February...and a Little Bit of March

For not wanting my boys to play football, we sure had a blast watching Landon this season! Flag football is pretty harmless, though! The scary part is that he LOVED it and he seems to have a natural talent. That combined with the fact that he is 4'6" and 72 pounds as a Kindergartner, I think he may just have a future in the game... His team took the championship in their division and the boys each received a blue trophy. Landon carried that trophy around for days and even SLEPT with it!!! 

 Zachary has been continuing with Karate, as well. He has worked his way up to an advanced brown belt! In April it will have been 3 years since he started. He has had moments of burnout and wanting to take a break, but then he always changes his mind and wants to continue. It has been wonderful for him and  has helped him in so many ways. He is sooooo close to that blackbelt now!

We squeezed in one trip up to the snow this winter! We had hoped to make more, but between blizzards that we couldn't drive in, not knowing when we would be leaving to get Selah, Landon's football games, and Zach's basketball games, we just couldn't make more trips!



This year we treated Daddy with all his favorite desserts for his birthday! Yummy!  The boys got him new fishing gear so they can have the good stuff when they head out fishing next summer up north!They had so much fun picking out everything at Big 5 Sporting Goods and it was precious watching them decide how much they could budget for gifts for Daddy out of their saved up allowance. They sure were generous with their Daddy!

Valentine's Day fell right in the midst of our adoption court case being postponed and the judge asking for more documentation. We were all a mix of emotions, but we still had such sweet moments on one of our favorite holidays of the year! Zach made a great big Valentine for me with the help of grandma! He also made a Valentine for me from Selah. He is such a sensitive little guy!

A "Heartthrob" and the "Man of your Dreams"!

My life-sized Valentine from Zach

mmmmm...mmmmm...mmmmm

And last, but definitely not least....Zachary's 9th Birthday!!! It was all about the Kansas Jayhawks this year! You don't find much in Arizona that has a Jayhawk on it, so luckily I found a great vendor on Ebay who sells edible cake toppers of any theme you can imagine! I ordered the KU emblem from them which they shipped out amazingly fast and I had it within four days! I brought it to our local Fry's Supermarket and they did such a great job making the cake! Zach was so surprised and happy beyond words! I love my Fry's!

Our next big occasion should be traveling to pick up our sweet Selah! We are all so excited! A dream is finally coming true! All our family pictures after this posting will be of two little boys AND a little girl...our family of 5! Stay tuned... ;-)





Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Flag Football Begins

Even though we have all been desperately waiting for that telephone call that will tell us we are one step closer to bringing our Selah home forever, life goes on...and with the energetic and loving little guys God gave me, it goes on packed full of silliness, happiness, and busyness!!! I am so thankful for Zachary and Landon. They keep my days incredibly busy and they simply just do not give me many moments for self-pity and sadness. Their joy is contagious and God has been using them to teach me how to wait with grace!

Making Gingerbread Houses is a very messy, but fun annual tradition of ours!

Zachary's grade level had a fun Christmas Play called Elfis and the Reindeer! Very Cute!

Zachary performing at his first piano recital and fancy pancakes made by Chef Daddy on Saturday morning!

Some of the wonderful women in my life that celebrated Selah's hopefully soon homecoming. They are all amazing women! And...two cute runners for the Fulton Snowflake Sprint!

I got the chance to have a nice night out with my handsome husband! We attended the annual Christmas Party hosted by his work.

Look at my two babies so grown up! They looked so handsome for Christmas Eve!

Zachary, Landon, and their cousins Haylie, Ashlie, and Caeden.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!!! They just get cuter over the years!

Each year the boys leave a letter for Santa along with the milk and cookies....socks to keep Santa's toes warm on the long journey....oh, yes, and this year Zachary decided Rudolph needed a special blanket to keep warm!!! I love their gentle hearts :-)

There is the Santa and Friends spread before the boys go to bed, finally, at around midnight! I told them Santa was going to skip our house because they were up so late!!!

Look what Santa left! The boys had been good this year, so they did get their special requests, but Santa came through with a new book from Lisa Tawn Bergren! He brings us one of her books every year! This year her new one is called "God Gave Us So Much!". We LOVE Lisa's books. I have a post on my adoption link about her books and how special they are to us!

Look at the special present Daddy got from Selah this year! Even though she's not here with us yet, she definitely is his little princess! He would move mountains to have her home.

We had one more stocking hanging by the fireplace this year. Selah's is waiting for her still.

Happy 6th Birthday, Landon!!!!  One birthday at TGIFridays and the other at Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' house! What a blessed little guy :-)

And finally....I always said (even up to a couple of months ago) that MY boys would NOT play football because I couldn't bear for them to get hurt or to possibly hurt others. Many told me it would be inevitable because they are really tall and strong boys, but I still insisted! As you see, I lost...my BABY turned 6 and started playing football! At least it's only flag football...do you think I'd be able to stick to my words if I just insist upon flag football forever and NEVER tackle?! Hmmmmm.....

Happy New Year to All! May 2011 be full of wonderful blessings! I am praying that in 2011 many children leave orphanages and come home to their forever families! I pray that God moves BIG this year!

Halloween Fun 2010

A free greeting card by Smilebox

Getting Away

Our school district is on a year-round schedule so we just finished a two-and-a-half week fall break. It was such a nice break from the busy routine of school and extra curricular activities! Sometimes we really find ourselves just waaaaay overcommitted so taking the step back every few months really helps out A LOT!

 This break we headed up north to Overgaard, Arizona. I have always loved nature - growing up in northern Minnesota on a fishing lake kind of made the "tom boy" in me come out! As an adult, though, my two favorite getaways are the mountains and the beaches. When I hear the whispering of the pine trees or the rhythmic rolling of the ocean's waves, I feel so at peace and so near to God. So, at a much needed time, we headed to the mountains where I got to hear lots of whispering pines and God was faithful and He met me right there!



We were finally able to head up with some dear friends for the weekend and then the boys and I hung out on our own the rest of the week while friends and Daddy headed back down the mountain. It is so fun to watch the boys just enjoy being boys. They run, play, dig, yell, collect, and get absolutely dirty and it is perfectly fine! They don't have to worry about cars hitting them, windows being broken by their football, or the limitations of our block walls down here in Phoenix. And I get time to hang out on the porch with my Bible, or another good book, or even the latest copy of "People" magazine! It is FANTASTIC! 

The boys and our sweet friend decided to make ornaments for the trees. The drew on old 2x4's, the Dad's cut them out, and the Moms and big sisters used string and thumbtacks to create hangers. bunch we all are! What a creative bunch we all are! Note how they made a ton for in honor of our sweet Selah!

 



Look at this large furry "friend" we found visiting us!

Look! The colors of fall! That is a treat for us since it doesn't actually happen in Phoenix (the Valley)!

  

                    

Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!

Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord.

For the Lord is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.

Psalm 98:7-9