Isaiah and Lila recently celebrated their birthdays and we had a combined party for them here at home. We love to celebrate with all our family during our children's birthdays. They have a wonderful support group of 20 cousins and Aunties and Uncles who live within doorsteps of our kids. Both sets of grandparents are involved and we are so blessed to have them all in our lives! Isaiah got some new books for his birthday. He loves to be read to. We are always adding to our collection of good diverse books in our home. 

Our older kids went to a Christian Outreach festival and met one of their favorite rappers! Lila got a picture of course! They had a great time with friends. We love music in our house and rap is one of our favorite genres. You can hear it playing most nights during our kitchen clean up time. 🤪

Yesterday, we had a great day as a family. We enjoy all the festive activities around the 4th of July. We went to a parade with friends in the morning and the kids each got a huge bag of candy! Haha. After that we had some friends over for the day. The kids enjoyed boating, tubing, volleyball, basketball, s'mores, fishing, good food, and good times with friends. It was a beautiful day to create lasting memories of fun and friends and family. Speaking of friends, our friends Wendy and Gradon were here and they are an adoptive family too, and are currently waiting on this website too! So it is a wonderful community we have, not only because we have great friends who are great people, but also because we share adoption as a bond and the children have support and have many things in common. What a blessing. 

We love heading into town and going to the beach with friends. Our homeschool group meets up at a local spot weekly to enjoy the sand and water. Summer time is so beautiful. It is a slower time to enjoy activities and of course friends! Our usual beach day involves picking up a favorite snack in town and heading to the lake and then picking up a smoothie for the ride home. These small weekly adventures create such great memories. I think it is the little things like this that are the best! 

As a transracial family we celebrate this day. It is important for me, a mother of an African American son, to celebrate these days with our whole family. Part of that is growing in culture and knowledge of where all of our children have come from and their background, and ancestry. This is just one day out of the year to do that.  As Isaiah and our next adopted child grows, we will all learn together and grow together in how to navigate these waters of being a blended family. ❤️

 On Birth Father's Day:  Relationships can be complex, maybe yours is a good and wonderful relationship in which you both aren't ready for a child. Sometimes the relationships between birth mothers and birth fathers can be less than ideal, and I understand that sometimes birth fathers aren't present at all. But I still wanted to take time to recognize birth fathers today, Isaiah's and our future child(ren). As I get ready to celebrate my husband tomorrow and the wonderful Father he is, I pray for you too, our future birth father. Maybe you will be a big part of this story we are writing, maybe you won't. But either way, you are important. Happy birth father's day to you. 

Today I thought I would say a few words about our 4th child Naomi. She is 11 and she is a sweet girl. She loves deeply and is very excited for a new addition to our family. She loves being with friends and having a good time, she enjoys being able to stay up late and watch movies with her older brothers and sisters, but she also loves taking care of babies and playing legos with the little kids. She loves to be funny and silly. She loves horses and sports and she especially loves being able to walk over to grandma's house every day. Grandma tells them stories and always has a treat for our kids. 

As I took a bit of time this morning to read and pray, I was in prayer for you and your situation. I can't really put into words the complexity of this whole process, but I am certain that your end of this is heavy. As I sit here this morning, you are heavy upon my heart. I just wanted you to know. And I am in prayer for whoever sees this...it is the beauty of prayer. I'm not sure who exactly I am praying for, but God does. I find comfort in that. ❤️

We had a full weekend this past week! Grad parties, piano recitals, church and more. After the girls piano recital, we all went out to eat to celebrate their hard work. We couldn't all fit at the same table...lol...but the younger kids who sat with us had a great time! The older kids sat with grandma and grandpa. :) It is amazing how the ordinary small things of life can often be the most fun. I thought the pictures were cute, so I had to share. 

Lila, our oldest child, just had her graduation party this past weekend. It was such a special day for her! We had an outdoor party at our house with all our friends and family and community. She is so loved and supported. All our kids helped and enjoyed it. We love having large get togethers at our house. The bigger the better! ❤️

As I think about our children and how happy it makes me to have a vibrant home with lots of voices and lives, I am grateful for my marriage today. On this journey of adoption, it makes you think and ponder a lot of things. What is really important in a family? What is most important for our children and for your child? Besides the Lord I am convinced that a strong and loving marriage in the home is the most important and most comforting thing to a child growing up. I am so thankful for Tim today. I am thankful for our relationship. He is my very best friend, and our bond is so special to me. We love each other more every year and our relationship is sweet and loving. I'm so thankful for that for our children and their stability and security. 

I set up some new frames for my kiddos pictures today....I thought I would share.   

