the orphans

We currently know 2 families who in the midst of adoptions, so exciting! And we have other friends who will be actively pursuing this in the future. And some who have already taken this journey. We are praying to start pursuing this venture in probably another 1-2 years. It is exciting and terrifying at the same time! We are currently looking at pursuing a domestic adoption of siblings....but only God knows how it will how pan out. All I know is that even now when I think my child(ren) is out there somewhere waiting to come home, I can become completely overwhelmed. It's hard to be patient when you read the stories, hear the needs, and see the faces. But we know that we must rest in God's timing for our family.
I recently finished reading Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, by Russell Moore. This book is currently available in a free download for the month of February! Check it out here.

This is such a great book. Even if adoption is not in God's journey for you, I think everyone should read it to turn our hearts towards the orphans & fatherless. Everyone can do something. It would also be very helpful in helping encourage those who are or will be on this path.

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Adoption is not just about couples who want children - or who want more children. Adoption is about an entire culture that sees adoption as part of our Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.

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I love this shirt.

 It was designed by a family who is using the profits to help fund their adoption of 2 children from Uganda.

So go order yours here!

Our hearts are with the little ones waiting to come home.

buyer beware:

I do believe little girls should come with this label.

Warning: beware of walking into a store's baby girl clearance section (like Old Navy!)

There will undoubtedly be something you canNOT resist.

the big day

Graham helped me make his cake the day before. He loves to stir!

We won this sweet little birthday crown through a facebook friend.

He loved wearing his birthday hat! 

 We did a "lego cake". Thought it would be super easy, turned into more work than it looked, but Andrew & I did it together and it was fun! Graham loved it at least!

 they kinda look like legos, right? :)

 It's funny, last year was his first piece of cake and he had a cupcake and enjoyed shoving it into his mouth. This year he ate with a fork and barely got messy. Big difference!

This was morning after his birthday....notice he found his hat again! One of his gifts from us was a chalk/white board that had magnetic letters as well. He is loving coloring and his letters as always.  

 The next day he got to try another little(!) piece of cake, this one had blue frosting and was lots of fun. :)

TWO. How do we describe you?!

From this...........

to this..........!!!!!

What sweet, sweet joy you have brought to our lives.
***

Fun at the Science Center...........

 LOVING the huge model trains exhibit

Isn't this how every potty break should be?

Your dog by your side and reading your favorite book? :)

He reads everything he can get his hands on.

This was a Birthday Express mag that came in the mail and for days he read it constantly, just because it has all sorts of fun characters throughout it!

• His current favorite bedtime reads are Go, Dog, Go (dr. suess), the potty book (it has a button that flushes!) and baby on the way. I'm just glad he loves this book! I think he really understands that a baby is coming, but the timing thing is probably a little confusing. Like, when is this baby going to make an appearance, anyways?!
• wow. the child finally speaks! took a while for a regular vocab to come through (and probably only I still understand half of what he's saying!), but it's so fun to hear him talk. I just realized the other day that he no longer just babbles sounds, everything he says is real words (or his interpretation anyway!). His sentences are funny though. Like - Again. Church. Go.
• Speaking of church, he moved into the 2's/3's class and ever since he has started just loving going to church and especially his friends. He can't wait to show Andrew & I his coloring picture when we pick him up, it's so fun! He talks about his friends all the time and usually prays for them before bedtime at night as well!
• He loves his letters as well. When he was 18 months he started watching the Leap Frog DVD - The Letter Factory and immediately picked up all the letter sounds. I love that it teaches him the sounds the letters make and not just the name of the letters.  It has been on my to-do list ever since to post a video of him saying all of them....but alas, obviously never happened. But a lot of people ask me how he learned them and I can't take too much credit. Definitely recommend that video! He loves seeing letters, saying letters.....but counting & colors.....those are a different story! Not so quick on the pick-up there. :) Go, Dog, Go has been a really great book for helping with colors though!
• He just continues to love balls and sports even more all the time! He loves to watch the Steeler games and yell football! He says "awwww" when they tackle or "missed" when the ball drops. He also loves to shoot basketballs. We have a couple of nearby playplaces with about 4 ft. hoops and he can actually shoot and make (a light) ball. He loves it!
• Funnies - He was standing about a foot from Andrew and fired a ball at him, which then bounced off Andrew's head. Graham yells "you missed!" Nothing like being mocked by your toddler. :-)
• Andrew wrote out g-r-a-h-a-m and said "what's that spell?" Graham yelled "Bible!" I guess that's the only time we usually ask that question, haha!
• I am amazed at what sticks in his brain. Andrew had gotten some pepsi for his birthday and the next day in the car we were driving and saw a Pepsi truck. Graham said "daddy's juice". How does he remember that logo after seeing it for a day?!
• He likes to tell everyone Hi & Bye in stores. 'Cept he says bye like 8 times and it gets a little awkward! 
• Whenever he hears a baby/child crying he tells me they need to go ni-night. I guess he's heard that a time or two. :) 
• He just loves the snow and loves to help daddy shovel!  

This is such a fun stage! We are loving it and he is cracking us up all the time. It's hilarious now that he deliberately tries to do funny things to make us laugh.  

We love you more than you'll ever know.

We know you're going to be such a great big brother.

We thank God for entrusting you to our care.

Happy 2nd birthday, Graham Owen!

birthday bowl

We decided not to do any major parties this year due to the uncertainty of a little girl's entrance. But Graham & Andrew's birthdays are just 5 days apart, so it's still fun to have a special celebration for both of them. We decided to go bowling with some friends. Since G loves all things balls, we thought it would be a hit. And it was! He immediately picked his ball (and yes, he seriously carried around an 8 lb. ball by himself. he's a brute!) and went and waited for further instructions!

As much as I would love this baby to come, I knew flinging a 10 lb. ball down a lane was probably not the best way to make that happen. :) So G & I got our own special bumper lane and I pretty much just helped him roll it down the lane. It was fun, he loved it! He loved seeing the pins get knocked down, or if it went in the gutter at the end, he'd say, "aww, missed!"

Lots o' fun for the birthday boys!

2+9 and still so fine

Happy 29th birthday to my dear sweet hubby!

Things I am thankful for in him this year:

• renewed commitment to getting back to consistent dates AND following through!
• being such a great daddy to Gman. Every morning G wakes up and asks for "a dad" (as he calls him!) When I tell him he's at work, he immediately says "come home". Yep, every day. He gets so excited on weekends when daddy is home all day!
• taking care of our home and family in the little, mundane things - taking out the trash, keeping our budget & savings on track, shoveling, taking care of car stuff, changing lightbulbs....all things I refuse to do. :-) But he's SO good at them, I wouldn't want to get in his way.  
• loves Graham so much, so I can't wait to see how a little girl wraps him around her little finger!
  
  
  Hope your day is extra special, please give me a little grace this year as I'm not feeling up to much party planning these days. Maybe our little girl will decide to share your birthday. In which case, you'll be extra neglected, but I will make make it up to you next year. Except that would be Eden's 1st birthday....so maybe the next year......?? :-)
• You're always #1 in my heart, babe, don't forget it.

all boy...............

I have come to fear hearing a certain word in our house "ready............................"

what this means is that a ball (or other object) is about to be chucked across the room or some other great "activity" is about to be commenced. Hearing it a couple of days ago, I went in the living to discover this........

(thankfully he had the smarts to put the thick cushions down first at least!)

But seriously, apparently you don't have to teach little boys these things. :)

ready......................

 

 go..................

and that is a seriously good time in his playbook. :)