Our Joyful Blessings

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2009-11-26T09:57:00.001-08:00

On this Thanksgiving Day, I took a minute to reflect on all the blessings we've received throughout this year. I'm thankful for so many things. I'm mostly thankful for my family and friends, for God allowing me to raise His precious children, for my loving husband, and for having the opportunity of traveling to Ethiopia and experiencing my daughter's culture.

I'm especially thankful for God allowing our family to be together on this wonderful day.

May your day be filled with joy and happiness. God bless and Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends!

Ok, It's the Boys Turn

2009-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here they are.....

New Pictures

2009-11-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

I took some new pictures of Anaya yesterday. I'm playing around with photography, when I have time... LOL....
I think these turned out pretty nice... Today, I'm thinking about taking some of the boys.. I'll post them next week.

Mandy starts soccer tomorrow and Anaya on Tuesday. This means that I'll be on the practice field Monday - Thursday for at least an hour and a half every day... So, I'll post when I can...

First School Picture

2009-11-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

Just received J.R.'s pre-k pictures for fall. I had to post my favorite for all to see.. He's such a cutie pie.

Bad Blogger!!

2009-11-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

I admit I've been a very bad blogger lately. I apologize for not keeping our family blog updated but it's been really difficult to find some "me" time lately. By the time I'm done with homework, baths and dinner it's usually really too late to sit and type about anything. Anyhow here's an update of what our family has been up to:

The girls and I went and visited Aunt Jill for three days in October. Anaya got to meet all the kids and I finally met Gabriel (Oh my goodness what a gorgeous child)!!!

Alexis turned 11 on October 27th.

We have a new puppy, he's a tiny Maltese 12 weeks old and his name is Casper.

Anaya's re-adoption or "domestication of foreign adoption" was completed on November 5th!!! She's officially Anaya and she's officially 10!!!!

Julian has grown about 2 inches in less than six months. He's two years old and is 37 1/2 inches tall and weighs a whooping 38.5 lbs!

J.R. started the Voluntary Pre Kindergarten program, which means he goes to school from 9:00 am and finishes at 12:00 noon. He's working on learning how to write his name!

The kids all took swimming lessons and now all know how to swim, yes, this includes Julian and J.R. Julian is an awesome swimmer, the boy has a mean front stroke! It's really funny to watch him swim, he's super strong and hardly kicks his feet, his upper body just propels him... It's the cutest thing to watch.

Well, that kinda brings everyone up on what's going on... We are very happy that Anaya has blended so well with the family and hasn't had any issues adjusting to us. We are all in awe of how she's done. She's almost at grade level and is enjoying everything moment of everyday!

I promise to post some pictures sometime next week. I even have a cute little video of Julian and J.R. swimming!

School Update

2009-10-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

My very courageous daughter has made it through her fourth day of school. This child does not cease to amaze me in so many ways. She went to school on Monday with her uniform shirt nicely pressed (as she requested) she brushed her hair just so making sure all her curls were perfectly placed. I took her into the school's administrative office meet with the student counselor and proceeded to her classroom. She was as nervous as a ten year old who is entering unchartered waters would be.

We entered her 3rd grade classroom while the class was in the middle of "circle time". The counselor opened the door and the room became very quiet. The counselor announced her arrival, the teacher welcomed Anaya and Anaya proceeded to say "hello everyone". She is amazing!!!!

Today was her fourth day of school and her second week with a private tutor. She LOVES school, her teacher and her new friends. She floats around the house singing and dancing. Yesterday, she asked me if I had any cards... I didn't understand what she meant by cards so I asked her what she meant. She asked for a card so she could give it to her teacher and write some things she was feeling. (Can you say AMAZING CHILD???) I had several blank greeting cards and gave her one. She wrote IN ENGLISH to her teacher, she thanked her for being so nice to her and said she was lucky to have her as her first American teacher.

I'm in awe of what God has given our family. Yes, there are some challenges we are working on helping her with. But, overall, everything seems to be falling into place.

I just want everyone out there to know that adopting an older child does have its challenges but the rewards are so much greater than the challenges! I really never thought that her transition would happen so smoothly. I encourage anyone thinking of adopting an older child to really consider it. These children deserve forever families that will love them unconditionally.

NYC

2009-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing weekend with the girls in NYC. We met up with one of Anaya's closest friends from Layla House. Her name is Beza and she's been home with her family for a year now. This precious young lady is not only beautiful but sweet and kind. It made my weekend to see how much they loved each other. They had not seen each other since Beza left last year. I don't think they thought they would ever see each other again, but they will be able to see each other at least once or twice a year. Beza's grandmother lives very close to us and they visit her during the holidays. Seeing the girls enjoy each other's company was just fantastic. We meet up at the condo then had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen and on to Dillan's Candy Shop. They truly had a wonderful time.

The next day we went to see the Lion King on Broadway. We took the girls to Time Square and visited that amazing Toys R Us with a great big ferris wheel smack in the center of it. After the play we took them to dinner.

We had a wonderful trip but the best and most memorable part was spending time with Beza and her amazing family. Thanks guys for meeting up with us it was great to meet you!

Pictures Of Our Family

2009-09-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have lots to be thankful for. But, I must say, that God had truly blessed me with my family and friends. I have so much to share. I'll start off by posting pictures of our newest family member Miss Anaya, she turned ten years old on the 19th and we celebrated her birthday at Disney World.

Here are some pictures of our wonderful four days.

OUR FAMILY IS COMPLETE!

2009-09-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I've been such a horrible blogger. I opened the blog up once again to all readers. We are done, finished, completed, terminado with our Ethiopian adoption and our beautiful daughter is ours and she's HOME.

I returned on from Ethiopia on August 29th and spent a total of six days there. I'm happy to say that Anaya is doing fabulously. She is adjusting very well. We just celebrated her 10th birthday on the 19th!!

I'll go ahead and start blogging continually and keeping our family blog as up to date as possible. Anaya is now legally our daughter so there is no need for our blog to be private any longer!!!! I will be catching up on pictures of our beautiful children.

I'm going to work on a new header adding our daughter Anaya to it!!!!!

Ethiopia Is Knocking On My Door!!!

2009-08-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to update our blog lately. We have been extremely busy. We're having our flooring redone and had to find alternative accommodations until the project is completed. Try juggling this and preparing for a major life changing trip. Can you say "TOTAL CRAZINESS?"

We have managed to collect a ton of donations I'd say about 300 lbs of school supplies, feminine hygiene products, deodorants, hair accessories, coloring books, crayons, craft kits, candy and baby formula.

We were able to pack most of it into our five checked bags. We're going to carry our clothes and Letarik's clothes in our carry on baggage in order to take as much of the supplies as possible to the orphans. The rest of it will be shipped to our agency upon my return.

I'm excited, nervous and anxious. I have a list of 35 families that have requested pictures and videos of their children at the orphanage. I'm taking two cameras and my brand new HD video camera. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures and footage.

Please pray for our trip to be a safe one. The next time I post I will have my beautiful daughter HOME.

Happy 4th Birthday To My Big Boy!!!!

2009-07-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

I still remember the day they placed my son J.R. into my arms for the very first time. He was 10 months old and all of 12 lbs, shaved head, big ears wearing a "South Beach" tshirt, blue pants and sneakers two sizes too small (basically newborn shoes). I remember thinking "oh my gosh" this baby looks nothing like the pictures I was given, but he looked at me the very first time, studied my face and just smiled. I knew then we would have a very special bond and I was so right. I posted our first picture together and one taken today!

My son is now four years old has been home three and a half years and weighs 34 lbs. He's happy, healthy, tender, caring, smart and well I can go on forever. He is one special little boy with a really big heart. I can't describe how much I love him, there are just no words to explain how I feel. I can just thank the Lord above that He chose us to be his parents. Thank you my dear God for giving me this very special gift.

He wanted Alexis (our 10 year old) to bake his cake and so she did! LOL... When he blew out his candle he wished for "snow"??? Yeah, in Florida no less... LOL... Well, maybe he'll get his wish when we take him back to North Carolina for a visit in the winter!

Anyhow here are some pictures of my beautiful child...

We Have Travel Dates!

2009-07-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

We received our Embassy appointment date today, it's set for August 26th. This means I will be leaving on Saturday, August 22nd and will arrive in Ethiopia at 7pm the next day! I don't know how I'm going to survive so many hours in the air. I HATE flying and this is just one of those darn fears I've never been able to overcome very well.

The one thing that makes me ok with the entire flying situation is knowing that I will be able to finally meet our daughter and be done with the process!

I will be staying at our agency's guesthouse called Ritmo. They will be picking me up on Monday morning and taking me to the orphanage. Letarik will be able to stay with me from Tuesday on. They have had better experiences with kids spending the day with their new parents on the first day and going to the guest house on the second day.

I'll be taking some donations for the orphanage. They are requesting jeans and sneakers for kids ranging from 5 years to 14 years of age.

I'm excited and nervous!!!!

Celebrating Our Daugther

2009-07-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We Passed She's Our Daughter!

2009-07-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, miracles do happen, we PASSED court on our first try! Letarik is officially our daughter! All the prayers were heard and He delivered His devine blessing to our family.

