Look to the right...

I have always wanted to add buttons to my blog, but never took the time to learn how...until now.
I added a really neat button about a family that has adopted literally from around the world. They have 6 kids living at home, 2 of which are new to the family just within the last 2 months, and they are currently waiting on a new little one (if I understand correctly).
But, they also recently suffered the loss of their home to a fire. Thankfully, all are fine but there is strong push to nominate them for E*treme Home Makeover. Visist their blog to find out about this family.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wordless Wednesday (with an explanation)

2 LIKE Broccoli and 2 DON't!

Still quiet...time for a Lilly update

This is the look on Lilly's face after I just loudly exclaimed,"LILLY!"


This is the reason for the shocked looked on both her face and mine! Yep, that is hair on the floor that she cut off. Once we got past the puzzled look on her face (a look that is now usually used when she WANTS to pretend she does not understand) she quickly said "Sorry." I have to admit I probably did not handle this well, but being that we were fortunate to make it through 3 daughters without self-given haircuts, I was quite shocked! Luckily, the spot she cut blended very well into the back of her hair.


This time this look of surprise was really cute. It was her first bath at Grammie and Poppa's Jacuzzi tub. She loved the bubbles!


The girl LOVES corn on the cob. We stopped her after 3 ears, but I am pretty sure she could have kept going. I bought some ears while she was with me at the grocery store and she started laughing and saying, "YEAHHH!!!"

Tomorrow makes 2 months of being home with Lilly! It is hard to believe! She has done soooo well through the whole transition and her sisters have done amazing helping her. There are many days that Jay and I both feel that it seems that she has been with us from birth. I thank God for the peace he has granted all of us through this change.
I had a friend tell me that things got a little rocky around the 2 month mark. So, I have began to "look for" things that aren't going well, and there really aren't any. But, in hopes that there are prospective adoptive parents out there in cyber space reading this, I feel that it would be a benefit to share some of the whole picture.
I have began to notice that we take forgranted the fact that Lilly has only been with us here at home for 2 months. She is absolutely learning and adjusting as fast as she possibly can! As soon as we arrived home, things were crazy. We had Thanksgiving, volleyball season, then Christmas season, travel to grandparents (10 hour car rides), start kindergarten, meet LOTS of new people,go back to school after break, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, dental surgery, livestock shows, and now basketball season. And yet, after her having to endure all of that, I feel myself get frustrated when I ask her to stop a particular behavior, continue to help her with "little" tasks such as bathing, toothbrushing, etc. WOW! ...and to think we have a heavenly Father that has eternal patience and understanding!
On top of her having to learn EVERYTHING, she has been able to communicate a little about her other mama and baba (daddy). It was these conversations that reminded me that this little 6 year old girl had been taken from everything familiar to her and thrust into a new environment. From all that I have understood from Lilly during these conversations, she loved and was loved by 2 very special people. She was able to communicate that her "other mama" (as she put it) cried when she left. The most amazing thing about these conversations is how she talks about her having 2 mamas and 2 daddies, and just when I want to feel jealous of missing her previous years I see that she is completely open to loving Jay and I in just 2 months the same as she loved her foster family for 4 years. I also just realized that the family that raised such a loving, fun little girl must have been truly amazing themselves and I am truly grateful for what they have done.

All is quiet....

Whew! It is 8:56 and all is quiet at home. So, I am going to sit here and finally update my blog and probably get caught up on a LOT of other blogs that I have not read in a good while. And... I haven't even cleaned up the kitchen yet!
The following pictures are of the girls at our County Livestock Show this past weekend. I am so proud to say that the girls did a great job! They had 3 firsts and a third place, but more impressive is how well that worked together, not just this weekend but throughout the whole year.
The sheep are now gone, but Haley and Macey will continue to work with the goats in hopes of doing well at a "major" show. Lilly was a lot of fun to watch at the show and by the looks of things she will follow in her sisters footsteps in just a couple of years. I couldn't resist posting Emily's self-portrait...it speaks for itself. That is also the only picture I got of her during the show because she was off helping some friends with their show cattle.

Thankful Thursday... We have had a whole year of them!

WOW! Where to begin? I sit down to do a "Thankful Thursday" post and realize that the year 2008 has flown by and the things to be thankful for today just can't be expressed on a blog. We have been blessed with a new daughter and each day it seems like she has been with us her whole life, we have been blessed with good health as a family, we have been blessed with the best friends and family a person could ever want, and we have been blessed beyond measure with material things. It all comes down to knowing God and knowing that all good comes from Him.

I realize that I have not posted in a long while, so I will post quite a few pictures to help keep everyone updated...



Cowboy Limo??? That's all 6 of Poppa and Grammie's grandkids on Chica! It was fun to see all of the kids ride and it was a relief to know that Lilly loves horses as much as her sisters. That was one concern that they had while waiting to adopt Lilly. One had asked, "what if Lilly doesn't like horses?" We had our answer to the question when she cried because it was someone else's turn to ride.


Yeah for Aunt Lacie! She is a very crafty person and made all of the girls an apron. They loved them!


Christmas morning at Nana's! The two oldest were up at 3:00 am to see what Santa had brought! Nana heard them and was able to get a picture and encourage them to go back to sleep. Thankfully, they waited til about 6:00 to wake any of the others!


Yeah for Aunt Linda! She always gives the girls the coolest things with their names monogrammed on them. This year she got them all Aggie caps, added crystals, and had their names monogrammed on the back. They were perfect!


A special treat was to have Uncle Turkey (family joke) and his family stop for dinner while on their way to skiing!
Well, that is just the a few pics of our holiday! I hope to share many more later, but want to stop and read all of the other blogs that I have missed while out of town.

Hope 2009 is a great year for all!!!