On My Mind

At this moment as I think about the 2009 closing and 2010 coming in....this is what is on my mind.

"To provide providently, we must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies." Elder Robert D. Hales, General Conference, April 2009.

It Snowed!

Earlier this week we finally got some snow that stayed on the ground for a little while, although it was only a few inches deep.  We would have like it deeper, but we know that doesn't happen too often around here, so...we bundled up and went out.

Our backyard

Getting used to walking in the snow

Snowball fight!

My Love

Creating memories

The three of us!

Christmas Evening at Amanda's

From Mom and Dad's we drove to Josh and Amanda's house for Christmas with Jeremy's family.  We started by eating a traditional meal (which everyone helped provide), then there was more exchanging of gifts.  Britni passed out the gifts and Lindsey still took the time to examine each one she opened. 

This one she couldn't even wait until it was totally opened.  She needed to start using it right away.

Madison was having a good time too.  Here she is just hanging out after all the gifts were opened.

Our little family.

Amanda, Melissa, Jeremy, Dad

Britni and Lindsey

Another Christmas of many blessings and lots of family time.  What a wonderful day!

Christmas Afternoon at Mom and Dad's

We hung out at home for Christmas morning, then headed over to Mom and Dad's for lunch. oyce, Jaimee and Scott were able to come too. We had a nice visit and exchanged a few more gifts. Lindsey didn't have a problem when she was asked to help Grandpa open his gift.

It's a wooden train.  He was excited.  Mom did a great job surprising him this year.

Jaimee received a "Purple" box.  Everything in it was purple.  It was fun.

Even after many gifts, Lindsey still takes the time to check out each one.

We spent a couple hours together there, which was nice and relaxing.  It's a great blessing to live so close to family!

Christmas Morning at Home!

Christmas day came with much excitement this year.  Lindsey is starting to figure out how things work, especially the gifts.  I waited and didn't wrap presents on purpose this year because I knew she just couldn't keep her hands off.  So, December 21st she came to me and said, "mom, you need to wrap some presents".  I said, "really, why?"  She replied, "yes, so I can open them".  I chuckled.  The next day I finally started wrapping.  She got to place the presents under the tree and took the time to place them ever so nicely and neating spaced out.  She cracks me up.

Okay, so really on to Christmas day, sorry.  Jeremy and I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and started to get ready.  I went to check on Lindsey before I got in the shower and she said, "Uh-oh", to which I replied, "are you okay?", she said, "yes", I said "get some rest", she said, "okay" and I left to get in the shower.  About 5 minutes later she ran into the bathroom and asked with great enthusiasm, "Mom! Did Santa come?"  I said, "yes, he did".  She was so excited.  Now, I can tell you that I am grateful that she is 3 without the influence of older siblings, because we were able to keep her upstairs until we were ready...I know...we are so mean.  :)  So we got ready and went downstairs.  She walked around the corner to see what Santa left.

I wish I could have been in front of her to catch this emotion.  In her Lindsey fashion she clasped her hands, took a deep breath and said, "Oh my goodness!"

She started to look through things then looked to side to see another present and I caught this...

Another, "Oh my!"  (She is a hoot!)

So she played with the things Santa brought her while Jeremy and cooked breakfast and we waited for Grandma, Grandpa and Papaw come over.  We then ate breakfast and then opened the rest of our presents.  (I know, I know.  I am just terrible, but this is one way that we try to enjoy the gift giving instead of having it all over in 10 minutes.  It really does work well for us.)  Here are a few pictures...

The previous two pictures tell you a lot about our day.  After each present she would take the time to look it over.  She knew exactly what gifts she received.

Sally even received two gifts this year.  This is a picture of Lindsey opening one of Sally's gift.  As you see in the picture she is telling Sally how exciting this is.

Not long after the gifts were opened I asked Lindsey to go get dressed.  She came back down dressed as a ballerina and started enjoying her new gifts.

On a side note....one of Lindsey's highlights for the day (like she needed something else) was that it was raining, which meant that...

she could use her new umbrella!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time together Christmas morning at home.  Memories I will forever cherish, filled with gratitude to my Father in Heaven for making it so wonderful!  Oh how I love the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child.

Christmas Eve

It's become a tradition for us to drive around and look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  We started out going strong.  You would have seen this in the backseat of our car.

Wow!  Look at that.

This is fun!

Then after just 15 minutes...yep, that's it.  We saw this...

Unfortunately the drive was cut short, but

she woke up when we got home, so then we...

-- listened to Daddy read the Christmas Story while Lindsey acted it out,

-- put out cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for the

reindeer (although a little girl ate them all before she went to bed),

-- then Lindsey opened a gift (another family tradition).

