These are my two best friends here. Aren't they beautiful? I just love them to pieces and I am so grateful for their friendship. Jessica (the blonde) lives two houses down from me, which is so fun. And Kami lives just a couple blocks down from us. We love hanging out together. New Years Eve 2006! Jason grew up in this town and so did Kami's husband Derrick. Jason and Derrick were friends growing up, but went to different colleges. Derrick met Jeremy, Jessica's husband at school and became good friends. Derrick and Kami moved here about a year after Jason and I did (thankfully) and then Jessica and Jeremy followed. Since Jason knew Derrick and Derrick knew Jeremy, it was inevtiable that we all became friends...that and the fact that we are all awesome....or maybe we are all dorks, I don't know, we just have fun:)
This picture was taken a little over 2 YEARS AGO!! At my baby shower. The pretty lady on the left is Kandice. She hung out with us too, but sadly moved away about a year ago. We miss you Kandice! Thanksgiving last year. Look how little Laneah looks! And we all were in our dark hair phase then..lol:) New Moon madness! We saw New Moon together (and Twilight too) Love the series. Our other friend pictured here is Teresa. We love her too! It was fun having her come with us.
At dinner before the movie. We go to movies together that our husband's won't see with us, like Harry Potter, Twilight, and chick flicks like The Proposal. Love this candid photo of us. We were laughing at something, not sure what. We were at Kami's sister-in-law's baby shower. We went shopping for Kami's birthday to help her pick out clothes. We went to lunch and then Filene's Basement in Baltimore to shop. It was so much fun. This picture was in the dressing room.
These girls are so much fun. They are always there for me. We have tons in common, like shopping, scrapbooking, love of reading. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. Love these girls!!!!
We went to Jason's Grandma's house for Thanksgiving this year. We did a kind of potluck. I made the turkey, stuffing and apple pie and everyone else brought other dishes as well. Who can resist kissing her cute little face? This was so funny. She crawled under the rug and laid down like she was going to take a nap. She got upset when I took her picture though.
Laneah had lots of fun playing with her cousins, especially Blake. Blake is really strong and likes to pick Laneah up and carry her. Laneah thinks it is so funny and laughs and laughs when he does it. I love this picture. It is nearly impossible to get these kids to smile at the same time! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Laneah is into cooking right now. She likes to "help" me make meals and to pretend cook as well. When she sees I am making something in the kitchen, she pulls a chair from the dining room and then pushes it into the kitchen so she can climb on the chair and see what I am doing. On this occasion I let her help me make chocolate chip cookies, and it was really fun cooking with her. She made a huge mess, but we had a good time so it was worth it. I let her stir the flour while I used the beaters. She helped with the beaters some too. One of her favorite things to do while cooking is to crack open eggs.
Laneah wanted to taste the finished project... and then she wanted me to taste the finished product:) lol She loved the dough and I eventually had to put it away from her so she would stop eating it. This is the messy little girl after the cookies were in the oven. I am looking forward to more cooking adventures with my little sugar monster!
I was asked to give a talk in church today on Gratitude. Here is an excerpt from my talk. It isn't my whole talk, but the intro and our adoption story. Since it is National Adoption Month, I thought I would share it on my blog. And what a better thing to be grateful for than adoption?
I was asked to speak today on Gratitude. While pondering about this talk, I felt impressed to talk specifically about gratitude for our trials.
Everyone has gone through trials in their lives. It is how we grow, progress and learn empathy for others. President Howard W. Hunter observed: “Life—every life—has a full share of ups and downs. Indeed, we see … many blessings that do not always look or feel like blessings” End Quote
We hear a lot about being grateful for our blessings; however it is usually in times of despair that we turn to our Heavenly Father and grow closer to him. It is usually in our times of trial that we are able to feel His presence and comfort and love most strongly. It is usually in times of trial that our friends and family and sometimes even strangers lift us up and show us the greatest kindness.
It is difficult to be positive while going through trials, especially challenging ones. But as our faith and testimony grow, we learn to trust in our Heavenly Father, and even though the trials may linger, the pain is lessened as The Savior carries our burdens and makes them lighter.
I also felt impressed to share a specific story from my life. How my greatest trial turned into my greatest blessing.
Jason and I were married in 2004. We both wanted a large family and after being married for about a year we decided that we were ready for our family to grow. We thought it would be easy. I mean, Heavenly Father wants us to multiple and replenish the Earth right? And we were happy and willing to do so. But it turned out that it wasn’t easy after all. We were devastated.
We prayed and pleaded with the Lord to give us the children that we dreamed of. We sought spiritual relief, but church was the hardest place to go. Seeing so many families and having a new pregnancy being announced or a baby blessed every week made it difficult to even come.
After over a year of grief and yearning, we were told by a specialist that it wasn’t likely that we would ever have biological children, but that there was one other option that we could try. It was expensive, and the success rate wasn’t very high. We were desperate to try anything; not ready for our dreams of a family to come to an end.
