some of the most important sentences I've ever read

"America wrestles with its obesity crisis to such an extent that Americans forget there are worse weight problems on earth than obesity."

"For every orphan turning up in a northern-hemisphere household--winning the spelling bee, winning the cross-country race, joining the Boy Scouts, learning to rollerblade, playing the trumpet or the violin--ten thousand African children remain behind alone."

- Melissa Fay Greene, There Is No Me Without You

Happy Anniversary!

Five years ago today we were married, and what a five years it has been.

A few memories from the years....

our car getting broken into the night we returned from our honeymoon

applying to pharmacy schools, and deciding not to go

moving

changing jobs

graduation

changing churches

changing jobs again

Nancy starting graduate school

having a baby

changing jobs...again

moving...again

Chris starting graduate school

whew!

I can't imagine doing it with anyone else.

Chris, you are my rock. You are a wonderful husband and father and I couldn't ask for anything more. Here's hoping the next five (and ten, fifteen, twenty......fifty) are even more exciting as the first five.

I love you!

Swimming....

in a sea of paperwork!

Whew! I am finally starting to make heads and tails of all there is to do. And I think I have sent off for everything there is to send off for. Now we just have to get a letter from our employers, and a letter about life insurance, and a letter from the bank, and reference letters, and....and...and...

But the upside is that last night I sat down with the Gladney checklist and realized we have everything done for the first of three sets of paperwork. Yea! It was nice to see that we are actually making progress.

Here's to having another set of paperwork done the next time I check in!

We've got big news!

Check out our big news at our new blog!

We're Adopting!

We are excited to announce that we are adopting! For quite a while now, we have talked about adding to our family through adoption. At times we thought we would have another biological child first, but a few months ago that changed.

Around the middle of August, God really started working in my heart that our next child should join our family through adoption. I started quietly researching agencies, and after lots of prayer, and a few weeks, I brought it up to Chris. He listened to everything I had to say and began to pray about it himself.

In the meantime, we went ahead and requested information from various agencies, talked about different countries, and participated in various webinars to get more information.

We finally decided that we wanted to adopt from Ethiopia and we narrowed it down to two agencies.

And then ... we waited. We kept praying about it waiting for specific guidance.

One morning Chris was listening to the radio and they were discussing a new show on TV. They asked the question if you could flash forward six months from now what would the perfect scenario be? Chris realized that for himself and our family that included a son or daughter from Ethiopia.

A few days later we officially decided on Gladney as our agency and requested an application. Since then we have been busy filling out forms!

We are so excited to start this process. We will be requesting a child of either gender between the ages of 0 and 18 months (and we are open to siblings if they become available). We feel like God has really prepared our hearts and our family to begin this process. We know there will be ups and downs, but eventually our child will be with us.

Please be in prayer for us, and for our child (who is probably already born, and could be nearing his or her first birthday!) We are looking forward to this lifechanging journey!

I've been missing you

Ok, so it's been a really long time. Life has been...let's just say crazy. We sold our house, moved in with Chris's parents, bought a new house, and are now trying to get some work done in the new house before we move in. 

We went on vacation - Lilli's first trip to Disney, and we had a blast!

Speaking of the babe, she is getting so big! She had her 18 month (really, I mean come on, I just had her last week, right?) checkup last Friday. She weighs 26 lbs and is 33 inches tall. Her hair has really started to grow, and she has the most beautiful blond curly hair. I dread the day that it has to be cut! Lilli's vocabulary has really increased in the last few weeks and she mimics just about every word we say. Her current favorite words include: cheese, juice, raisins, up, stay, mommy, dada, nana, poppa, gigi, oh no, puppy, bear, fly, bailey...oh the list goes on. Really the child has been nonstop lately. It's like having my own personal tasmanian devil most days (just with a much better temperment!).

OK, I promise to update more later!

I'm moving on.....

Today we got a contract on our house!!! It is so great and scary all at once. Now we are in for lots of packing and one other small detail.....finding a new house!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Happy Birthday to the greatest man I know! I love you with all my heart. You are an amazing husband and a wonderful father, and I am thankful everyday for you. I hope this year is better than the last but not as good as the next. Enjoy every minute of your day!

Open Letter to All Husbands

It was recently brought to my attention that husbands often wish their wives would simply let them know directly when they want something. No hinting - no matter how obvious it may be - would work (or so I was told).

As a wife, I know that we often expect our husbands to simply know what we want. Hello, we live together right? 

Well boys, let me let you in on a little secret. Mother's day is coming up. Yeah, yeah I hear you. You don't have any kids yet? Or your kids aren't old enough to pick out anything yet?

It 

doesn't 

matter!

Your wife will be on cloud nine if you think ahead and get her something for Mother's day. She might be the mother of your children, or the mother of your furry (or scaley, or hairless, or feathered) children, or simply the mother of your future children, again

It

doesn't

matter!

Be thoughtful (oh, there's that key word, I've bet you've heard before: I wish you would just be more thoughtful). For starters get her a card. Then, if you're willing to up the ante a bit, get her a simple, but sweet gift. These would be a great choice (ahem, Chris, ahem, size 8, cough cough) ....

and can be found here.

And if you think you really want to go all out, make her breakfast in bed. She will appreciate it -- even if all you know how to make is toast. (Just pour her a glass of orange juice to go along with it).

Well guys - I hope this helped clear up a few things for you. 

And women, feel free to pass this on to your husband if need be. (Remember they don't do hints very well.)

Work it girl!

Celebration time!

Yeah!!! The CPSIA law has had a stay put on it for a year. Basically this means we have to know that the products we are using and selling are lead free, but we don't have to provide certification that says that when someone purchases an item.

Anyway - we are celebrating by having all children's items in the shop on sale just through this weekend, so please come check it out and celebrate with us!

We are having a sale...

Hey guys! As you know my mom and I started a business recently on etsy called Lilli Girl Creations. We sell mostly children's clothing and toys right now. Well a new law is going into effect on February 10 called CPSIA. Basically this law is calling for all children's items - clothing, toys, etc - to be tested for lead. This is meant mostly for big companies that are mass producing toys (as you've seen recalls in the news I'm sure) but it is also effecting all the people that handmake items too - like us. 

While we know our items don't contain lead, we cannot afford the testing that they are requiring, so we are putting all of our children's items on sale - 20% off until further notice. And we will no longer be able to sell childrens items after February 9. If they amend the law we will be excited to start listing childrens items again, but if they don't we will probably start focusing on purses, jewelry, etc. 

So please check out the shop, you can click on the link above or go through the links on the side of the blog. And we would be so grateful if you put a link to us on your blog! Thanks!

I promise...she really did have a birthday!

Sorry that I was a total slacker, but here are a few pics from Lilli's first birthday party. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family.