Vacation Smation

We're all prepping up for Thanksgiving and a great vacation - AB has the entire week off! Except a minor (cough) detail (sputter) that never fails to rear its ugly head: we're all three sick.

Outside of the latest and greatest achievement in Q - which is drinking through a straw and making his parents go all googly over it. (At the same time I'm shrieking inside saying things like "stop growing up! Too fast! Slow down! Mommy can't part with your baby self yet!") we don't have lots to tell. We're just trying to be together and enjoy a holiday.

So, meanwhile, I've got a little sum'thn for ya about boys and their daddy's. Ok, just about this boy and this Daddy. All I can say is - Q is a Daddy's boy but more importantly, Daddy is a Q's Boy!

Pictures tell it best:

Hooray - I'm 1!

Just sharing a little Birthday Fun with you!

And just like that...our little baby boy is a toddler...

Sweet Talented Friend

A sweet friend of mine passed away Thursday, after a hard fought battle with hip bone cancer. She was only 45 and the mother of two adopted boys. She supported me tremendously in my effort to become a mother - prayed for me, rejoiced with me, and recently held Quint and told me what I feel so deep in my own soul - "this is what it's all about, isn't it?".

She was a warm, strong, graceful and immensely talented woman with a heart for the Lord and a rock solid faith. She blogged about her journey here.

I had the great fortune to serve in ministry with her for the last five years and her elegance on the piano was just stunning. To say she will be missed is not enough...

For those of you who pray - she will be buried tomorrow and her young sons (only 9 and 11) will have lost two mothers in one lifetime. Please pray for them - and for their dad who is grieving so deeply the love of his life.

Sweet friend...I know your pain is gone and your whole again, walking with the Lord.

We do not grieve as those without hope ~

See you again...

With Hope

-Steven Curtis Chapman

This is not at all how
How we thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place by God's grace
There's a place where we'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place by God's grace
There's a place where we'll see your face again

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

So we can cry with hope
And say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

Someone is a BIG Boy!

Charming and Sweet

Five Teeth

Dashing and Debonair

Crawling lightening fast

Cute and Funny

Taking his first steps

Says "dada" and "uh-huh"

Gives kisses and hugs if you ask!

And is...

TURNING ONE YEAR OLD!

Quint - you're the light of our lives and the joy of our days. You make us smile, laugh, and sometimes even cry...(because that's how much we love and adore you). There isn't a day that goes by that we don't say "I love my boy!" and it's because we can't think of our lives without you and we wouldn't even want to try. Even though you've been in our arms for six whole (blazingly fast) months, it seems like a blink of an eye.

You are a blessing, son! We can't wait to see what your life becomes and what amazing things you will do. You are the son we never thought we'd have, never knew we'd meet, and can't imagine living without. We love you to the moon and back again and back to the moon, and back again. We thank God for you every day!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Big Boy!

What a difference a day makes

24 little hours

Brought the sun and the flowers, where there used to be rain

My yesterday was blue, dear

Today I'm part of you, dear

My lonely days are through, dear - since you said you were mine

What a difference a day makes...and the difference is you...

Referral Update Picture April '08
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ~ Africa

Update in Pictures (ahem...of the Cutest Baby Ever)

Oh, I'm sorry my friends, but it's just true. He really is the cutest baby to ever walk the planet! What can I tell you? Don't believe me? That's OK. Turns out, I have photographic proof of this claim. Not random blather I tell you - but positive proof that the freaking best boy in the world lives right here in our house. Have no idea how we got so lucky, but what can you do?

Eat. Him. Up. Every. Day. (his little tiny baby toes are the best freaking part - seriously)

Now...onward to the pictorial proof:

1. First we have the charming smiling adorable "overalls" look. Can you stand it?


(Notice the tiny little tennis shoes below? Just barely peaking out from the jeans? Size 2. Wanna eat him up yet? Uh huh...me too...)


2. Boy who rides a horse. Now you might think he would be scared? No way. Ride em' little cowboy. He rocks himself. Best boy eva'. Notice the baby toes...scrumdidillyumptuous.


3. Sorry, but I don't know a baby boy who rocks a pair of "footie" jammies better than this little mister. Come on, dawg! Check out those puppy dog feet! Shoot!


4. Helps around the house. Here he is assembling his own birthday gift with some (ok a lot) of help from Daddy. His first wagon! Yaaay son! Best little supervisor ever!


5. Seriously folks - first ride in his wagon. I mean...sniffle...sigh...could he be any cuter? I think not.



6. Ok, even when it got a little chilly and we had to bundle up a little better on said first ride in wagon - dang...baby is rocking the sweater. The most handsome serious "look off into the sunset baby in a wagon" picture ever!

Oh, now you're just showing off...but I luvs it Mr. Hammy.