We decided to fast and pray and then go to the temple about it. Both of us had to work that day so we didn’t get to talk about our feelings throughout the day until we were at the temple. When we were able to talk, we both looked at each other and said, “we are supposed to adopt”. I have to admit, that at the time I wasn’t thrilled about this concept. I didn’t really know anything about adoption.
But we knew that this was the plan that Heavenly Father had for us and our family and so we applied for adoption through LDS Family Services. The paperwork took about 7 months to complete. During that time, we prayed for the birth parents of the baby that was supposed to come to us. We prayed that they would have a spiritual confirmation and that they would know when they saw us that we were the family for that child.
Before our paperwork was complete I had a dream of a beautiful baby girl about 2 months old, she was dressed in white, swaddled in blankets and sleeping on our bed. When I woke up, I told Jason that we were getting a baby girl in December. I just knew it.
A week after we were approved we received an email from a birth mother. She was only three months pregnant, so she didn’t know the gender of the baby, but she was due in December. Things progressed very quickly and we all knew that this baby was meant to be a part of our family.
We were able to bring home our daughter from the hospital and it was bittersweet. The birth mother had just faced the most difficult decision of her life, but she knew what the Lord wanted and what she wanted for this baby. Though the situation was hard for her, she became active in the church again, married to a nice young man and is currently expecting a little girl of her own. And Jason and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl; an absolute miracle.
About two months after Laneah was born, she was taking a nap in our bed. She was dressed in white, and I was seeing my dream come to life in person. I couldn’t stop the silent sobs at the overwhelming thought of how much Heavenly Father loves me. He took two separate heart breaking situations: an infertile couple, and an unwed mother, and turn them into something miraculous and beautiful.
The pain of infertility was nearly unbearable, but if I had to do it all over again to get my daughter, I would. My greatest trial had indeed become my greatest blessing.
Through this experience I learned that Heavenly Father cares about every detail of my life. I know that He loves me and that he wants me to be happy. I know that even through my trials He is there for me, rooting for me and willing to help lift my burdens, even when he can’t take them away.
Now, when I am going through trials, although there is sometimes pain and sorrow, I do know that it will work out. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and he sees the bigger picture. He doesn’t always make the trial go away, but He helps me get through it and grow and learn from it.
I know that not all trials are the same, and not all of them come with miracles at the end. But I do know that we are tried for a reason and that if we learn from our trials, we can become more like Heavenly Father, which is, after all, our ultimate goal.
I don't normally do posts on this monthly, but in this past month, Laneah has just blossomed. She is like a little sponge, absorbing every piece of knowledge she gets. Tomorrow she will 23 months! Only one month before she is two. She is growing so fast. She is talking so much now and can repeat pretty much anything you say. She likes to go up to random items in the house or when we are out and say what the item is. She often takes me by surprise because she knows a lot of them without me telling her first. I made a list of my favorite words that she says right now.
*"Why?" She said this to me yesterday and it blew me away. Normally this is something a three year old asks. She had gotten into the cat's room and I caught her and scolded her saying she couldn't go back there. She got a really grumpy look on her face, looked me in the eye and challenged me with this simple question "why?" Smarty pants; she has asked me why several more times since then.
*"cook" and "kitzen" (kitchen) -Laneah loves to pretend cook and to "help" me cook. Grandma got her a play kitchen for her upcoming birthday that Laneah is going to love.
*"K" Her version of o.k.
*"tickle" Now she not only likes to be tickled, but she likes to tickle you. And she will say "tickle, tickle" while she does it.
*"eww, yuck" Nana taught her these words as an attempt to get her to stop playing with her poop. Didn't work, but now she says ew and yuck a lot:)
*"toyz" She says it really funny; holds the o and the s
*"cookie cookie" (cookie monster) Laneah still loves Elmo above all other Sesame Street characters, but Cookie Monster is a close second. Her Grandma got her a Cookie Monster doll and she loves to feed it cookies. She says "cookie, cookie" in a monster voice, just like he does.
*"boo boo" She says this and "owie" when she falls, bumps into anything, etc. She also says owie in a whiny voice when she is tired or grumpy. *"um"- This is really funny. One day she said "Mommy?" and I replied "What?" and she said "Um..um..um" I cracked up. It was so unexpected. Now she says it all the time.
*"I don't know" A Nana taught phrase as well. Really cute.
*"I did it!" When she is proud of herself she will throw her arms in the air and exclaim "I did it!"
*"Hug" She will say hug and then run and jump in your arms.
New and Current Things:
Budding Artist- She has "painted" the walls and floor with her poop, colored on the walls and couches....supposedly this means that she will grow up to be very artistic. I bought her some non toxic craft puddy by Crayola to encourage her artistic tendencies. Today we used it to make shapes.
Scaring people by roaring like a lion and making her hands like claws.
Playing sports and being outside. I think she would live outside if I let her. Rain, heat, cold, nature; nothing is a deterrent. She also loves playing all sports- basketball, football, baseball; you name it, she loves it. This little girl loves to run in circles. She is like a little puppy chasing after her tail:) She runs in circles laughing until she falls over from being dizzy or tired.
