Happy Birthday to Our Little Man!

Brandon turned 5 today! How did that happen?! Seems like yesterday he was a little bundle and now I can barely pick him up! Happy Birthday Brandon!

Brandon's comment to his oldest sister this morning - "Now I have to learn to tie my shoes, you have to tie shoes when you are 5."




Dreaming at the Car Show with Daddy and his brothers.
Brandon behind the wheel - Yikes!



Brandon is still young enough that he seeks out the "family birthday hat".

Brandon has a great sense of humor - if you are missing something, it is possible that Brandon has hidden it; you might have to tickle the hiding place out of him. :)

I am Obsessed

I have become obsessed with checking blogs, forums, and my email. Frankly, it is driving me a little crazy! I turn off the computer and tell myself to not go back until that evening and yet I find that I check it again at lunch. You'd think I don't have anything else to do. Haha!

I celebrate in my family room with people I will never meet, when they share good news online. I have tears for others I don't know at all. We all share a common bond, we are ready to bring our children home.

The ones that my heart really goes out to at this time are the children in Guatemala who sit and wait. No one knows when or if Guatemala will re-open for adoptions. The last I knew there were 14 children at the Children's Home without families identified. That is only a drop in the bucket, compared to the actual numbers. Please pray for the people making the decisions about adoption. Children are in need of families. (Update:Now there are 18 children without families.)

About 30 years ago I had a need-for a Savior. People prayed for me, spoke to me, and the Holy Spirit used those people to bring me to understand that I had this need that could only be met by Jesus Christ. I was adopted into the Lord's family when I came to understand that my separation from the Lord could only be mended by Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus knew what was coming and He suffered it anyway,so that I could be adopted into the Lord's family. Jesus certainly suffered to make it possible for me to be adopted. It is again another parallel between our adoption of Nathan and the Lord's adoption of me. Now that I think about it, I think I can "suffer" through this waiting, it is little compared to what Christ went through for me.

"God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ...and it gave him great pleasure...He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son..."
Ephesians 1:5-7

Some like sports...for this one it's animals!

Yes, Daniel is holding a "rat"!


The birthday hat has been a family tradition for many years - EVERYONE has to wear it.

Daniel is our second son and he is all boy! Missing in the summer - check the tree. Landscaping rocks moved-look for bug boxes. Buckets in the yard, beware of the contents! If it moves he's interested! A couple of summers ago Daniel had gone upstairs to shower and all of a sudden comes running down the stairs. I said to him, "didn't you go up to shower?" and he said, "yes, but I forgot I had a grasshopper in my pocket!" Out the back door he went to set the little creature free. He has a tender heart towards creatures of all shapes and sizes. Currently we have a large bullfrog tadpole we are watching in our sunroom.

Daniel also has a tender spot for little children and the underdog. He has great conversations with young friends at our church. He will be great big brother to Nathan!

Daniel is a blessing to our family for many reasons. Daniel was the first child to come to our home through adoption. His life has shown us the sovereignty of God as we look back and see the path he took to our hearts and our home. His adoption impacted us all greatly as we saw the parallel between our adoption of Daniel and the Lord's adoption of us.

Daniel loves to learn and has made a great turn around this year with his grades, we are very proud of him.

Daniel's future is so bright! It is bright because He growing in his understanding of the Lord. We are praying that the Lord leads his tender heart to mighty things for the Lord!

April Pictures from Guatemala

He weighs 15#4oz. and is 24 1/2 inches tall. They say he is a "very happy little guy, very healthy and content". Sounds to us like he is doing great!



This is Nathan (dark blue shirt with bracelet) playing ball with his "best bud" Jose! Warms Ken's heart to see that Nathan is playing with a basketball! :)

No new news on the PGN front, we continue to pray that we are signed out soon.

Blessings from a friend...

to a mommy that is ready to bring her little boy home.


A smile that melts my heart. He is so huggable!



Praying that we are patient for the Lord's timing.

Just for fun...

Nathan is on the right in the basketball shirt! He is growing so much!

Case Update

We received a case update today. We are still in PGN (since 2/28). Please join us in praying that Nathan's case would be approved and we could move forward into the final steps of bringing him home.

Thank you all for your precious prayers for our family. To know that others are praying is such a blessing to us all, a real encouragement in our faith.