"So promise me you'll never forget...that you aren't an accident or an incident...you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth...Flooded by emotion, overcome by pride, the Starmaker turns to us, one by one, and says, 'You are my child. I love you dearly.'" Max Lucado, God Thinks You're Wonderful
Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I am gearing up for the half marathon so running plus mothering 4 babes and being an awesome wife (totally kidding-I am only subpar) leaves little blog time!!!! We joined the Y!!! It has been so much fun for the kids to get to play basketball! What a great picture.
This is our new favorite hang out spot! Especially when the weather is too cold for the park.
I think they are worn out!! How cute is this?
And here's our little cheerleader! She loves banging on the seats!!!
A visit to the aquarium again. Isn't she crazy beautiful?!?!
I did Sadie's hair last Friday. I did flat rope twists up into one puff! I LOVED how it turned out! It officially lasted a week! Completely thrilled with that.
I think they feel comfortable at the aquarium, don't you??
MLK Jr. day parade in Atlanta! What a wonderful day to live in this city!
Sadie sporting her adorable faux frohawk. I LOVE doing her hair! She had so much fun watching the parade.
This was the closest we got to a family pic, thank you Owen for taking it!!!
HOW COOL! Not sure what group this was but they sang and stomped and there were lots of races amongst them...do you see Ebenezer Baptist Church behind them? This is THE church that Martin Luther King, Jr. himself preached at!
Oh man...I love this picture. I am quite certain that I have the best husband alive. He also is the best daddy alive. I am not partial at all by the way.
So you might be wondering...we were 2 of only a dozen other white people at the parade. As sad as I am that more of my Caucasian friends don't come to these parades, some comments from other patrons are less than encouraging. One guy was trying to sell me a picture of MLK so he hollered at me, "You look like you come to these things all of the time." What do I say to that? I wanted to yank him by the ear pulling him aside to remind him that my children could feel the stares and his comment did not help them feel like they belong here. Matter of fact, us being here was the complete reason MLK Jr spent his life preaching about love, acceptance and equal rights. Blake and I were so thankful that with each year that we go to the parade, or maybe as we mature, we feel more comfortable and sweat less ;)
Oh lands. This might just be an all time favorite pic of mine. How in the world am I so blessed?!?!
Sometimes I just want to close my eyes And act like everyone's alright When I know they're not
This world needs God But it's easier to stand and watch I could say a prayer and just move on Like nothing's wrong
But I refuse 'Cause I don't want to live like I don't care I don't want to say another empty prayer Oh, I refuse
To sit around and wait for someone else To do what God has called me to do myself Oh, I could choose Not to move but I refuse
I can hear the least of these Crying out so desperately And I know we are the hands and feet Of You, oh God
So, if You say move It's time for me to follow through And do what I was made to do Show them who You are
I hope you've heard this song...it so speaks of what my heart feels about our love for Jesus and our lives being lived out for Him. We cannot say we belong to Jesus and then live a life that resembles nothing of Him. If we do, then our hearts aren't truly His, right?
I thought of this song as I read a new link on our adoption agencies website. I hope you will take a second to read this...it's heart breaking and at the same time shows that we all need to say "I REFUSE" to sit here any longer. Did you know that even with all of the adoptions that we hear about and take place worldwide, that 14,050,000 children remain orphans and age out of the system every year!
God use me. Break me. Remind us that this life is not mine, but yours. Any fears we have about what you might be calling us to is not from you...for you do not give us a spirit of fear.
We were able to come HOME for Christmas, and what a time of joy it was! We started a new tradition on New Years Day! This was at a free family fun run after church on Sunday. It was a blast and we were so proud of everyone that came. My sister Laura and I have been running lots in 2011 and completed our first 15k in October. Our other sister Becki and our daddy said they would run it with us next year, so we thought this would be a great way to kick off that goal. AND, Laura and I registered for our first HALF MARATHON!!! She is flying to Atlanta to run it with me and I feel like the luckiest most blessed gal on earth! The boys had so much fun and actually CHOSE to do the 4 mile run! They regretted that about one block past the 2 mile turn though!!! Those Grunewald boys are great athletes.
Noonie and Papa ran most of the way pushing the girls!!!
Oh man...this was right as we were leaving Tulsa and saying good-bye. The kids were all so sad. Less than 5 months guys! We can do it!
