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"!

Full Weekend!

On Friday afternoon, Beckett met his friends from his enrichment class at the Icearium for a little ice skating! This was Beckett's first try at ice skating and he did pretty well. He really enjoyed it and only ended up with a few bruises! At least there were no broken bones! I didn't get any pics of him skating because the lighting was kind of weird, but here he is when he stopped for a little break!
On Friday night, we went to our church for The Fall Family Frenzy! This is our church's huge outreach event to our community and it was great! There were over 3,000 people in attendance! It was so fun to see everyone and the kids had a great time playing games and getting candy! Here is our little pumpkin....Will! He would not keep the "sprout" hat on for long, but I did manage one picture!

Connor came with us to the Fall Frenzy and he dressed up like a hunter. That crazy orange hair got lots of compliments! Beckett was a clone from Star Wars and Helen was Tinkerbell! And then there is Will, the little pumpkin! Here are some pictures with friends from Friday night. Beckett's friends Matt and Nathan were Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker....so we had a Star Wars picture! Abbey was Sacagawea and the Bailey boys were the Mario brothers! Too cute!

On Saturday morning, we loaded up the van and headed to Nashville for the day! We ate brunch at one of our favorite restaurants; Noshville Delicatessen, and then the boys dropped Helen and me off at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center so that we could see the matinee performance of Little House on the Praire; The Musical! We had a great time! I loved Little House on the Praire when I was a little girl and I have been reading the chapter books to Helen. When I found out that this musical was coming so close to us, I really wanted to go! Sean knew how much I wanted to share this with Helen, so he checked in to getting us tickets and made it happen! It was a great afternoon! Helen LOVED the show and I LOVED watching her enjoy it so much! We couldn't take pictures during the show, but here is a picture of Helen before the show with her program.

The Performing Arts Center is right beside the state capitol, so after the show, Helen posed for a picture in front of the Tennessee State Capitol. She has a new "pose" every time I take a picture of her! Not sure what that is all about, but it just shows a little of her personality!

The boys went to Brentwood for a few hours while Helen and I were at the show. They hung out at my mom and dad's house and watched football. Thanks to Grankaki and Granbob for all of the snacks and Halloween treats! Sean and the boys picked us up after the show and we headed back home. We got home in time to watch most of the UT football game! It was a great Saturday! We had a good Sunday at church and a great time last night with our Growth Group! It was a wonderful weekend!

I've gotta give some special love to my hubby for buying tickets for Helen and me to see Little House! He has teased me through the years for my (possibly?) crazy attachment to the Little House books/show/characters, but he knows me so well and knew how much I would enjoy going to see the musical with my little girl....and he made it happen! He is the best husband in the world! I am so blessed!