It's Elijah's 3rd Gotcha Day....

And I think we have started a tradition of making a great big cookie each year for Elijah. He is definitely the cookie monster in our house.:)

 These last three years have been so much fun! Elijah definitely brings lots of love and joy to our family. He is such a big helper and is so eager to learn. He counts everything, loves books and is learning to identify some sight words. He dresses himself independently and only needs help with buttons and snaps. He helps set the table and unload the silverware from the dishwasher. He likes to help me fold clothes and he even puts them away in the correct dressers! He loves to draw and is very careful when adding details. He likes to play with containers and will carry one around all day with little treasures that he has placed inside. His favorite thing to take to bed is a book.:) He loves ice cream, chocolate and cookies (that's my boy!). He also loves pizza, chicken nuggets and fries, broccoli with parmesan cheese, yogurt and pudding. Oh and bacon!:) I could go on and on of how proud I am with Elijah. He is just precious!

Thank you Jesus for the GIFT of Elijah, my beautful boy. Mommy LOVES you to the moon and back!

This picture was taken the very first time I met Elijah. Just moments after I took this picture, he was placed in my arms and I fell in LOVE instantly!

My little Harry P.

Ben is 21

I can't believe how quickly the time goes by. Just yesterday, he was toddling around the house and today he is all grown up. I don't post much about Ben. He prefers that I don't. It's just that he is shy and gets embarrassed easily. He doesn't like his picture taken a lot either. But he is very handsome and when he was little, he was so adorable! So I'm going to share some pics of my second born blessing anyway. Happy Birthday Benjamin, I love you!

Liam can see!

A couple weeks ago, we spent the morning at Kellogg's Eye Center and it was determined the Liam was very far sighted. So we were given a prescription gor his glasses. I decided to go with Specs4Us  www.specs4us.com
which designs glasses especially to fit children with Down syndrome. This is my first experience with glasses for any of my children so this was all new to me. The frames came in yesterday and they are so cute! Liam of course, did not want to wear them and cried off and on while he had them on. But, todawhen I put them on his, he wore them for 45 minutes and only tried to take them off twice.:)

This experience with Liam getting glasses also saddened me a lot. Just thinking of how long Liam has gone without being able to see clearly. And then I thought of all the other children and adults who are in institutions who will probably never get to leave. On top of being sentenced to this horrific place forever......how many can not see clearly? It just brings me to tears. Thank you Jesus for entrusting Liam to me. He is a precious gift that I still can't believe is really mine! It brings tears to my eyes, to think of where he was. Just a tiny little victim in this world of injustice against the disabled. I just can't comprehend how people can treat these children this way. I pray that our Lord, along with all of us, will change the world for these precious souls. You may not be able to save them all but you CAN save at least one (or two or three...). And with every adoption, we are changing hearts of those who are in charge to take care of them. It may not seem like much, but even if one heart is changed through your adoption, you have done God's will. www.reecesrainbow.org

HAPPY.........

  World Down Syndrome Day

March 21, 2012

Outside and lovin' it!

Caleb, Liam and Elijah have absolutely loved being outside the past few days. We have been getting above average temps here in Michigan. I'm talking mid 70's. That's our forecast for the rest of the week too. This is coming from a state where it's not unusual to get a March snowstorm. So we are enjoying the heck out of this beautiful weather! Jimmy has also been enjoying riding his bike to school in the mornings.:) Praying this warm weather stays around for spring break in a couple weeks.:)

Cuteness Overload:)

LOVE

Happy Boys :)

Three little boys were very happy to spend the afternoon outside! And so was their mama.:) They have so much energy and it was really nice to have weather warm enough for them to go outside and play finally! I just love Caleb's cheesy grin! He's such a ham for the camera:)

Liam Josiah's Adoption Montage

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Polar Plunge 2012 at OneTrueMedia.com

Liam's first Polar Plunge:) He's got this look like "Um, it's a little COLD out here!"

Elijah being the little ham!

Once again, Caleb wanted to jump into that ice cold water.:( Sorry buddy, your Mommy worries that it will be too cold for you! When you get bigger, I promise.....

Jimmy enjoying the plunge and also a Faygo!

Dillon, Kyle, and Ben before their 3rd (their 2nd as part of the Brass Monkey Team) Polar Plunge! You guys ROCK!

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