APRIL 20TH....A DOUBLY SPECIAL DAY!!!

I can hardly believe it...April 20th marked L's two year anniversary of her homecoming! These are the two first pictures I ever got of my precious girl. I'll never forget opening this picture on Valentine's Day, gasping and crying and thanking God for this beautiful baby girl.

As most of you know, T travelled by himself to Ethiopia to bring baby girl home...and for that alone he will always be my hero. He is my hero in many other ways, but bringing this baby home by himself all the way from Africa was awesome. What a great Daddy!

Here we are at the airport the day she came home...April 20, 2007.

The boys fell in love with her right away and still adore their sister. We all can't wait to bring home our next Ethiopian princess...and this time I am definitely making the trip!

And, here she is on April 20th, 2009 with Grandma...they just adore each other!

AND, April 20th is also a very very special day, because it is also J1's birthday. That's right, L came home on J1's 5th birthday. We always say J1 got the best birthday present ever that day...he seemed to be a bit more excited this year about Bakugans. (weird little ball creatures that little boys are into now).

So here we are celebrating J1's 7th birthday. We had some friends over for backyard fun, pizza and cake. I still can't believe that my first baby is 7 years old!

We had an awesome day...but what J1 doesn't know is that I am taking him to Disney World next week! He is gonna freak! I am gonna surprise him at school and pick him up next Thursday, and I'm not gonna tell him where we are going until we get to the airport! Just me and J going to Florida to visit my sister and her family and have a fantastic weekend at Disney and at the beach. I can't wait. But, in the meantime, please don't say anything...I don't want to ruin the suprise! I think I'm actually more excited than he will be : ) Thank you, Abba Father, for my precious family and the very special date of April 20th!

Easter fun!!!

Ok, I'm a little late getting these up, and it'll probably be a few more days until I get actual Easter pictures up, but I wanted to share some of our egg-dying fun. Aunt Kimmie and Geoff came up with four dozen eggs and all kinds of fun stuff to decorate with and the kids had a blast! I think my floor and the kids had more dye on them than the eggs, but we all had a wonderful time. Thanks Aunt Kimmie and Geoff and Grandma!

It's Official! We are number...

Our dossier is done and accepted, now the looooong wait begins. I'm not known for my patience, but one thing that adoption has reinforced for me is that it really is all in God's hands and it is in His perfect timing that all things happen. So, in the meantime, we will focus on and enjoy the time we have just as our family is formed now. I can't wait to have another little girl snuggling up to us in the morning, but I trust God that His plan is already in place and my job is to pray and wait.

Homestudy done! Next step....

Waiting list! Oh, waiting to be on the waiting list is tough...and the waiting to wait has just begun. Our agency should have our homestudy now and will hopefully approve it soon and then I'll send in all of our documents and find out where we are on the waiting list. Lord, give me patience...and can I have it RIGHT NOW?!!