The Christian Crew

It's so funny how, in passing Brandon will say things like- This next baby's room is going to be Ridiculously awesome and beautiful! Or we will bring up what ART we want in it!  They may seem like small things but, it's some small details that are meaningful to us. Each of our kids' bedroom has had pictures of birth parents in them. It's to remind us how important each kiddo is, not just to us, but to our baby's or children's birth parents and family. There are so many secret desires that I have or that I hope for. They might seem silly but, to me, I think they will be bonding as well. Like how I hope the expectant mom of this baby girl, wants to design the room with me, even if we have to do it online! Or I hope she is cool with helping pick the middle name out  together. I hope she likes LOTS of kids who will want to climb all over her, embrace her and surround her with cute chaos , when she visits!  Life is too short to sweat the small stuff, some may ...

YEP, after 13 years we are still SMITTEN with each other!   and how do we celebrate???     WE go WHitE waTeR RaftInG! Of COuRse!  we went once before we had kids on our 3rd anniversary trip, so it was fitting we go 10 years later! We are the two on the Right front! we had Fish for dinner and went to an antique store! It was wonderful just to have a few hours of thrills and feel like Kids again!

WELL, this book, though shorter than I expected, took me a bit longer to read because I would STOP reading to go PLAY with my kids! Cara, the author, lays out all the things that STOP us from playing and gives you insight to the POWERS of play. She shares personal stories, like her adoption of Bernard and Silvanie, from Haiti! I connected with her and I have always felt like a very playful mother with my kiddos ( just look at that huge pile of laundry).  In fact, I constantly get off task b/c i'd rather play a game, make a craft, bake together or play along with my kids. BUT, I did notice a few things I was not doing! Many times, I am not letting my kids choose or direct the play time. I also get distracted by the stupid small electronic boxes we all carry around. I am aware now and am grateful and am LOVING engaging with my kiddos, slowing down and connecting with them too. There are so many good things to learn from her book! I highly recommend it to all parent...

God is so Good! I am Amazed How he has changed our family through the Miracle of Adoption and three incredible women!  And to Brandon's Birth mom...

Let me explain exactly where we stand in regards to our status as adoptive/hopeful adoptive parents... I have to be REALLY HONEST with You ( or myself)... As hard as this is- WE aren't SEEKING or TRYING to adopt right now. In that I mean- I'm not going to PURSUE an agency or solicit our blog/profile out to people. I have done that TWICE and it had amazing success ( and of COURSE the Almighty's timing has a hand in it all!) BUT... We really do desire to adopt again - IF and ONLY IF it's RIGHT, It's Meant to be, and If the expectant parents and ourselves are totally on board with everything. I mean- come on- we have 4 kids- who is really going to consider us UNLESS they desire a large family for the child? That's a small margin of people who would actually look at our profile or even consider us. You see, we had this PLAN ( okay - everyone laugh now- b/c we all know God loves to mess plans up) to do our international adoption home study- travel down to...

SO I know its UBER important when someone is trying to adopt ( not saying we are really trying b/c it's not up to us- its up to God) That the Father be a HUGE part of the IMAGE of What the couple of the Year , is supposed to look like. He needs to WANT to be involved and WANT to be ACTIVE in this process but, the fact is- MEN FUNCTION DIFFERENTLY than WOMEN! We WOMEN worry and loose sleep over things, nit pick details or what might be misconstrued. We carry on with an overload of pictures where we BOTH look wonderful in every setting! We especially don't want a potential expectant parent to look at our blog or profile and think " did they even put any thought into this?"  Now GUYS... They help get the finger prints and financial paperwork done, hang back until it's GO time. And in between, they may day dream or look at another person's child and wonder but, heck if they will tell you that! Once it's GO time and its time to meet an expectant mom or ex...