We were able to see old friends and man did it fill our love tanks!!! We are so blessed to have friends that have prayed for us while we've been gone.
We had fun with our cousins...
Our daddy even got to fly in for 5 days!!! Oh how we needed that time with him. We were so thankful.
Waiting to come down stairs on Christmas morning! Man, are we blessed! We opened WAY too many gifts. But enjoyed a new tradition of giving a gift to Jesus this year. The kids got money from us and got to choose (which meant the boys chose, the girls didn't get it) how they wanted to give something to Jesus. They chose to help our dear friend Joey Armstrong. Please take a minute to check out his blog. He is a wonderfully talented writer, and lives his life for Jesus. We were so thankful that our kids know a little bit more about all the ways to love on Jesus on HIS BIRTHDAY!!!
(Please excuse that the pics are out of order, but I couldn't move them for some reason). This is our rescue trip home. My mom selflessly flew out to Atlanta on December 12th, stayed with us and packed us up and DROVE us home on December 15th! This pic was taken at lunch when we were almost to Oklahoma!!!
My grandmother took us to see the incredible lights at Rhema. We were dying to see lights because in Atlanta, if the lights are worth looking at they cost a fortune to view!
She is so silly and LOVED these sunglasses her sister got for Christmas.
Emery got her first American Girl bitty baby! She immediately kissed all over her!
Owen's "Holiday" program at school. He sure does love his new teacher and has made so many wonderful friends!
Then my mama drove us all.the.way.back.here. Seriously, how blessed are we to have family that loves on us so well. I got to spend almost 4 weeks with my mama!!! Oh how my heart needed that. As wonderful as it feels to be here with Blake, we are all looking forward to our final return Memorial Day weekend. Both boys kept warning us they were not coming back to Atlanta with us! And even Sadie told Noonie she wanted to go with her when we dropped her off at the Marta yesterday.
We joined the Y!!! It has been so much fun for the kids to get to play basketball! What a great picture.
This is our new favorite hang out spot! Especially when the weather is too cold for the park.
I think they are worn out!! How cute is this?
And here's our little cheerleader! She loves banging on the seats!!! 
A visit to the aquarium again. Isn't she crazy beautiful?!?!
I did Sadie's hair last Friday. I did flat rope twists up into one puff! I LOVED how it turned out! It officially lasted a week! Completely thrilled with that.
I think they feel comfortable at the aquarium, don't you??
MLK Jr. day parade in Atlanta! What a wonderful day to live in this city!
Sadie sporting her adorable faux frohawk. I LOVE doing her hair! She had so much fun watching the parade. 
This was the closest we got to a family pic, thank you Owen for taking it!!! 
HOW COOL! Not sure what group this was but they sang and stomped and there were lots of races amongst them...do you see Ebenezer Baptist Church behind them? This is THE church that Martin Luther King, Jr. himself preached at! 
Oh man...I love this picture. I am quite certain that I have the best husband alive. He also is the best daddy alive. I am not partial at all by the way. 
So you might be wondering...we were 2 of only a dozen other white people at the parade. As sad as I am that more of my Caucasian friends don't come to these parades, some comments from other patrons are less than encouraging. One guy was trying to sell me a picture of MLK so he hollered at me, "You look like you come to these things all of the time." What do I say to that? I wanted to yank him by the ear pulling him aside to remind him that my children could feel the stares and his comment did not help them feel like they belong here. Matter of fact, us being here was the complete reason MLK Jr spent his life preaching about love, acceptance and equal rights. Blake and I were so thankful that with each year that we go to the parade, or maybe as we mature, we feel more comfortable and sweat less ;)
Oh lands. This might just be an all time favorite pic of mine. How in the world am I so blessed?!?!
We were able to come HOME for Christmas, and what a time of joy it was! We started a new tradition on New Years Day! This was at a free family fun run after church on Sunday. It was a blast and we were so proud of everyone that came. My sister Laura and I have been running lots in 2011 and completed our first 15k in October. Our other sister Becki and our daddy said they would run it with us next year, so we thought this would be a great way to kick off that goal. AND, Laura and I registered for our first HALF MARATHON!!! She is flying to Atlanta to run it with me and I feel like the luckiest most blessed gal on earth!
Oh man...this was right as we were leaving Tulsa and saying good-bye. The kids were all so sad. Less than 5 months guys! We can do it! 
Waiting to come down stairs on Christmas morning! Man, are we blessed!
