Easter 2008

We spent Easter in Florida with my brother,sister-in-law and niece. We had a great time. Here are some highlights and funny things that happened:

Analayne starting calling Cracker Barrell the "crappy darrell."

Analayne and Hadley played and played and now Analayne loves to get in her little tykes car and say to me, "I going to Hadley's."

We went to an Easter egg hunt and the girls got to hold little baby chicks.

We went to the beach (it was fairly chilly) but we still had a great evening.

Analayne and Hadley played on the playground and Hadley did her best to show Analayne how to do flips on the bars.

We enjoyed being with everyone and we miss having all of our family living close by. For now we just have to make yearly visits and try to capture the girls as they grow older together. Enjoy some photo highlights.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Back Off Satan...

For those of you in my group of family and friends who read my blog (and any lurkers who are reading this), I want to ask for your prayers! My brother and sister-in-law are adopting a baby boy from China. They have prayed for such a long time for their child and are so excited (and we are too). They have eagerly been preparing for their son to come home. For weeks there has been feelings of anticipation, excitement, eagerness, thankfulness and honestly feelings of heartache for him.

A few weeks ago they were given travel dates and all seemed to be set for them to begin their journey on May 1st. However, today they received word that one little piece of paper needed for their adoption ( I think its the I-171H letter) is being held up and as a result it might hold them back and make them and their baby boy have to wait longer. This is agonizing for them! As a mother (and with a mother's heart) I can only imagine how difficult it is to continue to wait to hold the child you have already been waiting for and have already been loving. I won't even attempt to put those feelings into a written form!

We know that it is the Lord's plan for baby Shepherd to come home and we know that Satan loves to destroy our happiness and joy and he especially would love to thwart this process. Here is what I have to say (and I am very strong willed...) "Satan, you just step back. You have NO power over this situation. God's plan is divine and we as followers are faithful and we believe that the Lord is in control."

God can do amazing things and we believe that....so my fellow friends and family, please join with me in prayer that this paperwork gets completed in time to allow for the scheduled travel and time line. We know God can do anything and HE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS! Oh yeah--- and pray that they receive the needed money to complete their adoption. I also ask that you might additionally pray for Candace to somehow miraculously find the diamond earrings. (Hey, our lord asks that we come to HIM with all our needs and requests so I figured I might throw that in there too)...

**If you want to read more about the adoption of MY NEPHEW, Shepherd click here.

A Big Girl Bed

Out of necessity Analayne has moved to her big girl bed! Here is the drama that occurred that prompted this sudden and abrupt move down the hall. Last night our garage flooded, the drywall was wet, Analayne's carpet and padding got wet and overall it was just a big mess. So Russ being the wonderful handyman and "jack of all trades" that he is began working and very quickly found the problem. It seems that the pipe that led to our hose spicket burst and so water was spewing out of it and coming out the wall into the garage. The other side of this garage wall is the wall that is in Analayne's room, so with that said, water was leaking into her room. However, she was already asleep and it was almost midnight so we decided to deal with the mess in her room today! So Russ tore out everything that was wet and installed a big fan to ensure that the no water or dampness is left. With the big fans going there was no way that a poor little girl could sleep in the same room. So once I realized there was no way she was sleeping in her little toddler bed I began "talking up" how wonderful her big girl bed was and I started moving her babies and blankets into the new room. Analayne looked puzzled for a few minutes and then climbed right in and Russ and I sat down with her on her bed and prayed and did all of our hugging and kissing and then... we turned on her music, closed the door and walked away. That was it... yep...that was it... no getting out of bed, no crying, no nothing. A big girl indeed!

I had been working on a plan for her "new" room and had already put her bedding together. However, I had not yet painted or hung her new window treatments or started moving all of her "babies" and fun stuff to their new home. I just got done telling Russ, "you know-- if she sleeps through the night with no issues...she will not be moving back into her old room." He replied, "yep, I know." I wonder if he realized that with that comment he just committed himself to painting her room next weekend?