We are extremely blessed to have passed court on oujr first try. All her documents had to be in perfect order, her birth mother had to be present, the MOWA letter had to be signed and approved and there had to be electrical power in order to have her case heard. God provided His blessing and all these important steps were accomplished. Our agency had many families pass court on Monday and Tuesday, so we must rejoice and thank Him for allowing this to happen.

She will now need to take a TB test, an Embassy appointment must be made, a new birth certificate assigned and I'll be able to travel to pick up my beautiful daughter! The agency seems to think we should be able to travel sometime in August.

We also received two more letters from Letarik today. She wrote one to me and another to her dad. She keeps asking for us to go to Ethiopia soon, that she loves us and loves her family. I can't wait to hold her and give her a huge hug!

Both my husband and I are home with the flu but this news makes everything else seem so unimportant!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Less than 8 Hours To Go!

2009-06-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Well our Ethiopian court date is quickly approching. Several families from our agency had their court hearings today. I've read about five posts on our agency yahoo group which posted great news of their passing court and three other families that did not.

There was also an email for our agency owner sent out today that stated that the electrical power situation is currently averaging an outage "every other day" so please pray for a miracle and pray that there is power in Addis tomorrow!

Praying for our daughter to be in our arms very soon!

Letters Straight From An Angel

2009-06-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Opened our mailbox today and was greeted with a very pleasent surprise. There was an 8x10 envelope addressed to Juan and I. This could only be one thing (a letter from Letarik), well I was wrong, there were FIVE letters from our beautiful daughter.

She wrote to her sisters, her dad and to me. She made her sisters bracelets made her dad a manly looking one (with blue and yellow beads) and made me a beautiful purple necklace. She said mentioned she loved us about a zillion times and also traced her foot on a piece of paper for me. See she wants to make sure I get her the correct size in shoes when I pick her up! She is a total RIOT!

She said she was waiting for me to go to Ethiopia and she wants me to go now. She wrote a letter to Juan that asked "Dad are you going to Ethiopia too?" "Can you please adopt my two friends they don't have a family"..... OMGosh this girl is amazing!

Anyhow, what a wonderful surprise just three days before our court date. God please help our case pass court on Tuesday!!!!

Faith Must Prevail!

2009-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Seven Day Count Down

Our soon to be daughter’s adoption case will be heard in an Ethiopian court in just seven short days. As I ponder the possibilities of our court decision, my newly found faith takes over. Just a few short years ago I would have prayed for our case to pass and my prayers would focus on my personal wants, needs and agenda. All those self wanting needs have turned to something different. I now pray for the Lord to place His all-mighty hands on our case and to allow our case to pass if it is His perfect time for her to join our family within a few months.

Many things have become very clear to me in the last few months. The first would be that He has guided our lives towards adoption. He has ensured that I witness His true miracles in so many ways. Our two son’s adoptions were done because of His will. I struggled with our son J.R.’s delayed case, my need to be in total control, but He needed that to happen so I would establish a wonderful relationship with the attorney during that drooling hurtful wait. I later assisted this Guatemalan attorney with the placement of TEN Guatemalan children including my son Julian without the use of an agency.

Our decision to adopt from Ethiopia was surprising to many of our friends and family (they should have learned to never underestimate us!) Our family is large we both have extremely demanding professional careers and care for handicapped parents. However, the Lord touched us and once again, and we responded by requesting to adopt an infant girl. Our initial plans were shaken up when He again spoke to me and lead me to an older waiting child. The idea adopting an older child was something I would have NEVER considered several years ago. The possibility of raising a pre-teen with possible attachment issues would not have “fit” into MY plans.

Well, here we are today, as I sit here praying for Him to place His hands on our adoption and that He affords me the opportunity of traveling to Africa to met and bring home our 11 year old daughter. He, however, wanted me to understand that this was not about me. Once again, He directs my attention to the fact that this is His plan and not ours. On Sunday night I received a wonderful woman that adopted Letarik’s friend in Ethiopia. She was someone that I had met via our agency’s yahoo group and have been communicating with since we began our adoption. She has afforded me valuable information, has sent me amazing pictures of our daughter and has been a great source of support. Well, she advises me that she received a phone call from a family asking her about older children adoptions. She wrote that this family had fallen in love with a waiting child at the beginning of this year. They had begun their paperwork when tragedy struck their family. They suffered a devastating house fire that required their adoption be placed on hold! Guess who the child they feel in love with was? Yes, that’s right it was Letarik! They diligently prayed for God to find this girl a family that would be able to proceed with her adoption. This happened April 2nd and we accepted her referral April 10th. God’s hand was all over this!!!!

I was provided that families blog addy www.ifyoutrulybelieve.blogspot.com and was told to read their entry. My best friend (sister) had posted a prayer request in her amazing blog. This family had found her blog and read that prayer and were shocked to find that Letarik now had a family waiting to bring her home. I was able to email them and provided them some closure. They are now finishing their home repairs and actively trying to complete their home study process as they are still going to proceed with an older girl adoption. The daughter God wants them to have.

So, yes, as I sit anxiously awaiting our June 30th court date, I ask for everyone's prayers and I remind myself that His perfect plan will overcome anything. She will join our family on His perfect timing.

We Have A Court Date - Prayers Needed!!!!

2009-06-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Friday was a wonderful day for our family. Our agency advised us that we have a scheduled court date for Letarik's case to be heard. Our BIG day will be June 30th, we will know if we are officially her parents by the end of that day.

We are asking all our friends and family to please keep us in your prayers. It seems as if lots of cases are not passing on their first try at court. The Ministry Of Womens Affairs (MOWA) in Ethiopia must review the case before the scheduled court date and must write a recommendation/approval letter. This letter must be in the file before the case is heard or your case will not pass court, additionally, her birth mother must be present in order for her to pass court. She has been at Layla House for almost two years and I have not idea if her birth mother will be found easily.

If you don't pass court the agency must reschedule the case for another court hearing. So, if we don't pass court this time around we may still have time to have our case heard one last time before court closures. Ethiopian courts close from August till October, due to the rainy season so we would need to wait till Ocotber to have our case heard again!

Our family was lead to this child and this was done by His hand. We know God wanted us to find her and we are giving this to Him. We pray for her to come home at His perfect time. What is perfect for us may not be what is perfect for Him! I have learned to let go and breath. This is a true testament to my faith and how I've grown as a believer.

I do ask for your thoughts and prayers. I can't wait to have the ability of being Letarik's mom!

Updates

2009-06-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Let me start by apologizing for not keeping my blog up to date. I've been distracted by many things mainly keeping up with Julian who is a total handful and also by our pending adoption. Julian is a crazy kinda kid. He is a chubby guy but man is he agile!!! I try and spend all of my free time with the kids rather than online.

I had foot surgery on Friday. I had a bunion on the side of my foot that kept getting worse by the day. I decided to bite the bullet and have the surgery. Everyone kept telling me how painful that was see a bunion is nothing more than calcium build up on the bone so the bone needs to be shaved and the ligaments on your toes need to be tightened. Let's just say that it HURTS like nothing I've ever felt before! I've been in bed since Friday and with my foot up and iced down. I'm on pain meds so I'm not responsible for any misspelling on this post ok! I'm hoping to be better in a few days.

Now for the best news of all... We have been assigned to a Group. We are part of GROUP M. Our agency assigns you to a group once your dossier has been submitted to court. This basically means we have been approved to adopt in Ethiopia and now we will be assigned a court date (we should have the date withing the next two weeks). We are estimating that our court date will be for sometime in the end of June or the very beginning of July. Then we will need to pass court. This is challenging in itself. Your birth mother will need to be present and all the documents will need to be in perfect order. If we pass court we will be able to travel to pick her up in about six weeks. That would be a miracle and oh so sweet!!!! Please pray for us and pray for all things to line up just perfectly so she can be home soon.

I have left everything to Him, I know God wanted us to find her and He will have her home in His perfect time.

I did receive some new pictures of her and she has sent us four letters with traveling families. She is a wonderfully sweet girl. She has asked for me to go get her as soon as I can. I felt so helpless when I read that line. I wish I was able to jump on a plane and bring her home tomorrow. I will really need to dig deep and breath praying for God to give me patience.

So in closing, I have tons of pictures to post but can't get to my Mac to download. Promise to do so sometime this week. As soon as we pass court, I will post tons of pictures of our new daughter.

I will be posting our court date as soon as we know when it will be and asking for your prayers.

Happy Mothers Day To Everyone!

2009-05-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

I want to wish all the Mothers a very happy Mothers Day.

Our family spent the day at the beach on Saturday. The kids had a marvelous time playing in the sand and bathing in the ocean water. It was wonderful to sit back and enjoy watching my kids have fun with each other. They even got to throw some sand on J.R. who is a little bit on the OCD clean freak side... LOL.... He says he was made into a man mermaid.. That was so cute!

Here are some pictures of our day at the beach.

A Day At The Waterpark!

2009-05-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

In spite of feeling a bit sluggish I managed to get the troop together and visit our local water park where we were invited to celebrate little Miss Mia's birthday party. Mia is also from Guatemala and has amazing parents! Maria and Chris you guys rock! Thank you so much for such a wonderful time. The kids will remember Mia's party for a good while!

