Watching our Garden Grow

Two years ago...

2010-08-21T06:49:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been 2 years since we made that crazy trip from Guatemala to Atlanta, pit stop in Birmingham, then HOME with our beautiful girls. It has been a whirlwind. Our girls are so big. Fernanda is 4 years-5 months and Rosa is 2 years-10 months and Lily is 11 1/2 months old. What a blessing the last 2 years have been, overwhelming at times, but a blessing for sure.

Fern just started her 2nd year of Mother's Day Out/Pre-K and dance. She is an entertainer. She LOVES to dance, sing, play dress up, watch TV, dance, be a big sister, play with her babies, play games, color/draw, did I mention dance? She is such a joy. She is hardheaded, asks a million questions a day, loves talking about her birthday. The first thing she does every morning when she gets up is put on her tutu, crown and princess shoes, I think she really believes she is a princess, and she is! She tells me that she is going to go to Heaven with Jesus and wants all her family and friends to go with her. Anytime she or someone is sick or hurt, she wants to pray for them and always wants to be the one to say the blessing. She is so smart and says the funniest things, and she knows it. She knows everyone thinks she's cute and boy is she a ham! She can pose for pictures like a superstar! I am so thankful we have had a healthy year, I don't think she has been sick once this year. Fern has the BEST smile! I can't believe that she is so big!

Rosa just started her 2nd year of Mother's Day Out and her 1st year of dance. She is so funny and such a sweet girl. Rosa knows all her colors and can recognize a few letters. She loves to play with her sisters. She is always correcting my misspeaks, like if I call her the wrong name, she says, "I'm Rosa". Rosa is definitely a momma's girl, but loves her Papi so much and asks me every day where he is. She is mostly potty trained and is so proud of herself. Rosa will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed next month to help with sleep apnea, otherwise she has been healthy this year, only 1 ear infection. She has gone from being shy and quiet to talking to everyone. When we went to Disney World in May, she overcame her fear of the characters. She is such a big girl and tells me everyday she loves me the big whole world! She has picked up Fern's love of all ting birthday and tells me EVERYDAY, "my birtday coming up today, I want to have pumpkin patch for my birtday". How is it possible that she is almost 3?

Lily is my sweet baby! I cannot believe that in just 2 weeks we will be celebrating her 1st birthday! She is on the verge of walking. She has been standing for a few weeks now but just hasn't gotten brave enough to take that step. She now has 2 teeth all the way in and 1 more up top that has broken through the gum. She is a great eater, will eat almost anything. She says momma, but not necessarily directed at me, just out of frustration or exhaustion. She crawls everywhere and chases after her big sisters. If we leave her in a room, it's not long before she has caught up with us. She still has her paci and her "lovie", can't go to sleep without them. She sleeps through the night, only wakes to get her paci back in her mouth. I can see we are gonna have a time taking that away. She loves her sisters, gets so excited when she sees them. Lily lights up when her Papi walks into the room. She plays pat-a-cake and will "bonk heads" which is one of the first things I remember Rosa doing at this age. I have been trying to teach her a little sign language and I think she actually did the sign to eat yesterday. Lily is such a joy, almost make us want to have another, but I think we'll wait a while!

It has been a busy year, we went to Disney World in May and then to Gatlinburg in July/August. Here are a couple of pics from both trips. I love all my girls, am so thankful for them and can't wait to see what this next year has in store!

Yes, we're still alive

2009-11-16T13:17:00.001-08:00

I am soooooo bad at keeping t his up, sorry. I think most of the readers are on Facebook anyway and I at least update there a little. Life is crazy, hectic. Lily is wonderful and we are enjoying her so much. Fernanda and Rosa are both such great big sisters. They love their baby so much and want to hold her and help feed her. We have had a few struggles with Lily in her short life. She was born with a Syrinx, so we are having to have that monitored yearly by a neurosurgeon, but weems to be ok for now so no worries. A few weeks after she was born, she developed a hemangioma on her back, actually right across the syrinx (although not related to it) so we will take her to a dermatologist in Dec just to have it checked out. And at one of her appointments, they thougth they heard a heart murmur so we visited a cardiologist, but all is well with that. Man little girl, you sure know how to make mommy and daddy worry!
We have also had a little trouble getting her weight up so we are feeding every 2 hours for now until she puts on the lbs...
Fern and Rosa have been troopers and have adjusted well to having a baby in the house. They love that all the grandparents have been coming over ALOT!
We sold our house and bought another one so we are moving next week!!! We are so excited but a little frazzled with everything going on. I told Bill that my New Year's Resolution is to do NOTHING- no adopting, getting pregnant, having a baby, moving, no getting sick or having surgeries (I hope), NOTHING!!! I just want us to relax and enjoy our new house with our family.
We had new family pictures taken a few weeks ago so I'll leave you with them...
And if I don't blog again before Thanksgiving (which is likely) Happy Thanksgiving, we are so thankful this year!

