The Lake

Even though the weather was a little on the cool side, we took the boat out and let the girls ride the tube.We all had a ball!!!

Homecoming Dance

Amelia had so much fun. We took her to Cateechee for dinner and then Savannah picked her and Zach up to take them to the dance. Scott and I picked them up about 11:30 and took them to a little party for a while. They stayed about an hour and a half and we met Zach's mom. We got in bed around 2:00am.

EK and Grace Anne

I came into town this week for a hair appointment. Suzanne Cain graciously kept EllaKate while I was there. We met for breakfast @ Mimi's first and then Ella went to their house to play. She and Grace Anne had a wonderful time together. Suzanne was able to get a few cute shots of them!

Fun Night

It is a happy time when Daddy gets home. He played out in the yard with the girls last evening while I finished up dinner because the weather is sooooooo cool and refreshing!

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend. Amelia needed to get a dress for homecoming this weekend so we went to Mall of GA and shopped on Saturday. We left Scott home since he makes that trek every day. We made a day of it. We hit the mall when it opened and started home around 5:00. Little did we know that Rosemary's homecoming game for middle school was that night so we took the girls to the game and then they went to the dance- very informal- they actually wore jeans and flip flops- how great! Sunday was church @ Cross Roads in the am and FBC Hartwell in the pm. Cathy Lopes and I are doing a wonderful bible study by Beth Moore called Living Beyond Yourself @ FBC. It is a study about the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit we give when He lives inside of us. I have times when I get chills for no reason and I believe it is the Holy Spirit giving me a hug. I would recommend this study and any of her others if you are searching for a bible study. We have a huge weekend ahead. Hart Co is having homecoming and my niece is on senior court. My brother John is escorting her so my brother, Jason and Amy, and my sister, Marcia and her family are all coming. It will truly be a homecoming for my mom and dad. Great pictures to come!!!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful EllaKate has become so comfortable at the church we have been visiting, Cross Roads Baptist. It is the same church Scott and I grew up in, gave out hearts to Jesus in, got married in, and our families both go there as well. Needless to say it is a place of the heart. So how sweet is it that when we drive by, EllaKate wants to stop and play with Madelyn. This is a picture of some art EllaKate made in her little class. I am so thankful!

I am thankful to have spent some time with Savannah yesterday. She is doing so great and loves North Georgia. She has made such sweet friends and they all spend lots of time together. Up until now they have had a curfew 0f 10:00pm, but tonight they have an end of curfew party. I think they just think of ways to have fun and for that I am thankful!

Amelia and Rosemary still LOVE school. They have both made such great friends as well and plugged in to some really fun after school activities. We went to Cross Roads last night for a youth outing on the ball fields where they played frisbee football and vollyball. For that I am thankful.

And... we have had a rental house (that we used to live in) for sale over a year now that Scott had completely gutted and redone. On Monday we got word of an offer and we are waiting on the results of the inspection. If all goes well, we will close the middle of October. For that we are sooooooooooooooooooooo thankful. Now if we could just get our house @ Fairway Bend sold. We know God is waiting for just the right family to go in and fall in love just like we did @ one time.

EK's a Big Girl

I decided this weekend Ella and I would give potty training a try this week since she has been dry most mornings when she woke up. She is so smart and I thought we might just see what happened. So... we went to Walmart and bought pull ups, princess panties, and skittles. Yesterday we just worked on her telling me when she needed to go potty. She didn't really get the concept. She went in her pull up and once on the potty but was not excited about it. This morning we had a slight break through- she said, "Potty mama, potty!" so we dashed to the potty and she had already gone. I praised her anyway because at least she knew what potty was. During our walk today she had her cup of water and drank a lot. When we returned home, I sat her on the potty while I took a bath right beside her. She sat until she went. We had a little potty dance of excitement and she got to sit in her princess chair and eat a 'potty treat'- skittles. Boy is she proud of herself and I am proud of her too! Hopefully in the next day or two, she will begin to tell me when she needs to go and we can move into just panties. We shall see.

Sept First Friday

We were so blessed to travel to Loganville to the home of Tim and Lisa Watkins for the September First Friday. We were also blessed to spend time with Lucy, Sara, Lauren, and Ally just home from China (Doug @ football game). Ally was absolutely precious and really did well around so many people, especially since she was the highlight of the night!!! Lucy showed us a slide show of their trip and told us all about it. There were three families there waiting to get their referral and travel for first time so it was really great for them to hear about the trip. We were also so blessed to see the Zinn family with 5 children. two from China and paperwork on the way for a third! How wonderful to spend time with so many precious people who share the same amazing heart for adoption. Getting together with families such as these is one of my favorite things to do!!!

