decided that her Minnie outfit needed the wings! Silly girl!

Swimming Lessons…

2011-07-30T09:55:00.001-05:00

This past week Myla took swimming lessons through the Oxford Park Commission. Someone evidently donated money to the OPC, and they offered swimming lessons for free! When my friend told me about it, I was so excited because I really wanted Myla to take lessons this summer. She was a little hesitant the first day, but she warmed up and ended up loving the lessons. The only thing she didn’t like was having to go under and get dive sticks off the bottom of the pool. On Thursday when she got in the water, she was crying uncontrollably. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she DID NOT want to have to get the sticks off of the bottom. I told her she didn’t have to. Once she realized she didn’t have to, she was happy again and continued on!

The first thing they would do each day was splash water on the kids.

They also played Ring Around the Rosies and would go under when it said “we all fall down”. Myla loved this!

They also kicked off the side a lot. Evidently Myla could do a better job with her tongue stuck out!

The last thing they did each day was get out and stand on the side and say a little chant…”Alligator, alligator stand real tall. Alligator, alligator jump off the wall!” Then they would all jump in!

All down with lessons. She is trying not to smile for some reason!

Posing in the splash pad!

This was on the last day. Yes, I was that mom calling out to her over and over trying to get her picture. HA!

I would say that Myla’s favorite thing to do, hands down, was jumping off the side.

She also loved going under! She won’t stay under long, though. I had to be fast to get this picture!

I think all in all it was a great experience for her. I was really thinking that this summer Myla would really learn how to swim for real, but we haven’t been able to spend a great amount of time at the pool because Selah is quite difficult to take to the pool. Maybe next summer Myla will become a little fish when we can get to the pool more often!

Daddy got to come to lessons on Thursday and Friday because he took off work. Myla was so proud to have him there, and she wanted him to watch everything she did!

Random Pictures…

2011-07-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

I was looking back through some of my recent pictures, and I found some that don’t really warrant their own post, but I would like to share them. So, I’ll just combine them into this “Random Picture” post. Clever title…I know, but it works!

Several weeks ago we were at a birthday party, and Selah thought the chip bowl doubled as a great hat!

And speaking of hats, Selah really enjoyed trying some on while we were getting ready for Myla’s birthday party! Excuse the popsicle stained mouth and dress!

LOVE her eyes!!!

Funny girl!

Week before last, the girls and I met some friends at Cloud 9, a local jump house place. This picture pretty much summed up the day…organized chaos! The kids loved it!

Selah, always ready for an adventure, LOVED all of the bounce houses!

The big kids loved the air hockey table, and they were pretty good at it, actually!

After Cloud 9, we went to eat at Firehouse Subs. When me, Katie and the kids are together, we’re quite a crew! Our friend, Jennifer, came too with her two kids, and we ran out of highchairs!

Selah LOVES to rub food in her hair while she eats. Most days, I have to give her a bath after breakfast, and sometimes after lunch! It’s a good thing that she is quite fond of baths. She is so silly!

I guess continuing her love for all things “hat”, she tried out a napkin as one too!

How about this for a fashion statement?? HA!

Selah has begun to be infatuated with Myla’s shoes. She will go get a pair and ~~follow me around grunting~~ ask to me to put them on her!

She doesn’t even care if they are mismatched and too big!

Yep, there is never a dull moment around here with this little one!

This was last Saturday morning. Myla LOVES to color, but Selah usually butts in and runs her off! Poor thing. Selah loves to ~~scribble uncontrollably~~ color on whatever she can find!

One evening this week, the girls enjoyed a popsicle outside. It is the perfect treat for a HOT night!!

Sweaty, but beautiful girl!

Selah decided the popsicle stick is way overrated! Why not just take it off and hold the popsicle itself!!

