BIG NEWS...NEW BLOG - WWW.DAVIDFAMILYADVENTURES.COM!

We're gonna switch over to a new blog...we imported all this blogs' posts, so nothing will be lost, but we decided to switch to more general family blog to keep everyone posted on our life, travels, laughter...and future adoption news...

We have decided to start the fundraising process again and begin saving towards our next adoption. We haven't felt to quite start the application and paperwork process yet, but felt it would be wise to begin the fundraising now. We feel that our next child is from South Korea and will probably use Dillon International (www.dillonadopt.com), a great agency here in Tulsa that has an incredible Korea program. This is another reason we've decided to switch from our David's Ethiopia Adoption blog to a family one. We will soon have about 15 t-shirts available for sale (Adopted As Your Own design - see top right hand corner of our blog for a pic) that all proceeds will begin our adoption savings! Let us know if you'd like one...or more!

The new blog is www.davidfamilyadventures.blogspot.com - it's still under construction, but we will get to it sometime soon! We'll be putting all our new posts, pics, etc. on that blog from now on! We love you all...see ya on the other blog!

Caleb, Becca and Sakari David

Easter 2009

Just thinking of what we celebrate today....brings me to tears!!! SO THANKFUL for Jesus and all that he has done for us...HE IS ALIVE!! What an amazing miracle.

We enjoyed time together this weekend and a great church service. On Friday my uncle (becca) came into town and got to meet Sakari for the first time.



KISSES

she was facinated with is bald head :0)

Then on Saturday we played outside in the beautiful weather with a new bubble toy...Sakari is totally into bubbles right now :0)






And she played with daddy on the swing...she was laughing hysterically!!










after nap time we had Sakari's very first Easter egg hunt...she was SO CUTE and enjoyed her non-candy all organic treats that we put in her eggs :0)

So much fun at the park!!!

We have had a few BEAUTIFUL days and we ventured to the park one day so that Caleb and Sakari could play and I could follow them and practice some photography skills :0)

Sakari's 2nd Birthday Party!!!

We can hardly believe that our sweet baby has turned 2!!! She is such a sweet JOY in our lives!!! She is sleeping in her big girl bed SO WELL and is a trooper at this potty training...she is doing SO GREAT!!! We were so happy that her grandma, grandpa and aunt Christy were able to be here from out of town for the celebration!
here are some of our favorite photos and video clips from her party!!...and the song is Sakari and daddy's song he mentioned in a previous post...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Poop and Our Song

Sakari has already learned as of today, how to actually poop in the potty!!! She has been successful without any pee accidents for 3 days...she is getting this thing down! And I have to share that we have "our song"...one day while Sakari was riding with me, we rolled down the windows, turned up Amos Lee...and we sang "You're the Only Reason (I Keep On Coming Home) at the top of our lungs...now everytime she hears it on the AT&T commercial on TV with that song...she sways, sings and looks at me...I think this will be our new family song, it's "our song".

Potty Training!

More like bootcamp. Sakari will love us for this post in about 10 years...lol! Well, day 1 was definitely the hardest...we went through about 10 pairs of big girl panties, but we just set the timer and kept as consistent as possible to take her to her potty. There were several accidents and only a 10% success rate on day one. Day 2, we started reading a potty story book and she seemed a little more comfortable and only had about 3 accidents, and 3 successful pee excursions in the potty. Today, ah...sweet day...she had one, yes one, tiny accident that didn't even get on the floor...she held her pee until we got to the bathroom and successfully went 7 or 8 times today!!!!!!! We had about a 98% success rate...are we geniuses? Not so much. But with the help of family in town helping us keep the timer and trips to the bathroom consistent - Sakari got the concept. Now, pooping is a little different as the first couple of days she wasn't sure what to do, but tonight we did have a poop explosion right before bed, but I think she's now getting more used to what she needs to do. She has been wearing pull ups during nap time and a diaper at night (they just hold more) and it has seemed to work for her. We know that poop takes longer. It's been a learning experience for us too, as we've had to put ourselves into her shoes and trying to understand that she's had to have a major mind shift from going anytime she feels like it to having to sit down and really think about how and when to deal with the bodily functions :) We are so proud of our little one...who is not so little anymore! We love her sooo much!!! Sakari, in our defense...we didn't post the naked butt pictures!

Flying!!!

Just a few pics of Sakari's fun in the last few days with the fam...flying with Aunt Christy, running with Grandma, a break dance move, her new swing and a random pic of a red bud tree :)

Sakari's almost 2 photo shoot and well check...