Meet Lily Anne...

2009-09-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful daughter arrived at 7:14pm this evening. After arriving at the hospital at 5am to be induced, I never dilated past 3cm after 12 hours so Dr. Cimino decided to deliver her via C-section.
He came in to check me at 6:36pm and she was born by 7:14pm, it all happened so fast.
Lily weighed 6lbs, 15oz, and was 19.5 in long. She has a head full of wavy brownish blond hair. She has already captured our hearts.
After cleaning her up, mommy got to give her a quick kiss and then she and daddy were whisked away to the nursery for her checkups and a real bath.
Mommy got to finally hold her at about 10pm.
I can't believe that she is ours. She is a perfect blend of both of us. I can't wait to see what her eye color will be, but for now they are blue. She has long feet and fingers, not sure where she got those...
Here are a few pictures of the day & night.

Mom waiting on something to happen...

Dad getting ready!

Mom, waiting to hear Lily cry.

She's here!

Our first photo with her.

The grandparents are just a little excited, don't you think?

Mom finally gets to hold her!

One more update before the BIG day!

2009-09-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

I had another doctor's appt Thursday and he said that Lily is ready to go and he will induce me on Tuesday morning! I can't believe that it is finally here. The first half of the pregnancy went really slow and then it sped up, now it seems like it is dragging again. So unless she decides she is ready before then, we will meet our daughter sometime on Tuesday. Until then...

quick update

2009-08-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

tomorrow is the big day, we will find out if Lily is still breech (which I am pretty sure she is) and what day we will finally hold her in our arms.

Here is a picture of Fern on her first day of MDO. It was pouring rain and I had to get her and Rosa out of the car and into school so I don't have a picture of her in her classroom that day.

But, here is a picture of her with her teacher at the Open House.

And here is a picture of Fern and two friends on her first night of dance

A few weeks ago Mary Ellen came over and took maternity pictures. Here are a few shots she got that day.

Last week I had two baby showers. One was with friends we go to church with and the other was a group of ladies who also have adopted from Guatemala and a friend from the church we used to attend. Both nights we went to dinner and on Friday night, we also went to a movie. It was so nice to have a girls night out (ok 2 GNOs) with some really great friends!

Crazy Days!

2009-08-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that we are about to have a baby! It is exciting and scary all at the same time. My due date is Sep 11th, but we found out last Thursday that our little Lily is head up. I have another appointment tomorrow (37 weeks) to see if she has turned (don't think she has) and if not, we will go ahead and schedule a C-section. That's not really how I imagined this whole thing going down, but I am thankful that there are ways to safely deliver a breech baby and that we know ahead of time she is breech. Our thoughts are that we will schedule the C-section for the first week of Sep, hopefully Sep 4th.
If we didn't have enough on our plate with 2 little ones at home and a baby on the way, Fern started MDO and her dance classes started up again this week. We weren't planning to let her go to dance this fall but she loves it so much we thought it would be a good distraction for her with Lily coming. She is going to MDO on Tuesday and Thursday and dance on Wednesday.
That's what's going on with us, so if you don't hear from me for a while, now you know why... One day I plan to do some type of photo collage of our summer, but who knows when I'll find time.
I will definitely update when Miss Lily Anne arrives!

Last Night of Dance Class and Fountain Fun

2009-08-17T19:45:00.001-07:00

Some of Rosa's Talkin'

2009-08-17T19:35:00.001-07:00

Rosa's Talkin from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Wow, has it been that long?

