We had a blast this weekend...it was just a GREAT weekend! Eric's parents (in the States for a month), all three boys' families, plus grandparents from the SILs (except my parents) were all in town to celebrate Titus and for fellowship. It's hard to believe, but I haven't seen Alicia's mom since their wedding 10 years ago!
Alicia's shower was hosted by the ladies in her church small group and it was lovely. The food was delicious, the games were fun and our prayer time over Alicia, Kevin and Titus was Spirit filled and led. It was so much fun thinking about Titus, imagining him here wearing his new clothes, and enjoying the gifts he received!
Adoption is the best, ever! :) I've said it before, but the next best thing to adopting yourself is getting to see it all unfold for someone else, especially someone dear to you. It's miraculous and we've had a front row seat to God's hand moving mountains for Kevin and Alicia to bring Titus home. All the details of this journey have been sweet, precious and by His hand alone. Love it!
After the shower, the family, in-laws and all, came over to our house for spaghetti, salad, homemade bread and yummy chocolate cake, but it was being together and sharing a bit of life that was most memorable. Just can't wait till Titus is with us, finally home with his Mama and Dada!
This week is a big one...Titus will be in court with his birth mother on our Wednesday night at 9 p.m. The judge can call a 10 day wait period before he schedules the next court date, that Kevin and Alicia will be at, or he could wave that time and schedule it on the spot - this is our prayer - please join us in petitioning the Almighty! Anticipating how He'll work all things together for the very best!
I'm so behind in blogging because we are just having too much fun playing - all made possible by The Great Provider and an awesome husband/father who works very hard, doing awesomely at a job he really enjoys! I am so grateful to be home with our children, doing life together and enjoying the blessing of amazing adventures -- thank you Eric for making our day to day possible, we love you! We've been having a blast with dear friends visiting and a road trip to see others. Last week was a bit of rest, settling back in and mourning the goodbyes we had to make.
But now they're here, Grandpa and Grandma, all the way from Moscow, Russia, and the fun begins again - YIPPEE! So I better just start with the now and hopefully catch up on the past later! They arrived last evening and the kiddos stayed up late to enjoy some food, cuddling and giggles.
E & Z already had a play date with G&G at AA's house this morning while I ran over to the church to take care of a few details as VBS begins tonight. I understand Grandpa was a human jungle gym for Elle and Zane did wonderfully in my absence, not one tear! Actually, we've seen MAJOR, MAJOR head-way with Zane's separation anxiety, zero melt-downs at church and he's enjoyed nursery three weeks in a row! The sweet women in his class love him dearly and have been so sensitive to helping us (Yes, me too!). With their care and Zane's excellent health - he is enjoying playing with the other children, singing songs and shows great peace.
Speaking of health, the kiddos had check-ups at the doctor's last week. This was Zane's first appointment since last September where he has 'passed' with a clean bill of health! I danced my way home! Elle is in the 60% percentile in height (wow!) and Zane just made the height chart at 3%. Zane weighed in just below the chart at 21.9 pounds, but the doctor was very pleased -- look how far he's come?! They're perfect, chart or not!
Elle is spelling, writing and sounding out short, short words. It was a month ago that she put her first letters together (besides her name) at the chiropractor's office and discovered she made a word. She exclaimed, 't-a-c...tac...Mama, TAC! tac, Mama, tac!!!!' :)
Zane loves to makes noises and mimics Elle practicing her letter sounds. He knows over 75 sign language motions, has around 25 sounds (animal noises being his favorite) and about six or so words. Infant toddler services are very impressed with all that Zane is doing and saying! His speech therapist says we need to keep doing what we're doing because everything is going very well. We like her very much and she has provided some ideas to keep things moving along, although Zane keeps things moving all by himself!
We were scheduled to see the cleft team last month, but we ran into the surgeon while out shopping one evening and after a FREE consult on the sidewalk (LOL!), he told us we could wait to see the team in September! :) Happy us! We can hardly believe it, but September will be one year home with our sweet boy...wow, time flies when you're having fun or adjusting or seeing doctors all the time. Anywho, here are some pictures with G&G upon their arrival, more to come in the next few weeks....
We shared a few days with the Wolfe cousins this past week. Elle has nearly two inches and a pound on Ami, but they were two peas in a pod, always off and up to something!
I understand that cousin Benjamin can be a bit ornery with his sisters, but he's always the sweetest, most perfect gentleman with Elle and she adores him. Johanna and Elijah always know how to entertain Zane and Michaela is a pro at putting in ponytails. We are blessed to share life together!
The tricycle remained a challenge at the end of Fall, but Elle conquered it quickly this Spring and sprouted up enough that her legs needed something bigger.
