Easter 2012

we had a wonderful easter weekend! there are a lot of pictures!

dyeing eggs with kaki.

the easter egg hunt in our neighborhood park.

oh my. judah's typical fake sad face. :-)

and a wonderful easter afternoon spent at the botanic gardens & butterfly exhibit with nana, grangoat, brad, nova and solomon.

isn't he the cutest?!?!

judah insisted on wearing his rain boots. you have to pick your battles, right? :-)

AIDS 5k

On Sunday afternoon, Jason and Elijah ran the AIDS 5k. Elijah ran almost the whole thing, I was really proud of him! While they were running, Judah and I enjoyed the park and race festivities, like humane society dogs, face painting, balloons and free toys!

Then the boys went box sledding after Elijah got back. I remember the last time we did this at this exact same place was a few days before I delivered Judah.

twenty-one months

i honestly have hardly any words left to say at this point. it is baffling that we are still waiting on a referral. i think we are now unofficially #1 on the single child list, but with so few referrals going out each month, it's anyone's guess how long we have left to wait. i'm pretty sure they are doing away with the adoption tax credit after this year, so if our adoption is not finalized before the end of 2012, we can forget getting any kind of reimbursement whatsoever. we have spent thousands more dollars than we anticipated updating paperwork that is expiring. so, so many things about this situation are making me angry. we would appreciate your prayers. and these things i've named are just the minor problems...the main one is that we just want our daughter home. period. and that is no april fool's joke.

the zoo

we spent a sunday afternoon at the gainesville zoo with nana and grangoat after jason preached that morning. it was fun...we have not been to a zoo in a long time. the boys especially enjoyed the bears who were playing in their "pool" and the prairie dogs.

by the way, we just started our resurrection eggs leading up to easter last night. click HERE for a blog post explaining what we are doing. we started this tradition last year.

kites and bluebonnets

here is a quick recap of our spring break week.

mon - weds: the boys were with my mom at camp while i spent a couple of days with my college roommate, stephanie, in houston. we had a blast, but i forgot to take pictures!!! jason was at home with strep. :-(

thursday: fun playdate with great friends

friday: grocery store and getting the car fixed - boring & expensive

today: kites and bluebonnets (i took pictures - yay!)

judah found a dandelion (he called it a wish). that's a bandaid on his ear.

my very handsome 7 year old!

it was a perfect day for flying kites by the river.

that's our downtown in the background!

and then we found some bluebonnets on the side of the road!

what a wonderful, relaxing week we've had!!!

finding joy

Our small group meets every Thursday night up at our church building because they have free childcare. We are discussing a piece of scripture each week.

Last night we were talking about the fall of man, when Eve was deceived by Satan. It occurred to me while we were talking, that Satan is (of course) cunning, and knows exactly what to say in our minds to tempt us. Adam & Eve had been told not to eat from only ONE tree in the entire garden, and I'm convinced that up until that point they had not been tempted by it. God does not tempt us, Satan does. I believe up until that point, they were completely satisfied with what they had in the garden, and not eating the fruit of that one specific tree was not a temptation, but just their way of life.

Satan knows how to get in our heads and tell us that we won't be satisfied and completely happy until we have that ONE more thing. I was convicted that that is exactly what has happened to me. I am so blessed but I have been living in a state of unsatisfaction because we don't have that ONE thing - our daughter. And while I know that our daughter is not a temptation or a sin, I have still had a hard time finding joy in what I do have because I want that which I don't yet have. I vowed right then and there to find the simple joy in my life every single day, and to enjoy what I have right now, because soon all of that is going to change. And there is much joy all around me.

Like sweet Judah starting once a week swim lessons. He is in heaven - he loves it!

Just look at the pure JOY on his face! Confidence is not going to be an issue with him when it comes to swimming.

And there is JOY in my sweet Elijah, who just lost his 6th tooth. I am so thankful that he is growing healthy and strong.

While this adoption process is hard, hard, hard, I can still choose to find the JOY amidst the heartache.

"The JOY of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

“Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” ~ C. S. Lewis

twenty months