2009-08-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Time is FLYING!!! I cannot believe that baby Schroder, who we are pretty sure is going to be Lily, will be here in about 5 weeks. Bill has been so busy with school this summer that we have not had time to do anything to get ready for her so this weekend is it! We had a yard sale this morning to clear out the garage some, made about $100, not much, but hey it paid for the paint we bought for the nursery.
We really thought that we would have sold our house and have moved by the time the baby arrived, but alas, we are still here so we decided to go ahead and get a room ready for her. We are (actually my mom, Bill and Dane) in the process of painting our office Milk Chocolate. We figured it is a good neutral color so it can easily be converted back to an office when we get ready to sell it. We have a baby bed, since Fern has moved to her big girl bed, a changing table and a rocking chair. I think it should be enough for now and hopefully in the next few months we can get our house on the market and find a bigger one for us.

Fern is getting ready to start school (3 days a week at Mother's Day Out) and her dance classes. She loved going to dance so much over the summer that we gave in and are sending her this fall as well. She dances ALL the time- walking across the parking lot, getting ready for bed, in the bath tub, anytime, anyplace. She also loves to sing. She will sing (at the top of her lungs) for hours-just any song she can think of or make up...

Rosa is preparing for her role as a big sister and middle child. She loves babies, we'll see how it goes when she has to share mommy with someone else. She is talking up a storm. She says- thank you, sister, NO, I don't know, outside, book, baby, flower- lots of other things I can't think of right now, but her vocabulary is expanding daily. She is working hard on putting sentences together.

We have some cute pictures I need to post, but have not taken them off the computer yet.
Wednesday I am having maternity pictures taken with the girls, so hopefully I can post those soon.

Hopefully I will get around to posting again before Lily gets here, but we only have 5short weeks, so no promises!

One year already...

2009-07-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

I intended to post this on Friday, but we had a full day. Friday, July 3rd marked the one year anniversary of my arriving in Guatemala to be with our girls. It was a bittersweer trip. I was finally with our girls, forever, but I had to be away from my family and friends and everything familiar.
Here are a few pictures of then and now...

Me and Rosa-the day I got to Guatemala, she was 8 months old.

Me and Rosa-one year later, she is 20 months old.

Fern and Shyrel- the day I got her in Guatemala, she was 2 years and 3 months old.

Me and Fern- one year later, she is 3 years and 3 months old.

Me and the girls on July 4th, missing our Papi...

Our whole family, including Baby Schroder on the way.

I can't wait to see what our family looks like in a year from now!

Trying to catch up...

2009-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Fern is loving her dance classes. She loves tap, when we got her shoes, she put them on and wanted to wear them for the rest of the night. Here are a few pics from her first night at dance.

What an imagination

2009-06-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

For weeks now we have been talking to Fern about the baby in mommy's tummy. I wondered if she really understood and I'm still not sure if she does. Today, however, she brought her baby bottle and blanket over to me and laid the blanket on my stomach and stuck the bottle up to my stomach to feed the baby. It was too cute, she is going to be such a big helper to me when the baby gets here.

A glimpse into the work God is doing in Guatemala

2009-06-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Bill and a little girl named Gloria. The mission team went to Hermano Pedro, a hospital for the handicapped and disabled. Most of the patients there lay in cage like beds all day. This day, Bill got to hold this little girl. It was a very moving experience for him. Here are his word "I don't really have the words to express how thankful I am to God for allowing me to experience this. I was not looking forward to this part of the trip having foreknowledge of this place, but my time with little Gloria has blessed me beyond belief."

I am so thankful to have a husband with such compassion for others. He has such a huge heart, always wanting to help others. I often find myself discouraging this, feeling like his family deserves his time. I am thankful I serve a God who speaks louder than me and puts me in my place. I am thankful for a husband who listens to God. We are so blessed!

Please continue to pray for the team as they minister to the "least of these" in Guatemala. Bill, I love you and am so proud to call you my husband. Thank you for loving the people of Guatemala, you are setting an amazing example for our girls and I pray their heart for their country will one day be as big as yours.

It's just me and the girls

2009-06-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

As I type, Bill is boarding a plane to Guatemala for a 10 day mission trip with 26 others from our church/the Madison area. Please pray for safe travels, good health, opportunities to minister to the people of Guatemala, and their safety in general.

