Category: The Kids

Introducing….Our Son!

Seth David 
Last Wednesday, March 21st at 4:00 we went to court and Seth was legally declared our son.  Words cannot describe all the feelings that come along with that.  We have loved Seth since we first laid eyes on him.  It wasn’t long before we knew we wanted to keep him forever.  There were so many tears, so many ups and downs along the process.  Many people- people with power, said it was impossible.  Evidently God has a bit more power than they.  🙂

Seth at 2 days old, the first day we met

Seth, 2 months old
No longer is Seth’s heritage one of addiction, abuse, and neglect.  No longer is he cast aside, unwanted.  No longer is he a ward of the state.  He is our son.  He is loved and wanted more than he will ever realize.  He now has full access to the God-fearing, Jesus-serving heritage that Jed and I have been blessed with.  That all belongs to Seth now!  We have no idea what effect his past abuses will have on him as he grows, but it doesn’t matter one stinkin’ bit.  He is our son and we will always love him.  We will always choose him.

Seth and Daddy, Christmas 2010

Seth and Mommy, March 2011
Christmas 2011
Spring 2012
The day they announced Seth was our son I felt different.  I told Jed that I felt like I loved him more.  Jed said, “You don’t love him more, you just love him without fear”.  That is total truth.  As much as I loved Seth before, I know there was a bit of me that I was holding back.  I was afraid he would be taken away again, and I guess it was like a subconscious self-protection.  I didn’t want to hold back, and I honestly didn’t think I was, but now I know different.  I love him fully and completely now and it feels different.  It feels AMAZING.  He is my son and nothing will ever change that.  Ever.
Thank you Jesus for the gift of our boy.  He was plucked out, chosen, for a reason.  I can’t wait to see what You have in store for him.  🙂
Our Family on Seth’s Adoption Day

Read More

One Step Closer!

Yesterday we got some adoption news!  We hadn’t heard any news in months.  I was starting to imagine our paperwork was actually lost in the abyss of the state offices.  We got word that we have an Adoption Coordinator assigned to our case now.  I have no idea what an Adoption Coordinator does, but hey, it’s more news than I had last week…so I’ll take it!  Supposedly once they process those forms everything moves really quickly.  I really really hope so!
Here’s a sneak peek of the cuteness.  He loves all things chicken.  The Little Red Hen, the real hens in our backyard, toy chickens, and yes- chicken as food. 🙂
 He decided his toys needed to take a swim…
We also have good news about our April trip!  We were finally able to make contact with a couple that we most wanted to meet with in Ukraine.  This is the couple whose work initially drew us to want to save up all our pennies to fly across the world.  From what I know about them it seems they are doing exactly the type of work that we are passionate about.  Even if we couldn’t make contact with them we were still making plans to go and meet with others, and we were happy about that, but the blessing of being able to meet with these specific people just about triples our excitement about this trip.  WAHOOOOOOO!!
I’m slowly and steadily making a bit of progress on language learning.  OH MY WORD.  Why can’t they speak Spanish where we’re going????  My brain feels a bit foggy with doing Spanish studies with the kids in the morning for their class, and then doing my language study in the afternoon…I just know when we get there I’m going to be thinking in Spanish…or Albanian.  Ha!  My in-laws live in Kosova, so they speak Albanian there.  It’s not like I’m fabulous at Albanian (not even semi-fab), but you know how international travel goes,  your brain reverts to the last non-English language you learned.  But, it’s not like we have a translator meeting us at the airport, so I better get my rear in gear!!  I’ve been pretty faithful in my studies since the new year started, so Lord, please bless my efforts…HELP!!!!
On a less scary note, here’s some cuteness to sum up January.
Ez and Mommy had a date night
Our most awesome bunny was accidentally locked outside for the night.  Oh the drama!!
We found him the next day, alive and well.  Now that was a miracle!
Mommy put the kids to work.
Ezra took this picture of Havalah.  She’s going to love this one when she’s older!!

Read More

A Day at the Beach

My sister-in-law and I took the kiddos to the beach on Monday!
It was glorious.  It was actually hot, which is a miracle around here.  It’s unheard of to actually be warm at our beaches without a sweatshirt or two on  🙂  We expect that and we love it, but the sun made Monday a most special treat! 
Hours upon hours spent running and playing…
It was glorious!!!
Posted by Picasa

Read More