Bella's Special Day....

Well I will make this short....Bella isnt having a good start at her "special day" She is sick. Bad night here that is for sure! Fever around 102 and bad wheezing and coughing....so BACK to the Dr's we go....I will post more tonight.....

For now, here is a super sweet picture of my "baby"

Yesterday was a beautiful day~

Sorry for the yuck in the background....our lovely neighbor doesnt keep a clean yard...we need a privacy fence on that side!

When we woke up yesterday morning it was just gorgeous here. The girls were dressed and ready to go outside. WE played a good bit and worked in the yard. William got the lawn mower out and got it ready for summer...started to cut grass (first time this year) and I played with the girls. The temp was getting really nice so i turned on the sprinkler....well this was a first for ALL my girls...Giovanna and Bella just always played in their little pool so this was a fun day for them all. Here are a few pictures and video of our fun Saturday in Alabama.

Then we must not forget.....we had to get cleaned up so we could go meet Mrs. Amy's new bundle of joy....Hunter. He was born last Friday and was now home.... Amy, is Giovanna's private speech therapist. We have talked about Mrs Amy's baby for months now....so we had to go see him. I forgot my camera, so hopefully Amy will email me a pic.....PLEASE Mrs Amy...email me a cute pic so we can brag on Mr Hunter! Giovanna and Lily were thrilled to see him...and talked about it all night at dinner! I hope the girls like the KFC and we will get your gift to you....I cant believe I forgot it!

Enjoy the Funny faces of the girls.....Tomorrow is Bella's FOREVER FAMILY ADOPTION DAY...SO STAY TUNED!

Today is a VERY special day to me...

Today 19yrs ago I married the man of my dreams! He is exactly what I prayed for in a husband and more. I love him more today than I ever think I could have 19yrs ago. The Lord has brought us through many tears of happiness, the birth of our wonderful twins- Lyndsey and Michael, tears of overwhelming JOY and many tears of sadness but YES with HIS ever loving understanding and Peace and most of all PATIENCE we stand together stronger than ever 19 yrs later! Then here comes the awesome news....

4 yrs ago today....On our 15th wedding anniversary --My husband, my son, and then my only awesome daughter and I stood at the US Embassy in Guatemala City and swore to love this absolutely precious little girl named Giovanna for the rest of our lives....We had prayed for this day for a LONG time and it had finally arrived. I just cant explain the happiness in my heart and the love for this baby then and NOW. Her Down Syndrome, terrible heart condition, cognitive delays...none of it mattered at all.....She has opened up our hearts that lead us to adopt 3 other little girls just like her....there are 4 less orphans in the world today....PRAISE our LORD JESUS CHRIST....for His love for us has made our family complete.


Attached are pictures of our first day with Giovanna in Guatemala. The one of William holding her, then one of me holding her, our FIRST family photo and more.....oh what a honor it is to be her mommy!

Then just one year and one week later we brought our Bella home...so stay tuned on the 31st for pictures of that day..

Easter weekend

Well I pray you all had a Great Easter Sunday celebrating our Lord Jesus Christ and enjoying your families. We left on Friday and went to Panama City Beach to see my family. We were thrilled to see our son Michael, and the girls got to meet cousins, Aunts and Uncles that they havent met yet. They all had a blast. Late Friday night William, Lyndsey and I headed down to Rose Mary Beach to see Michael "In Action" on the job. That was nice to see...my only son becoming a Man of Christ.

Friday night we PIZZA with the family, the girls favorite. On Saturday, William and I took the 4 little ones to a Easter egg hunt at the park near the beach and they had a BLAST. It was put on by a group there for special needs children and their families...oh it was wonderful. They had music playing, games to play, a moon walk to play on and best of all EGGS to hunt.

Wal-Mart donated about 800 STUFFED eggs, 200 Easter basket and grass. There were only about 25 kids show up...so to say the least each kiddo walked away with about 3-4 baskets FILLED with eggs. It was so much fun, for them to be able to HUNT (well pick up off the large park grass) for eggs, without being PUSHED over by "typical" kids that know exactly what to do SORRY, I JUST DONT KNOW ANOTHER WAY TO SAY IT....ALL KIDS ARE TYPICAL, BUT MY GIRLS JUST DONT YET GRASP THE CONCEPT OF EGG HUNTING.... They just had a great time playing.

