Dancin' at the Capital

A few weekends ago, Blaine and the dancers from All That Jazz were asked to come down to Austin and dance at the State Capital by Representative Doc Anderson. He had seen them performing at an event in Hewitt and was impressed with their dance school. So, off they went to dance one Saturday in the rotunda at the capital. Quite a few people gathered to watch their performance.

Here are a few photos from our day.

Celebrating Adoption Month at the Zoo

The MidTex Foster Care and Adoption Coalition had a Fun Day at the zoo last Sunday for foster children and families that have adopted children. We had a great time walking through the zoo and taking pictures. They had a photographer there taking family photos plus we took our own...

November -- National Adoption Awareness Month

The entire month of November is National Adoption Awareness Month. We are fortunate and blessed to be a family that has been able to have a little one born into our hearts through adoption. It is a special event to have a child of your own born from your body; but it is just as special to have one come into your heart and become your child through adoption -- the love is no less. I thank God each night for Blaine, Abby and Riley. Each night as we say our prayers, I pray that Riley will soon be a forever part of our family as well.



National Adoption Awareness Month was created many years ago because of the number of children awaiting a forever family to call their own-- waiting for parents, siblings, and perhaps a house to call theirs. There are over 130,000 children in foster care awaiting adoption right now in the United States...an unbelievable number. The saddest part -- many of these are teenagers, large sibling groups, or African American children -- just waiting for a family's love.



Each child that has come through our home in foster care has left a little something in our hearts that will forever be there. We talk about each one still and we think about them often and hope that their lives have been the ones that little children should have . We know that the older ones have left our home seeing a different side of how a family is supposed to act with each other.

Abby Gale Margaret

As last night's post states, we just needed to be patient... we received a call two years ago this afternoon saying a little girl had been born and she needed a safe place to go when leaving the hospital. Usually when I received these calls from Arrow, I would call Aaron and we would discuss the child, the situation, etc and then would call Arrow back and let them know our decision. When I received this call, I immediately said yes. Aleah asked ..are you sure, you ususally want to talk with Aaron first? I told her of our conversation the night before and she understood my immediate answer. We knew we would have months to wait before everything could be final but we felt pretty sure that she was the one we had been waiting for... and she is worth every minute of waiting and every tear that was shed through our other placements.

There is no forgetting when she arrived -- ears pinned to side of her head and a little mohawk -- no matter, we still thought she was pretty.

ABBY AT HER FIRST LIVESTOCK SHOW

POSING FOR FATHER'S DAY PICTURES

BLAINE AND ABBY IN ADOPTION DAY DRESSES

2 MONTHS OLD

Just Need To Be Patient....

Two years ago tonight, Aaron and I were sitting and discussing health insurance plans and infertility treatments. We were trying to decide if we wanted to switch the plan that we were on so that we could go further with infertility diagnosis and treatments. However, all plans would pay fees associated with determining what the issues might be; but none covered the treatments would might actually result in becoming pregnant. Those would be fees that we would cover ourselves. We had already been fostering and waiting to adopt for months and were becoming a little discouraged with the process.... As we talked that night, Aaron asked me...do you really want to go through all the procedures and more than likely drive to Austin multiple times per month for them? My response was not really.

As we talked more, I said.... We just need to be patient...God will bring our child to us when it's time.....

We didn't know it at the time but a baby girl had been born that day...and we would learn about her the next day... little miss Abby Gale had arrived....

The Girls Birthday Family Party

We celebrated the girls birthday today with family...good times were had...Will and Abby took the car for spin (and a reverse). Blaine and Abby had their birthday cakes (decorated by Blaine) and Abby really enjoyed her piece (the face says it all). Auntique Terry and Riley had their fun by playing with the balloons. Riley was enjoying them all afternoon.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Abby and Happy 13th Birthday to Blaine.

Love you both very much!

6 Girls + Birthday Party = Laughter, Loud Noises, and Finally Sleep

The birthday party started with a performance at Deck the Halls with all Blaine's friends there to watch. From there, Aaron and I took the girls to eat at Fazzoli's -- eating, playing Telephone (whispering words around to each other to see if it finishes the same as it started), throwing napkins at each other, and lots of laughter). Aaron kept asking every time I went to get something ..are you coming back? I think six girls scares him... :-)

From there, we left to go watch the Baylor woman's basketball game. None of the girls had any idea but Aaron had received the tickets from one of the coaches of the team so after the game, the girls went for a tour of practice facility and the locker rooms. They also got the autograph of Britney Griner (the new recruit who is 6'8" tall and can dunk the ball --which she did during this game for the first time during a game) and Kelli Griffin (a point guard for the team). The girls were all so surprised by this part of the game -- and were all chattering none stop on the way to the car and in the car on their cellphones calling their parents about it..it was so cute). Hopefully, it made an impression on all them to do great with their studies, practice and play hard, and work towards being in facilities like that when they go to college...

We also all sang Happy Birthday to Blaine on our way to the game... at the time that she was born...

SO HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY BLAINE ERIN ... We love you!

How a haircut can change an appearance...

First Performance

Abby Gale had her first performance this afternoon at the Deck the Halls Christmas event. She was a little nervous to go behind stage before her routine but once she got back stage and started seeing everyone, she was ready. I explained to her that she had to walk up the steps and wait once it was her turn and she did exactly that... all by herself, along with her three little friends from dance class. Here are a few photos of her day... (all the other little girls are three and four years old).

Birthday Girl... Thirteen Years Old -- a Teenager

well, the day is here... Blaine is officially a teenager.

Thirteen years ago, Aaron and I waited through the day for Blaine to make her appearance (although we didn't know we were waiting on Blaine --it could have been Brody)... we have been blessed so with God's gift of Blaine. A few details about her birth day... we waited through the day with no idea of when she would be born, we watched movies, took naps, waited too long in the pain to get epidural, and then were blessed to meet Blaine. Aaron practically was knocking over the nurses to get to hold her -- such a very proud Daddy. We made calls to everyone to let them know and then they came...(some a little later than others after going to wrong hospital). We were all so excited about her arrival...

Thirteen Years ago

Thirteen years ago today, Aaron received a phone call from me saying...ready to meet your little baby tomorrow? I had just left the doctor's office from my appointment and they said that tomorrow was the day. I can only imagine all the thoughts running through Aaron's mind, as I had quite a few running through mine... excitement, nervousiness, anxious, but most of all, so ready to see the little one we had been waiting to see. That night, Aaron frantically worked on finishing all the projects he had started but not finished around our home, as if the baby would know that these were unfinished projects. We went to bed that night, wondering... will it be a girl? Or a boy? ......

District Champs -- Cross Country Run Meet

The 7th grade girl's cross country team were district champs after their run at Connally on October 28th. Here's a photo of Blaine running....