Go PANTHERS!!!!

OUR BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." Ephesians 3:20

Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His loving kindness is everlasting!!!
Psalm 106: 1-2

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.
---1 Samuel 1:27

Truly a miracle, she's a gift from above,
with thankful hearts we announce
the adoption of

our PRECIOUS
DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sophia (Sophie) Hope

born on September 16th and placed into our arms
through adoption
on September 18th!
She weighted 5lbs and 1 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long!!!!

Everything happened so quickly. Literally, we got the call from our wonderful agency that we had been chosen and the next day we were holding our precious Sophie! We feel so incredibly blessed. She is perfect and just beautiful in every way!
We just LOVE to sit and stare at her.
Needless to say, we are completely in love with our baby girl.

The boys are in total awe of her too! They want to hold her ALL the time. They realize we have prayed a very long time for a sister and they are so excited that she is finally here!

We have been dying to share our news with the world, but because of legal issues, we had to wait until we had the go ahead from our agency!

Please, if you would, pray for us as we make this life changing transition. Also, and more importantly, would you pray for Sophie's birth family? We are forever grateful to them, but we know they are grieving. Please pray that the Lord would be so very close to them at this time.

We can't wait to share more pictures with you of our sweet baby GIRL!!!!

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord.
Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a HOPE and a future!!!

We praise the Lord for His goodness and His loving kindness towards us!
We are so grateful to Him and for the joy new life brings!!!!

Hit the floor running...

Literally...

(I haven't had a chance to blog this week, but I wanted to post some recent pictures, and give a quick weekly update.)

Last Saturday our neighborhood hosted it's first family fun run. We planned on running the 5k, but because of time ( Corban had a soccer game to get too) we opted for the 1 mile family fun walk/run.

Corban and Riley ran the entire loop with us. We were so impressed.

Riley also ran in his first ever 40 yard dash.

He received this cool medal at the end of the race. He was so proud of it. He didn't take it off for at least three days. He didn't even want to take it off to get in the bath =).

Then, on Saturday afternoon we had a baby shower for my sister Bethany here at my house.

She is due in about three weeks. She looks so great!!!!!!!!!

The food was really yummy and we had a sweet time celebrating the soon to be arrival of baby Jake!!!! We can't wait to meet him!!

Apple Pickin'

Today, I took the boys apple picking at a local farm.

We met up with a few other home school families and enjoyed a wonderful, fun-filled day!!! (Thanks Kate for planning our outing! We had a BLAST!!!)

We started out the day with a tour of the farm.


They first took us to see several bee hives and we got to watch the bee's make honey. Very COOL!

Then we jumped on a hayride which took us to the apple orchards. We each picked a bag of apples (eating a few along the way)!

Corban and Riley had a great time finding the apples and then pulling them off the trees. After we picked our apples, we headed over to see some animals. We saw rabbits, chickens, goats, and three baby pigs that were absolutely adorable. We ended our time with a picnic lunch!

What a great day!
Now...I'm off to bake something yummy with all those apples!!

Where's Riley?????

Anytime it gets noticeably quiet around our house, the first question I ask is "Where's Riley?" He is normally the center of the noise in our house, so when it's quiet, I know somethings going on.

Last night was one of those times. When I went to look for him...
this is what I found......

Last week I found him, in this same spot, with a pair of scissors in his hand. He was giving himself a haircut. At least I caught him before he did too much damage!

My precious Riley...

Another Soccer Season...

has begun! Today was opening day! What a beautiful day it was too. All week long we held our breath thinking we wouldn't be able to play on Saturday. Hurricane Hannah was predicted to come through our area. Corban checked the weather all week wondering if we would be rained out or not. This morning it looked questionable outside, so we called the weather line just to be sure. "All games are a GO!!!" was the message on the recording. Corban was thrilled. He bolted upstairs and put his uniform on!

It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day!!! A great day for soccer. All Corbans "fans" came out to support him too. Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, "KK", Tim, B, and Matt for coming to his first game. He was so excited to see each one of you!

He is one blessed little boy to have so many people cheering him on!!!

Corban and his BFF Abby...

Talkin' game strategies...

Uncle Matt and Riley cheer from the sidelines!!!

Corban-getting ready to score a goal!!!

Spain! Spain! Spain, Spain! GO........SPAIN!!!!!

Happy Labor Day!!

Don't you just LOVE these three day weekends!?!? I do!!! You have enough time to get everything done that needs to be done and still have time left to play. That's just what we have done this weekend... a little work and a lot of play.

Every year our town holds a festival on Labor Day weekend. We have attended the festival every year since I was little. We usually attend the parade Saturday morning, but this year, because of the 90 degree heat, we decided to forgo the parade and just go to the festival later Saturday evening when it was a bit cooler. Well, the weather did not end up cooperating with us.

We got to the festival and the boys had a chance to ride several of the rides. We were having a great time, when all of a sudden, out of no where... the "monsoon" hit. It started with a light drizzle and before we knew it, it had turned into an all out downpour. We ran as fast as we could back to the car, but because of the parking situation, our car was about 1/2 mile away. By the time we made it to the car we were all totally drenched!!! You could literally ring out our clothes. We had to laugh though! It was really funny and the boys didn't seem to mind one bit. They thought it was great!

Today we are getting together with several of our neighbors for a Labor Day cookout. I am bringing one of our favorite desserts -chocolate, peanut butter trifle.

I LOVE anything peanut butter and chocolate!!!! Here's the recipe... It's really fast, easy, and yummy!!!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter Trifle

1- Box of Chocolate Brownie Mix

1- 6oz Box of Instant Chocolate Pudding
1- 12 oz Tub of Cool Whip
1- Bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Cook brownies according to directions; Let cool completely. Cut into small bite-size pieces.
Mix pudding according to directions
Open all Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and set aside in bowl
Begin layers...
Brownie, then pudding, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (crushed), then cool whip...REPEAT until trifle bowl is full.
Let it chill for several hours.

My little cooking helper!!!

Happy Labor Day!!!