Happy Fathers Day!

Emily painting her daddy some magnets for his office



Happy Fathers Day




My Heart Belongs to Daddy

 Happy Fathers Day honey.  YOU are such a blessing to us and we love you!  I feel extremely blessed to have a husband who actually enjoys his family and spending time together.  Thank you for providing for us, loving us, leading us and being so much fun. Not to mention patient.  You are the best!! I can't wait for next years Fathers Day when you have one more "little" to love you up! Thank you for all that you do for us.

Zoom! and New Numbers

My super cute Hello Kitty bike helmet :)

"Look at me now"

We are so proud of Miss Emily!  Today for whatever reason she just took off on her trike.  The reason this is such a big deal is up to this point she had been struggling with pedaling.  She would get frustrated because she couldn't get it started.  Today we had really nice warm weather so we brought out the trike, buckled on her  super cute helmet and then she sat down and took off.  We all laughed.  She kept saying "look at me now".  Daddy added a little bell to ring as well. She decided she wanted to ride it on our walk with our dogs.  She went further than we both had anticipated. Great job Emily! It truly is the little things in life that are so special. The other thing we noticed is how much taller she is and she has pretty much outgrown the trike. We're thinking a bike with training wheels is in her near future. 


In other news.....

Yes, that is right folks we are rejoicing as we are now #32 on the baby girl list.  Praise the Lord.  Our agency had SEVEN referrals given out within about a weeks time.  We have several families travelling for court and travelling for Embassy appts to bring their child(ren) home.  The excitement is palpable.  I love looking at the pics of the families in Ethiopia meeting their children and reading on blogs about the homecomings.  It truly is amazing how God can orchestrate such a beautiful way to bring families together.  It's all in His timing and according to His plan.  Love it!!  Ok, I admit I don't do well with the waiting part however I DO trust in the Lord so His grace covers me for those moments of agonizing how come it is taking so long.  Congratulations to all the families this month. Praying you each of you safe travels, bonding and good health. 

Emilys Cottage

Emily and Daddy unloading her playhouse



Go daddy!



I love my new playhouse, thanks "E"

Some of our dear friends are making some changes to their backyard and asked if Emily would like their playhouse.  Well being the little mommy that she is of course the answer was a resounding YES!!!  She just loves playing house and having a place that is her very own.  She asked if we could add a mailbox and a couple of other things.  We flood irrigate so my handy hubby rushed out to Home Dep*t to get some materials to lift if off the ground a bit and add a floor.  I need to confess I think Rick and I were almost as excited as Emily about having a playhouse.  Thanks guys!  Summer just got better and she can't wait to have her BFF over to play in it with her.

Hey batter, batter, batter!

Pure Joy!

Daddy and his girl

In the brake from the rain and cold we headed over to Toys * Us to get a couple of fun outdoor playthings.  Emilys list of what she thought she should have was shall we say long!  We ended up with a t-ball set and a cute pink adjustable basketball hoop with ball.  In no time at all Miss Emily was swinging the bat and hitting the ball.  One of her favorite things to do is to get a running start and race up to the t-ball stand and hit the ball.  I figure great game for eye/hand coordination.  Go Emily.  Oh, and for safety measures at a different store she picked out a sweet little Hello Kitty helmet for when she is riding her scooter or trike. We are really looking foward to summer!

The "Project"

While I was in Portland, Oregon with my mom my hubby decided to surprise me with a complete overhaul of our garden area.  He came up with a design which included 21 garden boxes, work area, and a fountain. And being the handyman that he is he also decided to plumb water to each box and add electricity so that we could have lights at night if need be.  In hindsight what he had hoped to be a DIY weekned project has instead turned into an overbudget and LONG drawn out project.  God bless him as he has been competing with rain almost everyday.  Most days rain or shine he is out there under a canopy cutting, drilling, hammering and working away.  I think this weekend he will be wrapping it up by filling the boxes with topsoil and putting the pea gravel around the outside of the boxes.  Whew, we are almost ready for planting if only the weather would warm up enough. We are still dipping into the 40's at night and barely getting into the 60's during the day.  All of this to say, THANK YOU honey for working so hard on such a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. I am sure our garden will bless us for years to come! I will post pics as the season progresses so you can see the finished project. Oh, and I can't forget to mention his little helper Miss Emily.  She has been out there right beside him whenever given the chance, thank you sweetie! I love you both!

Referrals

Ok, so I haven't been the best blogger. Sorry!  The whole family has been sick and I am having some lingering neck, back issues.  But enough of that...

Did you all notice the number change?  YEAH! We are almost out of the 40's, woohoo! This month our agency had a referal for a set of 2 month old twin boys and another baby boy.  Aneata one of our coordinators celebrated the little boys referral with it being her 100th referral.  So happy for these families.

Also it was much joy that we celebrate with our dear friends Debb & Jeff (who are with a different agency) the referral of their son, a 2.5 month little cutie from Ethiopia. They are over the moon in love. God truly does make everything beautiful in its time. Thank you for answering their prayers. We are so happy for them.

Hoping you all are having a wonderful and safe Memorial Weekend.
blessings, Connie :)

Greatest gift..mother

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother" Lin Yutang

My Momma relaxing in Portland,OR

This is a great quote "we never know the love of a parent until we become parents ourselves".  That rings so true.  I now understand the sacrifices that my mom made for me, the fact that she loved me enough to set household rules , that sometimes "no" was just how it was but more importantly she taught me how to be strong, to be a lady, to learn right from wrong and choose accordingly, she personally thinks travel is one of the best educators so I was blessed to go on some really great vacations and experience things different from me and from those experiences I gleaned compassion and a love for other culutres. My mom is tender, independent and complicated.

When I was single we would take mother/daughter shopping trips here and there.  I can barely believe that was 10 or 11 years ago.  Well in April for my moms birthday I decided it was time to do it again so I booked us a trip to Portland, Oregon.  Let's just say she was a bit excited.  We had such a nice time just hanging out together and shopping a bit.  It rained 2 of the days and the rest of the time it was pretty cold and windy but none the less we made the most of it.  I am grateful to still be able to have these kind of special times with my mom. I will always treasure these memories. I feel blessed that she lives nearby and that we see each other weekly and chat often. I love you mom!!! Happy Mothers Day.

Blessings to every mother and mother to be out there; wishing you a wonderful day of love and rest!!