The best we could do for a family picture?? Notice Noah's finger in his nose and Layla is chewing on a tube of toothpaste!! Ashley, Notice the new dark hair!! Still not sure if I like it. I was so used to being a blonde.

Some of our favorite toys!! Notice how daddy is singing along with Layla!! With a guitar and a micraphone we should be taking our show on the road soon!

Santa made a suprise visit to Grandpa's farm! Layla wanted nothing to do with him but she sure does love her Grandpa!

Eli and Noah proud of their Gingerbread houses. P.S. Do not ever let an engineer daddy help build these. He took over and the boys didn't stand a chance!!

Noah playing the bells at his school program

Miss Layla, bundled up and ready to go!

Finally posting Holiday pictures

We had a wonderful Christmas with just a little too much travel involved. Now I am paying the price with a whopper of a cold. I started getting sick on Christmas eve and it has progressed into misery by the end of the week. We went to Grandpa Loyd's farm on Saturday, came home Sunday, had my family here on Christmas eve and went back to Grandma Gayle's on Christmas day. A total of 1200 miles with 3 little ones in 8 days was a bit much. The boys were happy with everything they opened and really didn't care so much if there was anything else this year. Layla really got into it by the end of Christmas eve and just wanted to rip open presents, she did not care what was inside. She did get a stroller that she loves to push around though. We are going to stay at a hotel with the kids for New years eve and one more Christmas celebration with my family on New years day!!

We Wish you a Merry Christmas!

I am posting a picture of our 3 precious children and would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We have been so busy that I am suprised that we are keeping our head above water. Trying to enjoy the season and remember the real meaning of Christmas! Hope yours is as blessed as ours.

I bet all my southern friends are wishing they could visit!! Although I think the snow is beautiful I will be ready to head south by January!

Eli trying to use his sled as a skateboard!

Mom, What is this and what am I doing in it?

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow!!

We have had over 15" in good ole Minnesota!! The kids absolutely love it and the boys have spent many hours out sledding and digging tunnnels in the snowbanks. Layla just wants to eat it!! She is wearing one of Noah's snowsuits that he wore his first winter home. I ordered her a new one off of e-bay but it is not here yet.

Dancing to Laura Berkner ! Layla can really get her groove on.....

With Great Grandma Helen who just turned 90!

All fall down! Except Layla??

Teaching Layla Ring around the Rosie!

Torn between her baseball hat and her purse??

Found my camera cord!!

A weekend at Grandpa's farm!

Before the snow....

Friends through Adoption!

I just had to post today about some of the wonderful people I have met on this adoption journey!! A couple of my best friends are in my life because we met through adoption! Today, I went to my mailbox and found a package from Ginger and Maya!! I sat in my car and just cried my eyes out. Thinking about how God brought these 2 wonderful friends into my life while I was stranded in Guatemala for a month makes me just cry tears of thankfulness! We had some wild and crazy times and I think back to how lonely and scared we were and yet we made it through and have our beautiful girls home with us. There are so many others that have touched my life and I am forever grateful. Ginger, I have listened to my CD all day and LOVE it!! Thank you, Thank you!!
P.S. I have lost my power cord for my camera...Hence, the reason for no pictures!! I will post as soon as I can!
I know of a few of you....... that only come here to see the pictures!!

My heart is so full of Thanks!

I wish every day was Thanksgiving! It is so easy in our busy lives to forget our blessings and complain about how tough we have it. I have to say this 3rd child has put me over the edge. It seems like life just speeds by and I have no control over it other than making it through another day. I want to stop and smell the roses but I am to busy chasing after 3 fighting, taunting, screaming little ones to smell anything other than the coffee that keeps me going during the day. What I need to learn is that I should be grateful they have the spunk and health that they have and appreciate them for who they are. Life is a challenge but I am so Blessed to have these beautiful Babes! Thank you God for these remarkable Gifts!

My favorite about a month ago.

Our first day together forever! 13 months old

10 months old at the Marriott

8 months old in Antigua in February!

My little pumpkin was only 10 lbs at 4 1/2 months but it was all in her cheeks!

Layla 1 year ago on my visit trip!

