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Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas celebration we have had at the Harper Hullabaloo! It has been a whirlwind for the last two days....but so worth it! It all began Thursday night when we attended the Christmas Eve service at church. We then came home and the kids put on their new pajamas and set out milk and cookies for Santa! The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicolas soon would be there!

And St. Nick showed up in a big way! Or as Beckett put it, "Santa brought the bomb this year!" (Basically, he brought them each the one thing that they had asked for!) B and H came in our room at 4:30 am on Christmas morning, ready to go check and see what Santa had brought, but we were able to hold them off until 5:30. (old mom and dad needed their sleep!) By 10:00 we were at Sean's mom and dad's house eating breakfast and sharing gifts with family and by 1:00 we were on the road to B-wood to visit with my mom and dad. Granbob got tickets for himself, Sean and Beckett to go see the Titans play on Christmas night against the Chargers. They had a blast! It was a LONG day, but a very good one! I'll post more pics and tell a little more about our Christmas in a day or so, but just wanted to share this cutie pic of the kiddos! Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

Emmanuel~God With Us!

A Reminder

Just last night, Sean and I were talking about Will and the "what ifs" and the "whys". What if Will was still in Ethiopia? What if his birth father had not relinquished him for adoption? What would have happened to him? Why us? Why did God choose our family for Will? So many questions that we will never fully understand. Yet we are so unbelievably thankful for this opportunity to be involved in His plan for our family and for the orphans!

It was brought to my attention this morning that our amazing agency, All God's Children International, has a new video on their website about being the voice for the voiceless. There are so many children with no family, no hope for a future and they need us to speak for them. Maybe God is speaking to your family about adoption. Maybe you can help by providing funds for orphan care. Maybe you or your family could serve the children by going on a mission trip. If God is speaking to you in some way, I encourage you to join Him! You will be blessed!

We are so thankful that we obeyed the call and that Will is a part of our family. It has been six months and it is hard to remember life without him! But I was reminded this morning. Reminded of how far he has come in the 8 months that we have "known" him. At 1:19 in the video, you can see Will's referral picture. I almost didn't recognize him even though I stared at that picture for weeks! He was so tiny and under-nourished; a result of the extreme poverty that so many of the families face in Ethiopia. Let us not forget the voiceless. My prayer is that even though we are home with Will and that he is thriving, that we will not forget what we saw. That we will continue to be a voice for the voiceless and speak to others about how we can all help. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." That is my prayer.

(If you would like to watch the video, you can mute the play-list at the bottom of the page. You can also see Sean and the top of Will's little head toward the end of the video when Kristi is meeting LL for the first time. We had just met Will right before she met LL and we were able to share that special time with them!)

Happy Birthday Jesus

Last week was a busy one! Both Beckett and Helen were involved in Christmas programs with their classes. On Wednesday, Granbob, Grankaki and Auntie Mame came to watch Beckett in his Christmas play with his enrichment class. They performed a play that their assistant teacher had written and Beckett did so well! This was his first play with memorized lines and he was great! There were also several songs in the performance as well. We then went to his classroom and he showed us all of his drawings from this semester that were displayed on the walls. He has learned a lot about drawing! I was SO impressed! Anyway, the sad part about Wednesday is that I left home without my camera and video camera! How did that happen? I don't know, maybe brain over-load!?! I was so upset, but I knew that some of our friends in the class would take a few pics of Beckett. One friend is going to give me a copy of the video she made....so I felt much better after that. However, I have no pics of Beckett in his play to share on my blog. He wore blue jeans and a red shirt. He played himself and spoke about wondering what gift he could give Jesus. It was precious!

Now, please do not think that I have a favorite child since the next pics are all about Helen. Let's just say, I learned a lesson on Wednesday and the first thing that I packed for Thursday's program was the camera! I also have a good friend who takes much better pictures than me, and she sent me several great pics from Helen's performance. Helen was a sheep in her Mother's Day Out presentation of The Nativity. So sweet. All of the boys and girls did such a wonderful job and we were all so proud! Here is a picture of the whole group as they took a bow! Helen is on the front row, looking right in our direction with a huge smile!

Helen with her friend, Wyatt the donkey and a shepherd.

Another picture of the whole group!

