closing out the first month of a new year...

It is hard to believe that January is all ready coming to a close. Many things took place this month, but mostly it was a quite month with lots of family time. Here is a glimpse of some of the things from our month:

A tooth was lost!

A room was painted (and a new painter was trained).

Projects were made!

(Sadie started a pottery class this month, more projects will be shared as she brings them home!)

Fern was held...

by both the girls!

Thanks Samuel for letting the girls hold your girl! They were delighted!

We continue to be encouraged by Pastor Matt's faith and we continue to pray for his healing and strength!

Read the newest article regarding Pastor Matt: http://www.thetowntalk.com/print/article/20100130/LIFESTYLE/1300301/Enduring-faith

Hear an update from Pastor Matt:
Week 3: Video Update from Matt Chandler

We look forward to many fun updates to share in February. We hope that the first month of the new year has brought you much joy, healthy and happiness!

What is a friend?

A friend is a person of great understanding
Who shares all our hopes and our schemes,
A companion who listens with infinite patience
To all of our plans and dreams.
A true friend can make all our cares melt away
With the touch of a hand or a smile,
And with calm reassurance make everything brighter,
And life always seem more worthwhile.
A friend shares so many bright moments of laughter
At even the tiniest thing -
What memorable hours of light-hearted gladness
And pleasure this sharing can bring!
A friend is a cherished and precious possession
Who knows all our hopes and fears,
And someone to treasure deep down in our hearts
With a closeness that grows through the years.
by: Katherine Davis

We are blessed by these friends!

I got mail...

I was SO excited on Saturday when our mail arrived; I got a package and I knew just what it was!!

It was coffee!!! Anyone who knows anything about me knows I LOVE a good cup of coffee!

But this coffee is MORE than just a good cup of coffee... this coffee also supports and amazing cause!

Just Love Coffee is helping bring together orphaned children and their forever families. Not only do they assure that the coffee is purchased under fair conditions (Fair Trade Coffee), but they are also allowing families in the process of adopting a way to help raise money for the extreme cost that can go into the adoption process.

Our dear friends the Caceres Family have had it laid heavy on their hearts that adopting is what God is calling them to do. This process is long, sometimes overwhelming, but a great joy is brought forward in their obedience to the Lord and the excitement is building to meet their newest child whom God will provide. The financial cost to adopt is pretty amazing, I am sure there are many who have looked at the overall numbers and decided it wasn't the choice for them, but Just Love Coffee has seen the need in helping families with the process by finding a way to make fundraising available.

If you happen to purchase a bag of coffee at your local coffee shop, grocery store or online; I would ask that you consider making this purchase through Just Love Coffee to support the Caceres's Family in this very exciting process. You can purchase one bag or two or put yourself on an automatic monthly order. You can do something to help give a child a home... you can make a difference. Please visit the Caceres's path to adoption page to read more about this process and what God is doing in their lives!

Halloween

Saturday the kids were able to dress up enjoy a fun fair hosted by our church.

Here's our little hopper! This is a costume that my Grandma made me when I was in Kindergarten and it has held up so well both girls have had a chance to wear it!

Sadie really wanted to take advantage of her hair and make herself transform into a lion. I actually had a good time getting her hair this big (it actually could have been bigger - this only took us about 5 minutes!).

We meet up with our dear friends the Caceres's at the church where we ran into some other old friends

Grandpa from last year was there to look over the young ones (you know how he can worry!) and he looks amazing for celebrating another year of life!! We also found a new friend... Officer Micah, he was concerned at one point that a lion got out in the petting zoo - so glad he was there to protect us!!

4th of July fun with friends

I can hardly believe the fun we had on the fourth. Our dear friends the Caceres Family invited some friends and family to enjoy the sunshine day with water-slides, BBQ, chocolate fountain (yum), fireworks and fellowship. It was a blast! I had to get really selective on what pictures to share because we had so many and it was so much fun (did I mention that part all ready?).

They set up two big water slides and a pool for the kids to wade and splash in!

Of course the chocolate fountain; always a hit!

Back to the slides...

Samuel; looks chilled, but really it is the face of anticipation for the joy to come!

Tayrn and Syrah getting ready to take another round down the slides (do you see the fun yet???)

Morgan watching Samuel attempt a head first slide.

