Thanksgiving. . . and More Gator Football

I am so blessed to be a part of a close, loving family and also to be married into one. I love that my children are growing up surrounded by so much love and that they have such a wonderful heritage. This year, I am especially thankful for family--and for the journey that has led us to add Miss V to ours.

If I had taken any pictures of all of the hands in the kitchen lovingly preparing our Thanksgiving feast, the little ones gathered around the television watching the Macy's parade, our family seated around the bountiful table in classic Norman Rockwell style, or the intense cornhole competition that followed our meal, they probably would have made it into the blog. Though I didn't take my camera along, the traditions, love and laughter that are a part of our family holidays will always be etched in our memories.

We did not forget our camera, however, for another important event that is part of every B Family Thanksgiving weekend--the UF-FSU Game! Early in the season, I actually intended to do little re-caps of each home game this year. As exciting as those games have been, and as much as we love our Gators, in the few moments I've managed to set aside for posting our occasional blog updates, even Florida Football has been overshadowed by the excitement of our growing family and other fun memories we've wanted to preserve. Imagine that!?!? But a victory against our in-state rival, a 12-0 record this season and the fact that we're headed to Atlanta next week for the SEC Championship Game (and if successful, another National Championship game) are definitely worthy of mention on the B Family Blog!

And how could I NOT post these pictures of Tim Tebow's most adorable fans getting ready to cheer him on as he played his last game in the Swamp?!?! I can hardly wait to dress Miss V up in her first orange and blue outfit--she will definitely be the cutest little Gator baby next fall!

The Tebow--Coach Meyer embrace.
Yes, tears were shed by Gator fans on Saturday--Timmy will be missed.

She's Ours! Thank You God!

We are ecstatic to announce that Diamond is now "Miss V" of the B family!

The Ethiopian Court granted our adoption today. The precious baby girl who found a permanent place in our hearts on September 22 will from this day forward legally be our daughter.

We are thrilled that God has blessed us with the privilege of parenting another little girl. We look forward to hearing her laughter echo in our home, kissing her boo-boos, drying her tears. We hope to have the joy of watching her take her first steps, teaching her to ride a bicycle, ride a pony, do the Gator Chomp, and catch a fish--to watch her take her first steps, help her into her backpack on her first day of kindergarten, intimidate her boyfriends, and walk her down the aisle when she marries--to help her identify her passions and support her as she pursues her dreams, no matter how big or small.

Miss V will also forever be the child of her birth family, to whom we will always be indebted for the joy she brings us. While we wish we knew more about them--especially her mother--or that we might have had the opportunity to write them a letter or meet them, they made the decision to relinquish her anonymously. How brave. We can tell, just by looking at her pictures, that she's been loved and cherished, and we're sure she will always have a place in their hearts. We are saddened to think that they will always wonder where she is and who is raising her--oh, how we wish we could communicate to them the depth of our love for this baby girl!

And though she will forever have a connection to two families on earth, she is first and foremost a Child of God. The sacrifice of our daughter’s birth family to bless us with the joy of raising their child--and to bless their child with a better life than they believed they could offer her--is outweighed only by the sacrifice made by our Heavenly Father so that we and Miss V might have a personal relationship and eternal life with Him. Adoption is a perfect picture of what God has done for each of us in making us His children through Christ. Our biggest responsibility as Miss V's parents will be to raise her to know God’s love and to know the joy of living her life intimately with Him.

Our agency rules prohibit us from posting pictures until she's actually in our arms, so we will have to leave you with another teaser--a peek at the big brown eyes we'll soon be gazing into:


Thank You God! We give You all the glory!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tonight While We Sleep. . .

Tonight while we sleep (or try to sleep), our adoption case will go before the Ethiopian court.

Please pray with us that all papers are in order and that both our file and little Diamond's file are complete. Upon approval by the Ethiopian court, Diamond will legally be our child and the only thing left to do will be to secure an appointment with the U.S. Embassy for her visa (currently taking between 4-8 weeks), pack our bags, and hop on a plane!

