Happily Ever After...

Every year at Christmas, Daddy takes all three of his girls to do something special. This year, we went to our favorite place to have tea. We laughed and laughed about the differences in our girls. Both are very girly girls. Both are giddy and excited about tea with Daddy, but one of my girls may or may not need additional manners training. HA! Aria is my prim and proper girl. Patiently waiting for her tea, making sweet small talk, and remembering all her manners. Gianna's not gonna lie- For her, it's all about the FOOD. And she wants it NOW! Aria showed me how to politely fold her hands while waiting for more hot chocolate. Gianna couldn't wait to down that poor unsuspecting mouse! Aria remembered to lift her pinky finger when sipping tea. Gianna forgot that shoveling food in your mouth AND talking excitedly at the same time *might* not be polite. But BOTH girls were very polite in careful in the gift shop as Daddy let them pick out a tea cup to start their collection. Eac...

Naughty Bentley can't resist the ornaments. He's just SURE they taste like chicken. Fortunately, we catch him before he gets too far. The fact that he is ridiculously cute wins him a Christmas pardon every time.

Aria means beautiful melody . We named her that because the very thought of her brought a song of joy to our hearts. We wanted that little baby girl with every fiber of our being. And although we had not yet seen her sweet face, or held her in our arms, the dream of who she would be caused us to raise our voice in worship to our Saviour for blessing us with the gift of adoption. And, in such a God-like fashion, He blessed us with a little angel who LOVES to sing. She wakes up singing every morning. She loves to make up songs that fit our circumstances. She calls those songs her " song collection" as if she has an ipod stored in her head. (And she might) When she makes up a song, she rarely forgets the words. Some have become family favorites... "When the sun goes down, And the moon comes up It's night night time for you and me." I'm sure the inspiration for that song could never be from me saying, " Look, it's dark outside, up to bed !" Cer...

Four and a half years ago, a trembling 12 month old baby girl was placed in my arms. From the very first moment I held her, she clung to me-for dear life. That sweet baby girl was terrified of almost everything and everyone. She trusted no one. She had night terrors. The only thing she knew was I was the best thing that had happened to her, and she was vigilant to never let me out of her sight. Ever. I remember when she was 16 months old and just barely toddling around, we went for a walk to crunch in the fall leaves. She was warbling a song just as a gust of wind scattered the leaves and they went tumbling down the sidewalk. Absolutely terrified she ran to me shrieking and crying and literally clawing me to climb up and bury her head in my neck. She screamed, "INSIDE, INSIDE" and our happy walk abruptly ended. That memory devastated me.... What had she experienced in just twelve short months to cause her to be terrified of even the wind blowing ? As the years have passed,tha...