I took some pictures of my kiddos to share with everyone. I must say that Julian had the most fun of all. This was his first time at a water park and the boy went bonkers. He LOVED every single minute of it. He was so worn out by the time we made it home he slept for four hours!

Anyways, here are my kiddos at play...

Yes I'm Still Here!

2009-05-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I apologize for not posting lately. The truth is I've been very busy between work, kids and our adoption. Let me start by telling everyone how extremely happy I am. Our agency asks all parents that have accepted a referral to put together a Welcome Bag for their child. The Welcome Bag should consist of a family t-shirt that depicts each member of the family, a family photo album that has pictures of everyone, our home, any pets and his/her new room, a few personal items and of course a letter to your child.

Two days ago, we received a picture of her receiving her Welcome Bag. She had the most beautiful smile and was wearing her t-shirt and looking through the family photo album. I would love to post a picture but its against agency rules to do so until you pass court and the child is officially your child (so I follow the rules!)... I also received an email that stated she was pulled out of class right before her lunch break and was given her welcome bag. She carefully examined the photo album and immediately put on her t-shirt. Apparently there was another older girl that also received her welcome bag along with Letarik, after they received their bags they sat together and reviewed each other's family albums.

I can only imagine how she must be feeling right now. To be 11 years old and really not know where it is your going to be living and with whom. She's probably wondering who I am and how I will be. To leave everything you know, your culture, your language, your friends and to come to a new Country has to be seriously overwhelming. I will surly be comforting, soothing and giving her 100% of my time until she feels comfortable and secure.

I promise to post new pictures of the kiddos on Sunday night. They are growing like weeds. Julian is almost at tall as JR these days!!!

I won't be a stranger and I promise to try and keep this blog updated!!!

We Accepted A Referral!!!!

2009-04-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog. We have had quite a week. Our biggest news is that we accepted a referral of a waiting child. She is beyond beautiful and has been living at the Layla House for almost two years. She is anywhere between 10 - 12 years of age, but they are not sure. I fell in love with her the instant I saw her on our agencies Waiting Children Video. She is sweet and has the most loving smile that I've ever laid eyes on. All our paperwork is complete and her referral was "officially" accepted by us yesterday (signed and sealed)!!!! We are so blessed!

God has blessed us, has provided us the wisdom to adopt an older child. She will be a blessing to our family and we hope to be a blessing to her forever.

I will be asking our agency if it is within their policy to allow us to post pictures of her since our blog is now private. If they allow it I will post them next week. (We are headed off on an 8 day cruise to Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico)!!!

A Wonderful Weekend!

2009-03-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

As expected this past weekend was filled with overwhelming joy! I woke up early Thursday morning, packed up the mini-van and took off to Orlando. We arrived at Fort Wilderness at around 11:15 am, we checked in, dropped our stuff off at the cabin and proceeded to the airport to pick up Jill and the girls.

Jill and the girls where the highlight of our trip. It was so wonderful to spend quality time with them. We hit EPCOT first, we arrived at EPCOT at around 2:30 pm and walked the entire park by the end of the night. EPCOT is an amazing place, my favorite Disney park by far. We did the Magic Kingdom on Friday and lastly visited Hollywood Studios on Saturday.

Here are my favorite pictures of our trip.

Now for an adoption update!!!!

We sent in our dossier today!!! Yes, you read correctly, we completed our dossier and sent it into AAI today. Now it'll need to go to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. for authentication and then it'll be sent to Ethiopia and we will be "officially" waiting for our referral!!! We are getting there and we are now one step closer to Anaya..

I Always Prayed For A Sister!!!

2009-03-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

I was sort of a fluke, being that my parents had been married for over 18 years before my mother finally became pregnant. They were not expecting to get pregnant since they had tried all types of fertility treatments and nothing had seemed to work. Finally, when my parents totally gave up and I showed up!

But, being an only child born to older parents was not the most ideal of situations. Not to mention that my parents did not even speak the language. Not easy growing up… I remember being very lonely and at times having no one to share anything with really bothered me (possibly explains why I love BIG families). So, I would always pray that I would someday have a sister.

Little did I know that God was waiting for me to become an adult, so I could truly appreciate the gift of a sister. Besides blessing me with two wonderful sons (and hopefully a daughter) I gained a sister through adoption. I met Jill while adoption my son J.R. and we became instant friends. Our relationship has grown to that of sisterhood. I could not have prayed for a more caring, open hearted and God filled sister. She guided me to Gods grace and continues to be my confidant. Even though I would be considered the “older” sister, she still gives me the best advise anyone would ever hope for and sometimes, like true sisters, we disagree but always agree to "disagree".

Well, tomorrow my beautiful sister and her three amazing daughters will be flying in from PA and will be sharing three wonderful days with J.R., Mandy and I at Disney!!!!! I am beyond excited about our time together and promise to share many wonderful pictures with everyone next week.

As Promised....

2009-03-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

We wanted to make sure she kept her African heritage, as well as adding some of our Spanish culture... I searched for a name that had true meaning. "Anaya" is an African name that means "prayer answered by God" or "look up to God". This meaning spoke volumes to me and my mothers middle name is Isabel..

The mere fact that my husband wanted to adopt again is a miracle and a prayer that was answered by God.

So her name will be....

Name Claim Coming Soon!!!!

2009-03-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

We HAVE decided on a name for our new daughter. We don't know who she is, how old she'll be, or how her personality will be, but we have definately decided on a name. We will be announcing it this weekend!!!!!

Something To Think About

2009-03-03T11:57:00.001-08:00

A message for our kids and teens..... PLEASE VIEW IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

How do you know you've grown in Christ?

2009-03-03T08:28:00.002-08:00

Life sometimes throws you a curve ball without you even expecting it. It could be some type of traumatic experience, a loss of a loved one, an issue with a child, a health concern, and so many different types of situations could fit into this category. It’s common to experience a myriad of emotions when initially faced with any one of these situations. But, it’s after the initial shock of an event that really measures and quantifies your faith.

This past weekend I experienced a pretty awful thing. My wonderful husband had given me a very meaningful item for our ten wedding anniversary and the arrival of our son Julian from Guatemala. It was a family heirloom valued at $40K. This one piece of jewelry I did not feel comfortable wearing around town, well because it’s not an everyday type of piece you want to wear out. I kept it in a secure location of my house and I would take it out periodically and clean it. On Saturday, I went to retrieve it and it was GONE. My heart skipped a couple of beats when I initially couldn’t find it. I tore my entire house apart looking for it, thinking maybe, just maybe I misplaced it. I cried and felt as if I was beaten up with a stick from the stress I experienced. Well, it has not been found. But I did find something much more valuable. I found that God blessed me with His grace and a peace that only He could provide. I prayed about it and He granted me peace. I felt at ease knowing that my family was in tact that none of my children are experiencing any health issues and that I am married to my best friend and my soul mate. We are expecting a new daughter soon, how much better could I have it?

I’ve learned that material items are just MATERIAL. Things that men have placed a value and those things could always be replaced. Family, health, love, understanding and faith are priceless items that can not be replaced. I have learned to never attach myself to any man made item no loss money, jewelry, vehicle or even a home should make your heart heavy because God didn’t create them we did.

I haven’t found my ring and I honestly don’t think I will. In my heart I hope that whoever acquired it has made good use out of it. I know that it served its purpose in my life by allowing me to realize that God has blessed my heart with the true meaning of worth.

IMPORTANT INFO

2009-02-24T17:14:00.001-08:00

I am thinking about making my blog private. So if you follow it, please comment with your email addy or if you have my email addy send me a request to be added to my viewing friends. Thanks!!!

One Proud Mama!

2009-02-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

I just had to share these pictures of my wonderful family (I'm missing a few) but I post what I can when I can!!!! I must say that I am the luckiest person alive. I am so proud of my family, they are all just precious gifts from God. How can someone be so lucky??? LOL... Ok... I know I'm sappy, but my goodness I feel like I've been blessed so many times over.

Progress!

2009-02-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

We just started our Ethiopian adoption process last week but as most of you guys know I am NOT a procrastinator! So here is what we've done so far:

- Sent out our I600A forms to USCIS
- Sent out our homestudy contract
- Completed all paperwork requested by homestudy agency (local police clearance letters, Florida Department of Law Enforcement clearance checks, employment verification forms, copies of last years tax returns, summaries of our lives and children, physicals for both my husband and I, health forms for all the children, Good Moral Character Affidavits, Department and Children and Families clearance checks, Guardianship affidavits, five personal reference letters - most of these documents needed to be notarized)... THIS IS JUST FOR THE HOMESTUDY!!!!! We had our visits in January so that's done!
- Sent out our agency application form which also necessitated copies of birth certificates, divorce decrees, tax returns, pictures of the family, proof of health insurance

So as you can all see, we have a jump on things and have been a bit busy lately. We are waiting to hear from our selected agency to see if we have been approved for their program. Once we get approval they will send us a contract and instructions to start the dossier process. This will require us to gather even more documents most of which will require a notary and authentication.

We will then wait for our homestudy to be completed and we will ship copies out to the USCIS in order to have them complete our request. Oh... I forgot, we will both need to be fingerprinted for USCIS to approve us. We will need to wait for an appointment date. They usually send out your fingerprint appointment date about 2-3 weeks after receipt of your application, so we are still waiting for that.