I can't believe our sweet girl is almost 2!!! We had professional pics taken last year and since I started my photography business...I got the honor of shooting her pics this year. We went downtown to a park and to the RR tracks and we had SO MUCH fun!! Also...we went to her 2 yr well check at a naturopathic doctor...she is healthy and strong and REALLY tall! Enjoy the pics:

Spring Weather fun...

Today....Tulsa decided to show us a little spring weather...after our random snow a couple of days ago...it was in the high 60's this afternoon and so we played outside...






...She wanted to check on daddy who was in the house...but didn't want to go in all the way :0)

The Inspiration for my Tattoo...

GOD PIONEERED THE ADOPTION PROCESS. WHEN ADAM SINNED, HE ALIENATED HIMSELF FROM GOD AND BECAME A SPIRITUAL ORPHAN. MANY PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY GOD DIDN'T JUST FIX THINGS RIGHT THEN AND THERE. THE REASON WAS THAT GOD HAD GIVEN HIS SON, ADAM, DOMINION IN THE EARTH, BUT THEN ADAM THROUGH HIS ACT OF TREASON, GAVE UP HIS AUTHORITY TO SATAN. IT WAS LEGAL. GOD WAS NOW ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN. THE ONLY SOLUTION TO RESTORE HIS SON BACK TO HIM WAS ADOPTION.

GOD CREATES THROUGH HIS WORD. IF YOU WILL NOTICE, THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT, GOD IS GETTING HIS WORD BACK INTO THE EARTH THROUGH HIS PROPHETS. THE PLAN OF GOD WAS TO RESTORE THE ORIGINAL ORPHANS BACK INTO THE FAMILY. EVERY PROPHECY UTTERED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE DAY OF ADOPTION. THE REVELATION OF THE LOVE OF GOD IS FULLY EVIDENT WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT WAS GOD GOING THROUGH THE ADOPTION PROCESS TO RESTORE THE ORPHANS.

"BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO HATH BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST. ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE: HAVING PREDESTINED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL." EPHESIANS 1:3-6

ADOPTION IS THE PROCESS, NOT THE RESULT. THIS CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ADOPTION TRULY IS AND HOW IT CHANGES EVERYTHING. WE CAN SEE THE ADOPTION PROCESS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT, BUT THE PROCESS WAS COMPLETED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS. AS CHRISTIANS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT OUR SALVATION WAS THE RESULT OF ADOPTION. IT WAS THE PROCESS OF ADOPTION THAT MADE US SONS AND DAUGHTERS. WE ARE NO LONGER ADOPTED. ONCE THE ADOPTION PROCESS WAS COMPLETE, WE BECAME FAMILY BY BLOOD.

"BUT WHEN THE FULNESS OF TIME WAS COME, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, MADE OF A WOMAN, MADE UNDER THE LAW. TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS. AND BECAUSE YE ARE SONS, GOD HATH SENT FORTH THE SPIRIT OF HIS SON INTO YOUR HEARTS, CRYING, ABBA, FATHER. WHERE THOU ART NO MORE A SERVANT, BUT A SON; AND IF A SON, THEN AN HEIR OF GOD THROUGH CHRIST." GALATIANS 4:4-7

IT IS THE REVELATION OF GOD'S ADOPTION THAT CAN TAKE US TO FURTHER UNDERSTANDING THE IMMEASURABLE IMPACT THAT CAN BE MADE IN THE WORLD THROUGH ADOPTION. EVERY ORPHAN IN THIS WORLD HAS A CALL OF GOD ON THEIR LIVES - A CALL THAT COULD CHANGE THE WORLD! WHEN A FAMILY ADOPTS ONE OF THESE "LITTLE ONES", THEY ARE INVESTING IN THAT CHILD'S CALL. MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THEY CANNOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. REMEMBER, JESUS SAID THAT THE ENTIRE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE A SEED. FOR EVERY ORPHAN THAT IS ADOPTED, IT IS A SEED PLANTED IN THEIR LIVES. THE FRUIT THAT THEY BEAR WILL BE ON YOUR ACCOUNT BECAUSE OF YOUR INVESTMENT IN THEIR LIVES. YOU CAN BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HELPING THAT ONE CHILD WALK IN THEIR CALLING AND BRING OTHER "ORPHANS" INTO THE KINGDOM. WHEN THEY CHANGE THE WORLD, YOU HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD. ALL IT TAKES IS ONE CHILD!