One of the ministries they will be working with is Amor del Nino, which is the children's home Fernanda was in. I am so excited for the opportunity to give back to this amazing ministry, as Bill and I are forever grateful for the care and love they gave Fernanda. She is such a well-adjusted little girl and I owe that to the care she received from Steve and Shyrel and the nannies.

Please pray for us as we wait for him to come home, it will be a long 10 days, but I am trying to plan things for us to do each day so we don't go crazy. Fern starts dance classes on Monday so that gives us something to look forward to.

Pictures only

2009-05-21T19:41:00.001-07:00

Me and the girls after dinner at Rosie's

Bill and the girls looking at some cows, they came right up to the fence.

Rosa being silly after bath time.

Rosa's attempt at hiding her broccoli

Belly pics, whose tummy is bigger?

Rosa wants in on the action.

no pics this time

2009-05-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

I know most of you wanna see pics of the girls when I update, but I don't have any tonight. Just wanted to share a few things the girls are doing these days.

Fern: She loves to dance and sing. She is such a happy little girl and wants to play ALL the time. She has apparently watched a little too much Dancing with the Stars because her dancing looks a little ballroom-ish, it is too funny. I will have to get some video of it to post. We have signed her up to take dance this summer, that should be funny. She is so smart and every time we get in the car she asks where we're going and if I am on the phone she wants to know "who is it?" If she asks to do something or go somewhere, and I say later, she tomorrow? She is such a good mommy to her babies and makes sure they are well fed and get enough sleep and lets me know that I need to be quiet because her baby is sleeping. We are working on learning her colors, I guess she should already know them, but for some reason, she just hasn't gotten it yet. She does know that the paint on her toenails is orange. I guess I will have to paint them a different color each week and maybe she will learn her colors that way. When I ask her what she wants to eat, she says chicken minis at chick-fil-a, a girl after my own heart! She is being kinder and kinder to her sister everyday and sometimes I even see her give Rosa a kiss for no reason. I think that now that Rosa is getting bigger, she can actually play with her so she's not so much of a pest. I am so thankful for the events that led us to her and thank God for entrusting her with us. We will be forever grateful for our beautiful bundle of joy!

Rosa: She gives the best kisses EVER! She loves to say bye and give kisses as she runs off to play. She is getting so big. We moved the high chair out and got her big girl booster seat so now she and Fern sit beside each other at the table. She is a climber. She climbs into her chair and then up on the table before I even realize it. She always wants to play with the big kids. Rosa loves shoes. She has a pair of crocs that someone gave us that are about 2 sizes too big. She puts them on every morning and wears them all day. She loves playing in water. I can't wait till we can take her swimming, I think she will love it. She loves her big sister although she now outweighs Fern. Rosa has quite the vocabulary now, although I am the only one wo can understand it. She does say a very clear NO! Even though I didn't understand why things happened the way they did during our adoption process, I am so thankful that God chose her for our family. She is such a perfect fit. We love our little girl!

Baby Schroder: We have opted to not find out the gender of the baby. We want it to be a surprise. I did, however, dream last night that it is a boy, so we'll see. I can definitely feel the baby moving now and Bill got to feel it the other day too. Most of the movement is at night when I am laying in bed and especially after I have eaten something sweet. My belly must be getting quite big because Fern told me the other day "mommy, your tummy is BIG". I told her it is because the baby is growing bigger in there. I hope she never tells anyone else that their tummy is big or asks if they have a baby in their tummy... I go to the doctor this week for another checkup. I will be 23 weeks on Thursday. We are more than half way, so hard to believe. I know that it won't be long before I am heading to the hospital. We are going to try to take childbirth classes this summer, if we can fit it in with Bill's school schedule.

That's about all that's going on with us. We stopped on the side of the road today to let the girls see some cows and I took a few pictures, but I was really far away so I'm not sure how they will turn out. I will post some if they are any good.

Mother's Day weekend

2009-05-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos of our Mother's Day weekend. When I got out of the shower Saturday, the girls greeted me with T-shirts that said I sparkle for mommy, too cute. They both gave me a bag of Wal-Mart brand peanut butter cups, MY FAVORITE, and a card. It was such a special day!

