Kiddie post & plea

 So if anyone is reading at all you've caught on that I have been horrible at posting about these sweet lil lovies these past few months.  So I wanted to give some updates on them!!!  They are the whole reason I started blogging in the first place :/   Here is Sadie this summer being her crazy self...she is SO strong and can do the monkey bars all by herself.  She has some serious upper body muscles.  She is FAST and can nearly out run me.  She is constantly smiling and giggling and mothering.  She loves everything and will make it her baby to love on and take care of.  She talks to babies, grown adults, dogs, bugs, balls, dolls, etc like they are her very best friend.  Its super sweet most times, but awfully scary when she grabs adult men by the hands to play with her.  Perhaps we need to cover stranger danger again! 

 Owen is an incredible young man.  He is a wonderful leader at school and a huge help to his teacher.  He is very active and loves playing basketball, riding scooters, playing football, soccer, golf and tennis.  He is sure having fun with a backyard, we missed that when living in an apartment last year.  He loves to read and often stays up with a flashlight reading past his bedtime.  He too is a fast runner, but it's not his favorite thing to do.  He is a great listener, master negotiator, & is sensitive to others needs.  Tonight as I walked in to scratch the boys backs Owen started singing a song we had sung in church...but he never sings during praise so I didn't know he was listening...he sung it perfectly pausing just as the song is written, "My heart will si-ing...no other na-ame...Jesus...Jesus" over and over.  Oh love, there couldn't be a sweeter sound for a mama to hear, and even more so for our Father to hear!  This year he turned 7!  I don't know how we have a 7 year old!

 Emery, who we usually call Emme, is at such a fun age...most of the time.  She is particularly frustrated when everyone else has someone to pick on and she does not :(  So we are working on talking about our frustrations rather than hitting them out.  Whoops.  Her favorite things to say right now are: I gonna tewl mommy!, I no wan to, I tootie, No Sadie pfthtttt (we have a minor spitting problem), Aw we goin?, Aw da guys? and I do it!!!!!  She still loves to cuddle, is left handed and is our best sleeper!  She is TALL and skinny.  Most people mistake her for being 3 and older, and she just turned 2.5 this month!  She talks really well, still loves to sing and knows a lot of songs and she loves to pray, even for large groups of people.  Be still my heart!

 Cooper!  Coop turned 6 in November and got a bouncy house of all things.  Have you ever checked out purchasing one of those boogers instead of buying one?  No?  You should.  Google it!  We just had a few grands chip in and vwa-la, we got to keep the dang thing UNTIL IT POPS!!!  It has been endless fun and can hold up to 500 lbs so that means that occasionally we have a mom that hops in and plays monster tickler.  Fun times.  It's even more fun when you have no furniture and can inflate it in room and just leave it out during the winter.  Cooper is another blessing of a kid.  He is bursting with passion, compassion, ambition, skills (he has wonderful penmanship as well as one heck of an arm) and love.  He often comes home from school and has drawn pictures of the crucifixion and resurrection during his brain break at school.  Just like with everyone of our kids, I cannot wait to see how this guy follows God through life. 

 One thing I have hesitated to share about our Sadie is that we have "lost" her birth mom.  I haven't wanted to share it for several reasons.  First, so many people don't get open adoption and quite frankly don't need another reason to not understand it.  Second, so many people don't try and understand birth parents, and I don't want people to judge these precious precious family members.  They are our family, so please understand how intimate and personal we hold them in our hearts.  But it's been nearly 2 years since we've seen Gerlisha, and we miss her terribly.  Sadie prays for her daily.  She cries for her.  She draws pictures of her.  She is only 4, so I am not sure what memories she has or if its just because we talk about her so much and tell her stories and look at pictures.  Whatever it is, it's real and it's painful.  I know adoption is layered and bittersweet, and we have been educated and counseled on how to walk through this with our loves.  I don't know where I would be without our adoption agency and their support.  But they don't know where she is either.  So this is me asking for prayer and only prayer.  Please do not judge our choices or Gerlisha's.  My hope is that she might follow the blog and see how desperately we need her, and that's why I am finally sharing this.  I am so thankful that I ALWAYS take pictures when we see our first families because we never want to take a day for granted. 

 Emery right before turning 2

 Cooper found a worm...he is such a boy loving dirt and bugs and all things boy!

 Priceless picture of me telling Owen thank you for smiling for the pictures...he HATES taking pictures so we bribed the kids with QT if they smiled!

