Happy Birthday Daddy....and soccer!

Julia recording Sam's game.

Keeping busy.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!!! A day filled with sports and meat.....3 soccer games, football games on the big screen and grilled meat...lots of meat! A very "manly" kinda birthday!

The Flowers

We have been talking as a family about how beautifully God decorated the world. Our assignment was to notice all the ways God gave us sights, sounds, smells, touches, etc and to thank Him for them. I had had a particularly hard week and so my run on Friday was my therapy with God. I felt His presence and His love with me that morning. My heart has really been aching for my baby and I just worry about her and want her here with us. As I finished, I walked around the cul-de-sac to catch my breath. We have a small neighborhood with just 8 houses and 2 empty lots. On one of the lots a lovely orange flower decided to bloom and I noticed it earlier in the week. I thanked God for it that day and shared with my family how pretty it was amongst the other not so pretty vacant lot "stuff". This day as I neared my orange "friend" I noticed several splotches of color. As I looked closer, I noticed there were 5 flowers now. 4 of them were on a single stem and 1 was on a separate stem off by itself. All 5 were beautiful and thriving, just separate. I knew instantly that was God's reassurance that my baby was ok, beautiful and thriving, just not with us right now. She is blooming where she is planted for now and I will have to trust Him to care for her until we can bring her home. I just love how God is "into" details. Isn't He amazing!

Happy 5th Birthday Jaida

These "glasses" were a hit...shhh they aren't real!

Happy 5th birthday my sweet Jaida! This year, birthday, was B.I.G. She talked about it for weeks....months actually. Since Friday the excitement has been over the top. Her 1st non-family only party on Saturday was MUCH anticipated!!! The the "real" birthday today was even more excitement! She woke VERY early today and helped me purchase the donuts at Krispy Kreme where 2 kind strangers heard it was her birthday and gave her a dollar! Presents followed, playing with the new toys, dinner at restaurant of her choice and ending the day with cake and singing. And then it happened.....the MELTDOWN, coming off the birthday high, just too much for my over-tired, over-stimulated birthday girl! What this "big" girl needed was a little rocking and singing. She melted into my arms. This precious child born in my heart years before she was physically born, has blessed this family immeasurably. I can't imagine "us" without "her"! She is spunky, funny, clever, shy at times, smart, kind, prissy, imaginative and did I mention cute? All 36 lbs of her, from head to toe, exudes personality. I am so blessed to call her daughter. God choose me to be her Mommy and I hope I rise to the calling. It was this little girl that opened our hearts to how much adoption changes your world and made us want to bring home 2 more. What a gift and treasure you are Jaida! Mommy loves you so much and I wish you a very happy 5th birthday!

Jaida's 5th Birthday Party

Jaida is our "girly-girl" so she choose for her party theme......anything and everything sparkly, shiny, pink, glamorous, pretty and well, girly! They came in dress up clothes, made jewelry, had nails painted and make-up done ( thank you "big" girls..Julia and her friends-Mary and Kate), played a quick game of"house", ate some goodies, opened presents and made all of us smile! What a cute age and what a delight it was to watch them!
It was a great morning and a perfectly sparkly time!

Pretty is nice

Sometimes we all need something pretty.

When we are surrounded by dirty clothes, dirty dishes, messy homes and cars........

Pretty is the exact thing we need.

Thanks Will!

Pictures

Today the "littles" had "school pictures at their pre-school. Everybody (the kids that is) had yearbook pictures this afternoon. Yes, we have a home school yearbook. I don't typically care for these types of pictures as they don't capture my kid's true personalities. I like the more candid, sand on the face, busy playing, hair blowing, running down a soccer field with all your might type of shot. But we put on the "nice clothes", smiled the goofy, fake looking smiles that I am sure prevailed and checked that off our list! So here is how my crew looked for the big picture day! Not too bad, in fact I think they all look kinda cute.....or handsome, or pretty!

Goodbye to summer.......

First day of school donuts.
Sam hard at work.

One of Sam's classmates!

Julia hard at work.

Sam really got it down this trip...way to go!

A little brother/sister time.

A different kind of brother/ sister time.

The parting shot....boohoo!!!!

Oh how I LOVE summer! The lazy and unstructured days that give my soul the rest it desperately needs! But alas, the end came all too soon. The big kids started home school this past Monday, soccer is in full swing, and we went to our favorite beach this weekend for a Labor Day get-away. What a fitting end to the summer! Well, we will continue to sweat here in the south until at least late October but the lazy days ARE gone. I miss them already! Hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!