We're Coming Home

That's right folks.

We've said hard good-byes and we are stuffed into the car heading for our friends and family who are dying to see these babies!

Please say a prayer for us for safe travels...

We are just a wee bit excited to see all our lovies!

What A Weekend!

My precious lovie planned a date night on Friday!! It was amazing and so filled my love bucket. He arranged a sitter for the kiddos, and made reservations for dinner all by himself. Eeee!!!!!

We just sat and talked over dinner for nearly 2 1/2 hours. It was such a sweet gift for our marriage.

We got up early Saturday morning and Owen and I headed out for our first 5k together. It was a fundraiser for his school and we had a blast! He has improved so much in his endurance over this semester...it was so cool to see that in action. He found some friends (mostly girls, such a ladies man) from school to tag along with.

Then later Saturday we spent the afternoon with our precious friends. They barbecued hot dogs and burgers, made corn on the cob and even had ice cream sundaes for the kiddos! They set up a slip n slide, a pool and hid water balloons for the kids. Boy we are going to miss them.

Today after church we met more friends for a picnic and the spray grounds. We came home and cleaned up before family pictures in midtown Atlanta!

Not sure we could have packed in more fun...and we are all wiped out. So hard to be saying good-bye to so many friends, but we are overcome with joy that we are finally moving home, settling down and starting the rest of our lives.

Beach Pics

Well, Hilton Head Island was as magical as everyone said it was...

 We had to beg Owen to take this one of us, but I am so glad we did.  Love this man so much!  This year is our 10 year wedding anniversary...so thankful for the love we have.

 Singing Happy Gotcha Day to Sadie at 8:15 am...HA!  They loved it!

 Emery took a lil nap on the beach and the bigs couldn't stop kissing on her.  So sweet!

 We met up with our precious friends from Canada.  They are at Emory doing a fellowship this year as well. 

 I love a family picture!!!  Goodness gracious!  Look how big our Emery is!  I cannot believe it.  This picture seriously shocked me when I saw how big she looks. 

 

 This was taken on Mother's Day...I looked up and saw Cooper and Sadie playing in the waves together.  Such a sweet gift for this mama.  We don't always get along so well, so when I see this I just relish in it. 

 Emery LOVED the water and couldn't get enough of it.  Several times she would point and say "MORE" while her whole body was shaking from being cold.

 Blake and I noticed while on this trip that Owen walks with a lil swagger.  It's sooo cute.  I love that he is confident. 

 Not sure this needs any explaination...I just love that this is what she did...taking it all in baby girl.

 What a great shot of Sadie checking out the sea shells.  Notice she has her baby...she's such a good lil mama.

 He was in heaven!  We normally don't let the kids drink pop, but we got a cooler for the beach and their daddy bought them Diet Twist Up and you'd have thought they won the lottery.  And yes, they were having fun seeing who could burp the loudest. 

 Sweet kisses!  This Emme is full of hugs and kisses and we just can't get enough of them. 

 Sadie got a skim board for her Gotcha Day from Noonie and Papa.

 He so didn't want to stop and take this...thank you Cooper!

I am not sure what we would have done without this precious family full of great friends.  Everything you've heard about Canadians is true...they are the nicest people you'll ever meet.  We are gonna miss them! 

Happy Gotcha Day Princess

Well I can't think of a better place to spend a Gotcha Day than the beach!

We wanted to make one last run to the beach before moving home. And the ONLY weekend it worked was Mother's Day weekend and Sadie's Gotcha Day! Hooray!!

It's been full o' fun and sweet memories. Oh how blessed this year had been. And this weekend is right near the top of a fantastic list of fun things we have done while in Atlanta.

Happy Birth Mothers Day to all those heroes that we adore. I know I will never understand fully the sacrifice you have made in placing your child for adoption, but I pray for you constantly that God is healing your heart, that you know Him and can grasp how deep his love is for you. You are loved and treasured by many...each and every one of you are angels.

Lil Buddy

Oh how I love my big guy. I am so proud of how he has handled this year. He has grown not only physically but developmentally and emotionally. I am so proud of him and his choices. I have to admit its hard spending so much time away from him in a day, but he is thriving in school. He loves the challenge, being around peers, and the independence!

Today I got to go to Mom's for Muffins with him. I love this sweet time together....alone. He gave me a sweet Mothers Day present and a card about his favorite things about me. Oh how I treasure those gifts.

Hair Growth

Lucky you...this is not the unwanted hair growth blog post.  I just got to thinking about how much has changed in our routine in the past year and I wanted to see the difference it's made.  If any...

This past week while detangling Sadie's hair I spotted a nice set of curls about 2 inches long in my hand...my heart sunk.  I just broke out in a sweat.  It takes so much to keep Sadie's hair growing and healthy.  And it just breaks my heart when we lose some.  So the next day I went out and purchased two swim caps, one Lycra and one the typical waterproof cap.  Put the Lycra on first to keep from pulling at her hair, and then the waterproof silicone one on top. 

So to encourage myself I decided to start looking through pics a year ago to see how Sadie's head was doing.  Sorry that some of these are great pics of Sadie herself, but they show growth in length and thickening of her hair.  Yahoo! 

 This was exactly a year ago!  These are double rope twists with beads.  I am guessing she has grown at least 4 inches in her hair. 

 Here is Emery a year ago!  Now her hair grows like crazy, and because of it...I don't get so nervous when I see shed hair...nor when I detangle.  We'll get there Sadie, one day!!! 

 Notice on these two, above and below, you can see Sadie's scalp through her teeny weeny afro.  Wow!

 This one too!  This was late March!  UNREAL!!!! 

 And this is where we are now!  I am just amazed.  Here is what we have changed:

• She wears a sleep cap religiously when sleeping, napping and wrestling or tumbling.
• Satin in car seat back
• Apple Cider Vinegar in place of shampoo (we never really shampooed passed about age 18m)
• Detangling-I am embarrassed to say I wasn't really even detangling.  Her hair just wasn't long enough or thick enough...or so I thought.  We love our Tangle Teezer (yes even more than the Denman!)
• Coconut oil-I didn't know about coconut oil until last February people!!!  Wha?
• Protective styling-I didn't realize how hard it was on the hair to daily maintain an afro or puffs
• Homemade detangler as spritzer instead of just water to dampen
• And this is the first year we will wear a swim cap! 

I think the only things I was doing right were adding moisture daily, attempting a sleep cap and no shampoo. 

 This one shows great growth because she can actually wear a twist out! 

 This is going back 2 years since it was Emme's coming home picture!!! 

 And here is a good pic for showing Emery's growth!  It was this time last year Sadie loving cut Emery's hair!  I will never forget the heart attack I had this day.  Yowzers! I can't even tell where her hair was cut now!