Continuing Traditions...

For as long as I can remember, my parents would give me and my sister a Christmas ornament on my birthday. It was always an exciting time... more than my actual present... to see what ornament they would give us. Sometimes it would be something to remind us of something important from the year or just something unique. They always picked PERFECT ones! Then when I got married and left home, I had ornaments to decorate my own tree.

I have been doing it for Jake and was SO excited that Bella was home to share in our family tradition! This year, I found the PERFECT one! It is from the Hallmark Keepsake Collection. It is called "Forever Family." I tired to put it down here, but Blogger was not cooperating... um, imagine that?! :) It says: " 2007 Connected with a bond of belonging-- forever family."

It is our family ornament this year. So... do you think I did a good job carrying on my parents' tradition?

I spent the day shopping with my baby girl. We bought her some new Robeez and she was quite proud of them. She showed them to everyone that would look and clapped as they oohed and aahed over them. My daddy bought us steaks and Jeff grilled them. It was a GREAT birthday and I will never forget it. BELLA IS HOME!!!!! BEST PRESENT EVER!!!!!!!!

Sorry, no pictures of the night, we forgot. Santa came by on the fire truck through our neighborhood and through the kids candy. I remember thinking last year that Bella would be here for it this year and she was. It was the best!

Here they are....

First things first...

"Have you heard? LSU is going to play Ohio State for the National Championship!!! How 'bout them Tigers?!

Now... Bella update... she is walking- NO more crawling. She just cruises around the house seeing what kind of mess she kind make! In one month, she has begun walking, got her first haircut, gone to the park, done LOTS of shopping and eating out, starting saying some English words, helped Daddy and Jake put Christmas lights on the tree, started eating some table food, gained over 1 pound, and learned to drink out of a straw! She has been busy!!!!!

I get so overwhelmed and emotional each time I hold her and look at her. During our adoption, I did not give much thought to her birth mom, but while we were on pickup, I was able to read her social worker report and learn more of her situation. Something changed in me at that moment and I began to truly realize how much love this woman had for this precious baby girl. I mean, as a mom to Jake, I cannot imagine how I would live day to day not knowing who had my baby, where they lived, what kind of life he was living and yet, Bella's birthmom does this daily. I hope to be able to instill a love for her in Bella. She truly gave the ultimate sacrifice of a mother's love to my daughter and for that I will forever be grateful. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her and pray for her.

We are going to be getting Christmas pictures done this week for our Christmas cards. I did not do cards last year since my other child was not home. It just did not feel right. I found the cutest dress for the occasion and cannot wait for everyone to see them. If you want one, please e-mail me your address. My e-mail address is asalemi@cox.net

Now on to more pics of my precious children (I love the sound of that... "children"!)

Holding Daddy's hand while she sleeps!

My sleeping beauty.

My sleeping beauties! Notice her hand on her big brother's arm. She sleeps like that with him.

First haircut... not too sure.

Trying to get Daddy to save her.

This is the kind of mess she "finds" when she cruises the house. This child LOVES to unroll toilet paper. I got smart, after this one, and removed it and put it where she could not reach it! We found some in her mouth!

This is her newest thing... when she sees a camera, she gives this cheesy grin as her pose. We got to work on that or there will be no modeling career in her future! LOL

Playing with Daddy. She just started sticking her tongue out ALL of the time.

She loves to jump on Daddy's belly and hear him moan.

I admit, I have been really lazy with taking pictures. I will be more diligent this week and get some better shots. Today is my 35th birthday and I am so excited she is here to celebrate. Jeff took me out to the Melting Pot Friday night. We left both kids with my parents. It was the first time I left her with anyone except Jeff and I only did that the day after Thanksgiving for Christmas shopping. She did great! I had a harder time, though! LOL :) Anyway, normally, I would not be happy about turning 35 (30 hit me REALLY hard), but having Bella home has brought me a contentment that I have not had for a while. Jeff is cooking steaks and my dad is coming over to eat. I will post pics of the very special occasion.

Hope everyone has a GREAT Monday!

WOW!

Wow! I just realized that Bella has been with us for 1 month and on Saturday, it will be her 1 month anniversary HOME!!! I haven't blogged alot lately, due to the fact that she is keeping us quite busy!

