Back to the Island!

We are not a family that often vacations with our friends, but this year, we headed back up to Kelley's Island with our friends from our small group at church. It was so much fun. There is nothing better for building relationships than to spend large amounts of uninterrupted time together. A and C loved having their friends up there, too. It was a great weekend full of fun activities and real, meaningful conversation. Here are a few shots of the boys and their friends. In typical fashion, I have pictures from the first day and the last day of the trip! for some reason I forgot to take my camera out throughout the middle of the trip. A huge thanks to Gramma the Great for letting us use her cottage for the weekend!

There has been so much going on around here and I haven't had time to sit and blog. But I want to get these memories down before I get too far behind.

A has officially graduated from preschool. His last week was so much fun as they had a play and a picnic. Here he is in his play. 

 This was part of our class gift to A's teachers. The kids used their fingerprints for the faces and then I made them into little people. I think they turned out really cute. And before you start thinking I'm all crafty, I borrowed this idea from my mom's preschool!

A's class at the picnic.

A and C with A's teachers on the last day of school.

The first week of summer, we ventured to the Cincinnati Nature Center with our friends. We had so much fun! We did a nature scavenger hunt through the woods, then we saw tadpoles in the lake and ended up at the Childrens' Playscape where the kids got to dig in the dirt, play in a waterfall and go creeking. What a great place! We'll definitely make our way back there again before the summer is over.

My boys had gotten a set of hockey guys for Christmas, which they have loved playing with ever since.  This summer, I decided to increase the fun by creating our own rink. I put a 9x13 pan in the freezer to make a rink. The kids play hockey on it until the ice has melted too much. Then we refreeze it for later. It has been hours of fun!

Photo shoot update

I have a link to the webpage with more details on the photo shoot, but it is password protected. If you want more info, leave a comment or shoot me an email and I'll get you the details.

Adoption tax credit

Hey faithful few blog readers :)

You all know how deeply I feel about adoption and how passionate I am about helping kids without families find families. There is currently a bill in the House that would establish a permanent tax refund of up to $13,600 for adoption expenses. This wouldn't cover the entire adoption by any means, but it would make adoption an option for many families that could never consider it because of the expense.

Please take a few minutes to visit this website (http://www.house.gov/), find your representative (you can search by zip code if you don't know who it is), and ask them to co-sponsor House Bill HR 4373. It takes only a few minutes, but the passing of this bill would be a monumental step for the orphan crisis.

:) Thanks!

My Cup Overflows!

There are moments in life when God shows up in a totally unexpected way for no other reason than to remind me that I am His PRECIOUS, CHERISHED PRINCESS and that He can and will move mountains to remind me of the DEPTHS of His love. I don't know if you know this or not, but of all of His creations I'm his favorite! (The coolest part is that you are His favorite, too!)

Two years ago, God allowed my path to cross with my sweet friend, H, when we both enrolled our kids in the same preschool. Now two years later, this amazing lady is launching her own photography business. Her pictures are amazing! I have several that she took of my kids in frames around my house, including my all-time favorite picture of my two boys.

So sweet H sent me an email asking if I would be okay with her offering mini-photo shoots to my friends and family where she would donate all of the proceeds to our adoption! Um... YEAH! How could I not be?!

But did you miss all of the coolness in that short email? It wasn't just the email that fills my heart with joy. You see God has placed on my heart this incredible love and desire for my kids that are still halfway around the world. BUT God has ALSO placed these kids on H's heart and mind in such a way that she brainstormed until she could come up with a way to be a part of their story, too. I love the way God meshes all of our paths together. So, even if no one takes her up on her offer for photos, I am blessed with so much joy to the point of overflowing that she would give so willingly to be a part of our story and the story of our children.