Its summer!!

Well its official....Max's first year of preschool has come and went. I can't believe how fast it flew by!!! Luckily we've got a year of pre-k ahead of us....there's no way I'm ready for kindergarten yet! This week has been H-O-T!!! So we've been soaking up the sunshine and loving these days of just hanging out. We've got lots travel plans this summer and t-ball starts in just a week. My little guy could NOT be more excited about that! Its his first year of playing and baseball is all he talks about these days! Can't wait to watch him from the bleachers! You know those things you day dream about as a mom? Well this is one of those for me!! I've always looked forward to the day I'd cheer on my little MVP from the side line! Loving this summer already!

Loving my boys and dreaming of my girl

Oh, what a day! I just love mother's day! Who doesn't love a day where you get a little extra spoiled...fussed over a little more....get a couple extra "I love you's". I certainly do! Today was perfect in every way! Me and my favorite boys headed to church for a fantastic service where our pastor encouraged all the women to take time and "pause". To really enjoy the life God has blessed us with, to not be so tied down by our lists and tasks that we forget to really live our life. Definitely something that resonated with me. I am Type A to the very core, and a list maker like none other. In the story of Martha and Mary, I am Martha's long lost twin sister. So, I need to hear (often) to chill out....the house work will still be there...the laundry will still be there...enjoy your son...enjoy your husband....enjoy life!!! So, that's what we did today! After church we went to a local Thai restaurant that we love and feasted on some delicious food. Though there is clearly some "western" influences to it, just being amongst the people there, and experiencing the smells and hearing the language does us good. Our hearts are really longing to be back in Thailand these days. We've felt that way frequently since we returned from there in 2010, but we've of course been feeling it stronger than ever now that we are awaiting a referral. Its such an amazing place. What a blessing that we are forever tied to the country! Max made me a super sweet card, and in Sunday school, the kids made canvas totes with their hand prints on them. The boys (Stephen really!) gave me the sweetest necklace. It has both of the kids names stamped on it (yes, we have our daughter's name chosen. We know God knows exactly who ***** is and so we are praying specifically for her by name.) In this time of abstract in the adoption process, it helps Max also to speak of her by name. So, Stephen, proud Daddy that he is, chose a name for his sweet daughter (one that we all love!), and we're having fun keeping it a secret for a bit longer!! The necklace also has stamped on it "mahn dah rak" which means "a mother's love" in Thai. I am totally in love with it. We better announce our little girl's name soon because I want to wear this bad boy outside of the house!!

I got a little emotional today (hard to believe I know!) when I told Max how honored I was to be his mom. To think that God blessed us, chose us, to be the parents of this insanely incredible little boy just blows me away. And to know that heart ache came to one woman and I am sitting here with my arms wrapped around this amazing little boy. Most times the emotion of it all makes me cry. We ended the day skyping with each of our mom's (who are so incredible might I add), riding bikes and playing baseball outside. Doesn't get much better than that! This is Max's last week of school and then, bring on summer!!!! Hope you all had an amazing Mother's Day.

a thankful heart!

Yesterday, Max sang at a festival with the other kids from his preschool class. I gotta say, he was the cutest little one there!!!

I'm also behind on posting an Easter picture. We had a great family day, and didn't stop to snap many photos of the three of us, but we did get a sweet shot of Max from him singing at church that morning. LOVE our children's ministry at The Fields, they are doing great work with our kids!!

Also, yesterday was the first of two rummage sales that our friends from church are doing on our behalf to help us fund raise for the adoption. A-MAZING, that's all I can say. The generosity of our community (everything was by donation only) and the love and hard work of our friends was so humbling to experience. Just like when we were journeying through bringing Max home, it is incredible to witness the people in your life as they come along side you and begin to love this child who's face they've never seen. In many ways, they are just as excited to meet our little girl, what a blessing that is!!!

Happy Birthday Meemaw!!!!

Last weekend was a blast! Can't believe I'm only just now getting around to posting about it though! I've officially stepped back into the world of the working (outside of the home that is!) and its been a bit of a shocker to my system! These early mornings are kicking my booty! But, Max is adjusting great (I'm technically only going to be working a day or two a week but right now during my training, its a bit more) and Stephen has been incredible and stepped in where ever he's needed. All that to say...my blogging was pushed way down on the list of priorities!

So, back to last weekend! My family came into town for a visit, and of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to celebrate my mom's upcoming birthday!!! We made a cake that the boys all got to decorate (a tradition we started last year, and one that my mom really loves!) and Max made her a very special birthday hat that was all his idea! We also celebrated Easter a little early and had a fun egg hunt! The boys played baseball, kickball and just about every other sport at some point during the weekend. As always, we had a blast and the time flew by!

Now we're gearing up for Easter tomorrow and I'm soooo excited about it this year! Because of his age, Max REALLY gets what tomorrow is all about. I love hearing him talk about how cool he thinks Jesus is, and how thankful he is for his salvation. Sometimes he has difficulty articulating exactly what he's feeling, but lately (usually at bedtime when we have our family bible time) he's really starting to share and ask really incredible questions. He said last night "if I had to be on the cross, I would have screamed and cried, but Jesus, he chose to do it because he loves us." Well that about sums it up right there! Tomorrow he'll get to sing a special song during the service with his class about the resurrection and the joy and hope it brings a lost a hurting world. If there's one thing Max "gets" its the fact that tomorrow is a day to celebrate!!

One step closer!

Our dossier (the super important packet of paperwork we've been working on for the last several months) was sent to Thailand this week!!!! This is a HUGE step in the process of bringing our little girl home! Our agency has decided that instead of sending our papers to DSDW (the social welfare system in Thailand) to find a match for us, they will instead send it directly to Pattaya Babies Home for them to match us. This is pretty exciting for us because we know with certainty that our sweet little girl is somewhere in that home. I have to be honest....I've developed a slight obsession! Pattaya has an AMAZING website (just google it) that they update daily with photos, (like hundreds of them!) and every couple of days, I'll go on the site and just browse through the pictures. Now, all the kids are adorable.....but my eyes go straight to the little girls. My heart races a little at the thought that I've already seen her face! We know from experience with Max that waiting is the difficult part, and we're prepared. But, our agency has a great relationship with Pattaya, and more importantly, we serve a God who's timing and plan is perfect in all ways. So, we'll rest assured in that, pray for peace.........and I'll keep stalking that website!!

Guy's Weekend!

My boys headed out on their own this weekend and had a blast! They left on Friday for Indy to watch a couple college baseball games. Max is OBSESSED with baseball these days. That could have something to do with the fact that he is just two short months away from playing on his very first t-ball team! They stayed the night in a hotel and then took in a few more games on Saturday. I love that they had some time just for the two of them. I'm spoiled in getting to stay home with Max...its nice for Stephen to get some time to have him all to himself. My favorite part of the weekend......watching the car pull into the driveway and hearing Max shout as he ran to me....."Mommy I missed you!!!" We sure are blessed!

Dodging Storms!

I'm a little late with this post.....I feel like time is just flying by these days! Last weekend, we had a BLAST hanging with Stephen's folks in Nashville. We had been there all week with Stephen for work, and they were able to come into town and meet up with us. It was the perfect plan! Well....except for the tornadoes that the five of us seemed to be dodging along the way! The weather was crazy!!! We ended up with some major wind and a serious hail storm, but thankfully the tornadoes stayed south of where we were staying.

We had lunch on Saturday at the Opry Land Hotel. I just love that place! Stephen and I have been a handful of times, but it was fun to see Max's reaction. We watched movies, made ice cream sundaes, laughed and enjoyed our two days together. Can't wait for the next time we can get together!!!