Friend Date

My big girls are really enjoying school!

They have both been asking to have a friend come over and play with them after school, so I decided to do it up right and let them both have someone over on the same day :)

It worked out really well. It turns out that I already knew Neela Grace's friend's mom (I went to school with her. Stevie Joy's friend's mom was my 2nd grade teacher, so I knew her already too. 

The friends rode the bus home with the girls after school and it was soooo much fun!!

We decorated the house for the "Friend Party"

The girls immediately wanted to put on swim suits and swim :)

Two of Stevie's favorite things (Jewel and Yucky) ;)

We made cupcakes the day before for the after school treat. 

When Olive woke up and came outside, Lexi (Neela's friend), says, "Wow! she looks just like Neela!!" hahaha I thought that was so funny that even a four year old can tell that they look so much alike!!

Catching bugs outside :)

It was a fun afternoon. The girls are still going on and on about it :)

I love that I am able to be home and do fun things like this with my babies!! 

Olive (Marie)

For some reason, I always call Olive by the name of "Olive Marie".

hahaha, this girl has like a thousand nicknames!

Anyways, the other day while Titus was doing his speech therapy up at the school, I decided to do a fun little photo shoot with Miss Olive Marie :)

 

She is IN LOVE with these boots from our cuz Josie :)

I can just hear her little laughter in this pic!

She is such a delightful little child. AND is getting better about letting others hold her, a little :)

I wanted to include these pics too, it was a different day, but she was still rocking those boots!!

 

I finally got me a girly girl! She adores skirts and dresses. She is always wanting her nails painted!! She cooos and grins when I fix her hair and doll her up. Her newest thing is jewelry! She has to be wearing jewelry at all times now! I love it. My older girls were never (and still aren't) into make up, hair bows, jewelry, etc. but this girl lives for it!! She really is a little doll :)

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!!!!

Fall is my favorite season!

I love all the pretty colors and the traditions!

We started off the Fall Season right this past weekend by decorating the house and baking pumpkin cookies!

Cute little scarecrow for the front yard 

The girls and I went through their closet and pulled all the Fall clothes to the front :)

We are really cheezy and seasonal around here, hahaha.

We got to enjoy a little skype date with the kids' Auntie Claren this weekend.

 

The kids in the neighborhood are starting to play outside again (our summers are pretty hot around here and our family has been like the only family still outside in the heat lately).

 

Our Mums are growing wonderfully, thanks to this little lady :)

She takes her chores very seriously!

Fall also means Football around these parts. Neela Grace got to experience her first football game with her Mimi and Papa this weekend. She said she really liked it, and loved seeing her Uncle Bobby play on the field, hahaha he graduated like 2 years ago!!

 

And probably my #1 reason I love Fall: Flannel shirts! Ha!!! I live in them when it's cooler out.  

Since we plan to do all the same things....

Feast of Tabernacles

This past week my church family has been participating in celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles and it has been WONDERFUL!!  It's been a time of refreshing and renewing for us all!

I have really really enjoyed all the worship, the teaching, the stirring up, and most of all the closeness I have gotten with God and new people in the church that I didn't know as well before. 

Tonight is the last night. 

And I just KNOW that it's going to be ah~mazing!!!!!!!

Homestudy Approved!!!

Guess what, folks?

We are now Home Study Approved?

WoooHooo!!

In the state of Ga, before any child is placed in a home for adoption, the family must first pass a home study.

So when we were looking into adoption, we knew that THIS was our first step.

So that's what we have done :)
 

The Lord has carried us so far already in this Journey of adoption!

HE has provided us with a big enough house, fenced in yard, insurance, income, etc.!!!!

So now what?...Good question!

And one that I do not really know the answer to, ha!

We've thrown out a few "lines" and we are waiting and Leaning on the Lord!

Word of mouth can and will go a long way!!

We are not going through an agency at this time. 

Our heart is to be a home for the fatherless, the Lord will provide, like He always does!!

One day in the far off future, we may do international,but right now our hearts are for Valdosta and this surrounding region. Abortion rates are so high here right now, and we hope to paint such a beautiful story of adoption that it may glorify God and help the abortion crisis in a small (or big) way!!!

For now, we are counting our blessings, loving and living life, home study approved, twiddling our thumbs ;)

Olive~18 months

The "baby" of our family, is now 18 months!!!

First a look at all my kiddos at 18 months:

We have never had a toddler this old without having a newbie right behind him/her.

I have to admit that it is a little sad. I love babies so much and I feel like my mind and body was use to that "pattern". Emotionally, it is/was a little rough.

But, this little chica keeps me so busy, I honestly don't have much time to be sad :)

Plus, it is waaaaay easier, only having one baby! 

Truthfully, *I* don't even know how we had our kids so close in age. I couldn't imagine having Olive AND a tiny 3 week old right now!  I guess you just adapt to your situation and Lean on the Lord and His grace is enough!!!!

Anyways, back to the cutie:

She loves playing with her blocks. 

And we are still rocking the cloth around here :)

She is one purdy baby!!!!

Seth is always saying that he thinks that Olive was our prettiest baby (at this stage, of course he really thinks they are all equal), but I think it's so funny for him to say that b/c she looks the MOST like him!!! ahahaha

she loves to sing, dance and clap!!!

We are all still very smitten over her! When the big girls come home from school, they always go find her first, it's really sweet.

Seth comes home from work, takes off his tie, then plops down on the couch with her!

Titus tickles her every.time. he walks by her car seat to get out of the car.

Oh the joys of being "the baby" in a family!!!

We love you so so much Miss Olive!

We know you are doing and will continue doing great things for the Kingdom of God!!