Our goofy boy

Just a fun picture I took yesterday. Playing with a basket on his head. He thinks he's pretty funny. We think so too :)

Some entertainment for the day

After delaying for quite a while, we finally decided to agree with our neighbor about taking this tree in our backyard (right on the fence-line) down. (I didn't think to take a picture until after they had started).

Considering that the trees is what Martin loved about our property when we bought it, this was no small decision :) But it was a pretty high and top-heavy tree - and I admit, I got a little scared anytime we had some significant wind come through.

They started at about 9, and were finished by 5 - all evidence except for a bit of sawdust gone. Pretty good, if you ask me!

Justin enjoyed watching them work.

The even more open view of the mountains is fantastic... hopefully we won't miss the shade in our backyard too much in the summer!

This time last year...

...we were making daily trips to visit our new little boy.
...we were on the hunt for a carseat for him.
...we were converting our office into his bedroom.
...we were so eagerly anticipating bringing him home "for good".
...we had no idea that 1 year later we'd be having a routine doctor's appointment to check up on our 2nd baby.

Wow.

What a year it has been! We thank God for all He has blessed us with and pray that He will lead and guide us as we move into this new year and all He has planned for us.

Happy New Year to you all!

Like Father, Like Son

One of the words I would use to describe my husband is "enthusiastic". It comes out in lots of ways - those of you who know him well, know what I mean.
Last night we enjoyed some special family time with his side of the family. We made it a "kid-focused" night, where we promised them games and just some special fun. Martin got right into it with these kids. It's one of the things I love about him. He takes the time to play all kinds of fun things with them - just 'cause he remembers how much he loved that kind of thing when he was little.
One of the games last night was the good-old, "find the item in the room while everyone told you if you were getting hot or cold". As usual, Martin got pretty caught up in the game - letting the kids know if they were freezing cold or burning hot or somewhere in between.
At this point in the game, someone was "so burning hot!!!!"
Which brings us to Justin. One of the ways we describe Justin is also with the word "enthusiastic". Again, those of you who know him well, know what we mean by this. Sometimes, he gets so excited, he vibrates. Quite literally. It's one of those things we've wanted to capture on camera many times, but somehow the camera just isn't ready in time. He does this over a good throw of his ball, food, Christmas lights, etc., etc. It's really quite funny. He also does this if he notices everyone else in the room getting excited - even if he doesn't have a clue why. And that's what happened last night. He got so caught up in the excitement, this is what he did:

You really have to actually see it happen to really know how funny this is - but this picture really does capture most of it.

Like father, like son?

Amazing :)

Thanks, Leanne, for these great pictures ;)

And thanks to everyone else for a really fun night together!

Snow

First snowfall of the season, so we went outside to enjoy it a bit. Justin had to learn to move well in his big snowsuit, but once he got the hang of that, he enjoyed himself thoroughly. Until his hands got too cold because he didn't keep his mittens on :(

Being home

Last night I worked a night shift. As much as I enjoy being back to work for a shift here and there, I think the best part is being home the next night. I so love being home with my family.
To top it all off, the wood stove is on, and I think I might just go curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. Sounds positively delightful :)

Overwhelmed

Again. In fact, that might actually be an understatement.
Because Martin and I were wonderfully surprised to find out that we are expecting our second child! And this time we know the due date! We are praising God for this miracle - and also still trying to wrap our minds around it :)
To be honest, I struggled with how to word a post like this. Simply because I did not want the specialness (is that a word?) of this announcement to come across as more or less special than this one. Because they are equally special. Just different. I can't put into words how thankful and humbled we are to be able to experience both adoption and pregnancy.
Though we are excited to move forward in this journey, there are some things that I had grown to treasure about the experiences we have had (though I can not deny that there were some painful days along the way). Of course, I treasure our precious son Justin, who we can not imagine life without anymore. I also treasure the fact that God used that time to grow us and stretch us in ways I know we would not have been had we not gone through those years of infertility and the adoption of our son. And I treasure the people we met along the way, some of whom we developed wonderful friendships with - friendships that I hope and pray will continue. We are so thankful for those people, and will continue to pray that God's grace would surround them, as it did and does us.
If all goes well, we are very much looking forward to welcoming this baby the middle of May! We are fully aware that God is in control of this little life too - and we commit this child, as we have committed Justin, and our whole lives, into His care.