6 Months, Is That All?!?!

Friday, October 19, 2012 1 comment
Isaiah, You have been home 6 months already!! Technically it was this past Saturday :-) but your momma is not always the best at finding time to blog!! My sweet boy I honestly don't know where these past 6 months have gone? On one hand it seems like just yesterday that we were both still in beautiful Ethiopia waiting to start our journey home and on the other hand it feels like you have always been here!! Look at how much you have changed since coming home!! The picture on the left was taken your first week home and it was also the first time you ever touched grass :-) The picture on the right was taken a couple of weeks ago!!
You went to the doctor today for your second flu shot and I got an updated height and weight. You are 16 months old and you weight 22 pounds and are 30 3/4 inches long!! You are still playing catch up when it comes to your weight but I know you are healthy and that is all that matters.
 
You wear a size 4 shoe and sizes 18-24 months clothes!! You came home wearing 9 months clothes!! You have had the same 4 teeth for the last couple of months :-) Two top and two bottom. I can look at your gums and see TONS of teeth just ready to pop their way through!! I don't know if I can handle you looking any more bigger with more teeth. The four you have already make you look like a little big man!!
 
I love watching you with Noah, or as you call him Bubba :-) You are his constant shadow! Where he goes, you want to go too!! Almost every morning when we hear you in your crib talking Noah races in their to jump in the crib with you and the both of you just lay there talking and laughing until I come get you. I am so thankful for the sweet and close relationship the two of you have. Noah is so patient with you and is always eager to teach you new things and you are always so excited to learn from him. Every night we gather on Mommy's bed to read our bible story and say prayers and I just cherish that precious time with my two boys!! You are both so special to me!!
 

You love any and all books. You and your brother would both sit for hours and listen to Mommy read to you if I would. I usually have to cut you both off at 5-6 books, lol You have a few special books that you love to carry around. Your baby bible and a little picture book that has pictures of you and your family in it. You absolutely LOVE to sing!! Grant it right now it is more like you like to make tons of sounds that go along with the music, but to you it is singing :-) Your brother and I sing with you every night before bed. Your favorites are Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Love the Little Children and You Are My Sunshine. One of your favorite things to do is carry my IPhone around and listen to music, Ha! Sometimes you will just sit it next to you on the floor while you play :-) Recently my friend loaned us the Praise Baby DVD's and you LOVE them!! I can't wait to see what  comes of your love for music in the future!!

Your favorite foods are bananas, oatmeal, sweet potatoes and yogurt. Recently you have become pretty picky, which is the complete opposite from what you were when you first came home. I used to have to cut you off and now I have to sometimes beg you to eat, lol You are still taking a bottle in the morning, which I am totally okay with (your pediatrician, not so much) I have learned over the years not to go by a chart when it comes to raising kiddos and I don't plan on being any different with you :-) You have shown Mommy that you just are not ready to give up your morning bottle just yet. You drink out of a sippy cup through out the day just fine and I know over the new few weeks you will be ready to let go of the bottle completely.

Moments with you Isaiah are just pure JOY (most of the time, Ha!!) We still have our moments where your strong will butts heads with Mommy's rules but we have made a lot of progress over the last 6 months!! Your smile lights up any room and your big beautiful brown eyes can speak more then what some can express in words!! You LOVE to laugh and you get lots of pleasure out of making others laugh. I knew from watching you with the nannies at the Transition House that you had a super silly side and it definitely came home with you :-) If you realize that something you did made someone laugh, you will do it over and over again waiting for more laughter from people.

You love to be outside and this summer we spent LOTS of time outside swinging and playing in the grass or splashing in the water. We take lots of walks, even now that fall is here and the weather is getting cooler, I bundle you up and off we go with your brother leading the way on his scooter or bike. You love looking at everything around you and when you see a dog you start yelling with excitement!! The noises that come out of your mouth are pure entertainment. We went to the Zoo a few weeks ago and you were so fun to watch as you saw all the different kinds of animals. Your favorites were the monkeys! I stood you up against the glass wall and the momma monkey put her hand against your hand. It was the sweetest things and you just smiled from ear to ear!!

Your favorite toys are actually your brother's toy kitchen and all the accessories that go with it, lol 9 times out of 10 when you are walking around the house you are seen holding a play fork and play frying pan!! I think it is so funny. You also love playing with balls of any kind and recently you have started pretending you are talking on your play phone. Veggie Tales and Praise Baby are your favorite things to watch and you will also watch some Disney movies with your brother like Finding Nemo and Lady and the Tramp. You have a little tag blanket you sleep with that we call "taggie" It is a small square piece of fabric that has little tags around the edges that I ordered for you before you came home. It is definitely your little security blanket for sleeping.

You are finally getting used to going to the church nursery!! PTL!! This past Sunday you actually went to the nursery worker willingly without screaming, crying and holding onto my clothes for dear life (which has been our normal routine on Sunday mornings, lol ) We are at church at least three times a week so I think that is helping you get used to the environment and the workers there just love you and always have such sweet things to say about you when I pick you up!!

Isaiah these last 6 months have been full of laughter, smiles, JOY, tears, prayers, GRACE, many "first", moments of taking 2 steps forward but then 4 steps back, encouragement, peace, curiosity, exploring, and HOPE for what the Lord has in store for us in this next chapter. You are such a blessing to all of us, especially your brother and I :-) I prayed for you and the Lord heard my prayers!! I am so thankful He CHOSE you for our family. I pray you always know how loved you are!!