7. He gets the "Chillin-est Baby of the Year" award. I mean, come on! How stinking cute! Rollin with the homies... (*shameless "Clueless" reference - couldn't resist)


8. Wagon - Take II. Not to be deterred by the increasingly cold temperatures, we ventured out this morning for our second "jaunt" in the new wagon. This time we had to sport some warmer duds, and frankly...my boy is tearing up that purple beanie. Ok, it's Keira's...but it was all we had, and he's still ridiculously cute it in.

I mean, check out the completely mismatched outfit - and yet...it bears repeating...say it with me....

Cutest Baby Ever.

xoxo

Together at Last

My dear sweet friend Erin was FINALLY united with her daughter Meisey today. The M3 Posse is celebrating!

Go give her a blogger hug - they've waited three and a half long years for this moment and it's finally here!

Erin - my dear - she's BEAUTIFUL!!


LOVE YOU!



Ps - I'm all that's left for the Posse. Come on sweet Keira!! We miss you baby girl!

Sunshine

It's been the most beautiful of days around here and we've tried extra hard to get outside and enjoy them. Especially since I know that they are numbered and the cold weather is coming soon to settle in. Sitting inside when the sun is shining, but the temps are cool and the breeze is blowing seems sacrilege. So we made it to the park on Monday to play on the swings and today we opted to take a blanket outside in the backyard and just enjoy the lovely winds that were blowing. We have so much fun together - just babbling, cooing, and climbing all over everything (him...not me...though I have been known to babble on occasion.) Blue sky...big white puffy clouds, and such a relaxing afternoon...

Soon it was nap time for baby boy, but I could not get enough of the lovely day and the windy weather. I took my "desk" outside and worked from there. Anabelle agreed with me - can't be inside today. Heaven.


Hope wherever you are, it's beautiful also! Snow or Sunshine...

Crammin' it in

I've got a bullet point post, sans bullet points (because they screw up the look, ya know?) Ok...where to start?

First, as has become a tradition this year - we had our "M3 Posse send off" lunch for our friends Bob, Erin, and Mollianne yesterday. They're on their way to get little Meisey from China tomorrow morning and we are so excited! This is it for the posse - I'm all that's left. One more to go...little Keira. Wow...can't believe we're finally closing this long wait down! (Captions are below pictures)

The Whole Gang - minus a couple little ones...we're missing Mollianne who was with her grandparents, Meisey who is coming home in a couple weeks, and Keira. (and who knows who else?!!?)

The Posse Sistas. Love my girls...

I especially love this picture. It totally touches my heart. We were having lunch with the gang and Anton and I looked at the table of our friends and said "this is so cool - there's not one biological kid among us!" Now to some that may sound silly - but imagine the scene we make when all five families are out with our...oh, soon to be NINE kids between us and not one of them look like any of us. It's AWESOME! Meanwhile, this picture above just...I don't know. It's so smbolic to me of the starfish story. It made a difference to these little starfish... (and look at my little man on the end. I love how the only two boys (and only ones not Chinese) are end-capping all the ladies!)

If you're like me and love following families as their traveling to get their little ones - then you won't regret visiting Erin over HERE and doing just that. She'll be posting from the trip as often as she can!

Halloween was just too freaking cute....seriously...you want the cute? You really want the cute? Well, you can't handle the cute! Don't believe me? I warned you...

We did attend a Halloween party about a week ago and don't ask me why my husband is wearing a dress. He ran out of time and that's what he came up with. The blonde wig was stunning - so stunning that I asked him to take it off. Disturbing people. Even for dress up. But that's one stinking ridiculously cute little lion up there...shoot!


On Halloween, we made for the mall because they were doing trick-or-treating indoors and with air. Since it's been in the 80's and we don't know a lot of our neighbors (ok any of them) we opted for the this route with M3 sisters Valerie and Robyn and their adorable little characters.


Meanwhile, it's freaking Monday - and I'm not a fan of Mondays at all. Why? Because we lose Daddy back to the grindstone and we start our "same thing everyday" routine all over again. I'm thinking this calls for some seriously creative planning on my part. I just can't be inside when it's 80 degrees out. We're heading out to a playdate with twins Carter and Conner this afternoon - yaaaay for lunch and a walk to the park playground! Pictures to come!

Can I just once again offer a weak and feeble attempt at apologizing for my absurd lack of commenting on all your wonderful blogs. I continue to stalk all of you and keep up on your day to days...Doris is eating lots of candy...Eloise had a beautiful block party, Donna and Rubyiscoming are wondering if today might be the day...Misty got her referral...Christy's family just had a beautiful party for the grandparents (great family pictures too) and Cora got her first blog award. I could go on and on and on. Kim is cleaning today because she didn't do much yesterday, Lisa and Brianna have been partying hardy on the birthday circuit, Jenn M still cracks me up and she's like me - she wants you to Vote. I'll just stop there...because when I say I read your blogs, I'm serious. Like daily. I just never seem to stop and say Hi...I've got to get better at that. Some of you are champion commenters and can I just say, I appreciate you. I just have got to get my motor running on this.

I guess this is all I've got for the moment. Except...

Please Go Vote. That's all I'm gonna say.