Guess What!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness you guys..........

WE'VE BEEN CHOSEN BY A BIRTH MOM!!!!

Going through the adoption process really is such a roller coaster ride for both the birth mother placing her child and the adoptive parents waiting for placement- Nothing is ever for sure until the baby is born and the proper papers are signed-  I am going to keep most of the details of what is going on behind the scenes of our adoption process private for now... I look forward to sharing the full story at a later date-
What I can share with you is this:

Our Adoption Attorney from Hawaii called while we were in Oregon over Easter and told us about a birth mother that is due in July with a baby girl- We were able to have several conversations with this birth mother to determine if we all felt like a good match.  Praise the Lord we all did!!

Our Attorney's (her attorney is in California) have drawn up the proper paper work to start our adoption process- I can not stress enough, and I think I am stressing it totally for my sake and nobody else's- Adoption is a very delicate process and a very emotional one- Matt and I do not know what the future holds but at this point this is what it looks like for us...........

Ellie Marie (Ellie is after my mom and Marie is after her birth mom) will be born somewhere around the beginning of July.  Her actual Due Date is July 15 but because her birth mom will have a scheduled C-Section about a week before we are anticipation right around the 5-8 (please know these dates could very easily change).

We applaud little Ellie's birth mom for the brave decision she made to place Ellie with a 'forever family'- We also feel such a deep sadness for her (birth mom) as she has to deal with the grief of placing a child up for adoption.

May God be glorified through this situation
Thank you again so much for all of your prayers as we have waited for our precious girl to make her way to our family.

o.k. I am getting out of professional sounding blog writing mode and just gotta say.....
THIS IS SO SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITING- I went through each and every one of the clothes I have for little Ellie and my heart about beat right out of my chest with excitement-
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Repeating it from Memory

So.........Yesterday's blog talked about my son Eli's favorite book when he was little (COWBOY PUP)....
Completely from memory (and darn it I could not find a picture of the book on line to post on this blog)........
I can not remember what I had for breakfast this morning- but for some strange reason (maybe it's because it has to do with my Eli:) I can remember a book I have not read in 10+ years (Ryan was NEVER interested in Cowboy Pup- he was all about the movie BABE- in our house we always repeat the saying from that movie "that'll do pig.....that'll do" and then we bust out laughing):

Please add a slight 'mommy' voice that is a bit annoying when reading the following- and make sure to make all the animal noises in your head too- cause that's what we would do for Eli

"Who's that wearing tall black boots, each with a silver spur
With Lasso Chaps and a big white hat-it's Cowboy Pup for sure!
He saddles his horse Tumbleweed, climbs on and say's giddy up
When her rides by all the cow's moooooooo Howdy Cowboy Pup
The Cows are thirsty by high noon, he herds them to a lake
While they drink he shoo's away an ornery Rattle Snake
By campfire light beneath the star's, at the end of his long day
Cowboy Pup sings with a lone Coyote 'yippe-ki-yi-yo......Ki-yi-yay'"

Eli 1999

15 Years Ago Plus One Week

15 years ago plus one week - May 17,1996 at 4:39 a.m. I delivered an 8 lb. 14 oz. baby boy by way of a natural birth- without a stitch of pain medication (I always tell everyone I was crazy- my thoughts now.....EPIDURAL!! It was not until I saw my sister deliver her son 4 years later with an epidural that I thought to myself "Maybe that was route I should have taken")

Mine and Matt's Eli- the Eli that we stared at in Awe and Love in the wee early morning hours on that May morning almost 15 years ago- The Eli that earned the nick name 'Kid Pup' while he was still wearing diapers because he would have us read the book "Cowboy Pup" over and over and over again (Matt and I can STILL say it from memory from reading it so many times)- somehow we exchanged the 'Cowboy' with Kid and to this day Eli is known by Matt and I as 'Kid Pup'- To our Eli that we have watched go from infant to toddler to young boy to young man............

Happy Almost 15th Birthday- 

You are so loved and so cherished!  God Bless and keep you Kid Pup!

Doing 2 things for the 1st time on Saturday!!

