Life in Pictures...

Because I have been so slack with my blog I thought I would catch you all up in some pictures :)

We were given an early Christmas present, a membership to Edventure Childrens Museum by the "twins" parents which was SUCH an awesome gift we have gone several times already!! I couldn't thank them enough!!

Ryder INSISTED that he needed these hunting boots the other day...he asked the right person because I am tad shoe obsessed and he now has 11 pair (crazy I KNOW!!)

We got some small pumpkins and painted them...

Which was a HIT!!

I took the kids to Harbison park and we actually had to wear jackets!! I couldn't be happier in this kind of weather! It just makes me smile...and so does that little boy I am holding!! :)

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We took a ride on Dumbo :)

And today we headed back to the museum to dress up as Vet's and X-ray the animals... 3 future doctors?? :)

APPROVED!! -ADOPTION UPDATE

This is what I looked like on Friday when I checked the mail ...

When I opened the envelope this is what I found...

My favorite line from the entire paper??? "You are APPROVED to become one of our FOREVER FAMILIES." That line just makes me so happy! We haven't been matched with a child yet, and our caseworker said that the 0-5 age range is pretty much non-existent right now but we will just continue to wait and pray! We know it all works out in HIS perfect timing!

**When I told Ryder the good news he said, "My baby sister finally woke up? Lets go get her!" :) Poor thing, thought she had been sleeping these last 5 months ha!

3 year old check up!

I always forget to schedule Ryder's yearly check ups in advance, so we always end up getting pushed WAY back because we fall into "school physical" time. So needless to say it was a little late...

Ryder is in the 17th % for his weight... !!!! 17th!!! THAT IS HUGE!!!! I don't think he has EVER been above the 10th so he grew some for sure!!!

For some reason we always have issues measuring his height. Last time (I think it was his 2 1/2 checkup) they had him stand up against the wall for the first time and he hadn't grown ANY in 6 months...the doctor of course was worried which made me STRESS that he had stopped growing and so on... Needless to say he scheduled a follow up for his height  in 3 months. We came back and they measured him laying down on the table and he had miraculously grown 2 1/2 inches... So we figured they had measured him wrong the first (stay with me I'm getting to a new point I promise!) So we go in and they said for him to stand... low and behold he hasn't grown any in 7 months... we get back to the room and he is in the 9th percent for his height....So I ask if we can remeasure him on the table...he miraculously grows 2 inches and 1/4... ??? And goes from the 9% to the 39%! So needless to say I am ALWAYS going to have them double check this with him laying down!

(He is SOO into dress-up..today he was a knight/pirate/construction worker)

The highlight of Ryder's day??? He got to pee in a cup,-sidenote this was one of the times I am OVERJOYED that I do not have a girl...how in the world do you get a 3 year old girl to pee in a cup???? Anyways he also got to do a sight test, and hop on one leg..he passed with flying colors! And the highlight of my day? Getting out of there as fast as I could with a screaming child who received 3 shots.. NO FUN!

Why Care Campaign

One of my long time friends Katie, co-founded with one of her students Devin a campaign to stop world hunger called "Why Care". I met Katie at our church when I was in middle school (she is our pastor's daughter). She was my leader on a mission trip to the Bahamas and we had SO much fun! I just love her, she is such a sweet person, and is changing the world. She has been taking pictures of people holding up a sign with a reason why they care about hunger...her's is AWESOME!! It just made me smile when I saw it because obviously adoption is close to my heart!....

Well she e-mailed me and asked if I could do one for her to put on the webiste as well..of course I was all over it, but I wanted something really good to say and I wanted it to be about us adopting our kids from foster care. The #2 reason kids are in foster care is because of neglect to include malnourishment. So it took me a few hours to come up with a good way to word it and a little help from her and we ended with this :)

"We care because... The children we are adopting will have experienced hunger and neglect" James 1:27

If you want to send in a picture of you or your family with a reason send it to
 whycarecampaign@gmail.com

You can also like the "Why Care Campaign" on Facebook and check out what is going on and see other great ideas like these!
They are also on Twitter at @WhyCare_

The Wedding!

Saturday we headed to the wedding a little early. I helped greet and told people to make sure they signed the guest book!The wedding and reception were so pretty! We had such a fun time! Here are some pictures of our night!!

Sarah was such a beautiful bride!

The ceremony was so sweet!!

I told her thanks for making me look so pale!! Oh well, atleast I have a medical condition for it right?? Thats my excuse at least :)

The reception was on the lake at a club house and was soo pretty!! They also had a DJ which led to this next picture... ha!

Pa was receiving dance lessons from Mrs. Foreman..as you can tell he THOROUGHLY enjoyed it!!

Me and Meme and Pa!

We had such a great time!! I can't wait to go visit them in Greenville!!

**ON A SIDE NOTE**

My dad watched Ryder for me and when I got home around 10:30 Ryder told me that he saw Nana and Pa.. I didn't believe him until Eric told me that they really did. The proof you might ask???

Supposedly Ryder got this mustache out of a quarter machine and wouldn't wear it, so of course Pa tried it on... looks pretty good Pa :)

Sarah's Rehearsal Dinner

Friday night Ryder and I headed to a rehearsal dinner for a friend that I went to school with since we were in K-5. It was such a nice dinner and Ryder had so much fun playing with Teagan who was the flower girl. Of course we had fun getting dressed up and as always Ryder thought he sure was lookin good!

His entire body language just cracks me up.. he is such a ham!

He REALLY enjoyed the chocolate cake.. he dropped his peice on the floor and I picked it up and was putting it back on his plate and evidently there was icing on my thumb because he bent down to lick it off.. I guess he didn't want to miss out on ANY of that!

Teagan and Ryder!! Teagan's mom kept Ryder for me when he was about 3 months old until I quit my job when he was 1 1/2 so they grew up together! Its always fun to see them!

5,4,3,2,1...BLAST OFF!!

We have been slowly playing with Ryder's birthday gifts.. I put most of them up in his closet and tonight we let him get a new one..he picked a rocket! Ryder and Eric had SOO much fun! He loved watching it go up high and boy did it go WAY up!! Enjoy the pictures!

He is a having so much fun!

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This little boy is my heart ♥

He got one stuck on the roof :(... Daddy will have to go get it!