A Day on the Square…

2011-07-23T14:39:00.001-05:00

Next to being the home of Ole Miss, Oxford is probably most “famous” for it’s Square. I have to be honest, I’m not much of a “Square” person. I think it is really neat, but I just don’t have the desire to fight for a parking space to shop at over priced stores (most of them are, anyway). I do love to ride around the Square at Christmastime, and it does give the town a very homey feel AND we do LOVE to go to Holli’s Sweet Tooth And now I do have a new found love for Soulshine Pizza…YUM, so I’m not completely against it!! Anywho…on Thursday, I decided (after getting the idea from my friend, Katie), to have a “Square Day”. We first went to a children’s boutique called Belles and Beaus because they were having a 50% off sale, but we had to get out of there in a hurry after Selah pulled almost all of the shoes off of the display and got a kick out of pulling the hairbows off of their hangers! There’s never a dull moment…

So, we hopped back in the car and headed to Square Books, Jr. Can I just take a moment to say that we got SO lucky on parking places. We found one right in front of each place we visited. Very rare!!! The girls love playing at Square Books, Jr.! They had so much fun playing in the kitchen area. Selah loved the grocery cart and pushed it all over the store! Thank goodness she didn’t run into any displays, or people for that matter!

Here is Myla putting some “sugar” on my cookie. I guess the fire extinguisher was distributing sugar that day!

Myla loved playing with this little house that you could unlock doors on. She really wanted to buy one, but they didn’t have one in stock. That was probably a good thing! Maybe she can ask Santa for that!

My attempts at getting a picture of the girls together were frustrating at best!! Why is it so hard!!!! I’m not sure what Myla was making that face for! She was obviously super excited about something!

Selah loved climbing in and out of the car rocker. I’m so glad she didn’t fall and hurt herself!!

After Square Books Jr., we headed to lunch at Soulshine Pizza. It was SO good!!!! I thought this picture was funny of both girls drinking from their big cups. Selah thinks she is something special when she gets to drink out of a straw…she normally ends up soaking wet, too, but she loves it!

We were a little later than usual eating lunch, and Selah was hungry! Once her pizza arrived, she did not stop eating until it was ALL gone. She ate more than I did!

Myla, who survives on little to no food, really enjoyed her drink as much as her pizza. She did comment though that the pizza was “really good”!! She is a pizza connoisseur, you know!

The effort for the picture together continued…

Selah was too busy eating to smile!!

“Excuse me…can I help you with something??”

Where’s Selah?

There she is!!

After Soulshine, we headed to Holli’s. Myla had gotten a gift certificate to Holli’s for her birthday, so she was anxious to use it! She first got some ice cream, then she got some candy for herself and Selah.

Selah enjoyed carrying around her cup of Smarties!

Selah, of course, was all over the place…including up on the train table!

After Myla finished her ice cream, she and Selah played for a little while together, then we headed home.

I have to admit, it was a very fun day! It was fun to just spend some time together doing something we had never done before! We will definitely do it again…maybe when it’s a little cooler!!

Before & After…

2011-07-23T10:46:00.001-05:00

One day last week Selah was looking all cute in the morning after I got her dressed…

…then she had lunch!

Coincidence or Confirmation… “Choosing Ethiopia”… {Part 1}

2011-07-19T14:01:00.001-05:00

Last summer, God began to stir mine and Michael’s hearts toward a lot of things. We prayed and processed and asked Him what He would have for us to do. It was at this point that God began to clearly speak to us about adding to our family through adoption. I, without a doubt, believe that if you are earnestly asking the Lord and seeking Him, He will speak to you. You always hear people ask, “How will I know if God is speaking to me?” or “Will I hear an audible voice?” Well, I believe that God can audibly speak to you if that is the way He so choses, but I also believe He can speak to you through many things. Sometimes people will think when things happen to them like this that it is merely a coincidence or happenstance. I, on the other hand, believe that if we are willing to listen to the Lord, He will speak to us in what others would consider a coincidence. So, I just wanted to share some of the ways that the Lord spoke to Michael and I through out journey of adoption, so far. I know that these “confirmations” were from the Lord and not merely coincidences!! It is my intent to document these not only so I will remember them, but to encourage those who the Lord may be speaking to without them even realizing it!

When God began to stir our hearts, adoption was in the back of my mind. Michael and I had not spoken about it yet when my friend, Lenora, told me about a video that I had to watch. It was the now “famous” Lucy Lane gotcha day video. I watched it and, of course, cried buckets thinking about the orphan crisis…especially in Ethiopia. Michael watched it too, and soon we began opening our hearts to adoption. Coincidence or Confirmation???

