Happy 11th Birthday Elijah

My baby is 11 years old. What??? I can't believe it! His birthday fell right into our vacation to Jellystone in Kentucky, so we had a couple celebrations for him. The pictures with the cupcake were taken in the cabin during our vacation.

Precious moments 

with my baby. 💓💓

Jumping on the big jumping pillow on his birthday!

Happy Birthday my beautiful boy!

 I love you more than you can imagine!

July Randomness

Caleb, Elijah, and me floating at the lake.

Caleb, happily washing the windows.

Liam, in his happy place. 💦💦🌞

Jimmy getting carried away w/ the sunscreen. 😂

Elijah, in his happy place.

Jimmy, being silly at Meijer.

Oliver and me. 💓

Jimmy took my pic.😊

Water balloons!

Next up, our vacation!!

4th of July 2017

My boy's names

All of my boy's names are absolutely perfect to me. I admit, James (Jimmy) was of course named after his Dad, but it's also a name from the Bible and that makes it especially meaningful to me. Benjamin came to me about a week before I was due. to give birth with Benjamin. Up until then, he was going to be named Jacob. But, something changed. I just woke up one day and the name Benjamin came to me. I have loved that name ever since. Caleb was a name that I had heard years ago, and hoped to name one of my children, but Jim (my husband at the time) didn't like it. Years later, we were divorced and I was adopting a little boy, as a single Mom. I knew all along that his name would be Caleb. Caleb Anatoly. Anatoly was his Russian name. Then came Elijah. Elijah's Russian name was Denis, pronounced Denise. I did not want to keep it was his middle name, so I chose a Russian name, Nikolai. Elijah Nikolai. My 5th son would be named Liam. His Russian name was Ivan, another name I wasn't fond of. So, I chose Josiah as his middle name, from the Bible and also named after a little boy I never knew. A little boy who had spina bifida, who died at the age of two. He was the son of my friend Renee Loux. I'm not sure why I decided to make this post tonight. I wanted my boys to know that their names are my absolute favorite. I love them and I am proud of them, and their names might not come from a long list of family's names before them, but they were and are their Mama's most favorite names ever. Their names fill their Mama's heart and soul. 💓💓💓💓💓

A visit to Ben and Shelby's house

Caleb was playing Xbox,

 and the boys were watching. 😊

Grilling out!

Being Silly!

Eating burgers and shrimp! YUM!

Benjamin

Brothers 😜😛

Roasting marshmallows 

Playing at the park

Liam hates his flip flops! 😂😜

Caleb got Shelby to stick her tongue out. 😛😛😜

Caleb's Gotcha Day!

It seems like a lifetime ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. 12 years ago today, I became a Mom for the third time, to a sweet, little boy, from a small town in Russia. His orphanage director couldn't understand as to why, he was being adopted. No one comes for "those" kids. Caleb wouldn't wave good bye, he had his eye on the door! He was like: I'm outta here! 😂This child changed me. He made me aware of the orphan, locked away, behind closed doors. There's not a day that goes by, that I don't think of where Caleb could be, and where by the grace of God, he is now. I am so proud of him, and his polite, outgoing, sweet and funny self. He loves his family, his friends, school, and he loves life! Happy 12th Gotcha Day, to our Fudgie!  💓You are so loved, and we are so blessed by you! (The first picture, was taken in Russia, the day after he left the orphanage in 2005.) #theluckyfew #icouldhavemissedthis 
#adoptionchangeslives