Annual Valentine's Breakfast

On Valentine's night, we hosted our annual Valentine's breakfast. It was fun as usual.

Our guests for the evening in no particular order were the Parks (new for 2013), the Davidsons, Uncle Bill, and Miss Candace.




We had lots of good food. On the menu: Uncle Bill's Famous Cheese Grits, Jay Sensitive Breakfast Casserole, Michelle's knock your socks off cinnamon rolls, Carah's Berry Fruit Mixture, Abbey's super strawberry cupcakes, Miss Candace's drive thru chicken minis, pancakes, and 3 pounds of bacon.







Danny and Bill practiced their glamor shots.




We were glad that Jay wasn't on call so they could spend time with us. Our boys love their boys.




Abbey made super yummy strawberry cupcakes.




Meghan perfected the bend and snap (a Facebook favorite amongst the girls at our church).




Christopher and Nash together are like gasoline and kerosine. They can ally cause a raucous. He is a super sweet kid. He always gives me a hug and he always sneaks into our van after church.




Kaleb and Will are great friends. They are the opposite of Christopher and Nash.




Well ... Almost.




Best buddies.




Michelle practiced her bend and snap.

Chinese New Year: Day 3

The most exciting part of the Chinese New Year celebration was the fact that Deana and Luke Pan, the missionaries who changed our lives were there for it.




This is the picture of the Morning Light Ministries board.




We did a very moving cardboard testimony presentation during the morning service in our church. It was very emotional.




I love that Will's sign was upside down. That is so characteristic of our life.




Sweet Morgan has grown up so much. He is Hilarious.




I loved this sign "when there hasn't been a way ... God created a Wei!"




I love little Zoe. She is beautiful and from North Carolina these days. I think she was a crowd favorite.




Ellie was able to join us on Sunday. She is beautiful.







Of course, no event is complete without Uncle Bill.

Chinese New Year 2013: Day 2

This sweet baby came to the reunion all the way from Washington state. I remember the day she was born. Isn't she beautiful?




These guys came from Oklahoma to get to the reunion. They were glad to get out of the car and running around.




Wei and his mom were happy in their super cute red shirts.




This was a huge crowd of cuteness. I believe that we had 31 Taiwanese kids on Saturday. We added another one on Sunday. It was amazing to have so many together.




Mr. Austin can't wait for his little guy to come home from Taiwan. It is a hard wait, but he is doing well.




Lola came to be a part of the big event. She is always a big help. We are so thankful for her.







We enjoyed the photo booth. Nash and Will especially enjoyed the Chinese items.




They are so funny.




We were excited to see the Ponatoski's again. We traveled to get Tuck together. It was wonderful to see baby Kai again.

Chinese New Year 2013: Night 1

This year, our Chinese New Year celebration started on Friday night at Cock of the Walk. It was a great time for Abbey and I to meet some of the babies that we have had a little part in bringing home. The above picture is Nathan. He's adorable.




Abbey took charge of telling everyone how the food would be served. To bad the restaurant didn't get the memo.




Will was thrilled to see so many of his Taiwanese brothers.




It was almost too much Taiwanese cuteness in the room.




It was great to catch up with some of the cuties that we already knew and others that we have only known through Facebook.




Baby Wei is Tuck's best friend since they are in the nursery together in church.




It was wonderful to get to see everyone.

Growing Up Is Hard to Do

I'm going to deviate from the normal nature of this blog to give you an update about us. We usually post pictures of the kids, but sometimes I wonder if people think that we do anything besides take pictures of our boys.

Every couple of months I get an itch to look at a new house. I know that sounds silly, but I do. Abbey and I have always loved old houses and our town is full of beautiful old houses.

A couple of weeks ago, Abbey came home from a run and told me that there was a really neat craftsman that had been renovated that she ran past. So it wasn't long that I found myself on realtracs and looking at a beautiful renovated house.




Thankfully, our realtor is a friend and he doesn't seem to mind that we are constantly dreaming about our dream home. We went to look at the house and fell in love. It was built in 1901 and has been totally remolded. It is absolutely amazing.

The problem is that the price is too high in my opinion. WAY TOO HIGH! Other problems are wrong school zone, busy street, and no garage. But it is absolutely amazing house.

That got me to look at other houses in the historic district and I came upen another amazing house. This one, larger, lower priced and on a beautiful street. Brandon took us to see it yesterday.




The house was remolded as well ... In 1979. It was in good condition though and had a garage. The issue was again, the schools and the fact that it is an enormous house in need of updating. Just too much of a risk for us. The house was built in 1894.

Truthfully, sometimes I get discontent in what we've been blessed with. We have a beautiful home that is more than adequate for our family. We (mostly me) just get antsy to keep up with the Joneses.

We need to get into better financial place and also the thought of listing our home with four young sons is overwhelming. So we are going to stay out for now and enjoy what God has blessed us with. I think ultimately we are going to build a house that will be great for our family.

Christmas with Uncle Bill

The boys got great presents for Christmas. They weren't able to get Uncle
Bill's presents before Christmas so they had to wait.




Nashy was super excited to open another present.




Tuck really was excited too.




Uncle Bill got the boys a new TV for their room that we are going to mount on the wall.




The boys were so excited. The boys also got their own little stockings and they had socks, underwear, and a flashlight.

Everyone should have an Uncle Bill.

Visit To the Fire Station with Good News

A few weeks ago we were headed home from our Christmas trip to family. It was Sunday and we had just received word that a precious family we have been working with was chosen by a birth mom in Taiwan.




Abby and Austin first got to know us through our blog. It's not uncommon for people to find us when they google "Taiwan Adoption" so it came as no surprise one day when Abby left the comment. Asking if we would tell her more about adoption. We were happy to oblige. It was really neat for us because Abby and Austin live in our area.




Every time I think that the blog doesn't matter too much, I'm reminded of not only the memories that we collect on here but also the connections that we have made.




The Williams family is another family that we connected with through the blog. They now have three Taiwanese princes that we were blessed to help them connect as a family.




I texted Abby and told her that we had some paperwork that she needed to sign so that we could be ready in case the birth mother had any questions. I kind of lied and said that the birth mom was choosing between three families. In reality I knew that they were already chosen.




Austin was at work at the fire hall, and Abby was at church with her grandmother, but she said we could meet at the fire hall if we needed to. She offered to get some pictures to the baby room and things if I thought thAt would help. I felt a little guilty telling her that she should and the fact that she got them printed. In reality if I were sending pictures to Taiwan, I would just email them.




Austin was the best tour guide ever. The boys had a ball getting in the fire truck and seeing where Mr. Austin sleeps.




Finally, I told the boys to let me talk to Austin and Abby. I handed them a file folder with the paperwork. Abbey had actually taped 7 pictures of a beautiful baby boy inside.




Abby opened the folder and looked at me and said "Is this what I think it is?" I just said "yes." Crying ensued.




Abbey and I remember this moment so well when it happened for us. We weren't able to capture it on camera, but it only seemed right that we were able to give this gift of pictures to Abby and Austin. I'll never forget the moment we became parents.