Fourteen Years Ago Today

It was a beautiful Saturday in August when my best friend and I exchanged our vows. How excited we were that we would never have to say goodnight and go our separate ways again! It was a very excited and nervous bride and groom who drove away from the church late that afternoon.

Our anniversary celebrations have changed a lot throughout the years. Some years we have been able to get away for a special weekend. Some years I have sat on the bleachers watching said best friend play church league softball. This year we are teaching Vacation Bible School together.....not the most romantic way to spend our anniversary, but we have definitely had fun working together to teach the Bible lesson to 65 kids.

Happy Anniversary, Chad. Love you forever!

Backbone

Last week was our annual Bradfield family trip to Backbone State Park. All my sisters and their families, plus Nana and Papa, get together for a week at the cabins around a lake. Great fun is had by all, though the fun seems to change as we add more children to the group each year!

As we traveled through one of the small towns near the park, Chad and I remembered our situation just one year ago as we passed through the same town. We remembered how we had my cell phone on speaker (muted, of course, to spare the rest of the conference call attendees the noise of our then four children), participating in an AWAA Rwanda conference call. We were hungry for any news of progress in our adoption.

This time, with teary eyes, we glanced into the rear view mirror to see our now FIVE precious, noisy children. We looked into the eyes of our beautiful Rwandan treasure, Cooper. We once again took time to thank our Heavenly Father for the miracle of adoption...the miracle of matching a quiet, lonely little boy from East Africa with a noisy bunch of hooligans from middle America. Only He could have orchestrated such a perfect match.

Baby #4 Turns 4...

And is a baby no more. Happy Birthday, H!

Our Sweet Patriots

Strawberry Jam and Swim Team

Many thanks to Nana for teaching H how to make jam. She now has something to take to the county fair in July! (So glad to have that one crossed of the list.)

Our three biggest kids are all on swim team this summer. It has been such great exercise for them, and they are consistently improving their times! We are so proud of how hard they are working.

Our Toothless Wonder

Happy Birthday to Our Biggest Little Girl

Eleven years ago today, Chad and I became parents of a beautiful baby girl. She has been everything we had hoped and much, much more. Thank you, God, for entrusting this dear girl to us.

Happy Birthday to our biggest little girl!