Yes, the process of adopting internationally is not for everyone. It takes tons of time and dedication just to gather all these documents and follow the process. But, I must say that the rewards have been amazing. We will continue to follow the process and allow God to do His mighty work. I'm sure He already knows who our daughter is and when she'll be in our home. We trust in Him to watch over her and bring her home in His perfect timing.

Valentines Day Weekend..

2009-02-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice weekend.. It began with a very terrific dinner on Valentines Day. We went to a local restaurant in Weston called Braseros. We went with another couple who we enjoy spending time with. They had a special menu for that day which included a very appealing appetizer, lobster bisque, a lobster tail, a filet and a special desert. We stayed there for about three hours and had a wonderful time.

Sunday was indeed a magical day for us. We attended a special service being held for law enforcement officers at a Missonary Baptist Church down south. The special service was being held in honor of Black History Month. We were very moved by the service which was headed by one of our Department's Chaplins Rev. Richardson. It was a true testament of faith and what it meant to be a Christian and how much God loves us. He spoke about confrontational love and how God touches our lives by means of confrontational love. We sometimes do not understand the purpose behind some of the trials we are faced with on a daily basis, but we must confront them and not ask why, just be aware that God is utilizing us for a reason. This was so very true and hit home in so many ways. The best gift I could have received came in the form of us finding the need to seek spiritual guidance. I am happy to say that our family will begin attending a local church on a weekly basis and we will rejoice in God's name and thank Him for the many blessings we receive on a daily basis!

We Have BIG News!

2009-02-09T15:52:00.001-08:00

Yes, we have really big news, we have decided to move forward with an Ethiopian adoption. We have been praying about it for several weeks now and have waited to post. But, today, the decision was finally made and we will be submitting an application to a very respected agency. I have researched many and there are many good ones out there but we decided on one that fits our family best.

We have learned that there is about an 9 month wait (on average) just to receive your referral. This time will be different for us, we have decided to add a little girl to our family. We are requesting a child anywhere between 12 months to 3 years of age. Today, our adventure has officially begun. I know we are in for a ride, but I also know that God has directed us to Ethiopia and we will trust in Him.

So for now, just wish us a smooth process!

A Very Busy Disney Weekend!!

2009-01-25T15:53:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted in about a month. I purchased an iMac and I'm learning how to use it. It's an amazing computer but it does take a bit of getting used to. I also purchased the Fussion software in order to be able to use all my Windows based programs like PhotoShop, but I can't find my actual Windows software to load, so, until I do I'm out of luck.

We've been a busy family. We've hosted a couple of weekend get togethers with friends and this weekend we spent at our most favorite place DISNEY WORLD... We visited the Magic Kingdom twice and Hollywood Studios. We headed out shortly after breakfast and made it till about 2pm, then back to the hotel for lunch and left daddy and Julian in the room while I went back out with the rest of the kids until about 9pm... Yeap, my back is completely out and I feel like someone ran me over with a Mac truck, but hey the kids had a fabulous time!!!!!

Here are some pictures of our most amazing weekend.. Oh, by the way, we tried out the Caribbean Beach Resort and it was terrific! We will try that one again!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Our family would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!! Our day began at 7 am today. Mandy had been awake since 5 am, but was being wrangled by my mom and was kept from waking the entire house up. She finally allowed her to go peek under the tree at 7 am, we then woke up and went and got J.R. out of bed. Mandy thought he had a little accident because his bed was wet, but he had not, he spilled some water that one of the kids had given him in the middle of the night! Anyhow he was shocked to see his wish come true. His Big Monster Truck was under the tree. Santa actually bought him a Artic Tracker that he had so wished for. It was wonderful to see all the kids interacting and sharing. The funniest thing did happen today, Mandy got a cupcake maker and Alexis an Easy Bake Oven. Mandy went ahead and tested her cupcake maker and made a couple of cupcakes with the help of AnaCarmen and Taylor. They were not very tasty but they were edible. The girls left one cupcake on top of the kitchen table. I heard my aunt laughing hysterically and asking me to come take a look at this. I went to see what she wanted only to find Julian hiding under our table eating Mandy's cupcake. Yes, I have a closet eater! Mandy was saying "hey he stole my cupcake", while Julian was busy stuffing it down his throat hiding under the table thinking no one could see him! Oh my word, this boy can eat! Anyhow, have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy our families pictures and a couple of short clips of our morning!

Feliz Noche Buena!!!

2008-12-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is a really big deal in Latin family culture. Today, we roast a pig, have moros (black beans and rice cooked together), boiled yuca with plenty of mojo (garlic sauce) and the famous "platanitos maduros" or sweet plantains. Yes, we already sat down, give thanks to God for a wonderful year and ate like there was no end.

My day started a little lets say less than perfect. Alexis fell off her "ripstick" on Sunday and hurt her arm. She kept complaining about it and saying she couldn't move it. I took her to the pediatrician's office on Monday, they decided to give us a script to have an xray taken of her arm and elbow. They gave us an appointment for xrays on Tues, picked up the xrays today only to find out she had an acute fracture of the elbow! Ouch!!!! So we had to find an orthopedic specialist to take us in today and set her arm. We found one in Boca Raton who was wonderful. Her arm was set in a "baby blue" cast which she will be sporting for the next three weeks.... "Hint to all concerned parents 1) skip on buying your kid a ripstick, they are DANGEROUS! 2) When your child says their arm hurts after a fall, just take them to the Emergency room and forgo the pediatrician's office!!!

Ok, the tots are now in bed and the cookies where placed next to the fireplace waiting for Santa to arrive. By the way, Santa is going GREEN this year so nothing is being wrapped. All the gifts will have name tags and bows! LOL... I will be posting pictures of our Christmas morning tomorrow!

Very Interesting Information

2008-12-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

I met someone through an adoption forum about 3 months after J.R. arriving from Guatemala. She sent me a private message via the forum that asked me what my son's birth name was. She had recognized the referral picture I had posted. It just so happened that when J.R. was about one month old she had accepted his referral only to find out about one week after that another family had sent in their power of attorney and she lost his referral. Imagine her surprise when she visited a waiting child listing and saw his picture on it only now he was six months old?? Well, she had already received her referral and had her daughter home. She was trying her best to see how she could start on his adoption when he was then marked as no longer available because we had begun his adoption. She was able to send me his newborn pictures that I was never able to obtain and I was and am still so thankful to her.

She recently posted this on her Blog and I thought it was such interesting and true information!!!

She compiled some statistics based on publications
from the World Bank, the CIA, and other sources. From those numbers she was able to calculate the following facts:

Out of 100 children born in Guatemala:

1 has been or will be adopted by a US family
5 will not make it to their 5th birthday
16 will be born with low birth weight
22 will never see the inside of a school
28 will never learn how to read and write
54 will grow up in extreme poverty and malnourished
74 will never make it to the 7th grade
84 will need to travel over an hour to reach a health care facility

By eliminating adoptions in Guatemala the government has solved the
"crisis" for 1 out 100 of their children. What about the rest of them?

Julian Has Been Home ONE YEAR TODAY!

2008-12-14T17:13:00.001-08:00

Wow, it's more than amazing how time just flys on by without you noticing. One year ago today Julian was home forever and on the 20th of this month will mark J.R.'s 2 year anniversay home. We are now a completed family. It took a little while to stablize our family's everyday routine. We had two adoptions within a two year time frame. That in itself makes for two long unstable years of craziness. It's nice and comforting to have your family completed and to have your traditions set and your routine established.

Many within the adoption community celebrate what most call "Gotcha Days" which is the day your child was placed in your arms forever. That would have been December 11th for Julian and December 14th for J.R., so I decided to celebrate Julian's one year home anniversary with his favorite thing "a cake". Look at this guys face light up when he saw his little cake....

Save Money on Online Purchases~~~~~

2008-12-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

My husband's broker came over last night told us about an ecommerce company that saves you money on online purchases. Not only can you save money but you can also make money too. I urge you to look at this company if you spend any amount of money on online shopping, it pays you cash back on purchases and has mostly all the major stores available. They also have lots of "Green" companies too choose from. We went ahead and joined in go look www.shoptoearn.net/rockthemall
Go into my account and on the very top of the page click on overview and listen to the 5 minute presentation. Its well worth the time. If you have any questions or are interested email me directly at alexismandy@aol.com and I'll be happy to answer your questions. If you just want to shop it will not cost you anything to start saving money, just click on the become a preferred customer and sign up to save, it's free!!! Have fun shopping and saving money! I know I do!!!!

More Fabulous Pictures

2008-12-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

Love these pictures of our week together.

I'm Back!

2008-12-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in over a month! It's been a very busy couple of months for us. I've neglected the blog and the posts and paid much needed attention to my family.

We just returned from a seven night cruise to the Western Caribbean. We celebrated my birthday by going on a cruise and took three of the kids with us. Alexis is in fourth grade and could not miss 5 days of school to just vacation so she stayed home and was promised she'll join us next time and the other three will stay home. You can only have five people to a stateroom or you need to book two seperate cabins which is really non conducive for families with small children.