Helen did not want a speaking part in the play, so she was given the part of a sheep. However, she was able to give a step-by-step account of each moment of the play and she knew everyone's lines. They had been practicing for over a month, and we ALL knew every word to every song as well as exactly what to expect when we went to the performance! Now, she was too shy to have a speaking part in the play, but at the end, they each took the microphone and told their name and what part they played. She was quite confident and sounded great!

Just a close up of our little sheep. (who has chapped lips, by the way!)

Helen and her cheering section! My mom, dad and aunt were there. Sean's mom and dad were there, and of course her brothers and her mom and dad! We were all so proud of Helen and Beckett too! And might I add, that we were proud of Will, who was quiet and very observant during both of their programs! :)

On Friday, we went to Chattanooga to celebrate Ty and Marley's birthdays! Ty turned four and Marley turned 2 within 3 days of each other, so they celebrated together! Kathy made the cutest cakes for each of them. Here is Marley with her mermaid cake.

And four year old Ty with his shark cake!

It was a busy week with another birthday party earlier in the week, some shopping, doctor's appointments, basketball practice (Sean had to lead practice because the coaches were out of town) and Sean's work Christmas dinner, but we made it through and had a great time! We enjoyed a relaxing Sunday at home and now we are ready for another busy, yet fun week!

Merry Christmas!

A Visit With The Big Guy!

What a busy weekend! I won't bore you with all of the details, but we did work in a visit with Mr. Claus himself on Saturday evening. We have always gone to see Santa at the Christmas party held by Sean's company. They always do a nice job with the party and it is very family oriented. This year was no different. We started out with a visit with Santa. Beckett and Helen each told him one thing that they wanted and they are a little concerned that they didn't tell him anything to bring for Will. I think we will have to check and see if we can send him an email with that info! :) Anway, although there were no smiles from Will, at least he didn't totally freak out as I imagined that he might! Love this sweet picture!
The other big hi-light of the Christmas party this year was karaoke! Yes, Beckett and Helen sang their first karaoke song in public! They loved it, and if they hadn't waited until the end of the party to get up their nerve to do it, I'm sure they would have done a lot more! They sang "Jingle Bells"! I love how Helen is looking at the screen with Beckett as if she is "reading" the words to the song!

Here they are as they were getting ready to sing. This DJ LOVES his job. He was very helpful and good with the kids!
Here is Will getting in on the Jingle Bells action! He stood on the dance floor and bounced up and down while they sang. If you would like to hear a little bit of their performance, check out Beckett's blog, The Slam to see a video clip! Too cute!
It was a fun evening! The rest of the weekend involved a trip to KY to deliver Christmas gifts for kids, some shopping, church with our friends at OAA worship center in Madisonville and our Growth Group Christmas party last night! This week is busy with birthday parties, basketball practice, family coming in town for Beckett's Christmas play on Wednesday and Helen's nativity program on Thursday! It is going to be a busy one!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! No matter how busy it gets, lets remember the reason why we are celebrating this season! I know that we will all enjoy the lights and decorations, the gifts that we give and receive and the family gatherings. But let's not allow the real reason to be pushed to the sidelines of our experience! Praise God that we have HOPE because of the gift of His son, Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We basically lost about a week after Thanksgiving. Helen was sick with the flu and then I ended up getting a small dose of what she had. Mine only lasted 24 hours, but it was not fun. So we had some catching up to do! Friday night we went to pick out our Christmas tree and decided to decorate it on Saturday. When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was snowing! It was so beautiful! We ate breakfast, bundled up and hurried outside because we knew it wouldn't last for long! My first picture is a close-up of the first snowman of the season. Don't you love the banana mouth, carrot nose and tootsie roll eyes? Sean, Beckett and Helen hooked up with our neighbors Matt and Carson to build this beauty! We also got in a little sledding. I had Will so bundled up that he could barely move. He didn't stay out for long since he has had a yucky cough and nose the last few days. But I didn't want him to miss his first snow!
I set him down in the snow to see what he would do and just like everything (he is so laid back) he just took it all in. He didn't get excited or freaked out, he just sat there in the snow and checked it out!

Here is a picture of the gang with their beautiful leaning snowman! Check out how Sean is having to hold it up! They ended up getting some wood to prop him up because he was leaning so bad that he almost fell down! (By the way, I just love Carson's rosy cheeks!) Too cute!

Carson's cousin and Helen's buddy, Carlie, stopped by for a few moments to play in the snow with everyone!

