We're Tired

Here's a glimpse at a rare meltdown by the sweet baby! We are all so tired!



We had supper early and I think that the quickly darkening sky has already affected our energy levels.



Reed did take a few minutes to cheese through his stopper.



We're all very tired though.



Reed danced a little bit on the couch.



... And play Peek-a-boo.



Reed HAS NEVER, NEVER laid on the floor and almost fall asleep on his own.



Here's the CVS haul for the week. I can't find any of the Bic Comfort3 Advanced.

Howdy Partner!

Tonight was the Harvest Festival at our church. Reed was a cowboy!



He practiced all throughout the day wearing his horse. It was too cute.



Isn't this the cutest cowboy ever!





Yee-haw!



Giddy-up!



Reed was completely overwhelmed by so many people!



Reed had his Sheriff's badge from Aunt Ava on his hat!



There was no misbehavior while Sheriff Reed was in town.





Even Mama came to the Harvest Festival from her conference.







"Hey, hold it down over there."



Unfortunately, this was the only shot that we got with Reed's favorite Indian, Britty!





Miss Candace and Mrs. Tamara liked holding our favorite cowboy.



"Miss Tamara, we need to round up these kiddos and get them into their places."





I couldn't figure out why Reed was so wired when I was trying to get him to go to sleep. It seems that no one mentioned he had an ENTIRE tootsie pop!

That Crazy Boy

Reed is completely addicted to balloons. I think that I should start a label for every time that I talk about Reed's addiction to balloons. Tonight we went to Nashville to see Abbey for supper and we were at a stoplight and Reed started saying, "Bajoo!" "Bajoos!" We couldn't figure out what he was seeing until I saw that a good bit ahead of us in the Nissan dealership there were balloons! He is so observant.



Abbey and Miss Candace took our Sunday School kids to see High School Musical III this past Sunday after church. I think that the crew had a great time.



Reed was very happy to see his Mama tonight! I think that they were both missing each other.



He was also flirting with the lady who was taking our order at Otters!



He thought she was really nice!



Lola has been a huge help this month since we have been so busy with Conferences!

Some Pics from Last Week

Abbey left the camera in her purse, so we have a few pics that Lola took last week during Reed's visit with her and Pop.



Abbey is once again at a Writers Conference. It is such a busy month, but we are thankful that Abbey has the opportunity to write for extra money for the family budget.

Reed loves his "new" doo-dah that Lola bought him at the consignment shop. Apparently he has decided that a vacuum is much more appropriately named a doo-dah.



I don't think that I have ever seen a child so extremely in love with a balloon than our son! It is really funny how he loves them so.



Last week, Reed wore shorts, today it was so cold and tonight it is forecast to be freezing!



Pop read Reed a book. Someone taught him who Elmo was while he was there, but no one is fessing up!

Chosen

Reed sported his Titans windsuit today in hopes of cheering on his favorite pro-team. Hopefully, Monday night they will continue their undefeated season against the Colts.



I have decided to move away from the "play-by-play" of the today's activities in my post tonight and want to talk about something that I have been thinking about.



As an adoptive parent, you often hear the question, "Why did his birth family give him up?" We answer the question, by correcting the thinking of the questioner to "His birth family CHOSE to let him be our son in order to give him the life they felt he deserved." Reed was not given up. He was chosen.



But, my line of thought has changed a bit in the past couple of days. I have thought about this before, but tonight, as I lay next to Reed while he was falling asleep, I couldn't help but think about who was really chosen in this situation.



It was us. While we wouldn't wish infertility or the pain of miscarriage on anyone, we know that for us, it was part of the process God was using to show us that He had chosen us for a very special blessing.



We were chosen to adopt. I can't describe how honored we are that God felt we were good enough to adopt. I remember thinking that I hoped that I would love our adopted child enough, etc. Now, I think, is it possible to love our son too much?



Reed is such an incredible little boy. A blessing to us that we had no idea would be so great.



So, we've been chosen several times. Mostly, God chose to give His Son for you and me to have eternal salvation if we choose to accept it. We were chosen to endure infertility and miscarriage that we might minister to others facing similar situations. We were chosen to be parents, a task which we prayed to receive, ironically though, we never dreamed we would be so blessed as to be chosen to become parents through adoption.