Funny Josiah

Enjoy the baby, but try to ignore the ridiculous-sounding woman talking to the baby.

Around the House in February

Well, February turned out to be a VERY snowy month for most of us. Therefore, we spent a massive amount of time inside getting really creative with our time! Enjoy some of the pics documenting life in our house during the "Snowpocalypse" as some people have called it.

Kilee dressed as Tink, feeding Josiah sweet potatoes.

Just look into those eyes . . .

Playing in the snow together!

Our snowman!

Putting on her ballet shoes.

This was too sweet!

Exersaucer time

I love this picture!

Giggling at sister

I thought this was an original creation!

This picture makes Scott just a tiny bit nauseous.

Christmas at Home

Each year we enjoy having Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here at home, just our little family. This year was so much fun and especially exciting since it was Josiah's first Christmas! On Christmas Eve, we make a nice dinner together, read the Christmas Story, Scott plays the guitar and we sing Christmas carols, and then we set out cookies and milk for Santa! Then, Kilee wakes us up bright and early on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. We don't do a lot, but each kid opens a couple of gifts from us and one from Santa. This year, Santa brought Kilee a bicycle! She was SO excited. What a blessing to be able to have Christmas at home. Thank you, extended families for letting us have this special time!

Checking the stocking

Reading some books we gave her

"A Bicicycle!" Kilee calls it.

Maybe next year Josiah will be a little more excited about everything. Ha!

Lovin' the bike!

Cutest Baby in America, Maybe?

Look at those eyes . . .

Playing with his favorite toys, his toes.

Getting ready to try cereal for the first time.

This stuff is terrible!

Our Day in Court

Josiah's official day he became legally ours, his "adoption day", was December 11th. It was such a special time! We got to share it with Mamaw and Great-Grandmother and several guys from Scott's office. It was awesome! Enjoy the pics . . .

Taking our oath

Listening to the judge

T and Evan (Patrick was taking the picture)

Family pic with the judge

Our little 3 year old princess!

Well, Christmas is in the air, which also means that our little girl is having a birthday! Kilee is officially 3 years old. So now it's time to say the line that every parent says about their children, "they grow up so fast." Always thought it was a trite cliche until God blessed us with our children and then it became so real.
Kilee is such a blessing in our lives and it is such a joy to watch her learn, laugh and grow. Everyday, she blossoms more and more into a little lady! As we watched her open her birthday present yesterday, it was so neat to see her eyes light up when she saw the dollhouse. Then, she told us, "Thank you! This is so sweet of you!" in genuine appreciation. She makes us giggle constantly with her antics, whether it's batting her eyelashes as she dances and curtsys to her own "princess song", or being a total tomboy and practicing calling in turkeys so she can go hunting with daddy! We just love her so much and we remember what a painful, yet joyful road we travelled in having her. After the ups and downs of a high-risk pregnancy and then 48+ hours of labor, to see her sweet face was miraculous! The greatest joy for us as parents, we pray, will come when she accepts Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Lord, please draw her to Yourself.
"Kilee Anne" means "Beautiful Gift of God." Here are some pictures of her that reflect just how special she is!

Dancing and singing on her birthday

At the pumpkin patch

What a character!

The Little Homemaker

And to contrast the previous picture . . .The Little Hunter

Our little Honeybee!

Wow, 3 months already . . .

Is it really possible that our little boy is 3 months old? I have a hard time believing it myself. We have had such a sweet past three months, full of faith challenges, emotional ups and downs and sleeplessness, but also precious moments as a family of four! The one constant through it all has been the steadfast love of God through our relationship with Jesus Christ each day. Josiah is officially through his final court date and is finally legally home forever!

Adoption is such a picture of the gospel, you all. Just as Josiah wasn't a part of our family when he was first born in this world, he was chosen to be ours, not because of anything He did, but because our love was set on him, even when he didn't know it. Now he is welcomed into our family, not as an "extra" or an "adopted child", but as a son. He is a full sharer of our inheritance. He receives a new name, our name as his own. Do you see it? Here's the analogy . . . we were once not in the family of God. We were separated from God because of our sin. All of us! The Bible tells us that no one is righteous, not one. (Romans 3:10) But God, being so rich in mercy, set His love on us -- we didn't do ANYTHING to deserve it. There is no amount of righteous acts that we could do to cancel out our sin. He CHOSE us! And if we accept his free gift of forgiveness through salvation in Jesus Christ, He welcomes us into His family. Not as an "extra" or "lesser" child, but a co-heir along with his Son, Jesus Christ! He gives us a new name and calls us His child. We are HIS! What an amazing picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all of us. If you have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ, you are adopted! How great is the mercy of God.

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." Romans 8:15-17
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

Here are some more pictures of our past 3 months with our new son!

Wearing his Thanksgiving shirt

Sitting up in the Bumbo already!

A big grin before church!

INTRODUCING . . .

Josiah Scott!

Born September 8th, 2009

HOME FOREVER through the miracle of adoption!

Waiting to post . . .

As many of you know, we have recently become a family of four!!! It has been killing us not to post pics of our new little guy, but the adoption agency feels that it would be best to postpone sharing pics online until after our court date. So, all we can say is . . . pics of Josiah Scott are on the way!!! It won't be long.

Tent Camping 2009

This past weekend, we made a snap decision to spend a night out at Cedarmore as a family. In a lodge with beds and showers you ask? No. In a tent by the fishing lake. Scott and I had camped several times pre-Kilee, but never as a family of three. At first I was a little intimidated by the idea of taking a two-year-old tent camping, but it turned out to be a marvelous idea! Here are some pictures of what we did. Cedarmore, like Jonathan Creek is such a beautiful setting for camp and we just loved every minute of it.

The site

We got there around dinner time, so once we got things set up we decided to go ahead and let Kilee roast a hot dog. She didn't want to get too close to the fire!

A little bit after we got settled, Scott caught us some catfish in the Cedarmore fishing lake, filleted them, and then he and Kilee battered and fried them. Aren't they cute?

Catfish as fresh as it gets . . . does this make you hungry?

After awhile it got pretty dark and we decided to let Kilee roast some marshmallows before bed. She LOVED eating them but was a little bothered by the fact that they were somewhat brown after roasting. After that, we all snuggled into the tent and went to sleep after awhile. We were shocked that Kilee slept all night long with all of the wildlife noise in an unfamiliar place! It was great!

The next morning, we awoke to a beautiful scene on the lake. We are so blessed to be able to enjoy and work at such beautiful places like Cedarmore and Jonathan Creek.

Scott fishing

Kilee, still kind of sleepy, eating her eggs and bacon daddy made.

Cuddling in the tent!

Snug as a bug in a rug

Daddy finally broke down and put a bobber and a hook on Kilee's princess pole. (She had been casting the little rubber thing that comes with the pole up until that point.) He's teaching her how to cast in this pic.

How to reel

Pictures don't get much cuter than this one!

I got one!

Putting her finger in the blue gill's mouth to try to hold it. She got a little grossed out and didn't do it. Pretty brave, though!

We had a great time. It's so neat to be able to do things like this with Kilee now. We look forward to our next camping trip together. If it doesn't happen again this year, we'll plan one for next year for a family of four we hope!