Just Got These This Morning, Too Cute!!!!!!

This was a favorite, we love the look on his face & how he has his head tilted

Doesn't he have the most beautiful side profile, love those curls!!!!
Timmy said look he's holding his crayon the right way, he's such a dad

Shelby, said look mom he can wear that shirt to the beach

We are soooo anxious to bring our boy home!!!

We Passed Court, aaahhhhhh!!!!

Yes, I got the call this morning and it could not have come any sooner. Grayson Faye and I got up this morning at 7:30 & I got the call at 9:30, the longest 2 hours of my life. I was in making French Toast for the girls when I heard my cell vibrating and looked at the number, a very long number I thought that has to be Sue, our director. Answered the phone and she kept cutting out, I get little or no service on my phone in our house so I burst out the front door and ran up our driveway. She begins to tell me that she received the e-mail that I sent this a.m asking would we find out today if we passed but she could not respond due to her e-mail, my heart was in my throat, I just wanted to say well, did we pass but waited. She then began to tell me that we did have our court date this morning and we passed. I said really, really, Praise Jesus, so many prayers answered, do you know when or how long before we find out when our Embassy appt. will be, that's what I said but in my mind I was thinking when can I leave to get my baby!!!!!! Sue said that it will be within the next 6 wks, yeaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! We are all hoping and praying that it will be more like 5. She also stated several times how sweet he is, that he's shy but just has a quiet sweet nature about him, & mentioned that he has the most gorgeous smile, we all agree he does have the most gorgeous smile. I ran down the drive way the kids were like did we pass and I said yes, we all began screaming and jumping up and down, then I remembered the French Toast. I ran over to the pan where I had left them cooking flipped them over expecting them to be completely burnt and they were perfect, I was just like wow!!!!!Thus began the phone calls of people that I had promised that I would call as soon as we got the call, the call that will forever change our lives!!!!!! We love you Cooper and can't wait to bring you home!!!!Please enjoy the pictures of our beautiful baby boy. Also, thanks to all of our family, friends and church family for your love, support & prayers!!!!!!!

Newest Pictures Of Cooper

Love how she's rubbing the soft blanket on his face & seeing his reaction
This picture brought me to tears, he's looking right at Grayson Faye


This is everyone's favorite, that beautiful smile lights up our world

He's looking at pictures of us, love how he's holding onto that Tiger
Sue said that he loves it

What a sweet, happy boy

Our Little Blessing

The top picture was the 1st picture we saw of Cooper. Those big brown eyes called out to us!

The Big Day

Tomorrow is the big day, actually I guess if I go by ET time today is the big day, it's almost 4 a.m. in ET. I have no idea what time our case will be heard in court but this day has seemed to last forever. The kids and I did try and make it go faster by hanging out at the pool today and then we went Krogering. I'm a bundle of nerves, so many emotions, worried, anxoius, excited. I'm sure I will get little or no sleept tonight, it's a good thing I'm not working tomorrow, The Stanleys suggest tylenol pm (they've been there done that & in the process again, what an inspiration) out of that but do have some benadryl that I may have to take.We just want to get our baby home ASAP!!

Kristy Northcutt and I just met up yesterday, she wanted to see Cooper's new pics and we are too excited of the thought of traveling sometime (hopefully) in July to bring Cooper home. Please pray, pray that all will go well tomorrow, that all the i's will be dotted and the t's crossed etc. Everyone's thoughts, prayers and comments mean so much. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will have the most amazing news and will be able to show off our beautiful boy, can't wait for everyone to see his gorgeous smile, it light's up our world & it will yours too.

Fun Packed Memorial Day

All I can say is wow, we had a great Memorial Day weekend. My brother, his wife, my nephew and niece were in from Indiana and we had a great time. It was awesome all the kids have a great time when they are together & the weather was awesome so we all got to hang out at the pool a lot. My other nieces and nephews were there as well we did miss our family that lives in Lexington. It was also Pops birthday, what a blessing to celebrate another birthday. My brother and his family went to church with us, awesome! There were cookouts, and just hanging out as a family, so much to be thankful for!! I hope to post some pictures when I have a little more time.

