Introducing our daughter, Gabriella Grace...

Today we received our pre-approval from China that this beautiful little girl will be our daughter!!! We are beyond excited!!! Though we can't post her Chinese name or the province she is in, there are some things we can tell you about our little princess:) She is described as active, has a ready smile, a deep sleeper, can sometimes be inpatient and her favorite thing to do is play outside with balls. The boys love this ~ I think she needs to learn about manicures, pedicures and shopping:) She is currently twenty two months old and will spend her second birthday in China but will hopefully be home and in our arms by Christmas:)

Here is another picture of Gabriella ~

Daniels last day of high school!!

Today marks the last day of Daniels high school years. Our first baby boy will graduate from our local high school next Tuesday evening. Where have the years gone? Our little guy who used to dress up and want to go to work with his daddy every morning is now ready to start the next chapter of his life and we couldn't be more proud of him!

Thrifty Thursday

My friend Rebecca started a Thrifty Thursday post that I just LOVE. Each Thursday she is posting ways to save $$$. As we just received the referral of our *~daughter~* from China last week, we are definitely revisiting how to save our pennies.

With having to feed 3 growing boys, and my hubby, meal planning is key to saving money. I plan and fix new meals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. It may be crock pot meals, grilling out in the summer, dinners I've prepared ahead, frozen and can easily bake etc. Thursday is then known as "buffet night" at our house where we heat up all the extras from earlier in the week and each person can have what they would like. By eating everything from earlier in the week it allows me to clean out the fridge every Thursday and I'm ready to go to the store on Friday:)

Our family also enjoys bon fires in our backyard. On Sunday evenings when we are home and the weather cooperates we will have our dinner over the fire ~ hot dogs, pudgy pies, smores etc. As we eat pretty healthy during the week the occasional bon fire night feast isn't tooooo bad for us:)

Wordless Wednesday

A fun filled Mothers Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day weekend:) Between God bringing us Gabriella Grace, my sister getting married on Saturday and a very eventful Mothers Day, we had a wonderful time:) Did I also mention I have a break from my MSN classes this week so that equates to being able to post more on the blog and I LOVE it!

As those of you who have boys know, they tend to show their love for each other with more physical contact with one another ~ as you can see they are having a great time and "wrestle mania" was just getting ready to begin ~ Bailey was even getting in on the action....speaking of action there was PLENTY of action while we were at the lake.

After we finished our picnic we were all laying on blankets talking about a variety of things ~ one of those things being what next year will be like having Gabriella home with us:) Before we know it Jordan feels something wet on his head and looks up to the tree above where we were laying. A bird had just "let loose" on Jordan's head! He was in total disbelief and ran to the restroom to wash his head in the sink ~ he was fine after he cleaned up.

We live on a pond and regularly have ducks in our back yard. Bailey, our golden retriever feels the ducks are his personal playmates when the boys are at school and enjoys chasing them...well, that is fine in our backyard....

Do you see the lady in black with her back turned to us? She is a very nice grandma to a little boy. She was standing on the ledge of the bank helping her grandson fish. As Jordan was walking back from his hair washing Bailey ran up to him...then right past him to chase the two ducks the lady was also feeding. Well, I think Bailey thought the game was duck, duck, goose as he chased the two ducks into the water as they loudly quacked and made quite a ruckus then he goosed the lady on the ledge and she came VERY close to falling in the lake!! When I tell people there is never a dull moment in our family ~ I'm being very honest! Thankfully the lady was laughing and ok. All in all a good time was had by all and it was an enjoyable day for everyone....well, everyone except the ducks.

An incredible mothers day gift! We have a daughter!!

As many of you know we have been working through the process to adopt a baby girl from China. We had not planned to even start the adoption process until this fall ~ however, God made himself very clear in asking us to start the process a full year earlier ~ a true lesson in God's timing vs our timing:)
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Monday afternoon, May 4th, I was having lunch with a very dear friend and colleague, Toni. During lunch my cell phone rang and I didn't recognize the number. I answered the phone and it was our adoption agency ~ they had a little girl that was 21 months old and asked if we would like to review her file ~ I said of course! Toni had a feeling when it rang it just may be the adoption agency ~ she was right!! In the matter of 4 hours I had read and downloaded her file, poured over the medical reports as did all of my nursing friends, met up with Curtis so we could look at her picture together on the blackberry then ran the medical info to the pediatricians office for him to review. As she was on the shared list we had a brief window of time to make a decision. The pediatrician called and said he felt good about her medically ~ she's small, but healthy:)

Tuesday, May 5th, on Jordan's 16th birthday, we accepted the referral of Gabriella Grace Wright!!! WE have a DAUGHTER!!! We mailed in our letter of intent (LOI) and are awaiting the response from China. We are not allowed to post any information or a picture until we receive our pre-approval ~ however when we can, you all will be able to see the most beautiful little girl in China:)

Jordan had opened gifts before going out for dinner on Tuesday. We told him we had one more gift for him to open and we would allow him to open it at dinner ~ however, it was something he had to share with his brothers and the rest of the family. He opened the picture frame you see above with his new sister looking right at him ~ tears filled his eyes and the boys were beyond excited!!!

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This is the first year that I can recall my birthday and mothers day falling on the same day. I can't imagine a more perfect gift than the gift of a daughter ~ God is soooooo good!! We will remove the piece of paper that is covering her sweet little face as soon our agency allows us to ~ we can't wait to show you the perfect daughter/sister God has chosen for our family!

Jordan turns 16 years old today!

Sixteen years ago today, at exactly 8:00 am Jordan Tyler came into our world:) Little did we know as he was born to the opening music to ESP* Sports Center that he would be our little basketball player. I distinctly remember Curtis sitting next to the bed while we were in labor saying we should name him Jordan Michael... Though this little guy was born with some challenges and was very ill as a toddler, and the doctors told us all the things he would never be able to do, he has surpassed everyones expectations in all of his accomplishments and we couldn't be more proud!

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When Jordan was 4 and playing t-ball he ran off the field and straight over to us. He said "Mom, Dad I know why God let me be a little bit blind in one eye. When I'm playing second base I can watch the guy batting with my good eye and I can see if the guy is trying to steal first with my other eye" (he has peripheral vision and can only see around the outer edges of in one eye). We knew at that moment in time, at the age of four, he was seeing the glass half full and he was going to do awesome!! We are extremely proud of his personal relationship and love for Christ, his determination to make the best of any given situation even when met with adversity and his desire to follow God and allow Him to direct his path in life that makes him such a wonderful young man. We love you Jordan ~ happy 16th birthday:)