The girls eating breakfast before church on Sunday

Photo from our dedication service, not the best photo of us on stage, maybe we can get a better one to post

Our little family

I told Rosa to go get me a diaper and this is how she came back. I laughed so hard, Fern could not miss out on the fun so she had to go get one too... Notice the pull up on her leg too. She does this over and over all day!

Journey to India

2009-05-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

My friend Amy and her husband Clint are getting on a plane in the morning, headed to India to pick up their son Simeon. I wish I could send you to their blog to read their journey for yourself, but her blog is private. Please be praying for this family as they unite for the first time on Monday. What an awesome Mother's Day for Amy!

A few fun photos

2009-04-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Easter weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Easter egg hunt at church and then went to Nana and Pa's house for lunch. We had 2 birthday parties we were invited to that day as well, however, I ended up with an ear infection so we came home.

Decorating cookies at church

Rosa just ate hers

Fern "finding" eggs, she got a TON!

Mr. & Mrs. Bunny...

A visit from E. Bunny

Rosa enjoying her chocolate bunny

I took a few pictures today. Here are the girls playing with their princess stuff. Fern loved the dress up shoes and Rosa wanted to wear them , but fell every time she took a step.

My princesses!

And with the news of Swine Flu cases in Madison, we're getting ready...

Just in case...

We're all safe!

3

2009-04-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Although we celebrated Fern's Birthday back on March 28th here is a cute picture courtesy of Kelsy Lantz Photography.

What's up?

2009-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

We have been busy, busy...
I quit my job last week so after the girls finish up their last week of daycare we will be home again!
We had a fun Easter weekend. We went to the Easter egg hunt at church on Sat morning then over to Nana and Pa's for lunch. We had 2 b'day parties we were invited to, but I was not feeling well, so we came home instead.
We went to church Sun morning and then to Abby and Bob's (granddaddy's) for lunch on Sun. We actually got to spend the evening at home, just the 4 of us, the first time in a while!
My mom, aka Abby, is getting married this Sat so we have a busy weekend! Fern will be the flower girl and Rosa will just watch from afar. WE are excited to see 2 of my cousins from ATL and their daughters! I just don't get to see them often enough.
I promise to download all of our pics soon and post a couple.
As far a baby Schroder, we are at 18 weeks, almost half way! We have our 20 week appointment on the 27th of April. This is the appointment where we can find out the gender of the baby, but we are planning to wait until the baby gets here! We'll see how that goes, when we are sitting in the office and have the opportunity to know-we'll see if we can hold off!
We are seriously toying with the idea of putting our house on the market, so that means we have ALOT to do to get the house ready for that.
And I would like to have another yard sale, maybe sometime in May, but that's a lot of work too.
That's what's going on with us.

A kiss for the Easter Bunny?

2009-03-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

EasterBunnyKiss from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Guess Not....

Sneak Peek

2009-03-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

For a sneak peek of some of the pics we had taken, check out Kelsey Lantz's blog. She did an amazing job! She will be back in the area in June so if you want some awesome pics, contact her!

Fern's 3rd birthday party rewind

2009-03-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Fern's 3rd Bday Party from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Fern and Flor, and little Ol' Rosa

2009-03-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Early Spring Fun

2009-03-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the pictures Carla!!!

We're in bloom...

2009-03-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

Since the title of our blog is watch our garden grow, I guess you could say we are blooming. When we began to tell people that we were adopting, the one thing we heard most often is "as soon as you adopt, you're going to get pregnant." To be honest, after having had 2 miscarriages, that was the LAST thing I wanted. Well, I guess you all can say, "I told you so!" because we are exactly that, 12 weeks pregnant! Holy Cow! We are still in shock, excited beyond belief, and a little scared. I had my 12 week appointment today and we heard the heartbeat, which was such a relief. We don't understand the timing of it all but are grateful to God for the blessing of all our children, and His timing is perfect.
So as we celebrate this time in our life, please also be in prayer for us. Once you have had a pregnancy loss, that is ALWAYS in your mind. Please pray for a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby, and peace of mind as we look for a bigger vehicle and a bigger house and prepare to be a family of 5!

