The Christian Crew

Sheesh! It's seriously going by so quickly and I can't believe Celise is 9 months now and we had a few hiccups in the court doc process ( nothing negative- we had a judge who wanted a few things the agency thought they wouldn't need) and now in a week- we will be Adding CeCe to the official Christian Clan roster! Woot Woot! Enjoy some pics from the last couple of months of this growing beauty! at Disneyland! Nov 2016 5 months the Cast of Alice in Wonderland At Santa's boots Christmas Eve night 2016 9 months old Garrett & CeCe Buddies forever!

You just never know how and who you will outreach too. Katie, found my onesie on my etsy store and shares her memories of her belated mother- an adopted woman and... READ HERE Thanks for sharing! Adoption is wonderful and I Thank the Lord for it every single day!

Thus far, has been pretty eventful! I visited 3 hospitals- one to take birth mother and baby pics, one to drop off a gratitude basket to a social worker and one to visit our friends daughter who was getting checked out after a car accident- Everyone is okay and the Car took the brunt of the accident. My friend , Dara, was driving home from the gym and was hit by a drunk driver from behind. The man had a DUI, suspended license,a warrant out and NO Insurance!!!!! What the heck was he thinking??? Emily and i went to D Bar desserts again! The meal and the cake and shake were so scrumptious and we met the owner of another bakery in Nashville- where my sister lives. It's called Crumb de la Crumb! Her and her husband are competing on a Food Network Cake Challenge that was to be filmed 2 days after we met and they were also thinking about adoption! And I sat by an adopted college lady too! She was about 2 years younger than me and knows both her birth parents now! Pretty awesome nigh...

Adoption Act... What does this mean for anyone who has a placement with a Native American Child... So, the next time you feel frustrated with the Act, remember what was done in the past. It won't help things go more quickly, but with an understanding of why the Act is in place, it may be easier to be patient as you go through the necessary legal steps. I've got Native American Roots pretty far back. Descendants from the Michigan/Dakotas Mohawk tribes. Crazy, I know!

are so much fun! On Friday, Brandon and I went out with our friends, Dara and Jesse to a cool place called Fontana . It's a GREAT sushi place with an awesome roll called the Littleton maki( MY FAV)! Last night we also had a roll called the Crystal Roll- super delicious! I think my kids would even love those 2 rolls since they are not too fishy! We went and looked for some good running shoes for me and then called it a night since Brandon has had little sleep the past 3 nights due to a cough and kids waking up. Poor daddy! Well, He got his sleep last night and this morning he's off showing homes for a few hours then we will have another date to the Temple and Dinner with the FSA peeps! I'm so happy our marriage is strong and we are so in LOVE with each other! I feel sad when i see other marriages that are strained or that seems to lack that deep passion. It saddens me b/c I never want our kids to feel like that's what marriage is- just two people living together with...

bad mom if I can't help but laugh about HOW CUTE and silly my Kids are??? Sometimes, when my girls make cute, little errors or do things that are funny ( maybe not to them) It's hard not to laugh with delight . But, once I start, it's hard to stop laughing sometimes. You know the feeling when you are noise-less b/c your laughing so hard. Or your eyes fill up with tears or you think you are going to wet yourself b/c you abs cannot stop contracting from laughing so stinkin' long!?!?! Yeah, And it's always at terrible times too. I will pin point times in upcoming posts but, for now... Here's what i was laughing about lately... Brielle LOVES making Snowmen and as the snow has been melting it actually is working better to make them so, B went to town and did a great job all by herself. I'm so proud of her too. What a hard worker. What cracks me up is what she called it... Look Mom, I made a One -Eyed, Elephant, Alien Snowman for Aria! Such a creative...

Jessica( on left in gray top)... You are missed by our whole family! She will deploy in a few short weeks and currently is in training. We all miss her and she is the coolest birth mom friend ( along with all my other ones too:)!!! Our ladies nights out won't be the same without you! We all had so much fun that night and going to the Lakers v. Nuggets Game! You are an inspiration to so many in all you do! Keep plugging away and return back to us safely ! Your birth daughter will be so proud of you just as your AP's are ( C& J)! Love ya to pieces just like a sister and I'm so glad we met you when we did!

like your inbox... or vice versa... You choose what to respond to and how to respond to it. You check boxes and clear out the clutter , leaving only the pertinent and personal emails left. But, sometimes we muse at the junk mail. The sales at Nordstrom or the funny pictures of a plumbers crack. We drift off into tangents and forget about the REAL stuff in our inbox that really needs our attention and communication. We wonder why we are SO BUSY when most of our time was actually wasted on CLEARING OUT THE JUNK! Maybe, if we had LESS junk coming in our lives - we'd be more focused, more in tune, more in touch with those PEOPLE and Purposes that matter to Us! We can always unsubscribe to those Lesser important things that distract us from what really matters but, do we? As my girls drift off to sleep in their soft cozy beds, with layers of quilts and blankets on this cold snowy night, I think about the choice brielle's birthmom made to think about the stuff that really mattered...

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...

I am sure some you are going to be shocked that my girls aren't matching in this pic . Sorry, i only had about a handful of things that i didn't mind them getting messy in!!! The girls helped me make cookies to deliver to neighbors and friends. They first practiced on pie crust. I made a caramel apple pie ( another first for me) and We had a bunch of friends come over, we fed them... Then we went caroling with them. We had about 18 or so people and kids and we delivered cookies, pointsettas and cocoa to about 9 families . It was so wonderful ! The girls now assist in getting messy as often as possible . Today they played with fondant as we are getting ready for Brielle's B-day cake in a few days! Brielle LOVES to pretend she is a Chef and Aria just likes to get into anything that Brielle is doing! They loved decorating the cookies too but, we let them keep their own since they went overkill on the pounds of frosting and candies they put on them! I love these memo...