It was a seriously eye opening experience having two small boys and a 5 year old in a stateroom. Wow! I mean Wow!! I don't think that will happen again until they are at least 10 years old! Julian gets happy or annoyed he screams, a scream that kinda sounds like a whistle that a dog could hear. We tried the dining room one night and quickly learned it was probably not the best choice for us, so we visited the buffet the remaining nights. One thing's for sure we had some bonding time!

I had some portraits taken of the kids during the cruise. They were so cute I couldn't resist and bought three of them.

I'll post some of my favorite pictures of our seven days tomorrow. Today, I'm just adding the portraits we purchased.

I Removed the Music Playlist

2008-11-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

I monitor an adoption forum and not too long ago they conducted a survey concerning music on blogs. Seems like most people really dislike music on blogs. They said it was annoying and they usually just removed the sound while reading it. So, since it seems that most people do not like to listen to music while trying to read a blog, I have removed it........ Hey, I wanna keep my friends Happy!

Halloween At Disney....

2008-11-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to Disney (being a Floridan does have its privileges)for Halloween. They have an event called the Not So Spooky Halloween Party for the kids. They had a fantastic time.

J.R. was finally happy with taking pictures with the characters. He usually screamed his lungs out when they would get near him. Yeap, he's graduated to loving characters!!!! Julian wasn't happy, he's still not liking the big mouse or big overgrown Winnie The Pooh coming near him...

Alberto Looks So Cool!!!!

2008-10-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Ana's son Alberto is chillin with his cool clothes (Compliments of my huge son Julian) who grew out of EVERYTHING!!!! Ana is a digital scrapbooker like me. She made this for me and sent it to me. Needless to say I had to ask her for permission to post this because it's way too cute!!!!!!

Fall has arrived in South Florida

2008-10-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

When I was younger and my oldest children where little I never took the time to take them to special places. I worked afternoons and midnights and never had much time or engergy to dedicate to them. I regret that so very much. Those moments and those young years can never be replaced. Thats why I am try and capture these precious moments in my younger children's life.

It's difficult to believe that fall is already here, specially when it's 89 degress outside. Our neighboring city of Parkland had a huge Pumpkin Patch event this fall. I packed up the kids and my camera (all except Mandy who opted for golfing with daddy instead) and headed to Parkland.

The kids enjoyed it so much. There were thousands of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes there. We took many beautiful pictures and even ran into a friend who also adopted from Guatemala and her son Axel.

It was a beautiful day!!!

Operation Princess Hair Begins!!!!!!

2008-10-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

As many of you know there is a precious little guatatoddler in the adoption community fighting cancer.... Abby Riggs is 3 years old and going through a painful process right now. Many of us know of and care for this sweet little one. I need your help to support this precious family!

www.thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com this is the blog to go to read more about this and the Pay Pal button to give Abby her hair back is on the top of her sidebar.

Abby is so many wonderful things. She is part of an amazing family. There are 7 wonderful kiddos in her family. 3 of those sweeties- including Abby came by way of adoption. Abby is a bouncing, happy, funny princess of a 3 year old....

Now she is also a dear little warrior fighting for her life. She was diagnosed with Leukemia and life suddenly took a radical turn for this amazing family. Her concerns of which princess dress she should wear have turned to whether she will get poked or be able to keep her food down today.

This is sweet Abby right now....

These are the battle scars she has right now in her fight against cancer...

Just one of the MANY things she has been forced to give up is her GORGEOUS princess hair and it makes her very sad.... What is it like to be the mommy that has to tell your 3 year old that she has to take medicine that will give her horrible sores, make her throw up constantly, and cause her to lose her hair? What is that like? What is it like to watch tears slide down your sweet baby's cheeks even in her sleep cause that's how much it hurts.

THIS is not OK with me. If I could I would make this go away. If I could I would change this- I wish there was a way. I know there are so many of us who wish that. We CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY! We just can't.

What we can do is give Abby back her princess hair. It's expensive and not something this family needs to worry about during this stressful financial time of paying for medicine and gas and hospital bills. We can not make this all go away but we can give Abby back her hair and make her smile.

SOOOOOO TODAY WE BEGIN....

OPERATION PRINCESS HAIR!

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it...

1. I want us to buy sweet Abby one of these- http://www.hatswithhair.com/

It's called a pony sport. It costs $228. It's made with real human hair. It's very comfortable and can be worn with any baseball type cap that Abby prefers.

After visiting with her mommy we feel this would be very comfortable and fun for everyday use at home and the hospital.

2. We will flood Abby and the other kiddos in the family with care packages that let her and her family know they are loved. If you feel you would like to send Abby or her family a present please e-mail Angel at angelweir@gmail.com

We can all send Abby fun presents AND ALL SEND an ADORABLE BASEBALL CAP to wear with her new hair. Then everytime she is having a hard day her momma can bust out a new care package to give her something to smile about.

3. We are also going to buy Abby a custom made wig! Check it out here....

http://www.celebritystylewigs.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=493

I am so excited about this! It is going to be custom made to look a lot like her hair did before she needed to start chemo. So when Abby wants to dress up nice and look like the Abby she remembers she will have this. This wig will cost about $450. It is made of real hair and created just for her little head.

4. If there are donations exceeding the needed amount for the princess hair we will invite the family to use this money to help with whatever extra expenses they are facing during this difficult time.

It's hard for me to fathom what this family is facing. I want to do whatever I can to support them.

They are full of faith and strong. Cancer FEARS this little fighter! Let's do whatever we can to love and walk with this family during this time. I can't begin to imagine what they are facing but I PRAY that people would be there for me if we ever did walk this path.

IF YOU WANT TO SEND ABBY A CARE PACKAGE INCLUDING A CUTSIE NEW BASEBALL CAP PLEASE E-MAIL angelweir@gmail.com

Halloween Preview!!!!

2008-10-07T17:26:00.001-07:00

After much debate regarding being Buzz Light Year or Spiderman..... The winner is.......

Elmos Is In the House!!!!

2008-10-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Julian is obsessed with Elmo. While shopping at our local Target, I came across these Elmo Slippers. I had to post these pictures of Julian in his Elmo slippers because I thought these pictures were just too adoreable not to be displayed....

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!!!!!

2008-10-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

I decided to make sure that the girls had a little mommy and me time this weekend. I have seen this girls club at the mall called Libby Lu's. I surprised the girls and made them an appointment. It's kinds like a mini girls spa complete with a makeup station, nail care area, pick a stuffed doggie area and make your own makeup kit area. They get to choose which hairstyle they want, both my girls decided they wanted to be Hannah Montanas. So they were Rock Stars for a day. It was definately worth it. They had a very nice memorable "sister, mommy, day!

Picture Montage of Our Visit

2008-10-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up and had this beautiful surprise Jill sent me. She took 3 hours out of her very busy day to put this picture montage together for me. I was truly in tears.

Thank you dear sister, our time together was more that amazing and a blessing.

Please take the time to watch this beautiful montage.

YOU'LL NEED TO SLIDE THE BAR ON THE MONTAGE A SLIGHT BIT IN ORDER TO VIEW IT! SORRY FOR THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES BUT IT'S WORTH A LOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Our Visit To See Aunt Jill and Uncle Scott

2008-09-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was very special J.R. and I. We visited my best friend Jill and her amazing family in Pennsylvania. God did not bless me with a biological sister, however, he did bless me with Jill who is more than a sister to me.

Jill is totally amazing. She has seven children and is currently waiting on her eighth child who is coming from Ethiopia. It's amazing to see how she is able to handle her children with such ease. I have four at home who are very good kids, however, they do not come close to being as obidient and well behaved (except for one)...

We spent three days together. Her sweet daughter Lexi gave us a mini-spa evening on Friday night. This young lady is kind, sweet, caring and beautiful. I finally got to meet Jill's dear husband. What an experience that was. I was able to see what a kind, caring person he is. He's an amazing father and husband. I'm so happy to have had three days with them both. Scott you make the BEST pancakes I've ever had!

We went to Philadelphia on Saturday and visited the Franklin Insitute Museum of Science. That was such an amazing place to visit. All the kids, as well as the adults, had a marvalous time. They had a special pirate exhibit that we enjoyed.

One of the highlights of my trip was discovering that J.R. needed to be just like the big boys as it relates to using the potty. Yes, it's true, he became fully potty trained in ONE day. Uncle Scott helped out and wahhhlaaa DONE DEAL! He has NOT had one single accident since!

Jill and I have now come to an agreement as it pertains to visitations. We will be visiting each other every 5-6 months (taking turns) doing so. So, she will be coming to see us in February. I have a wonderful time planned!!!!!

I was able to capture some wonderful memories of this years trip to visit my BFF and her BEATIFUL family.

Thank you my dear friend for receiving us with such open arms. I know we will be friends forever.

J.R. and I are going to visit Jill!

2008-09-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's been over TWO years since Alexis and I visited Jill in Pennsylvania. Jill is the sister I never had. We met while I was completing J.R.'s adoption. She was using the same agency while adopting two of her boys. We are sure that God brought us together for a reason. She was able to adopt two children from my facilitator. They are bio siblings and the cutest little ones you could ever see.

J.R. is beyond excited about seeing all the kids, being with Aunt Jill and riding on an airplane. He made me buy him a carryon and now he won't leave it alone. Is he not the cutest thing ever?

