O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

I have not been so good about posting updated pictures of all of us, so here it is!  Of course, Max, as a member of the family, joined in the picture too!

My mom taught me to have and enjoy so many traditions, which is one of my favorite things about the holidays.  We are so blessed to all be together this Thanksgiving Day, and I adore my sweet family! Pumpkin Pie! Blueberry Muffins with Chocolate Milk! Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Walt attempting to take a big bite out of the turkey! Cousin Fun!

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I am so thankful for my sweet family...

Happy 40th Birthday to an amazing father and husband!  We love you bunches and forever!

I don't believe you have met the newest member of our family.  He is so much of a member that I wanted to put that as the header to this blog post, but I feared that so many of you would think that we had been chosen as parents for a baby out there. (We are still waiting on the child that God's has planned for us.) But Max has joined our family!  Walt and Max are the best of buds, and we are so glad that they have each other.  We had discussed getting a dog, but we weren't really interested in moving forward with the idea of it, yet.   Then, someone offered to give us Max.  Having him was one of the best decisions we made! Millie (on top pillow) is Max's cousin, and they spent the day together Max driving to spend the day with Gigi and Millie (Max's dog cousin) Nothing like having a good buddy to play with on a sunny day Walt is learning to love and care for Max

Three years ago today we met one of God's greatest gifts to us.  After   nine months of heartache from losing Magdalena, God reminded us of His love through the life of Walt.  God shows each of us His love and mercy in different ways, but for our family, it was the gift of Walt. In the middle of pain, I had a protruding belly that reminded me that God has not left nor forsaken us.  And with Walt's lively personality we have stayed on our toes and had a fun three years with him.  I love my sweet little man!  Happy 3rd Birthday!  Thank you God for blessing our lives with him!

Please pray extra for Battley and her family as her breathing becomes more strenuous. She was so alert and fun when I got to snuggle with her 2 weeks ago.

About a week or so ago, Julie needed some time without distractions, so she arranged for me to take Walt to our local Chick-Fil-A for some free food (coupons!) and guy time.  She told me to get Walt a kid's sundae to go with his free chicken sandwich because the last time they had gone together, Walt discovered that chicken strips dipped in ice cream is delicious, in his words.  Because our coupons were for free sandwiches, not strips, I was hoping that Walt would simply dip his sandwich into his brownie sundae, but he did not like that idea.  In fact, he said that he didn't want the sandwich at all.  So I took the bread off and cut the chicken in strips in hopes that he would find them more appealing than the sandwich.  While I was doing all this, he was eating his sundae up, but when he saw the chicken now cut in strips, he told me that he wanted to eat them too.  I was happy that he was going to eat some of his chicken because I did not want to have to g...

Yes. I. am. excited!  I can't wait to take Walt to see Nemo in 3D!  It is one of our favorite movies!  In preparation of the moving coming out on September 14th, we are going to begin doing little Nemo activities .  Walt has never watched the movie, but he knows Nemo.  After Magdalena passed away a friend sent me a Nemo stuffed animal as a sweet reminder because that was the first movie she watched.  The colors got her attention!  This stuffed animal is one of Walt's favorites now, which is always warms our hearts.  Not only do we love Nemo, but it has such a sweet memory for us.  

Noah and Walt gave me the movie The Sound of Music on blu ray that had all of the extras with it.  It's funny because if you knew me in person, it wouldn't surprise you that I love that movie so much.  I wish that we could walk around singing "The Hills are Alive" all day when we are happy.  This innocence and "why can't we all just get along" mentality is good in so many ways, but in some situations it is good to be able to know that it isn't reality.  I think Noah helps me stay grounded and out of the clouds so much, and he never shies away from answering a question!   Walt, Noah, and I watched it together, and since it was Walt's first time seeing it, I took this picture.  He loved eating apple and peanut butter while watching it.  Later he requested to turn on the movie, and he wanted to keep watching Julie Andrews sing "The Hills are Alive".  One of the first things he learned about the movie was the actress' name, so I think ...

When Noah preaches away at a different church, Walt and I enjoy going to worship with Mimi and Papa.  Walt was incredibly good during the entire service, and towards the end was able to catch a little snap while snuggling with Mimi.  I probably should not have had my phone out during church, but this was too adorable to pass up putting in my future photo book!

We are still waiting to see which baby God has planned for us to parent, and we won't have any more updates on it until we find out who he or she is!  Please pray for Noah and me because it is so hard waiting.  We were told from the beginning that this would be the hardest part, and our sweet social worker was right! Every time the phone rings we jump (just a little) at the possibility, and only God knows how much longer we have to wait.  Thank you so much for all the prayers you send up for us!

Celebrating Magdalena's birthday is always draining emotionally, but this week Walt's excitement over cake made it a little more light hearted.  My birthday is less than a week after Magdalena's birthday, and so we began to prep Walt that we were having more cake and celebrating again!  Birthdays just don't seem the same as when I was young and innocent.  That is what makes having kids around even more fun.....I get to be a kid again, even if it is for a moment.  And every year my age decreases in number instead of increases! :)   The night before my birthday Walt's cousin had her birthday party.  Walt's finger is inching towards that cake!   Walt and Noah made me breakfast the morning of my birthday! Walt smiling for the picture was definitely part of my birthday present!  I love this sweet pic!  But it kept on getting better! We took our picture at the restaurant before we ate lunch together.   What's a birthday without...

Sometimes I look down at Walt and think "You are too big to be mine!".  He has grown so quickly, and I forget he is not my innocent little baby anymore.  Now-a-days his imagination is running wild, and his memory is incredible.  And he remembers what you said in previous days, so Noah and I have quickly learned not to say anything that we don't truly  mean.  At the same time he has learned series of events, so "not now" is acceptable to him....which I LOVE.  I can say first you will take a nap, and then, you can go to Mimi's, and he gets it!  Parenting is tough, but Noah and I have learned that the more we communicate how we handle situations individually, we are on the same page a lot better than just trying to do it on our own.  We are still learning A LOT each day!!  I am so glad that God doesn't give us teenagers initially because I think that it's these days that slowly prepare us for what's coming.  Isn't that how God does it a lot...

Our family loves to celebrate birthdays, and honoring Magdalena's day is always special.  Everyone wore pink, and we celebrated eating breakfast for dinner.  I am so thankful that I am able to share this day with my family.  It is our way of grieving on such a special day to us.  Noah and I talked all week to Walt about how it was going to be Magdalena's birthday, and that we would eat pink cupcakes!   He was so excited about the cupcakes, and then, it happened.  I knew it was going to happen soon because Walt catches on quickly.  As we talked about eating cupcakes for Magdalena's birthday, Walt asked "Where is Magdalena?".  My heart sank to the bottom of my toes, but I knew that this was it.  Noah and I choked up but explained that Magdalena was with Jesus, and that she would be celebrating there.  Even later he mentioned that Magdalena would be coming to the party, and I had to remind him that Magdalena wouldn't be able to come, so we ...