Two People Fell in Love

One beautiful bride

Married one handsome man

They both said 'I do'

They had the rings

And after 6 years of dating...

They were married!

It's been 18 years today... That my parents were married. Including dating and being engaged, they've been together 25 years! WOW! 

God couldn't of put peanut butter & jelly together better than the way He put my parents together!

I can see their love every single day. 

18 years, 4 dogs, 1 apartment, 2 houses, and 6 kids later...

Their family grew...

and grew

and grew

and grew

and grew

and grew...

To this day they're still deeply in love...

They've been through everything together

Getting used to marriage

The birth of 5 children

Welcoming their baby girl to heaven

Bringing their little girl home from Ethiopia

Moved to a new house

Laid off from jobs

Switching jobs

Having family dogs

And the list goes on...

They are stronger, God has stretched them, guided them, heard their prayers, and they've stuck with each other through it all!

Happy 18 years Mom & Dad! 

We love you!

Your 6 kiddos

Time Flies...

Happy December!

It amazes me how fast time goes by these days. Some say it has to do with me getting older...and I guess I might agree with that :-)

We celebrated Thanksgiving with family on Thursday. Everyone on DJ's side of the family was a counted for except one niece whose in the Air Force...We are praying for you Rachel. Hope to see you at Christmas!

My parents were in Arizona for the Holiday, but we gathered together on Sunday when they returned to celebrate mom's birthday....Happy Birthday Mom! My sister and family weren't able to make it Sunday though, because she wasn't feeling good. Hope you feel well soon Kate - Love ya!

On the "adoption" front...we have completed our first round of paper work! And to our surprise it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. In fact, DJ actually ended up enjoying his "self study" (the autobiography portion of the paper work.) He liked looking at "life" more in depth. I was very impressed by his very thoughtful answers...he still has a way of making my heart flutter:-)

I had a harder time with the self study portion of our paper work...I have a way of over analysing things, so I found myself caught up sometimes on how it sounded verses what I was trying to say....??? Anyways, we finished up and sent it in...We are now scheduled to meet with our SW again next Wednesday. This is our second meeting of an upcoming 3-4 more meetings together. Wednesday's meeting should give us much more detail on Ethiopian adoption specifically and get us started on our dossier. Yeah!

We also celebrated the first of many birthday's last month...Our oldest daughter turned 12-and it seems like only yesterday she was born! And our baby turned 3....he loved all the attention he got on his special day only half the time! We love you both!

The last month has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for us...celebrating the many birthdays that come along this time of the year and now Christmas is sneaking up on us very fast...It can leave us feeling somewhat depleted and wondering how God is going to see the miracle of adoption through for our family...??? I am constantly praying for direction and confidence and courage to not give up, but stay encouraged for the journey ahead. It isn't always easy though-convincing yourself or one another that we can do this and we are crazy but not totally insane...! (Oh, hush...I heard that!) But Please keep our family in your prayers.

DJ and I had our annual Shopping date Friday. We love just getting out, being together, people watching, and getting a really good deal or two! And it was a blast! I think we are done!

I have started rambling....thinking too hard about being "real" without boring you to death with too many details. (Just for you, Kate;) )

We'll let you know how Wednesday goes and whats next. And again we appreciate your prayers for our family.

God's Blessings!