seven

Seven years ago today Nathaniel and I got married. I am so thankful that God allowed us to walk through life together! Part of our adoption application focused on our marriage and it was really fun to get to describe Nathaniel to someone who does not know him. It reminded me of just how blessed I am to be married to him. I really hope that he rubs off on me one of these days!

He is kind, gentle, compassionate, knows what he believes and sticks with it, a really, really hard worker who never complains. He loves God, loves me and loves his family so well. He's not perfect but he is quick to admit when he is wrong and ask forgiveness. We sometimes fight but we promised each other when we got married that we would never go to bed until we were completely right with each other. That is something that we have stuck with and I can honestly say that we have never gone to bed mad! God's grace is what has made our marriage strong and I don't say that in a trite way--God's grace is the ONLY thing that has made our marriage strong!

I am so, so thankful that I get to walk through life with Nathaniel--he is my best friend. I can't wait to see what God brings in our eighth year! I love you, Nathaniel. Happy Anniversary to us!

Friends

Remember the rice bucket? We had 5 kids at our house today so we pulled the rice bucket out. Just before this picture, all five were playing in it at the same time and it lasted for 30 minutes! So, if you need a rainy day activity or a cloudy day activity outside, this is a great one!
The 3 kids who were over belong to two very dear friends of mine--the ones who came over and prayed for us before our home visit yesterday {one friend has one child and one has two and one on the way--once our baby and her baby are here we're going to have a circus every time we're together!}. The three of us have gotten really close over the past year and we really "do" life together. Once a month we get a babysitter for all the kids and we go to lunch and talk and pray for each other. I am so thankful to have these godly women in my life who I can truly share my heart with and to walk through life with. And our children all have a blast together. God is so faithful!

Home Study? Check!

Thank you so much to all who prayed for our family today. I never felt even a twinge of anxiety over our home visit. I felt like God was present and in our corner the whole time! Our case worker was only here for about 30 minutes {and didn't even look at the fire extinguisher that I bought YESTERDAY!} It was very relaxed. We really just talked and she gave us a chance to ask questions. We should be in the waiting families book next Thursday!!! THANKS BE TO GOD!!! We are so excited to be one step closer to our baby. Soon we will be actually waiting instead of waiting to be waiting!! Thank you, family and friends for walking with us. We are so thankful for the body of Christ.

Adoption Update

I am so happy to report that I just got off the phone with our social worker and she is coming to our house for our home study visit at 1:00 TOMORROW!!! Praise the Lord! She told me that she is otherwise pretty much finished with our home study and we could be in the waiting families book as early as NEXT THURSDAY! We are so thankful and excited. I have two dear friends coming over tomorrow morning for food and prayer. We'd love lots of prayers for tomorrow and for the rest of our adoption journey to go smoothly and quickly to bring our baby HOME!!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

Winner!!!

And the winner is...Fittsy! You win a beach towel of your choice from my shop! Go here and choose which towel you like. You can contact me at rebekahwright1[at]bellsouth[dot]net and let me know your info. so I can send it to you. Congratulations and thanks for playing along!!!

A Bad Hair Day and a Drama Queen

Olivia wakes up with crazy hair every single day! I finally remembered to take a picture of it. She must be a really wild sleeper!
Oh, the drama that comes with living in a house full of girls! Yesterday Anna Walton was exhausted and desperately needed a nap. So, I gave strict instructions that she really had to go to sleep during nap time and that if I heard her up and playing that she was going to be in trouble. Sure enough, 15 minutes later I heard her rustling around in her room so I opened the door and peeked in. When she saw me she immediately said, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I'll go to sleep." We had a talk and I had to discipline her for disobeying. After we were finished, she put both hands on her head and said {in a most dramatic way}, "I just can't handle this!" Biting my cheeks to keep from laughing, I asked her what she couldn't handle and she replied, "I just can't handle nap time." Oh, the drama!

4th of July

We had a very full, very fun 4th of July! Nathaniel woke up really early to go fishing with his dad. The girls and I went to the Farmer's Market to pick up our CSA share and then over to a 4th of July celebration in a neighboring town.

Anna Walton loved jumping in the ball pit:

When everybody got "firsty" we shared a sno cone and a lady gave us some American flags:

Olivia was fascinated by hers:

There was a petting zoo that Anna Walton was completely enthralled by. I told her I would buy her a ticket to go in and pet the animals but she didn't want to stop petting this bunny long enough to go in the gate! We watched the animals for a long, long time. AW is an animal lover. Olivia likes them from a distance.

We had pizza for lunch while we listened to a band practice for the festivities:

After long naps we played outside. The girls were making funny faces at each other through the window and Nathaniel and I were laughing so hard so I made them do it again for a picture:

Bath time while we waited for it to get dark enough for fireworks:

The girls and I made the best dessert that I learned from my friend, Abby. We used the Toll House cookie recipe but used m&ms instead of chocolate chips. Once the cookies cooled, we put vanilla ice cream in between two cookies and wrapped them up and put them back in the freezer. Seriously, one of the best desserts ever!

Finally dark enough for sparklers and fireworks! Olivia was terrified of the loud pops. She was o.k. as long as I was holding her with her paci and baby:

Nathaniel with his sparkler!:

We didn't know that Anna Walton was copying him until after I took the picture! We didn't have any more sparklers in mouths after this!:

Tolerating the fireworks but ready to be all done. Poor girl. Maybe next year they will seem like a better idea to Olivia:

We had a really fun day and everyone slept really hard that night!