Promise to post tomorrow

2009-03-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

I know it has been FOREVER since I posted anything. Thanks to Bill, we did get some video up. I promise to post something good tomorrow!

snow in the playhouse

2009-03-01T11:19:00.002-08:00

Snow in Playhnouse, March 2009 from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Snow on deck

2009-03-01T11:19:00.001-08:00

snow on the deck from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Snow! March 1 2009

2009-03-01T09:54:00.001-08:00

snow! from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Lunch on the deck in January.....

2009-03-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Lunch in the playhouse, Jan 2009 from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Where are your Eyes?

2009-03-01T09:50:00.001-08:00

Rosa - where are your eyes? from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Some Christmas Morning Memories

2009-02-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

Should have posted sooner

2009-01-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

I should have put this up sooner, but I have been a little busy and tired! Bill, Josh Britt and Sue Ann McCoy are in Guatemala right now on a scouting trip for an upcoming mission trip this summer. You can check out some of their pictures at http://72students.blogspot.com/ . Please keep them in your prayers while they are there and on their way home and pray that they are sensitive to God's leading for what ministries they will work with this summer.

My Birthday

2009-01-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

Bill planned a little "surprise" birthday dinner for me at my favorite restaurant "Rosie's". Here are just a few pics from the night.

Christmas Decor

2009-01-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get caught up on posting. Here's my first shot at creating collage in Picasa. Here are a few shots of our decor this year. The past couple of years have been hard for me to get in the mood to really decorate and Bill has done most of the work. It was really fun decorating this year and watching how excited Fern and Rosa got when they saw all the fun Christmas decorations. I don't have a picture of the outside lights, but every time we went out at night, Fern would see the lights and say "Thank you Papi!" It was so sweet.

Our last roomie is headed home!

2009-01-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

Auri is finally being "released" (at least that what it feels like when you are waiting) and will be going home to her family next week! We are so excited for the Heinrich family

Will you pray for Abby?

2009-01-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

I wanted you to know about Abby.

She was adopted from Guatemala. At three years old, she was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%.

I am praying for her and her family. Would you pray for them too?

You can find more about Abby here, on her family blog: http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/2009/01/about-abby.html

I know, I know

2009-01-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

I am so behind in posting. We had a wonderful Christmas with the girls and our families. They (especially Fern) had so much fun the entire month of Dec. Unfortunately we had computer problems and half of our Christmas pictures had already been downloaded on it. We should get it back with in the next week and then I can try to catch up. We didn't get to all of our advent activities, unfortunately, but I hope we can catch up.

Fern had trigger thumb release surgery on New Years Eve and she has done great with the surgery, wearing the cast and everything. She gets it off on Friday, I think I will be as happy as she will be. It has been a bit of a pain trying to bathe her with it on.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, ours was all we had hoped it would be.

Oh yeah, one more thing, my mom got engaged on New Years Day! Guess we will be busy planning wedding for the next couple of months...

More Advent Activities

2008-12-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pics of our Christmas activities...

Dec 11- Hang Christmas Stockings (forgot to get a picture of this)

Dec 12- Botanical Garden Lights

Dec 13- Shop for Mommy's stocking stuffers (it's a surprise so I don't have pictures...)

Dec 14- Make a Gingerbread House

Please Pray!

2008-12-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

Our friend Amanda has been waiting for her daughter Flor to come home for over a year now. Please join us in praying that the Guatemalan government would let her out of PGN NOW! Flor's b'day is coming soon and I know Amanda would have loved to celebrate her 4th b'day at home, in Alabama. When you think of it, please say a little prayer that she will be home soon!

December 10th

2008-12-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

Today we made cookies for our church staff.

Fern really enjoyed helping make the cookies and then eating them when we took them out of the oven.

BUT this is what happened when she realized we were leaving the cookies at church and we weren't staying. I'm not sure if it was leaving the cookies or leaving church that made her cry, but she did just that for about 15 minutes.
I guess she doens't quite understand the giving part...

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Our church has been doing a sermon series called Advent Conspiracy. The goal is to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All. The Brook, as a church is collecting a special offering for Living Water International. Our small group collected money to send to Amor del Nino. This is the home Fern lived in before she came home to us. We wanted to do something special as a family. One thing we decided is that we want to teach our children the reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus' birth, and not just about getting presents. We started out with an advent calendar that contains different activities for us to do as a family. Here are the first 9 days of December...

