Eight Years Ago . . .

Eight years ago, on April 30, 2004, Scott and I appeared before a judge in Odessa, Ukraine and asked to become parents to an amazing little boy that we now call Alexander.

Since that day a lot of amazing things have happened!  Alex has lived in FIVE countries.

 Ukraine

the Philippines

 

the United States

Mexico

and Canada!

He has had some amazing adventures!

 

Happy Adoption Day, Alex!

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

1 Samuel 1:27

The Ballet Costume

This week Hannah brought home one of her ballet recital costumes . . . this caused a huge dilemma for me because I feel the uncontrollable need to photograph everything.   I can barely resist taking a photo of a random butterfly in my backyard.  My only daughter in a ballet tutu?  Not taking the photo would be unbearable.  The problem is that Hannah's ballet teacher is emphatic that no photos of the costumes appear on Facebook, Twitter, etc. before the recital because doing so would ruin the artistic integrity of the performance.  Now, we can argue whether preemptive photos would truly result in performance night tragedy but rather than upset my daughter's deep loyalty to her director, I promised that my photo would in no way reveal the costume's color or detailed design.  So . . . here is Hannah in one of her recital costumes.  I know that you are all dying in anticipation to know the color but you will have to wait until after she takes the stage on May 19th.

Elijah, Josiah, & Isaiah

I love adoption.  I love everything about it.  I love how in one moment in time, a group of unrelated people become a forever connected unit.  I love that God's love for the orphan is so amazing that he moves two people to spend months and months turning their lives upside down just to bring their child home.  About a month ago, we traveled to CT to meet the newest members of our extended family.  Three children, all boys, all adopted.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from that weekend.

A quick glance at our Easter Sunday . . .