Copper

We finished up at the slopes yesterday at 2:00 p.m. and were home by 4:40 a.m. today. That's a long haul.

We had a blast!  This is totally a White tradition but after all these years,  I'm in.

I love it.  

I love the drive and the 20 hour book on tape.  

I love hearing Garrett exclaim after seeing nothing but tumbleweed for hours, "I SEE THE SNOW!!!!"  

I love hearing Allie spout off where we will eat breakfast and lunch because we stop at the same places every trip.

2011,                   2013,                  2014 

I love their excitement over the hotel pool!  

Isn't that part of vacation…the hotel pool? YES!  

Pinky promise about something or another.  

Excuse my trip down memory lane. (2010:)

But I really love getting there!

Bunny and Pappy joined us this year!

So many pics…so few hours of sleep.

Can't wait to weed through the rest.

But I really love my bed.  

love

February is almost over! 

 

We have loved it:)  

The last night of cotillion was this week.  Whoohoo!  Allie enjoyed it, but we don't ever dress up this much!

My favoritest pic!  Goodness, she'll be in a wedding dress before you know it as fast as this gig is going.  No way.  Can't believe she's already approaching middle school.

Fun night with you Allie cat!

This is the dude I want to blog about.

Look at that pic.  He is one proud little buddy.  He loves to sit and draw (we are two for four who like to draw at this age.)  He takes great care in coloring and trying to write.  It's easier to write on a chalk board so we've been working on his name more.

I take pictures of my kids all day long, so there are only a couple here and there that truly evoke much emotion. 

This one did.

When I looked up at his face, my first thought was, "what if he didn't have a mommy to be with him in this proud moment?  And the hundreds of milestone moments to come? "

I don't ever think things like this.  He's OURS. Period.  We are out of the newness of adoption stage and no one in our circle or family thinks much of him being adopted…he's one of us, and I truly don't think of him any differently than our bio kids.  

So that thought surprised me.  It brought tears to my eyes because it was one of only a couple of times where I thought, "what if we had not said yes?" David may have been placed with another family, but he wouldn't have been in our family?  

He's all in.

And you have never met a kid who is more affectionate.  I am not exaggerating when I say that he stops about every 10 minutes to say, "Mommy, I love you."  

What if we had not said yes?

So much love for this boy (and the rest of 'em).  

A day to celebrate

Who is ready for the sun to come back out????

Today was an exciting day as Mary "got babbatized" as Garrett says.  

She's been asking for a long while, but we wanted to give her plenty of time to work out her reasoning.  She was confident and excited about it.  As shy and introverted as she is, you would not have guessed that today.  She grinned much of the morning.  

The look on her face in this pic with her dad says it all…truly a priceless moment.  

I took Garrett to his class after, and he said, "you guys, the most exciting thing….my sister just got baptized!"  And on the way home, he said, "That was awesome, Mary."  This mamma is full, glad, and thankful in every way today.

Bunny and Pappy came for the weekend too.  We had a great time hanging out and doing much of nothing!  Loved celebrating this occasion with them.

John Piper article on suffering

I ran across an article on suffering…specifically through the disability of a child or even loss of a child. I have not experienced the loss of a child nor have I experienced any of my children having a life threatening/altering illness.  However, I have walked WITH those dearest to me who have suffered great losses.  I also have two precious friends who POUR every ounce of themselves into their children who were born with disabilities.  What I have seen in the lives of all these close to me, is a resolve to trust God with their children (even in death) throughout the tears, pain, frustration, and even uncertainty of their children's futures in addition to also seeing the great victories their children overcome despite what was "expected" of them.  

All of us have asked God, "why?" when we think about these people in our lives.  Of course no one knows the answers to these hard questions on this side of heaven, but this article by John Piper address some reasons for these sufferings not based on his opinion as much as it is based on what Jesus says about it. (It's from 2011, but I'm just now reading it.) 

Just wanted to pass along…

John Piper on suffering.