 The girls had pajama day at school and watched Polar Express

 Owen's holiday party at school!  We had so much fun at his party and stole the idea to MOB the Neighborhood with love and give the holiday away.  It was cheap and helped the kids focus on OTHERS during the holiday instead of giving them a bunch of silly dinky knick-knacks.

 This was the girls party at school, even though we don't do Santa they got a kick out of seeing our pastor dress up and read a story. 

 Cooper's class party.  Isn't he such a handsome stud with that too cool smile? 

 I think since we never talk about Santa she was fascinated with him.  Ha!

Emery was just excited to get herself some candy!  This girl LOVES sweets! 

Pictures...

I really want to post some fun pictures and not try and think through what's going on in my head.

There is a lot there, and I am not sure what to share. 

Good things though...where as weeks ago I felt stir crazy, I feel such peace about the direction we have chosen.  Until then, enjoy these cuties!

 Emery, Sadie and cousin Ragon cheering on their other cousin in soccer!  What divas!

 This was a few weeks ago when we had my grandmother (who lives down the street from us) over for dinner.  She is 91 folks, and she either pretended to have, or really did have a fun time with our wild bunch.  Either way, we LOVED every minute of it.  This was when we were having our first hot chocolate of the fall!  Yummo!

 Sadie being silly!

 The boys all went out to hit some balls...one of their favorite things to do with their daddy!

 Lil Miss Thang.  This girl is absolutely gorgeous...and sassy as all get out too!  Her favorite thing to say right now..."I no want to!"  I will take that over ear piercing screams anyday, but sometimes I have to say, "Well, sister I no want to either, but we GOT TO!!!"  She still loves to sing, she prays the sweetest prayers, she is compassionate, she is still a huge cuddler, she loves talking and has quite the vocabulary...mostly from songs she sings.  She has an opinion about what clothes I put on her...and she is only 2 mind you.  She often says, "a pincess" meaning "I must wear a dressy dress to school mom!"  And that day will be followed by a day in which she wants to wear her jammies to school.  I give in when I can because let's be honest, it's just not a big deal every once in a while.   

 Emery could spend every waking minute on the swings.  And she likes to go HIGH!  In fact, if you don't push her high enough she will scream at you.  So if you think a small child has just had two limbs removed because you hear bloodcurdling screams coming from the intersection.  Fear not!  It is just Emery wanting to go HIGHER!!!  We are working on this people.  She is quickly learning, "Higher please!"

 Look at this smile!!!!  Man oh man!  I got some good pictures of this sweet Cooper swinging!  Cooper is quickly approaching 6 and is killing Kindergarten.  Not only is he doing fantastic with his school work, but evidently he is setting a wonderful example for his classmates.  Owen had just as remarkable of reports and has even been given extra responsibilities in class because of his leadership.  His reading is outstanding and he has made great friends already.  Blake and I were smiling like we had hangers stuck in our mouths when we left conferences.  Thank you Jesus for guiding these fellas!  The guys have both decided...drumroll please...to enroll in basketball this winter.  Their grandparents are elated!  Blake and I have truly enjoyed being so close to their school and have been able to join them for lunch several times.  It's such a blessing!

 Sadie found a funky pumpkin at the patch on Wednesday with her preschool class.  She also is learning sooo much at school.  She has made lots of friends and truly enjoys going.  Another huge blessing!  I still can't believe she is 4!!!!  She is still our social butterfly, she is sensitive (what kid isn't though?), she loves to play with anything except a ball, her new favorite thing is her doll house.  She has finally gained weight, but you'd never know it!  She loves to say the prayer before dinner, she adores her grandparents, shopping, cookies, candy, nail polish, high heels, lip gloss, purses, giggling, being tickled, her daddy and she desperately wants a real dog or baby.  Too bad so sad sister, the fish will have to do! 

 He is SO sweet to take pictures for me even though he dreads them.  They all enjoyed the pumpkin patch with the girls' school. 

 Emery found a pumpkin!!!

 I begged them all to get together for a pic.  You know how well that went over with the guys...gosh they are adorable though!!

Emery gave me this face when I asked her to smile.  She's a riot!

It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming

The precious baby doll I found at the Goodwill. Dang. I love that place. This was straight from Jesus. A dark brown soft doll that looked like Emery's version of Raggedy Ann for $1. She loves it and so does her big sissy ;o)

Great expression!

Could yellow look any better than on chocolaty smooth skin? I think not.

They decided to pull their allowance together to buy some cotton candy at the candy shop. Poor Emme just had to go along with it. The day is quickly approaching when she will no longer stand for the shenanigans and follow the guys...

