Two holidays in One!

We had such a great time with Corby's family over Thanksgiving. His brother Jeff, his wife Kacy, and their boys Lake and Maddox drove in from Atlanta, and his parents came from Houston. I was a little nervous about cooking the meal, but it ended up being great. Harper had a great time with her cousins and was completely worn out each day. She went from napping 30 minutes to 2 hours while they were here... and she's quickly gone back to her 30 minute naps since they left! I wish they lived here so they could wear her out everyday!

Not only did we have Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Christmas together. We ordered fajitas and opened gifts together on Saturday night. We decided that since they all drove, it made more sense to do gifts now, rather than spend the money to ship them later. It was also more fun to be able to see everyone open their gifts in person. Harper got some really fun toys from everyone! Even though Corby and I were pretty exhausted by the end of the weekend, we are so thankful everyone got to come to our house this year. It was our first holiday to not travel somewhere... which if you have a child, you know what a big deal that is! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Half are from my sister-in-law, and half are from my camera... yes, she is extremely talented!

Harper had so much fun playing with everyone in the front yard

Having fun in the bath with Maddox!

She was extra excited because her Hogs beat LSU!!!

Such a sweet face!

I love this one... wish I hadn't been in the kitchen cooking!

I love her so much!

Bribery was key for this picture to happen...

the suckers did the trick!

This is what Harper did when we told her to hug Maddox!

Lake and Maddox opening their gifts

Harper loved pulling on the wrapping paper!

This is such a fun toy!

As you color, it plays music and it goes fast and slow,

depending on how quickly you are drawing!

The sit and spin that Maddox got was quite a hit with everyone!

Showing her teeth

I obviously have a ton of blogging to catch up on, so for now here is Harper's precious smile that is a result of "show me your teeth"!


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Thanksgiving Fun!!!

I have really had a fun time this month at work! Maybe it's because I've gotten more creative as time goes by or I'm finally in the swing of things, but the crafts have been fun! Some of them were tough with 1 year olds, but they always seem to enjoy them...so that makes it worth it!

We had our Thanksgiving feast today, and currently everyone is napping! And the lullaby music is about to put me right to sleep too!!! Party days are always a little more draining! But of course, we had a blast!!!


I'm the only one without a bulletin board, so I have to improvise each month! That wall seems to get bigger and bigger!!!


We made fall leaves with their hands. They loved this!!! And I just did 1 child at a time, so it wasn't too hard.


I snuck in to watch Harper prepare for their portion of the feast. She did such a great job... I should let her help more at home!


They made the turkeys with their hands and I made them into placemats!


The turkey head-dress that I made for them ( and myself!)... I figured they'd be more likely to wear it if I had on one too. Plus, I've always loved dressing up!!!

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Show Hope Fellowship Weekend

Last weekend, we went to Nashville for such a fun weekend!!! Every year Show Hope puts on a weekend event for its donors and adoptive families who have received grants. It was so great being together as a family, all with the same mindset. On Friday night, there was a small gathering at the Chapman's barn. Chris, my brother-in-law, spoke and Caleb (Caleb and Will Franklin Chapman's band) played. (They are AWESOME, by the way!) Chris did such an amazing job describing his new role as the Director of Student Initiative... basically his role is to focus on getting young people interested in helping the orphans in this world. Then on Saturday night, we went to the banquet. It was AMAZING!!! It really is hard to put into words all that we were able to see!

Every year they give a Hebrews 11:1 award. This year, it went to the doctor that has headed up the surgeries that have taken place at Maria's Big House of Hope. MBHOH is a hospital in China that the Chapman's built for special needs children who would normally not get any help for their need. This surgeon and her team (all from Pennsylvania) have performed almost 20 lip and cleft palate surgeries. It was so neat to hear all about her experience! Oh, how I would love to visit that hospital some day!!!

The speaker was fabulous, as well. It was Ernie Johnson, who is an NBA announcer... Corby knew who he was, but I didn't! He and his wife adopted 2 kids after having 2 of their own, and at the age of 54, they are adopting 2 more. Their youngest is 18, and now they will have a 9 and 10 year old. Their story was very inspiring! He was also HILARIOUS!!! Overall, the night was simply amazing! Our hearts were stirred (once again) to help the unloved children of this world... so we'll see where that takes us!

My amazing mom and sisters!

I love them all SO much!!!

The boys were taking a picture and Steven jumped in!

This will be Kay's Christmas card, for sure!

Chris, thankfully, captured everyone

trying to get Harper and Eliana to smile

This is what happened when I asked

Leah to take a picture of me and Corby

Then this happened...

And finally the picture I actually wanted

Lindsey and Chris

Leah and Mike

We got to meet Angie Smith...

we are all big fans of her blog!

Harper was quite a hit at both events!!!