Happy Birthday Susan

Today I am so thankful that we live so close to Tony and Susan, Scott's sister. We were able to scoot over there tonight @ 7pm for Susan's birthday party. Her son Jason, and daughter Stephanie were there as well as Ansleigh and Karleigh. Scott's brother Larry was there too. We sang happy birhtday and ate cake with ice cream. We certainly did miss Scott, who is in Toronto, and Savannah, who is @ college. I am thankful to have the sweetest sister-in-law and brother-in-law I could ever ask for. Yesterday when I cut my finger, quess who was right over to see about me? Yes, they were.

I am also so thankful that I got to go shopping with my mom today in search of a sofa. We had a wonderful lunch together too. EllaKate absolutely LOVES being with her Memama and Pop. We were able to go to their house and spend some time today.

We are all thankful we will be traveling to Loganville tomorrow night for First Friday. It will be wonderful to be with good friends and catch up on all that has been going on.

I am sooooooooooooooooo thankful my precious husband is coming home tomorrow!!!

Sweet Ladybug EK

The girls were out of school today for end of the nine weeks, so we went to Atlanta to do a little shopping and eat lunch with Dad. We got some of our shopping done before a wonderful lunch @ PF Changs, and finished up with a visit with Savannah. The girls were looking for a cowgirl hat to finish off their constumes and while walking through TJ Maxx, EllaKate spotted this little ladybug costume. "Look, Mama, a ladybug!" I had already bought her a Tinkerbell constume for Halloween but how could I pass up this cute ladybug? She dresses up all day when we are home so I bought it for her dress up basket and we can decide which she will be closer to Halloween. Isn't it just darling???

The Weekend

Who can believe we have had our baby for 17 months??? I can't!!! In one way, I still have to pinch myself to believe that she is really ours, and in another way, I feel like I have had her always! I read a post on a friend's blog, Sheryl, today about the birth mother of her little girl, Linzi. I really haven't made it to the point where I can really deal with that issue yet. A birth mother for EllaKate seems surreal to me because she is so a part of me now, I feel like I birthed her myself. I know those issues will come our way in due time and we will travel that road when it comes. For today, I celebrate 17 months of complete happiness with this precious baby!!! She has brought so much joy to each of us. We are so blessed!!!

Friday night we went to the Hart Co football scrimmage game. It was so fun! The girls had a ball running around with all their new friends and we loved seeing all our old ones! Saturday Scott played in a golf tournament, Amelia had practice in the morning, and we went to Anderson for a little shopping that afternoon. Saturday night Amelia and Rosemary went to a youth thing @ Lavonia First Baptist. We went to Cross Roads Baptist Sunday morning and night. During the afternoon, Scott and the girls took the boat out. We sure are looking forward to this coming weekend- we plan to be on the boat most of the time! PLUS... Savannah is coming home FRIDAY!!! We can't wait!!!

A Visit to see Savannah

Today EllaKate and I took a trip to visit Savannah in Dahlonega. What a wonderful day!!! We actually took a quick trip to Nordstoms and Target @ Mall of GA. and ... while in Target, I was trying to open a book for Ella with my pocket knife and sliced the end of my thumb. It took a long time for the bleeding to stop but finally did by the time I saw Savannah. I had her bandage me up so I could spend the day with her!

We drove to the outlets on 400, ate lunch @ Ruby Tuesdays, and did a little shopping. It was great hanging out with my sweet college girl!!! We dropped her back @ the dorm about 4 and drove home. I did very well leaving her.

When Cathy Lopes came home, she stopped by the house to take a look at my finger. She said we needed to go to the emergency room. I was reluctant but went anyway- she's the nurse. When we got to Hart Co Hospital, Cathy asked if someone might take a look @ it before we were taken back. A nurse was coming down the hall, so the lady stopped her to take a look. She asked another nurse to come down and they both agreed that if I didn't want stitches, it would probably heal with butterfly stitches in place. So... you could say I high tailed it out of there and we went back to Cathy's where she cleaned it, bandaged it, and put on a BIG finger guard- you would think I had surgery, but it is really feeling better now. What a great day... I spent the day with Savannah and didn't have to get stitches!!!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent the weekend on the water. Everyone played in the water, rode the tube or knee board, skied, and rode in the boat. Yesterday Jason, Amy, and the Woods' family came up to spend the day. We enjoyed a big cookout before we all hit the lake. We stayed on the water until almost sunset- that's the perks of living in town!!! It was a fantastic weekend!!!