Adoption: by Joshua David


Another source of inspiration: Saviour King by Hillsong United

And now the weak say I have strength
By the spirit of power that raised Christ from the dead
And now the poor stand and confess
That my portion is Him and I'm more than blessed

Let now our hearts burn with a flame
A fire consuming all for your Son's holy name
And with the heavens we declare
You are our king

We love you Lord, we worship you
You are our God, you alone are good

You asked your Son to carry this
The heavy cross our weight of sin

I love you Lord, I worship you
Hope which was lost, now stands renewed
I give my life to honor this
The love of Christ, the savior king

Let now your church shine as the bride
That you saw in your heart as you offered up your life
Let now the lost be welcomed home
By the saved and redeemed those adopted as your own

I give my life to honor this
The love of Christ, the Saviour King

Is it March already??!

Well, we have been without wireless for almost a week - GASP! But we had a great ET food cooking get together at our home last weekend with several adoptive families from the Tulsa and OKC area. We had great notes from the last time Mimi for Queen of Sheba came up to teach us how to make the food, so Becca and everyone's hard work paid off and it was GOOOOODDDD! We had a blast and though the pics taken weren't the best (my bad!) - it was very memorable and so exciting to see the adoptive community growing!

Jack has also finished his first round of puppy training and did amazing, labradoodles are the best dogs EVAH! We got him groomed last week and thought we'd share some of those pics.

Sakari is doing amazing and a source of constant joy and laughter! She's getting so big and already wearing 3T clothes primarily - Daddy might just have a basketball player! She also just finished her Diaper Dolphins class today and is a pro at going underwater and loves her some water! She loves, loves music and knows exactly what she wants to listen to and loves to climb up and play the piano and make up songs...and let me tell ya, she's good! We cannot believe that in just a few weeks she will be turning 2, we are looking forward to Terrific Twos, not Terrible...we choose to enjoy each moment and she makes it so easy!

Some other fun news is that my (Caleb) sister is almost 8 weeks pregnant so it will be baby number 2 on our side of the family...we're all sooo excited!

We are busy with life in general and learning to place boundaries to make sure we don't burn out. What, with helping run a growing Christian school (www.faithcentralonline.com), planning our main event of the year with Big World Ventures, Brio Missions to Guatemala, www.briomissions.com with almost 500 people signed up to go, owning and running Mission Threads and Becca growing her photography business (www.treasuredcaptures.com) and making sure that family stays a priority...it's a huge task, but it's been amazing to have a sweet girl like Sakari to remind us what's important...family is more important than anything else. The end.

Oh...it's not really the end, just a teaser...I'm getting a tattoo next week.

February Fun video...and BIG GIRL BED!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Out with the old crib and in with the new toddler bed...


Pretend sleeping...


The quilt aunt Christy made looks AWESOME on her new BIG GIRL bed...

Happy Valentines Day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a fun photo shoot of Sakari and her cousins...ENJOY!

I just found this blog that I wrote a couple years ago...it's long, but you may find it funny - Jake and Merica, this re-post is especially for you...

Monday, October 02, 2006


Cabo San Lucas - A week of sun and fun (kinda like surf and turf but totally different)

So here goes...I'm gonna try to let you in to partake with us on our vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.

Sept. 23rd: We arrived in Mexico, got our luggage, rented our car and drove 30 minutes to our resort. We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar, a great 5 star resort. Becca's parents have a time share that allowed us to trade lcoations and spend a week at this resort right on the beach. It also has 3 pools, 2 of which are infinity pools overlooking the ocean. Ahhh, the ocean...liquid sapphire and turquoise with random diamonds sprinkled throughout...it was breathtaking! It rained a week before we arrived so the desert was alive with emerald greens and yellow and fuscia flowers were blooming, perfect timing also because it's the beginning of slow tourist season. Back to the resort, aloe vera grew everywhere along with birds of paradise and iguanas and lizards roamed - awesome! Snapping myself out of day dreaming right now...back to the blog...that night we drove into Cabo proper and found a local authentic Mexican restaurant and ate...good times, I even tasted sliced and cooked cow tongue...besides the disgusting mental picture, it tasted amazing!

