We would like you to meet...

Some of you are aware that our family is a license foster care family. We decided that in 2008, while we were pursuing our domestic adoption for Sophie, we should also go ahead and get our license to become a foster family as well. At that time, we weren't sure how the Lord was going to grow our family. We wanted to open up as many avenues as possible and then just see where the Lord directed. Well, most of you know our story...we JUST finished our training for foster care when received the call from our private agency about our Sophie. We also found out during that time that we were pregnant with Hudson! Needless to say, we decided to put the whole foster care thing on hold! Well, about six months ago the Lord started tugging at our hearts. We felt the desire to finish the process in order to get our foster care license. We had already done the 30 plus hours of training, so all we had left to do was complete a home study. Well, our license came around Christmas time of last year, and since then we have been waiting for a foster child. Our family is young and busy so waiting was really fine with us. We waited, trusting that if the Lord desired to bring us a foster child He would do it and His timing would be perfect. We were warned by our social worker that our wait may be long simply because we had requested only one child. Most children that come to DSS are sibling groups. It is VERY rare that only one child would come into their custody. We had also requested the child be in the 3-7 year old range. We knew that because of the ages of our kiddo's we couldn't take on another baby at this time.

Well, last week we received a call from our social worker concerning a precious five year old little girl.

Saturday evening our family was introduced to "A"! As of right now, her stay with us in indefinite. We are just so excited to have her here--for however long that me be. The kids have welcomed her wholeheartedly and are thrilled to have another play mate.

"A" seems to be adjusting well too. I am just praying that we can offer her a safe place to be and bring comfort and peace to her little heart.

We are looking forward to a fun summer and hope to make some special memories with little "A"!!

Friends in Christ are FOREVER!!!!

That was the theme of the party my sweet friend, Jessica, hosted at her home on Saturday afternoon. From the time I got the beautiful, handmade invitation in the mail,

I started counting down the days until the event! You have to understand something about my friend Jessica. She is extremely creative and a very gifted artist! She has a knack for throwing the most beautiful parties and no detail is ever over looked. Jessica loves finding a reason (any reason-really) to host a party. Saturday, she decided to throw one in honor of friendship! What a great idea!!! I mean... how often do we get a chance to celebrate the friends the Lord has given us to "do life" with? You know...those friends who walk along side you, encourage you in the Lord, pray for you, and just love you for you! Well, for me, Jessica is one of THOSE friends!

The table was beautifully set and we indulged in a delicious lunch.

The Menu: Chicken Salad Croissants, Melon, Parmesan Cheese Bites,

and for dessert...

Vanilla Ice Cream rolled in Coconut and Toffee Chips

Everything was fantastic!!!

Jessica shared some stories from her heart about what each person there meant to her. Can you say..."pass the tissue's, please?" There was not a dry eye in the house!

At the end of the party, Jessica presented each one of us with several beautiful favors...

homemade bubble bath (which I CAN'T WAIT to use), personalized stationary, and a library card set.

What a perfect way to spend an afternoon...great food, sweet friends, and precious fellowship with my sisters in Christ!

Sometimes the best laid plans, well...

don't go quite as planned.

Thursday evening, our Charlotte Bobcats hosted an open house at the arena uptown. They advertised that all in attendance would receive free hot dogs, popcorn, and soft drinks. There would also be live music, carnival-like games for the kids, and the 2010 NBA Draft would air live on the arena’s main scoreboard. Sounded like a fun, family night --right?!?!
Well, we thought so.
My sister KK was sweet enough to watch the babies for us so we could enjoy an evening out with just the older boys.

Instead of driving, we decided it would be fun to ride the train into uptown.

We were joined by my good friend Jessica, and her little guy Rhett. Jessica's husband Reggie works uptown like Shane, so we met the guys when we got off the train there.

We proceeded on to the arena where we quickly realized EVERYONE else in Charlotte thought this open house would be a fun family night too. The line (just to get in) wrapped around the entire arena. We found our place in line and then waited. And waited, and waited, and waited....

