Merry Christmas!!!

Our Christmas morning devotional came from our dear friend Belay in Ethiopia ~ he sent a newsletter through his ministry Hope for the Fatherless about that very first Christmas ~ there was no room for Jesus at the inn ...... He was born in a stable with animals ~ the lowliest of places for the highest of kings ~ the Lord of lords and King of kings. 

If they only knew WHO they didn't have room for there in Bethlehem. Today Jesus knocks on our hearts and desires to live in us ~ will we make room for Him? 

Will we clear out all the things in our lives that distract us from living fully for Him? That is our family's desire for 2016 ~ to clear out the clutter of our lives and make room for Jesus to live in and through us. 

Our love will never be enough. Our patience will only last so long. Our joy will always be conditional apart from Him in us. 

Only His love endures forever. Only His patience never runs out. 

Only He can create joy in suffering. We want that.....we want Him to fill us to the full! 

We enjoyed a morning at home with my side of the family

Anna and Kaylee :)

Special time with cousins

Papa and Uncle Dave

Hugs to thank Nana

The Clarks love their new hats

We love when Aunt Abbie comes!

We headed up north after opening Christmas morning gifts and had Christmas with Grandma and the Courages! 

The kids' favorite Christmas gift is their puppy Duke ~ we love him! Fits right in already :))). Keegan even gets up with him in the night if he has to go potty! 

Merry Christmas and looking forward to an amazing 2016!!! The year our Little Brother and Baby Sister come home!!!

Christmas Crafts

So thankful Kaylee has a sweet brother to do her school crafts with! Makes it a whole lot more fun for her! 

We learned about Christmas Trees as we read The Legend of the Christmas Tree.....the lights we string on our trees remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world, the ornaments we put on our trees help us to celebrate the birth of Christ, the star we place on top reminds us that Jesus came to save the world and its our job to proclaim this truth to the world!

We made our own Christmas trees and talked about how WE can be a LIGHT for Jesus! So thankful the Lord has brought Kaylee to a place where she can begin to learn about His amazing love!

Kaylee's ideas of how we can be His Light were that we can be nice to siblings, obey mommy and help others out when they need it :)

More Christmas trees! 

We read This is the Stable and noticed all the rhyming words :)

Then made our own stables and mangers with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the stable animals :)

Thankful for this season of celebrating the birth of our Savior in so many different ways! 

Volleyball Weekend

Keegan had a VB tournament out of town this weekend so we headed up north early to go to Six Flags :)))

So glad Brod's fam could join us! We had a blast :)))

Kaylee LOVED the roller coasters and even wished she could have been tall enough for the bigger rides ~ she has no fear when it comes to crazy stuff like that ;) 

Tea cups! 

So much fun :)))

And the. VB all day :)))

These guys did great and have worked hard all year! 

Air Soft War

The boys had  their friends over for an air soft war today 

Let's do this! 

Had a great week in Haiti!!!

We are home now and missing our kiddos for sure! 

Our friends came with us this time ~ here is Kennady's friend Lauren with one of her little buddies

And her dad Ryan ~ they loved serving at C4C!

We found out Little Brother loves spaghetti!!! And he loves to play and be silly :). He is always thinking of others around him ~ especially his baby sister! 

And Baby Sister loves to giggle....and eat....and be held all day :). She makes us laugh! 

Keegan kept the older boys entertained with his creative game ideas :)

Kaylee loved getting to see her sweet friend "M"

Kols loved playing soccer and football with the kids :)

It was a great bonding trip for sure ~ just so hard to leave. Thankful we got to go and spend time with our little ones! 

32 Months of Forever!!!

Why is this a significant day for our family and Kaylee Grace? Kaylee spent the first 32 months of her life in an orphanage .......and the last 32 months of her life HOME in the loving arms of her Forever Family!!! 

I'm so thankful we have a Heavenly Father that cares so much for each one of us ~ He sets the lonely in families! 

Kaylee, you are the bravest girl we know! You've had to overcome so much in your little life and Jesus is Faithful! He has done so much more than we could have ever asked or imagined in the last 32 months ~ He is Healer, Comforter, Counsleor and Redeemer! We know that full-well as we have watched first-hand as He has gently healed you and redeemed your life! 

What a GIFT it is to be your parents and love you forever!

You have the BEST older siblings who love you so much!!!

You're spunky and full of life! Your joy is contagious :)))

May Jesus grow strong in you all the days of your life, sweet girl! May He be greatly glorified in all you do :)))

You keep us laughing all the time ~ this is us trying to make a video for Little Brother & Sister ~ what would we do without you?!?!

We love you and are so thankful He chose us to be your Forever Fam!!

Fall Art Projects

Kaylee has been busy working on many different fall art projects during school time ~ it is so fun to begin filling our school room with her art!!!

Kaylee is learning that school is a lot of work ~ she is trying so hard and doing amazing!!! It blows my mind to watch her learn and see how smart she is.......to think that she spent the first 32 months of her life in a very negectful orphanage ~ one would never know now! 

Just look at her tracing her name!! She alternates between L & R hand still ;)

I'm so thankful that Jesus led our family to have everyone home this year ~ it has been such a beautiful gift for us all! We have grown closer to one another in every way and we have been blessed to have such rich time studying God's Word together ....... No better education than that!!

Early morning Starbucks run ;). A perk of being home! 

It has also been really great for Kaylee Grace to have the bigs home ~ much more fun for both of us ;)