Just love this shot of Micah!!

Dayton and Abby splashin' in the pool (now do you see the fun?)

Dayton getting cozied by his Auntie Katrina


True Friends are PRICELESS!

Katrina and her brother Jerome got a little wet in the friendly balloon toss (which ended up with toss your sister in the kiddy pool, which ended up... if I'm going in little brother, so are you!) (fun...do you see it now??)

Sadie holding precious Amara

Time for tank wars!

Smore's anyone?? Thanks Smith family for the yummy treat! (I bet you can see it now!!!)

The mama's and the kids all curled up watching the fireworks show!

Love this picture of Dayton, he looks a tad puzzled, maybe intrigued, but certainly he is having FUN!

Master Fireworks Guru Michael!


Clean up time (even here there are smiles)

Look at all those fireworks.

Thank you to the Caceres family for the wonderful day/night/morning! Thank you to all who came and brought fireworks and yummy food. We had a great time with all of you!

Father's Day weekend

We had a great Father's Day weekend and hopefully all the father's and grandfather's out there felt honored on their day!

Saturday morning our church held a father/child breakfast and so the girls went with their daddy and meet up with the Caceres (minus their mama). The breakfast sounded wonderful, lots of good food and fellowship. They had a cowboy theme and I loved how they used old boots and hats as decorations on the tables!

Sadie sure makes a cute cowgirl!

Saturday afternoon we were able to hang out with the Caceres for a bit. The kids had a great time riding bikes and playing together! I love every time we get together with them!! It is so fun to know that our kids will have memories of growing up together for years and years to come!


I did not capture any pictures of Billy and the girls, but I did capture this candid shot of Billy & Syrah.

Syrah held a bumble bee while we were at the Caceres!

Sunday we went to church and then came home for a quite afternoon. Then we went to celebrate Father's Day at my grandparents house (my dad was out of town, but we look forward to celebrating him soon!).

Syrah and her Great-Grandpa Hopper the red glow was the fire we were sitting around; it was fun to have some good talks and be cozy together by the fire!

Sadie and Great-Grandpa Hopper

Tulips - in color

Several years ago (almost seven) Billy, Sadie and myself went to the Tulip festival. We went in the early part of April not knowing that we would find only one small patch of Tulips open!

Here is Sadie (five at the time) with the ONE and only open patch of flowers. One thing that makes me laugh is that I had adjusted the camera to take black and white photos once I realized there was nothing open. This is back before we had a digital camera, so this is the only copy we have!

Gotta love this shot of Sadie and Billy in the fields of tulips, nothing open! I do think that if you look closely Sadie is next to one little one that did open, but hard to tell in black and white.

Moving on to color... Last Sunday after church we went up to the Tulip Festival with our dear friends the Cacere's. I had no idea how bad the traffic would be, but it was fun to have some time with all our families together in one car enjoying the ride.

When we got there it was great to see so many of the Tulips open, they were beautiful!


Micah, Sadie, Samuel & Syrah; they were such troopers stopping often at the request of their mama's wanting photos!!

Much different from seven years ago! A little lady surrounded by pink!


Love this shot of all of us; it isn't often that all four of us get a shot together, so I was grateful for the Caceres capturing this!

You can see lots more photos that Katrina captured at their family site, she captured some amazing shots!!

Love this picture of Syrah.


We stopped and had a picnic lunch.


This is the view from above; there are many areas still not open so you still have time to go!! If you make a day of it you can stop by the town of LaConner which is one of my all time favorite little towns to window shop!

Sadie captured this one lone pink tulip peaking out!

On our way out Sadie captured this shot and I just love it! They ask that you not even pick up the petals; maybe this is why, she would have never captured this great shot otherwise.

After the tulips we went to a place that Katrina recommended. They had a small bakery, nursery, store and best of all ice cream that Katrina said was the best (which says a lot because she is not a fan of the ice cream!).

Katrina capturing the beautiful flowers they had in the nursery!


We had no idea that the line for the ice cream would be so long! However it was worth the wait and it ended the day perfectly (well, actually an amazing sermon from church ended it perfectly, but the ice cream ended our tulip trip!).

We had an amazing time and suggest that you look into heading on to the Tulip Festival yourself; I personally look forward to going again, hopefully it doesn't take us seven years!