1 Month Ago

Wow, I can't believe that it has only been 1 month since Caleb has joined our family!  His adjustment to our family continues to amaze me.  You know, it really shouldn't since I know, know, know that God picked him out just for us.  To read Caleb's story click here.  I am so thankful that God spoke to my heart back on that day in May and let His will known that Caleb was meant to be ours.  God is good!  I will leave you with some of my favorite pictures from our first month together!

Holding my boy for the first time!

Daddy holding his boy!

Claire meeting her new brother!

I think Hunter likes his little brother!

Caleb likes his big brother!

One of the many kisses Caleb has gotten this month!

All of my kids on Easter Sunday!

Happy 1 month Gotcha Day, Caleb!   We love you!

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

~The Pinewood Gran Prix at AWANA last night!  This was the first Gran Prix that Hunter had ever participated in.  Gary and Hunter worked several days on the design of his car.  They cut the block of wood, they sanded, they painted, and they added the wheels.  Hunter selected the design and the colors.  He chose the number 2:15 for his car which represents 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.  Hunter ended up getting in 2nd place for speed!  Not too bad for his first time racing!

Eating hot dogs before the big race!

Gentlemen start your engines!

Hunter's car is the green one!

Hunter is in the lead again!

The 2nd place winner!

Hunter and his trophy!

Some of the designs. They also gave out trophies for top designs.

This one looked like a bobsled.

My favorite looked like a Wii remote!

They let the little ones race matchbox cars after the pinewood races

Claire and Caleb were in to it!

What are you thankful for?

Blog makeover giveaway

Amanda over at Sown in My Heart is giving a blog makeover done by Alexis to one lucky winner.  All you have to do is leave a comment about what is your favorite thing about spring.  How easy is that?  I found out about this from Alexis' blog.  Alexis designed my blog and right now I have her designing a blog for my niece. Alexis does an amazing job and the money she raises goes to support an orphan and for future mission trips! Check out Alexis' blog and her portfolio. You will be impressed.  To enter the contest click here.  Check out Amanda's blog as well.  You will see the photo of an adorable little girl that they are adopting from China.  Maybe you could be the one to help bring her home?!

Zoorific Day!

What a fun day we had today at the zoo!  The zoo close to us is small and very doable in one afternoon.  Just the kind of zoo that I like!  The neat thing about the zoo is that we really got to see the animals up close.  The zoo wasn't really busy so it was like the animals were giving us a private viewing!  Brianna was the photographer for most of the day and she got some really good shots.  Enjoy our zoo pictures!

I rented a double stoller.  We were set to go!

Two of the many turtles we saw today

There is a jaguar behind us.  I know it is hard to see.

The kids in front of the bald eagles

What a majestic bird!

This black bear actually caught a fish and ate it in front of us

Ready to see more animals!

We loved the elephants. They gave us a great show.

They were throwing dirt on themselves.

I think Pumba on the Lion King is much cuter!

Time for a train ride!

We all loved the giraffes!

Look how big these lions are!

All done!  What a fun day at the zoo!

Thankful Thursday

Hey bloggy friends!  I am back and ready to blog again!  This Thursday I am thankful for:

~The Mother-Daughter retreat that I went on this past weekend with Brianna!  We had an awesome time.  I met some wonderful Christian women but most importantly I connected with my oldest again!  We walked, we talked, we laughed, we ate, we played cards, we hung out in the pool, we hung out on the beach...I think you are getting the idea!  I am so thankful that God made her my daughter!

On the beach!

Brianna wanted to take feet pictures.  I should have had a pedi!

One of my favorite places ever!

Brianna working on our cross.

Our finished cross.  Our theme was Ephesians 2:10.  Look it up, great verse!

The last day of the retreat.

The daughters!

The moms!

~For my dear, sweet husband who took care of the kiddos at home so I could go retreating!  He had absolutely no problems.  Well, except that he didn't know how to do Claire's hair on Sunday morning!  She went to church with the "natural" look.  By natural I mean hair in the face so you can't even see her pretty eyes!  Oh well, she looked pretty in her dress even if you couldn't tell who she was!  However, I must point out that Claire and Caleb slept until 10:30 on Saturday!  Gary is gone this week so I am expecting the same kind of treatment on Saturday!  I'm just saying...a mom can hope right?

My hunk of a man with Claire (hair done by mom!)

~Our small group at church!  They showered us with gifts for Caleb!  They showered us with clothes and jammies!  With Caleb being so small, most of the clothes we had pre-bought for him were way too big.  Therefore, we didn't even have enough jammies to make it a week without doing laundry!  We do now thanks to our wonderful friends.  More important than gifts these friends prayed Caleb home and they prayed for us when the wait got looonnggg!  We just love our church family wherever we live!

This is the cute cake we had the night we were showered!

~For the way Caleb walks around the house saying "Claire".  It is just too cute!  He likes to say "daddy" too.  I am still working on him saying "mommy".  Right now, when I try he just smiles, points to Gary and says "daddy"!

Good buddies in the making!

~Remember the photo shoot I mentioned last week?  I am thankful for this shot that we got of Caleb.  He was a tough cookie to break but we finally got a smile out of him!

His smile was worth the effort!

~I am thankful for the appointment we had at the International Adoption Clinic on Monday.  I will save those details however, for another post!  It was a "wild" time!

~I am thankful that we are having our first post placement visit tomorrow.  The social worker assured me that is was OK if Gary were not here.  She just needs to see one of us and Caleb.  Well, she is going to get 1 of me and 5 other people who will be trying to get her out of the house as soon as possible!  I promised them a trip to the zoo tomorrow after the visit!  I'm sure you will hear all about how it went later plus some priceless zoo pictures!

What are you thankful for this week?