Remembering the day Isaiah was born in our hearts

Yesterday, we celebrated that we have known Isaiah for one year!

Last year, it was May 4, 2010, and I was eating lunch at a local diner with my Mom. All of a sudden, in the noisy restaurant, my phone rang. I was truly not expecting anything because we had been #1 on our list for a month. It was difficult to hear, so I wrote down everything I could!Happy Tears!

I can still remember getting the call and rushing to Chris's school to surprise him. What a treat it was to knock on his door! See here for fun video! Here are the first pictures we saw of our son: Wow. I love these memories!

To help us remember, we headed back to TJs for burgers--with Isaiah. It was so sweet because in the middle of the noon rush, "our booth", the one we were sitting in one year ago, opened up! How I love that we have him now! Here he is now!

Happy Birthday to Jackson!

Happy Birthday to You!

So Proud!

I am so proud of Chris. He ran the 1/2 Marathon this morning. He was hoping to beat his best time, aiming for under 1 hour, 35 minutes. Check out his time as he was crossing the finish line! To make it even more exciting, he placed 2nd in his age division! This makes two personal bests in just over a week. :)

Jackson's Birthday Party!

Jackson turns NINE on Monday, so we had his birthday party today with his friends. We had a great time. We met at the gym and played a game of basketball and another game of flag football. It was perfect for this group of boys! They got pretty worn out and sweaty!

Then it was home for cake and Gatorade.

Jackson had a great time, and we are thankful for his close friends!

Easter

Easter was busy, busy this year! Here is a re-cap:

First, we dyed Easter Eggs. In process. . .

All finished!

The next morning, we headed to the Easter Sun Run. Our church, River Community, sponsors and basically runs this event. We love to participate because all proceeds go to Youth Horizons, a youth mentoring program. Gotta love any way to be a part of serving the fatherless.This year was extra fun for several reasons. First, I got to run with my two good friends, Stephani and Paige. We ran together, the entire way, holding hands across the finish line. This really was a symbolic run, representing the value of friendship and community, especially during times when we are tired and don't want to keep moving forward. LOVE!Second, we had several personal "bests". Sydney and Jackson improved their times by over two minutes, and Sydney won her age division. We are so proud of them! Chris also bested his time and broke the 40-minute barrier! He has been working so hard over the winter, and I am so impressed! Oh, and he won his age division, too! :)Easter morning, we woke up early enough to do our Resurrection Egg Hunt. (If you do not own a set of these, I highly recommend them! They are an easy "tradition", and they tell the story of Easter in a very kid-friendly way.) It was fun to do it with Isaiah for the first time; he loved each little trinket inside the eggs. :)

Then, the kids got to dig into their Easter baskets. This was the first round of many of too many pieces of candy! I have to admit that I love it. (Candy, that is!) After making stops at two family meals, the kids got to partake in several egg hunts. Here they are hunting. I hope everyone had a blessed holiday!

Before and After!

One very special part of our adoption journey includes the Fleming family. We met when we were in the middle of our adoption process, and they soon followed by starting their own adoption journey. When we went to Ethiopia for our first trip, we found out shortly after arriving that the Flemings had received their referral! We were hoping and praying this would happen so that we could go take pictures for them.

Here is their little Elias when we saw him last August.When we traveled in September, we got to go again! It was so sweet to get to share in their story by loving him for Chad and Brenda.
So, yesterday, I just kept re-living these visits because little Elias isn't so little, and he was playing in our kitchen all morning. My heart was just moved with the reality that these little boys will get to grow up together. I am so thankful for the way God orchestrated our friendship and allowed us to be a part of Elias' story, too.

April is here. . .and almost gone!

I guess my new normal means blogging only about every other week. Oh well! At least some is better than none! Here are a few shots of what we have been up to in April.

Isaiah brushing Jackson's hair. This is funny because Isaiah really hates to have his own hair combed. We have our whole little routine which includes several hugs as he "endures". It is funny because the conditioner we have pretty much takes out all tangles. He just does not like us combing his hair! Raegan all dressed up!

Reading books. Notice the lovely hair-do Raegan gave me. :)

Brotherly Love.

Playing at the park with friends Dominick and Tyler Jae. Does anyone have great tips for getting sand out of hair? We may be going short--very soon!
All tuckered out!Planting our new tree!

We are all so glad that Spring is in the air!