The Christian Crew

My girls are so lucky to have such great friends. All of them support us in our hopes to adopt again! We are so grateful that our girls have their best friends too. Once and a while the girls will play with their bears or dolls and play mommy! Yesterday, Aria put her baby in time out until she could be happy again! Some one listens too me!!! And they will be great big sisters again someday!

SO... many hopeful adoptive couples and families have a few worries and myths that I want to share in this post...( random pics of our zoo trip too ) For some reason these have been on my mind a bit as I've been spreading the good word of adoption and talking with couples and high school aged teens and friends... Why haven't we been chosen after 18 months, 2 years etc??? ( not us, just a ? from a few couples) Couples who wait are not hopeless. I feel that our wait time is part of the process of learning an d growing and preparing. Couples with long waits often get the blues but, usually that can be remedied by GETTING BABY OFF THE BRAIN and getting involved in other causes instead of just doing nothing. A good cause is adoption and FSA is a great wait to advocate and outreach, often through this contacts are made and placement is more likely to happen ( and time flies faster). One of my best friends in Henderson, NV waited for 3 years and after getting involved in FSA, she w...

you have those days where you feel like the life has been sucked out of you by a shop-vac. Every ounce of you is drained and your fingers can barely move to type. I stayed home ALL day today with the Girls b/c B's sick ( cough-nothing major) so, i did laundry, played with the girls, built a blanket fort, kinda did dishes, and did an overhaul on the Navigator and it's sparkling clean now! The leather, floors, mats, windows everything! There's nothing like a clean car! I got to chat with my friend Hales in Scottsdale and SKPYE with my family and my littlest brother, Brent! He's is heading off to Afghanistan in the Marines and that may be the last time we get to do that with him. We shall see. He's a strapping young man and I'm totally proud of him. Also, my friend Jessica is in training in the ARMY to head there in a few weeks too! So, i will have a few cool peeps over there. I wonder how much a box costs to ship there? I'm also rounding out the midpoi...

We are ALL Royalty to GOD! Every infant, child, man and woman! No matter where we live, what we drive, who we know, how we spend our time, God is still our Father in Heaven . And He is Our KING! This hangs in my girls room to remind them everyday who they are! And although I DETEST pageants for tiny kiddos, I do have a few tiaras around and on a few things, like these piggy banks !( they have tutus on too). I never want my kids to think that they are not worth anything to us and to God and Jesus Christ! We constantly remind them of all the people who love them . From birth family to extended family and friends, they know they are loved everyday! Brielle asked me last night... " Mommy, are princesses real?" i replied " Yes, Brielle, they are real and YOU are one of them b/c you are a Daughter of our Heavenly King, Our Father in Heaven, And He loves you and wants to see you behave like a princess everyday!" Her eyes got big and she said " I wish i could ...

(this is a RANT post- just so, you are ready) Lately, i've been reading a few birth mom blogs ( they give me strength and courage and hope) and i have been improving our profile , adding new and updated pictures and trying to figure out why my header is so dang blurry when in PS it's not!!! (I have re-sized it like 10 times-grr- as to not compress too many pixels) Anyway, I have been thinking about what the world must think of both birth parents and adoptive parents. Those who are not in our adoption world , say disgusting things about us like: "who'd ever give a child up, must be crazy" "adoptive parents only care about themselves" Parents who want to adopt more kids than 1 or 2 are baby hoarders and selfish people- be grateful you have any" " how could you think that someone could love a baby that is not of their own blood?" " I'd never adopt- i don't want to be a permanent uncle" " people who are adop...

from a great birth mother! Click here! read it when you have about 5 mins. to let it all sink in. This article reaffirms that Adoption is a Miracle and such an unselfish act of true LOVE!

s o, I'm still way behind on editing our own photos. I'm having tons of fun doing everyone's, though! Here's the girls in their fancy Christmas Dresses. Much more photos of December to come... ( yep far behind- i know) here's a few from our family shoot too. We have way too much fun being crazy in love ! I am so blessed to have husband who is my best friend and such a great daddy to our girls! Both his parents and his birth-mom should be so proud of the man he is today!!! Here's our fabulous Blue STEEL!

Tommy and Annie have adopted so, they too are off the waiting couples list:) Congrats! *pic by Corrine:)

Dara, is all into the cupcake scene! Here's what she's offering to Denver area residents! Call to order!!!

this trip was a bit different... since we went in the winter, we hit up most of the inside exhibits! and played a bit outside too! and went with our awesome friends!!! the girls wanted to stay at the zoo, even if they had to climb a tad to have their own space . We said no, of course! some monsters liked the kids the monkeys were hilarious! It was great having Uncle Todd ( my single, older brother) with us too! He lives in SD , where they have a fabulous zoo too! He said this one was pretty great too! We wore the girls out and they all slept well on the ride home. We picked up Cafe Rio that day for dinner. The sweet pork is delectable! It was a GREAT wintry day!