Hey cutie patootie!

Skipping rocks with their daddy at Stone Mountain Park. Wow. This is a moment you dream about, right? Your husband being this kind of dad and teaching your kids this stuff. Lord, please help us to always slow down and embrace these sweet moments together and soak them up.

Early Monday morning at breakfast we were talking about Owen's decision to follow Jesus. Cooper said he believed those same things...and he wanted to give his heart to Jesus.

I have to admit, I wanted to say that he was too young, that maybe he didn't understand. But I knew better and by the grace of God I didn't say it. We kept talking. We talked about it here and there all day. And the verse about the faith of a child kept coming to me...

"Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them." Mark 10:14 The MessageSo Monday night, I not only prayed with Owen to accept Jesus...but then with Cooper. What a sweet and tender moment. One that I will never forget. After Cooper and I prayed he said, "So is he in there (pointing to his heart and donning a HUGE grin)?" He told us the next morning that he was no longer afraid of monsters because he had Jesus with him. Melt my heart!

And for my title...Cooper is in love with the video on YouTube "It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming." He watches it over and over. And he's uber protective of Sadie seeing parts of it that might scare her (the crucifixion from the Passion) and he makes her cover her eyes.

So to say this has been a dreamy week is an understatement. I told my parents that there will be no greater joy in my life than this...in all the wonderful miraculous things we have experienced with the boys; their birth, their birth mom, their adoptions finalizing, dedicating them to the Lord...being able to say the prayer with them to give their heart to Jesus tops it all.

So proud of our Cooper

Some of you may have already seen this, but I had to post it here so that our first families could see it too.

Cooper worked so hard to memorize these verses, and I cried just about every time he's said it.

There is just something about a child knowing the Bible and the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. May this always be our focus, not just during this time of year!

How is he 5?

I swear this was yesterday. Oh how I miss her. When people ask if we are liking Atlanta and if we think we will stay, I have a hard time not laughing. We love it here, don't get me wrong. But we have so much more in Oklahoma. We not only have our friends and family, we have our birth families that we miss so so much. And as every birthday creeps up, my heart can't help but cling to those sweet moments we shared with each of them surrounding the birth of these miracles. I can't live without them in my life.

And now he's 5. He is an incredible young man. Blake and I are so proud of him for the decisions he makes to love others and serve others. He is sensitive. He is patient. He is passionate. He now wants to be a sword fighter when he grows up. "Well play football and practice sword fighting". Huh? It makes sense to him! He is curious about God and Jesus and wants to know so badly what it feels like to have Jesus in your heart. Oh how I love those talks...

So last night for his special day we let him choose the plans for the day and or dinner. Despite my awesome skills in the kitchen, he chose the local burger joint. Blake surprised us all with ice cream afterwards! Yummo! Do you see it running down her hand? It's possible I picked the ice cream flavor for her. One day I will have to get my own cone!

Isn't he a pumpkin? Sharing with the slobbery baby. He doesn't care. This guy loves his baby slobber and all.

Cooper picked going to park over every other option I gave him for his birthday. Isn't that funny? The park we go to daily. My kids are easily pleased. This is Sadie's first time to climb a real tree. She has mastered the large Crape Myrtles here. In Georgia, the Crape Myrtles are massive and climbable.

The boys had so much fun wrestling in the leaves. I love it because there are quite a few boys the same age that come to the park...they know each other from school. They all joined in!

Opening presents first thing in the morning! HE COULD NOT WAIT!!!

Pushing his sissy. Too bad she hated it. She was screaming!!!

Birthday party pics!!! We had some friends come to play at the park for Cooper's costume party. It was so much fun! Sadie rocking her dress up wedding shoes. It's scary how good she is in heels!

Cooper looks thrilled. These are two of his friends from PreK! He has met such sweet friends at school.

Getting ready to sing! Can you see those cute Star Wars cupcakes?

The kids got to decorate their own Star Wars sugar cookies. Well, that is until Sadie started licking the sprinkles dispenser and the knives. Lil stinker.

We took all of our dress up clothes and costumes. The kids had fun traded costumes and trying on new stuff. We just might have to do this again one year!

I even found a cool Darth Vader pinata.
We have so many things to be thankful for this year. This day I was thankful for new friends in our life that could help us make Cooper feel loved and special since we didn't have our family. I have never felt so indebted to people showing up for this...but I was scared to death no one would come. You know how things get busy and you forget a party? Thank you Jesus for these precious people! And thank you for the sunshine so that we could play at the park!!!