Christmas on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my very favorite holiday of the year. I love Christmas, but I think because Valentine's Day is a little less stressful it takes the number one spot for me. I also love the focus on LOVE that it gives. Love is who God is and what He is all about.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5

Love is a shelter, in a raging storm

Love is a peace, in the middle of a war

Love is worth fighting for...I will fight for you!

I LOVE having an extra excuse to show the ones that mean the most to me how much I love them.

I have made cards for my family over the past several years. I was at hallmark in January and they had so many really neat cards...so I bought three for my three favorite people.

It was fun picking out one for each one. Kaiya has been carrying hers around ever since she got it.

Caedmon's card was a Thomas one of course. The dog in the house was a gift from grandma. I told him today that he could eat some after lunch and he was pretty excited. I helped him get the dog out and he looked at me and said "Don't make any sounds, mom...OK?" He was serious. "Do you promise, mom?"

Kevin has teased him (and me too) in the past when food is made to look like an animal. When Caedmon takes a bite, Kevin makes a hurt/crying sound like it's coming from the animal. It has probably scarred him for life because he hesitates and feels sorry for the poor animal that is about to be eaten alive. :)

Here he is still contemplating whether he should eat the dog or just play with it.

Guess he didn't feel too sorry for the dog because he just bit off it's bottom.

On Saturday we had our Christmas with Kevin's family...yes I said Christmas. Kevin's sister Joyce from Alabama was originally planning to come over Christmas and then we found out that we were going to be in Florida over that time...so we decided to put it off until we got back in January so they could see the new baby. I so appreciated their flexibility so much and we had a wonderful time with them while they were here on Saturday.

Kaiya and Helen are modeling their cute little aprons made by grandma.

Board games and monster trucks for the boys from grandpa & grandma.
I need to get off this computer and get back to packing for our trip. Kevin and I are leaving tomorrow for Mexico! So excited to have some alone time with Kevin, but sad to leave the kids at the same time. Hope to post some pictures of our trip while we're there.

focusing on the positive

It's been almost a year since we started this adoption process. My friend Angie is also in the waiting process of their adoption and recently posted a list of things she's learned and is grateful for along their adoption journey. She reminded me that it is sometimes hard to focus on the positive when the waiting seems unending. It is refreshing to take notice of what God has taught me along the way and to take the time to notice the little blessings.

Here's my list of things I've learned or am grateful for in no particular order:

1. I've learned that we can accomplish a lot in such a little time...even during the busiest holiday of the year.

2. My friends and family care so much!

3. I'm thankful for the extra time I've had to focus on Caedmon and Kaiya...playing games, reading and teaching them to help out around the house and be more independent.

4. I've really enjoyed the independent ages that my kids are at...they dress themselves, go to the bathroom by themselves, put on their own shoes etc.

5. We've been able to save more money to put toward the adoption.

6. Learned to give it all to God.

7. Kevin and I were able to get away by ourselves several times in the past year.

8. Had the opportunity to teach our children more about prayer and faith.

9. Enjoyed all the questions and comments from the kids about their new brother or sister. (from the beginning, Caedmon said we were getting two babies...now he says we're getting eight)

10. Learned that I can fall in love with someone instantly before ever seeing them or feeling them move inside me.

11. Learned that God can heal the brokenhearted.

12. Learned about different medical conditions.

I could go on and on.

Kevin and I were able to get away on Saturday evening for his company awards dinner. The kids stayed with Grandma and we enjoyed a lovely sit down dinner and the adult conversation.

On Tuesday evening, Caedmon had his first school program. A winter concert put on by the PreK and first grade classes.
I was a little nervous that he wouldn't stand still and do what he was supposed to. We had lots of encouraging conversations leading up to the program and I was pleasantly surprised and very proud of how well he did. Another exciting treat was having both sets of grandparents there to watch. And the cherry on top was that Kevin's sister from Alabama came as well along with her sweet little family. We all met at the Dairy Queen afterward and how fun to soak up the time with all of them including my niece and two nephews. Someone is extremely excited in these pictures...too much sugar, high on attention and awake way past his bedtime. :) Thankfully we had a two-hr. delay the next morning for fog since we didn't get home until after ten on a school night.

baby Jack

sweet cousins - Helen & Kaiya

five is fun

Another Birthday in Chicago

I FINALLY have my computer back up and running after almost three weeks! Talk about feeling out of touch! Now I feel way behind on blogging, email & bookwork. Oh well, one thing at a time I guess.

