1 year ago....

A year ago we were visiting Shiloh,
our long awaited girl,
for the second time,
but this time...
to be with her forever.

It was a moment to remember,
knowing that the waiting was over,
that she would never be far,
but in our arms forever;
and knowing that that now
we would have all the time in the world
to be with her,
to know her,
and to love her.

Today, 1 year later,
there are so many memories,
and the bond between the 3 of us is so big,
that its hard to believe
that its only been 1 year.
I am so in love with this little girl!

and all I can say is
God is so good!

Update

Spring is in the air! Here that means that one day it will be roasting and the next day wet and cold, but we have managed to sneak in some outdoor play time. Shiloh is growing like a weed. She is so much fun right now! I am so smitten with her! Her imagination is really growing and it is so cute to see her play "house" with her baby and stuffed animals. Her favorite thing to do right now is rock all of her animals to sleep while singing to them and then she lays them all down to go "night night" in a row across the floor. She LOVES playing outside and loves rocks, birds, trees, clouds and the sky. It is so cute to see her in awe of these things that are so easy for me to take for granted sometimes.

The pregnancy is going well. I am 17 weeks along now. I never had to deal with morning sickness, thank goodness, though I am still waiting for some of that energy to come back, like everyone says it does in the second trimester. We will hopefully be finding out if it is a boy or a girl in the next few weeks! We still don't have a name, but at this point we have kind of given up until we know the sex. It was so much easier with Shiloh, knowing we only had to come up with a girl name!

We are headed to Boston at the end of the month to see my brother graduate from Harvard! We are looking forward to getting some time off and having some fun! If anyone has any recomendations of things to see in Boston, let me know!

A special day

Two years ago today we got to see this precious face for the first time. We had already gone through a lot of pain in our adoption process, and seeing this little girl for the first time brought us so much hope.


One year ago today we found out that we were finally out of PGN (one of the last, long, BIG hurdles to bringing Shiloh home). I can still feel the relief and flood of emotions when I remember back to it. It was probably one of my best days ever.

Needless to say, April 10th holds a special place in my heart! It amazes me that it was only a year ago that we were going through all of this! God has so fully healed our hearts and made us into a family that sometimes it is hard to remember the pain and the waiting, almost like I am living another life. Shiloh is so completely a part of us that it is hard to remember a time when she wasn't here.

I am so blessed and thankful that I get to see this beautiful, smiling face everyday! God has truly blessed our lives!

We have a 2 year old!!!

I promise, I will eventually get to putting up our Hawaii pictures, but first... Shiloh turned 2 this weekend!!! We celebrated on Saturday morning with a breakfast pajama party. All the kids came cozy in their pjs which was kind of nice because it had snowed the night before and was freezing!

We had a great time, but one thing I have learned is that 2 year old parties are CRAZY!!! We all had fun eating, talking and opening presents, but by the time the end came, everyone was way over-stimulated.

Shiloh in her pjs

Her cake was a towering strawberry short cake.

Here is a nice, calm pic we got of all the kids in their jammies...
...although we got about 10 that looked more like this.

On Sunday morning we woke up to hearing Shiloh laughing and playing in the monitor. Filipe had papered her room the night before and when we walked in, she had pulled some of it down and was playing with it. She got to open some more presents in the morning and then we went to breakfast before church.

After church we went to the park for a picnic lunch with the family. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day (and it had snowed the day before. Go figure.). Shiloh had SO much fun running and playing with everyone.

I think her first birthday at home was a huge success. That night, after we had put her to bed, we could hear her singing "Happy birthday to you" to her animals in her crib before she fell asleep. So precious!

Big News!!!

We are back from Hawaii! It was such a great time! I am going to post about it, but in an effort to delay having to go through all of my pictures, I thought I would share our big news...

...that I am PREGNANT!!!!

It was a COMPLETE shock, but we are really excited about it. We were just starting to look into the adoption process again, trying to find a new country to adopt from when we found out. I am about 9 weeks along. We saw the baby's heartbeat on Friday and everything looks good.

Keep us in our prayers that the pregnancy goes well and that God will be preparing our hearts and Shiloh's heart to become a family of four.

The Next American Idol

My daughter is a singer and a dancer. Even right now as I am writing this I can hear her singing in her crib instead of going to sleep. This week TT, Malak, Shiloh and I took a trip across town to see my mom. Shiloh spent the entire 20 minute ride singing at the top of her lungs. Fortunately, TT remembered her camera and captured a minute of it. So, without further ado, I give you Shiloh...




We are going to Hawaii this week! I will be sure to post pictures when I get back, and maybe even some news about something crazy that is going on with us. Hope you guys have a great week!!!

Shiloh

Ok, so I know I have been really bad at posting lately, but I am going to try to be better - really.

Shiloh is growing like a weed! She is such a happy girl! She is always singing and babbling. Filipe and I are constantly marveling over her, amazed by how wonderful she is and by how much we love her!

This girl is going to be a girly girl. Right now she is all about the clothes. She could spend hours just putting her socks on and taking them off again. Whenever she finds a stray shirt or pants, she instantly pulls them on. It's really cute.

She is picking up new words every day. Her sentences are still mostly gibberish to Filipe and I, though that doesn't stop her from telling us all kinds of things (we just don't really understand them), but sometimes she will say something clear as day and Filipe and I will look at each other and ask "Where did she learn that?" She loves grabbing her stroller or backpack and telling us "bye bye" as she leaves the room or walks down the hall. Yesterday, she grabbed the stroller and said, "See ya." Filipe and I both cracked up. It is amazing what kids pick up on!











Also, this is so cute! Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!