Welcome dear friends and family

Hoping this brings us a bit closer.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Oh Happy Day

Our new nephew, Titus, is finally home in his Mama and Dada's arms, forever! We have been watching the clock all day long, noting when Kevin and Alicia landed in Taiwan, marking the time they probably arrived at the home, wondering if they got to peek in on Titus while he was sleeping, speculating that Alicia probably still hadn't slept, hoping she got to hold and feed him sometime during the night and eating a celebratory dinner about the time we imagined Gotcha was unfolding - it's been an exhausting day! LOL! ;)

About an hour ago, we received the first picture of the very happy family - can you see the joy?! God is good - what a blessing to welcome Titus into our family - God's gifts are the very best! Now we wait, not so patiently, for more pictures, news and their arrival home!

All this excitement makes life around here seem really boring, but we've been having fun too with Grandpa and Grandma Wolfe. Here are some, not as exciting as Titus, pictures of life around here, coming soon....

Our privilege and joy to send them off at the airport...Alicia was glowing!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Fun & Firsts

We had G&G W here with us this past week and now we are trying to adjust to normal life, without all the one-on-one playtime with Grandpa and the pampering from Grandma. Elle enjoyed climbing on Grandpa (ALL DAY LONG), playing games and making his hearing aid squeal (OUCH!). Zane had milk-chats with Grandma, allowing some morning me-time. :) We also enjoyed time at the pool, playing with water toys in the backyard (IT'S HOT HERE!), shopping, eating out, getting professional pictures, and ice cream (IT'S REALLY HOT HERE!).

Along with the fun, we've had some firsts. The Granny Smith apple tree we planted four years ago bore its first fruits (YEA!), Zane said 'ball' and Elle had her first hot dog at a water festival. It was free and we were R.E.A.L.L.Y hungry. I'm obviously not a fan of the nitrate and msg laden mechanically separated 'meat', nonetheless, Elle said it was good and it didn't stunt her performances on the 10 and 15 foot water slides!

Zane has been on more first time expeditions...dining chair shoved over to counter to play with dirty dishes in the sink, and step stool used to climb on top of toilet seat to reach top of tank - WOWZERS!

Finally, but not a first unfortunately, Elle sprained her ankle this afternoon jumping out of the SUV. Sigh...I can't begin to count the many times I've told her to STOP jumping off ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! I'm all for fun in proper shoe wear in appropriate play places, but somehow I know that airborne off a wall or five steps up or from a SUV or back of a couch in dress shoes increases your chances for a sprained ankle or worse...she says she'll never jump out of the car again, 'sorry mama'. Poor baby, all wrapped up in ice, watching videos and eating snacks (healthy ones). :)





Ring Around The Rosies






Playing with Grandpa







Silly with Grandma







Our first apple - the little one







Sprained ankle - poor baby!







Grandma love







Puzzle time & trying to fill Grandpa's shoes

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Water Slide Fun

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Zane's Referral, 6/5/09, 8:21 a.m.

I've been wanting to post about Zane's one year referral since June 5, but.... Today I do, as I think about how God brought all things together for His very best for us and how I know He'll do it again and again and again for me, for you and my nephew, Titus.

We placed our waiting child application with our agency on my birthday, May 20, 2009, and just a little over two weeks later had our Zane in our hearts forever! We were doing a garage sale with my SIL, Alicia, who was downstairs while I was getting us some coffee, when the phone rang. It was our agency and I KNEW! I was stunned and excited! We had some very specific conversations just days earlier with our agency, sharing our hearts and letting them know what God had laid on our hearts...I knew they wouldn't be calling unless they had our child.

It is so surreal to push a 'talk' button and know that in seconds your life would change forever, while holding a cup of coffee and sweating from just setting up a garage sale in your driveway....

She said, "He's eight months old (my knees buckled) and has an unrepaired cleft lip and palate (God's vision to me)...blah, blah, blah...." I knew he was ours and I was running to grab my cell to call Eric while she rattled on about this and that, things that could wait because he was our son and that was that!

It was the happiest day, equal to the call I received on my cell in 2006 while driving home from work when we received the news of our precious girl. God you are good - thank you for our Zane and Elle!

Half The Time

It was one year ago today that I was out of town and sitting on my friend's couch, drinking coffee and saying, "I know it has only been a month and a half since we accepted Zane's referral and I know the average time for referral approval is four months at best for I600 families, but God is able, He could bring our approval now, right?" Alice got up to check on the napping girls and my cell phone rang! It was our adoption agency's area code...WHAT?!

First thing I thought was, 'What in the world would they be calling for????!!!!' But I knew, my heart started pounding! He is able indeed - in half the time, we had our referral approval for our son, Zane! I yelled something like, "NOOOOO WAAAAAAAY! SERIOUSLY?!"

Alice came back downstairs and I could hardly talk because I was so ecstatic, but when I finally got it out we jumped up and down, yelled, danced and praised Him for His miraculous gift!

Once again, one year later, we are praying for a God is able miracle to occur for Zane's cousin, Titus, today. We believe, without a doubt, in His perfect timing!

Zane in Alice's living room - sitting where we danced with joy just one year earlier!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Celebrating Titus

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!

Monday, July 12, 2010

G&G are here!

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....