We LOVE SNOW !!! we were BORN to live in CO! Even if it's a little freezing at times! We love being mom and dads little snow angels! and we can't wait to play in the snow again. Maybe , by next winter, we will have a baby brother or sister to play with us???

Eric and Christy have adopted and we are so excited for them!!! Congrats! Open adoption is AWESOME!!!

...here in CO! And we are having such fun with all the snow !!! Except when we are talking about my inexperienced driving skills! Yep, the truth is coming out folks ! I SLID on the ice and my tires hit the curb. It was super scary but, i was going slow enough no major damage happened. I busted our wheel and baring and that's about it and it took 2 weeks to get that all fixed ! I thankfully have many great friends who lent us their extra car while all the repairs were being made. ( em and trev) So, the fun stuff now... We LOVE to sled and make snow angels and anything we can do in the snow! Emily and i even jumped on the tramp with 6 inches of snow on it! It was chilly but, hilarious!!! Today was the 2nd REAL snowfall this winter and now that my Navigator is back, i plan on driving like a granny and keep my 4WD on!!! I love how the snow makes everything so clean and bright. It's so romantic, peaceful, heavenly and freakin' freezing . Everyone tells me ther...

So Much Fun , 13 little girls , 1 little boy . Tea party with a 3 course meal . Sleeping Beauty came and performed and played and we took pictures and did make up and games . Lots of cake and ice cream , and running around, musical chairs and gifts and friends. I'm BEAT and so ready to hit the hay.I LOVE PARTIES, just a tad more toned down. I am congested, my feet hurt and so does my brain. Next time a birthday comes i will either hire it all out or take some of the friends to ski or a water park( summer b-days) . So much easier. I literally had 5-6 people help with this massive tea party. SO MUCH FUN but, so much work. More pictures to come... Dara covered the cake with buttercream fondant and i made the crown ,5, and cakes and iced them. It was a great team effort! It was fantastic having Kara there too. Kara is a great birthmom !!! We are so blessed !!! Can't wait to have another amazing adoption in our family. Open adoption is like adding more people to your fa...

Check out this link for a cool retreat in OREM, UT for adoptive couples. Worth going to if you live in that area!

We finally started to take down the decorations from Christmas! Yep, I'm a procrastinator with that. I feel like the season of giving leaves all too fast. There is a great song in the Forgotten Carols that says" I cry the day we take the tree down "... I feel all blue about it. Now we have to wait another year. Even though the outward signs are not there anymore, i still feel the Spirit Of Christmas in my Heart all the time . Forgive me for sounding a bit cheesy but, I do have a great love for everyone in the world and i wish and hope for everyone to be happy and loved! I love sharing and giving and helping! I love it when my friends do those things for me too. It's the Spirit of Christ in us all that makes us want to do the right thing and love and serve those we know or come in contact with. ( thanks to Kara for all the help with the tree and dishes:) I cleaned up the storage room and moved boxes all around and it stunk but it's done and much cleaner. I ...

Once this girl was tiny and small.... growing inside this angel's belly... and 5 years ago, she was born to a lovely young woman, her first mother, Kara... who only weeks before she was due, found US and chose us to be her parents... We met on Jan. 2nd and that day changed our lives forever. Then met again on the 9th and on the 12th of January, This precious Girl came into the lives of Many and has been since LOVED BY MANY b/c of Open Adoption! Please look at our old family Blog for all the details on her adoption and her life thus far! click on Brielle or adoption day:) And now, We Wait for Another Miracle through Adoption! She is the best Big sister and any child that comes into our family will have an older sister to relate to. Not to mention an Amazing Father( Brandon) who is also adopted. I'm so blessed and i hope we can all bless the next life that finds it's way into our family! Adoption is a Miracle and everyday I'm grateful for it! Especially today!

we had such a blast here! the sea creatures were amazing! uncle Todd was such a HAM! And Brielle Loved to size up the big fish ! Nemo even had his own display area! ( looks like a screen saver, right?) And the girls got to pet a real live tiger ( at least that what it looks like) This big kitty loved Aria and wanted to play but, she refused him! The Mermaids put on a great show and the girls were mesmerized ! This shark was really smitten with these 2 girls! I loved the silver metallic fish ( reminded me of all the cute handbags out right now) Aria was instructing Brielle on how to plug her nose in case she wanted to go in! This coral was breath-taking ( again- looks like a screen saver) The big Cat keep staring me down . I have no idea why? Maybe it was b/c i smelled like steak? ( not really) The Bubble dome thing was really cool. Brielle was about ready to jump in this tank . Aria loved the Aquarium and saying Hello to all the creatures. It was fun had by all!