The Wall Bloggers

How thankful we are for God's blessing and grace. We are given so much more than we deserve. How thankful I am for my precious Scott and his amazing love as a husband and father. How thankful I am for my beautiful daughter and her laughter and love. How thankful I am for the little one to come, who will - Lord-willing - be with us next holiday season. We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving holiday. Scott's mom and I asked around with friends to make sure that everyone had a gathering to go to. It turned out that people did, so we ended up having a quiet meal with just Scott's parents and us. Julie and I split up the food preparation, and as usual, left the turkey cooking to Scott's dad. I think I have a thing for the starches: I volunteered (again!) to cook the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. It's been four days since the big meal, and we still have leftovers of both kinds of potatoes, so maybe next year I can lighten up on the amount (or invit...

Hi, waiting child - It's me again. I just wanted you to know how much I've been thinking of you. I don't have a pregnancy to let me know when you'll be here. But one thing I know... we can only be getting closer to meeting. I even have hope that I might see your picture within a couple of months. I'm praying for you tonight, precious one. I'm asking God to cradle you in His arms and let you feel His love. He is that kind of God. I pray that one day you will know that about Him. As David said, "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You." Psalm 63:3

Recently, Adrianna's been partial to the ballerina outfits in her dress up box. She has also decided that, since she is dressed as a ballerina, she should do "ballerina." (I later explained to her that we call that kind of dance "ballet". :) We have some cute video of her trying to dance like a ballerina, even though she's not quite sure what moves a ballerina does. (I would attach them here, but our upload speed is quite slow.) Her moves end up with loads of twirls and walking on her tip toes. When I was that age, I remember thinking I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up. But I know for certain I didn't really know what that meant!

Our Dizzy cat... Sweet? Yes. Cuddly? Yes. Paranoid? Yes. Kid lover? NO! Since Adrianna was born, over four years ago, when Adrianna has come within five feet of Dizzy, Dizzy bolts for the nearest hiding place. Last week, for the first time, Dizzy let Adrianna pet her without me holding Dizzy. As I called Scott to report the miracle, he could hear Adrianna exclaiming in the background: "Dizzy loves me now! She loves me now!" It's what Adrianna's been waiting for.

Scott had Veteran's day off (last Wednesday) and last Friday was his Friday off, so we decided that we could get a seven-day trip to Colorado for only three vacation days. We stayed Saturday through Tuesday afternoon with my mom and Richard. We had fun times shopping together -- Adrianna and my mom found quite the selection of strange sparkled clothing at Nordstorm Rack! And the guys enjoyed watching football together -- too bad the Broncos didn't win Monday Night Football. Adrianna loved seeing her cousins on Sunday afternoon. She's now old enough to actually play with them, and she had a wonderful time doing so. On Monday morning, we went to a fun play zone for kids six and under. Everything was tailored for their smaller bodies. And on Tuesday, we went to lunch with my grandparents, aunt, cousin, sister, nephew, and dad! Too bad the only pictures we have to show for it are the two little cuties we had there. We stayed Tuesday evening through Friday morning with my d...

On Friday night, Adrianna's gymnastics class was allowed to dress up. We tried to pick a costume conducive to easy movement. (I told her the Cinderella dress she was going to wear trick-or-treating was a little too fluffy.) After pulling out the contents of her dress up box, she decided on a leopard for gymnastics. She ended up needing to remove the tail and ears, but she was pleased as punch at getting to be a leopard (like one of her favorite stuffed animals, Leo the Leopard). We even had a little time to go to "Trick-or-Treat on Main Street" before it got too cold. For Saturday night, Adrianna got to dress up as Cinderella. We went trick-or-treating to a few houses with Adrianna and our neighbor, Jenny, before going to Jenny's church "Trunk-or-Treat."

Dear Child, We want you to know we are praying for you. We long to know you and to hold you, but before we can, we trust that God is knowing you and holding you. Others are praying for you, too! Just yesterday, my dear friend Ashley wrote to me to tell me about it. I thought you might want to know all this some day, so here it is... I've been thinking about you and your baby lately. And the thought that keeps coming to me is that passage from the Bible: "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth; even every one that is called by my name..." Isaiah 43. I know that God has a plan for both of you. And I know that where ever your baby is now, God is with him (or her!) and taking care of him. :) Just wanted you to know you aren't the only one praying about it. One more thing... Our whole sermon this morning was about adoption into God's family! Our pastor just returned from China with his second adopted daughter. He reminded us that...