I love you to the moon and back sweet boy!!
Love, Mommy

Our Story......

Recently I was contacted by my church's newspaper and asked if they could interview me for a story they wanted to write about my little family and my journey to bring Isaiah home. I was extremely humbled and honestly couldn't believe out of the 20,000 members (yes there are that many people who belong to my church, lol ) they wanted to do a story about us. I of course took it as an opportunity to bring more Glory to God for everything he did during those 18 months and to tell of the amazing ways he provided for my adoption!! I never want people to look at my adoption story as something I did as a single mom! I instead always want people to see what God did through me. I was only the clay, He was the potter!! To read the story click here
 
"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand" Isaiah 64:8
 

Phone Dump.....

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 3 comments
Work, homeschooling, serving, errands, bible study, church........yep just to name a few reasons why my blogging has hit a rut lately where I only manage to post once every other week, lol as unbelievable as it may sound (due to my blogging record) I actually love blogging and really wish I could manage to do it more often. I have to remind myself often that this is a season and I need to embrace it and all the craziness that comes with it :-)
 
The boys are doing great! Thriving and growing. I hope to do an update post on both of them, if not for any other reason then to have it written for myself. As much as I love photography and taking pictures with an actual camera, ever since discovering Instagram I find myself taking way more pictures with my phone. If you follow me on Instagram or if we are Facebook friends, you have already seen all of these pictures. For the few of you who actually read this little blog of mine and don't know me personally. Enjoy :-)
 
 
Some sweet friends of mine came into town a few weeks ago and we met at our local Ethiopian restaurant. Isaiah LOVED the food!! He had never had it, so I was anxious to see how he acted with it. I am having some friends over next week and plan on attempting to make my own Ethiopian food? I'll let you know how it goes :-) Let's hope we don't have to call for pizza, lol

Against every fiber of my being I agreed to let my dad give Noah his very own pocket knife! Both of my nephews have one to widdle with and Noah had been begging asking me when he could get one, so he could start to widdle? My dad called me one day to tell me he had found the perfect pocket knife for him and wanted to know if he could please get it for him. I caved agreed and oh my stars it made the boy's day times ten!!! Below is a picture of Noah with my youngest nephew. They were having a serious conversation about the art of how to widdle, lol


My boys and I a few weekends ago before church! I am so thankful for these two precious gifts from the Lord and pray daily that I raise them with servant's hearts and that they always know their Savior and seek Him in everything they do!
When you have two boys, what's one more, lol I surprised Noah with a sleep over with his buddy Hooper who came home from Ethiopia a year ago. They had so much fun making pizzas, building, going on a walk with their scooters and watching Disney movies until I was ready to pass out and waved my white flag, making them go to bed, lol
Have you ever seen the movie Tangled? If you have you will understand the picture to the left and why I find it so funny that my youngest child LOVES that toy frying pan and carries it everywhere, Ha!! I love the other picture to the right. Noah was working on his bible work during school and Isaiah squatted down next to him with a serious look of concentration while watching his big brother :-)


Our first trip to the ER since Isaiah coming home. 5 hours later after having IV fluids run we were sent home with a diagnoses of strep throat, double ear infections and some antibiotics. Ugh!! Thankfully it only took him about 24 hours and he was back to his silly happy self :-)
 
What? You mean all big brothers don't enjoy pushing their little brothers around Earth Fare in mini shopping carts, lol

I had the boys outside last week and decided to snap a couple of pictures while they were looking exceptionally cute that day, lol I know I am a little partial :-)
 
Typical day in our house :-) Noah entertaining Isaiah and Isaiah mimicking everything Noah does, lol
Sunday afternoon naps brings out our silly sides and a reverse picture taking with my phone, lol
My mom is awesome and on the Sundays I have to work she always sends me a picture of my boys before they go to church! Yes they are matching :-) I accidentally found matching sweaters for them at a consignment sale I recently went to.
Hope ya'll are enjoying this beautiful fall weather!! Please continue to pray for Julee and Preslee in the coming days and weeks ahead as Julee finds her new normal without her dear husband Matt by her side.

Please Pray!!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 1 comment
One thing I love about blogging is the friendships I have gained, the ladies who I feel like I "know" from years of reading their blogs and the amazing community you find yourself a part of. I have been reading Julee's blog for almost 2 years now and yes as crazy as it may sound I feel like I "know" her. She is just the sweetest lady, with a beautiful heart full of love for her family and friends. She and her husband welcomed their beautiful baby girl Preslee into the world last November after struggling with infertility.
 
Last Saturday evening her husband Matt was killed in a car accident and since finding out on Sunday through a mutual friend on Facebook I have not been able to get sweet Julee and Preslee off my mind and heart. I find myself praying for them all day, before I go to bed and as soon as I wake up. I want to ask you all to join me in praying for Julee and sweet little Preslee in the coming days and weeks ahead!! Pray that our loving God would wrap His arms around them and carry them during this time. Pray that Julee would have peace that surpasses all understanding on this side of Heaven. Pray that her strength would be strengthened during this time and that the Lord would place many people around her during this time who will love, support and be there for her. I can't imagine what she is going through right now, but I do know our God is Sovereign over all things.
 
You can head over to Kelly's blog to read about other ways you can help Julee during this time. There is a silent auction being set up as well as an address where you can send donations for Julee and Preslee.
 
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans."
Romans 8:26