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.

He did it.

Our school had an open house last night.  In the lower school, there is an emphasis on recitation and speaking.  They do speech meet starting in first grade, and each child has to learn to speak in a group at a young age.

This is my WORST nightmare!  I hate public speaking, and this would have been the best thing for me…to start young.

Garrett was asked to introduce the kindergarten.  He had a nightmare the night before that he was walking around the school "lost" while he was trying to find the gym to speak.

Yesterday afternoon, he just walked around kind of whimpering!  He kept saying, "there will be too many people there." 

There were a lot of parents and students, but when it came down to it, he was able to do it.  I LOVE the thumbs up he gave his teacher before he started!!!!  

Garrett…I want to be just like you when I grow up:)

This and that

January is almost over!  

Mary's "Eight" year old pic.  Sigh…We've got a long ways to go yet, but it sure seems like all of the kids are getting big so quickly.  

Allie and her friend acting crazy before cotillion.  This was the third week, and they are really having fun!

Mary bought some more Legos with her birthday money.  The key is hiding it from these guys….

So she lays with them in the closet.:)   

We had a full house this weekend.  The cousins were here all weekend, and they had a great time.  

It's been so hectic that we sort of forgot Garrett's 100th day stuff was due.  We grabbed the first t-shirt we came too, and I gave him five colors to add 20 thumbprints to the shirt.  

Done!  Ha. The third time around is much simpler.  I remember us spending lots of time on the girls' shirts.  Poor David..I hope he has a shirt when it comes to it!

Number 8

Mary turned 8 yesterday!

Mary is a very shy kid, and doesn't get overly excited about much. But when she does get excited, she walks around with a little grin/smirk.  (EXACTLY like her dad)  

So when she woke up yesterday morning, she walked through and looked at the floor, but grinning.  I said, "Happy birthday Mary!!!!!! while poking her in the ribs.

And she said, "Stop, I am so tired from turning 8 in my sleep:)"  I had told her she was born at 12:13 am, so she knew that little detail.

So what does one ask for her birthday four weeks after Christmas? YES.  She did.  She asked for a "box of rocks" among a few other things.  And leave it to Amazon to actually sell rocks.  

Two peas in a pod for sure.

Mary you are kind and considerate.  You take it all in and observe the world around you without feeling the need to give away every thought that crosses our mind.  You are a thinker.  You love your legos and your rainbow loom because they allow you to play without a lot of words.  

Of course that makes things easier in a family full of talkers, however, I am thankful that God made you this way because it is an enviable trait not to crave attention.  

On a side note.  For months and months Mary has been asking us about being baptized to show others she believes and wants to follow Christ the rest of her life.  In February, she is going to be baptized, and she is so excited.  That's something to look forward to!