We are...... SO BLESSED living up here in the Mtns of CO! The kids are growing like weeds ( Especially Brielle, our oldest!) and Its currently April and we have 2 inches of snow on the ground! But, it will melt and give moisture to some of the most gorgeous wildflowers!!! SO, Updates... DUSTIN IS GETTING MARRIED! YEP, He has found the gal for him- SARAH! She is amazing and I am so Happy for the two of them. She is a Special needs teacher who works with children from hard circumstances which makes her job even tougher but- She loves her kids and what she does. She has a heart of GOLD and Dustin is a lucky man! Between the two they own 2 homes and are very smart with the choices they are making in life! I know they will find happiness and success together. GAVIN will get to be the cutest ring bearer Ever and the girls will make some fine Flower girls too! SO, for us currently there is a bit going on... We are remodeling the home we bought and it seems like there are people...

The UFA conference went well!!! Terra Cooper and i got to finally meet and i was able to shoot for the event and had a great time being INSPIRED and getting connected with many of those in the adoption arena! I even got to see my old friends Tamra & Jessa and meet new amazing people as well!  I was able to be the photographer for the event and we learned alot about leading with LOVE and not fear in our adoption journeys. I considered so much of this b/c our international adoptions are still 1-2 yrs out and its seems daunting and scary and i worry. BUT, i know i shouldn't and that God has everything lined up for our family. And we need to do all that we can do and leave the rest in his hands and timing! Can't wait to watch out CO chapter grow! It's going to be great!!!

 GAVIN WAS ONLY ABOUT  6 MONTHS_ HE WAS SOO TINY!  look at TREVOR( on Todd's lap by Gavin- looks a lot like SLADE)  I LOVE GINGERBREAD SO MUCH- I THINK IT"S AN ADDICTION  Gavin's Birth dad and Birth family on that side! WE LOVE OPEN ADOPTION!

here's some articles about the adoption tax credit changes and FEB. 13th ... http://www.irs.gov/ individuals/article/0,,id= 231663,00.html http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/ article/0,,id=242932,00.html http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/ article/0,,id=236174,00.html http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- pdf/i8839.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- prior/f8839--2010.pdf Also check this flier out!( below) Join with other families made through adoption and write/email your congressman! http://www.nacac.org/ taxcredit/awarenessday.pdf

I always LOVE editing my adoptive couples with their birth parents! Right now, We are getting ready for the FSA Fireside in a few weeks and pulling photos together for a montage/slide show! It will be awesome! Here's my friend, Jessica L., with their baby and adoptive couple! She turned ONE! I can't believe it happened so fast! Next thing you know Gavin will be ONE! Don't blink anyone, hold your breath... Time just flies by! ( now breathe if you haven't let it out, silly!) ALSO... This awesome couple is CURRENTLY HOPING TO ADOPT AGAIN! YEP, they are eligible now that she is over 1 year! If you'd like their email, Shoot me a quick email b/c they aren't up on the IAL website quite yet!

These are friends who are HOPING TO ADOPT now! Steve & Amanda Are ExtRa CoOl! Seriously, they did the Tough Mudder Race, are super healthy and LOVE the outdoors and their huge family! They are full of zest for life and love! Anyone would be so blessed to find these sweet peeps!

That night ( april 9th) I got home and to my surprise- we had an email from her! I had asked her what had made her want to contact us, in particular. Her response was something like .... there's not ONE thing that drew me to you guys it was a bunch of things and i kept thinking about these 2 blond girls with big red flowers in their hair and i would always go look at your blog and profile. I figured I'd better do something about it if I kept returning to the same family.. . I was SO relieved to know that 1. she was NOT a mis-directed email & 2. she was a living person and is really quite awesome! I could go on and on about our many emails that led to texting and then one day about 2 weeks later, WE made the first CALL to chat! During all that time, Brandon would hound me with excitement about checking our email and he'd read through the texts and sometimes even text her. Come to find out- they have a very similar sense of humor, like brother and sister!!! So, when J...

busy but great! Grandma Betty is up for a visit and I'm finishing up client photos and gaining some sort of new-fangled schedule to my life. I'm figuring out what i can do without and trimming the fat out of my life:) SO, bare with me... I will post more soon but , now i can only post at 6am (when i should be working out) or at night around 9-10 when kids are all asleep. But, I will not give up the blog entirely! Having THREE is so much more than two! Some may say we are crazy but we want 6 ish kids and LOTS of love and birth parents aplenty, I'm sure! Who knows how our next child will come into our family but, we are along for the ride that God has us on! P.S. I'm thanking Him everyday for our current miracles!

