the face that gets imprinted in my heart a little more each day....



i never knew it would be like this.
i expected hard. i expected chaos. i expected doubts and fears.
and trust me i have ALL of these, but i also have LOVE.
and perfect love, the love that is given only by my Father, casts out fears. it covers all things. it hopes and endures all things. it seeks not it's own.
it looks into those beautiful brown eyes and tells me this is right. this is what was planned from the beginning.
it overflows in me as my little boy learns to trust. learns that when i leave the room i WILL ALWAYS COME BACK.
it overflows as he learns to let me kiss him and to finally kiss me back.
and as he grins and reaches for the arms of his new daddy.

you will never know, little guy, what it is to feel rejected and abandoned by the one who was supposed to love you. Jesus took care of that for you.
Jesus LOVES YOU SO MUCH. glory in the highest....





here are some pictures of my first shopping adventure with 3 little ones...





my soon-to-be neighbor told me that morning of a sale on kid's clothes going on at the mall, so i loaded up the kids, grabbed my double stroller from the garage, and met her there.

i parked the car, then went out in the rain and opened up the stroller. imagine my surprise when i found it to be already in use.
a family of mice had made their home in my stroller. chewed up everything and left LOTS of proof that they had been residing there.
so gross.....but i really wanted to go into the mall....so i did what i had to do.

i pulled out the nest and the chewed up liner, covered the area with a towel, and put my babies in it.
i prayed that no one would notice the terrible smell coming from my stroller while i shopped.

after i finished my shopping i went back to the car, took the kids out of the stroller, and then left it by a dumpster outside of the mall.
now i'm just praying that none of those mice are in my VAN.
and i'm on the hunt for a new double stroller.....

last night we initiated neiko into my dad's family with a dinner in celebration of him and also of my grandpa's 76th birthday.



neiko and livie checking each other out :)



neiko got to spend some time with aunt sally- the one who found him his new family.
we can't thank her enough. she is a beautiful witness of God's love and compassion. she is a DOER and not just a hearer, she is out there going where He sends and serving those in need on a daily basis. we love you, great aunt sally!







i took some videos the other day and here are my favorites-





this one is tekoa telling me what her "problem with wren is." so funny.



and oh yea, the new house is being insulated today. praise the Lord we are moving on to the next step.
it is hard sometimes not to get frustrated that our "move in date" is going to come and go pretty soon here and we have not even dry-walled yet.
there have been so many unexpected delays.
but i keep reminding myself that God is sovereign. even over the building of our house.
i repeat my verse-
"Surely just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand."
Isaiah 14:24

as you can see, my former saying, "i can only do the best i can do" has been replaced. He is changing me. so much for the better...