Happy 12th Birthday Kali !

Kindhearted
Artistic
Loving
Imaginative



Kali you always bring sunshine into our lives and we wish you the best birthday ever.
Enjoy your pumpkin pancakes!

Love Dad, Mom, Ayla, Gavin and Eli

Our Big 6 Year Old!

Giggles
Animated
Verbose
Intriguing

Negotiator

Gavin's Obsessions:

Monster Trucks
Thomas the train and friends
Wii
Cars




Gavin we are so proud of you big boy!
You always amaze us with how you find joy in life despite the challenges you face.
You are intriguing to almost everyone that meets you.
You're new thing is noticing that everyone is looking at you.
You are a star everywhere we go and we are so proud of you for learning to embrace this.

Most importantly this year you have learned to pray and are learning to pray for others.
You sit through family devotions and are part of learning about Jesus.

This year we began a new tradition which I pray will always be a joy for you.
I told you your birth story and you said "say it again",
then "again" and "again" and you wanted me to tell everyone about your story.

We love your story and how God brought you to us
and how God is using you to mold us to be more like Him.

We Love You Gavin
and we pray you continue to grow in faith in Jesus Christ.

Alaska part 2 ~

FIRST STOP~THE POLAR BEARS

After watching the polar bears sleep for awhile we decided to head on to something else, but moments later we heard the crowd begin to stir with excitement. We figured we should head back and see the action. We thoroughly enjoyed watching one of the bears swim around in the pool and later get out and then the two of them had a little fight/play time. These bears are just so amazing and beautiful. So glad we got to see them in action.

A little family photo in front of the Bald Eagle.
We always get excited to see a Bald Eagle flying near by, so this was fun for the kids to see them close up an be able to get an idea of how large they really are.

Zoo photography is not my specialty (not that any photography is) but through the bars is not easy.
I was glad to somehow figure out how to focus on the bird and blur the bars that were between us. I could not repeat this effect but it was fun to get.

The 1st black bear of the trip!

Another of our favorite animals to visit. This "little" guy was having a great time playing with his feet. Oh my, he is cute. Why is it that when they are behind fences and bars I seem to have this crazy notion that they would be fun to go cuddle up with?

Glaciers & Girdwood

Do you see what we saw?

Not just one but 2 hearts melting in the snow!
Maybe Hallmark should use it for a card and say " you melt my heart".


Then we took the kids to one of our favorite walking spots. Just before hitting Portage Glacier there is a little turn off. I think it is called Blue Ice Trail or something to that affect. The water is very blue and it is just surreal. The picture does not even begin to capture how wonderful it is to be there.

So why is glacier ice often blue? I mean truly blue!

So the night of Jeromy's 37th birthday we took him to Double Musky, an old special favorite place. The girls loved it and we had a very nice late dinner. On the way back to our hotel we were showing the kids our old apartment and telling them all about when we lived in Girdwood. I(Stacy) saw something up on the mountain. Jeromy stopped the van and all 5 of us studied the little black spot on the mountain that we were sure was moving. All of a sudden this little guy walked across the road about 25 feet from our van. The black spot on the mountain never moved but we sure had fun watching Mr. Black Bear run under someone's porch then up the steps to the dumpster.

Before we left The Alyeska Hotel the kids had to take one last swim in the salt water pool.

The Hotel we worked at when we lived in Girdwood.

We walked behind the hotel and I told the kids about my days of leading tours back there on those trails. I have no idea why I lead any tours because I knew nothing about the area.

Our first "wild" moose. Ayla spotted a momma and baby off the side of the highway. We doubled back and came out right next to them. They still amaze me at how large they are. They are such odd looking creatures, but I think my all time favorite creature.

Next stop~Wasilla

We have some friends in Wasilla that share our heart for adoption. We love to see how their family continues to grow with special treasures and we had the opportunity to hang out with them for a very short but sweet evening.


With much anticipation we got to meet "Little Man"!
We had to get a pic of this expression.

The kids played Lava Tag and Gavin got to play too. He wheeled around to the bottom of the slides and the kids would jump on and get wheeled to a new location. This way they didn't have to touch the "lava" and they could still get away from the one that was "IT". He had a blast and his services were in high demand.



Gavin and Gavin having a blast "jumping" the big bump.
This was before big Gavin ended up with the chair on top of him. Oops!
Thank God that he didn't get hurt too badly.

