No more teenagers.....for a while

Ben turned 20 today. How come the difference between 19 and 20 seems so big when your child turns 20? I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that he was running around carrying Clifford wherever he went?... And putting worms in his pocket, and hanging off the chandelier above the diningroom table? (Oh, the joys of raising boys!) Time goes by so fast......:(
Happy Birthday Ben, we love you!

A funny thing about the number two candle on his cake. Caleb had got ahold of it yesterday and threw it up onto a shelf. Good thing he told me or I never would have found it. Well, I got it down and didn't realize that it was broken in two pieces (it was still in the plastic) until I got ready to put it on the cake. So I quick, grabbed a glue stick and stuck it together right before I put it on the cake. We all had a good laugh over that.:)Jimmy shops with his debit card at a local grocery store every week with his class. He always buys something special for us when it's our birthday. This week he was so excited to buy Ben these chocolate chip cookies. But he really got a kick out showing us his name on the cookies.:)


Elijah loves cookies!

Ben and what he calls his "Trigger mustache"
And somehow, I didn't get a picture of Jimmy, but he was there too.:)

Here we go.....!

I have been anxiously waiting to write this post....sorry to leave you all hanging.:)
I have always been ready to go, if God said "Go!" And I have been praying that he would open the door and tell me to "GO". Well, He did just that....so YES, we are adding to our family again. We have committed to a beautiful little 6 year old boy with Ds that is now living in Eastern Europe. I am so excited to bring this little guy home!:)He has lived 6 long years without a mother's love. Just in case you didn't know, Caleb is 8 and Elijah is almost 5, so their new brother will fit right in the middle and we couldn't be more happy!

I have a big prayer request for fundraising. This is my third international adoption and I need to raise a large portion of money to complete our little guy's adoption. I have some ideas and also some very pretty pieces of jewelry that I am ready to raffle off. When you see my fundraisers, could you please share them on FB and also your blogs? We also have our FSP on Reece's Rainbow and will be putting our button up soon that links to our FSP. It's so hard for me to ask for money....but our little guy is depending on me so I will do this for him. He needs us, and we need him.

Another prayer request is that his adoption will go quickly and smoothly so we can get him home ASAP. I am not sure if he has been transferred to an institution or not, but if not then he is very close. And if he has, then we know that his days are numbered and we need to get him home asap!

And finally for those of you that have never adopted.....yes, you can love a child before you meet him, before you hold him in your arms, and before you kiss him. And you can miss him too, so very much. Jimmy tells me that he misses our little guy, and I know Jimmy is speaking with his heart when he says this.

Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (Cover by MattyBRaps ft. Tyler Ward)

So far..........:)

Our family......