Silliness

My little diaper thief...

she makes a bee-line for the rolled up diapers every time! YUCK!!

My only conclusion is Sarah must have fallen asleep in the upright position A LOT in the orphanage b/c it seems to be her favorite sleeping position : )

These two are definitely getting sillier everyday... nap time seems to be play time.... ugh!!

II guess in honor of all the bows I've been making, the boys decided to decorate the girls' heads. So, of course, I grabbed my camera and as I was happily snapping away trying to get a cute picture of the girls.....

I was completely unaware of what else was going on in the picture!

What a goofball!!

It's the Littlest Things...

... that make me love my husband!

Some of my favorite memories growing up were of hanging Christmas lights with my dad. My dad was obsessed with having the most lights and the highest lights in the trees than anyone else in our little hometown. Looking back, it probably wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing house in the neighborhood... but in my girlish memories it was the most beautiful house in the world!

Like every marriage, we've learned to compromise over the things that were different in how we were raised. So at Christmas time, we've blended my family's "over the top" traditions with his family's practical no-nonsense way of doing things. The most lights we've ever had in, around or outside our house has been whatever fits on our Christmas tree.

But today, I looked out our front window, and there was my husband on a ladder doing something so impractical... he was hanging Christmas lights on our house with our 2 boys! And it's not even Thanksgiving yet! I was so caught off guard I seriously had to fight off tears! I love my husband no matter what he does, however it's these little things that make me so grateful he's mine!

The "fog" is lifting

I always think you need about 3 mos. to start feeling yourself again after having a baby. But in our interesting scenario, having had two babies come into our family w/in 4 months of each other and both being very different entrances, those "3 mos. till you feel normal" has dragged on : )

However, several moments this past week have signaled a fog lifting. Sarah has now been home 3 months and so I think that timeframe works in adoptions too! Sarah's bonding and attachment, although never alarming, has seemed slow yet moving in the right direction.

Today she let me rock her. And yes, I cried. Oh, she's let me rock her before but only if she had a toy to play with or something to eat or drink. No, today she laid her head on my shoulder with her arms wrapped around me and we rocked... as mother and daughter.

In other developments, Sarah is walking a little, jabbering a lot, signing "more", and loves to make Emily laugh(you know, those cute baby belly laughs). Which by the way, the same week Sarah took her first steps, Emily learned to crawl : ) But more than anything, Sarah is learning to trust.

I can't tell you how many times I've thought about how MUCH our Father desires us to trust Him and yet we struggle while I've been waiting for Sarah to grow in her trust of us. It is with joy in my heart as I can clearly see that process taking place.... in her life and how it's affected my life trusting the Lord.

And now to some pics over the last couple weeks.....

Whenever I hold them on my lap together, they hold hands : )

Fun and Fancy Bows!!

I probably should have waited to advertise these until I had better pictures... but I couldn't wait! This is my new bow collection that I will be making and selling this season and one special bow for my friends who are adopting siblings from Ethiopia. This picture best represents the actual colors of the ribbons : ) If you are interested in purchasing a bow, please leave me a comment.

FUN CHRISTMAS Bow

3 " red ribbon bow(used in the Santa bow) with candy striped ribbon accent

and a seasonal charm

(Santa, candy cane, reindeer, present and X-mas tree)

$6

FANCY CHRISTMAS Barrette
3" red rose barrette with "boa"feathers and sequin accents

$7

FUN WINTER Bow

3" Turqoise /polka dot bow with "let it snow" ribbon and glittery snowflake accent

AND

3" Royal blue/polka dot bow with multi-color christmas light bulbs for center accent

(you can see this one in the collection photo... it's my favorite FUN one)

$6

WINTER FANCY Bow

3" and 2" Turqoise shimmery ribbon with "pearl" snowflake accent

$6 and $5

ADOPTION BOW

3" Chocolate shimmery bow with pink/chocolate checked ribbon and pink shimmery ribbon accents

$8

(All profits for this ribbon will go to Kendall and Davett Coffman's adoption

of sibling Ethiopian orphans)

What do you think of "CALAMITIES"?

When I look at the 4 beautiful children God has given us, it's hard to believe our life has been a sequence of "calamities" over the past several years. We've been talking about calamities in my study on Jonah and specifically this week on the calamity caused by the Lord when Jonah was in the boat.

Our Bible study teacher asked us a series of questions about our "fear of God" amidst storms in our life coinciding with the events of ch. 1&2 of the book of Jonah. I felt compelled to share those with all of you : ) Hope you find them as challenging and affirming as I did!

1. Do you fear God but not enough to obey Him when you don't want to?

2. Is your fear of God weak enough to think you can say "no" to God and get away with it?

3. Is your fear of God weak enough to allow you to "sleep"(as Jonah did) through calamity?

4. Is your faith so weak that other could question how you could profess to know God & live the way that you do?

5. Is your fear of God so weak that "the world's" fear of God is greater than yours?

6. Do you fear God enough to pray in the midst of your distress or is it your last resort?

7. Do you fear God enough to know there is no calamity apart from God?

8. Do you fear God enough to understand and appropriate His grace?

9. Do you fear God enough to curb your flesh and it's appetites so you're not lured from faithfulness by the world's vanities?

10. Do you fear God enough to realize salvation is from the Lord?

Praying you all know the fear of the Lord today!!