Then it was off to bed with great anticipation that Santa would be coming that night while she was asleep.

The Family is All Together...Finally!

December 22, 2009

My Grandma's funeral was bittersweet.  Bitter in that she will no longer be part of my earthly life.  Sweet in that my entire family was together, and it's been awhile since that has happened.  I honestly think the last time we were together was at my Grandpa's funeral 14 years ago...I know, that's sad.  It's just the way it is.  Oh well...I just try to appreciate the time we have together.  I wanted a picture of all of us together, but schedules weren't so cooperative, so we had to take some separate photos.  Here's what resulted.

Most of us.

My brother and his family (minus 1 son).

Us kids.

Our little family with Papaw.

We had a good time together honoring Grandma and spending some much needed time together.  I love my family very much.  It seems complicated at times, but I have come to the understanding that my family is just that...MY family!  I just wish we could be together more often, but I'll take the memories that we share.  Love to all of you!

Oh, and one more thing I want to capture for my posterity.  I had the honor and privilege to participate in Grandma's funeral.  (And yes, I did it successfully without too many tears shed, which is absolutely amazing for those of you who know me.)  After JD and David read her eulogy I was asked to share about her love of poetry.  Grandma wrote poems throughout her life and even had one published in the Greensburg newspaper in 1995.  She wrote a special poem for she and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1989 because she felt a great accomplishment in being married that long.  (It was given as a token to all who attended their anniversary party).  Here's the poem:

50th Anniversary

Today is our Golden Wedding Day

A milestone in our life,

From the day we started together

As a husband and a wife.

We've had a lot of happy years

And some were not so good,

But we trusted in our God above

Somehow we understood.

Five children came to bless our home

They've brought us years of love,

As we watched them grow and prosper

We thanked our God above.

Grandchildren came and they have made

Our lives to seem complete,

Their trust in us in marvelous

They're all so dear and sweet.

So this is truly a happy day

To him we give our praise,

and pray he will stay with us

The remainder of our days.

Let's Party!

2 Parties in 2 Days

December brings many birthdays in our family.  Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday.  I won't tell you how old he is...let's just say he is creeping closer to that 40 milestone.  : )  He was totally okay with letting the day come and go without any festivities at all, but we couldn't let that happen.  We had another birthday in our family too...Madison turned 2 two days after Lindsey's birthday.  With all the busy schedules we hadn't been able to get together as a family...so Jeremy recommended that we all go to Chuck E Cheese on his day to celebrate the 3 family birthdays...Lindsey, Maddie and Jeremy.  We had a great time.

Lindsey on the roller coaster simulator.  She loved it, which makes me very excited.  Maybe I'll have a roller coaster buddy when she gets a little taller.  (This was Lindsey's first trip to Chuck E Cheese.  We made it 3 years, although I'm afraid we won't be able to wait that long until our next visit.  She had a blast.)

Maddie riding in the horse race with her Daddy at her side.

The cake (I'm having fun with these).

Today brought another birthday in my family...my cousin, Bryan.  He loves birthdays...they are a very special day for him (I must admit I feel the same).  Many of us usually get together to celebrate with him.  It is a blessing living close to so much family.  We had a great time eating Bryan's  favorite meal (mine and Lindsey's too)...biscuits and sausage gravy with fried potatoes.  It was great!

Another one of Bryan's favorites in ketchup.  Yep, that's right.  He eats it on everything!  This year he got 2 bottles for his birthday.

Here is a sweet picture of Lindsey and my Aunt Karen reading together.  My Aunt Karen is a very special person in my life.  I have many wonderful memories of her and I love that Lindsey is creating great memories with her too.

A special treat this year was that the attendees at Bryan's party were even greater because of all the family we have in town for Grandma's funeral.  We got to visit with Joe and Shawna and the kids who weren't going to be home this Christmas.  It was great!

Jaimee and Lucas

Joyce and Bella

The girls (Molly, Emma and Lindsey) coloring and chatting away. 

It's fun to watch them together.

Lindsey and Sally

For those of you who haven't met Sally, she is Lindsey's favorite baby doll.  She was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa for her 2nd birthday and has been a member of our family ever since.  Lindsey selected the name Sally completely on her own.  She is named after Charlie Brown's sister because at that time she had been watching the Charlie Brown Christmas movie and was a big fan.  This year for the holidays I found Lindsey a dress on-line that matched a dress Sally got last year for Christmas.  Lindsey loves being able to dress like Sally.  Here are a few pictures of them.