It began to rain!

Then POUR!

We had a very abrupt end to our wonderful visit.
We all loaded into the vans soaking wet and said quick good byes.
Hope to see you guys again soon!

Happy Birthday Mr. E!!!!!!

This is Eli's first birthday that the theme song really was "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Dear Eliiiiiii, happy birthday to you!!!! and many more.....now your 4!


The past 3 were more like "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to, you would cry too if it happened to you. da da da da da."


So Happy 4th Birthday Eli! We love you so much and are so blessed to have you to hold everyday. You are starting to do some cool things like rolling back and forth, making sounds that sound a lot like mama, and you are really engaging when people talk to you. But mostly I thank God for the biggest thing He has done in your life and that is making you happy.

Who Will Love Me For Me?

I read this post yesterday and cannot get this sweet girl out of my head.
She is asking on her 15th birthday "who will love me for me?"
I pray someone can be her mom and dad, someone can show her God's love.
I pray she will no longer feel ignored and abandoned.
I pray by her 16th birthday she will feel loved and cherished.

This is her cry and the cry of so many orphans, prisoners, and lonely wives.
I pray that God will pour out His love through me to encourage and love His children big and small.



video and song by JJHeller

A-Y-L-A

A-bsolutely adorable

totally Y-ou

L-oving

always -A- sweetheart


Happy 10th Birthday Ayla!
We love you so much!

Happy Birthday to Imagine That!

Dear Imagine That,

Today is your birthday and for me a special day to remember what God has done in my life through you. At first we hoped to share a little about life with kids with disabilities, but I never imagined all God would do through you.

Through blogging this year I have gotten to share what is near and dear to my heart.
I have gotten to share about my children and husband. I have gotten to share about our lives and record special memories. I have had the opportunity to share some of the things God has been teaching me and what He has done in our lives.

Another blessing through blogging is being able to network. I have connected with other bloggers that love God and serve him each day and challenge me to do the same. God has used these blogs to open my eyes even wider to the needs of people around the world. He has quickened my heart to want to be part of reaching the poor and needy and the orphans and the widows. He has used blogging to rekindle a passion in my heart to fast and to pray for others.
Through you, Imagine That, God has also strengthened and rekindled relationships with friends and family. I feel God has used you to help me to be known and to know others deeper. I love how we can all follow each other and learn from one another and "spur one another on to love and good deeds".


"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

So, thank you, Imagine That, and I hope this coming year God continues to do more through you than I ever asked or imagined.

Birthday Fun!

What a wonderful day it was, a day I got to do whatever I wanted. Yes that means I got to rearrange the house and not even feel guilty about it. He He

It all started with the girls and I starting to decorate for Christmas, then it turned into where are we going to put the Christmas tree. Soon we were rearranging the boys' room so we could move Gav's computer into there which opens up a nice corner in the living room for the tree. Then we had to move a book shelf and the couch, oh and that led to moving the little play kitchen, which led to moving the corner cabinet back to the real kitchen.

It was a huge mess most of the day and I am happy to say about half of it is dusted and put back together. Yep that leaves the other half still undone. There's always tomorrow!

I do love rearranging and making our home feel a bit more homey. It often feels more like a storage shed, so when I get time to play and reorganize I love it.

I did also enjoy a wonderful breakfast with Jeromy and the kids. I got some quiet time to myself this afternoon and I got some really special gifts.

Jeromy gave me my wedding ring that I hadn't been able to wear for a while because one of the prongs had broke. It is beautiful, it looks brand new. He also gave me a ponsetta and chocolates.

Kali made me a quilt. She did every bit of it and has been hiding it for a couple of weeks. She has been so anxious to give it to me she almost spilled the beans. Oh her excitement was adorable.

Ayla made me a pillow to go with the quilt. She had to get very creative to find stuffing and a ribbon for it. She told me all about it and it was so cute to see how she solved her little dilemmas.

Gavin and Eli gave me the gift of their presence. Both of the boys have been so good today and Gavin was soooo excited about his room being rearranged. He kept saying over and over I love my room. He giggled so hard and squealed when he saw it.

I also received many many really sweet notes via Facebook, phone calls and texts. It is so fun to hear from friends from all over the place. It is fun to be able to keep up even in a small way with people that are so special to me.

I truly am blessed and I thank you all for your friendship and love and support.
36 years old and it just keeps getting better.