Lifestyle/Golden Boys/Last ditch effort.

I spent all of Sunday afternoon with a fellow RR family, celebrating ONE YEAR HOME for their boys!!

These two melted me instantly. It was pretty incredible to see where they are a year out and realize that that's where AG could be months from now.

Sweet Josiah also had his first birthday very close to "Gotcha" day- to see him signing so well, putting on his own shorts(!), saying words, walking around, using the potty(!) ... it excited me so much! He's awesome. (Jackson was doing all this and more as well, but it was easier to compare to Josiah since he was the same age as her ;)

It made me realize that we need to be much more intentional with Anna Gray. We sign, we encourage, we work... but we're still very "convenient" about it, if you know what I mean?

Just this week, I have really been pushing her to sign "milk" before her bottle, which Nathan has been working with her on holding herself. Well, I'll be... two days later she signed milk and started holding her bottle :)

Certainly, ALL children are different, but we want to make sure we are doing our best to help her become her best :)

Thank you, Golden family, for allowing me to be a part of your special day!

Thank you for your encouragement and inspiration, even before we got home :)

 I'm thrilled to have gotten the opportunity to meet you in person.

Also thrilled that the boys enjoyed the cupcakes I brought with me :)

Singing "more"! hahaha

All of that brings me to:

If we are FB friends you already know-
But I am doing another photo fundraiser! I am going to bust my rear-end to raise as much money as I can to help the Hogelands get V home. 30 minute sessions and 15-20 images on disk for $50-
*only* if you book AND pay before August 1st. My goal was $1000... in two days I'm at $1100 (once everyone is paid up), with 8 more days to go!WOOT! Let's get this girl home!


Contact me with your email address and I'll send you an invoice! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for everyone's help!!
Please note, these will be the ONLY sessions I book for this fall. I'm not a professional, but I will use what I can when it means saving a life. I am so incredibly grateful to you all and my heart grins to have some of you coming back for more!

Mixed emotions.

Yesterday, we were given the news that Anna Gray is deaf in her left ear.

It was unexpected, and we obviously don't want any of our children's lives to be harder than they have to be, but this is a relatively minor obstacle to overcome. After all the good news we have been given: a perfectly healthy heart, strong, strait eyes, properly-functioning thyroid, kidneys, and bladder... we are grateful that it's "only" hearing loss.

Since her other ear "hears beautifully", the audiologists don't believe it will have a huge impact on her speech and language development, although they are slightly concerned with where she is now.  We are not, given that she spent the first 12 months in an orphanage that spoke a different language. They would like to do an ABR (auditory brain response) to confirm in order to proceed with a plan. We asked that they wait a few months since she was recently sedated and to give her more time to develop those speech and language skills.We will re-test in October, do the ABR, and go from there.

It may mean we sign longer, it may mean we sign forever, it may mean a hearing aide- we don't really know yet.
That's okay.

I started signing at a really young age and was fascinated with it growing up (I still sign at church). As a freshman at UT, I made ASL my major. When I transferred, I changed to Special Education- specifically, working with children on the autism spectrum. Ten years later, I have a child on the autism spectrum and now a child with hearing loss. The Lord is pretty funny sometimes, huh?

"Fancy Day"

Layla and Cale went home with grandparents after VBS last week, which meant we got some one-on-one time with our Sassy girl (AG was here, but she just goes with the flow and it not yet to the point of putting on a production for us. However, living in this house... I don't think it will be long.).

We spent our evening watching "A Brynn Show". All Brynn, all the time.
(That little frog sound you hear is Anna Gray lol)

Same night, second act.

I am well aware that grandparents are the only ones going to appreciate over three minutes of Brynn.





She was cracking us up- as usual. I promise I am going to get this little performer in dance classes this year! She can't wait another minute, and someone is going to have to get their hands around this  "talent" she has oozing out of her and figure out what to do with it!

The next day, was dubbed Fancy Day by the queen herself.
We had a tea party with the real porcelain tea set and real tea... in our fancy dresses and tiaras, no less.

We wore red lipstick for no reason while we baked cupcakes.
Photo credit: Brynn West :)

And we danced. And danced. And danced.

I didn't realize how much I missed having her home alone with me!
Only a few more weeks until they are in school= Mixed emotions :/

I mean... we're ready and all that, but they're my babies. Why are we insistent on only leaving them with people we know and trust when we go out to dinner for a couple of hours, but we are supposed to be okay sending them off to a place they aren't familiar with for eight hours at a time with someone we know nothing about? I know- that's dramatic, but it's true. I hope the school system knows what they're doing! (And they better, because my two are going to give them a run for their money! ;) J/K mostly, we love the school and the teachers, but it's a little scary.

