Happy 15th Birthday Dayton!!!

Quite a fine young man you are becoming.....

You make me so proud to be your mother. You are changing so quickly right before my very eyes. But you are still my little boy and some things just never change.

I love how you chose a huge cross henna tatoo in Florida, you are not afraid to show the world that you love Christ. Nor were you when you played Joseph in the Christmas pageant.

You are a loyal friend

And always will be.

You have always taken sports very seriously ......
And you still do......

You have a smile that can light up a room!

Even if it cost us a small fortune!

You have always had a great sense of humor!

The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree!

When you love something, you love it with all of your heart.....And it becomes a huge part of your life!

You have always been our best friend.......my favorite date.......Dad's favorite fishing buddy.....The person who could make us laugh the hardest.....Whose love and laughter carried us through many difficult moments in our lives.....The one who "went " along with our craziness! The one who said our family needed a little sister..... and loved her from the first moment you laid eyes on her in China.
The one who was always the littlest in the family
until two little girls came along! You have been loved so very much......

And yet been so heart broken. No one your age should have to deal with as much loss as you have in your 15 young years. But one thing remains the same after all these years.....



You are our pride and joy, our first born son. The day you were born is a day that we will never forget for as long as we live, our hearts were filled with a love like we had never known before. You have made us so proud and we pray that your light will continue to shine like it has since the moment we found out we were expecting you, our little miracle.

Happy Birthday Dayton!!!!

Four Year Referral Anniversary!

Then and Now

Four years ago today we drove got a call, got Dayton out of school early, drove across the state, and saw our little girl's face for the first time!

Today marks the 4 year anniversary of receiving Myah's referral and seeing her beautiful little face for the first time. Words can never describe the emotions that we felt that day. We waited so long to see our little girl's face and receive her information. When you adopt from China you don't know anything other than the fact that you want a baby girl until you receive your referral and learn which child the Chinese think you are best paired with.

It is hard to remember life before Myah entered our family. She is ours in every way, the time we spent in China seems like a distant memory, she has blossomed into a beautiful, smart, caring and compassionate little girl. We are forever thankful that God placed it on our hearts to adopt, our family has been so blessed to have Myah in our lives.

Spring Break Beach Photos

Santa Rosa Beach 2010
My little boy is now a young man....

Love her hands and starfish! I bought the sweet little pearl bracelet at Crewcuts just for these photos.

It worked I loved shooting these right before sunset, such a warm look to them. My sweet man before he became injured!
My updated photo of my little darlings on the beach hand in hand. We never take photos of ourselves, I wish my cute little haircut would have cooperated, my hair turns super curly in a few minutes when we are near the salt water, this is all I could do with it while we were there.
I have always wanted a picture like this, I think I am going to get a big one made up of this one.
I am addicted to kissing cheeks, I just had to take this one!

We got home last week from a gorgeous vacation and I took a gazillion photos while we were there! I will try to keep my photos at a reasonable amount but expect my next few posts to be all about our trip! We had a wonderful time up until the last hour when Mark started to load up our car and pullled his back out badly, so mom and I came to the rescue and finished packing and did the driving. We had planned a stop over in Nashville but bless Mark's heart he just wanted to get to a hospital, so I visited the lovely Vanderbilt University ER and got him some good drugs to keep him comfortable for the rest of the 8 hour drive. ( And to knock him out so he could not complain about my driving!). Bless my mom's heart, I think we talked about every topic under the sun to keep me awake! I know every area of Europe that they visited and stayed while Dad was in the service. We also stopped by the Grand Ole Opry for a few pictures and had just enough time to run in and grab Myah a little red cowboy hat that says Grand Ole Opry on it, she has lived in since we bought it, she even wore it into the ER and every gas station that we visited on the way home. Our trip was fabulous and was filled with lots of laughs, great friends, old and new, and gorgeous weather.

I am so anxious to edit these photos but I just have not had time this week and wanted to post them so you could enjoy them! It is good to be home but I would love to go back tomorrow!

** I have had a few of you ask about Myah's dress, I got very lucky and found it at Old Navy Outlet the week before we left for $8 on clearance!! Her headband was made by my talented sister Melanie and her pearl bracelet was from CrewCuts (J Crew kids) for $10****