Walker's Bible Presentation

Today was this sweet little boy's Bible presentation at church.  Each year, our church presents Bibles to all the babies born within the last year.  There were 14 new babies this year...3 of which belong to staff members!!!

 My sweet family...

And this is what it is normally like when we try to take a picture with these two!!!

 We were so glad to have G and Kay Kay with us and it was also great to have Haley and Robert! Thank you guys for getting up so early to come all the way to Hattiesburg!!

Nana and Pop with their grandkids

 The whole Nelson crew...such a blessing to get to spend time with everyone!

We had such a special time with family today! Worship together, a yummy lunch, and play time outside...it doesn't get much better!!!

Playing with G and Kay Kay

G and Kay Kay came to spend the day with us on Saturday.  Ella Kate was beside herself!  The weather was so nice so the kids had fun playing outside.

 Having a big parking lot nearby is super helpful when biking!

 It's nice for strolling too.

 My little sweeties!!!

 This little girl LOVES playing in the dirt!!!!

I just love days when we can just play at home!!!!!

Just For Fun...

When I got Walker dressed for church this morning, he reminded me so much of Ella Kate!! So, of course I had to take a little comparison picture!!! I just love them!!!

Tuesday Visitors

I love getting to visit with family! It just makes me happy!!! Today, we had a wonderful time catching up with the Porter crew.  They have all been on the coast, so they came up today to see the kids. 

 Ella Kate was beside herself with excitement to have everyone here to play with her.  She did everyone's hair in her barber shop, and even convinced Aunt Diane and Aunt Carolyn to play dress up with her! (No worries, Aunt Diane and Aunt Carolyn, I will not post the pictures on here :) ) 

 Papaw got some snuggles from the great-grands

 Uncle Allen and Aunt Ellen took the extra long way back home to Dothan to come see us.  Thank y'all for coming!!!

 Aunt Carolyn with the "earring remover machine" as EK called it....aka the curling iron.  Poor Aunt Carolyn...EK was successful in pulling those earrings right out...OUCH!!!

We are getting spoiled!!! With both of my cousins getting married this last year, we have gotten to visit with Aunt Diane more often.  So fun!!! Virginia and Mississippi are just too far away!!!!!

Our afternoon visit was just fabulous! Thank y'all so much for coming!!!!!

Weekend Happenings

We had a fabulous weekend! J was asked to speak at a ski retreat for a couple of churches in Gatlinburg, TN. I got to tag along and we had the best time!!! J got to ski a bit and I got to hang out, shop and play since skiing is not my forte. The weather was beautiful and not terribly cold, so we enjoyed a lot of time just reading on our balcony enjoying the gorgeous mountains. Gatlinburg is a funny little town for sure with a variety of random places! It was great getting to explore and people watch!!!

                     

The kids had such a fun time too because they spent the weekend at Nana and Pop's house. Ella Kate painted everybody's fingers and toes, rode the gator and golf cart for about a million miles, strolled and strolled and strolled around the neighborhood, went to visit Haley while she was teaching school, fed the birds with Meemaw, Haley and Robert came to visit, sink baths were taken...you get the idea. They were busy!!! On our way home, Ella Kate said she wanted to go back to Columbus for a few more days. Glad to see you too, Dear!!!!

Thank you so very much to the Nelson's for keeping the kids and allowing us to get away for a few days! We so appreciate it!!!!!

Where To Begin...

  Ephesians 1:4-5 says "Even before He made the world, 

God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without 

fault in His eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into 

His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus 

Christ.  This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great 

pleasure."  Let that sink in a minute.  God chose us and loved

 us even though we were sinful, dirty, undeserving, and on 

and on I could go.  He WANTED to do it!!! I don't know about 

you, but that makes we want to scream praises to Him and 

shout out the biggest THANK YOU ever imaginable! We 

deserved DEATH but are given the opportunity to have LIFE 

eternal if we are willing to accept this free gift.  That's good 

stuff right there!!!!

      When I was 15 years old, I felt 2 very strong callings 

from the Lord in my life.  The first was that I was to marry 

a minister.  Check.  The second was that I was supposed 

to adopt a child from Asia.  It was a clear message from the 

Lord that this was an act of worship that He wanted me to do 

no matter what.  He brought me to this passage in Ephesians 

and it was like He laid it out for me very clearly.  He called 

me to action.  There are about 163 million orphans reported 

in the world.  163 million children in need of a home....that is 

a heartbreaking statistic!  It is time to do something about this.