After about an hour or so wait, we finally made our way into the arena. We were given vouchers for our food and then pointed in the direction of the concessions where, of course, more massive crowds of people gathered. At this point we decided to "divide and conquer". Everyone was starving, so Jessica and I would wait in line for the food, while Shane and Reggie would take the boys to play some games. Sounded like a good plan! We all headed to our designated destinations and again found ourselves in extremely L-O-N-G lines. Long story short...we never made it to the front of that hot dog line,

and after the boys waited an hour for ONE trip down the bouncy slide, we decided it was time to call it quits!

We left, and headed on over to Five Guys where we could sit and enjoy a nice juicy burger and fries.

Even though the evening didn't go quite as planned,

we all still laughed, and enjoyed a great night out with precious friends.

All in all it wasn't so bad!

Father's Day Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful and joy-filled Father's Day. Ours was just a little different this year. My parents are out of town, visiting my grandparents, so we didn't get together for our usual BIG Father's Day dinner. That dinner will happen next weekend at my sisters house where we will all be together to celebrate.

As for this weekend---
Well...in honor of Father's Day, Shane took Corban and Riley on their first ever real camping trip.

They went with our friends, Reggie and his little guy, Rhett, for a night filled with nothin' but some manly adventures;)!!

They roasted hot dogs, made smores, went hiking, met a corn snake, slept in a cabin, and came home dirty--yes...very, very, dirty!!!

Oh...they had such a GREAT time!!!

On Sunday, before heading out the door for church, the kids helped me make Shane's favorite breakfast---

---blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs.

The kids also presented Shane with a few sweet homemade gifts, which they made for him during the week.

After church, we headed home for a rather quiet afternoon. The babies napped, and we worked on a few projects around the house. For dinner, we let Shane pick out what he would like to have. Of course, he chose steak and baked potato's!

After dinner, we were off to the pool to enjoy an evening swim.

The kids had so much fun hanging out (and ON) their daddy at the pool.

We've been spending LOTS of time at the pool lately, and seriously, my kids are turning into little fish!
They LOVE to swim!!!

And with that...Father's Day weekend came to an end! It was simple, but oh so sweet!
My kids are truly blessed to have such a fun, loving, godly man to call their Daddy!
Happy Father's Day, Shane!!!

Sweet Cousins!!!!

Yesterday, we had some very special visitors come with us to our pool. My sister B, and my nephew Jake, along with my sister-in-law Sallie, and my niece Makayla joined us for a morning of splashin' fun in the sun!

Oh.my.sweet.goodness...

check out these four cutie patooties!!
What sweet cousins!

It was nothing short of a miracle in order to get these little ones to sit still long enough to take one picture!!! lol

and that's how we roll...

Every morning, usually beginning around 8:00am, you will find our little family outside. Yes, we are a family of early risers, but because of this incredible heat wave we're experiencing, that's really about the only time of day it's possible to be outside and not sweat to death.

So, every morning we head out to the nature trail or "the path"-- as the kids like to call it--for a nice long walk and bike ride. We've been taking this same walk for several months now, but with school out, Cor now gets to join us!

The boys have fun riding up and down the trail,

and the babies are entertained by watching the boys on their bikes.
Also... a few goldfish help keep them occupied!

We have met several other walkers on the trail and look forward to bumping into them each morning.

And just so you know...Riley is very proud to announce that he is the new owner of a
"Big Boy Spider man Bike"!!!!!
It actually is Corban's old bike, but Shane replaced the handle grips and got Ri a new bell for the handle bars.
Let me just tell you...Riley thinks he is one cool dude with his "new" set of wheels!;)

Summer Fun---Take One!

So...our summer is off to a GREAT start. We are truly enjoying these hot summer days, but I definitely wouldn't exactly call them lazy.

What we have been up too...

