My Sunshine

Most of you know the song "You Are My Sunshine," every night at bedtime Abby and I sing that song together. It is something that I had started when both kids first came to us and had actually gotten out of the habit of doing for awhile. Until, Abby started asking me to sing it again. For awhile that song was very hard to sing because it ends with "Please don't take my sunshine away;" there were so many ups and downs during this process and that particular line was my plea, my prayer and my heart's cry.


For those who know her personally, Abby is my little sunshine. There is no doubt that she is mommy's girl and she is so full of personality that she lights up any room she walks into.  She is a vivacious and precocious two year old. I know I am biased, but I have never met a two year old who can think outside of the box. She is very creative, imaginative, independent and stubborn. She loves to talk and sing (she even makes up her own songs). She is a challenge at times because she is so slick (according to her daddy) and can come back at you with stuff that makes you stop and think.

I was actually surprised when she started to ask me to sing this song again because I honestly thought she didn't remember it. I know she knows what it means on the deeper level, she knows that she is my sunshine when we sing. For example, we were leaving a park one day and I was just a little bit ahead of Robert and the kids. She started yelling, "Mommy, don't leave me!" I turned and stopped and said, "I could never leave you." She looked at me and said, "Cause I am your sunshine!" So, she knows.

She lights up my world and fills it with joy. She is such an amazing little girl. She will never know how I much I love her and how much she and Brandon changed my life for the better. I thank God that I have the privilege to try and be her mother. I pray that I love her the way she needs to be loved, direct her in the way that she needs to go and that I can be the mother she needs be to be. My prayer is that she grows up to be a strong, vibrant woman of God.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away."

Next post is coming soon, all about My Little Man!

Adoption Day and Dedication Day

Just a few days late, but the last week has been a whirlwind of events. It started last Monday, the 15th with Abby starting Preschool, then Adoption Day on the 17th, then Dedication Day on the 21st, then Brandon started PreK on the 22nd and today is our wedding anniversary! Whew, I am worn out just typing it all out. But, here are a few pictures to show:

 Our first "official" family picture with the judge!

 Proudly holding their certificates!

 Dedication Day!

 I love both of these pictures because they were looking at the pastor so intently and Abby was batting her eyes at him!

I will write more later, I have a lot on my heart to share, just need the time to sit and write!

16 days and counting...

It is hard to believe that in just over 2 weeks (16 days to be exact), we will walk out of a courthouse with two sweet children that a judge will declare as "forever ours". Two children that we have believed to be ours since the day we met them (since the day I first heard about them, at least for me). For those who haven't heard, August 17th is our schedule adoption hearing. We are so excited! We have been busy making plans, buying outfits for the children (okay, so I have been busy buying the outfits, let's be honest, Robert hasn't done that), creating adoption announcements to send out, etc.
In 16 days I will finally be able to share with everyone, my sweet babies' names and pictures. So many of you have been blessed to know the sweet children known to the online world only as B and A. Those who haven't been blessed will meet them soon enough.
So many of you have been such precious blessings to us during this process. The prayers, the support and the listening ears, you all have been so helpful and we are grateful. I wish I could thank each and everyone of you individually, but it is not possible to do so. We have been blessed with wonderful DFCS caseworkers, who truly had the children's best interest at heart. We thank them also. Thank you to our family, who has been so understanding and loving during this process. You loved them as family before they were "officially" family.
Our sweet church family at Cartersville FBC has been such a blessing to us also. Never in my life have I been to a church with so many families who have adopted or are adopting. It is such a unique community of believers who are obedient to God's calling to care for the orphans! Thank you CFBC family and my prayer is that you will continue to support adoption! We will be sharing our adoption joy with our CFBC church family through a "baby" dedication the Sunday after the adoption.
We have been so blessed (the world would say lucky) to have gone through the process as quickly as we have. We pray and ask you to continue to pray as we head to the final stages. I also ask that you pray for other families who are adopting, many of my friends are in this group, who are having struggles, difficulties and roadblocks. Pray that God will keep them strong and faithful to see it through to the end. It is so worth the wait and such a blessing. So many people tell me, "those kids are lucky to have you," but honestly, we are the lucky (or blessed) ones. So many times I think, these are two wonderful kids (I am not biased...), how did we get so lucky for God to have chosen us to be their parents, we don't deserve them. I don't have an answer to that question, all I know is for some reason, He chose us and we were obedient to His calling to be their parents.