Into the Nations : 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 Review in Words and pictures

After reading some interesting month-to-month reviews on 2012

on my Aunt Kelly's blog here,

and Michlyn's blog here,

I thought I'd like to try to do one. Here it goes

January:

We deiced to adopt from the DRC.

We were referred a sibling group that we fell in love with.

I got a larger part in a play at a local theatre.

February:

We continued working on adoption paper work and getting ready for a larger family.

We were thrilled when our cousins got a referral for their son, Carson.

March

We had a wonderful time buying clothes and toys for Chance and Benjamin.

Our hearts were broken when we received the news that they could not be adopted.

We continued to do adoption paper work and went to Raleigh to get immigration fingerprints.

April

We went to TVR Christian camp and loved it.

We found joy even in our sadness when we went to stay with our cousins Lucy and Lindsey while the rest of their family went to pick up Carson from Korea.

May

We continued to grieve the loss of Chance and Benjamin, but trusted that it was in God's hands.

Brandon celebrated his 10th birthday at my grandparents house.

We were ~~finally~~ referred Bethany and Kaden and excitedly accepted them both!

We started getting ready for two new little ones and thoroughly enjoyed it!

June

We officially became a family of seven!

We started foregoing normal meals and ate rice and beans for a little while to raise money for the orphanage.

We ran a 5k.

We celebrated my Mom and Dad's 15 wedding anniversary.

July

I turned 13.

We had long swim practices and meets.

We went to the beach with my Dad's family.

We enjoyed watching the Olympics.

We started school early.

August

We got an embassy appointment.

We waited and waited.

We had a funny experience buying conditioner for Bethany's hair.

September

David turned 8.

Dad met Bethany and Kaden for the first time! (sept. 10th)

We spent by far the longest time apart from my Mom and Dad when they traveled to Congo for 2 weeks to get Bethany and Kaden.

October

Bethany and Kaden came HOME!!!!

Definitely the highlight of 2012!

November

We got our first family pictures and adjusted to being a family of 7

December

Enjoyed many new firsts and loved Christmas and family time!

There we go,

2012 review is over, just in time for 2013.

As a side note, today last year we decided to adopt from Congo!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas {part one}

This may have been the best Christmas for my family!

Last year at this time we did know that we were going to adopt, but were still considering different countries.

We actually thought that we would be adopting from Lesotho, and made Christmas cookies with the flags.

And this year we have 2 more kids from DRC who have been home for three months!

It was so much fun with Kaden this year.

I think this was probably the his first year that Christmas was celebrated,

and although I would have like to be able to explain what Christmas is all about, we'll just have to get to that when he can understand better.

Christmas Eve we went to my mom's parent's. We all enjoyed seeing family that we don't get to be around often, and Kaden made new friends.

When it was time for presents, Kaden probably got more than anybody! People kept giving him things to open which he loved.

At one point he opened a HUGE (as in 2 or 3 feet long) firetruck that moved and made noises.

That was his favorite thing ever.

He started playing with it,

but other people kept trying to give him gifts. At one point he said,

"No, all done!" He wanted them them to leave him alone so he could play!

Bethany fared well, too. She was the center of attention and got the cutest little toys and clothes!

Christmas day we were home and had a wonderful time. We opened presents and stockings and simple had fun knowing it was Christmas.

The last present that Kaden got was a workshop and when he saw it

his eyes lit up. He ran over to it and said,

"David touch, no! Brandon touch, no! Kadi touch!"

Yes, it is all his.

I hope every else had a wonderful Christmas, and I'll be posting about the rest of ours soon!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas

If someone was to ask me what Christmas was about, I’d say love.

The love that God had for his children was so enormous that he sent his Son to us.

To live, to teach, to die. And then defy death after three days and rise again.

When I think about God sending Jesus to the earth knowing that he would be rejected and persecuted, it is hard for me to get my mind around. I don’t think I could send Bethany to a place where she would be disliked, must less rejected and put to death. Yet God loved me, and you, and your neighbor, and your neighbor’s cousin, and everyone so greatly that he did it. He did it willingly so that we could be with Him if we are a Christian.

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Funny Kaden Sentences

At David's gymnastics meet we were walking to the entrance and passed a nice older man who waved and Kaden and said in a Southern accent, "Hi, Bud."

Kaden looked back, and without stopping, he smiled and said,

"Hi Bud!" right back.

I brush Kaden's teeth in the morning, and it can be a little tough at times.

To make things easier, I give him my toothbrush and let him brush my teeth for a little while before I brush his. Once when he was brushing my teeth he stopped

and peered into my mouth, "open," and said.

My mouth was already open, but I opened a little wider.

"more please!" he said, not satisfied. I opened my mouth as wide as I possibly could, and he smiled contently and with a pleased smirk on his face said, "Dank-u!"

Brandon, David and Kaden put on an awesome dance show for us last night.

They turned off the overhead lights and only used flashlights.

Kaden was first on the list to dance, and he did great job with dance moves only he make make.

His turn was almost over, and we started clapping for him when he started doing his potty dance and frantically informed us he had to use the bathroom:)

David was asking Kaden about the pronunciation for the Lingalan word for "come".

"is it yolka or is it yoka?" he asked. Kaden listened to him say it both ways for a minute and with a look that said, "he'll never get it right," looked at David, and said with a beckoning motion,

"No. No, come." guess he showed us.

Into the Nations