She has always been somewhat independent, but has been more assertive about it. For example, she wants to hold her own gogurt, but mommy doesn't want her too because it means a lot of yogurt on the floor and Laneah, and a lot of times, me too.
She recognizes a few emotions now. When she cries and I am not sure why, I will ask her "what is wrong?" to which she responds with "cry" in a sad voice. She also knows happy. And when she is having a good time and running around she will shout joyfully "happy!"
She knows the names of most of the body parts and can point to them when asked. Sometimes she does it on her own as a game.
Separation anxiety to the extreme with me only. Laneah has a five foot radius on me. If I am not within 5 feet she cries and screams. It gets much worse when Jason gets home. She is afraid that I will leave so she clings even tighter to me. If I do other activities without her, she screams and cries and holds onto my leg or tries to push me away from what I am doing. If I do leave, she is fine though. It is just when I am around. I can't wait for this phase to be over. *sigh
Laneah can count 1-10. She loves numbers and counting. She also has a favorite number, 8.
She also has favorite letters- l, e, h. She asks me to sing the alphabet song to her often and tries to say alphabet. She can repeat 23 of the 26 letters so far.
Can identify the basic shapes- circle, square, star, hearts and triangle and can also say them. Laneah is so smart, funny and beautiful. We are so blessed to have this little princess in our lives.
For a couple of reasons, I have decided to make my blog private. If you want to continue to read, leave a comment with your email address or email me and I will send you an invite. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am just doing what I think is best for my family. Thanks:)
After an extremely busy week with our trip to Arizona to meet the birth mother (which was awesome), my mom visiting from St Louis, and Jason's grandfather's passing and funeral, Sunday came as a big relief. After church, we enjoyed cookies and milk, playing with Laneah and just spending time together. Laneah woke up from her nap to find with delight that daddy had just sat down with some milk and cookies. She has seen Jason dip his cookies in the milk, and insists on doing the same.
Whenever Laneah has cookies or sees cookie monster from Sesame Street, she says "cookie, cookie" just like cookie monster does. She is so funny. She still likes putting things on her head. She loves the way that the crunching sound leaves make under her feet. Pointing to a sign in our front yard. Playing with daddy; she loves to be chased and tickled.
Her imagination keeps growing and growing. She came up with this game all on her own. We don't have a tee ball set and she has never seen a tee ball game. She just picked up different items, an empty plastic jar, a ball and a hand weight and started playing. She is so much fun.
Halloween kicked off with our nephew Blake's birthday party which was a lot of fun. After the party and some yummy pizza and cake, it was time for Laneah's nap. While Laneah napped, I cleaned as much as I could and when she woke up we went to the airport to pick up my mom. As soon as we got home, some of our friends came over to see costumes and take some pictures. Then we went to a party (Thanks Tim and Lisa!) and had some hot dogs and delicious soup. And then on to Trick or Treat!Laneah was a "Batarina", basically a cute bat with a tutu. As soon as I put it on her, she put her arms above her head like a ballarina and twirled:) So cute. Dallas, Kami, Derrick and Scarlette came by to say hi and take pics.
Next stop was Grandma Kathy's house to pick up the cousins to Trick or Treat. The cousins: Laneah, Anthony(4) and Blake (4) Checking out the lootThe suckers were the favorite treat. We were worn out after our long fun day:)
Jason and I met at college in Hawaii. We were married in 2004 and moved to Maryland. We have two beautiful daughters and a son through adoption and live life to fullest.
These are my two best friends here. Aren't they beautiful? I just love them to pieces and I am so grateful for their friendship. Jessica (the blonde) lives two houses down from me, which is so fun. And Kami lives just a couple blocks down from us. We love hanging out together.
New Years Eve 2006! Jason grew up in this town and so did Kami's husband Derrick. Jason and Derrick were friends growing up, but went to different colleges. Derrick met Jeremy, Jessica's husband at school and became good friends. Derrick and Kami moved here about a year after Jason and I did (thankfully) and then Jessica and Jeremy followed. Since Jason knew Derrick and Derrick knew Jeremy, it was inevtiable that we all became friends...that and the fact that we are all awesome....or maybe we are all dorks, I don't know, we just have fun:)
This picture was taken a little over 2 YEARS AGO!! At my baby shower. The pretty lady on the left is Kandice. She hung out with us too, but sadly moved away about a year ago. We miss you Kandice!
Thanksgiving last year. Look how little Laneah looks! And we all were in our dark hair phase then..lol:)
New Moon madness! We saw New Moon together (and Twilight too) Love the series. Our other friend pictured here is Teresa. We love her too! It was fun having her come with us.
At dinner before the movie. We go to movies together that our husband's won't see with us, like Harry Potter, Twilight, and chick flicks like The Proposal.
Love this candid photo of us. We were laughing at something, not sure what. We were at Kami's sister-in-law's baby shower.
We went shopping for Kami's birthday to help her pick out clothes. We went to lunch and then Filene's Basement in Baltimore to shop. It was so much fun. This picture was in the dressing room.
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