I thought that maybe I would take a few blogs to highlight our children individually since the profile itself doesn't give a lot of room for that. I am so thankful for each one of my children and the personalities and gifts they have. Our Canaan is 6 six years old and loves anything sports related right now. His favorite is basketball and he tries so hard to keep up with the big boys. It is so cute. He is our child who wants twins and told our social worker so during our homestudy update. He has a tender heart and loves babies and little ones. He just recently lost his front tooth. That is a big deal in a little boy's life. He also loves being read to and loves audiobooks, even though he is an active little guy. I love that he has all his brothers and sisters to play with and love on him and wrestle with. :) 

This weekend Noah and Abram played with friends in the Gus Macker. They had a great time and we all had a great time going to watch them play. Even though we have a large family and you would think it would be hard to participate in a lot of things, or at least for all of us to attend, we all try hard to support each other in the things our kids and siblings love and want to do! Our children have a wonderful support system not only in their parents, but also in ALL of their siblings. It really is a wonderful gift.         

Today I just wanted to send a picture of a very informal and normal event at our home...dinner time! We love enjoying dinner together every night, Tim is taking the picture so you won't see him, but it is our time of the day to reconnect with dad after work and enjoy good homecooked meals together. It is a very important part of our day....no matter how crazy it is sometimes! Someone wanted a picture of the ranch beard he got while enjoying his dinner tonight! :)

Many times today, over the course of the day, you came to my mind. The new birth momma that will enter our life sometime. I wonder how you are doing, how you are feeling, what life looks like for you right now. If there is one thing I know about the adoption process on this end of it, it is emotional. I bet it is emotional for you. I am sure this process is full of mixed emotions.  My heart longs to pray for you and to lift you up to our Heavenly Father as you go through this incredibly monumental time in your life. I don't know what you are exactly going through, but He does. I pray that He would bring you to mind when you need prayer, or encouragement, or anything really. I rely on Him for that. And I believe He will do that. So, I want to honor and celebrate you today, as I have Isaiah's birth momma...Happy Birth Mother's Day.    

Naomi, Sybil, and Canaan got to participate in a track day at our local school just to try out the events and spark an interest in the sport. My kids had a blast! (Somehow Naomi missed the portrait session!) 

This past weekend we had our kids choir concert. It is a large group of homeschool children that performs twice a year in front of our community. It is such a great time! Lila, Noah, and Naomi all had solos and we spent the evening with our good friends. We have included a picture of the whole choir below. Our kids are learning how to sing well in 3 part harmonies and perform and act, which lets them express themselves musically. They all love it from the youngest to the oldest. 

This past weekend we all took a short trip to Minneapolis to visit a college for Lila and to have fun celebrating Sybil's birthday! She turned 8! I can't believe it. We decided to stay at a waterpark and all the kids enjoyed it so much. What wonderful memories together. ❤️

When we were in Minneapolis last weekend we had the chance to go to a concert from the Gray Havens at a local church. The kids enjoyed it, we really do love all kinds of music and going to concerts. 😀  

Here's another pic from the concert.

Minneapolis! 

One more picture

As our school year winds down, our older two children were able to do a fancy dinner at our local university and also attend a play with their classmates and parents.  It was such a fun time together! Lila got her hair and nails done and Noah went to a local barbar and played basketball with friends at the Y before the event. It was fun to spend time with our older children. It is very important to us as parents to spend quality time together one on one....or two. :) 

One of our favorite games to play with the little children is Matching Bears...which is just Memory with cute little bears instead. Our kids love being able to play with Daddy. They love to beat him! 

It is always a treat when kids get to lick the frosting from the beaters!! It is so cute when our littlest ones get to enjoy it too! 

As I, Lauren, pray and seek the Lord during this time of waiting, I am in constant thought of our future birth mother. And not only her but other birth mothers who are in a time of decision. I am praying for you today, whoever reads this, even if I never know who you are or never meet you. I am praying for you as you wrestle with a lot of decisions. I have a deep burden on my heart for you. I tell people all the time..I am praying big prayers to the Lord, for birth mommas all over our nation to find comfort and strength in the Lord. For Him to give peace and clarity and wisdom for all the trials you may be going through. I thought I would share a verse that I am really loving right now....it's in the picture below.  

I really enjoy just normal slower days at home. I think that the best memories are made with the family you love and the people you enjoy. We try to make our home a place where all ages are able to relax and have fun in a loving and peaceful enviornment surrounded by many people who love them. We are a very normal family with kids who get on each others nerves sometimes, aren't always nice, and occasionally have bad days. But overall, we encourage our kids to learn to love and appreciate one another and the bond they have as brothers and sisters. They really are very close. They are all so excited to welcome another brother or sister into our family through adoption. We pray for you and your expectant child or children every day as a family around our dinner table.  Here is a picture of a silly and fun moment in our home, Daddy and Noah arm wrestling. Haha. It is always fun to get Mom and Dad to engage in those teenage activities.