We've spent most of our time at our neighborhood pool, but would you believe I have not taken ONE picture of the kids there--NOT ONE. That's because ALL my time is spent chasing around four VERY active children!!
Oh. My. Goodness...it's crazy.
The babies LOVE the water, but both tend to go in two different directions at all times. Makes me very nervous. I can't take my eyes off of them for even a second. The older boys are really great swimmers and have proven to be a big help to me with the little ones. We are having a BLAST though, but this mama is worn out after a few hours poolside. I see those sweet moms sitting on the side of the pool chatting, or reading a book while their kiddo's play, and I think--"one day...one day that will be me"---HA!

As a way to stay cool in our own backyard, Shane surprised the kids and brought home a little pool for us to enjoy.

The kids were so....excited.

So, while we grilled our dinner the other night, the kids had some fun playing in the pool.
...And in case you were wondering... that IS a lovely scrap on the top of Hudson's head---courtesy of his big sister!

We even brought out some soap and shampoo and gave the kids their evening bath right then and there.

They thought that was GREAT!!!!

We've also had fun doing some tie-dye projects. Corban received a really cool tie-dye kit for his birthday (thanks Celia) which he was dying (no pun intended) to use ;)!!

So, Sunday afternoon we got to work.

We made several shirts with the kit.

Today we sported our creations!

I think they turned out pretty cute!

Oh...and Corban had his first sleepover of the summer with his best buddy Knox. They had themselves such a great time.

These two can be so silly together. They are such good friends!
Love it!

So that's a little of what we've been up to lately.
Hope your summer is off to a GREAT start too!!!

Summer is (officially) HERE!!!!

Corban is out of school and summer can now officially begin at our house! We are so.....excited!

On Tuesday, we had a fun ice cream party for Corban's class to celebrate the end of a WONDERFUL year!!

The kids had a great time building their very own sundae.
Sophie likes to close her eyes when I take her pic!
Crazy Girl!

Before we dug into the ice cream though, Corban's class put on a few short plays for the parents, and then Mrs. Adams (Cor's precious teacher) presented special awards to the students!

Corban received the Perfectly Polite Award!
Of course you know the manners teacher in me was just bursting with pride ;)!!!

Corban and Mrs. Adams :)

Corban has had a wonderful first grade year!!!
He has grown in so many area's, but especially as a confident reader! His reading has improved so much and he LOVES reading books. Every night you will find Corban curled up in his bed, with Riley right beside him, reading books together!
One of Corban's favorite books to read this year has become his Bible.
Oh how I love that about him!!!

Corban and his good buddy Bryson!
These two have been in the same class two years in a row now!
We are hoping and praying they will be together next year too!!

Corban also learned the importance and value of being a good friend this year. Through different circumstances, Corban had the opportunity to share God's love and pray for several of his friends! I am very proud of him!

So with school OUT, I say... BRING ON those lazy days of summer!

Days where we have nothing better to do than run through sprinklers, eat popsicles, and play at the pool!

Yes...
SUMMER IS HERE!!!!!!!!!

Some good old family fun!

Since Sunday night services at our church have ended for the summer, Shane and I decided it would be fun to spend an evening at C@rowinds. On Thursday, when we were there for Corban's birthday, we decided to go ahead and purchase season passes.
So Sunday marked our first official family trip to C@rowinds!

Now, I PROMISE I won't continue to post pictures EVERY week of my kiddos riding amusement park rides, but since it was our "first" official family trip, and since this blog is my family scrap book, I HAD to share a few of the pics from the trip!

Sweet Hudson and mommy riding the carousel!

Daddy and Miss Sophie riding too!

Little Miss Priss had her first-ever-ride on a roll a coaster!!!
Oh.my.goodness...she LOVED it!!!!
Look at that precious face!
When the ride was over, she didn't want to get off,
so since it wasn't very crowded, we got to ride again---and again!!

Hudson, Daddy, and Riley enjoyed a ride on a hot air balloon!

And Sophie and mommy enjoyed it too!

Check out the cool kid in the drivers seat!



Is this picture a sneak peak into our future?!?!?

Little Sophie Lu driving a red convertible, and
sitting proudly in the passenger seat beside her is the ONLY man in her life...her Daddy--HA!!

What a GREAT evening!

We all had an ABSOLUTE blast and can't wait to go again!!