News about our baby boy!
We got new pics of our baby boy opening the care packages that we sent with our director. All I can say is that we are all totally in love!!! The pics she took of him looking at the photo album we sent of us was soooo unbelievable, he has the sweetest smile on his face. I have to agree with our director he does have a gorgeous smile, I would love to show him off and post his pics but can't yet, but as soon as we can we will. He seems to be doing much better than her last visit, thank God, what an answered prayer. Our director also told us that he loved the soft Tiger that we sent, Collin thought that was awesome, he as so excited that his little brother really likes animals, everyone that knows Collin knows that he does too. We are just counting down the days until we can bring him home. COURT DATE, can't believe I am actually typing in the number 3, 3 more days is our court date, aahhhhhhh!!!!!! So nervous, so anxious, please pray that all will go well. Every day the kids ask me is today the day that Cooper comes home and I say the day when you guys take mommy to the airport you know that he will be home soon. Child like faith, too sweet.

Please Pray
Prayer request for 2 great family's that our adopting. One is another family that is adopting from Ethiopia as well, they are the Lewis family and are far as I can gather from her blog they are closing in on the end of their paperwork, please pray for them. The other is the Stanley family that have accepted a referral for the sweetest little china doll. This is such an answered prayer already, we have all been praying for her for the past 3 years, please pray for them and their little china doll, not sure but I think they still have a few months ahead of them before she will be home. Every one's prayers, thoughts and comments mean more than you can imagine. The journey can be so long, so hard at times, very emotional but soooooo worth it in the end. Blessings!!

Hard to believe

Collin had fifth grade graduation today. We can't believe it!!!! Seems like we were just walking him to his very first day of kindergarten, Mrs. Stanley's class, best kindergarten teacher ever! Collin has overcome so many hurdles and obstacles these past few years and I know with all my heart he will continue to do so. He teaches us something every day, weather it's about patience, how something that gets so old to other's is like new to him every time, what a gift!!! I know with all of my heart that God has special plans for Collin. We are soooo proud of the young man he is becoming. He has such a big heart for other's especially little kids, it warms our hearts. We try and remind him every day that what matter's most is how you treat other's and to always have a relationship with God, the creator of all things, it's all his, including our precious children.

We also feel very blessed that God has placed 4 sweet young christian ladies in Collin's life, Maggie, Caroline, Morgan and Bethany. They are his best friends and our such a blessing to be around. We know that they will continue to look out for him just as they have the last few years. God is good!!!!! So much to be thankful for. We love you Collin & are so Proud of You!!!

Peonies

I was going to wait and blog after Collin's 5Th grade graduation next Friday but wanted to share something for those of you that may actually be following our journey to adopt. I have been working pt for great friends of ours on the side. These are one of sets of friends that I mention in my first post that had fostered, then fostered to adopt. Last night I went over there to work and Lisa knowing that peonies is my favorite flower went out into her yard cut some & then had 1 of her sweet girls bring me a bouquet of them. To some this may seem like such a small thing but to me it was everything. It's amazing how such a small act of kindness that someone shows you unknown to them can literally just make your day, for me it has made my week. I have been soooo worried about so many things these past few weeks and have really tried to just hand them over to God, but it has been so hard for you see these things are so close to my heart. I am also posting this because you see Lisa, is headed to the airport as I type this post, her mom, as she likes to refer to as her "momma" passed away in January of this year right around Lisa's birthday & Lisa is joining her father and siblings to go through her mommas stuff this weekend. I can't even imagine how terribly hard this will be for her, all of them. This tears at my heart, I know how much my mom means to me and how extremely hard & painful this would be. So if you do follow our blog please say an extra prayer for her and her family. I'm also so thankful that God has placed so many amazing women of God in my life, if you are reading this your one of them, what a blessing!!!!!

