Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Maia!

Laurie, a Little House marathon is in our future! :)

April 5, 2011 (Again, I realize it's, um, August), our sweet Maia Grace turned ONE! She is certainly our little firecracker and has a large personality. I wonder all the time what God has in store for her! Mom and Dad came over to wish her Happy Birthday and then we all went out for.... Chinese! We went back to the restaurant where we celebrated her referral in July of 2010. The server remembered us and got to meet Miss Maia for the first time. You'll see her pictured. Here's to year one, a miraculous year! He knows her name. :)

Daddy and Ava

As Maia's birthday and Easter approached, the grass needed its first mowing and Ava was delighted to wear a bunny dress. This was my dress when I was little. I still love it! Reminds me a little of Little House on the Prarie... which I still love, too!

Maia's 1st birthday pics up next!

"I want to ride with Daddy!"

Ready to Slide!

April 1st began with a slide! These are of Ava's first adventures on the swing set. She is definitely our adventure girl! She's pretty fearless and is so curious about everything. She's still our little busy bee and is willing to try just about anything except riding a pony! Oh, the monkey bars. Not sure if that was a good idea this early!

Sliding Toward the End of March!

The end of March brought warmer temperatures and a first big girl swingset for Ava! We set up the slide in the living room for a few days while Daddy busily put the rest together in the basement. She was SO excited! They both loved watching Daddy put it up. Here's to fun outside swinging, sliding, and climbing for our active duo! Maia went straight to the ladder and was up on the third rung before we could catch her.

Next up! The beginning of April and Maia turns 1!!!!!!!!













Ava loves to help with Maia's bathtime. We have a lot of fun with her hair!



Typical mealtime shot!

Cutie Pies

As I type these next words, "You're a season behind, Emily!" is ringing in my ears! Yes, I am a season behind as I sit here in 99 degree weather and type about crisp spring afternoons. Ahhh.... would be nice to be in the 60s again! Here a few more pics from March to share. We had a wonderful spring!

Happy Birthday Buddies

Ben and my Aunt Jill are our March birthdays, and we always have a great time celebrating together. This year, we went out to a new seafood restaurant called Marlin Rays. We made it through an entire dinner with Ava and Maia and managed to eat cake!

Happy birthday to my sweet husband and dear aunt!

Playdate with the Halsey Girls!

Making new friends! Ava, Sophie and Mia



Serendipity is a great word to describe this new friendship for me and for Ava and Maia. We had heard about the Halsey girls and their remarkable stories of adoption long before we met them. Well, finally, Laurie and I managed to get four little girls together ( no small feat) to play! Laurie and I joked that we started no less than 35 conversations that morning and probably didn't finish a single one! We had a ball and hope to get together again at our "applesauce fingerprints on the window house."

Sophie and Mia are Ava and Maia's new friends, and they are just precious and full of energy just like Miss Ava and Maia. Their stories are so similar to ours! I just love it when another sweet friend comes into my life.

We love you, Halseys! Here's to more fun times!

We're Back!

Hi, everyone!

We are back and uploading pictures daily! After immeasurably more than I could have asked for or imagined at the Pray for Japan, gathering, we are back to daily life. I could go on and on sharing about what God did to prepare for the Japan service, and when I have time, I may write a post about it. In my life, I have never witnessed his hand quite like I did as we made preparations to pray for Japan with the Body of Christ and the Japanese community.. I told everyone I knew that He really orchestrated all that happened. I just moved my hands and feet and mouth, and He did the rest. It was an absolute joy to be a co-laborer with Him for the precious Japanese people who came and attended the service. I'm going to be processing for a long time!

Ava's first taco experience. :) She loved it!







Fort time!