Bella is doing great! She is now walking--- no more crawling! She is saying a few words... very important ones... like, Momma, Dada, Broer (Brother)... you know the ones that matter! LOL She doesn't like to sleep, she LOVES her bottle, is VERY affectionate, smiles OFTEN, not very fussy, oozes personality, blows kisses, waves to EVERYONE she sees... she is quite the little flirt! I have lots of things I want to blog about, but finding the time has been a challenge. I hope to be able to share some of them soon. I know it has been a while and I hope I still have some readers out there!

I still have bronchitis and now a severe sinus infection. I promise to post pics this weekend!

Until later...

Busy Bella

My Beautiful, Brown-eyed Girl! She is one BUSY girl... always on the move looking for something new to "explore". The other night, I found her popping out all of my safety plugs from the wall sockets!


Helping Momma load the dishwasher.

This is where she spent her time this morning while I was getting ready.

She automatically smiles when she sees a camera now.

Jeff and I had to go to the doctor last week (where we found out we had bronchitis!). This is what Bella did while we waited to see the doctor. We spent 3 hours in there and she never once fussed-- just explored CONSTANTLY!!!

"Hey, Daddy, how do you get that echo sound in your voice?"
She is a cabinet closing and opening little booger!

"Hey, Daddy, let me drive... oops, I almost ran off the road because I got sidetracked... I looked up and saw a sunroof!"

"Daddy, you are the BEST!!!"

Do you think she has him wrapped, yet?

Two days later, we were at the ENT with both kids (that still sounds weird!). We found out that they BOTH had bronchitis and Bella had a touch of croup, too. I cannot tell you how good it was to see my TWO children playing together in the doctor's office. I actually got teary-eyed watching my heart's desire right there!

Pray for my friends and their precious children...

I would like to ask all of my readers to pray HARD for some of my friends tonight. First of all, let me say, that I am NOT computer savvy and do not know how to copy pics off of other blogs and put them on mine. The times it was done for previous posts, my husband did it and he is not here tonight. So, with that being said, I will just list their names and what they need you to be in prayer about.

Jerry and Stacie-- They are currently waiting on PINK. Their daughter's name is Allie and this is their first child. They should have gotten an appointment last Thurs., but things did not happen like they should. Please pray for roadblocks to be removed and them to have favor with the embassy tomorrow!

Drew, Bekah and Benjamin-- They are waiting for sweet Isa to join their family FOREVER. She just turned a year old in Guatemala and I know the pain they felt that day. There has been problems with the attorney the agency assigned to their case and they need things to be resolved QUICKLY and the truth to be told about the status of their case. Please pray for the hand of God to guide their file through to the end and Isa into their arms forever!

Melissa and Jodie-- There are problems with the Civil Registry where they need a birth certificate issued. Please pray for these obstacles to stop and the bcs to be released. These precious girls need to be home for Christmas!

Chris and Lindsey-- This couple has endured more than their share of heartache. As they begin a new adoption, please lift this precious couple up before the Lord. Pray for things to happen quickly and for the hand of God to guide those involved in finishing this adoption. They just returned from meeting her and I know they pain they are feeling without her. Lift them up to him.

Bama Girl-- I don't know this woman, but my heart is burdened for her and her family. Precious Sydney is caught in a political web and suffering at the hands of evil people in authority. Pray for the necessary hearts of those involved to be soften and turned. Sydney needs to be home and this family needs to experience joy instead of heartache.

Ashley and Madeline-- This friend of mine has without a doubt endured more pain than any other person involved in adoption. She needs a miracle to bring precious Madeline home. I serve a God that does miracles and we need to pray He moves in this case in a MIGHTY way! Pray for her broken heart and for strength to continue to endure.

Jennifer and Sara Michele-- Sara is in the same orphanage that Bella lived in and she got caught up in a political web, as well. Please pray for the appeals court to release her certified copies so that this little girl can join her forever family!

Jane and Lucas-- Pray that an abandonment hearing is scheduled SOON so that the COA can be issued and his adoption can finally begin (after over a year!).



I don't know if I am forgetting anyone. If I am, please forgive me and e-mail me. I would LOVE to put your request out for others to surround in prayer!

A little glimpse...

Throughout our whole adoption process, I will admit, my faith waivered... I had my doubts and my rages... sometimes at God. I am not proud of it, but I will be honest. Two days before the civil registry released our birth certificate, I told God that I wanted to finish this off with my head held high, being able to praise Him... not hang it low, despite my unbelief, when He did it. I asked Him not to let that BC be released until I had whole heartedly found peace and dropped the unforgiveness I was holding. You may ask who I could have had unforgiveness towards. Well, for one, my attorney. I felt that she used our case to further her ADA work and we got tangled up in a political fight between her and the powers that be in Guatemala. I blamed her.

