Fast Friends

You know how sometimes you meet someone and it feels like you've known them forever? That God placed this person in your life for a reason? Well God has placed, not 1, not 2, but NINE of us in Birmingham into that fast friendship. We are all journeying through this adoption thing together, encouraging each other (and giving lots of tips along the way). And not only that, but we are all adopting from China. Bringing them home to Birmingham, AL. Seriously. What a gift that really only the Lord can put together. Only 2 of us initially knew each other, and over the course of 6 months, this group continues to grow.
Now our daughters (and our families) will have 10 (or more!) special friendships that will be so important for them as they grow up in a place where life looks a little bit different. Families look a little bit different. And they will all know they were brought here by a loving God, to live life together and encourage one another, just as their mom's did before the girls were even brought home to join their forever families.
And now our first friend is making the groups' "maiden" trek to China to bring their precious daughter home (if you want to follow her while she is there, check out prepareourhearts.blogspot.com). If you think about it, please pray for them while they are there!
What a blessing, our red thread moms!

photo ripped off courtesy of prepareourhearts.blogspot.com

What's the Big News?

Our homestudy is finally finished!!! We began this process in November and we are finally moving on the next step! For those of you that don't know, our move has delayed this several months. I've tried not to dwell too much on the delay of our adoption, because it's all for a good cause. Right? (Let me tell you, the extra space in our new house is fabulous!!) And let's be honest, it's really just out of our control. And Charles keeps reminding me, over and over, that it's really ALL about God's timing. He knew way before we did that our house would sell so super quickly that we wouldn't have time for a home tour. And that it would take us several months to find a house and move in. He is the Master of details. It will be so amazing when we get a picture of our precious little girl and understand that the wait was WORTH IT!

Paper With Purpose

Several of you have asked about our stationery business, and I realized I don't even have a link to it on the blog! So here it is :)
http://www.paperwithpurpose.com/
I'll also add a link on the side...

Stay tuned, tomorrow is a big day!

A Chapter Closes

The day is here... Moving Day! I'm a little bitter sweet. Charles and I bought this house with 1.5 years of marriage under our belt and zero kids. Now here we are, married almost 8 years, 2 kids with one more on the way. How did we get here? And I love our house. But I don't love our house enough for 3 kids. So off we go, one chapter closes, but another one, a really exciting one, is coming our way!! This will be the house where we bring our precious daughter home from China. This will be where the boys learn to ride their bikes (on the FLAT CUL DE SAC!). Where the kids will all transition from pre-school to big school. (Thank goodness not this year, or I would be a big weeping mess- today i love July birthdays and pre-school 5k programs!) So it too will have it's firsts.
For those of you that are wondering what we did to the house before we moved in... we put hardwoods throughout, painted top to bottom, replaced carpet in basement, ripped out old school paneling and put in new drywall, and, my favorite, built a laundry room/office. Yippee! Once we are settled, I'll post before and after pics.
Happy Moving Day!

How Time Flies

Is it really the end of a school year? Again?? I promise it was just September and my little boys had pudgy cheeks and a slight tan with their white hair. Now tans are long gone, Maxwell's hair is a little darker and he's  about 6 inches taller. At least Elliott still fits the bill! And here we are again, at the Mother's Day Art Show for our boy's pre-school. Meaning the end of another year. I would be a lot more nostalgic, however, Maxwell will go one more year for the 5k program and then we've still got Elliott and little girl Kown to go! But I will sooo miss all of Maxwell's friends (and really their moms!) that will be moving on up to the big school next year :(

How is it that Spring goes by so fast, you blink and it's over? Maxwell's first year of t-ball wrapped up today,  and we move in 2 weeks. Not to mention the chaotic ending we've had to Spring here in Alabama these past 2 weeks (but that's another post for another day).

So enjoy his fabulous artwork and the end of our first year of t-ball.

 

FYI, that's not me. I know it looks like me, and my clothing, but the pictures got confused with another little boy. His mother looks nothing like me. And in case you can't read about Mama Robyn, check out below...

Charles laughed hard. Really hard.

Maxwell and these 2 precious friends have been together (along with a friend not pictured) since they were 2

Note this is the 2nd popsicle partaken by Elliott

Go Reds!

Maxwell's first trophy. At the end of the day, it's really just all about the trophy.

I think this is the first picture of Elliott smiling on my blog ever. So I just needed to show you how cute he really is (even with my lipstick on) :)