Making gingerbread houses!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
As I sit to write this post, all four of my precious children are in their beds sound asleep. I still can not believe that a year ago this time we were celebrating Thanksgiving without Ladi Elizabeth. As I have mentioned before we received Ladi's information last Thanksgiving. So that day we took the only picture we had of her and placed it in our kitchen. We could not stop thinking and praying about the "next" Thanksgiving when our family would be complete and all together. And now here we are! Again God is so good! On Monday Ladi's class at preschool had a Thanksgiving performance and I was so emotional thinking about how far we have come in such a short period of time. I kept thinking that we are so blessed to have Ladi in our life and 3 wonderful boys. And how this Thanksgiving Ladi has "her" family. I also could not stop thinking about the "other" children. Children around the world and in our neighborhoods that do not have families or are homeless or live in homes without food or love. I often think about the "other" children we saw in the orphanage and pray that they too have found "their" families. We have so much to be thankful for. The days go by so fast and the "busyness" and selfishness of our society tries to take over. Especially right now with our global and local economy hurting; we might tend to focus on the negative or the unnecessary wants. I am in no way saying that people are not hurting financially right now- but what i am thinking is that if we have love, family, friends, hope and faith then we are blessed.
We are celebrating Thanksgiving this year at home with all 4 of our children at the table with us. Only my parents will be with us so it will be a some what quiet dinner (ha ha -dinner around here is NEVER quiet!) Ladi is very interested in all the celebrations and traditions. Although just like every other little girl or boy she is very preoccupied with Christmas coming and the whole "Santa" thing that her brothers and friends are talking about. But that is a story for another day!
I hope you and your family have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving day!

Big Winner of the Forest Hills Fun Run!!!!

The first "annual" FH fun run was held this past Saturday morning. (FYI- Forest Hills is the name of our elementary school and our neighborhood) The children and parents meet at the school @ 8:00 in the morning and ran 2 miles (first down Wayne- our st. and circled the other streets) Steven was running with Brady and I was working along the route doing "traffic" control and cheering the runners on. So neither one of us saw Bryson "break through" the finish line! His time was 14 mins and a couple of seconds- so he averaged a little over a 7/min mile!!!! We are so proud of him because he didn't even want to do the race- he didn't think he would do well. We tried to tell him that all the swimming he is doing would probably help him and it certainly did! He was so funny- he said he "could have gone faster but the principal was leading on a bike and he didn't want to pass her." He was so very"cool" about the whole thing!!! The trophy was a giant "golden" running shoe!

Blake has his first basketball game of the season this afternoon. He is a starter this year and is very excited- Go cougars!!!!

pics from Pop's 65th birthday in the mountains!

Well if anyone is still reading- we are back in business thanks to Melissa! So much to update on since the last blog! On October 4th Ladi Elizabeth was baptised in the little chapel that I grew up in and the boys were baptized in and by the same minister (David also married Steven and me and he and his family are dear friends to our family). It was a very simple and sweet ceremony. We had our Sunday school friends and other close friends and family attending with a celebration dinner that followed at our home. Ladi of course had no clue what was going on (just like any other infant baptism) but I know she will remember that day and the boys will too- so we all will have sweet memories to help remind her of how much she is loved. Then that Tuesday after the baptism Ladi fell and broke her arm. I was taking Bryson to swimming and Steven called to tell me I needed to come straight home because we might need to go to the ER. Of course I flew home and once I saw it I knew it was broken. She and Brady were playing in the backyard and she fell on her elbow the wrong way. Well, luckily one of Steven's golf friends and a church friend is an orthopedic surgeon. Bill came to the ER and took a look at the x-rays and told us he could squeeze her surgery in the very next morning! Yes I was a complete wreck- but Ladi Elizabeth was the most brave little girl I have ever seen! She only cried a little and was so patient and "chatty" with all the doctors and nurses. Especially after they gave her some pain meds! And of course we had to explain to all of them that she had only been with us for 5 months- so they were all interested in her story and just fell in love with her! Surgery went perfect and after a purple cast and then a light blue cast (to match her Cinderella Halloween costume) and 4 weeks- last Monday they took out the pins and she is cast free. Although she has to wear a splint when she is at school or playing. Bill said he expects her to recover just fine! Thank God we knew someone and it was nice that he was a man of Faith and was able to pray with us before the surgery and "hold" our hands during it all! And Ladi loves "her Dr. Sutton"!

So now that we are past that- it has been 9 weeks since the children started school. Ladi is doing so well. Her teacher is still amazed at how quickly she is learning to do things- like write her name, pretending to read books, learn songs, her numbers and the alphabet. She has come so far so fast! Oh and as you can see in the pics we cut her hair! She wanted it cut and with the cast on it was impossible to wash it! But she can still wear a bow and she does just about everyday! Brady, Bryson and Blake did very well with grades this nine weeks. We have a tradition of going to Krispy Kreme doughnuts the day report cards come home. (FYI-KK gives a free doughnut for every A) So tonight we went and got a dozen and a half hot glazed doughnuts! Bryson had his first BIG swim meet this past Sat. in Raleigh. The entire "fam" made the day trip to support and cheer him on. He was great! He loves everything about the sport! And we enjoy watching him! Brady auditioned for a local children's theater play last weekend. The play was "Annie" so they didn't need a 6 yr. old little boy but he had a great time just auditioning! He really wants to do it again in January when the next audition is held. Steven took him to the audition and had to wait outside for 2 1/2 hrs with the other parents (he wins father of the month!) Steven was so sure Brady would get a "call-back" and when he didn't Steven said "They don't know what they are missing out on!". I told him he sounded like a "pageant mom"!

And Blake made the middle school basketball team. He even thinks he may start this year- this is his sport- along with golf! So we will be going to games starting next week! Go cougars!

I guess that about gets us up to date! This past weekend we had a first anniversary of the day we received the phone call about Ladi Elizabeth! It is hard to believe it has been a whole year! I will never forget where I was and how I felt so excited to get "the call". I had to pull the car of the road so I could concentrate and not wreck! Although on that first phone call we only got her name, age and where she lived- I knew she was our daughter. There was a lot of "back and forth" between our agent and Steven that night. I was on a girl's trip to NY city! So Steven had to "field" the calls to Elena. I remember telling Steven to just pray about what Elena had said and let all of it weigh in his heart for that weekend. It wasn't until a week later that we received her picture and we both knew we were looking at our little girl! There of course is so much more to this story and it is her story and our story and I look forward to sharing it with Ladi Elizabeth one day when she is old enough to understand it all!