Archive for April, 2018

  • Happy Birthday Hope

    Date: 2018.04.15 | Category: Hope

    19 years?  Where has the time gone?

    This sweet girl was brought to our family by nothing less than a miracle.

    Her story is amazing and so is she!

    She takes animation courses online and really loves anything that deals with art.

    Her hair color changes often and always looks amazing!

    She was recently accepted into Aveda Institute’s esthiology program.  She has always had a passion for makeup and skin care.  She is excited to see how these classes help her in her SFX makeup.  I am looking forward to her helping me with my skin care.  (Hint. Hint.)  8 sisters to practice on.  She’s going to be light years ahead on volunteers to practice her craft.

    She has the extra benefit of taking a very small class (15 kids) with one of them being her very good friend, Grace.

    She’s been friends with Peter for years and years now.

    She loves hanging out with her friends at church.

    She loves her puppy, Snickers, that she’s had forever.

    And her new puppy, Ripley.

    We celebrated her big day by eating out at HuHot.

    She doesn’t like cake so instead went for the “taco” birthday cake.

    Maisey and Hope both LOVE to draw and will draw any where, including at the doctor’s appointment for their yearly physical.  Birthday buddies share birthday physicals.  We know how to have fun in this house.  hahaha

    She went out to eat with her homeschool advisor to celebrate her birthday, getting into Aveda, and her upcoming graduation.  Ms. Deb has been with her since the beginning of her schooling.   It’s funny how people come into our lives and become like family.

    We are excited to watch her head into adulthood.  We feel unbelievably blessed that we have been given the joy of parenting her for 19 years.

    Happy birthday Hopey!

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • National Sibling Day

    Date: 2018.04.11 | Category: Adoption, Family Life

    Once upon a time I wanted a very large family.  I thought 12 kids would be so much fun.   I’m not sure I ever told Dan this when we were dating.  I probably figured I would scare him away.

    Our first two babies were such an exciting time.  Dan and I found out we were having twins.  All was right with the world.  We were over the moon excited

    And then life happened…

     

    Codey – 2 pounds 7 ounces

    3 pounds 8 ounces – Kyle

    And then the world just seemed to stop as we buried Kyle and spent 14 months in the hospital with Codey.

    I absolutely guarantee you I was NEVER going to get pregnant again.

    But God had different and much better plans.

    We found out we were expecting when we were still in the hospital with Codey.

    What a gracious and good God we have.  Zach was such a wonderful sibling for Codey.

    Playing with Zach!

    And I was done!

    But then Dan said, “You’ve always wanted a little girl, Lisa.”  And I started to dream…

    And we had sweet Cassie and our family was complete.

    But then Dan heard about a little girl who needed a family and we decided to proceed with Hope’s adoption.

    And our family seemed complete again.

    I’m seeing a pattern here…

    And

    And then came baby Gracie.

    And once again our family was complete.

    Until Dan thought we should adopt again and after my reluctant foot dragging, I agreed.

    And then we adopted Ben and Maisey…

    And we knew that we were done growing our family.

    But after seeing all the little hearts waiting for families, we knew our family was not complete.

    So we added Jasmine, Lainey, Evie and Eli.

    This brought our children to that magic number 12.  We were so happy

    and said we were SO done.

    Until we set out to adopt another older girl because Jasmine dreamed we could do more.

    And Max and Elyse joined our family.

    The magic number 14.  2 sets of 7 and 7 means completion, perfection.

    We were done!

    But God and Elyse and Gracie had different plans.

    Liam and JJ brought us to number 16.

    15 children here on earth who get to care for each other, pray for each other, play with each other.

    We try hard to cultivate a feeling of belonging and connection.  We want them to have a safe place to grow and learn and find out who they are and what their purpose is.

    Praying that they are always there for each other no matter what.

    I know I won’t always be around but I love the fact that they will always have each other.

    Happy National Sibling Day!