Last night after I got the lights put on the tree, we got out all of the ornaments. This is a picture of the first ornament that we hung last night! I love it! I ordered it from this sweet Tennessee family who is adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. They are selling these ornaments to help raise funds for their adoption and I just had to have one for Will's first Christmas with us! Love it!

On the back of the ornament it has Matthew 18:5~"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Check out their blog, if you are interested in purchasing one and helping this family bring home their newest family member! So I had to take a picture of Will with his ornament on the tree, but he just wasn't feeling it. First of all, he is the droolingest child I have ever known! (Is droolingest a word?) He soaks 4 or 5 bibs a day and I guess I had just gotten tired of putting bibs on him because his shirt is totally wet in this picture! And I think it also has some leftover supper on it. But wet t-shirt and all, he is still adorable! :)

Here is Helen getting ready to hang our Mother/Daughter ornament.

Beckett getting in on the ornament action!

And the finished product. I think it turned out quite lovely!

The Flu is NO FUN!

Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in North Carolina, UNTIL we woke up on Saturday morning and Helen was sick. She managed to travel well as we returned home, but it went down-hill from there. She has been quite sick with fever and vomiting. I took her to the doctor and they confirmed that she has the flu. We are praying that everyone else stays well, but we do have lots of coughs, sniffles and runny noses in our home! Helen is beginning to feel much better and her spirits were lifted 100% when she received a delivery from the florist today. Mamaw sent Helen some balloons and a coke which was such a special surprise and treat! Thanks, Mamaw, for being such a wonderful great-grandmother and blessing Helen in such a sweet way!

I'm off to wipe another nose and find another surface area to clean with a Clorox wipe! :)

Thankful~

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

Forever God is faithful!

Forever God is strong!

Forever God is with us!

Forever!

I am thankful for my family. I am blessed with a wonderful husband who leads our family so well and for three sweet children who are precious gifts. I am thankful for our extended family and friends who love, support and encourage us! I hope that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!

(I'm thankful for my friend, Olivia, for taking these awesome pics of my kiddos!)

A Ronald McDonald Kind of Day!

Do you remember this old school McDonald's music? I just thought it would be fun for today's post! Beckett's Wednesday enrichment class goes to the Ronald McDonald House once a month for a service project. So far this year, they have pulled weeds and made Fall decorations for the rooms. Yesterday we went and took pies for Thanksgiving and baked some cookies for the families to have this weekend. Since Sean has Fridays off (he works four, ten hour days) our whole family went to work. Sean and Will worked outside, sweeping walk-ways while Beckett and Helen helped me make cookies in the kitchen! (Will didn't actually sweep, he just watched Sean from the stroller!) We had a good morning baking with another family from Beckett's class and the kids all made Thanksgiving cards for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House this Thanksgiving.
We LOVE the Ronald McDonald House and the work that they do! After Helen was born, she had to spend three days in Children's Hospital before she was able to come home. Sean and I were fortunate enough to have a room at the Ronald McDonald House for two nights so that we did not have to sleep in the hospital waiting room or drive back and forth from home. It was such a huge blessing to have a bed to sleep in (if only for a few hours), a warm shower and access to a kitchen full of food that volunteers had prepared for the families staying there! Although we were stressed out and worried about our little girl when we were there, we look back at the experience and are so thankful for the staff and volunteers that helped us feel "at home" those few days. I'm glad that we have the opportunity to give back to this organization through Beckett's class involvement with Ronald McDonald House! Here is a picture of Beckett and Helen on the front steps of the house! It is a beautiful old house and so comfortable and welcoming inside!

In keeping with our "McDonald's" theme......did you know that yesterday was "McHappy" day in the USA? For every extra value meal that McDonald's sold yesterday, they gave $1.00 to the Ronald McDonald House! Well, we didn't get any extra value meals, but we got sundaes! The Kirkland kiddos came over last night while their mom and dad went to a concert and I brought everyone a McDonald's sundae! Yum!

Sean and I were treated to a show last night as each of the kiddos did a solo on an instrument and then there was a final "jam" session! Fun times! Will was loving being right in the middle of it all!

Hope you all enjoy a safe and happy weekend!

