Christmas

Things have been busy around here with 3 wonderful Christmas celebrations and one more to go! On Christmas Eve, we always go to my parents for Christmas with my dad's family. For some of the cousins, it's the only time all year that we get to see each other. Ian loved meeting all the kids and especially loved the pinata bashing! On Christmas day, our grown kids came for a fun celebration and dinner and the next day, we went back to my parents for Christmas with them, my grandmother, brother and niece. We feel very blessed to have such wonderful families and to be able to spend time with them, celebrating the birth of our Savior! Enjoy the pictures!

Santa Ian, dressed in the Drew Brees jersey that Uncle John and Aunt Teena sent him. The only way I got it off of him that night was to promise he could wear it again the next day!

Ian, playing with the new turbo charged car!

Mom and Ian (thanks for taking this, Lindsay!)

Drew and Elizabeth

Lindsay, Troy and our grandaughter!!!

Brian and Elizabeth - always ready to pose for a picture!

Mother and Daddy - the tired hosts!

Mamma (my grandmother and soon-to-be Great, great grandmother!)

We are looking forward to having part of Tom's family here on Sunday! Can't wait to see you all!

For Bird Watchers Only!

Our kids say we are becoming our parents, but one of things we love about our new home is the amount of wildlife that we are treated to on a regular basis. We are really into birdwatching and yesterday, this awesome Piliated Woodpecker came to visit! He/she is still here today, so we are hoping it hangs around for awhile. It comes right up to the feeders near the house and pecks away. I took these pictures from our bedroom window.

The following picture isn't that great of the woodpecker but isn't the female cardinal cute?

Christmas Decorating

Decorating for Christmas in a new house that we haven't even completely decorated for regular living yet has been a bit of a challenge, but we got a good start with not one, but 3 Christmas trees! Ian has loved all the decorating and has enjoyed helping.


Putting his own "Ian" ornament on the tree

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.......

We've always wanted a tree on our front porch but it was way too windy at the other house.

Tree and village on the sun porch

Living Room tree

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my most wonderful husband and bestest friend! I love you and thank God for you every day!!!! You are the BEST!

Tommy at 6 months old - isn't he the cutest thing??

1st grade

5th grade

10th grade - Lindsay and Drew have always given him a hard time about the hair in this picture.

Senior picture

Easter, 1986 in Little Rock

June, 2007

November, 2009

First Baptist

Tom, Ian and I were invited to visit First Baptist in Danville to share a little of our adoption story this past Sunday. It was through our good friends, Gary and Marty Crawford (missionaries with ABWE and sent by First Baptist of Danville), that we met Ian. In April of 2008 (a month after our son, Drew, and their daughter, Elizabeth, were married), we went on a mission trip to Jamaica with them and several others from FBC. Even though it was a working mission trip, they always take time to visit an orphanage and this was their first trip to Robin's Nest Children's Home. The rest is history! We were so happy to take Ian there as many of them have been praying for him and for us throughout this journey. What a testimony to God's amazing love and grace in all of our lives!

Tom, Angela, Gary, Marty and Ian

Gary, Ben (one of their 8 great kids!), Marty and of course, Ian.

FYI: There are many adorable children at Robins Nest and we are now experts at Jamaican adoptions (ha!) so we are more than happy to share all we know with anyone interested! :-)

James 1:27

Updates

Apologies for the lack of entries but we've been busy with Christmas shopping and decorating. However, amidst the holiday hoopla, we have visited another PT/OT and loved them! They are a husband/wife team and are very knowledgeable and experienced and just awesome! I learned more in 90 minutes with them than I have in the last several weeks/months. So, we are looking forward to starting some agressive therapy soon!
Today we visited the school where Ian will attend, starting in January. He loved it and didn't want to leave, so I think that's a good sign. I'm very impressed with his teacher and what she accomplishes with the challenging kids she has. Ian is in love with her and wanted her to come home with us. The nurse who is in his classroom watched me feed him and then, did it herself and will do fine, once she realizes that she can't let him manipulate her (such as using the pouty lip when he doesn't want to eat!) We will visit again next week and also have a visit from a "homebound teacher" before the Christmas break.
I don't have any pictures yet from therapy or school so here is just a random photo in the Yuk Truck.

New Chapter

We've been in the process of enrolling Ian in school and he will officially start in January. However, his teacher and several other nice ladies have been visiting to evaluate and discuss his placement, feeding needs, therapy, transportation, etc. He loves these visits and makes friends with them all quickly. His teacher, Miss Vera, brought along this poster that his new classmates made to welcome him to their room. He proudly hung it in his room.

Big Foot

Have I mentioned that Ian loves trucks? When we were in Jamaica with nothing to do for 3 weeks, we were happy to at least have cable TV and Ian discovered the "Speed" channel. He would point to the televsion until we turned it that channel. He loved watching the monster trucks and if we happened to be sitting to his right, we got bruised from all the "hitting" he did with his right arm to make sure we were watching the trucks. So.....for his birthday, Troy and Lindsay got him a monster truck. He loves it because he can push the buttons himself to make it go forward and backward but he also loves the music it makes. I tried to get a video of him "dancing," which he does every time the music comes on. Hope you enjoy it.