Sept. 24th: I'm not sure if any of you or your families have time shares, they can be great...but anytime you use your time share they get you into more meetings and sales pitches. This time around...we got smart...the guy at the car rental place pitched us a way we could get our rental paid for as well as pocket almost $200 cash by going to another resort's presentation along with getting huge discounts on the activities we wanted to do on vacation. So, a tip for you...if this is offered to you - do it!! Because typically, the meetings are only 90 minutes...and if you think about it you get paid a crazy sum to sit through and not buy anything...but you have to schedule these meetings at the very beginning of your vacation get them over with and from them on...enjoy! So today, the 24th, we went to 2 meetings...one at the resort we stayed at and then it was on to the other presentation...both of which came with a free buffet meal. From one of the resorts, we were shown Enrique Iglesias' home and apparently Slyvester Stallone and Whoopi Goldberg have homes in that same neighborhood. Most of today was spent at resorts talking to people and getting tours but late in the afternoon we headed back to our resort and we hung out at the pool for a bit then I went for a walk on the beach. I walked and walked till I got to a spot that had some rocks...it was officially time to explore. I found all kinds of wildlife...crabs crawling all over the moss covered rocks, hundreds of snails (man, those suckers are strong...I couldn't pull them off!), sea urchins, pelicans diving into the surf for dinner....is was so incredible...partly because I felt like I deserved a tv show on Animal Planet. Ha! On the walk back, I found shells that were red and purple...which I had never seen before...on this beach there were also tons of dime-sized crabs scurrying about but turns out there are also other larger crabs that dig out burrows. I was just walking along enjoying the sand and sound of crashing waves when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement...I'm intrigued...I kept looking and decided to walk toward the movement I saw a moment before...all of a sudden I'm a few feet away and a crab (larger than my hand) takes off running side ways straight for the water. I guess I was deemed a predator. So, without thinking...I took off after it, just for fun. And it was.

Sept. 25th: This day marked the beginning of enjoying the rewards of the time share meetings...it began with a free glass bottom boat tour on the Sea of Cortez and to explore Los Arcos (the natural rock arch formation where Cortez and Pacific meet). We saw fish, pelicans and the most exciting was a whole troop of sea lions hanging out on one of the rocks...they were barking and sleeping and just hanging out. Turns out that sea lions in the wild smell just as bad as the ones at the zoo...but it was quite a cool experience. We spent the rest of the day doing a little shopping, ate at another local seafood joint (so much food!), took a nap and spent the rest of the day at the pool.

Sept. 26th: Oh...fateful day! You'll laugh, you'll cry...because you're laughing so hard.
Well, we took a 3 hour ATV tour with Salto Tours in the desert and on the beach. First, I will say I'm so glad we did this...besides getting more sun...the tour was amazing...riding through the desert, going through arroyos (washed out river beds - although some of them actually had water running through them), riding on the beach and exploring some of the nearby hills and sand dunes. Ok, here goes...I never grew up doing a whole lot of daring and dangerous things...I wish I had, but until this day I had never driven a 4 wheeler/ATV - I had ridden on the back of a couple, but not my own. So the tour began well, it took me a few minutes in the practice ride to figure out the gears, etc...and I felt semi-confident and semi-cautious leaving the home base. We drove in the desert for a few, crossed an arroyo, drove through some running water...this is getting fun...we drove around some more exploring...now, our guide says it's time to head to the beach. I'm getting more and more confident by the minute. We get to the beach and it's gorgeous...hills, rocks, trees, cactus, flowers are the backdrop for the beautiful sand and water. We get to a meeting point where our guide gives us water to drink...then tells us we have an hour and twenty minutes to drive around on our own. Half the water bottle is consumed...then the group of 6 (Becca, her parents, another married couple and myself) decide it's time to have some fun. The other couple hangs back a little longer...but the four of us take off...I'm last in line, let's ride. We take off...Becca's fam grew up doing this sort of thing so I'm pretty much left in the dust...but as the ride continues, confidence grows...and it's time to kick it from 2nd gear to 4th....and I'm now ripping down the beach trying to catch up while still enjoying the ride...I'm not an expert converter from the metric system but I feel it's safe to say I was going at least 25 miles an hour when...the ATV hits a really soft spot, I lose control of the steering...imagine and reflect with me...slow motion officially takes over at this point. I'm flying off the ATV...and flying is not a metaphor or exaggeration...I flew off and a few phrases go through my head - "Holy crap", "I'm going to die", "well, maybe not die...but I'm definitely gonna break something", "I hope no one is watching", "I hope the ATV doesn't run over me when I land" - these were just a sampling of what my brain was able to come up with as I soared...all of a sudden - SPLAT, CRUNCH, CRUMBLE! Pain, sand, embarrassment, pain, sand, embarrassment...pain, sand, embarrassment. This was the pattern. But being a guy, as soon as I landed I rolled over and jumped up like nothing happened and I wasn't even hurt...ha! It was then that I realized that I could barely breathe, the wind had been knocked out of me. The next realization is that the fam was now even farther ahead of me...and then I stood...hot, sweaty, and covered...no, not just covered but also filled with sand...oh yeah, and hurt. At this point, I began laughing out loud at myself...I started brushing off sand and chased down the ATV just as the other couple on our tour pulled up...he drove over to make sure I was ok...he saw the whole thing! What?! Where the heck was the video camera??! I wish I could see it all happen...mostly because things like that make me laugh hysterically when watching a movie...when a kid is riding a bike and he runs into something...someone is running and runs into a tree...why is that funny? Well, turns out when it happened to me...it made me laugh just about as hard...except this time, my neck, shoulders and ribs are sore. Embarrassed...no, not anymore...Acceptance...this is who I am, this is what I do from time to time, haha...and it's hilarous. This was the most dramatic of the falls...yes, there were more...1 more incident of being thrown off (thrown off...as if it was the ATV's fault :-)...and 2 more of my body going the opposite direction of the ATV and those times I kinda just flopped off...I was still getting the concept that you lean into your turns, not against them :-) And...one of those flops was caught on tape while I was doing a fishtail at the top of the sand dunes...you haul off from the beach straight up the dunes and then close to the top you make a sharp turn and lean in...this creates a fishtailing at the top and then you head straight back down the dunes. Wow...what a day...it was a blast!!! I'd do it all again in a heart beat.