Have been so cute lately! Not that they aren't cute everyday but, yesterday on the way to the park, Brielle says to Aria: God loves everyone, Aria! A: Not if you are a mean guy! B: Yes, He loves everyone- Even if you are mean and stinky! ME: what is the difference how Heavenly Father rewards us though, girls? B: Um... We Get things that are good and we don't go to time out! A: We get to go to the park if we clean up. Me: God rewards those with Blessings who obey and live His commandments! Just like i reward you with something Fun if you obey what i ask of You! They have been sharing a lot lately and are besties! It's way more than cute! They love to bike around the block too and yesterday- we got a tab burned! We will live though! My train of thought and the Girls convo leads me to this: God rewards/ blesses those who live his commandments- even in the adoption world! Does that mean b/c you have to be perfect to adopt? NO. But, you may want to work on what's holding y...

I can't believe i can still do some of this crazy shtuff!!! I may be almost 30 but, I'm not dead yet! ( plus i think 30 is still very young!) Elisabeth and Brielle LOVE the foam pit and rope but they can't climb it yet( neither can i) But, my friends can do it! Little Merich loved the pit! I got to babysit my friend's son for a day and HE was a riot! I even got to give him a faux hawk hair style! The girls thought having a boy around was fun but, they did say that his pee pee ( seen while changing diapers) looks like a worm. And once, Aria called it a tiny snake. Silly girls! Man, having a boy would rock our world in such a cool way! Here's to hoping, right? ( boy,girl, giraffe... we'd be ecstatic!) Aria is very serious on the beam ! She is getting pretty good at balance and strength stuff! Brinley ( in background) is getting some pointers! All my friends are doing cartwheels and very well i might add! But, I have to kick it up a notch with some aerial...

Okay before i report these stats i must add that some of the profiles are not viewable unless i was a REAL registered Birth mom but, Since I'm not and I was just doing this out of pure interest here's what the families on IAL.org are ranking in at... Currently there are 954 approved couples on the site ( viewed as guest) Of those 954 only 643 are willing to adopt bi-racial african amer./white and 518 are willing to adopt Hispanic mixed babies 437 of the 954 couples are willing to adopt a child under the age of 2 566 of the 954 are willing to have a SEMI- OPEN adoption only 350 are willing to have a FULL open Adoption and will explore levels of contact within that relationship of those 350 FULLY OPEN COUPLES.. only 203 of them will have Stay at Home Moms! The rest are either part time, work from home or full time working mothers! So if you are looking for a couple who are open to adopting outside their own race, want an open relationship with birth parents and the M...

We have been getting ready for this Adoption Conference . Brandon will be speaking in the Adoptee Panel and I will be teaching the Adoption Advocacy Class. I have also been getting stuff rounded up for the door prizes, adoption arts display and more! I ordered some sweet binks from my friend Danielle - including this one! (PS- I'm the 1st person to ever put this on a bink) my friends Joelle & Almina took me to a place I've been longing to go- D Bar desserts owned by Keegan Gerhard and his wife. He is A Food Network Chef and Judge of almost EVERY CHALLENGE show on that channel. He made me a special egg-free dessert that night! Such a great place and great guy too! Last Saturday, Dara and I made this cake for her daughter Claire's Birthday! We had tons of fun. I made the tree, lots of leaves on both layers, some polka dots and flower centers! We had a blast making this! we added tons of cosmic sparkles:) So much fun!!! We are doing well- all of us are healthy and ha...