We're hoping to find out the results tomorrow, but the time difference between Portland, Oregon and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia sometimes makes it difficult for our representatives in each place to communicate. With that in mind and with AGCI's closure for Thanksgiving, we are preparing ourselves for the possibility of not receiving word of the court's ruling until sometime next week.

Another Weekend, Another Trip to the E.R.

Well, Miss A finally got herself a real injury! While Miss M seems to be our broken-bone girl, Miss A is turning into our stitched-up-skin girl. Last April, she received five stitches under her chin, and last night she received four more--just a millimeter or two behind the scar from the previous incident. Both busted chins were the result of simple falls, once landing on her chin on our hardwood floor and last night on a concrete garage floor.

She was the perfect little patient. So still and cooperative while she was looked at, feeling like such a "big goer" after the physician's assistant told her she was "super brave", and beaming with pride as we left the hospital with her bandaged "broken" chin--looking forward to telling her sister all about her experience.

Miss A with her blue "whiskers":
My Mama has been a well-known and respected R.N./trauma specialist in our E.R. for nearly 30 years--working mostly weekend nights--yes, she's seen it all. She absolutely loves what she does, and set a great example for me of how to balance career and family. I'm so proud of her. She's helped to save many, many lives and ministered to many, many people through her work. I can't tell you how many times someone has told me that they met my Mama at the E.R. when they or one of their loved ones were one of her patients. They always have wonderful things to say. Her skills and professionalism, combined with her sweet spirit and Southern charm have comforted many people as they've dealt with the sorrow and stress of serious injury, sickness and death.

My beautiful, hard-working Mama:

Our E.R. "connection" has some perks, too. We never have to wait very long, and when we do, it's not in the waiting room (even if all of the beds are full, they will find some quiet spot for us to wait). Once we are settled, we get lots of quick visits and friendly conversation with a stream of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other staff who pop by to say hello (Mama shows them all so many pictures and tells them so much about us that they all feel like they know us). I'm thankful that my children don't think of the hospital as a scary place. They know their MamaToo will be meeting us there and they are trusting of the nurses and doctors to make their boo-boos better.

But. . . I still hope it's a long, long time (if ever) before we have to go back.

Campfire Sing-A-Long

One of our favorite things about living in Central Florida is that we are close to Disney! They offer great Florida resident rates on their season and annual passes and we love being able to drive over to the parks for just an afternoon or evening. Our girls are the perfect age for Disney--seeing all of the wonder of fairytales, adventure stories, characters and princesses through their little eyes is what makes it so much fun for us.

We let our passes expire over the summer and decided to wait to renew them until after we've been home "laying low" and bonding with Diamond for a few months. In the meantime, we've continued to enjoy lots of fun activities offered at the various resorts. We spent an evening at Animal Kingdom Lodge with dinner at Boma's (an African-themed restaurant) followed by watching the animals in the park through night-vision binoculars provided by guides. Really fun! Another night, we ate dinner at the Polynesian Resort and watched the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle from their beach. Also fun and so exciting for the girls!

We had a little cold snap this past weekend (it actually dipped down into the 50's! brrr!)--perfect weather for a campfire! We drove over to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground, hung out with Chip and Dale, toasted smarshmallows (as Miss A calls them), and cozied up to watch the animated movie Tarzan on a big screen under the stars.

No charge for parking. No admission fee. And since we stopped by the grocery store to purchase our s'more fixins and only bought the roasting sticks (75 cents each), popcorn ($2) and drinks ($3) at the event (next time we'll take along our own thermos of hot chocolate!)--the entire evening cost us less than $15.00! For an evening of Disney fun, and a movie, you just can't beat that!

Chip and Dale leading the crowd in songs and dances:

The girls were not too sure about Hus-B's "catch-it-on-fire-then-blow-it-out" technique. Look at those expressions!


But the end results were delicious! Gimme s'more!

