So Much Thankfulness

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have our three sons HOME! The past three Thanksgivings we were waiting for our boys to be home. It was such a wonderful weekend spent with our families!  Our boys loved everything this weekend. We got to spend the night with both of our parents, the kids loved the sleep overs with cousins and Grandma and Grandpas house and Nana's house.
So thankful that this wonderful weekend was spent relaxing with family. Now looking forward to all the family fun in December!

Jacob's Toy Story Party

Two days after Jacob's birthday we had our family and a few friends over for Jacob's Toy Story Party!

 Woody and Buzz came to the party too!

 Great Grandma Pat helped Jacob color his flying saucer

 more flying saucer fun

 Big Birthday Boy

 Hugs for cousin Kaylee

 All of Jacob's favorites for dinner, chicken nuggets, Cheetos, cherry tomatoes

 Blessed by so many gifts

 tackling cousin Kaylee while Baby Livvie is on the move

 blowing out his candles

 November 10th is Great Grandma Pat's birthday

 yummy cupcakes

 horsey rides, he is about to fall off in the picture, ha!

 more books with Uncle Chad

 Cousin Levi was trying to hide so he could play more Angry Birds

Our own Buzz came to the party too!

So thankful for all the people that love Jacob and came to celebrate his special day!!

Jacob is TWO!

Two years ago a woman I have never met choose life for this sweet boy!!! I hope she knows how treasured and loved his is! I am so lucky to be his mama!!! He amazes me everyday with something new he can do or say.
Here are some things he loves to do:
-he talks in sentences
-he knows the colors blue and green (especially blue suckers, he only likes to eat blue ones)
-he can count 1,2, 3, 5, 6
-he sings along with several songs and knows the last word of the phrases
-he loves to dance
-he loves books! He always brings you a book and says "read this please" and when you finish reading it he says "read it again please" He could listen to the same book 100 times
-he loves Diego, Toy Story, Bubble Guppies, the Wiggles, Thomas the Train, and Tractors
-he loves cuddling and being held
-he loves his mama!
-he loves playing with balls "Jacob hit tennis ball" or "Jacob shoot ball"
-he just started (2 weeks ago) sleeping in his own bed, but he still prefers mom and dads if he can
-he weighs 28lbs now (he weighed about 24 lbs for over a year, so we are thankful he has grown in the last 2 months!)

Here are a few pictures of our big TWO year old!

 started the day with pancake-cakes for breakfast, his favorite

 Isaiah was trying to get him to smile, Jacob loves his big brother

 Jacob got Rex, Buzz, and Woody for his birthday from Kaleb and Isaiah

 Fly Buzz!

LOVE this boy!

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday. Four years ago this wouldn't have had any meaning to me. I would have thought about it for a few minutes and moved on with my day. Now I see children, my children. My own children were considered the least of these to some. I am so thankful that we stepped out in faith and built our family through adoption. I will be forever changed because of these boys and spending so much time in Ethiopia.  I'm so lucky to be mama to these three.

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real until you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes." David Platt

Here is a video from EveryOrphan.org

Here is a little video from OphanSunday.org

What else can we do?? Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone is commanded to help.

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

God promises to take care of the orphans in the world, but He needs us to help him. Please pray for these sweet faces and the 147+ million more that are waiting for a family.

Halloween Fun

Jacob was going to be Woody and Kaleb was going to be Buzz, but when they dressed up for Grandma Kaleb wanted to be Woody too. Thankful for yard sales, I had 2 of each costume. We couldn't stop laughing at Jacobs costume, it was way to small, ha!

 Jacob wanted to try the Buzz costume but he didn't like it after all.

"I love Mummy!"

Halloween Night

 Our Spiderman

 Cowboy Buzz

 Cowboy Woody

 The real Buzz

 Fun running in the leaves