A little scary and a lot expensive! School supplies and fees for three... yikes. I guess that's the cost of sanity ;)

New look!

I'm assuming you noticed that I freshened up the look of the blog a little bit?!

Including some updated photos of each little over on the bottom right :)

We got our photos back today from our sweet friend, Angela Crutcher of Angela Crutcher Photography!

If you'll remember- this was the session in May that didn't go so well (also the one where each of the children got to pick their own outfits!).

It's pretty miraculous that she got what she did really!

The kids were tired and hungry and in retrospect, still relatively new to this whole Anna Gray thing.

Anna Gray was not herself at all (also tired and hungry), but that's how we got this shot of me trying to calm her down, which I think is my absolute favorite.

LOVE their sweet hands.

Look how much she's changed in two months! Lol. This makes me smile :)

(BTW- her doc called today and her kidneys and bladder look great. The UTI was a stroke of bad luck! Excellent.)

Angela, THANK YOU (again) for a few glimpses into our family and celebrating adoption!
Friends, check her out at www.angelacrutcherphotography.com , she's awesome!!

17 months!

T.I.M.E.,
I beg you... please slow down!
Has it really been FIVE MONTHS since our little princess left that orphanage for the last time?!

I stayed up way to late the other night reading back thru my posts while in country. Lawsy... I had forgotten. I mean, I didn't... but I did. Reading the comments over again was pretty overwhelming. I was so physically and emotionally exhausted at the time that I couldn't really process all your words. It seems like yesterday, yet I can't believe it's already been five months. It still feels new, but I barely remember life without her.

Seventeen months- practically a lady now!

^That would be at her first pageant Saturday :) Her sisters were competing, so we made a girls' day of it. She placed AND won prettiest hair. Granted, she was the only one in her age group that had any hair, but I don't see how that matters.



She weighs 19lb 8 oz officially. She's definitely thinning out now that she's getting longer and more active. She has FOUR teeth now. Isn't that strange? Just a few weeks ago she had none, and now she has four? She may end up having the most southern accident of any Ukrainian that ever lived. She says: Mama, Dada, Hi, Bye, and Ooohh. Pretty impressive for a kid who "won't talk until she's five", right? She hasn't officially signed anything YET, but she has been using an open palm at her chin and we are fairly certain she's saying "eat".

She is just starting to scoot/army crawl. We have hardwood so her little legs slide out from underneath her, but we've finally wised up and started putting her on the carpet.. instant movement! She also likes to sit on her bottom and turn in circles :)

She has also recently discovered that she has a voice... and she's not afraid to use it!
"Hmmm.... when I yell, people start runnin' around doing stuff for me." Yessss.

She is rotten! Happiest girl in the world, except when she's not. Is it terrible if I think she's just as cute when she's pitching a fit?? She cries and smiles at the same time- she just can't help herself. I asked Nathan when he thought we should start telling her "no".  His response: Are you crazy? I'm never telling her no!

Today, she had the ultrasound of her kidneys. We will get those results tomorrow, but aren't too concerned. She also had a cystogram of her bladder, which she pretty much hated (understandably). It wasn't pleasant. From there, we went to Vandy to have her stents taken out. They were much longer than I expected! It was pretty weird watching them pull them out of her eyes... shiver. He asked if I wanted to keep them for her scrapbook.

1) No.
2) He thinks I have time to scrapbook!


He also decided to hold off on her glasses for a year. Kind of a relief, because given our attempts at sunglasses- I feel like they would be more work than their worth right now. Friday is her audiology appointment, but we don't expect any surprises there (you never know, of course). Anybody want to hang out with the big kids for a while?? I know for a fact it's impossible to hear when they're all in the room ;)

By the way, we went back to the beach.

We had a nice, relaxing fourth with Daddy...

Before we hit the road without him.


It was a quick trip, but well worth it!
We are most definitely raising some little beach bums!