She's been home 3 months

I can't believe that Layla has been home 3 months! She will be 17 months old in a few days!! The excitement is building over Christmas around our house already and I remember vividly how I had hoped and prayed that she would be here for Christmas last year. Layla is really becoming her own little person. She is so much more relaxed in the last couple of weeks. Has started to love her Daddy and he is just so proud of her! She is finally starting to talk and babble, she has said ma ma and da da and that was about it. But she is vocalizing now with alot babble and is expressing herself with telling us exactly what she wants. She is sleeping in her crib next to my bed for over 1/2 the night, which may not sound like much progress but she hated that crib when we came home so I will take what I can get. I still have to lay next to the crib while she draws in my hand and picks at my fingernails, something she has done for comfort since day 1. She is a little spitfire, loves to climb and is a daredevil. Nothing stops her from getting to what she wants. She is the love of our lives and we are so grateful for her being here with us. So much is happening in Guatemala that could change the lives of all the children there. I am filled with so many emotions as she ventures farther into toddlerhood. All of the months I missed but yet I was able to visit and capture just a little of that baby stage. Layla, we love you with all our hearts and are so glad that God chose YOU for us!

She found this beret in my e-bay stash! She put it on and did not want to take it off!

Then I found her upstairs by the sink where she had pulled over the stool and decided to brush her teeth! Notice the toothpaste on the side of her head!

Layla likes to wash her hair and did it with applesauce at breakfast this morning!

To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn

This has always been one of my favorite songs. A time for every purpose under heaven. I was thinking back yesterday of all the turns my life has taken in a mere 10-15 years. I have lost both of my parents, divorced my first husband, became a grandmother very young as my daughter had a baby as a teenager, remarried, ( a few years later), adopted 3 children, and quit a job I had worked for almost 20 years. Alot of these circumstances were very much out of my control and I must say that I am in a much better place now than 10 years ago. Sometimes though I think about how I didn't think I could go on after each tragedy took place and yet here I am today, a better person because I did make it through. My question to God is always, How many more tests? I know there are trials in life and I usually can work through them through HIM. But who doesn't wonder Why Me? I have always had the attitude that if you don't show your gratitude that bad things will happen, crazy, I know but just something that might have been instilled in me as a child. Most days I am filled with gratitude in just wondering how I became so lucky to be chosen as these little ones Mommy and count the many blessings I have. To everything Turn,Turn,Turn.

Our little bumble bee!

Noah is all about Cowboys and horses!

Eli is total tough guy!

Batman, Bumblebee

and the cowboy!

Happy Halloween!!

Layla dressed up for her 1st Halloween( with us anyway) and I find it funny how last year I wished so badly she would be home by every passing Holiday and this year I did not even have a costume for her until Tuesday!! Of course the selection was pretty picked over by then but we made due with a bumble bee costume! She was a trooper trick or treating although we only went to a few neighbors and friends houses. She has a keen smell for candy and can find any little piece that might be lying around. This morning she cried for her bag that was hanging on the door. (I didn't even realize she would remember what was in there.) The boys thought it was much more fun to hand out candy at our house!! They were in the door calling people in from the steet to solicate more business!! " Come to our house We have candy!!" Too funny.

Emily Belle is with her Mommy!!

My friend Betsy left yesterday for Guatemala and word on the net is that she has little Emily Belle with her!! I am so excited to see pictures since I have not seen her since we were in Guatemala in July and I am sure she has changed! I don't know why but I just keep crying every time I think of that miraculous moment when they hand that little one over to you that you have been dreaming and praying about for so long. I have been giving my kids extra squeezes this weekend just remembering what a journey it was to bring them home and what a true Blessing each one is to our family! The status of Guatemala adoptions is in question and I just want to do something to help the country of my childrens birth. I have been praying about it and first and foremost, in case you are getting some crazy notion in your head, it will not be adopting another one. Perhaps some mission work in the future and I have a real desire to learn Spanish so my children will be bilingual. We have had a fun weekend but I left my camera at Steve's grandma's last weekend so no new pics! I may borrow a camera this week to get some good pumpkin and halloween pictures!

The brothers showing each other some Love!!

AKA: Wrestling!