Decking our Halls :)

We decorated for Christmas on Friday. It was great because daddy had the day off and could help.  Allie was a huge help this year. She seemed so big. For the last several weeks she has been talking about putting the angel on top. She was so excited to do that! :) We decorated downstairs, upstairs, and around the door. I have some houses that I have that are light up ones. I usually put them up on the mantel in the basement.  I wanted to put them upstairs so that we could enjoy them since we are upstairs more often than down.   

Thanksgiving Pictures

 We had a great Thanksgiving day.  We started the day watching Daddy run his 5k turkey trot.  He had his best time ever! (Go daddy!!!) He is amazing!  Gramps and Grammie came to watch. Then we went to Nana and Papa's house to have a party. It was a great day.

Thankful Hearts

Happy Thanksgiving!
I thought it would be neat to write down what we are thankful for. Hopefully I remember to ask Allie each year what she is thankful for.... I added my list at the end. :)

Allie's List of things she is thankful for:

  Her Gracie Puppy
  Rainbows
  Tree to climb
  My Daddy
  My friends Ellie and Brooke
  My friend Liam
  Keldan
  Lucas
  Alex
  Kalea
  Michael
  Mikaela
  Allie  (silly girl!)
  My baby dolls
  My toys
  Momma
 The store
  Christmas
  Joe
  Angie
  Gramps
  Grammie
  Nana
  Papa
  Pappy
  John
  Auntie Day
  Aunt Stacy
  Aunt (Sorry that's what she said) Jason :)

This is what she told me- and  it was with very little prompting. :) I just kept asking what else or who else, and kept typing while she told me. :) I love it that she has lots to be thankful for!

Momma's list-

 Family- both under my roof and extended families
 Friends- even if we dont' see each other much anymore
 A Savior who is personal and loves me no matter what
 My year off to be home with Allie.
 Daddy's job
 Vacation time that daddy has to spend with us
  Days away from the house- visiting Nana and Papa and Auntie D
  A Christian Upbringing and strong faith background
  Food on the table in in the cupboards.  Money to buy the food we need each week.
  Our house
  Sunshine
  Gracie puppy
  Sleep :)
  The excitement of anticipating (not so patiently anymore) a new baby soon (or later).
  Dessert  :) <3
  A good book
  A clean house
  A hug from Allie
  Movie night with daddy
  Shopping with Nana
  Word feud with Papa
   Watching Auntie D play with Allie
   Holding new babies Mikaela and Michael
   Watching Allie play with her cousins
   Visitors to our house- planned or unplanned
   Grammie's patience with a house full of little ones
   Gramps teasing Allie
   Clean sheets
............. I could go on and on and on and on.... :)  this is just a little sample. :)

I know daddy has a list as well....
right now- I'm sure he will be thankful when his 5K Turkey Trot is over. :)
Enjoy your day everyone! :)

Thanksgiving Craftiness! :)

We have been a little lax in our preschool stuff around here... but we HAVE done a little.  Allie has worked on learning her Hh, Ii and now is on Ff.  We have done our slide shows and she has learned more memory verses. She still is continuing to amaze us!  We have done some crafts as well. Mostly turkey stuff in anticipation of thanksgiving! :)  She did a couple of them at AWANA and the rest at home. :) The handprint ones are for the letter H, the Indian is for I and we just started F this week and didn't think of anything that went with F for thanksgiving so we did another handprint paint turkey. :) 

Baby Puppies!

This post is a little late in coming... I found the pictures on my phone. A couple weeks ago, we went to help out one of daddy's cousins.  His aunt and uncle brought along their new baby puppies. (They were three or four weeks old at the time.)  Allie and her cousins had fun playing with them and snuggling them. :) TOOO Cute! :)  Enjoy the pictures! :) 

My Little Shopper

Allie girl and I went grocery shopping with Nana last week. The chore is not one of my favorites, but when mom said she had to go too, we decided to keep each other company. :) We did most of our shopping at one store, and then needed a few things at another store.  Since I didn't need as much, I let Allie have her own little cart. She thought she was B.I.G. stuff! WOW! She was wild- flying around like a crazy girl. We had to explain to her that we need to be careful and not run into other customers and walk- not run. It took the whole trip to get her to settle down enough to walk normal. She was so excited. :)  It was a real treat to her because usually I confine her to the seat in the cart the whole trip. Otherwise my shopping time would be tripled. :)  

After we had done all we were waiting in the checkout line. I handed her my lanyard of reward cards and asked her to hand them to the lady. Not even thinking, my whistle from teaching was on the lanyard. Before I realized it- there was this LOUD LOUD  Screeeeeeech! (From the whistle of course). Oh  my word. I was embarrassed. I didn't look at anyone- but quickly asked her not to do that anymore. Mom said everyone in the area got real quiet and looked at us. I'm sure it isn't the first or last time she will do something embarrassing, but goodness. :)  

SILLY LITTLE GIRL!! 

Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Even though this adoption process is a huge roller coaster ride, and we really just want off- we are certain of what we KNOW.

• God is good.
• He has a plan.
• His timing is perfect.
• He is stretching and growing us to trust in Him even deeper.
• He loves us and never leaves us in the valleys and the steep drops of the ride.
• He has a baby in mind for us- and the end result will be adding them to our family.
• He provides family and friends to pray and encourage and lift us up- to help us keep on riding. Thank you!!! You all mean so much! And this journey would never happen with out you.
• He whispers words of encouragement and hope through his Holy Spirit that only can come from Him. Promises of better things to come than the murky muck.
• He gives strength to keep on trudging through the situations and disappointments- knowing that we are one step closer each time to "our" baby.
• He gives peace- even when we are disappointed.
• He has already blessed us beyond what we have deserved or expected. We ARE blessed! And thankful for those blessings!
• He uses everything for good and to draw us and others closer to Him. For that we are thankful too! Daily quiet time is good!!! :)
• HE IS GOOD! Always GOOD. Always Faithful. Always Awesome.

So.............................................

• We keep waiting.
• We keep trusting.
• We keep believing.
• We keep thanking Him and praising Him for what he has already done, and what we KNOW He will do.
• We keep hoping... and most of all
• We never stop praying.

Please keep praying with us to bring our sweet baby home.

Thanks! :)

Fun in the Leaves!

My pictures are all out of order and I'm having trouble getting them the way I want them... I must have a setting off, because that hasn't happened in a while. Please pardon the randomness of the pictures- It frustrates me. Anyway......
We were outside playing in the leaves on Saturday! What a blast! :) Allie and Gracie LOVED the piles of leaves. We had been talking about how much fun you could have when the leaves fall from the trees with them, but this was the first time she remembers doing it. :)

She wanted to climb a tree. :) So daddy helped her. :) She thought she was big stuff. :)

Beautiful trees and sky... God is amazing!

Laying in the leaves looking up!

Allie, Daddy and I had to check out the amazingly blue sky. :) Thought this was pretty cute...

Burying daddy in the leaves... :)
Gracie's finding him. :)

Playing together.... :)
She had a blast! Allie would bury her frisbee and Gracie'd find it... :)
Cutie pie! She would dive and jump into the leaf pile like it was water! :) At one point, we saw her making a "leaf angel". I think she's ready for snow!!! :) She's asked if it is coming soon already! Hopefully we have a little longer before that yet! :)