It was an exciting day when we surprised her with her new bike, but it quickly turned to discouraging as she couldn't seem to figure out how to pedal forward. ????? We were puzzled as she could do it on her tricycle. I worked with her, but nothing seemed to help, especially with my patience wearing thin. So I passed the baton off to Eric when he got home and 1/2 hour later he came in scratching his head over the whole pedal forward thing. Elle was discouraged and we were concerned we had not made it fun when she told us at dinner, 'I don't want to ride my bike any more.' Oh no - we messed up! ;)
Eric fixed it all the next morning when he took her to a great park to play and just try the bike out. He used his Daddy tricks and within a few minutes she was speeding around the basketball court. She was so excited and rode nearly an hour when she jumped off the bike, collapsed on the middle of the court and told Daddy that her legs were tired. We were thrilled over her accomplishment and enjoyed a morning at the trails the next day. Great job Elle!
This week we recupperated from last week's vacation --- runny noses, coughs, laundry, unpacking, laundry, cleaning, laundry and more laundry. Unlike the mundane of this week, vacation was a blast!
We spent five days camping in Branson, playing at The City (as in S*lver Dollar C*ty) and visiting other hot spots around town. The weather was interesting...a few hot afternoons with scattered thunder storms that cooled the evenings and mornings. We faired well in our tent and declare the camping a great success, even though Eric stood outside during one t-storm to brace our tent while a tree fell down nearby. The mobile home campers were so sweet to come by and make sure the crazy family with two little ones was still alive. :)
The City was awesome! We bought season passes early on in the year for just a little more than a regular one day pass and hope to visit again this Summer and maybe again in the Fall and Winter. The last time I was in The City was 15 years ago, but as Elle and Zane experienced it for the time, I had flashbacks of being there with my parents when I was a little girl -- it was very surreal and a joy to see the pleasure the kiddos had from it all.
Elle was tall enough to ride all the kiddie rides with one of us and there were several rides that our entire family got to do together, like the train ride. There was also water toys, a swinging bridge, a funny house, animals, music and fun foods to try. Elle also rode her first roller coaster (It was fast, for me!) and loved it! She was also just tall enough to ride the Ladybug without an adult -- oh boy, was she excited about that and she did a super job! Of course, we were just 10 feet away, taking pictures and talking to her the entire time. We actually could have reached out and touched her, but she felt like the 'biggest' girl ever! So much fun! Her favorite ride was the swings -- huge swinging contraption that takes you way up in the air and makes you feel like you're flying. We rode it over and over and over again. I think it was my favorite too. Zane spent a lot of time in our new Sit & Stand stroller (LOVE IT!!!!) and would probably say that was his favorite ride of the week...oh wait, no...his favorite ride was the shuttle bus that took us from the exit to our car parking lot! He insisted on sitting on the seat, not my lap, and had a silly grin on his face as he held is head up to feel the wind slap his face. :)
We also enjoyed a ride and tour on a Duck, based on the classic 1942 WWII DUKW. DUKW is a military acronym. The letters are codes indicating that it was designed in 1942 (D), for utility/amphibious purposes (U), with front wheel drive (K), and two rear driving axles (W). It's a very odd looking water/land vehicle, with a duck-like shape. Our guide told stories of past and present, we learned about Ozark Mountain and Branson's history, the lakes, about famous personalities and the area’s impact on the state and our nation. Of course, the highlight was going from land to sea as we splashed down into Table Rock Lake! Our guide even let the kids drive the boat and Eric got a little wet. Zane slept through the entire tour...it was a cool morning in an open air vehicle, no car seat, laying in Mama's arms while the truck/boat bounced us up and down in rythmn, he was out in five!
Another surprise was how much we enjoyed the D*xie Stampede! It's a Civil War, horse entertainment show in a gigantic arena with a massive meal eaten with one's fingers. The show was stellar, patriotic and so entertaining! We all enjoyed it - Zane stood up, clapped, danced, pointed, screamed and was thoroughly riveted for 2 1/2 hours. Elle sat in stunned silence...not sure if it was the horses, pigs, lights, music, dancing or the large cornish hen on her plate that awed her the most, but it was really a great show and we're glad we did it.
We were very pleased with the sense of family, patriotism and faith in all the activities we enjoyed. We are definitely looking forward to our next trip back to the Ozarks!
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We had a blast this weekend...it was just a GREAT weekend! Eric's parents (in the States for a month), all three boys' families, plus grandparents from the SILs (except my parents) were all in town to celebrate Titus and for fellowship. It's hard to believe, but I haven't seen Alicia's mom since their wedding 10 years ago! 
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