Oh the fun simple times of a 3 year old little girl and her favorite baby doll.  What sweetness!  Moments I will treasure for a lifetime!

A Family Christmas

Every year my extended family gets together to celebrate family at Easter and Christmas.  Our family Christams party was on December 12th this year.  We met at Uncle Gene and Aunt Sharon's home.  There are a lot of us, and we are typically spread all over the house, including the garage, but we have a great time catching up on life.  This year it was noticeable that some family were missing (beside the ones who are usually missed because they live out of state)...Grandma wasn't feeling well, so she and Uncle Bob, Aunt Karen and Bryan were missing.  We had a great visit, but it just wasn't the same.  I did manage to take a few pictures for memories sake.

Jaime, Conner, Jake, Cameron

Trace, Danielle

This is a shot of some of the older ones in the next generation. 

These are some children of my generation (cousins/siblings). 

They are a great group of kids.

Here Lindsey is playing with one of her 2nd cousins, Abby. 

They were having a great time playing "tea party".

It is always a treat to get together with my family.  Although it may be awhile between visits...you can't tell when we get together.  We're family!  There's nothing better.

Help Daddy to Catch Our Baby!

You've heard "kids say the darndest things"...well, here is a story that falls in that category.  This is cute and I just had to share it (sorry to those of you who have already heard it).

As you are aware we are in the adoption process again.  We've been approved for a little over a year and are really hoping to find a child for our family.  A few months ago Lindsey decided to start including her desire for a baby in her prayers.  It started out, "Heavenly Father, please send us a baby".  That continued for awhile, then it changed to "Heavenly Father, please help Daddy to catch our baby".  (We thought that was interesting but didn't really say anything about it.)  A week or two later it changed to "Heavenly Father, please help my Daddy to catch our baby in a net".  (Okay, so that was just funny.  Where did that come from?)  So a little more time went by, then one day Lindsey and I were ready Dumbo and at the beginning of the story Dumbo's mom is hoping for a baby very badly when she sees all the other animal mothers receiving a baby.  When you look at the picture in the book, what do you think you see?  It was a total "light bulb" moment for me!  There were storks delivering the baby animals in blankets.  Aha!  I asked Lindsey if this is why she had been asking Heavenly Father to help Daddy to catch our baby.  She looked at me with a big smile and said "Yes!"  It was great.  I then got to explain to her that that wasn't how babies come, instead they come in mommy's tummies...just not her mommy's and that is why we are hoping to adopt another baby.  Now we are back to hearing, "Heavenly Father, please send us a baby" and get to tell this very cute and funny story.

Our Lives Changed in an Instant

Notice...this is a long post.  I'm sorry.  I guess I'm sharing this one for my posterity. :)

On this day 3 years ago (it fell on Friday) our lives changed in an instant by one little phone call.  It is a day that will forever be one of the most important days to our family.

It was another average December day.  Jeremy and I were both at work and were planning to attend a friend's Christmas party that evening.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary...that is until I returned from luch to two voicemails.  One from Brother Watkins, our case worker at LDS Family Services (LDSFS), and the other from Jeremy.  Both wanted me to call them right away.  As I called Jeremy, I looked at my computer and saw an e-mail from Brother Watkins that indicated we had been selected to be parents of a daughter.  Jeremy told me that he had already talked with Brother Watkins and that it was true...WE WERE PARENTS!  Our daughter had been born the previous day and we were welcomed to go see her as soon as we could.  I was overwhelmed with emotion, as you may imagine.  It was absolutely amazing!  We had been waiting for this moment for 10 1/2 YEARS (3 years in the adoption process) and we were finally blessed to be parents!  Even now it is still very sensitive and I cannot find the words to express our appreciation to our loving Heavenly Father for this blessing.  A phone call to Brother Watkins revealed that Lindsey's birthmom went to the hospital with back pain, which turned out to be labor pains.  She told the hospital that she wanted to place her baby for adoption with an LDS family.  The hospital social worker then contacted LDSFS.  This was new information to them as she had carried her baby in silence.  Brother Watkins met with her to discuss her options.  She stated that she did not want to have contact and wanted a closed adoption.  She didn't want to look at adoptive couple profiles either...she left the decision up to the agency.  This came as a surprise to the agency, but they needed to identify the parents of this precious girl that had just left Heavenly Father's presence.  So they got together and discussed the adoptive couples.  After prayer and consideration....they chose US!  That's how it happened.  Although I've never met her I know that Lindsey's birthmom is an amazing woman!  Someone to whom I am eternally grateful for her selfless sacrifice.  Someday I hope to meet her and express my gratitude...although I'm not sure exactly how to do that.  But you can bet I am going to try my best.

