Brick Floors... Who Knew??

I have written about this story many times already, but it happens to be one of my favorite adoptions stories ever!  The world of adoption seems to be filled with "red threads".  There are a few families that are "that" family to me.  Families who I silently watched their journeys to their daughters.  Families who brought me one step closer to our own journey.  The fact that God would use me to be "that" family to anyone is so humbling and exciting.

If you don't know the story...Jennifer and I grew up in the same hometown, but never knew each other.  (She doesn't live here anymore).  She was in the process of building a house and wanted to use brick floors.  She did an internet search for "brick floors" and my blog came up!  (I had blogged throughout our building process.)  I didn't know, but Jennifer started following our blog.  She followed us all the way to China to get Wesleigh.  The seed of adoption had been planted.  By the time she reached out to me, their family had already decided to adopt from China!!  There are now 3 other children who have come home from China in her community!  Yay, God!!  Jennifer has become a precious friend to me, and a reminder that you never know what God will use...you just have to be available for Him to use it!

I love this picture.  It represents where this amazing story began...brick floors :)

   

Wesleigh and Molly.  I can barely look at this picture without getting choked up.  Little did I know that when we were blessed with Wesleigh, I would also be blessed with some of the most amazing and unexpected  friends and connections.  God is awesome!

The Messengers

For 50 years, this local family has set up a huge light display at their house over the holidays.  I remember going to the Messengers when I was a little girl.  They add a new display every year, and some have been around for decades.  It has been so much fun to bring my kiddos every year.  Sadly, this was the last year this family will be creating this display.  We didn't make it until after Christmas, but we couldn't let the year pass without seeing this house one more time.

The frozen "north pole"

 

How cute are these two? Braden and Karleigh have been alot of fun to hang out with this holiday.

Taken in front of the display made the year they were born.

From the year I was born

 : 

 Much to Cade's dismay, I made he and KiKi pose for a picture. They're adorable though :)

The big girls always love the little girls and the little girls always love the bigs!

This post is the last of our holiday celebration...thank goodness!  I am so determined to document everything here (if I don't, I'll never remember half of it!), but sometimes it seems like a chore.  I am determined to start printing blog books from each year.  It will all be worth it, when I can see years of memories saved forever.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was spent with my parents and one of my brothers and his family.  Between the two of us, we have 9 children!!  Makes me laugh everytime I think about it.  I remember getting together with Joel and Jennifer when Bryce and Braden were babies.  For us to get together for dinner now, there would be 4 adults and 9 kiddos... :)  BTW...6 of the 9 have joined our family through adoption!  LOVE adoption!!!

Maw Maw and Paw Paw handing out gifts

Frozen dolls were a hit!

Miss Adalie

MawMaw gave my girls oragami owl lockets.  They each have half a heart in it to represent their bond.  When Gracie opened it though, she said, "Awww....I have a bwoken heart....so sad..."  lol...

Braden had to work real hard to get that necklace on Wesleigh.  Not many brothers would do that :)

Love this boy!  It is hard to get a smile out of this serious little cutie...I take it as a personal challenge! :)

Christmas Morning

My girls did not disappoint in the excitement department Christmas morning!  I love these shots of their hands in the air and their hair flying everywhere.  Can you just hear Gracie's squeals?  They're LOUD!

Gracie goes straight for the princess dresses :)

And Wesleigh checks out the American Girl dolls :)

 Santa did things a little different this year. He wrapped the boys' gifts.  This allowed us to watch the girls look at their presents and then focus on the boys, when they opened theirs. I think it worked alot better!

 Bryce got a laptop for college.

 Braden got a dehydrator to make deer jerkey :) lol... yep...he's a country boy!!

 A velocity gun for Cade so we can see just how fast "the beast" really throws :)

 The girls opened gifts from each boy.  They loved it!  They were very sweet about everything and gave lots of hugs and kisses.

 Perfect for Bryce's aeronautical engineering major :)

 Amazing enough, the dolls were dressed in the same pajamas that our elf, Ethan, brought the girls the day before :)  That Santa is amazing!  I didn't get a pic of them all in their matching pj's though :)

 Gracie named her baby "Gracie".  Wesleigh named hers "Ainsley".