SIX

This beautiful daughter of ours turned SIX last week!

We love her dearly and are so proud of the young lady she is becoming!

As always, our hearts break for her China mommy as we think of how her heart must be hurting on this day.  She gave our daughter life, and chose to give her life again as she let her go so that she could survive.

Sicky

We had us a little sicky last week.  It started when our boy fell asleep at the grocery store.  I knew then and there that something had to be wrong with him.

After a couple of trips to the doctor, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and an ear infection.  

After lots of coughing, sleepless nights, breathing treatments, and medicine... our boy got a good report from the doctor.  No more pneumonia or ear infections!

Beautiful Days

We had a few beautiful days, which was a nice break from the cold dreary ones!  The kids got to ride their new toys from Santa.  We played outside for hours and loved every minute of it!

We celebrated 10 months that this little guy has been in our home!

All parental rights have now officially been terminated and we will soon be transferred to the adoption department to start all that is involved with adopting this little guy.  Trusting God every step of this journey He is taking us on!!

First Front Tooth

I knew it was coming, but I wasn't ready.  Barrett lost one of his front teeth.  I'm not ready for him to grow in big teeth and look older!  But, he didn't listen to me and he wiggled it until it fell out... in his sleep.  Luckily Gram found it in his room the next day!

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Visiting Aiden

We waited for Aiden to come home before going to visit.  We can be overwhelming in small hospital rooms, so we waited to grace him with our presence until he was home.  Brynn and I ran by after ballet one evening.

The following evening all six of us stopped by to visit.

Sweet little baby boy!

Aiden Duke

Hip hip hooray for baby day!

 We were thankful that Aiden decided to make his appearance on a Saturday.  Brynn and I headed up to the hospital, while Robert took the boys to their basketball games.  We knew it would be hours still, so they carried on with our regular commitments and then come up to the hospital later.

 We waited and waited.

 We finally got a text from Josh that Aiden had been born!  The grandparents got to go see him in the delivery room, the rest of us waited until they had been moved upstairs to their room.  The toddlers could hear him crying and were concerned.  They put their ears up to the door:) 

 We finally got the ok to go in and see him for the first time.

 All of Aiden's cousins.  He is loved by many!

 Robert had to get to work before we were able to see Aiden, so our family picture is minus one.

 Aiden Duke is the perfect little bundle and we are smitten!

Baby Boy

We are having a great start to 2015!  Our toddler has slept though the night for several nights, his behavior and contentment have been outstanding,

but the best thing that has happened this year is this...

 The birth of our nephew Aiden Duke!

More pictures and updates coming soon!

Here We Go

Here we go... back to real life.

No more lazy pj days.

This week will bring back our normal routine.

All of the kids have birthdays coming up, back to back.  So it makes for a busy winter, full of excitement for the kids.  Their birthdays aren't as exciting for me since that means they are all turning a year older (no sadness with our toddler turning a year older though.  Let's get past the terrible 2's!)  Starting with this girl.  She will start off our birthday chain at the end of this month.

We have a new nephew due this month, an important court date regarding Kaleb (nothing adoption related yet), and Brynn's birthday.  2015 is in full swing!

New Beginnings

Our family is ready for a new beginning!

With the addition of our little guy, also came the addition of a lot of hard behaviors, fear, pain, loss, confusion, and grief.  He has suffered, the kids have been challenged, and Robert and I have been stretched.  We are ready for a new beginning.  We are clinging to God's word:

The steadfast love of the lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Our theme for 2015 is to serve The Lord with gladness.  We have been serving, obeying, putting one foot in front of the other, doing what He is asking us to do... but it hasn't always been with joy and gladness.  I am so thankful for grace, forgiveness, and new beginnings.

Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!  Psalm 100:2

 For Kaleb this is more than just a new year, it's the beginning of a new life.  He will officially join our family through adoption in 2015!

We are ready for our new beginning!

Hello 2015!