Strawberry Patch

I'm posting some old pics to try to get our blog up to date.  

These are pics from our trip to visit our dear friends Drew, Kelley, Lucy and Ellie Stokes.  This was our first time meeting Ellie.  Poor thing, she didn't even make it into any of our pictures.  She is precious and we just adore her.  

We all grabbed lunch together and then went to a strawberry patch to explore.  It was so fun! 

Lucy helping her mommy pick just the right ones.  

What is that daddy?

Drew won the award for finding the largest strawberry.

I just love this boy!

Meeting horses at the strawberry patch.  

Brett was excited for Isaac to meet horses as he had a horse at one time.  Isaac was thrilled and thought the horses were so neat!

A great picture of Lucy and Kelley

We loved getting to catch up with the Stokes family!

11 months, Mother's Day and the Fair

It feels like time is flying by!

Isaac loves looking out the window. 

I adore this laugh and smile that he has with Brett!

My 1st Mother's Day... A Dream Come True!

The weekend after Mother's Day we had a very special opportunity to spend time with our birth mom, Rhonda and her son Anthony.  We met at the NC fair grounds and had a wonderful time!

Isaac looks so much like Rhonda!  It was incredible to see them bond.  Isaac has entered the stage where he tends to want to be held by his mommy or daddy, but he instantly reached out for Rhonda and wanted her to hold him.  They are beautifully bonded for life! 

Anthony was a little nervous to go on the slide, so Brett went with him.  They had so much fun together!  

The brothers hanging out with each other!  

Honestly, I was wound up pretty tight on the way to the fair that day.  I didn't know what to expect and because our communication with Rhonda had been over phone calls or texts, I wasn't sure how to react in person.  Would it be awkward?  What if Isaac doesn't want to go to her?  What if Anthony doesn't remember us?  What if I'm a ball of emotions and I cry?  I wanted to see her and Anthony so badly, but my nerves were shot.   Isaac (who hardly ever cries) freaked out on the whole trip over.  This was so unlike him that it made me even more nervous.  Probably he was just picking up on my apprehension.  

Anyway, as soon as we got out of our car, we took turns hugging each other and a peace swept over all of us.  Isaac instantly wanted to go to Rhonda and he also played with Anthony.  We are family... and it felt just like it.  We had such a great time together.  We actually got rained out and spent time laughing and running through the rain.  Brett was so chivalrous that he went across the entire fair grounds to find our car and come to pick everyone up during the worst part of the rain.  We were all soaking wet...something we'll never forget.  When we pulled up to drop off Rhonda and Anthony at their car, Anthony started crying, then Rhonda teared up, and then I couldn't help myself but join in.  We told them that we would make sure to do this again without so much time passing and that we loved them very much.  

If you had told me a year ago that we would now be hanging out at the fair with the newest additions to our family, I would have laughed.  But I honestly wouldn't trade it for the world.  God's plans for us are so much greater than our own plans!  He has been so good to us!  

We are already looking forward to the next time that we will see each other! 

Isaac's Dedication at Westover

In April, we experienced a very special tradition at our church, Isaac's dedication.  This ceremony brings our family before the church body and introduces Isaac and shares a little about his birth and our hopes and prayers for his future.  We chose a verse for Isaac, Ephesians 2:10 which states that we are God's masterpiece, created by Christ Jesus to do good works prepared in advance for us.  This verse was given to us by Brett's parents when Isaac first became a part of our family.  We truly believe that this verse is a beautiful representation of Isaac's life.  God has prepared such great works for him to do and has provided for him and protected him each step of this adoption process.  

Isaac was checking out the worship center before the service started.  I just love this little outfit!  We picked it out just for this event. 

Isaac's dedication and Pastor Don's prayer.  It was very sweet because we didn't know what to expect in front of the large congregation, so Brett held Isaac instead of passing him to Pastor Don.  In the middle of the prayer, Isaac lunged towards Pastor Don so everyone laughed when the prayer ended and Isaac has swapped hands.  It was so sweet! 

A pic with Pastor Don after the service 

My parents and grandparents joined us for this special ceremony.  We were also excited Dawn and Bridgette Smith and Jennifer, Melissa and Claude Macon (family friends) at the service!  

The Park and Food Trucks

Here are a couple of pics of Isaac's first trip to the park!

Such a sweet baby boy! 

He didn't really like going down the slide, but he thought it was fun to try to climb up it.  

After going to the Farmer's Market in Greensboro one morning, we wanted to go grab lunch at our fav (well Brett's fav and my first experience) food truck.  We found out that it would be at a food truck event in Winston-Salem, so we jumped in the car and headed that way.

We were early, but as soon as the event officially started (at 3pm) the entire length of the street was packed with hundreds of people waiting to get amazing foods from the 11 food trucks that showed up for this event.  

It was a really fun day!

Trip to the Park - Sneak Peek

We have to share this picture of our first trip to the park.  Oh.. this melts my heart!  

More pics and updates to come!

The 10th Month and Easter Pics

We haven't been the best at posting pics lately so here is a recap of the rest of March and the very beginning of April.  Isaac continues to grow so much!  He loves playing with his shape sorter.  

This boy is going to be a Ram's fan just like his daddy!

We love this little hat.... and Isaac enjoyed wearing it for hat day at daycare during Spirit Week.

Oh yes, such a chick magnet...especially with this cute belly!

We all had a nice Easter.  Once we got past the horrible stomach bug on Good Friday, we improved and enjoyed a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of the Lord!  

Brett's parents sent us a special basket for Isaac with Easter books and a cute stuffed frog too!  It was so thoughtful of them to mail this to us.  (thanks for the chocolate for us!)

On Easter Sunday we had dinner with my parents.  My Mom makes such wonderful food!  It was the first real meal that we had eaten since being sick.  They gave us some sweet goodies too and an adorable book and toy for Isaac.  He loves this book and the animal noises that it makes. 

One of the many things that Isaac has learned over the last month was how to drink out of a sippy cup. He gets sooo excited to drink out of it! Such a big boy!  

This is his seat of choice.  We have enjoyed the warmer weather (or the few days of it) that we have had.  Family walks in the evenings are one of our favorite things!

On April 8th, we celebrated Isaac's 10 month birthday.  It's so hard to believe that we have been together for this many months.  He is growing cuter, taller, happier, and more adventurous with each day that passes!  

Giggles

Click here for a cute little video... guaranteed to brighten your day!