Then, I began to read a book called The Bait of Satan-- The Sin of Offense. I started reading this book on that Tuesday that I prayed the above prayer to the Lord. In it John Bevere, the author, sets the stage by telling you that if you are a child of God, NO man or NO thing can thwart the plans He has for your life. Yes, people have a free will, but He can stop anything He does not want happening in your life. He told how Joseph was sold into slavery and thrown into prison unjustly. Now, we went through a lot, but NOTHING compared to this. And, yet, he was able to realize that it was all part of God's divine plan for his life. It was at that moment that I realized that our adoption did not go the way we had anticipated it... it went the way He charted it.

He called us to adopt... of that I am MOST certain. He KNEW the day she would join our family and the age she would be when it happened. He NEVER promised me that she would come home as an infant. He just asked us to be obedient and our job was to do that and trust Him to fulfill the dream He had birthed in our hearts. MY plans were to bring home a little baby and move on with my life. HE HAD OTHER PLANS!!!! Yes, Susana, used our case to further a cause in Guatemalan adoptions and as far as I can see, it did NOT pave the way for anything positive. However, Bella came home at the perfect age and at the perfect time-- HIS TIME.

Today marks 2 weeks exactly since she joined our family FOREVER. I was listening to John Bevere's series A Heart Ablaze on my way to bring Jake to school this morning. He was talking about Moses bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. He asked the congregation this question:"Why did God lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" The people responded, "to bring them into the Promise Land." NOT TRUE! He led them out of Egypt to bring them out of bondage into freedom. In this past year, He brought me out of the bondage of dependence on myself and into the freedom of trusting Him with EVERY area of my life! The glory of the Lord was revealed to them IN the desert, as they wandered around. The desert is not a place of being forsaken by God or left alone until He decides you have spent enough time there. It is a place where you are not living in the abundance of life. You are only given the day's manna.. the provisions you NEED for THAT day. WOW!!!! That spoke to me. He went on to say that "it is in the desert that God quiets you heart and changes you for HIS glory". You see, if you had the abundance of everything working out in your life the way YOU planned, then you would not need to depend on Him.

That is where the glimpse I spoke of in my post title comes in to play... I know now that He allowed our desert time to happen so that He could quiet me and teach me TOTAL dependence on Him, despite the situations others placed us in. I can tell you that I changed in the last 16 months. Was it an easy change? NO, but as I wrestled with MY will and against HIS and as I kicked and screamed, He broke me and taught me that my life is in HIS hands... a place where I willingly placed it when I was 13 years old. And about that birth certificate... it was released 2 days later! :)

Things are going great with Bella and her attachment to us. She said "Momma" the other night when she woke up... needless to say when I heard that over the monitor, I nearly broke my neck getting to her! :) I can say that times are tough with me not working and getting paid and look bleak to our human eyes, but I have learned to look at my life through the eyes of faith. If I keep my eyes on Him, everything will be provided and I will fulfill my purpose.

I pray that if you are still waiting for your precious little one, that you surrender your will for His and that He wraps you in His arms every step of the way until He delivers your "promise" to you and your family. I am praying for all of my blogging friends still waiting... your time IS coming!!

First trip to the park and other misc. pics

Today was a beautiful day and we decided to take Jake and Bella to the park to enjoy it. This was the first time Ms. Bella was put in the grass. She wasn't too crazy about it at first, but when I sat down with her, she realized it must be okay and she began to attempt to eat it. Well, when she saw my reaction, she tried even harder. She is quite the clown and LOVES to make us laugh!

Enjoy the pics... some of them are from today, some are from my nephew's birthday party yesterday and some are just of Jeff and Bella enjoying an early morning snack. I was told tonight (by Steph) that I was not blogging enough with pictures... so here is what you wanted Steph!

Happy Birthday, Joel!! Nana loves you!!!

My daddy feeding Bella some icing... she LOVED it!

You may be wondering where the hairbows and pigtails went... well, she has decided that she doesNOT want them in her hair. She feels up there throughout the day to be sure I have not sneaked one in on her. She will pull at it until it is beyond fixable.... hoping this phase will pass!!

This girl LOVES her some bananas!!!!