Favorite Foto Friday #105 - Happy 15th Birthday Grant!

Thank you all so much for your comments and private e-mails regarding my decision to take my blog private. I am so touched with all the stories that you have shared with me and feel honored that so many care about my family and have been touched by our adoption journey. I really have mixed emotions about closing it down, but feel it is the right thing to do at this time in our lives. I hope that sometime I will be able to make it public again once we find a better flow in our lives.

In the meantime, for this week's FFF... I want to wish a very Happy 15th Birthday to my son, Grant. He turned 15 on Wednesday, September 30th and we were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate with family and friends at his favorite Japanese Hibachi restaurant. I forgot to take my camera to his celebratory dinner but did manage a picture before we left of him opening his birthday gifts at home with his little sister by his side...

It is definitely my favorite foto of the week even though the flash went off in the fireplace screen and is slightly out of focus. Oh well... it has two of my three favorite people in this world in it! More pictures are on Morgan's camera but she has lost her cable to download them, so this will have to do!!

As I announced earlier this week... this is the final FFF that I will be hosting on this blog until further notice. Starting next week, you will find the FFF linkup on Hannah's blog! I know she will take really good care of everybody there!! Please be sure to leave her loads of comments thanking her for hosting as well as how much you love her AMAZING photography skills of her gorgeous children!!!

Here is MckLinky! I hope we have a great turnout this week!!!



I will post some pictures from our trip to Guatoberfest when we return next week! Sophie~Bug and I are so excited to spend time with the many wonderful families we have been looking forward to meeting in person!

Love, Hugs and FROG (Fully Rely On God)!!

ANNOUNCEMENT

I have decided that I am going to take the blog private. I just don't have it in me to blog recently and 2009 has not been the most stellar year for my family. Hard to share intimate details with people that I may not really know.

I will host one more Favorite Foto Friday this week on this blog and hope we get a fabulous turnout. After that, my sweet friend, Hannah from Me-Me and Monkey's BIG Adventures, has agreed to host future FFF's. I know she will do a fabulous job and create a fresh new atmosphere for all to gather each week. She has been a part of FFF from almost the beginning and I am so grateful that she will help it continue!! Please give her a huge shout out and thank you for taking on the task of keeping us connected through the beautiful picture carnival showcasing our greatest blessings!

Sophie~Bug and I am heading off to Guatoberfest next week in celebration of her 4th Forever Family Day and plan to take things private when we return. So, if you are interested in an invitation, please leave a comment here with an e-mail address and when I get back into the blogosphere, I will share the password for those of you that I know, love and trust. If you are not sure that I know you, please let me know our connection. I hope you understand this difficult decision to protect the privacy of my family.

God Bless You and thank you so much for your support and prayers! This blog has opened up so many connections and friendships over the years and I am hopeful that those wonderful friendships will remain. I am hopeful that someday I may reopen the blog when we are ready.

Love, Hugs and FROG (Fully Rely On God)!!

Favorite Foto Friday #104

I have not taken any photos almost this entire month! And, I have been battling a cold that I feared was the flu this week and am feeling a bit medicine heady... so please excuse me for the lack of creativity this week.

I am sweating a bit thinking about that... but I did manage a Back to School Picture of Sophie...

I know you will be much more creative than me!!! Have a fabulous weekend!!

Here is MckLinky!



See you next week for Octoberfest!!!!

Four Years Ago...

Four years ago, I received these pictures of Sophie at her last doctor's appointment in Guatemala. I remember opening that e-mail with such anticipation and excitement! Then... that ugly cry... joy at seeing her beautiful little face and wearing an outfit I had left down there with her mixed with tears of anguish, frustration and sadness that I was watching my daughter grow bigger and more beautiful with each passing day in a country far away. My arms ached... they were so empty without her in them. For those of you in the Guatemala adoption world... we were waiting on PINK to be able to go and pick her up. It seems like those last hurdles were the absolute hardest days of the wait.

Four years ago, I waited for this child... four years ago, I felt such despair that these final stages seemed to go so slowly. Four years ago, I had no idea how much my life would really change with this precious child coming into our family. Four years ago... our family faithfully prayed for our tiny blessing to come home.

My, how four short years have flown by. I Love You, Sophie~Bug!!

Favorite Foto Friday #103

Hey guys... I am still here... things are still very unsettled. But, all the fabulous support you have given me this week has me coming back for another FFF. I will continue to host them as long as you keep stopping by! I have hardly taken any photos at all... so, I am posting some favorite pictures from this summer of my two girls... this was at Morgan's senior portrait session. I asked Morgan to pose with her baby sister for a few and they all turned out fabulously. She will be able to look back at these someday and see just how little her baby sister was the year before she left to go away on her own. Such a bittersweet time for me...




Here is MckLinky!



Let's continue to keep the themes open for a while! I love everybody's creativity! Sorry if I have not commented lately... but I do read and check them out. I hope I am back up to speed very soon! Love you all!

My Little Firefighter

Sophie and I made it to St. Louis this weekend to attend Guatfest (a picnic for families with children from Guatemala)! We had such a great weekend spent with wonderful friends! Since I do not have permission to post pictures of all the other kids... I thought I would share a couple pictures of my little Fire Bug!! She LOVED it when the fire truck and ambulance showed up and got to be the first one in the drivers seat!!


Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers. They are definitely needed and very much appreciated!! I love all the wonderful people I have met through blogging!

Favorite Foto Friday #102

I really thought I was ready to get back to blogging but some uncertainty has come up in my life at the moment and I feel I must extend my blogging break until the crisis is averted. I have not taken pictures of my kids in a couple weeks, so you know that something is consuming much more of my time and energy.

I may even have to take the blog private, which is something I have considered doing for a while. I don't feel comfortable putting my private life out there when difficulties arise not knowing who may be reading it. I know we all must struggle with this at times and I wish blogger allowed the option to password protect posts so that I could be open with those that I want to share our private details with. But... sigh... not really sure what to do.

I feel like I have fallen off the bandwagon of chronicling my family's life and am a little overwhelmed with how to make up for the lack of posts. Maybe that is what is really bothering me. I, like most of you, blog to create a keepsake for your kids someday. I had hoped that this too would be the same thing for us. But, I don't know how to start back up.

So, for this week... I am off the theme that was chosen last week... I really need to take pictures of the kids back to school, but they have already been back for a couple weeks. So, I will post a picture I did take recently of Grant and Sophie enjoying some time on the front porch last weekend. The mutual adoration of these two is simply amazing. I have no idea who could love each other more...

One thing that has not changed is how much I love my kids... they are the ones who keep me going day in and day out.

Here is MckLinky!



I would like to hear from you if you would like to keep Favorite Foto Friday going... maybe that will be my motivation to at least pop in here once a week until things settle back into a rhythm.

Love you guys!