Catching up on blogging

I haven't posted in awhile. We have been on the go. We celebrated my birthday, Easter and the church plant's one year anniversary. God is good and I give Him all the glory. Now I have a bit to catch up on here and definately more to catch up in laundry(ick!)

Happiness

Everyday do at least one thing that makes you happy!

Although this is not a philosophy that I would endorse it was a sign that I read while out on a day trip with my family. I would think that if that was my goal in life I would be more focused on my own happiness than I should be or already am. But I did get happy from reading this sign because I asked my 5 year old if he had done something that day to make him happy. He replied "Yes, I spent my day with you." Wow, I have been soaring from that for awhile now.

It was my 35th birthday and my husband took the day off to spend time with me. He took me out to breakfast. This is one of my favorite things to do and with getting three kids up and going in the morning it is truly a rare and special treat.

We then went to pick strawberries at an orchard. I had never done it before and was a bit weary what the boys would think. We all had a blast and the strawberries were the best I had ever had. Bella loved them and would scream for more when James stopped giving them to her. Now that girl definately knows what makes her happy.

It was really neat seeing the strawberries growing and the nearby peach trees which are now being worked on to provide fruit in the summer. We got to share many spiritual lessons with the boys and they got to see with their own two eyes the difference between good fruit and bad fruit.
I really felt such joy from spending the day with my family. They brighten each day of my life and although I am definately not always happy, I cherish them and the blessing they are in my life.

Fun with friends

Fun with friends! Bella is now walking quite a bit. She is hard to keep up with.

I got together with my friends and their kiddos for some fun time. Rebecca and I had a great time catching up with Terri who moved away and came back for a visit. When I told Justus that Mrs. Terri was coming with the kids he said "I am glad Mrs Terri isn't a liar!" He then added "When they moved she said she would come back to visit and she did". Thanks Terri for being a woman of your word. It was fun seeing our kids have a great time together!

Easter!!

Easter was a great day. We really focused on the new life we have through Christ's death. The kids had a great time learning at church through an Easter egg hunt. Then we went to my mom's to celebrate. The kids have so much fun being silly with their cousins.

Last month we dedicated Isabella at church. At our church we start the baby in the moms hands to introduce the child. We then transfer the baby to the dad to show that he is the head of the house. We then give the baby to the pastor to show that the baby really belongs to God and the church is to come along side us in teaching her about Him. It really is a neat picture.

I really wanted James to be just the dad and since he is the pastor of our church we waited until we had a guest preacher. It really worked out great because our guest preacher had dedicated our other two children when James was a youth pastor. Below is our commitment to Isabella and more importantly to God.

Believing that our daughter was given to us as a priceless treasure from the Lord, we are dedicating her back to our God, knowing that she belongs to Him. In acknowledging this, we are dedicating ourselves, as her parents, to raise her according to biblical standards and to do our best always to be Godly examples for her to observe all of the days that God would allow us to be together here on this earth. -James and Elizabeth

Cool Adoption Stories.

While we were considering adoption I would ask people who adopted the most random questions. I realize now that some of those questions might have been offensive(from reading adoption forums and hearing how these types of questions have offended them) That was never my intention and if you were one of the offended I apologize. I just wanted to make sure that adoption was something that was for us. I wanted to know everything about it.A few weeks ago I saw a movie on T.V. One of the characters in the movie was adopted and the channel had a small box on it that pointed me to their website. There are many stories from families who went through adoption. I think it really gives a good picture of the joy and heartache of the adoption process. If you want to see them click here!

3 months, 3 steps, 3 words and 1 perplexed heart

My precious Bella has now been home for 3 months. Time has flown by and part of me feels like she has been here forever. Tommorrow she will be 10 months old. She is doing so well. In the last few weeks she has begun putting her head on our shoulders when we pick her up. This has been so special to me. She used to only do it if she was about to fall asleep but now does it to just be close to us.
She has been cruising around the house going from furniture to furniture. Four days ago she stood up and took three steps. I was watching her but all my guys were in the next room. I didn't want to scream and scare her but that is just what I did. Down she went and she didn't want to try again. Since then she has taken a step here and there but she is being cautious. Joshua asked me how old he and Justus were when the began walking. I told him 14 months. He cracked me up because he responded that he thinks God just makes Guatemalan babies smarter. Of course, I think all of my children are bright and wonderful. After all, I'm their mom!
She has picked up a few more words through sign language and has begun saying duh,duh when she is signing that she is done eating. She also says uh,uh when she signs to be picked up. Last week a phone rang on the television and she put her hand to her head and said hi. I wasn't sure if I imagined it or not so I rewound the program and she did it again. So now she does it with a play phone or the remote control when she gets her hands on it.

She has grown up so much in the last three months. I rejoice in it but it is hard because I feel like I missed so much of her being a baby. I don't want to seem ungrateful for all of the blessings that God gave me and knowing that I brought her home way earlier than most people who adopt bring their children home. I finally found the courage to admit it to my gal friends at lunch the other day. I am so glad I did because my friend told me she knows of someone who went through the same experience. But I would do it all over again because I know this precious girl is a total gift from God and she brings numerous smiles to my face everyday.

My romantic date with my 5 year old.

Justus and I had our date. Not only did we have a date. We had a double date.
We decided to go on a double date with James and Bella. We had a great time together and prayed that Josh was having just as much fun at his friend's party.
Justus was such a gentleman. He opened and closed the door for me the whole night. He also held my hand wherever we went. Which he hardly ever does now that he is 5 and usually running 5 steps ahead of me.
Justus had previously stated he wanted to take me somewhere romantic for dinner. He changed his mind from sandwiches to mexican food.(YEAH!!!) He thinks chips before dinner are romantic plus there were flowers on the table. We got him a gift card so that he could "pay" for dinner. He walked right into the restaurant asked for a table for 4 and pulled out his wallet to show he meant business. The receptionist said he could take her out for dinner anytime. He said he is going to start saving his allowance up so that he can take his mom out again. He is one sweet kid!