Christmas Eve Worship...

I am so behind with posting, but I don't want to forget the smiles, the laughter, or the memories of our Christmas.  I am so grateful to God for the blessing of these babes.  They fill my days with more love and joy than I could have ever dreamed when I was "planning" my life.  God is good!

A Get Away

Grafting a new little one into your family is hard business.  Please understand that the hard is 100% worth it and that becoming my treasures' momma is an experience I wouldn't ever trade for anything, but I just wanted one last chance to savor the two special girls that God has already given me before we enter the next few weeks and month of HARD again as we begin grafting our precious Anna in.  My girls will sacrifice much in the coming days as I spend more time and devote more attention to the newest treasure God has called us to bring home and so we decided to book a room with an indoor water park for a 24 hour get away.

It was heavenly...

humidity was horrible but the smile

 It is only about a 90 minute drive which is not hard on Jillian.  She enjoyed her weighted blanket and music as we drove through the scenic countryside.  She walked right into the hotel hand in hand with her big sister to go down a strange hallway and right into an even stranger hotel room.  She was quickly changed into her adorable ladybug swimming suit complete with a matching hair bow.  AND MY WORD when she saw that HUGE indoor water park with pool space galore, she lit up!  I teared up watching her!  In the last 24 hours, her joy has been bigger than her anxiety and she has had the time of her life.  She enjoyed being assaulted by the GIANT waves in the wave pool, splashing in the baby pool, flapping her arms in the water over her head, flying down the water slide on momma's lap, and swimming alongside her adoring family.  On Monday night she swam about five hours. FIVE HOURS!  She slept like a log as she was exhausted.  She woke up first thing this morning in that hotel room and the sweet thing was signing "water please" the instant her eyes were open.  Oh how my heart overflows with the precious memories of the last twenty four hours.  Emily and I enjoyed the lazy river and a few water slides when I could pry her little sister off of her.  It was truly glorious!  It just reminded me once again how faithful God has been as we have grafted Jillian and how very far she has come.  As much as I enjoyed these two girls, I couldn't help praying that God would allow Anna's heart to know this feeling of family and JOY as she joins us.  Truly, we are so lucky to be able to add one more.  We all hope Anna likes water because her ladybug swimsuit (and hair bow) is waiting.

Easter In Pictures..

There were 150 pictures of these precious gifts that God has blessed me with (my daughters) celebrating the birth of our Savior.  150..If only I could hold on to these moments just a bit longer, I might not need so many photos.

Here are a few of my favorites..

 Big Sissy loves her some peanut butter candy.

Momma knows and gave her a good bunch for fun.

 Jillian wasn't afraid at the Easter egg hunt though she cares nothing for candy.

 We loved, loved, loved coloring eggs again this year!

Shaking colored liquid is just so much fun!

 Blessed beyond measure to raise these two beauties up in the Lord!

We had a beautiful resurrection day!

A Wonderful Day

I was blessed last Saturday to spend the day with my biggest girl.

We went to IKEA to get Anna Mei a bed.

I've had my eye on it.

It cost 89.99 without tax.

That isn't too expensive for a bed so we have been saving 

until last week 

we got a donation from some dear friends in the mail.

The card they sent read..I know you have met your fundraising goal, but we wanted to be part of the blessings of bringing Anna Mei home.  

The check was for $100!  Of Course, exactly what we needed to buy Anna's bed.

We also picked up this awesome tunnel for Jillian.

(I LOVE IKEA!)

It was only $14.00 and well worth it.

She has been crawling through it like crazy.

I remember the first time she encountered a tunnel like this.

She had just been home a few months.

She had a huge meltdown.

We have come so far.

She LOVES this tunnel.

I can't even put the thing away.

Blessed..just watching this little girl crawling through a tunnel in our family room is reason to believe God can do anything. 

 I have seen it as this treasure is accomplishing so much!  

She is a true miracle!  

Now if we could only get a haircut. :)

Sister Love

 I was out for a minute last night while the treasure was napping.

Daddy and Sissy were home waiting for her to wake.

I came home to find this..

 My babies snuggled under a blanket reading a book together in the chair.

Oh my heart!

Jillian was pretty sleepy and SLOW to wake up.

Sissy took advantage of her and snuggled her awake.

I couldn't help, but get her yawn.

I just love these girls together.

Do you think one more can fit up there next to them?

I think we can squish her in.

The Lights

My darling teenager didn't have much homework on Monday and Daddy was gone to a meeting

 so we decided to hit the road and check out the local festival of lights display.

 As we approached the park, Jillian called out as if to say..

"Hey did you see that?"

She really loved them.

And this momma's heart was full to overflowing having both of my girls with me.

The Darling Teen took at least 100 photos of her little sis in awe over these magnificent lights.

(I was driving.)

My teen loves this little so much.

Watching Jillian capture Em's heart sure has been a blessing to this momma.

Cookie Decorating

There were times in Ch*na with Jillian, and  immediately after coming home, that I thought she would never be able to live out any sort of ordinary.  She was so frail, so broken, so trapped inside herself, so unable to love and interact that I doubted at times whether she could ever participate much in life.  I didn't love her any less for it and was 100% willing to care for her as her momma regardless of the outcome, but the fact that she now can enjoy living...it sure makes spending time with my girls together decorating Christmas cookies that much more miraculous.  She was right in the thick of things this year and even after having enough of decorating her cookies, she played in her packing peanut sensory bin in the kitchen so that she could be near us.  Oh. the. JOY!

 She LOVED putting on the sprinkles..one at a time with her pincer grasp.

 She thought the red hot jar was a rocking shake-shake!

 She even had a more than positive response to the icing.

She was hesitant to try it, but was sure to lick it up after getting a taste.

YUMMY!

We had a wonderful time together.

Thanks M and J for sticking around to help us!

You three rocked it out for me!

A Blessed Thanksgiving..

A slow day..

with lots of eating..

taking time to thank God in prayer..

for this little life..

 for the food that we have to eat..

 for the love of our little family..

and most of all for

 the saving relationship we are able to have

with our Savior Jesus Christ.

There is a sweet face missing from our table this year-

Our Anna Mei

who we anxiously wait for God's timing to bring home.

How I long for her to know the love of a family sitting around our table on Thanksgiving.

God willing, this is the last year her spot will be empty.