a full weekend

on saturday evan and i and some of our friends helped out the down syndrome association of northern virginia christmas party.  we helped kids make crafts with some friends, while our other friends took pictures, tried to make kids smile and not cry on santa's lap, and print pictures.  i wish i had pictures of all the fun the kiddos were having.  it put a smile on our face just to watch them!!

my favorite part of the whole event was when a little girl notice my hurt finger, it was in splint because i hurt it playing football.  she looked up at me and said, "i'm sorry it hurts." then she leaned over and kissed it... she was so sweet. that was one of those priceless little moments i hope i never forget!!

after the party was over we headed to shirlington to celebrate katie's birthday!!  it was a wonderful day of food, fellowship, and fun!  (bummed i don't have pictures!) 


sunday evan helped lead worship at church.  i love watching/listening to him when he leads.  i think he does a super job, maybe i'm biased.  one of the first times we hung out he lead worship for a young adult retreat.  that weekend i learned the song. your love is extravagant.  my favorite version is his. maybe one day he'll record it for me.  (HUN-NEE i can make you a list of songs if that will help  :) )

in the afternoon katie, anna, and i had a unique girl's time... in the hospital.  anna is 6 months preggers and has had a heck of a pregnancy.  it has been neat to watch her remain calm and reliant upon the God in really uncertain and even scary situations with her pregnancy.  we are praying this baby continues to cook for at least a few more weeks!

this weekend was full of lots of things to do, but it also left my heart very full.  i was reminded of lots of things to be thankful for...including waiting on God!

we got pictures!!  here are a few pictures from the holiday party...

evan and me helping at the craft table

karly must have put on 50 tattoos that afternoon!

the kiddos loved rudolf

and the penguin

and of course santa!!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!!

maybe??

on November 3rd an orphanage that our agency works with was closed due to some licensing issues.  we have been waiting and praying with many other families for the orphanage to have it's license reissued.  some families have had 2 and 3 court dates come and go waiting for the orphanage to get the license. :(  
today it happened!!!!  the orphanage got its license!!!!



it was so sweet to read everyone's post rejoicing to answered prayers!


right before we received our "on deck" e.mail things were moving like crazy!!  november has been pretty much the opposite...so quiet.  i do not keep real close tabs on what is going on because i find it is hard to balance all the emotions that comes with keeping up to date. :) but since december, all two days of it, i have checked things a lot.... now just waiting and praying for some referrals to go out along with the new court dates!!



 

lia sophia

several weeks ago a family friend did a jewelry show for me.  she is giving all of the proceeds, that she would get, to us!

i have know hilary since i was in elementary school.  we are so touched by her generosity and eagerness to help us.  thank you, thank you!

yesterday i unpacked the box with all the "jewels" and was blown away by the support from family, friends, and co-workers.

it was a of fun to see all the jewels people bought.  it took me WAY longer to sort everything than necessary :)

thank you again for such great support to help bring our little hun-nee home!!

if you are ever interested in hosting a lia sophia jewelry party, PLEASE let me know.  i would love to bless hilary by giving her come clients!

not by sight

anyone who has gone through and adoption or walked closely with a familiy that had adopted knows that there are LOTS of ups and downs.  we have grown close relationships with two families that are also adopting... one from korea and the other familiy from africa.  

evan and i have been unbelievably blessed through this process.  i have grown speechless as God has answered  my prayer from his word...

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 

He has undoubtedly provided more than we imagined in every area of this adoption.

recently, i have wondered/thought out loud to God... why things have been so smooth for us and so difficult for others.  i fully believe in God's faithfulness... but it is so hard to see such difficult times in our friends' adoption journeys.  sometimes it just seems impossible to wrap my heart around what my head knows... that God is sovereign in every situation.

heavy

over the weekend i went to the funeral of a co-worker's daughter who was killed in a fatal car accident on november 19th. 

when we got the e.mail from our principal on thursday i couldn't help but think of this verse...

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.  I Saumuel 1:27

(i LOVE that verse!!  i pray A LOT for our little hun-nee and that verse is forever on my mind as i think about him.  i am finding myself to be a little disappointed at the end of each day, because i keeping hoping that TODAY will be the day we get to see the sweet face of our son.  i fully trust in God's perfect timing and i'm ok waiting...  i am just so ready to see what the God has for us!! )

and then i thought about the next verse...

So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there. 

this verse hit hard this week.  i pray and pray and pray for our little hun-nee... for him, his family, for peace for his family-that they will somehow "know" he is loved and well cared for, for his transition to our family, for wisdom for evan and me...i pray for so much, everything i can think of except for this.

i know ezekiel is God's but in light of this recent tragedy, it is hard to think that we are not guaranteed anything.

wines family you all are in our thoughts and prayers!

this afternoon we found out that another staff member's dad died of a heart attack.  she found out while getting a cautionary check up after being in a car accident this morning.  she is due with her first baby very soon...

stefanie, you are also in our thoughts and prayers

 this school year has been a hard year...if i am completely honest there haven't been a lot of great days. situations like these cause you to put things into perspective.  though it has been a stinky year, i am very blessed to work with great people at fairhill.

girl's weekend

evan's sisters and i met up at tech this weekend for a girl's weekend...


we started off with a great dinner at macado's!!  when i worked in wva this was one of my favorite places to go... what a happy dinner!

we met some of lesley's friends that night and then hung around and chatted... way later than i would have expected.  friday nights are the hardest nights to stay up late.


the next morning steph joined us and we headed to Gillie's for a yummy vegetarian breakfast.  my banana walnut waffles were DELICIOUS, but a little bacon on the side would have made the meal perfect!!  he he he...

the weather was absolutely beautiful that weekend!  we helped laurie cross an item off her bucket list (i think) by going to ...

 if you are not familiar with kellerman's mountain house (because i wasn't until this weekend)  it is the place where dirty dancing was filmed, well come parts.  those of you that know that movie will probably recognize some of these landmarks.

the "lake" used to be right behind laurie and steph.... but it's not a lake anymore, it's more like a swamp

but that didn't keep us from having a little fun!

don't worry about how many pictures we took trying to get this... thank goodness for digital cameras!

we had an ongoing debate on whether it was ok to be listening to christmas music yet... obviously stephanie was for

apparently this pictured out conversations about christmas music alot that weekend

a tribute to napoleon dynamite

 we had a wonderful weekend...lots of laughs and obvious silliness!  i am so blessed to have three great sister-in-laws.  can't wait for the next girl's weekend.

em (ethiopian moms) dinner

tonight i got together with some girlfriends... i always think of them as my em's  (ethiopian moms)...  we met for dinner in georgetown 

and then headed over to..

... for some yummy treats.  it pretty funny at dinner when the waiter asked if we wanted dessert and we unanimously said "no'.  :) 

to be honest i have never seen dc cupcakes, but one of the girls pointed out the owners of the shop, who apparently are not there very often.  of course we snapped some picts!  

my brother also walked down and met us there too!  

it is sweet to be able to meet with these ladies who know right away how you are feeling and you can just be honest about it all.  as soon as i saw them they asked how i was feeling about being the (unofficial) #1!!  it warmed my heart how excited they were, REALLY knowing what it means to be soo close!  
we talked nonstop for three hours about all things adoption!!  i was also able to see pictures of a precious little girl and an older boy that will meet their parents in less than a month!  i heard about a project one of the families has been working on with a ministry called both hands, and we talked and shared and squealed and laughed about what is currently going on, about what our next steps will be like and what we are nervous about... and we all just got so excited thinking about what our families will look like next year!!
there is a sweet bond we all have because we are adopting... these ladies are such a blessing!