Soon after, Michael and I decided that we were for sure going to pursue adoption. We knew we were called to adopt internationally, but we were not positive about what country we would go through. I was drawn to Ethiopia from the beginning. The Lucy Lane video stirred my heart as well as a lot of reading I did about Ethiopia. Michael was not sure about Ethiopia at first. He wasn’t against it, but he felt more drawn to Asia, but he assured me he would begin praying about it.

Father’s Day was right around this time, and for his gift I got Michael a One Year Bible that was the New Living Translation (we didn’t' have this translation yet). When He began reading it, he started to notice that most places in the Old Testament where it mentioned Africa or Cush, it was translated to “Ethiopia”. He was suddenly reading about Ethiopia in the Bible almost every day, and he noted that he never remembered seeing it translated that way before. Coincidence or Confirmation???

Of course, as the Lord often does, he spoke to both Michael and I through Scripture, sermons and testimonies. All of a sudden, adoption was everywhere we looked (or heard). Sunday school lessons would talk about us being adopted into God’s family, the HomeLife magazine that is put out by Lifeway was dedicated to adoption the month after we began praying about adoption, etc. One Sunday last summer Michael and I took separate cars to church…I can’t remember now the reason for it. On the way home, Michael was listening to the radio, and he heard a testimony of a foreign man who had come to the US, and while he was here, he accepted Jesus as His Savior, and his life had been transformed. Now, he was wanting to go back to his home country to tell others about Jesus. I’ll give you one guess where he was from…yep, Ethiopia. Coincidence or Confirmation??? We’re beginning to say, “Okay, Lord, we hear you!”

Lastly, last summer, we refinanced our house. On the day of the closing, Michael went by himself to the attorney’s office to do all of the paperwork. He was sitting in a conference room by himself waiting for the attorneys to come back in, and he turned around and there was a globe facing him. He said that staring right back at him was the continent of Africa. He said it was like it was the only thing on the globe. It was at this point that we said, “Yes, Lord, we will go to Ethiopia!”

It’s not that we really HAD to have all of those confirmations from God, but He, in the loving kindness, was generous enough to give them to us. As a white family, adopting an African baby may seem a little strange to others. It is not the social norm, but Jesus never conformed to the social norm either. We don’t want to live in the social norm…we want to live for JESUS! And if He is asking us to live a life a little out of our comfort zone, then we are ready and willing. He has, without a doubt, confirmed over and over to us that our baby is in Ethiopia, and we can’t wait to bring that baby home.

God has guided us, protected us, and provided for us during this journey beyond our imagination. In part 2 of “Coincidence or Confirmation”, I will tell about how my flesh almost made a mess of our journey. I began to doubt and get worried about things, but once again, the Lord drew me back and lovingly reminded me that He is in control and He has a perfect plan!

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! “ Eph. 3:20-21

Funny Story…

2011-07-18T10:01:00.001-05:00

Myla and I went to Walmart this weekend to pick up a few things. For her birthday, she had gotten a gift card, so I was going to let her pick out something she wanted. Well, every time we go to Walmart, Myla always plays with the little princess play phones that are strategically positioned right by the check out stands, and she asks every time if we can buy one. So, on Saturday, when she told me she wanted to by a phone with her gift card, I assumed she was talking about the princess phone. We ran around the store for a little bit picking up some things, and we passed the electronic section and all of the cell phones. When we passed there, we were on our way to the restroom, and after we used the restroom, she said, “Mommy, we need to go back that way because that’s where the phones are.” I asked her why she needed to look at the phones, and she matter of factly told me that she was going to buy an iPhone with her gift card. Bless her heart, she had in her mind she was going to get a REAL iPhone! I tried to explain to her that she didn’t have nearly enough money to get one, and she was so disappointed. I also assured her that Mommy can’t even have a phone like that right now since it’s not really in our budget, so she would not be getting one before me!!

After her disappointment began to fade a little, she settled for the princess play phone and has pretended since then that it is her iPhone!

Break My Heart…

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

Can someone please tell me…where has the time gone??

Myla & Grace - 2009

Grace & Myla - 2011

Haley & Myla - 2008

Haley & Myla – 2011