Celebrating Adoption Photos

2008-09-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

We are blessed to have had Lori Barrett come and take pictures of our family. She is truely amazing. She had so much patience with the kids. Lori participates in a charity called "Celebrating Adoptions" where photographers donate their time to take portraits of children that have been adopted. Lori was gracious enough to come and take wonderful pictures of our little ones. Thank you Lori you are amazing! Here are some of the pictures she's posted on her website http://loribarrettphotography.blogspot.com/

Welcome Home Lola!

2008-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

We have a couple of updated for the week. Firstly, I'd like to congradulate J.R. for making the top 25 in the 2-4 year age group for the South Florida Parenting Magazine Cover Contest. The finals were held yesterday and he had a fantastic time at the Children's Museum of Art.

Secondly, we would like to welcome Lola to our family. She arrived yesterday after a long journey from Oklahoma. She already fits right in. She loves to play and chase the kids around and loves to pull their hair when they are on the floor playing. Welcome home Lola!!!!

Oh one more thing... We finally had our Celebrating Adoptions photo session yesterday with Lori Barrett photography. She came over and was very patient with my impossible kids. I'll post the link for the proofs once she provides it to me. We can't wait to see those pictures! Thank you LORI YOU ROCK!

Back From Vacation!

2008-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a very long time we went on vacation with friends and without the kiddos. We flew to San Juan and took a 7 night cruise to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Marteen and St. Thomas. It was wonderful and peaceful. It was nice to not have to hear an alarm clock ringing at 530 a.m.. I did miss the kids but not before we tried the zip-line in Barbados, jet skies and boat tubing in St. Lucia, power boating in Antigua and shopping in St. Marteen and St. Thomas yeahhhhh!!!!

We arrived last night to find Julian now an official walker/runner and not a crawler anymore. It's amazing how in 7 days he seems to have gone from a baby to a big boy toddler!!!

Anyhow, here are some pictures of us and the beautiful places we visited this past week.

2008-08-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Today JR and I went outside and were picking up avacados from our tree. He was so cute helping me out and running around in the grass. I decided to take a minute and take a couple of pictures of my precious little boy. I have to post them so everyone can see what a gift from God he is!

Happy 16th Birthday Taylor!

2008-08-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I've been a bit busy this week! Taylor turned 16 last Sunday! My baby is already 16 years old! She is a wonderful young lady, she adores her brothers and sisters and wanted to take a picture with J.R. as soon as we got there! We spent a very nice Sunday afternoon with her friends and Monday it was back to school for her too! Happy birthday baby (your still my baby!)

Julian had surgery!

2008-08-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

I did make mention that Julian had minor surgery yesterday. Poor baby boy had a circumcision. I'm happy to report that he is doing very well today. He is a very brave little boy, he didn't cry yesterday nor did he cry today. He is a bit uncomfortable at times but we change him every hour to prevent him from hurting. Thank goodness we are done with that! I took a couple of pictures of him in his little hospital gown (he is so sweet!)

Mandy's 1st Day in Kindergarten

2008-08-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Monday Was the 1st Day Back To School

2008-08-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind on my blog entries this week. It's been a rather busy week for me. The girls started school on Monday and Julian had surgery yesterday. Minor surgery but it's still surgery! So I'm posting all the weeks events at one time. I have more pictures that will be posted later today (if time allows).. It was Mandy's 1st day in Kindergarten and she was very excited. Alexis is now a big 4th grader who is very confident and loves her school!

Congratulations J.R.

2008-08-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to J.R. for being selected in the top 100 finalists for the South Florida Parenting Magazine Cover contest. There are a total of 100 finalists for four seperate age groups. J.R. is in the 2-4 year age group and there will be 25 other children competing for the cover as well as two runners up who's pictures will be in one of the 2009 monthly magazine covers. Good luck to my handsome big boy! We are very proud of you!

Quiet Weekend

2008-08-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

We didn't do anything exciting this weekend, pretty unusual for us... My computer a DELL decided it was going to die on me. I mean it wouldn't do anything but give me that dreeded blue screen. We all know what that means.. So, being the cautious person I am, I purchased an extended warranty. This warranty entitles me to contact Dell's Customer Support. They did everything possible to irritate the heck outta me and only supported a massive headache. They transferred me from person to person, and when they couldn't figure out what to do they would just disconnect me... Well, after a total of about 8 long hours that ranged from Thursday to Saturday my computer was fixed. I will NEVER purchase another Dell again!!!!!! Sad because I really liked Dell... My next one will be an iMac...

Well, I got my PC back up and managed to create these... Thanks to Ana, I found some seriously nice digi websites where there's lots of beautiful kits to choose from. I redid my favorite picture of the boys, I'm going to print it and frame it. It's special to me and I'm going to display it!

My favorite!

2008-08-06T04:51:00.001-07:00

Here's my favorite picture taken at the beach last weekend. Needs no words.

2008-08-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

This was Julian's first day at the beach. He really enjoyed it. I was shocked to see this child had absolutely no fear of the water. His only concern was that I leave him alone to ride the waves. Oh and he also wanted to eat the sand.

This beach is located directly behind our condominum. It's called Jaysee Park and it's a very nice beach for young children because it's a part of the inlet which means the waves are very mild. They also have a beautiful park directly in front of the beach area that includes a small water park for the kids.

Julian's 1st Time At the Beach!!!

2008-08-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

All my boys!

2008-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

My son came over last weekend to visit us. He hasn't been over in a while and had not had the opportunity of meeting his baby brother. I was able to capture ALL my boys together at once! In addition to that, my daughter was visiting from Tampa, we only needed Taylor and we would have been able to have a true family picture. I'm sure one of these days I'll be able to have them all together at once!!!

Happy Birthday To My Beautiful Son!

2008-07-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful weekend! J.R. was in heaven, we stayed at the Disney's Coranado Springs Resort. We visited the Magic Kingdom on Friday, got a little rain but we didn't mind. Saturday was a total pool, slide, playground and Surrey bike day (that's a seven seater bicycle) for those who don't know what the heck I'm referring to...

Today, was my little man's actual birthday. I took the day off work, took them to Ritters (a very yummy ice cream shoppe), then off to the playground. After a fun filled (exhusting) day, home we went and happy birthday was sung to my sunshine.

I am SOOOO BLESSED TO HAVE HIM IN MY LIFE! I do believe the Angels where dancing around him the day he was born. His heart is kind and joyful, a gift some never experience. Happy birthday son! Love your Mommy.

An Adoptive Parents Rant, Why Because I'm Tired Of The Same Questions!

2008-07-16T16:22:00.001-07:00

Today, I answered another question concerning why I adopted. Before responding, I take a deep breath and consider the source. Sometimes I go off.... Here are some questions I've been asked....

Why did you adopt? (answer... because my husband and I decided to)What made you want to? (God) How did you find them?(God showed me the way) How do you do it? (God gives me the ability, foundation and patience), You deserve a medal (I have my medals, they are my children), They are so lucky (We are the lucky ones, we were the ones chosen to raise these precious children), God will repay you (God has rewarded
us by matching us with these children), Do they know they are adopted? (We speak to our older son about his adoption, our younger son can't speak yet), Will you tell them they are adopted? (The adoptions will be completely common place since we've already began to explain it to our older son), Do you love them the same as your own kids? (They are my own kids) Why did you adopt two? (Because God placed them in my life) Why would you want to start raising children all over again? (Gosh, am I that old?) Are you done or are you going to adopt more? (Why do you ask? Do you want me to adopt yours? LOL) Your like the Angelina Jolie of the Police Department (Nahh, I've got her by at least 80 lbs, and if I where Angelina Jolie, I wouldn't need to work). Is it expensive to get one? (Are you referring to my sons or an item?) Now you have a roofer and a yard guy (No longer speaking to this person).

The above are some of the questions and comments I've been exposed during the past two years. Some questions are innocent, others not so innocent, some comments made directly from the heart, others are undignified. Nonetheless, all seriously make me cringe.

I became a mother at the tender age of 20 and continued growing my family until the age of 36. I never dreamed of adoption, didn't think of it, never crossing my mind. Until that faithful day...... My life changed in so many ways. All from just taking my then 3 year old daughter to her yearly physical at her pediatricians office. There, I met a lady with two beautiful daughters who played along with my then 3 year old daughter. In conversation, the mother mentioned they were adopted, one from Guatemala and the other from Costa Rica. I was extremely curious, and cautious at the same time. I asked how difficult is it to adopt? I have one son and four daughters, my husband and I are done having biologicial children, but if we could afford to, we would consider adopting a little boy. She gave me her agency's website address. I went home and got right on my computer and visited that website. Much to my surprise, I found a photolisting of children that needed homes, waiting children. Pages of children pictured, beautiful babies all with only one thing in common, they were orphans.

So many emotions ran through me. I had so many unanswered questions. How and why where these kids listed and why where they being advertised as "on hold" "matched" "available"... What and how could they do this? I remember looking through that website and viewing it and finding a big brown eyed dark haired gorgeous baby boy named "Juan Carlos" and marked as "available". I looked into his innocent eyes and just felt this child was the reason I had been lead to this quest. I called my unaware husband and told him about my day and what I had discussed with that lady I had met at the pediatricians office. He thought nothing of it. I printed his picture and waited for my husband to get home. Poor guy didn't know what he was about to walk into.

