Celebrating Seven

Update: The birthday week continues as we are about to celebrate someone turning 4 tomorrow. I have not had time to get another post up. I will do that later tonight or tomorrow, but for now, just link your favorite photo friday post below. ~Happy Weekend Everyone~

Today we are celebrating Sarah's big day!
I can hardly believe our girl is S E V E N. She was the surprise of a lifetime.
We were just 6 months into what we knew was going to be a LONG wait for our referral from China when we received the call about sweet Sarah. We did not have much time to prepare for her arrival. In fact, I was sitting with my boss in Philadelphia telling him that we were going to be parents in about 4 weeks, when my phone rang saying that Sarah's birthmother was in labor. I think we were all in a state of shock. We had nothing. Not a carseat, an outfit, no bottles or diapers. My boss and colleagues made sure I was okay to drive and then packed me up in my car. I drove straight to babies r us and just started loading my cart with essentials. Sarah was born that afternoon just hours after we received the call. She was brought to our home and placed in our arms within 36 hours. It was a day we will NEVER FORGET. I think we pinched ourselves a thousand times. She was SO BEAUTIFUL and so tiny. You could see her very petite features and she had the longest fingers. We were completely mesmerized by her beauty and our home was filled with so much LOVE and JOY. It was the week of Thanksgiving and boy(I mean girl:), did we have so much to be thankful for that year.


Seven years later and this precious girl is still spreading her JOY everywhere she goes.
She is a very bright child and has so much compassion for her family and friends.
By far, she is the extrovert of the family and makes new friends wherever she goes.
She absolutely loves school and looks forward to going each day.
Her favorite subjects are Reading and Spelling and she also enjoys her Art and Music classes as well.
She is a dreamer and bit of perfectionist in everything that she does.
Her recent report card has proven that and I look forward to meeting her teacher on Friday for our conference.
Our lives were totally changed by the surprise of this sweet little bundle of JOY.
We are very blessed and feel fortunate that we were chosen to be her parents.


Had to take a walk down memory lane.
This was snapped with my kodak point and shoot just moments after we met her.
Look at Nick's face:) One of the happiest days of my life!

~Happy Birthday Sarah~
We Love YOU!!!
xoxoxo

iPhone Photo Dump

Just sharing some everyday randomness from my instagram stream today.
And we all know what that means, right?
The craziness of the workweek did not allow me to pick up my real camera,
so I had to snag some of my favorite iPhone photos to share today!

Things are starting to get wild. The holidays are quickly upon us, we are starting our "Fill Their Stockings" fundraiser again(if you missed the post this week, take a look, here), and we are preparing for two upcoming Birthdays. Sarah and Reagan have birthdays that fall just a few days apart and it always happens to be the week of or the week before Thanksgiving. In addition to all of this, still trying to plan my Christmas Card photoshoot. I feel like I am way behind this year. So needless to say, there is just a little bit going on around here:)

Enough of my complaining, let me take you through some for the randomness in the collage above.

The girls confiscated Pat's iPhone one night and we found them in the dark huddled on the couch playing a game together.
Their expressions were priceless!

Reagan decided to turn the hairdryer on her Sarah one Saturday morning and then did not like it when her sister got revenge.
The girls look forward to bath time and they are now into washing their own hair. One night they decided to play hair stylist and Sarah was not exactly thrilled with her new do compliments of Reags. I think that might be my fav photo in the collage:)

The trees took a long time to turn this season, but when they did they were GLORIOUS.
Now most of the leaves are down on the ground and the trees are bare. I am afraid winter is here:(

The girls had a successful trip to the dentist and both are cavity free.
Reagan enjoys going to the dentist and as soon as they get her in the chair, she smiles and opens her mouth!
The staff gets the biggest kick out of her.

Both the girls have the need for speed and we had a minor scooter collision in the driveway that resulted in some scrapes and cuts on little Reags, but she recovered quickly. Even while shopping at Target these two are little daredevils. The wheels of the cart were going mighty fast as we zoomed down the aisles:)

Last photo in the center was taken one morning before school.
It happened to be a Friday and they woke up raring to go and very giddy.
Love to see them snuggling together and getting those last sisterly moments in before they go their separate ways for the school day.

That is it for now, but I will be back this week.
Lots of exciting things going on here and I will be picking up my camera this weekend!
~Happy Friday Friends~

Sophomore

I think the last time I posted photos of Nick was in June, so it has been far too long and I felt it was time to do a quick update on him.
He is well into his Sophomore year and loving every minute of it. He is thrilled with his class schedule and is learning how to balance school, work, and a social life.


We are really proud of him. He started his first job in June as the last school year came to en end. He worked all summer and has continued to work after school a few days a week and on weekends as well. He has been saving his money because he has his sights set on a car. His 16th Birthday is just a few months away and he is itching to get his learners permit.


It is very hard for me to believe that he is going to be behind the wheel of a car, but my baby has grown up and has shown us that he is starting to spread his wings and fly on his own. Being a teenager is not easy, especially in this day and age. These kids are faced with difficult choices every single day. So far, Nick has used good judgement in his choices and honestly, in the past few weeks, has had conversations with me that lead me believe he is wise beyond his years. I am so grateful that he talks to me…. I mean really talks to me and tells me what is going on in his life. He is at such critical age right now and I think it is important for him to know that he can come to me with anything even if he has made a mistake or a bad decision.

As much as I want to fight it, I have to face it, he is almost an adult and I can't keep him little anymore.
We do our best to protect him and guide him to be the best person he can be and then has to take it from there.
So my guess is that the next update you see here, he will be driving a car.
I might be requesting a few prayers to get through those first few months of being the co-pilot:)