Pics from the week

My nephew Noahs first steps

Angelika catching him .... he adores her

Arianna has a love/hate relationship with him .... she loves him until he wants me ...... then the claws come out . She really does scratch him :( (notice the mark by his eye)

My sister Melodie getting sweet kisses from her baby ....awwwwww

RANDOM PICS FROM THE WEEK

Bray looks like such a big boy with this haircut :(

Angelika loving her new haircut

In the bathtub again .....

It was her idea , mom

Love how she has her feet :)

Brayden , let me teach you how to read

Stop the poparratzi

The T-Shirt says it all ............

They need to make adjustable waist PJs :)

Mr. Serious but oh so sweet ..... also Mr. Dirty face

because it doesn't matter how many times a day I wash his face it is ALWAYS dirty ..... must be a BOY thing :)

She is trying to distract me so I don't notice her hand on the outlet ......

Mom , look how cute I am

She is trying to look so innocent ............

This pic cracks me up because Arianna really is proud of her shirt -- can you tell !!??

If all else fails with trying to get them both in a picture ( which is HARD) .... bribery works :)

I love it because everytime they see these shirts in the closet they say "Mala Shirts" and they want to wear them. I just love that they are coming to the age of understanding about there beautiful country and their special "first mom".

** I ordered the t-shirts from Cafepress.com **

HAIRBOWS

Anyone want to purchase some hairbows and help this darling baby come home !!!??



Visit this blog to see the selection :

http://www.chosenbygodtobechosenbyus.blogspot.com/ or email Teresa directly at :

mombyfaith@hotmail.com . Thanks !! PS She has prices on her blog but will also take donations . You can also pick any color .

Cozy Day at My Parents

Looking at pictures of none other than HERSELF :)

Sitting by the fire outside

Sitting by the fire inside

Me .... seriously needing haircolor and makeup !!

Playing games and giving me "the look" for taking pics

So Gramps , what should our next move be ......

Brothers ...............

I don't even want to know what she is scheming now ....

My kiddos lounging

As I get closer to having a teenager (eeekkkk) I really savor this time of being able to have ALL my kiddos around . I don't know why but lately the thought of having teenagers is really making me lose sleep. I guess you feel like you have no control when they are off driving ... and I am a over protective control freak :)

The day has come .....

Brayden Finally stuck up for himself .........

Sister ... you have been bossing me for 2 years and I have had it !!!!

She did not take him serious :)

Then he decided it was funny too

and they were both laughing like best friends again !!!

Arianna is lucky to have a easy going brother

How precious are they !!! I love to watch them interact !!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FAVORITE PICS
A house/store that we passed while touring plantation

At the coffee plantation ...now thats a balancing act :)

Two clean babies :) Time went by sooooo slow in Guatemala ...... I got to be a pro at

TETRIS !!!

Me pushing the babies to sleep in the courtyard of our Antigua house

Gramps decided that Arianna is a princess so she should be carried on a pillow

My awesome helpers

Bray Bray

My nephew Jude using the fountain at our house in Antigua as a swimming pool !!!

One year ago today ... Gramps with his grandkids in Guatemala City

My 30th Bday party in Guatemala

My crazy baby brother on the way to Santa Maria de Jesus

The boys chilling

Beach Bums

The twins hands with gramps hand

We all were a little excited to find Dr. Pepper in Guat :)

Learning to walk in Antigua

A little attached

Our christmas card taken at the Marriott in Guatemala last year

The Most Important Things I learned in the past TWO years :

1. The hole in my heart from "seeing what I saw" in Guatemala will never fill up but only get bigger.

2. God is with us

3. Culture Shock is so intense and it feels like a massive overload of all the emotions combined

4. Learning to F.ully R.ely O.n G.od is the most challenging but most rewarding faith building tool.

5. I will never fully recover from my culture shock and thank God for that. He has opened the eyes of my whole family .

6. God is with us

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!

And I leave you with one of my all time favorite pictures

Arianna not missing out on anything and Brayden just snoozing away. Guess who was up until MIDNIGHT last night and guess who was snoozing !!???? :)

What will happen to Guat adoptions ???

47% of you said "They will stay open but be more complicated " . I hope and pray this is what happens . If not what will we do to help these children ??