10 Things I Never Thought I Would........

1) Never thought I would be in the ethnic hair care section of stores debating over "Pink Luster or Olive Oil" products!
2) Never thought I would be taking in random poop samples to the pediatrician!
3) Never thought I would be so excited to see a SOLID poop!
4) Never thought I could love someone and their family SOOOO MUCH whom I had never met! ie... Ade and his birth family! Before we met him!
5) Never thought I would ever want to go back to another country!!!(I am not a traveler)
6) Never ever EVER thought I could handle 4 kids!
7) Never ever thought I could talk my husband into adopting!
8) Never thought I would get so many crazy looks when I was out with all my kids!
9) Never thought I could imagine having more than 4 kids.
10) Never ever ever in a million years could have imagined I would have a life as great as I have!!!

The Bugs First Christmas!!!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given! This has never meant more to me than now! I am so thankful for our blessing! Ade is awesome. I remember last year not even knowing if we were getting a boy or a girl. And one year later, he is here with us! Celebrating the birth of Jesus!!!

Although, the bug was not impressed much with Christmas! He barely unwrapped the presents and could have cared less what he got! He was also a little Christmas cranky!!! Boy oh boy! I think he was overwhelmed a bit. He stayed up really late last night and got up really early. I'm pretty sure his siblings woke him up! Nonetheless, it was awesome to have him here with us! Crank or not!

Last night we went to Christmas Eve service with live animals. He LOVED that! So cute and then we had family over and had a blast! I mean really a blast! This morning we opened gifts here and then headed to my parents! It was a very fun day.

The best part of the day was one of my Christmas gifts from Joe, he made my blog into a book! So now Ade will have something to read before he was with us! It is amazing! I have the best husband ever!

Of course we had our matching jammies! I'll attach pics and I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Check out how cute my Ade is!

A Day With My Boys!

Every year Joe takes the girls to see The Nutcracker, this was the day! Ella had to sing at church and they headed out from there. She sang great by the way! Maya was sooooo excited it was making me want to cry. It seems everything is making me want to cry lately! I don't know why, but every year at Christmas I get sad. I get sad that it is almost over! My heart hurts! This year is no different! I have no reason to be sad. I have the best husband and the most beautiful children in the world! I have an awesome house which I love and never want to leave and a great family! So why be sad? It is frustrating to me that I get like that! One thing that sort of makes me sad is knowing that I get this precious little chocolate chip to love on and share Christmas with this year and his family is left wondering. It breaks my heart thinking about what they have given up. OK, that was a bit of a rant! Sorry!

So while Daddy and the girls went to the Nutcracker, my sons and I got to spend the day together at my mom and dad's house! It was so nice, we haven't done that in so long. Just went over, ate lunch, watched the chiefs and hung out! It was great. It was also great just being with my boys! They are both just adorable and so much fun! After the game, Max got to go to the MWSU game with Papa! He loved that!

Dad and the girls came home and they had an awesome time! So much so that Maya put on the music to the Nutcracker and danced around the playroom all night in her dance outfits! So precious that girl! I am super blessed that I have a husband that is an awesome husband and daddy! That he enjoys spending time with his family! Thank you Jesus for him!

A Horrible Dream and Some Other Stuff!!!

Last night I had an awful dream. I dreamed that someone adopted Ade out from under us and I went to hold him and he would NOT go to me! I ran off in hysterics crying! I can't imagine someone taking my baby boy or any of my babies away from me for that matter! I know he has only been home for 4 months, but he is MINE all MINE!!! I am his Mamma! Joe is his DADDY!!! I wonder if it is just me or if other adoptive parents have a hidden fear that they will be taken away. It was a strange frightening dream!

Onto more cheerful news! The kids had their school program last week and it was wonderful! Ella had a solo and she nailed it! She amazes me sometimes, she was so confident and she sang clearly and loud! It was awesome! I was a proud Mamma! And Maya did a great job singing and dancing! Max had to miss it!:( The girls looked beautiful!

We did however find out why Max has been so sick and not recovering, he has mono! Lovely huh? He is doing better now though! Please pray for him!

OK, off to a date with my man! Have a wonderful weekend! One more week til Christmas!!!

Some more firsts!

We've had some more firsts around here! We took Ade through the holiday park! He LOVED it! We all put on our jammies and went through the park. The kids all got unbuckled and had a BLAST looking at all the fun lights! We sang carols and just had fun! It was super fun having the bug here with us this year to do all of this fun stuff.

We also had some friends over and made gingerbread houses! Ade was more interested in eating all of the "treasures" that fell on the floor! He even managed to get a gum ball in his mouth! Crazy baby! He was so cute just observing everyone!

I have also attached a picture of my adorable family! Sometimes I have to take a step back and just look at them and what a blessing each and every one of them are to me! I am blessed indeed!

Ade has really been talking a lot lately! He is purposely saying Momma now! And I LOVE IT!!! He is saying, "I stinky"! It is precious and he says thank you! His vocabulary is growing every day! He is so happy and comfortable being home! His little personality is really starting to shine through. He fits in great with this chaotic crazy family!

He has his appointment to get his tubes in his ears on the 20th and we are thrilled. It is starting to affect his hearing. So we are ready to get him in tip top shape! He won't know what to do without having an ear infection!!! He has another double right now!

I wrapped some presents to test them under the tree and so far he hasn't noticed them. I'm sure it won't be long being as though he is into EVERYTHING!!! I can't wait to watch him unwrap on Christmas!

Please be praying for us because Max is sick yet again!:( He has to miss his Christmas program tonight! Where Ella has a SOLO!!! He also had to miss his Thanksgiving feast!:( I feel bad for him! Have a great day!

Ade's First Play day!!!

Ade has his first play day today! He had 2 really cute girls over to play! And they were older women!!! He did really well. And I had a lot of fun chatting with the moms! It is good to have times like these where the kids can play and the moms can chat! It's good for the mom and the child!:)

After we pick the kids up from school we are having some friends over to make gingerbread houses! We are all so excited! I can't believe it is already December and we are already doing these things! Before we know it, it will all be over! Every year I get sad because I know it will be over real soon! This year I'm going to try and enjoy it! Ade is so precious with the Christmas tree, but he does like to pull every ball off of the tree! Not so precious!

That's about all I have to say right now.

Ade's First American Thanksgiving!

Well we had our first Thanksgiving with Ade and he seemed to really love it! He ate EVERYTHING!!! He really liked all of it! We had a lot of fun enjoying him being home with us this year. It seems so funny that last year the day before Thanksgiving we had just sent in our application to Holt! And we were talking about having our baby next year for the holidays! God is so good!

It is hard to believe we have been home for 3 months. These past 3 months have been great! A little stressful at times, he is in to EVERYTHING, and adjusting to a toddler at my old age has been a little difficult! But there are so many more great things far out weigh the stress! Life with 4 kids is crazy, fun and exhausting! I am so excited for Christmas! Ade will be so much fun!

On another note, we have been sick sick sick around here. All of our kids have been sick and this weekend Maya and I have strep, ear infections and a list of other things! I am so ready for everyone to feel better and to get back to a normal routine! So pray for us if you will!