Catch Up

Well, I have not posted since Grayson's b-day. Alot has been going on, so much emotionally the last couple of weeks. Plus my 2 boys got home on Sunday Mother's Day from their DC Trip & we have just been playing catch up with one another. They had a great time, the pics are awesome, I will try and share some photos later on. The 3 of us girl's really missed them, but did take advantage of our girl time. The girls and I got up early Mother's Day and went to church for the traditional Mother's Day breakfast, it was awesome, we have some men in our church that can really cook, my dad being 1 of them, he's the best! Our pastor had wanted to show Cooper's slide show on this day and for me to introduce it. Needless to say this is normally not my cup of tea, I really have a hard time speaking in front of alot of people & we had a packed house that day. But I just prayed that God would get me through it and to him be the Glory!!! My focus was not necessarily as much on Cooper but of his mother and the choice that she had to make to give her baby boy up for adoption, a choice that no mother should have to make and that sooo many mother's in Ethiopia & in other 3rd world countries are faced with. TEARS!!!!!! This is completely heartbreaking!!! I asked that our church pray for all of the orphans in the world and their momma's. The love & support and heartfelt comments regarding the momma's out there & the unconditional love they have for their babies & what a selfless act on their behalf made all the anxiety worth it. We are so blessed with an awesome church family, that have seen us through several tough times over the years. As Shelby would say "You guys rock!!"

WE HAVE A COURT DATE. Sue e-mailed me on Tuesday May 11th. Our court date is June 4th, this is the day we will find out if Cooper will become officially our baby boy. Of course for the 5 of us we have felt that he is ours from the moment we saw his picture!!! I can't wait to be able to post his pics and show him off, he's precious! Please pray that all will go well and that we will pass the first time, shockingly enough not all families do. Please pray that our father will continue to keep him safe in his arms until we can bring him home. Please pray that God will work on his little heart to accept us as his family and bond with us quickly, we just hope and pray that he will be as crazy in love with us as we are him. Please pray that Kristy and I will have a safe trip, hopefully if all goes well we will be leaving sometime in July to get him. She and I are so excited for our trip, we get all giddy when we talk about it. I feel so blessed to have her going with me, 1st of all she is world traveler extraordinaire and she is so much fun and such a child (woman) of God, a great friend and to think I use to babysit her, I like to take some credit in what an awesome young woman she has become, hah!!!! Every one's thoughts, prayers and support mean everything to us. Thank you.

Pink, Grayson's favorite color. Today is my baby girls birthday. I can not believe she is 3 today. This day 3 years ago we got the shock of our lives. Grayson was not due until June 15 & I was scheduled for a c-section June 1st. Needless to say someone could not wait to get her, she wanted to surprise all of us and has continued to do so. What's so funny to me is that on the way to the hospital, and even after getting there I was in denial about being in labor I argued with the OB nurse that there is no way I was in labor, that she was mistaken, as if she had no idea what she was talking about, lol! I was a mess, I wanted Timmy to call my mom, my sister and my friend Julie Stanley right then. I look back at our first pictures in the hospital and in the NICU and how small and frail she looked, she had so many wires, monitors and tubes in her little 4 lb 14 oz body. That was a very scary time for us, one of the scariest moments of my life, I recall my faith being shaking at the time, I had always given my worries and concerns to God so easily, this time was much harder for me. I just remember praying daily & at time's more like hourly that God would help her grow stronger with each new day, and of course our God reminded me that he is faithful and answered soooo many prayers during that time. I also can't help but to think if she had been born in another country, a country like Ethiopia, that our happy ending would not have been a happy one. We take sooooo many things for granite here in our country.

Today she is a smart healthy beautiful girl. She keeps all of us entertained. She is soooo funny and so much fun to hang out with. I know that God has special plans for Grayson, I can see her someday trying to save the world, even at 3 she is sooo compassionate, she says the sweetest most heartfelt prayers already. She is also very excited to have a little brother on the way. Grayson and Cooper are the same age and according to his medical exam they are the same size, height and weight. I know that that they will be best friends. What a blessing!!!!! We love you baby Faye, Faye or I guess now I should say big girl Grayson Faye, she's reminded me several times today that she's big now!!!