Cale Benjamin is THE happiest boy in the water. He is calm, content, and confident. He even made a friend! My heart swelled watching him play with another little boy- throwing football, riding waves, sharing snacks... He was such a BOY. Not an overwhelmed boy or an anxious boy or a boy who doesn't play appropriately... just a boy :)

No surprise, Layla also made a friend. She is such a social butterfly! She made it her mission to catch a tiny fish... in a bucket. She spent a large majority of her two beach days chasing fish. And dog-gone if she didn't finally do it! Two, actually :)

Brynn really likes the sand, but spent quite a bit of her time in the water too! She plays alone, mostly- by choice. I asked her if she wanted to go try to make a friend and she looked at me, confused, and said, "Why?". ha. She said if she wanted to play with someone else, she'd just take Layla or Cale's friend, but she didn't. She was happy! Love her little independent spirit!


Anna Gray did wonderfully! She slept a few hours in the shade both days, but preferred to be out in the water. She giggled and squealed with delight every time a wave took her up in the air and brought her back down. She even learned to say "Ooohhhh" with every sway :)



Since we were at "our" place this time, we had access to the canoe and the bay :)  I love going out in the bay early in the morning, when it is still and quiet. Occasionally, you can catch a dolphin on it's morning swim in the shallow waters. We were a little late in the morning this time for that, but it was still so peaceful.



This was the kids' first time in the canoe. The twins loved it... Layla was unsure at first, but once she realized I was very capable of "driving", she enjoyed it.

And for such a quick trip, we sure did have some dang good food! Seafood at Whale's Tail, big breakfast at Donut Hole, amazing pizza from Jordano's (good call, Deda)... love me some local Santa Rosa food! See you in the fall, Mack Bayou!

Adoption Art!

Hey, friends!
My friend, Kate, is sooo close to going right back to U to get her other daughter.

Watch her story here (and feel free to share in any way you can!):

They are going to be having an art auction to raise funds to bring "V" home and NEED your kids' art! It can be anything- painting, drawings, photographs, thumbprints... anything!  It CAN be adoption-related, but doesn't have to be. They'll take anything!

It's a great opportunity for your kids to use their imagination AND help bring an orphan home to her waiting family!

This is Layla's contribution:

The concept and work are all her's! She really put a lot into it, and she's excited to help V :)

Let me know when you are ready to mail your child's art and I'll send you the address!

BabyCakes for charity Charity.

Since we are still so new, we don't know what a "normal" month looks like... but between graduations and Mother's Day etc., May was hoppin'!
June, not so much.

Regardless, $100 will be going to Charity's family to help bring her HOME!

Orders are rolling in for July (and August and September), so hopefully- it will be a "good" month :)

I sure hope so because this month THREE orphans will benefit from sales!!

*Alan and Renee were in-country at the same time as us :)  They brought their adorably spunky daughter home just after we did and are already headed back for THREE more children. Yes, three! Renee and Alan are kind and gentle with big gigantic hearts.  I would absolutely love to run myself ragged this month baking cupcakes for their family to grow!!


Do you have a baby shower, wedding shower, birthday party, Thank You gift, cookout or any other reason in the world to need cupcakes?!

Call us!
You get beautiful, delicious cupcakes and three orphans get closer to coming HOME!


*Aliases for privacy purposes ;)

Photo-heavy Weekend.

Friday's letter was L, as in L-L-Layla!  We had lemonade with our lunch at the lake :)
A billion degrees out and little girl is still smiling!

Saturday AM kicked off with another baseball game in the 100* heat. And I remembered to bring the snacks! Woot. The boys hung in there, but we were all dripping!

Apparently, the heat wears a girl out. This is AG during our 10-minute Target run immediately following.

Saturday evening, we attended the wedding of Nathan's cousin, Katelyn (who looked BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, I want to buy her dress and wear it for no reason. No harm in feeling pretty while you vacuum, right?).

The kids waited all day for the wedding because they wanted to DANCE! And dance they did (they really couldn't help themselves after stocking up at the candy bar!).

And they were still silly the next morning... "fighting" over a spot of sun they say?

Sunday, we went to a birthday party for another one of Nathan's cousins. Cale decided to hop on Ethan's bike (no training wheels) and see what happened. The boy just took off like he'd been doing it his whole life! He was probably ready a year ago, but unfortunately, we just don't have a great place for him to ride. I suppose we will be finding one!

Little Miss was getting pretty red (from heat, not sun), so we stayed cool inside :)

Sunday evening- party #3- 70th Birthday for Nathan's grandmother (and belated celebration for Layla and Isaac).

All these cousins play SO well together.

My girls never miss a chance to dress up!

They even "decorated" the baby...

Princess Layla... and the real Layla.

We had fun but we're pooped. Good thing more beach days are on the horizon ;)