       J and I began dating over 10 years ago.  One of our first 

conversations centered around the 2 callings in my life.  It was 

so clear to me how God was in the middle of all of it because 

J had already accepted God's call to full time ministry and 

he was completely on board with adoption.  Our 

conversations during those first few months of dating really 

solidified it in my heart that this was the man God had created 

and prepared for me and an adoptive journey was the path that 

He had for our family.  We were married in 2005 and in 2009, 

we welcomed our beautiful little girl Ella Kate.  We knew we 

had to wait until we were both 30 to officially begin all the 

paperwork and the long road to bringing our daughter home.  

What we weren't expecting was our sweet Walker who 

surprised us in 2012.  We can't imagine life without him now, 

but it did delay our process a little bit since the youngest child 

in the house must be 1 year old before the home study can 

be completed.  =)  I am amazed at how the Lord is at work 

in our family.  We have really been able to have some special 

conversations with Ella Kate about how our family is going 

to change and it is so sweet to hear the precious prayers 

that she offers up for her sister and all the orphans in the world. 

It is a blessing in deed to see the Lord softening her heart and 

making her aware and sensitive to the fact that there is a lot 

more to this life than just her.

    As we begin this journey, will you please pray for our family?  

We can not do this alone!!!  We will be updating on this blog 

and our adoption blog  with specific prayer needs, ways you 

can help, as well as documenting every step along the way 

as we get closer and closer to bringing our little one home.  

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, but thank 

you even more for praying for us and supporting us on this 

amazing journey that God has set out before us.

http://orphantoours.blogspot.com/

Thank You Shout Out

A GIGANTIC THANK YOU to Nana for coming for a few days and helping us out around the house!!!  These little monkeys had such a fun time and J and I surely appreciated the extra help!!!!

Walker is 8 Months Old!

Time flies when you are having fun...especially the second time around!!! Walker is 8 months old today.  Crazy.  He is seriously the sweetest, happiest, funniest little dude ever.  He is going to give us a run for our money I believe.  He is ALL boy!  He does not stay still for a second and he is in to everything.  He is currently obsessed with cell phones and the Direct TV box.  Awesome.  He can crawl crazy fast and pulls up on EVERYTHING! I fear that we will be making an emergency room visit at some point because he loves to pull up on the fireplace ledge thing and try to eat the bricks which I am sure will lead to stitches.  Once again, awesome.  He and Ella Kate are really sweet together and he wants to be wherever she is and wants to be a part of whatever she is doing.  He gets so frustrated because he can not walk with her.  He will let go and try to balance, but he is not there yet.  He is still eating 4 6oz bottles a day and a fruit and a veggie a day.  He loves his puffs and Mum Mums.  He is still in 6 month clothing and size 2 diapers.  He LOVES a bath, his new truck, and to clap and wave.  He is still sporting the 2 teeth look, but I can see where number 3 and 4 are about to break through.  Fun.  He is such a Mama's boy and I do love it 99% of the time.  Sometimes, it would be nice though if I could walk through a room where he is happily playing with someone else without a major freak out fit occurring. Walker, you are loved dearly!!!!!

Bulldogs Go Bowling

J and I were so excited to head back to Jacksonville with our sweet friends the Sykes family as well as our friend Frank.  We had such a great time 2 years ago at the Gator Bowl, that we just HAD to go back this year.  If only the Bulldogs could have had the same outcome as 2 years ago....

On the 31st, we took in all the Bulldog festivities at the Jacksonville Landing.

 J, Hunter, and Frank

 Pam and me

We watched the parade and cheered at the pep rally.  

Jacksonville is seriously gorgeous and the weather was spectacular!!  I love that the water is always in your view.  Things I don't like...walking across that bridge!!!! I DO NOT LIKE BRIDGES!!!!!

 The game was a bit of a bummer.  The high lights for sure were Dale Jr. driving on the field for the coin toss and the Northwestern band playing our fight song.  

We did turn those frowns upside down with a little retail therapy after the game.  They have an incredible outdoor shopping area with TONS and TONS of fabulous stores!

We had such a nice time, but we were very thankful to get home to these 2!!!! A huge thank you to Kay Kay and G for keeping the kiddos for us!!!!