Wordless (Christmas Eve) Wednesday

Family Day 2008

We decided to spend Stephen's very first family day doing fun things together. The day started with a few photos on the beach and then lunch at a local Dave and Buster's type place. As soon as naps are over, we are off to bake a festive cake for our celebration and finish decorating for the Christmas season. The kids really enjoyed this little photos shoot of sorts..probably because it lasted all of ten minutes and they were off frolicking.

If I could freeze time in a bottle....

Four little pieces of my heart...just walking around.

Team Lucas

(Whose the lame-o that forgot to take off the shades in their haste?)

Happy Family Day, Stephen!!

Mustard Seed

Tomorrow, we will celebrate Stephen Isaiah JaeHo's very first "Family Day". Earlier this week we celebrated the first day we met and now, tomorrow is the anniversary of the day he joined our family forever in the city that he has since called home.

We have so many reasons to honor this day. I posted several photos on my facebook account that reflect on his then and now, but only this photo can capture what has really taken place inside his new family and in his tiny little life. You see, when we first were introduced to our little guy on paper, we were given over 40 pages of documentation that painted a fairly bleak future for his education, language skills and his learning. I was told that he has been tested over and over and consistently tested in the below average range. We refused to believe (naive, huh?) this until we could draw our own conclusions. You see, I serve a mighty God, and for those of you who know what this journey was like for our family, you can understand what I knew to be true about my Abba father: He is good and He can be trusted. We stepped out and guess what?

One year almost to the day after arriving in our home, our little "slow learning, slow speaking" son said: "Momma, can I talk to you for a minute? Can I write my name? You help me?", and this is what he did for the very first time with no assistance from his momma except to call out each letter as he penned them.

That my friends, says "S-T-E-P-H-E-N". You might have to look, but they are all there.

As for this little 4 year old's future, I am just gonna trust in a faithful God.

Happy Family Day, Stevo!

Parades, Charades and a day of giving thanks.

Thankgiving day with all of the grandchildren was wonderfully noisy with the sounds of laughter and horse-play. We tried to remember to be thankful for the mayhem that was at times in full swing. Certainly, we were thankful to have each family present and at least one new face this year. We, as Americans are blessed beyond measure to have so much more than we could possibly need. I don't ever want to take basic freedoms for granted..they come at too high of a price.

Anna Claire, Austyn, Meme, Landon, Jake, Stephen, Katie, Wilson and, of course, Chaya snuck in.

Meme has more years of wisdom than all of the ages of the great grandchildren added together. That is amazing to me. We love you Meez.

I still cannot figure out how ALL of the men keep avoiding these photo-ops. Hmmmmm...perhaps they are being tipped off.

(Edited 12/10/08 to add: apparently when this was originally written, I, completely by accident, omitted my very handsome and wonderful nephew Ethan's name. So sorry, bros.)

Bertha, and all her peeps (sorry, family joke). This photo makes me think of Fried Green Tomatoes, Steele Magnolias or something along those lines. Anyone else thinkin' "The mean ol' Weezer..." or "Towanda!!" ?

After dinner dance competition begins...I feel certain dancing with the stars will be contacting one or more of these cousins. Stay tuned...

My cousin's son Jake introduced Wilson to Linkin Park (sp?) and the boys were working hard on the back porch to throw some finesse on the dance floor. Adorable, fer shizzle. No phone calls or letters please if that music is in poor taste...

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Thanksgiving parade: Eastern NC style

No day is complete without a shot with the cow. Chik-fil-a was certainly rockin' the hot chocolate on this freezin' cold morning (Ok, cold for NC. All you northerners would have been sportin' a wind breaker).


Stephen LOVED the firetrucks...they were loud enough to break the sound barrier at times. This one in particular can be spotted on any given weekday in a variety of fast food parking lots. One day I am going to ask them to let him climb aboard and watch him beam!!

Oorah! Semper Fidelis, Marines.

This is the face of misery when you just refused to put on anything but a t-shirt under your coat and now you are KICKING yourself in the 4 year old butt for being so hard-headed before you really ever knew what a parade was in the first place. LOL.

Broadway comes to the 'Hood

Places everyone!

The Camel and the Owl

Over the past few weeks our girls have worked very hard preparing for a neighborhood Christmas play. Tonight was opening night and my, what a fantastic performance! Each of the children represented some type of animal that was learning about the birth of a king who was sure to not reject anyone who came to him...even the stinky pig (Dickie did an amazing job with this role). The Christmas story was spoken so powerfully. Cute,cute. It sure helped to kick off the holiday season with the spreading of Christmas cheer. Bravo kiddos!

Thanks Cathy for working with the kids so very diligently and Leslie, thank you for opening your home each day.