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to do 2 things I have never done:

• Travel over our road- from our ranch, through the ranch on the other side of our ranch- all the way to the ATV tours where the public road starts on a 4 Wheeler- Mind you I have traveled this road well over 1000 times over the past 2 years in a vehicle but never on a 4 Wheeler

AND

• Go to the local Farmer's Market that is hosted in the Community College's parking lot- My friend Julie and I had decided to get together for a bit of girl time on Sat- she made the suggestion to go to the local farmer's market......I got to learn the market from an expert- Julie shop's at the Farmer's Market often and was 'in the know' which vendor to buy veggies from- she also knew that the ginger lemonade was worth trying!! 

I am SO SO glad I decided to grab my camera before Ryan and I set out on the ride over the hill!

We had quite a bit of rain Sat. morning- These are water falls
on our side of the ranch

HIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

View from the top looking South

My camera did not capture the beauty of the
orange in the flower on this tree-

Every time we pass over our road we see this 'ugly' duck-
He normally hisses if I stop to feed him- I had no food this time so he simply
turned his head and avoided me all together - hummm..Maybe he hates my food :)

If you have not read THIS blog you will not understand when I say
That the peacock still stands on the side of the road and not the middle!
I see the lesson was well learned.

He really is beautiful

At the beginning of our ranch road you go through
this row of trees...If only our road was this flat and paved!

The back side of the monument on the ranch we pass through
to get to our ranch

front side-
p.s. see those mountains in the back ground- we pass over those
to get to our ranch

I totally get where this 'tree' is coming from-
I feel exactly like that a lot in my life :)
Some of you will not have a clue what I am talking about and some
of you will chuckle to yourself cause you will totally get it-

Farmer's Market

My friend Julie buying veggie's at Farmer's Market-
Hi Julie :)

I love you Mom!

I honestly do not know what I would do with out my mom- The role she has played in my life has, in turn,  played a HUGE roll in the mother I am today and the grandmother I will be someday-

I tuck my kids into bed pretty much every single night while saying prayers with them.... cause that's what I was taught
Our house usually has my boy's friends running around or just hanging out and is an open door to company......cause that's what I was taught
I still hold my boy's hands and give them big hugs all the time..........cause that's what I was taught
My boys wear Vick's on their chest and feet when they are sick.........cause that is what I was taught

My mom watched my boys every Fri. night when we lived on the Main Land to give Matt and I a date night- This started when they were about a year old- If my boys allow, I will do the same.......case that's what I was taught
My mom loves unconditionally and with more compassion than most.....I wish I would have paid attention more to learning this trait when I was growing up cause it's what I was taught

Mom, I love you and thank you so much for the example you have been and are as a mother and 'nana'- Happy Mother's Day!!

I just have to end this blog with saying that for those of you who have lost your mother- I am so so sorry.....God has asked you to carry a burden that I myself can not completely understand- For my friend Treva who will spend her first mother's day without her mother (her mother passed away last summer)  for my cousin Nic who lost her mother several years ago, for my friend Stephanie (who also lost her mother several years ago), and anyone else spending Mother's Day without your mom- May God Bless and keep you and you are in my prayers.

2006

Thurs. night the Office is on :)

Years ago, my sister in law was telling me how funny a certain show she watched was- Then my cousin started talking about it..........Then, when they were together they would talk about it and I would have absolutely no clue what was going on- I HATE THAT!  I'm a girl that likes to be in the know-

The name was a bit blah-zay......The Office??  The first episode I watched it completely annoyed me that they would look at and talk to the camera- I stayed with it- watched a few more episodes and found myself laughing more and more at the odd sense of humor- Matt always say's he would love working in an environment like 'The Office'- I wouldn't go that far- But it sure makes for a funny 30 minutes every Thurs night. 

P.S. Tonight is 2 episodes back to back!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEExciting!!

 

Wednesday's with Lilly

We had the privilege of meeting our friends Antone and Dionne just after we moved to Hawaii-  Dionne was about 5 months pregnant with their 3rd child- Malia (who we call Lilly) when we all met.  Several months ago Dionne had an opportunity to help out in her oldest child's math class at school- she needed a sitter for an hour every other Wed......
I love my every other Wed. with Lilly- I truly do love her like I love my nieces and nephews (which means I love her like I love my own children) and I love that when I watch her I get to imagine what it will be like holding my little girl someday :)

Lilly

As I was doing this pedicure on Lilly I was talking away to her
explaining to her what I was doing.....all the while I was talking I was wondering why
she was being so quiet and SO STILL.....When I glanced over the below picture is what I saw :)