22 Weeks!

Do you realize how quickly 22 weeks can go by? I do. 22 weeks ago today, Sean and I woke up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after a night with very little sleep. We walked a short distance from our hotel to Hannah's Hope and met our son, Will Tekalgn Harper for the first time! He was 8 months old and oh so sweet! When Almaz handed him to me, he let me hold him without any hesitation. His little head would lean in toward me when I held him because his neck muscles were not very strong. He had very little trunk strength and he was not able to sit up on his own. He was taking about eight 4 oz. bottles of formula a day and he was not eating any solid foods. He had just a tiny bit of soft curly hair that was just beginning to grow in. There were no teeth in that sweet mouth of his and his little gummy smile was precious! Here is a picture of the first time I held sweet Will........

Fast forward 22 weeks! And I do mean FAST! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by and how MUCH our Will has changed and grown! Here is a picture that I took of him this morning!

No more "gummy" smile! He has six teeth to chew his food! He feeds himself just about any food that we give him and he drinks his Vitamin D milk from a sippy cup. (Except for the bedtime bottle that mommy still gives him so we can have good cuddle time!)

He has a head full of beautiful brown curly hair!
His favorite mode of transportation these days is......WALKING! Yes, he walks more than he crawls now! It is already hard to remember those first days at home when he was sitting in between my legs for support!

Just another cute one that I took this morning that shows those big boy teeth and you can kind of see his curls!

I guess I was just feeling a little sentimental this morning as I watched Will eating his own breakfast. He didn't need me to feed him cereal or baby food with a spoon. He didn't need me to give him a bottle so he could get his milk. I cleaned him up and put him down on the floor and he took off like a shot; walking down the hall to find his brother and sister so he could play with them! I am just so thankful for the joy that Will has brought to our family!

I am so thankful that God called our family to this journey of adoption. We have learned so much about our heavenly Father and how much He loves us! He holds His children in his arms for SUPPORT when we cannot sit up on our own. He FEEDS us with His word so that we can be strengthened and encouraged. He watches us grow in our faith and then encourages us to WALK toward others to serve them and meet their needs.

22 weeks. It is hard to believe how fast it has gone by. It is amazing to see how much Will has grown. It is exciting to find out what the future holds for this little guy and for each of our precious children. Thank you Lord for all of your blessings!

At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Ephesians 5:20

Beautiful Week!

We have had an amazing week of beautiful weather! As I looked back at my pics from the week, I realized that they were all taken outside! These first pictures were taken in the backyard while the kids were jumping in leaf piles that Sean raked up for them. We have LOTS of leaves every Fall and we finally got smart and quit raking them. (Now we just mulch them up by running the lawn mower over them!) But it is still fun to make a few piles every now and then to jump in!

Beckett realized that the bigger you get, the piles of leaves don't seem as soft anymore! He hit HARD several times! Sean ended up just "burying" them under the leaves!

Then their attention turned to a green flying creature that was buzzing all around us. I love how Helen is crouched down in this picture to get a good look!

Sean took the insect off of the tree and let each of the kids hold it. (Not Will! He was napping!) Love Helen's big dimple! She looks so proud to be holding the little green bug!
Beckett with the "Flying Creature of the Fifth Day"! (This is the name of our Science curriculum this year!) We have learned more than I EVER knew about birds so far this year and it has been quite interesting. However, Beckett is growing tired of birds and he is ready to move on! We have a few more lessons to go and then we will move on to bats and then insects! Wish we could have identified this little guy!

Every year since Beckett's first Fall, I have taken pictures of the kids under the trees in our neighbor's yard because they are just so beautiful. Well, the pics just didn't turn out that great this year. But! I FINALLY figured out how to edit my pics to black and white! Love it! The lighting is still kind of weird, but it works!

Will was pretty serious. He wasn't too sure about sitting in all of these leaves!

On Saturday, we hiked over at the lake and Sean carried Will in the Kelty pack for the first time. He did great and seemed to like it! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! It was another gorgeous day and we enjoyed being outside! After church today, we headed to the Cove park and had a picnic lunch. The kids enjoyed some time on the swings! Here is Helen in action....

And a few of Beckett pushing Will. He is such a great brother! Will was loving it!

This one is a little blurry, but you can see Will's giant smile!

Just a sweet one of big brother checking to make sure little bro is having fun!

Finally, it isn't a good day outside unless Beckett climbs a tree!

I love to change the music on my blog to go along with the "theme" of the post, or just a song that I enjoy. Evidently, this song has been around for a while, but I just heard it and really liked it. It just has a happy, light-hearted feel. I thought it would be nice for these pictures of my three sweet blessings who make me feel "bubbly"!