"Toot"

Happy Birthday Mason!! So when you ask him how old he is, he puts up two fingers and says, "Toot". It cracks us up. This was his first experience with cake and presents and he loved it. His favorite activity right now is playing with hot wheels, thus the theme. He loves to line them up and usually takes one to bed with him. We kept things small with just a few friends and family. We swam, ate pizza, and opened presents. He received all things boy, wood blocks, mega blocks, race track, and a basketball hoop or ba-ket ball as our friend Jake says.


I have enjoyed making the kids' cakes over the most recent birthdays but now I'm wanting to take some lessons on how to frost and such.


It took a few tries but he managed to blow the candles out, complete with a very long string of spit deposited on it for everyone's enjoyment. A collective "eewww" was heard by all.

Evidence he enjoyed every bite.

However, the most fun probably came during the opening of presents. The tissue paper beat out the toys by a landslide, at least initially.

NBA bound?

One well loved, handsome dude with Gigi, Pap-pa, Uncle Tim and Aunt Jennifer.

I can't believe he is two already. My kids' birthdays are always reasons for celebration and they sometimes turn into birthday weekends. But there is always this quiet moment of sadness for me first thing in the morning as I think about their birth moms. How grateful I am to them for their ultimate sacrifice that has brought us such joy and how I grieve for them and their loss. How I know they are missing out and how lucky Matt and I are as a result. If only she could see this and know how happy and loved he is. So, thank you sweet woman for allowing us the privilege of raising Mason Israel. He is well loved indeed.

Happy Birthday Handsome Boy!! We love you.

Israel.....

Three lovebugs all referred within a week (different years of course). A year ago today we were told we would have a son. His name was Israel and he was just 4 days short of his first birthday.
We were a bit sad we would miss this but so excited to see his pictures. The one above is the first one we received. It was the only one initially and it wasn't the best quality. We strained to see the details of his face. I couldn't wait to see his eyes. Ethiopians tend to have these big eyes. He was so handsome with that cocoa skin. The girls thought it was funny that he had on pink pants. He was in Durame, an area about 6 hours from the capital of Addis Ababa. We had no idea just how well he was being cared. But once we got there 5 months later, we knew he had been well loved on. Unlike for the girls, we learned some about his history including information on his birthmom but those details we will keep private. That is his story so we want to give him the choice of sharing or not. Wow, he just got cuter and cuter and I had no idea how much fun he would be. It's funny because we always wonder what our kids will be like and every time, it just seems God picked the perfect one for us and for our family. The pics below are ones we received along the way as we waited to travel.


There's those big beautiful eyes I spoke about.....

I didn't like this one initially. I thought he looked sad. But it grew on me the more I looked at it and it is now one of my favorites. He was a serious baby when we met him. Not the case now, quite the ham........yummy. Mason Israel..........

His birthday is this weekend so stay tuned for birthday fun...........

Lin Xiao

I tear up every time I see my kids' referral pics but this one.......oh, tears might actually fall. This is Madalyn Grace Xiao and it was 6 years ago today that we first saw her beautiful face. This is our first baby, the baby who made me a mama. We had waited 10 1/2 months for our referral (nothing compared to the wait now in China). In April/May of 03, SARS hit and the adoption process was put on hold in China for 5 weeks. We were devastated. We thought this would extend our wait but it actually sped things up. God works that way ya know. We weren't expecting our referral till January 04 but because they were backed up in China, they worked hard to catch up. I was at work that day and Matt received the call. He called me at met me at work and we opened our "present" privately and in the secrecy of my office. I will be honest and say I fretted about whether she would be cute. I have fretted about all my kids. Not that it would have mattered, you know. But boy, when we opened her pic, we couldn't believe how beautiful she was. She just looked angelic to me. And I LOVED her lips. We also thought it was appropriate that she had a Mickey in her basket. We have always wondered if that was intentional on China's part since they knew she was being referred to a family in Orlando. The other funny thing is that China overdresses their kids. They look all bundled up and when we got our hands on her, she was a peanut. I guess you could say getting your referral is like getting the ultrasound pics, but with a lot more detail...lol. Anyway, it's a sweet, sweet day for us as we remember "The Call" for Lin Xiao,which means smile and small. More to come on our journey to get her in the six weeks that followed this day..............

Mei Fu Kang

It was 4 years ago today that we got "The Call" for Mackenzie. "The Call", in the world of adoption, is how you learn about your referral or in other words, you find out who your new baby is. Four years ago today, we first saw her sweet baby face. We were actually at a Disney hotel, Pop Century, for Labor Day weekend. My parents along with my brother and sister-n-law were there as well. We were sure to bring a computer with us as we anticipated hearing from our agency, CCAI, or Chinese Children Adoption International. They are fabulous by the way. In any case, we learned who she was, Mei Fu Kang, meaning wealth and fortune, and that she was from the same province as Madalyn, Hubei. We had requested this and were so grateful the Chinese govt chose to honor our request. She is from the city of Huangmei which is about 5 hours away from Madalyn's city. Our hope is that they will go back together someday to learn more about their country and being from the same province will be helpful. We could not have been more in love. Isn't she just beautiful? She looked a bit like a butterball and we couldn't wait to get our hands on her. It would another 6 weeks before we could leave to go get her. More on this next month in celebration of her Gotcha Day. Till then, I know I'm biased but really......can she be any cuter???

By the way, all our kiddos were referred to us in the month of September so stay tuned for more memories................