5 Years

I will post more later on remembering this day but Dawson would be 5 years old tomorrow, June 25. I hate that I will be out of town tomorrow but we know that we can remember him anywhere we are!

Oh how I miss you baby boy and wish that I could just hold you again for just a moment!

3 Months

Today, Charlie is 3 months old! Just seems crazy to me!! He is growing so much and so fast that I wish I could freeze or slow time down just a bit! He is smiling all the time and loves to coo at anyone that will listen! He now weighs 11 lbs 2 oz and is 23 inches long! That is almost 5 lbs over birth weight and almost 5 inches! He is still a peanut but I guess when you start that small, it just takes longer. Charlie is sleeping like a champ! Usually 8-10 hours a night! I didn't know babies could even do that! He loves going on walks in his stroller and loves the outdoors. We just love him so much & I can't imagine our lives without him. Happy 3 months Charlie!!

Well Said

I'll be posting a link to a blog post that we all need to hear. It might be uncomfortable to hear but sometimes the truth hurts. The title itself says it all. Is the church ready for the abortion law to change?? How many of us are pro-life?? But how many of us would step up to welcome those "un-wanted" children into our homes? How many of us have said there is no way we could adopt or I don't feel called?? One of the major arguments of the pro-choice movements is the issue of the foster care system already being so full. They ask who will take care of these children when the mother chooses life and then is not able to care for these children down the road.

Brian & I have talked quite often since Charlie's arrival of whether this is it for children or not. Most of the time we say "5 is good". The chaos can be overwhelming sometimes. But we will not say never. We have no way of knowing if God will call us to open our homes again. We also know that He might not but we will always advocate for these children. I can't imagine Charlie not being here. He is our son & my heart could almost explode with the love I have for him & all our children. Charlie's birthmom chose life and now he will hopefully know the love and salvation that God has for him because we listened to God's call. So please go read this post & be ready to accept the reality that this issue is causing.

Is the church ready for the abortion law to change?

Sweet 16

I can't believe my baby girl, Alexa,  is 16 today!! I am tearing up just typing that! These years are just flying by & I would love to find a way to just freeze time for a while. In 2 more years, I will be looking at the possibility of her going off to college. My heart just hurts at that thought! But I also love seeing what a lovely young woman she is becoming. I'd love to know how we got so lucky but we are so blessed by her. She juggles all the stuff in her life so well & I wish I could have enjoyed life like she does back when I was a teenager.

 She takes her school work very seriously & we are proud that she managed to get a 4.0 this last semester, with a 3.96 for the year. She is also working at Subway, doing drill team & football cheer leading & playing soccer. Yeah, she's a busy girl but we want her to enjoy these years. We love her friends & we welcome them over at our house anytime! Well, maybe not after midnight! ha! Most of all, we love her strong faith in the Lord. We pray that it continues to grow & that she relies on Him to be making some big life decisions in the future! We love you Alexa & we can't wait to see what 16 holds for you!!

Need Your Help

One of the agencies that we had worked with, Mother Goose Adoptions, is need of a family for 3 young African American boys. Their ages are 3, 4, and 5. These boys are so precious & we need to find a loving home for them. They have been well cared for but their loving birth father just can't care for them. I've seen their pictures and my heart just wants these precious boys to find the absolute best family for them. Please, if you or a family you know who is homestudy ready and willing to look into this, please have them contact Deb at Mother Goose Adoptions, 480-626-4900. They would like to find a family ASAP and she has all their medical & social info.  Also, please pray for not only these boys but for the potential adoptive family and the birth father.

When You Rely on Faith Alone

I was reading another blog post recently that talked about how when they started the adoption process, they had barely enough to get started in the process. God provided just what they needed and blew them away with His providence. She also talked about how she listened to Dave Ramsey's radio show & a call came in from a man wanting to adopt but didn't have the funds to complete an adoption. Dave told them that it must not be God's will if the money wasn't there already. I'm going to start by saying that the principles that Dave Ramsey has are great. We've followed his advice on numerous things & it has helped our financial situation tremendously! Not that we are rolling in it by any means but we have a better handle on our finances than we did before. But I really am annoyed at his advice to this caller. We personally did not have the money up front to complete an adoption and many people who go through the process don't either. But God doesn't always call us to do things when everything is set up perfectly.  Yeah, in a perfect world that is how things would happen but that's not always the case. I'm also not saying to throw caution to the wind and make unwise decisions but this is a child we are talking about. Not something materialistic like a car that we can't afford or new furniture. God sometimes calls us to do things that brings us out of our comfort zone & it's usually for our own good.

I know money is a huge factor in the adoption process. It was for us. But God kept prodding at us to listen to Him & rely on our faith in Him that He would provide what we needed. I can't imagine looking at Charlie's face and putting a price tag on him. There isn't an amount that would be enough.  I think any of us would look at our children and know that we couldn't say they were worth "X" amount of dollars. They are priceless. So before you write off the idea of adoption because of money or if things aren't just set up in life just perfectly, remember that sometimes we just have to live on faith alone.

Charlie's Baptism

Here are just a few pictures of Charlie's Baptism day. I wish I had taken more pictures but it always seems like days like this are so chaotic that taking pictures takes a back seat to keeping the kids in check. We never seem to get a good family pic either but I guess with 5 kids, that's to be expected! We had a wonderful day & we loved getting to celebrate Charlie.

Trouble Posting

I'm hoping to have some things worked through but blogger is being a pain in my "you know what". I can't comment on any other blogs & it won't let me upload any videos or pictures. I know this blog seems pretty neglected right now but hey, it's the beginning of summer & I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible. But I also don't want to miss documenting our memories. Hope to have pics to post soon!