Getting our Christmas Tree!

This is one of my most favorite traditions. I love going to pick out the Christmas tree!!! We've been going to the same tree lot for the last several years.





I love our last few years of pictures. In 2005 it was Just Matt, me, and Carter. In 2006 it was Matt, me, Carter, and Ana. In 2007 it was Matt, me, Carter, Ana, and Durant.
Last year I mentioned to the tree guy that next year we will not be adding any family members, but it turns out we did!! This year we added Grandma to the pictures!!!!





We had to have our annual picture of course!!

Thanksgiving!

I'm a little behind on posts so here is our Thanksgiving celebration! We have so much to be thankful for in 2008!


Ana enjoyed her meal!


Durant dipped everything in ketchup



Grandma doing Thanksgiving day crafts with the kids!


Carter with his turkey cookie!


Cute picture of Carter and Grandma!

Thankful for the little things.....

I've always enjoyed the little things in life, but since raising a child with special needs I've learned to enjoy it even more. While many parents celebrate large milestones in their child's life, when it comes to Ana even the smallest thing deserves great praise. She works so hard to learn a new thing so when she gets it down, we celebrate!!
Ana was having fun covering her eyes and saying Boo! Carter ran to get me and said, "Mom, look what Ana can do!"
Ana was so excited to make her brothers so excited so she just keep saying boo over and over again!

So, I thought you might like to see it too.......





I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My awesome and loving husband, my three awesome children, good health, great friends and family, promise of a future beyond my craziest imagination, and a Father who'll never stop loving me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving program

Today Ana and I got to watch Durant in his Thanksgiving program for preschool! He was really cute up on stage singing the songs.
After the program the three of us got to go eat a Thanksgiving feast!! To mark where our family was sitting, there was a super cute placemat with Durant's picture on it.





It was a lot of fun and really cute!!




Durant shared one of his Thanksgiving hats with Ana

Matt and I are taking off for Texas this weekend. We will be spending time with some new friends of ours! These friends are the family who brought home our very first KVI child!! Both Matt and I had the chance to meet baby Abe while he was still living in Ethiopia. It will be so fun to see him in his home with his family this time!!!

We are also going to have some time to explore Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth! YEHAW!!!

Tipist

I just realized that I have never posted about the little girl Matt and I sponsor in Ethiopia. Her name is Tipist and she is a doll!! I fell in love with her little face because it reminds me so much of Durant and Ana.
She lives with her Mom and Dad and little brother in Nazareth, Ethiopia. She is 4 years old. I'm planning on meeting her when I travel there next time. I can't wait to give her a huge hug. I have her picture hanging on the fridge and I find myself looking deep into that sweet little face several times a day. I can't help but wonder if she knows how much God loves her and that He has a mighty plan for her life.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child you can go to Kingdom Vision International. The $20 a month you send pays for food, school, clothing, and medical care, and 100% of it goes to them. I just love that I am only 1 out of the 120 plus people who are sponsoring a KVI child. Thanks for all the support!

Happy Birthday Carter!!!

Today Carter turned 8 years old!!! He is getting so grown up! We celebrated a little bit before he left for school. We had donuts for breakfast while Dad sang Happy Birthday!

After school Carter got to choose anywhere he'd like to eat for supper. He chose Famous Dave's. It was fun celebrating there. The waitress was really great and even brought out a fun ice cream surprise. The best part was this really great family sitting next to us starting singing Happy Birthday to Carter when the waitress brought out the ice cream!!!









Happy Birthday Carter!! We love you!!