Time out...all this typing has made me hungry...let's see what can I find...ah yes, a cinnamom roll and cup of coffee...

Speaking of food...this night we made a reservation at one of the resorts restaurants...Pitahayas. It is a 5 diamond, 5 star restaurant. The food was really good...but really expensive. Thankfully, since we sat through a presentation...we had $200 worth of certificates to use...we still spent $70 of our own money on top of that...but it was a cool experience. We sat outside overlooking the beach at sunset. The meal started with a complimentary bowl of the chef's clam chowder...it was spicy, rich and incredible. We got the appetizer sampler...also good. I ordered the Seafood Trilogy...which was half a lobster tail in a vanilla bean sauce (sound gross, that's why I ordered it...it was great), blackened fish with mango and papaya relish (best fish I have ever, ever had - wow) and sauteed shrimp in wasabi butter. The presentation was great and food pretty darn good. We had dessert and coffee...ours dessert wasn't great...and the overall consensus from the fam was that it was good, but not worth almost $300. I think I enjoyed my food the most. But this is the story of Cabo...food is very expensive almost whereever you go...even groceries are a little pricey...but Cabo is worth spending a little more to get to experience it. Most of the time, you actually don't even feel like you are in a different country...it's a beautiful, comfortable piece of paradise.

Sept. 27th: Becca and I went tandem parasailing...also a lot of fun, it's so peaceful up in the air like that being pulled around by a boat...we were a good 300 feet up in the air. I have been parasailing once before and loved it...I'm not a huge fan of heights, in fact, I hate them...but I tell you parasailing is incredible, if you haven't done it...you should. The rest of the afternoon involved pool time...and that evening we went on a dinner cruise, Cabo Rey. It was incredible...a sunset dinner cruise, the views were awesome, food was incredible...the steak was so tender we cut it with a butter knife, there was also entertainment. Sure, there was some cheese...that's to be expected, but there were these 2 different sets of Argentenian dancers that were incredible...I have no idea how they did what they did...it was really entertaining. We saw a blue marlin jump out of the water as well as a mantaray...it was a good evening.

Sept. 28th: We rented waverunners (jet skis) and spent an hour zipping around the ocean...and exploring Los Arcos area once again. We came upon a sea lion playing in the water just about 20-30 feet away from us. I had also never driven my own wave runner before...but thankful, there were no spills - just fun, sun and spraying water.