So on with the story...

We finished up work and I cleared my calendar for the rest of the year.  Then we were on our way...as you could imagine I was so excited I talked the entire way.  One of many things we talked about on the way was names...what were we going to call our daughter?  We came up with 3...Grace Marie, Samantha Renee and Lindsey Mae.  We were very anxious driving to the hospital and walking in was very long and nerve wrecking.  Was this real?  Were we really going to be parents?  (We had some doubts and were very guarded since we had went to a hospital and left empty handed just two years before.  So at this time our parents are the only ones who know about our situation.)  We were told that no one from LDSFS would be there and that we should just ask for a specific nurse and she would help us.  When we asked for that nurse the nurses at the front desk knew exactly why we were there.  The nurse came to meet us and took us to the Neonatal Nursery and we scrubbed up.  We walked in and the first bed held our beautiful little girl...a healthy 5 lbs. 2 oz., 18 1/2 inches.  She was so tiny (that's why she was in the nursery).  The nurses were taking great care of her and had a name sign on her bed saying "Pearl".  (Since she was born on Pearl Harbor Day and hadn't been given a name the nurses decided that was a great nickname for her.)  We held her and loved her.  It was amazing...an experience that no words can describe.  We spent the evening holding her, feeding her, changing her, and loving her.  We felt it in our hearts...she was OUR DAUGHTER.  THIS WAS REAL!  As I was holding her, Jeremy and the nurses asked what we were going to call her.  I looked into her eyes and said "Lindsey Mae...she's a Lindsey" and Jeremy agreed.  That night as we were leaving the hospital we felt we could start to tell people, even though it wasn't final yet..so we called our siblings and the party we were supposed to be at.  Everyone was very excited.  We really tried to sleep that night because we knew it would be our last night of uninterrupted sleep for many years, but sleep wasn't really on our minds.  The next morning (Saturday) Jeremy had planned on going hunting.  I told him to go ahead since we weren't to be back at the hospital until 11 a.m. anyway.  Mom and I went shopping...we needed EVERYTHING!  We had one thing...a cradle, but nothing else.  I made a call to the hospital to see what formula and diapers she was using so we could be consistent.  Then mom and I went to buy the necessary formula, diapers, clothes, bottles and a car seat.  Mom took the clothes home to wash them and I went home to get Jeremy and get ready.  We picked up the clothes and were on our back to the hospital...to pick up our daughter.  This time I'm not sure our feet were touching the ground as we walked in with a car seat in our hands and a diaper bag on our shoulder.  I'm sure there was a glow around us from the excitement in our hearts.  First we had a little "training" (they wanted to make sure we could feed and change her) and then we signed the papers and brought her home.  A nurse walked us out and helped us get her loaded in the car.  I road home in the back seat.  It was a dream come true.  As we arrived home we were welcomed by family like we were celebrities, including a sign in the front yard from some dear friends.  It was an amazing experience.  We were blessed by many wonderful family and friends who helped us adjust into parenthood.  It certainly was a shock to our lives, but one that I would never change.  I loved the fast pace and just being in "go" mode.  I still struggle to find the words to express how amazing it was.  I am so grateful that Lindsey's birthmom was a strong woman who chose to first of all give her life, and secondly to give us the blessing of being her parents.  I am also grateful that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with such an amazing spirit.  She is our miracle baby in many ways.  We has a sign hanging in her room that says it very well, "you've been a blessing from the start, I love you daughter with all my heart".  That's how we truly feel.

Our first family photo.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Today is a very special day...it's Pearl Harbor Day! and it's Lindsey's birthday!

Today has been a very busy, fun-filled day.  We started the day watching some of Lindsey's friends...Ben, Libby and Molly.  We had brownies complete with 3 candles, a song (bet you can't guess which one) and lots of playing.

Next came lunch with Daddy...and even though we get to do this everyday it was still a treat.  The afternoon included a playdate with Lindsey's dear friends Kenzie and Brooklyn.  This time we had "glass slipper" brownies.

Lindsey and her new umbrella.  Thanks, girls.  She loves it!  Below are all 3 girls.  I gave up trying to get them all to look at the camera at once.

The evening brought a party with Grandma, Grandpa, Papaw, Aunt Joyce, Jaimee, Jeremy and I.  We made a simple dinner with cake and ice cream.  This year I tried something new...I made/decorated Lindsey's cake.  I was very pleased with way it turned out.  I guess I retained something from my 4-H days.

She was blessed and of course had a great time opening her gifts.  It was fun seeing her get really excited about her day.

Lindsey said, "I had a GREAT DAY!"