Saturday, March 28, 2009

We're almost done!

I'm a little late posting this, but we got our court date last week for Andrew's adoption finalization. On July 1st, we will travel to St. Louis for the hearing where he will officially, legally and finally (!) be a member of our family. What an exciting day that will be!

Andrew has been such a blessing to our family! Isaac and Caleb love him so much, and it has been so fun to watch them interact with him. Especially now that Andrew is smiling and laughing. They love trying to make him laugh! Luke and I fall more in love with him every day. It's amazing what God has done in our hearts through his adoption. We are so thankful that God added him to our family.

One of our favorite things lately has been watching Andrew in his "jumperoo." Grammy bought this for him and he loves it. Isaac and Caleb get very excited when we put him in it because they enjoy watching him and helping him play with the toys. Here' s a picture of our little man showing off his keen jumping abilities:


And here's a little snapshot of brotherly love I took this morning:



There's the latest happenings with our crew. Now we're going to hunker down inside for the day and see if we really get this foot of now they have forecasted. We are so ready for Spring!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Selfish Adoption?

I read a very interesting blog post tonight written by a man in the process of adopting two sons from Ethiopia. This article was sooooo good and echoed a lot of things I have thought through as I have journeyed through adoption. If you have ever thought about adopting, you might want to check it out.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Our "Big Boy"

Andrew has officially been given the nickname of "Big Boy" around our house. I think Luke is the one who started calling him that, and the name has just stuck. "Big Boy" turned three months old yesterday, and we decided we had to take an official three-month picture:

Isn't he adorable? This was taken right after his haircut. We finally got brave enough yesterday to use the clippers on his hair. Prior to this, we had just tried to trim his hair with scissors. That didn't work so well, so we decided to try the clippers. They worked beautifully and he was so good while we cut it. Isaac and Caleb stood by to give him moral support, and he wasn't bothered at all by the big noisy thing buzzing around his head. What a trooper!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

A trip to remember...

Isaac celebrated his sixth birthday this week, and we decided to surprise him with a special trip with just him and Daddy. Isaac has been begging for months to ride on an airplane (we had never flown with the boys before), and so when we began thinking of ideas for his birthday I was reminded of all the frequent flier miles Luke stored up last year with his trip to India. We also had loads of Marriott points from all his work travel last year so we decided to put them to use and give Isaac a special birthday memory.

Since Chicago is pretty close to us (about a one hour flight) and there are some really cool science museums there, we decided that would be a great place for them to go. We bought the tickets about a month ago, but decided we wanted Isaac to be completely surprised so we didn't tell anyone what we were planning until right before the trip.

Tuesday evening I put the boys to bed a little early, and after they were sleeping Luke and I got all their things packed and ready to go. They had to be ready to board by 5:40, so Luke got up at 4 a.m. to get himself ready before we woke Isaac. At 4:15 Luke woke Isaac up and brought him into our bedroom. He told Isaac that for his birthday present they were going to go on a plane ride to Chicago and they were leaving right now. The look on Isaac's face was priceless (although he was still half-awake) and he was very excited. We got him dressed and they hurried out the door!

They had a great time. Isaac loved flying and enjoyed seeing a big city. They went to the Science and Industry Museum and the Field Museum. While Isaac really enjoyed these museums, one of his favorite things about the trip was the "L" train and the city buses! He had never experienced public transportation before and that was quite an experience for him. Here's some pics from their trip:

Here they are getting ready to leave for their fun time!


Isaac at the corner of Lake Shore Drive.


Standing in front of the coal mine at the Science and Industry Museum


He has always wanted to be an astronaut!


One of his favorite things at the museum was this incubator where he got to watch a baby chick hatch.

Isaac the rock climber


Devouring a cheeseburger at McDonald's


He loved the dinosaurs at the Field History Museum


He also really liked Lake Michigan and said they should have named it Ocean Michigan.


One of his favorite things--riding a city bus.

In case anyone is wondering about poor Caleb feeling left out, we have told Caleb (and Andrew) that when they are six they will get to go on a trip with Daddy too. We decided to start this as fun Father/Son tradition that Luke will do with all the boys. We want Luke to make some really fun memories of quality one-on-one time with all our sons, and the 6th birthday trip with Daddy will be a great way to do that. I think the boys all agree!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Eight years ago today...


No, today is not our anniversary, but it was eight years ago today that my sweet hubby proposed to me. (Which was what obviously led us to the picture posted above.) It's been a wonderful eight years, and I can't think of a better man to have by my side. I'm so thankful God gave him to me for my husband, and am glad I answered with an enthusiastic "Yes!" eight years ago. It was definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made!