Winter Fun!!

This month has been a busy one.  Shopping for Christmas presents,performances, and Hope's adoption finalization.
I think that I am done shopping for Christmas. I hope, anyways.  It isn't fun finding out that you have forgotten something, and have to do last minute shopping.  I ordered most of Christmas online this year. It has been fun getting boxes at the door.  Loren's office is filled with boxes.
All of the children were in a school performance.  Zach, Ethan and Parker were in the Jingle Jam at school and sang Christmas songs.  Loren got pic's and video of them.  So I will have to post them later.
Paige and Braden both had choir performances that we attended.  Their choirs did a great job.  Paige performed at the Mall and a few other places.

This morning was Hope's adoption finalization.  We were able to do it via telephone.  Our awesome friend Chris Olsen is a notary and came to help with the swearing in and signing of papers. It only took about 7 minutes to complete all of it.  Hope is now legally a part of our family.  I am so over joyed and humbled at the same time.  I thank God for letting this sweet spirit be a part of our lives.  Susan (birth mother) still keeps in touch with us and it is good to hear how she is doing.  This to has been a miracle in and of it's self.  We were told at the being of being matched with Susan that she did not want to meet us and that she would never write to us.  As you know, when we arrived in Florida it all changed.  We where able to meet with both the birth Father and Susan.  I keep all of the letters that they send so Hope will know a little about her birth parents and that they LOVE her.

Merry Christmas to all!  I bought cards but didn't get any of them mailed.

I love this time of year.  Christ is fore front of my mind. And people think of others and help them out.
Hope has found her fingers and like to suck on them.  She also likes playing with her blankets and burb clothes.  She can grab the toys on her toy bar but gets made when she can't get them into her mouth. She thinks that everything should go into her mouth already. We are in trouble when she is mobile.  She is the the happiest first thing in the morning.  She wakes up and plays in her crib and talks.  None of our other children have done that.  They all woke up crying to be feed.  When I go in her room to get her, she is all smiles and giggles. We started feeding her rice cereal this month.  She loves it.  She cries if I don't get it in her mouth fast enough.

We will be Blessing Hope on Janruary 24th .  And we will be having her Sealed to us on Janruary 26th.  Look for invitations-coming soon- I hope!

Braden is on the back row second from right.  The lighting was dark and I was far away.

Caught a smile on camera-finally!!

3 months old

first time eating rice cereal

Hope 3 months old

Hope is three months old today. Boy, how time flies.  She still thinks that she needs to eat every two hours during the day.  But she is actually sleeping at night now.  She sleeps anywhere from 6 to 8 hours at a time.  It is so nice to get sleep.  I'm jumping for joy...can you see me? 
Hope has learned so much this last month.  She has a fake little cough she does ,when she wants attention.  She has discovered her hands and tries to suck on her fingers.  They don't stay in her mouth very long and she gets frustrated and cries that they left.  She is holding toys and reaching for things. She holds her head up quit well now and makes fun baby sounds.  She has the cutest smiles but we can't seem to get any on photo's.  As soon a the camera comes out the smiles leave.  When the camera is put away, the smiles come back.  She is so funny that way.  Last night we gave her baby cereal for the first time.  She loved it. She didn't even do the spit out thing, where half of it comes back out of their mouth.  She just ate it like she had done it a hundred times before. She cried when we took it away and tried to give her a bottle.  She loves her food.  You can probably tell by her chubby cheecks and the3 rest of her.  She now weighs 13 pounds.  WOW.

Loren's father had quadriple bi-pass surgery and is home now recovering.  We are hoping that he will be well enough to travel when we have Hope sealed to us, sometime in Janruary.
This last week has been a stressful one for me.  Coming home to find our dear neighbor had passed away.  Lorens father in the hospital and Loren in Florida, really kept me busy and worrying about things that I really didn't have much control over.  I helped prpared food for the funeral but was unable to attend.  Hope had a bad cold all week and I didn't dare leave her with anyone.  She was pretty grumpy.  Also, Paige had a choir performance,  I went to it and took grumpy with me.  Paige and her group did well.  So did the other groups that performed.  I love Christmas music.  I love the Christmas season and remember to put Christ in my life.