Cuddling before the movie:

Them Bones, Them Bones

Our family 3 years ago this week:

Our family (minus one) this week:
Other than the familiar faces, do you see anything else the same?

If you noticed Miss M's casts, you're correct! I've never broken a bone in my life. Hus-B's never broken a bone in his life (including the time he was run over by a car!). But bless her heart, our adventurous Miss M has broken 5 bones in 6 years! And she broke her left arm almost 3 years to the day after she broke her right arm!

Last week, we spent an afternoon at the E.R. after a morning of play at a fun center full of bounce houses, which ended in Miss M breaking 2 bones in her little arm. Although she was in excrutiating pain, she'd already decided the color of her cast even before her x-rays were taken. Her favorite colors are pink and green and since she chose pink for the right arm, she decided to go with green for the left.

Now that the pain has subsided, though, Miss M is enjoying the extra attention that wearing a cast brings. Extra attention that has not gone unnoticed by Miss A, who's been having us wrap Ace bandages around various parts of her body so she'll have an "injury" to show off as well!

P.S.--In case you're concerned (although this is a lighthearted post, we certainly were), we've seen two different orthopedic specialists and according to them, she doesn't have any nutrient deficiencies (she loves yogurt, cheese and milk and drinks lots of calcium-fortified orange juice) or bone density abnormalities--by all indications, she's just a normal, healthy little girl with a propensity toward falling at the wrong angles.

Changes in Attitude, Changes in Latitude

Yay November! We're so excited to be one step closer to bringing our Diamond home! And about the possibility of our being officially recognized by the Ethiopian and United States governments as our Diamond’s legal parents THIS MONTH!

Throughout this process, God has continued to gently remind me that if I truly believe that our adoption is part of His plan, I need to trust Him and His timing. When I typed my last post, I was a little discouraged about our November 25 court date. Perhaps it's because I'm such a planner and organizer that it's such a struggle for me to let go the whole scheduling area. I see God at work in so many of the little details in my life on a daily basis. I know he's in control. I know He knows my heart and all my hopes and dreams. And while HIS plan may not include the three little girls in matching pajamas around our tree on Christmas morning (such an adorable part of what was MY plan), I have to believe that His plan is best. He is good ALL THE TIME and I only see a teensy tiny part of the big picture.

After much thought and prayer over the past week, I have a renewed sense of patience and peace about the process. No, the next couple of months of waiting are not going to be easy as pie, but I am not going to let myself get consumed with frustration and self-centeredness. This Miss Priss has adjusted her attitude! I am so blessed, in so many areas, that I feel embarrassed and silly about getting all stressed out about what may amount to just a few weeks' delay. This precious child will be my daughter, and I her mother, for the rest of our lives! I am so thankful for the opportunity to walk this road to our daughter and will rejoice in each day that passes--it’s one fewer day I’ll need to wait and one day closer to holding this sweet child in my arms. I will celebrate as I watch God reveal His plan and His timing.

Warm Caribbean breezes, ocean sunsets and precious friends also helped to reinvigorate my spirits! Our friends K and G are such blessings to us! K grew up with Hus-B and G's family and mine have been friends since we were little girls. We got married the same year as them and both of their children were born within a couple of months of ours, so it seems that we’re walking right alongside them in life’s journey. It’s great to have a couple we can be transparent with—to cheer for each other’s victories and prayerfully support each other through life’s storms. We treasure the times we spend sharing our hearts and sharing laughs with them. They are strong believers with a strong marriage and are just such an encouragement and inspiration to us. And our children just love theirs to pieces! Here are a few pictures from our autumn cruise with their family aboard the Disney Wonder:

All Aboard!



Nassau:


Pool Fun:

Great Shows!






Castaway Cay (Disney's Private Island):




Pirate Parties and Fancy Dinners:

Ariel and Pocohantas Trick-or-Treating in the Caribbean:



Towel Sculptures, Chocolates on our Pillows, and Bunk Beds!


On our next vacation, we'll be a family of 5!