Last week was spent in Chicago with my honey all to myself. Caedmon stayed with Grandma S. & Aunt Shanna. Kaiya stayed with Grandma B. Thank you to all of you for keeping things going and taking such good care of our family while we were gone. My mom took Caedmon back and forth to school and my nephew took care of the pets.

Shopping on Michigan Avenue

Who could ask for more? Uninterrupted time with my husband,

shopping,

elegant dinners,

picture with Northwestern CEO, Ed Zore and his wife

and sleeping in every morning in this fluffy king size bed.

Saturday was my 34th birthday...man that sounds old. We took an extra day coming home and stopped at the Michigan City Outlet mall. I almost hyperventilated....so many sales, so many stores...too little time. Old Navy, Children's Place, Maurices, and several other stores all had an extra 50 percent off their lowest clearance price. I got so much for so little...it was fun and a great way to spend my birthday doing one of very favorite things...bargain shopping!

Another stop I definitely wanted to make on my birthday was here:

So good...I was a very happy birthday girl. The waitress was so kind and when she found out it was my birthday, she brought us both out a free dessert.

Now back to wiping noses and cleaning up crumbs...I love my life!

Five Years with Caedmon

Caedmon's request for his birthday this year was to go to a hotel...something he asks about several times a month it seems. So we booked a studio room at a local hotel and were pleasantly surprised by it's roominess...it really was the perfect room for the occasion. We checked in around two in the afternoon on New Year's Eve. Soon the aroma of fresh baked cookies snuck in under our door....free cookies at the front desk. The kids would have been perfectly content to stay in the room the rest of the afternoon and evening, but we decided to go out to a movie and grab some dinner. Caedmon chose Arby's after the movie.Then back to the room for birthday cake and a present from mom and dad. I love how he has his arm around his sister in this one.
We had the pool to ourselves. Back to the room for popcorn and movies. We almost made it till midnight, but not quite. We were well rested the next morning and spent most of the day at the mall. The kids took a carousel ride, visited the build-a-bear and Disney stores and even got in a nap while mommy did some shopping. :)

The following Saturday, all the grandparents came to celebrate too. They even brought all the food! Kevin's mom brought homemade pizza and my mom brought this beautiful ice cream cake.
Do I really have a five year old? Wow, where did the last five years go?
Getting spoiled by Grandpas & Grandmas Kaiya got her fair share of spoiling from Grandma B. too who put on jammies and read books.

My son, you bring so much laughter and joy and at the same time you keep me on my toes with your strong personality and determination. You are growing up so quickly and I'm so proud of how well you have adjusted to going to school this year. You are learning to read, can write your name, the alphabet and the numbers up to 12 so far. You play so well by yourself and can play for hours creating and building play sets with Lego's. It's fun to play board games with you and you're really working hard at congratulating the winner when it's not you....sometimes with tears. :) You love to laugh and said your first joke today that made all of us laugh. Daddy called you a book-head because you have your head in a book a lot and you came right back instantly and said "well, you're a coffee-head". You've started helping me around the house with little chores. You were so proud to feed the kitties all by yourself the other day. I am so proud of you and love you so much! Happy Birthday Babe!

Your birthday celebration was so timely this year. It felt so good to have some happy moments to share as a family...such wonderful memories!

Life Without a Computer

I have been without a computer all week and it's driving me crazy! I can't stand missing out on what's going on in everyone's lives. So what does one do when one doesn't have a computer? Clean and organize like a mad woman!!! My label maker is still smokin'. :)

It's been good for me to keep my mind busy. Thank you all for your continued prayers, emails, phone calls, cards and hugs...it means so much! Our last conversation with our attorney was last Monday. Still no word from Jessica about her intentions other than what we learned the previous Wednesday (Dec. 31st)...that she hadn't had the baby yet, was researching ways to get funding if she would keep the baby and that her boyfriend and family still wanted her to do the adoption.

At this point, we are moving on with life and continuing to pray for Jessica and the baby. We only want what is God's plan for us and for her. There are still many questions we have for God...one of them being "Why bring us this close?". We may never know the answers, but we do know that over a hundred people have been praying for Jessica and this baby...maybe these are the only prayers that have ever been prayed for her.

The past couple of weeks have been difficult, but I have held my children longer, hugged my husband tighter and have grown so much closer to my Heavenly Father. I've also gained a few more friends....I AM TRULY BLESSED!