Sept. 29th: Snorkeling day...we drove over to the Santa Maria Beach, we are told this is the best place to snorkel in this area. I've been once before in Puerto Vallarta, but the water was rough and mirky...not a great experience. This time the water was calm, but the whole goggles, breathing tube and flippers made me a bit claustrophobic. The flippers were too tight and there was sand in them...first time out there was miserable...but I went out a couple other times and got to see some incredible fish close up and got several underwater pictures. Unfortunately, the waves made Becca feel sea sick and she hung out on the beach (it was a hot day) and ended up getting exhausted by the heat. She felt better later on that day once she got to cool off at the resort. Becca's mom had brought some frozen peas for us to feed to the fish (I would have never thought of that), but I took the peas out there and ended up having a feeding frenzy happening all around me...and a bunch of others came to watch all the fish eat peas. overall, it was a pretty cool experience (although, since it's a popular place many boats brought tons of people there to snorkel , it was a little crowded)...snorkeling is not my favorite activity but I'm glad I did it...plus, I got more sun...I did turn pretty dark, one of my most important accomplishments of the trip :-)
We packed the rest of the evening and flew home the next day....

...now here we are in Vegas for another day before we fly home tomorrow...it was a great vacation, but we are ready to go home...it's been a fun 2 weeks...with the exception of the fact that seemed like at least once a day I heard some version of "My Heart Will Go On" somewhere in the background...a different version and variation, one of them being a clock chime...Celine wants her song back...stop using it, people!

Swimming Class Fun!!!

A few weeks ago we started swimming classes with Sakari...and it has been SO MUCH FUN!! We take turns each week being in the water with her...here are some highlights! OH...and today...she put her head totally under the water...she didn't cry, she kinda loved it and wanted to do it again!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo shoot of Sakari on GOTCHA DAY!!

I decided to do a photo shoot of our sweet Sakari on the 1st anniversary of the day that she was with us full time!! We had so much fun....enjoy the cuteness!!


She wasn't too excited when we started :0)


















...but she was lovin' it by the time we were done :0)


So AMAZED how well Sakari fits in our family....Thank you Jesus for bringing her to us!!!

GOTCHA DAY!!!!

A year ago today...that sweet child of ours came to be with us FOREVER! It's bizarre how it feels like she has always been with us, but also how quickly time flies. We truly had the most incredible privilege to not only have "gotten" Sakari but also the families that traveled with us - Stum's, Mihnovich's, Singleton's and Carpenter's, we LOVE YOU GUYS and wish you all a happy GOTCHA DAY and we are counting down the days until Reunion 2009!

We brainstormed as a travel group and though we all met our babies for the first time on January 21st (aka as Meetcha Day!), we decided to use today as it was the day they left the transition home with us for good. What a day that was...excitment, trepidation, laughter, tears and well, about a trillion other emotions.

To celebrate, we chose to have a family only celebration of balloons, cookies and watching video footage of our Gotcha Day. Today, we got Sakari to also say "Gotcha!"...we have that on video and also some pics that we will post shortly. Sakari got balloons of a ladybug, Blue (from Blue's Clues), a butterfly, a monkey, hearts and purple ones too! We are going to write notes on one of the balloons from us to Sakari's birthmother and let it go into the sky tomorrow...we were going to do it tonight, but it got really cold and REALLY windy. One of the traditions we decided to implement is to buy Sakari a fun kids DVD for a present on each Gotcha Day. Becca's also created, printed, laminated and had coil bound a story for Sakari...her own adoption story book! Becca has always told her the story and thought it would be great to put into book form and we read it together tonight before bed.

It was a special day, but not just January 23, 2008 or even today...but each day spent with this treasure of ours is more special than the one before...



Checking out her balloons!


She kinda LOVED them!!


Opening her 1st present...the movie "Horton hears a Who"


Opening her 2nd present...the book that we made for her!!

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IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT - SHIRT DESIGN

Impossible Is Not - New design now posted at www.missionthreads.com! All proceeds from this shirt will support students from Faith Central Christian Academy in Tulsa, OK, raise support for their mission trip to Guatemala (www.briomissions.com) - Pre-order your shirt today for a donation of $25 or more, email us at info@missionthreads.com to get yours! Help these students experience faith in action and through it they will never be the same!

This design is also available for anyone wanting to raise funds for adoption, etc. Just send us an email!

a few more pics from Christmas...

I was going through our MILLIONS of pics from Christmas and found a few more that I wanted to post...Enjoy!!

Here is the GREAT STRAIGHTENING of 2008...
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This is the AMAZING QUILT that Sakari's Aunt Christy made just for her...SO BEAUTIFUL!!


Playing in the GIANT pile of wrapping paper :0)


Present opening fun...

HAPPY 21 MONTH BIRTHDAY SAKARI!!!

We LOVE YOU so much...ALL THE WAY TO THE MOOOOON!!! :0)



And here is a video montage from Sakari's first Christmas at home...

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