12/1- Color a picture for Nana & Pa

12/2- Color a picture for Abby & Bob

12/3- Color a picture for Papa Joe & Gran

12/4- Taken canned food to the WAFF Can-A-Thon,

12/5-Toys for Tots

12/6- Christmas Parade-it wasn't that great so no pics...

12/7- Visit to Santa-Have to scan it in...

12/8- Set out our nativity

12/9- Watched a Christmas movie together

I'll post more pictures when I upload them from the camera. Fern is so excited to open the boxes each day.

Trying to catch up...

2008-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying! Let's see, we went to Nashville a couple of weeks ago, because I had the bright idea that we should go see the ICE display at Opry. While it was really cool, it was really COLD and a really stupid idea to take the kids. Here's a few pics of that adventure...

As you can see, Bill was the only one having fun.

The girls were only happy when we were in the warmth of the mall.

growing girls...

2008-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted much recently, we have been busy, busy...
The girls are getting so big.

Rosa is trying to walk. She can take a couple of steps but loses her confidence and falls. She loves to do anything Fern is doing. She has started trying to feed herself with a spoon/fork and does a pretty good job at it. She isn't talking a lot but her vocabulary contains the words: dada, kitty, boo, and she is trying really hard to say Fern. No mama yet, but that'll come soon and NEVER stop! We are working on giving up the bottle. She does OK until bedtime and then she wants it. She is growing out of 12 mo clothes and into 18mo, the same size Fern wears, and a 3.5 shoe. She has been very healthy since I have had her, but did end up with a double ear infection last week. After a round of antibiotics, she is feeling much better. I think she is getting more teeth, she keeps her finger in her mouth all the time. Overall she is a very happy baby, definitely a mama's girl. She loves to eat, anything and is adjusting to regular milk. We are so blessed to have her.

Fern is so smart! She has almost stopped speaking Spanish, which makes me sad. We are working on learning her colors, she knows rojo (that's red to us English speakers), but everything is rojo... She can count to 10 in both English and Spanish. She LOVES books! She has potty books-that's the books she reads while sitting on the potty- and she also sleeps with books. I am excited that she loves books so much. I am not a bog reader but Bill is so hopefully she will be too. She also loves to color and play with stickers. Her baby occupies a lot of her time, putting the diaper on, taking it off and scolding the baby that she should have gone pee-pee potty. And speaking of potty, she is basically potty trained. We still have accidents, but most days she ends up with dry pants at the end of the day. I actually put real underwear on her today, just to see how it goes. I will probably put the pull-up (do you know how expensive those are?)back on before we go out tonight, but she is doing great. Fern keeps us laughing. We love her so much and are so happy that God gave her to us!

Fern got bit in the nursery at church last week, here's her battle scar...

Rosa really gets into eating her cheerios...

Picture Time!

2008-11-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we had some pics taken of the girls and a few of the four of us. Here's a few of my favorites...

These were taken by Mary Ellen Pollard, Lighthouse Photography

Go check out her site!

Auri's coming home!!!

2008-11-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

Our last roomie has finally gotten good news. Auri is out of PGN! Now we are praying she makes it home before Christmas!

Trick-or-Treating was a HIT!!!

2008-11-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Although it got a bot cold, Fernanada LOVED "treating"... She caught on real quick to holding out her bucket and being cute so she could get more "dulce" (that's Spanish for candy/sweet). She liked all the decorations, except the talking skeleton and the hairy hand that opened the door at one house. She did such a good job walking around the neighborhood and then helping daddy/papi hand out candy. Rosa was just along for the ride but looked cute as ever.

Here's a shot of Rosa in her birthday outfit our sweet friend Carla made for her.

I can't believe she is already 1. We had a great day celebrating today and I promise to post pics soon.

A week of Halloween

2008-10-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Somehow we ended up with 4 Halloween shirts for each of the girls, even though we didn't buy any, so the girls sported their shirts all week.

and we even had a pair of PJs, which we did buy.

Not too much else has been going on.

We are getting ready for Rosa's big day tomorrow! We are having a small party for her on saturday.

Last Saturday we had pictures taken so I will post some of those soon.

