Total God Moment

So last night I had a God moment. We went to church last night so that Jon and I could attend service together (a rarity these days since we both serve at Sunday service). So while Jon dropped Aliya off to class I went in and found our seats. A few minutes into worship I looked over to the next isle over and there was a familiar looking woman sitting there. I elbowed Jon and asked him if she looked familiar to him too. She did. She looked just like a woman I went to Wright State with and hadn't seen in years. I continued to stare at her through the entire service, sending her vibes to look my way (it didn't work, I must not have the gift). So after service I went over to and asked her if her name was Donna. She looked up at me and said, "OMG, KELLY"!!!! It was her! The last time we saw eachother was just a few months after Aliya came home! She doesn't even attended The Vineyard any more, but she said that last night something told her that she needed to be there. We exchanged phone numbers and are going to get together soon for coffee!! Donna is an amazing woman, she was a single parent raising three kids on her own when she decided to go back to school. Her kids are now 17, 21 and 24. She was at church with her ex-husband. They are dating again. I can't wait to catch up with her!!! God knew exactly where we were supposed to be last night!

Joel

In lieu of traditional school pictures this year Jon took Joel out for a school/birthday photo shoot a few weeks ago. Here are a few of my favorites!

7 Years!!!

Happy Anniversary baby! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

12 already?!?!

I can't believe our Joel Bug will be twelve in eight days. It does not seem possible! He had just turned three when Jon and I met 9 years ago. Is this even possible?!?! We celebrated his birthday early this year his birthday does not fall on our weekend. We got him a cell phone. *Gasp* I know, if you know me, I am very anti-kid cell phone, but we weighed the pros and the cons and the pros won! He was SUPER excited to open it yesterday! He hasn't put it down yet! We were in BG this weekend so we got to celebrate with my folks and grandma & grandpa and Aunt Cindy. My mom took all the pictures, so hopefully I can snag a few from her and post them here!

Joel has become such an amazing young man over the years. He has such a tender heart and is so loving. I am so proud to be his step-mom!

A piece of the puzzle

I talked to Aliya's birthmom today for about 45 minutes!!! This is the first conversation we've had in months. We picked up right where we left off and she shared with me how crazy her life has been recently. I mustered up the courage to ask her about Aliya's birth-father (silently praying she would tell me something, as we know nothing about him, not even his name). She was happy to answer my question and said the I can ask her anything, she has no secrets. I will not post our conversation, that is something we will hold onto for just Aliya. But now knowing it confirms in my heart that we were meant to be her parents! I am so thankful for open adoption!

Princess Kitty

Today my step-mom, Aliya and I had a "girl's day out". We went to a local Starving Artist's event. I hadn't been in years and Aliya was excited to spend the day with her grandma. We walked up and down the tents looking at all the crafts then we came upon a face painting booth. Aliya instantly said she wanted her face painted. So I stood in line while she looked at all the example faces ranging in price from $5-$10. She kept saying she wanted a spider or a green goblin looking face. Thankfully I convinced her that they were too scary for a little girl and she should pick a butterfly or a flower or something. Thankfully she chose the below picture (from the $5 selection).

Now keep in mind, this is her first face painting experience. We tried last October and I ended up with the pumpkin...she FREAKED OUT! But not today, she did ask to sit on my lap, thankfully the artist said that it was okay. She sat perfectly still, I wish I could have seen her face during it. The kids in line after Aliya were two girls I'd say 11 or 12 and they kept commenting on how cute Aliya was. She did so well that the artist threw in pink sparkles for free!! After she was done and had seen herself in the mirror for the first time she turned around and looked at me. With a HUGE grin on her face she said, "Look at me mommy, I a kitty".

The rest of the afternoon people commented on how cute she was. A woman even stopped me and asked if she could take Aliya's picture. We stopped at The Flower Factory after and as we passed people in the store she would look at them and point to her face and say, "look".

Unfortunately she missed her nap today, but did surprisingly well (or I should say Thankfully). We came home and ate dinner then Aliya, Kris and I visited in Aliya's room and she did our hair. She didn't fuss at bedtime (again, thankfully) and was sleep by 8pm! She didn't want to wash her face tonight, so we have a princess kitty sleeping in her big big bed tonight.

Joel's update

Here are a few tidbits on our Bug
* Has two weeks of 6th grade under his belt
* Really likes his Science teacher (we met her, she's beautiful...we can see why Joel likes her)
* Loves to spend as much time outside riding his bike and playing with friends
* Does not like his 8:30p school bedtime
* Hates walking out the door at 6:50a for school
* Is going to play trombone in the band this year
* Rolls his eyes constantly
* Is starting to plan his 12th birthday party (we're thinking a camp out)
* Is so grown up, but is still such a little kid (good!)
* Moved into the Jr. High/High School class at church on Sunday's, he seems to like it so far
* Is obsessed with Axe body spray
* The novelty of his little sister has officially warn off
* Still knows everything about everything...why even bother going to school?!?!
* Walked to the ice cream shop after school with his buddies for the first time Friday
* Voluntarily gives the dog a bath for us!
* Is a pretty awesome kid!