Birthday Fun

We went to the zoo for Sebastian's birthday. We wanted to try and beat the rain if we could, we went right away in the morning. The boys were so excited to go and see the animals, especially the new tigers. It was all we could have hoped for, minus the wind and cool temp. The three tigers were up close to the glass when we got there and we were able to get some cool pics of them. It was amazing to see them up close and watch them move around. I wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to live harmoniously with the animals?

The day continued with lunch at mcdonald's and then cupcakes with sprinkles for the birthday boy. In the evening we watched his birth tape and looked at pictures of him as a newborn. How crazy it was to see him then and now. As we looked back on this year, we are reminded of how much God has blessed us through Sebastian. He is a wonderful little baby boy, who is healthy, smart, funny and loving. He loves to play with his brothers and try to bark at the dog. He is very independent, already wants to eat by himself. He likes to be silly so you'll think he is funny. And has the sweetest "chicklet" grin. We love him so much and can't imagine our life without him. Thank you Jesus for our little Sebastian, may he continue to grow and use him for YOUR glory.

Sebastian's birthday party

We celebrated Sebastian's birthday with Travis's family today. It was a wonderful time with family, of course we had to have some sort of drama. After we sang "happy birthday", we brought the cake (with a candle on it) closer to Sebastian so he could attempt to blow it out. As we were beginning to explain to him how to do it, he put the flame out-WITH HIS FINGER! Of course we all gasped out loud, which then scared him and he started crying. With wax all over his fingers we weren't for certain if had been burned but after he calmed down and was cleaned up, we realized he was FINE and had in fact just been scared.

He loved eating his cake and opening his presents. I can't believe it's been a year since he was born. I am so thankful God has entrusted us to be his parents, I pray we don't let him or Him down.

Spring is here!

Springtime has finally arrived up here. It's amazing how a little sun and some warm air changes your mood. We have the windows open and the boys get to play outside. God is so creative!

working

Sunday I had my first full day of work. It was so hard to be away from my boys for that long. They had fun with Travis and they played at "nana and pops". I was glad to hear that they did ask for me, but it breaks my heart to know that they were sad because I wasn't there.
Sebastian turns 1 in a week. I will no longer have a baby in the house, so sad. He is growing so much now that he can crawl and pull himself up, he even started "cruising" while holding onto something. His personality is so cute to see and he loves his brothers and tries to play with their toys with them. My cup runneth over!
I pray God will give me the strength and balance in my life to get things done without neglecting anything or anyone, important to me. We are choosing to sacrifice for a short time to adopt.

Excited!

Now that we have the adoption ball rolling, we are planning some fundraisers. I get so excited about planning things and being able to use my creative side. So as of now, we are making t-shirts and bracelets to sell. I have created a couple designs to choose from and found a company to print them at a decent price. I also have a couple designs for bracelets to make but I am still researching the cost to make them and where to buy the supplies. My goal is to have them available by the end of the month for people to purchase.
As we are filling out the paper work, we are getting more and more excited about adopting. It's so awesome to read other people's blogs about their experience through this journey. It is evident that God moves through His people to bring families together. What an awesome God we serve!!

Professional Pictures

After a year of delaying professional pictures of the boys, I broke down and took them to a new place in town. Expressions by Ashton is the name of the company who just opened just last month and had a grand opening special going on, so I wanted to try them. They did an awesome job with the boys and had lots of props to choose from, we had a hard time deciding what we wanted to use. Oliver and Thatcher did a good job smiling but a hard time sitting still and Sebastian would sit still but not smile. Oh, well. We can look back and see what they look like though and that is the point of pictures, right?

What's on your face?

Today Oliver was playing with a cup by making it suction around his mouth. I saw him doing it and thought nothing of it, untill Travis came home. As soon as he saw Oliver he said, "What happened to your face?" With Oliver having allergies, we are always suspicious of an allergic reaction to something. I laughed and said, "oh, he is fine. He was just playing with a cup so it's a little red," not knowing what it had done to his face. When I saw his face, I just died laughing. He looked like he was growing facial hair in the perfect place of a gotee. There were little specks of blood all over his chin and it was purple and blue like a hickie. And the ironic part is, they have pictures on Saturday!! I really hope it goes away by then. The pictures don't really do it justice, it is really comical to see it.

chillin"

What child is this?

Homestudy

I just met our social worker who will be doing our home study on Saturday. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. You've heard horror stories of social workers I am sure too. But she was very nice and it was a relaxed first meeting. I gave her our initial paperwork and fee so...it's officially started. It renewed my excitement for adoption. We talked a lot about international vs. domestic and initially we were sold on international. But after visiting about the needs here in the US it opened my eyes to the possibility. Travis and I are going to pray that God will show us where to proceed but we are excited for whatever path we take. It is so heartbreaking to think of all the children out there and the one's yet to be born that will wait for someone to love them and show them God's love. Christ has called us to care for the widows and orphans and be that someone for them in any way we can, prayer, sponsoring a child, adopting.
Pray with us and for us we go through this journey.

Born to Ride

At Travis's cousins house, Thatcher wanted to ride his bike. He had to settle for just sitting on it. We told him to give us 13 or more years to worry about this and then he can ride. Time is on his side though, it'll be here before we know it.

Snow day!

Because of the blizzard, Travis came home early on Monday and stayed on Tuesday. We were so happy to have him home during the week, it felt like another weekend for us. The streets were cleared enough to get out so we ventured out hoping we wouldn't get stuck. Our side street is usually the last to get plowed :( and our van doesn't get around very well. As we were driving through the snow, Travis exaggerated the situation to be funny. The boys really enjoyed his hysterics. We treated the boys to a slushy and pretzel (more butter than pretzel) at Auntie Anne's-I restrained myself to only a couple of bites. But the most memorable part of our outing was squeezing all 5 of us into a little picture booth. Picture this in your head if you can, Travis gets in-all 6'3'' of him followed by Oliver and Thatcher who both sit on his lap. Then I get in holding Sebastian. Travis then attempts to put his crumbled dollar bills into the slot as the boys squirm and bicker about touching and breathing on each other. Why didn't we put the money in first? The machine kept spitting the last bill back out while Travis is juggling the boys on his lap, he even drops it. By then we are laughing at the chaos and irony of the situation-all to get a silly picture that doesn't turn out anyway! We finally get through the 4 poses and by then 2 of the 3 kids are crying and we are yelling at each other. Feel the love? We fall out of the booth and start laughing again when we see the pictures replayed on the screen. They show instant replay of the session, even in between the shots. Very funny to see us trying to get all 5 of us into a little frame-which we didn't succeed at that. I think one of my eyes is in one picture. But the memory will last forever. I am going to try and scan the picture onto the computer so I can post it-I know you will appreciate seeing the results.