My husband "Juan" gets home, I was egerly awaiting his arrival. I was desperately waiting to tell him about all the feelings and all the questions I had dealt with that day. I just showed him this picture and said, this is our son. My husband thought I had seriously lost my mind. What are you talking about? Who is that kid? Did you loose your mind or are you on drugs? Yeap, this is the response I
received.... Luckily, I am married to a wonderful man who married me and took on the responsibility of raising my three children. We later added two more girls and now I'm asking for what? After a long explanation, he looked at that picture and said to me "call the agency and find out"..... This was his way of saying, I feel the same, lets see if we can swing it.

I called my agency and spoke with the owner who advised me this child was available and would be mine if I completed all the paperwork that was required. And so it began, our quest for J.R. become real. I could seriously say that he became my son the DAY I saw his picture. I knew he was MY son, he may not have been born of my flesh, but he was born of my heart.

So, you see, all the questions and comments people impose on adoptive parents are usually very innocent and are mostly asked out of curiosity, but they consistently remind the adoptive parent that their child is different in some type of way. I have experienced both biological and adoptive parenting and can tell you that the love you feel and the parent/child bond is exactly the same in both cases. Both
my boys were born in Guatemala and my love for them was born the day I saw their referral pictures. So, please, whenever you come across a blended family be gentle and think about how your questions or comments could negatively impact their feelings. I have seen gained many friends through our adoption process and I have also lost several long term relationships due to insensitive, crude comments aimed directly at my beloved children. Ok, I feel better now!

He's gonna be 3 years old and we are Disney bound!

2008-07-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

I have not posted since the 4th of July. J.R.'s birthday is quickly approching (July 21st). I can't believe my baby boy is turning 3! I look back, close my eyes, and see that little peanut being brought to me during our first visit trip at 10 months of age, weighing in at a whooping 12 lbs! He was sicker than sick with 102 fever, pink eye and tiny! He still managed to smile the first time we saw each other. I knew I loved this child from the moment I laid eyes on him. Yes, that little peanut can know tell me he wants to grow big and be a doctor or a fireman! LOL.. He's such a doll baby.

We will be taking all the kids to Disney. We leave on Thursday night. Stay tuned for tons of pictures!

2008-07-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the page Aunt Jill made for us! Isn't it amazing??

Our 1st 4th of July~

2008-07-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

This is our first year celebrating the 4th of July with both our boys home. We went to Hutchinson Island and drove next to the beach where they had scheduled their 4th of July firework extravaganza. It was totally amazing, it felt as if they were going to fall on our van.

I started digital scrapbooking after my BFF Jill showed me the way... Here's my first attempt at it.

2008-06-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

For Auntie Jill Y Para Mi Gran Amiga Irasema!

2008-06-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Happy 1st Birthday to Ava!

2008-06-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Today helped celebrate Ava Leigh's 1st birthday. Her party was held at the Miami Children's Museum of Science. What a wonderful place for a birthday party. It was wonderful to be around so many Guate tots, the kids had a blast. Ava was precious in her birthday dress, what a princesa she is! Cutie pie indeed.

The Museum had lots of activities for the kids. They played in a pretend ship while they fished from it and slid down the slide that was towards the end of the ship. They had an area for the smaller kids that can't walk yet. They also had little stations where they could pretend. J.R. dressed up like a firefighter and later got to ride a Police motorcycle along with Julian.

We feel blessed to have been a part of the celebration and to live near so many kids from Guatemala.

Lots of Parties in the Air Lately

2008-06-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well, if it wasn't for the good ole trusty stomach virus life would be great... Mandy came down with it first, then Alexis and I followed along, but luckily it hit us after our birthday party attendance.

We were invited to our friends bday party and then to Guiseppa's one year home celebration. It was a very busy Saturday. We finally got to see Alex and Almari! WELCOME home girls!!!!!

Today was a horrible day for both Alexis and I. We are sick as can be... Pray we recover quickly and that our boys don't get sick.

***Cheri - We live in South Florida where it's about 100 degrees everyday!

VOTE FOR JULIAN

2008-06-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

I entered Julian into a free weekly photo contest sponsored by a photography company. The picture with the highest votes wins. Please help Julian win by going to www.photowow.com and voting 10 for contestant 50729.

Here's the picture I submitted of him.

Thanks!!!!

Bday Party Fun

2008-05-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

The kiddos were invited to attend our neighbors twin boys bday party which was held at a local kids gymnastics place. I had no idea that bday parties at gymnastics place could be such great hits with the kids. They started off with creative arts. They were all given tshirts (smocks) to throw and then chose a piece of ceramic to paint. Alexis picked a seahorse, Mandy a fish and J.R. a teddy bear. When they were done with that they were told to take off their shoes and socks and led into a gymnastics area where they got to play for two hours. Once done with that portion of it they all had pizza, sang happy bday and cut that cake! It was a great time for the kids.

We have a trip planned for a small water park tomorrow where we will be meeting up with Maria, Chris and Mia. That should be fun!

Julian's Readoption Day

2008-05-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today was Julian's readoption day. Finally the end of a long process. It was a wonderful experience since we were represented by a fellow Guatemalan adoptive parent and personal friend "Bart". We weren't able to take Alexis because she was in school but we did take Mandy and J.R.. The court reporter recognized J.R. from his readoption which took place last year. She was stunned on how he's progressed. Julian was all smiles, waving bye bye and being his usual happy self. My kids thought Bart was great and while we were waiting for copies of our final order he sat on the floor with them and played.

It's a very interesting process in Florida. If you don't recognize the foreign adoption, your child does not have the same rights and previledges as your biological children would have. Now Julian has all his rights and will receive a Florida Birthcertificate!

My husband couldn't resist but to kiss up all up while we waited!!! Here are some pictures.

2008-05-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

2008-05-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's been difficult trying to keep our blog updated. We have very busy weekends trying to get things done that I couldn't do while working during the weekdays. But, we do manage to do something fun with the kids almost every weekend.

This was our first Memorial Day weekend with both boys home. We decided to go visit Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure. We stayed at the Portofino Hotel that's within the park. It was lots of fun for the girls, however, the boys really didn't get to ride much because they are still too small. We all did ride the tea-cups which was Julian's first park ride ever. He LOVED it, he is a riot of a child. J.R. is afraid of everything. I mean he's afraid of balloons, clowns, characters, rides, pools the list is endless. I know it's a matter of time before he overcomes many of these fears and I'm a very patient mom and will work with him. He had a very difficult start and all these issues are totally normal.

We came home on Sunday and I decided to take all the kids for haircuts. The boys both got the "suffer" cuts and the girls just got trims. I think they all look gorgeous (but I'm very partial!!!)...

Tomorrow is Julian's re-adoption or "Recognition of Foreign Adoption" this needs to be done in order for the State of Florida to legally recognize him as our son and in order to receive a Florida birth certificate. My dear friend Bart is representing us. He had Ethan's re-adoption done this past Tuesday.

I'm posting pictures of our weekend now and tomorrow of our re-adoption ceremony if time permits....

See you all real soon!

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Amazing how I've celebrated Mother's Day since I was 20 years old and 21 years later (boy now everyone knows I'm 41~~~)it seems like my 1st! Yes, it was a truly wonderful day. The only thing missing was my daugher Kristin and my son Oscar (but they both called!).. Alexis surprised me with a beautiful picture she drew titled "My Mommy Has 8 Kids". She drew each one of my children, including my step-daughter. I was moved and delighted and framed in order to properly display it in my office! I was also treated to hand written coupons that are for 1) 7 days of foot massages 2) kiss and hug 3) I'll do whatever you tell me to without asking why 4) We won't argue for 8 hours... Truly special!!!

We had a barbque and swam in our pool. Julian's 1st time in a pool and my 1st time in our house pool (we've lived here over 2 years!)... Now for pictures..

Adoption Do's and Do Not's

2008-05-05T10:31:00.001-07:00

I am a member of an adoption forum that helped me find support during my two adoption journeys. It also provided support and lots of answers to questions my own agency did not or could not answer.

Recently, one of the members wrote a post concerning the "Do's and Do Not's" of adoptions. This is specific on what you should not ask or say to an adoptive parent and/or child. I found it very interesting and informative, being that I've personally been asked several of the (don't ask) questions form friends and family.

Adoption is a very unique journey of the heart. It is sometimes looked upon as an act of charity or kidness, however, I have found it to be quite the opposite in my personal case. I am the one that feels privileged to have been chosen as the mother of these two amazing little persons. I have been given the honor of parenting these loving, caring precious children. Although I will never personally know the extent of "why" they were given up for adoption, nor can I tell you "why" I was the one intrusted with raising them, I thank God for the distinct opportunity of doing so.

Everyone has the opportunity of growing their family differently. That's part of having freedom and choices. I was blessed with five biological blessings and now have the honor of raising two additional angels. I don't differentiate biological or adopted children in any way and truly wish others wouldn't ask "which are mine" because they ALL are MINE. That's why I found this list to be so powerful....

I'd like to post a copy of the list the forum member posted for everyone to read and take note.

1.Please do not introduce XXX as "Our adopted grandson/nephew."

2.Please do not make any racial jokes of any kind, no matter how "harmless." There are no harmless jokes.

3.Please love and respect XXX's birthmother.

