Happy Father's Day!

Brian, you amaze me! You are the best dad! You are patient, kind, thoughtful, caring, and loving. You take the time to teach our kids about everything. You teach them how to think. And they know about the love of the Father because they see it in you every day. I'm so thankful that the Lord spared your life so that we can continue to walk out this journey together. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father to my children. I love you Brian! Happy Father's Day!!!

Adoption

I thought I would add a little post about adoption. Not many people read this right now and everyone who does already knows this but we are in the process of adopting a baby girl from China. As you probably know, Brian was involved in a near fatal car accident nearly 3 years ago. To make a very, very , very long story very, very, very short he had to stay home for about 1 1/2 years to recover from his injuries. During that time we got to do alot of reevalutating of our life. Who we were as people, as a family, our desires, what the Lord wanted for us and from us. It was during this time that we decided to add to our family through adoption. We did some research and found a wonderful adoption agency and decided to adopt from China. We began the paper chase in January '06. We finished the paper work and mailed it to China in October '06 and it was logged in (LID-log in date) on November 13, 2006. This is the date that China uses to tell us when it is our turn to receive a referral(term used to refer to your baby). In August '06 we let our agency know that we were also willing to consider a special needs baby. So we are officially on two lists, healthy and special needs. The timing of when we get a baby is worlds apart on these two lists. If we get a healthy baby referral it could possibly be another 2 years from now that we would be able to get her. As much as that stinks I know that if that is what the Lord wants then it will be perfect. And the lessons learned through the waiting...WOW! I'm already learning so much about trusting Him with all of my heart and leaning not on my own understanding. If we were to recieve a special needs referral then it truly could be any day. Another avenue of learning so much! None of this is in our control. We are faithfully keeping our eyes on the Father knowing that he already knows who our little Adiah Hope Woods is. It says in His word "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11. So we wait and we pray and we love each other to the fullest every single second of each day. We look forward to the day when Adiah joins the family....she is already born in our hearts!!

*at the bottom of this blog you will see a ticker that shows how long since our LID*

They're Baaaaaccccckkkkk!!!!!

Praise the Lord! My family is all under one roof again! I was so happy to see the 5th wheel pull up in front of my house last night! And I'm sure my parents were a little relieved too. The kids had so much fun at Disney World. I've heard many stories already and I'm sure there are hundreds more to hear. Brian and I had a nice "2nd honeymoon" while they were gone. But after a while the house just got too quiet. We've come to realize that the kids add a degree of craziness that we just can't live with out now. I guess that is what being a mommy and daddy is all about. So now the summer can begin! We've already gone swimming today and this was Natalie's first day of team practice for gymnastics. She is level 4! Go Nat! Oh and last night after the kids got home we were eating dinner and Ridge lost his 2nd tooth! Thanks for holding out til you got home, Ridge!! Tooth fairy will be broke at this rate! Happy Summer everyone!!