Where have we been???

2008-10-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks have been a bit crazy!!!
Since the last time we talked, I have been suffering from back pain, Bill has had his gall bladder removed and was diagnosed with mono, long story..
The girls, however, have not stopped, they are in full swing. This week we got to get together with most of our former roomies, Kelsey, Staci & Andrew, and Lindsey & Eliana. (We can't wait until Deanna & Auri can join us!)
We are getting ready for Halloween, aka Rosa's 1st birthday!
Here are a few pics...

Fern has a boo-boo like Papi...

Rosa is always climbing.

Rosa's favorite place to sit.

Just some more cuteness

2008-10-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Steve Osborn, also known as Papa Steve, happened to be in town for a missions conference at a nearby church. Steve and his wife Shyrel are the directors of Amor del Nino, the home that Fern was in. Fern was so excited to see Papa Steve! And I think he was just as thrilled. He was impressed with her southern accent she has already picked up.

Fern loves wearing her sunglasses, sunny or not, inside or out... Here she is sitting on the potty, again, (we do this a lot since we are really working on potty training) wearing her glasses. Sorry no pics of Rosa this time, all the ones of her had me in them and they weren't my best side...

30 days...

2008-10-01T09:57:00.001-07:00

Our baby girl will be 1 in 30 days! I can't believe it! Here's a couple of shots of what we've been doing today...

Fern "sleeping" with her baby...

Such a good little mommy.

What a big girl, sleeping in Fern's bed.

More Happenings

2008-09-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

We have been joining some other Guategirls/Guatemamas for play dates. I am so glad Fern has these other little ones to play with. We can't wait for Andrew, Adriana, and Flor to join us! Friday night we went to Bella's 2nd birthday party. Fern had a blast! Bella is the one in the green dress.

Friday, Bill's co-workers/friends gave us another shower. And on Saturday, we had one with my family and friends. We have been so blessed by all of our family and friends! I don't have pics from today yet, but I will post those soon.

Rosa and Jeremy

Rosa and Damon

Fern enjoying the BBQ

Tonight, Fern was sitting on a little step stool feeding her baby. She had a wire mesh trash can that she had put her "monies" in that she kept dragging all over the living room. Here's what I saw her doing...
Guess she learned something from all of our strolling around Antigua!

Another Roomie comes home!!!

2008-09-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

My sweet roomie, Lindsey, and her daughter Eliana are coming home! Check out their blog for more info!!!

Baby Shower

2008-09-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

My fabulous friends gave us an adoption shower this past weekend. It was so much fun and they blessed us with soooo much for the girls. I will post more pictures later, but here is a pic of me and the girls and all the ladies who hosted the shower. Like I have said, over and over, I have amazing friends and family! Thank you so much!

What we've been doing...

2008-09-17T12:52:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't been updating much bet here's what we've been up to...

Rosa, right after she stole my chicken nugget.

Pippi Longstocking???

Welcome Home Andrew!

Eating is hard work!

Num-Num

Fun times with Mrs. Melony
Our hero who drove to B'ham to pick us up when Delta let us down!

It's never too early to start, is it?

Fern doing her favorite thing, EATING!
I promise she doesn't wear this shirt everyday...

One of our first outings

2008-09-12T08:44:00.001-07:00

We got home about 1am on Friday August 22nd and on Saturday, the 23rd we went to a friend's wedding. THe girls did really well during the wedding, didn't make much noise at all.

Here is a family photo, taken at the wedding. we were lucky to get all 4 of us looking at the camera at the same time!
I will try to take more pics soon!

New Beginnings

2008-08-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you for walking this journey with us for the past year. When we began, I never imagined it would take a year, nor did I imagine at the end we would have two beautiful daughters. God has blessed us beyond belief and we are so grateful that He has this incredible plan for our lives.

Now that we are home, I will be blogging about the day to day events in our lives. Some days may be pretty boring but with these two little girls, I know that there will be some stories to tell.

In case you are just now joining us, feel free to check out our adoption blogs to catch up...

Fernanda is adjusting great. She is even petting Max a little and tries to put his leash on him.

Rosa is on the move. I know she will be walking soon.

We feel so blessed that God chose us to be THEIR parents and can't wait to see how He is going to use them.