4.Please do not comment on how you could "never give up your own children." Especially not ever in front of XXXX. You are making an indirectly giving your opinion of XXX's birthmother.

5.Please see XXX as an individual.

6.Please do not make any racist comments about any OTHER race.

7.XXX does NOT owe us anything. XXX is NOT lucky to have us. He did not ask to be born. He certainly didn't ask to be adopted. We are the ones who are lucky.

8. Please learn positive adoption language and use it.

10. There really is no such thing as "race"; we are the human race. There are different cultures and ethnicities.

11.Just as there are different types of people, there are different ways of building families. Adoption is another way and is not a better or worse way of building a family than biologically or any other way. It's just different.

Catching Up...

2008-05-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

It's been an extremely busy few weeks for us. Julian's bronciolitis has been quite the challenge. We finally had to make the decision of pulling him out of daycare and found a nanney that stays at our house Monday through Friday. She's not permenant yet, it's kinda a trail run for a few weeks. I personally don't think she'll stay longer than a month or so but at least Julian will be healthy and ready to start daycare again.

The kids are all growing and bonding. It's really amazing to see the progress. Julian is now crawling very quickly, standing and cruising. I'm hoping he'll be walking within a few months. J.R. has made some strides with eating. I started giving him Polyvisol vitamins and it's really giving him an appetite. He's gained two pounds in a week (That's record weight gain for him!)...

Mandy has decided she will grow up to be a dancer. Wahhoo, look what I get to look forward to. This girl is a serious riot!

Posting pictures now!!!!

Couple More Pictures

2008-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post these.... I kept J.R.'s 1st birthday outfit and used it on Julian today. I was able to visit J.R. in Guatemala during his 1st birthday. It was a bitter sweet experience because my dad had passed just 2 days before. However, he would have wanted me to continue with my travel plans and spend my sons 1st birthday with him. I treasure those memories and thank God I was given the opportunity to share that special day with him in Guatemala. Here are the pictures.

Happy 1st Birthday Julian

2008-04-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a couple of weeks (shame on me) however, the kids were sick and we went to visit Mickey Mouse!!!

Today, was my sweet Julian's 1st birthday. My head is spinning with how quickly his 1st year went. Last April 11th I was contacted by my Guatemalan facilitator who told me about my precious Julian. She sent me a few pictures and I instantly feel head over heels in love with my little boy. Julian has been home for a short 3 months, yet it feels as if he's been home since the day he was born.

Thank you God for giving me the ability of raising this precious little boy. Thank you Lord for giving me the gift of so many wonderful children and a wonderful husband. I'm a very lucky lady with a wonderful family and wonderful friends. Today I celebrate my youngest sons 1st birthday and all I can say is "Thank you God"!

Our Easter Sunday

2008-03-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

We decided to get away and left to the beach condo. We spent the weekend relaxing and doing much of nothing. The boys are still under the weather and I am too. The Easter bunny came hopping along and left the kids fun filled baskets they totally enjoyed.

On Monday I went to work and had to see the doctor because I couldn't even breath. He gave me a shot of antibiotics and perscribed three different meds. I'm stayed home from work today and will need to take the boys for a follow up doctors appointment. I'm sure J.R. will end up with a nebulizer too. Hopefully they will all be better for our upcoming Disney trip on Thursday. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

It's not always fun and games!

2008-03-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted lately because I've been busy taking care of a very sick baby boy! Julian has a double ear infection and a virus. His temperature shot up to 104 two nights ago. We've been to the pediatrician twice in a week and have been perscribed two different antibiotics for him. This new one is super strong and is making his stomach upset. Poor baby boy. You feel so helpless as a mother when you can't make them better! Please pray my little guy gets better soon!

HOA Picnic

2008-03-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to the Hispanic Officers Association Picnic. My husband and I have been members for many years but have never really participated in there annual picnic. We decided to take the kids and we are so glad we did. They had a WONDERFUL time. They rode ponies, rock climbed, enjoyed the slides and ate tons of junk food. They had a blast being children. We were able to introduce Julian to some of our friends that still had not met him. We really had a wonderful time today.

South Florida Guat. Picnic

2008-02-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

We did it! We had our first South Florida Guatemalan Picnic. Several families with adopted Guatemalan children attended. This was a great opportunity to meet local families with Guat tots. It was a very successful first picnic. J.R. had a wonderful time with the other children and Julian was as cool as could be sitting in his stroller just taking all in. The girls, well, they were at the park. Totally thankful for being outside, not even a little rain shower messed up their wonderful day.

We're hoping to have the next get together in July.

Happy Birthday Mandy!

2008-02-17T16:17:00.000-08:00

Today was Mandy's 5th birthday. All she wanted for her birthday was to have all her sisters home with her! Her birthday wish came true. Kristin was down from Tampa, AnaCarmen came down from Tampa as well and Taylor came over early today. She was thrilled to see them all. Jessica, Kristin's best friend came over and brought her a card and a single pink rose. She LOVED it, immediately placed it in water and put it in her room. She wanted me to dress her in a "butterfly princess dress" and I, of course, tried my best to accommodate her request. Here are pictures of our wonderful day.

Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary!!!!

2008-02-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated our aunt and uncles 35th wedding anniversary. Aunt Carmen and uncle Sidney were so happy throughout the celebration. Kristin and Anacarmen both came down to attend the party.

Butterfly World

2008-02-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

Well what do you do when you wake up to a beautiful cloud free 80 degree Flordia Day? Well, you take the kids to Butterfly World. It's located withing Tradewinds Park in very close proximity to our house. Pack them up and off we went. They have all types of butterflies there, even the blue exotic ones that Alexis loves so much. They were able to see the cacoons and how the butterflies were hatching. They had a beautiful lagoon and rainforest. They also had birds they were able to feed. They had a wonderful day today!

2008-02-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

This is my last weekend before I go back to work. I'm comfortable with Julian's daycare situation. I looked long and hard, weighed all my options and finally decided on one located directly across the street from my house. I've spent most of my week taking him at different hours of the day and playing with him so he'll get accustomed to it before the BIG day. It's definately not easy leaving your child in the hands of someone else, but it's necessary.

Today, I met up with a very good friend in Pembroke Pines and we took my kids to have Cold Stone Icecream. They all had a wonderful time while Ana, Bryan and I sat and chatted. After our little trip to P. Pines we came back home. My husbands friend came over and brought the kids a huge box of chocolate cream filled donuts (a day filled with not so good stuff). I didn't let them eat any because they just had icecream several hours before. We sat and watched tv for a while and all of a sudden I noticed J.R. was not in the living room any longer. I looked over to the kitchen area and there he was sitting down at the table going to town on one of the donuts. He was enjoying it so much I couldn't possible take it from him so I just went and got my camera!!! Of course after that mess we had to bathe him and Julian who also managed go get chocolate cream on his ear and neck after J.R. gave him a kiss.

2008-02-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

Had some more pics to share and blogger only lets you post a few at a time. Julian has learned to make scarey faces SO CUTE! He's learning all kinds of things from his older siblings... Alexis has a new Build a Bear she doesn't leave home without it.

2008-02-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Kiddos are doing great! We have a rather nice swingset in our backyard and Florida weather is amazing. It was around 79 - 83 degrees today with not one cloud in the sky. The kids played outside for a good 3 hours and finally decided they had enough of the sun and ended up playing in the covered patio. I snapped some really cute pictures of my muchkins while there were playing. I've tried getting them all to sit and look at the camera, but thats almost an imposibility!

Julian is getting stronger everyday. He still can't roll over from his back to his belly but at least he can sit unassisted and support himself on his knees. He rocks back and forth on his knees so I know he'll be crawling soon. I have one more week at home with him and I'll be working hard to get him to crawl. We have bonded amazingly. He is a very happy and loving baby boy. We have been blessed to have such a well adjusted little guy!

Park Day

2008-01-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

We went to the park today and Mandy played hookie from preschool.... Julian had his first swing ride today and he LOVED it. He was all giggles and grins. J.R. had a blast too.

2008-01-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Kristin... These are for you! Taken just before she left for college and added one of me and Taylor too!

2008-01-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today we visited our friend Stephanie. She was happy to finally get to meet Julian and her baby girl is just to die for. What a cutie pie. She'll need to send me the pictures she took of the kids so I can post them. Steph, I'm gonna miss you when you move and your not my neighbor anymore!

On another note, J.R. has this thing for monkies and I managed to take a couple of really cute pictures of him. He just LOVES his monkies and wants to keep this quiet. Everytime he sees a stuffed animal that's a monkey he begs for it but tells me "don't tell daddy" it's really kinda funny because daddy has already bought him several monkies. I guess this love for them must have started when we first meet him and we took "his first toy" to him which was a "Curious George In The Box" we purchased at Universal Orlando. He hated it when we gave it to him because it scared the heck outta him at 10 months old. He had never seen a Jack in the Box or had he seen a monkey! Well, know he sleeps with a stuffed Curious George and a Build a Bear monkey in Spider Man pjs. Just look at this face isn't it just the cutest?

My Bilingual Son....

2008-01-21T19:38:00.001-08:00

Here is J.R. explaining how my mom fell down and how he gave her the phone to call for help. He is only 2 1/2 and he is already learning both languages. You go boy!

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