For the Aggies...

Lucy was singing The Aggie War Hymn today but instead of "Saw Varsity's horns off..." she sang:

"Soft horsies horns off!"

He's one!

Nate is one! We had a joyous day thanking God for the gift of this boy and treasuring the time we've had with him so far. We went to The Magic House for some fun and then came home to grill hamburgers and have cake & ice cream with some friends.

One year ago...

on the night before Nate was born, Lucy had her first ballet recital. She and her cousin, Gracyn, danced their hearts out for many to see! I can not watch this video without crying from... laughter! Enjoy!

Our Girl

I finally got our video camera to download to the computer after hours of efforts! So here is a video of Lucy singing in front of our church last Sunday:



And here she is on her last day of school:

Her gifts to her two teachers, Flowerpot bread that says "Thank you for helping me grow" and a set of homemade napkins: And coasters for the support staff:
And cute apple notecards to say thanks for a great year:

Sweet

Lucy usually says a song for her prayer before dinner but she said she couldn't remember it tonight so I told her to just say what she feels:

Dear God, Thank you for our food. I love you very much. Please celebrate Nate's birthday with us. Thank you for making a beautiful day down here. Amen.

May Madness

May is turning out to be a busy and full month for us and I'm loving it! Despite some freakishly cold weather lately, we had a great (but too short) visit with Grandma and Grandpa. They graciously altered their schedules to fly up and watch the kids so Mark and I could attend an adoption workshop with our agency. Here they are playing with the new Sand & Sea Table Nate was given for his upcoming 1st birthday:



We left with a whole lot of information and even got to see a home video of the orphanage where our son most likely will be. It was sad to see - a small room crowded with cribs, with 2-3 babies in each crib. But all the babies and workers were smiling so they were making the best of it all, I suppose. Needless to say, my patience in this process was really coming up short after seeing that and wondering about our boy.

But I have to count my blessings as many of the couples there were unable to have children biologically and have to wait in an empty and quiet house while we get to enjoy our two babes who fill our days with nothing but joy and laughter. Speaking of, we take pictures on Mother's Day and Father's Day and I was excited to have Nate in the picture for the first time:



Yesterday at church we had the honor of dedicating Nate to the Lord. It was a simple event but packed full of meaning. I'm trying to get the video to the computer and will post more about it at that time.

I'm also busy with some sewing projects for teacher gifts and am excited to post finished product pictures soon!

Since we aren't really having a spring I will now antcipate the arrival of summer! Come on, warm weather!

Moving Forward

We found out yesterday our second huge application for adoption was approved. Thank you to those who helped make this happen either through tangible tasks we asked of you or just through all-powerful prayer. There were so many details and any one of them could have held up this process for longer than we would have liked. But thankfully, it all came through without a hitch!

We are going to attend an all day workshop this Saturday and then we begin our home study. We have not received much encouraging news lately regarding the time expectations for receiving a child but we will wait for God's timing in it all and know He is sovereign.

Thanks for your support!