Cute Pictures from May

I just had to share these adorable May pictures. I am so blessed to have such an incredible family. I do not know what I did to deserve such a special life.

EASTER!

The next day was Easter!! The kids all got presents from the bunny (phew! We were all good). And we went to church in our Easter duds. Aren't they soooo cute?!

Getting loaded to go to church, lupus reared its ugly head again and I subluxated my hip (threw it out) and tumbled out of the van. I was in so much pain, I had to be carried out of church after sacrament meeting and spent the rest of the day high on pain killers. This was really bad timing since I was hosting the family Easter party at my house! I am afraid I was not the best hostess.

I think everyone had a good time despite all of it. We had an egg hunt for the kids and one for the adults as well. The kids eggs had candy as usual but the adults had cards and we played for prizes. I was so out of it, I won nothing though. Oh well!

It was a big and fun weekend overall. Plenty of food, friends and family. What more could one ask for? Ok, maybe joints that stayed where they are supposed to.

Teddy is Ours for Eternity!

Teddy was blessed and sealed to our family Easter weekend. It was the perfect way to celebrate Christ's life.

Teddy was sealed to us in the Bountiful temple. All the kids looked adorable in their new white clothing. We were practically celebrities at the temple with everyone wanting to talk with us and turning to watch the seven angels reverently passing through the halls. We had a wonderful sealer and all the kids behaved perfectly. The spirit was strong and I didn't bawl too much.

There is simply nothing better on this earth then to have a dear family member sealed to you. There is no better place to be with your family then in the temple. I really beleive that us adoptive families are the lucky ones because we get to spend time with our young families in the temple over and over again. What a treat! And Maya and Zachary are now old enough and have been enough times that they will remember for the rest of their lives the feelings of the temple. They already have a strong desire to return. I pray it remains with them.

It was the final peace to Teddy being one with our family. Your ours now buddy, for eternity.

Afterwards, we came back to our home for a reception. Many wonderful family and friends attended, including Kevin's parents and brother from out of town. We blessed Teddy at the reception and he did awsome. One thing that really stuck out to me was that the blessing declared that his life had been spared for a great purpose here on earth. I have no doubt.

Wow!! Long Time No Posts. Sorry!!

Wow, time sure flies when you are having fun. Sorry I haven't updated this in a long time. Lets see . . .

April was a super fun month.

Grandma and Grandpa came and stayed. They got rigged into babysitting while I took Clarissa to therapy everyday for 3 hours for a spring break therapy camp. We saw big progress and she got the harness permanently removed from her walker, yeah! We also got to do fun things, like visit the Hill Air Force Base Museum. I can't believe how many planes they have there! Pretty interesting stuff. I have included pictures of the kiddos taken there.

More April happenings in next post.

New Website

I now officially have a website for the classes I teach!

Check it out at

http://enlighteningadoption.blogspot.com/

I have decided, after three years of my classes being free, to start charging :(. I just get too many no shows without the financial commitment. For example, I had 40 people sign up for my last class and only 12 showed. It is sooooo hard to prepare when I do not know how many will be there. I hope no one stays away because of the small cost of the class!

Adoption Occurs in Nature Too!

Here are some super cute pictures of animal adoptions. There is a Tiger who adopted piglets as her own, a pig who adopted two baby tigers, a gorilla who adopted a kitten, a tortoise who adopted a hippo, and two separate adoptions involving mother dogs and baby tigers. Isn't love grand?

Interested in adoption?

Are you interested in adoption? Not sure where to start? Don't know how to find the children that desperately need homes? Don't think you can afford it?

I am teaching a class on April 19th in Utah that will answer all these questions! Email me to get more information!

Pokes!

Teddy had to go get some more tests done which meant more pokes. He is such a tough little guy!

What was super fun is that we ran into Emmanuel and Naomi's biological sisters at the lab and we all went out to lunch together! We are sooooo blessed to have them so close.

Cousins came to visit!

Mindy brought her kiddos down from WA to visit and meet Teddy! It was so fun having them. We can't wait for their Ethiopian to come home.

All Dressed Up!

Naomi got invited to a fancy Tea Party birthday party. She got all dolled up for the occasion. Isn't she GORGEOUS!

Maya and Zachary are NINE!

Instead of a birthday party this year, Maya decided that she wanted to deliver donations to the Animal Shelter and play with the animals. So her and I went and had a ball! We brought TONS of kitty liter and cat toys, walked the dogs and loved on the cats. She says that when she grows up she wants to be a foster mom to dogs who have behavioral problems so she can teach them how to be good pets and help them find their forever families. Got to love her don't yah?

Afterwards, we celebrated Zachary's birthday by going to the movies as a family (his birthday choice). What a fun filled day!

Disney was a BLAST!

Sorry I don't post much. I am just a crazy busy mom. But I had to tell you all about our Disney World vacation. Make A Wish is AWSOME. We got the celebrity treatment the entire time! We were given a 4 bedroom, 4 bath villa to stay in at Give Kids The World which in and of its self is an amazing amusment park. Everything is free. They have 2 restaurants (that will also deliver to your villa), an ice cream parlor, a movie theater, a super fun pool, a merry-go-round, a beauty parlor (for make-overs and sprayed on tatoos), a play area with fun toys, Disney characters that visit daily, shows, an all-free arcade, a train, and miniture golf. Wow! They also loaded up our kids with toys, clothes and CANDY.

Our passes got us to the front of every line at every park and we got free stroller rentals! They even have Wish lounges at the parks for the Wish kids to hang out and take a break in.

We spent 2 days at the Magic Kingdom. We loved seeing the Princesses and watching the fireworks. The rides were awsome and it was truly magical.

We spent 1 day at Hollywood Studios. We watched great live shows and the highlight was meeting Woody and Buzz.

We spent 1 day at SeaWorld. We got to feed the dolphins and the sting rays. We got to see all the shows and went on wild rides.

We spent 1 day at Gatorland. The kids loved holding the baby alligators and the huge snakes. They also loved watching the Gators jump out of the water to eat chickens, yum!

We spent 1 day hanging out at Give Kids the World.

One of the best trips of our lives!!

Some cool things:

All of the parks are INCREDIBLY handicap accessible. I had no idea. Clarissa went on all the rides and we only had to take her out of her wheelchair a couple of times. Most could accomodate the chair. How cool is that??

Clarissa loved seeing all the other kids at Give Kids the World in wheelchairs. It was awsome being in a place where our family was very "normal". Having a child with disabilities was no big deal there. No one talked about their kids disabilities or what issues they were dealing with. For one week, all the families got a break from disability which is soooo refreshing.

We were the biggest familiy Give Kids the World has ever had stay there! There was 10 in our party (including my wonderful mother who joined us).

Our T-shirts were a HUGE hit. Everywhere we went people were telling us how smart it was. Even the people working at Disney kept commenting that they had never seen anyone else do it, but everyone should! We didn't leave anyone in Florida so I guess they worked!

Teddy was a great trooper. He is such an all American kid! He LOVED all the rides, shaking hands with the Disney characters, watching the shows and being in the middle of the action. What a dramatically different life he is living now. What a blessing he is to our family!!