We had fun meeting other families from that area and watching them all interact with others... No one in my family wanted to go, but we did so it was just William, myself and all the girls....and we are glad we went...they had a good time. WE come home and ate lunch with one of my brothers and my only sister and their families and kiddos and then did another EGG hunt with the cousins...Man, can you say we have tons of eggs.

My son wanted to take us all to eat at Caraba's Italian restaurant and that was fantastic food!!

Sunday we got up and headed to church with my parents and then to lunch. Went back to moms and packed up to leave by 3:00

I think overall today as I open and empty all the eggs, I have lost count at over 225 eggs....That is ALOT of candy!!! Looks like we will be taking some to preschool to share...

Have a great day. I will add pictures of the weekend later tonight.

And the winner of the XO laptop is....

Family #5. Ciarra is a cute little girl whom this computer will help tremdously in school. Her mom is a strong advocate in the DS community and I am proud that she won......

Yes, it was a tight race....

Congrats Ciarra on winning the computer. I hope this will be just what you needs to help you accelerate in school. Once again....congrats!!!

update on contest for laptop

MANY many people have emailed me about the laptop contest....Hmmm what do i say? You all tell me you watched the poll votes and we would have won,you tell me you added up all the comment votes and we would have won....and then the big BUT "the blogger putting on the contest states she got 4 emails at contest end" and that ended up giving #5 one more vote then us....so DID we win or not??? Well I dont know....I have checked her blog as well and she still hasnt posted a winner ....so who knows! All I can say is that if we win that will be great...if another family wins and actually gets it in the mail well that is AWESOME too! I think it is a very nice thing for the blogger person Sarabeth to do this contest and whomever wins.....I think any of the 5 families are well deserving!!!!

So until further notice......stay tuned.

My Pretty Princesses...

My mom had brought up the girls some Dora, Bride and Cheerleader dress up clothes....and yesterday on our BLAW of a day while Bella took her nap they wanted to dress up....so introducing..............

THE ANDREWS SISTERS...

Our Adoptive Family Support group's Egg hunt

Saturday was our APAC group's egg hunt. The girls had a good time. It was REALLY windy that day but overall they had a good time playing on the playground.

Isabella hunting for eggs today

The girls had a good time this morning with their Moms Day out preschool hunting for eggs. However, we had some yucky rain come through and they didnt get to do it outside...so we had a inside egg hunt....For Bella this was a First and she had fun. This past Saturday we had our Adoptive Family support group's egg hunt and I will put some pictures up of it as well. We sure are gonna get a few uses out the the overalls I made....a total of 3 egg hunts.

Enjoy my babies...I know it was fun for us.

Giovanna and Lily hunting for eggs today at Preschool

Giovanna and Lily at their Mom's Day Out egg hunt. Gabby was in the rear of us and Bella had already gone with her class. This was a first for Gabby and Lily and Giovanna hasnt really gotten the hang of the whole HUNT thing. Everyone else just runs all around them, and they end up with 1 or 2 eggs......so funny. I will try to post one of the other 2 girls in their "hunt for eggs"

What a day... full of memories

My girls are just so funny...every day it is something new with them all. Bella at the ripe age of 3 is such a hoot! She is coming up with something different everyday. She is such a little boss, and being the baby of the house she just trys her best to take over...the other 3 girls get so testy with her....i love watching them all play together and react to different things.


Lyndsey and Michael are the joy and I just love them to pieces. They are growing and changing every single day...They are in the adult stage of their life now, and making choices that will affect the rest of their lives....for this I sit back and watch and spend alot of time on my knees praying for them....they are both GREAT kiddos!

I just cant believe it but 4 yrs ago we were given a great and awesome gift........ Giovanna Grace!! We added her to our family on our 15th wedding anniversary at the American Embassy in Guatemala. My life has never been the same since. I am so in love with this little girl it is just unbelievable. Then getting her home and realizing that we didnt want her to grow up as basically an only child (Lyndsey and Michael were 14 by this point) we were ready to adopt again...another daughter just like her DOWN SYNDROME, heart conditions and all...so one yr and one week after bringing her home....in our arms were placed a perfect little daughter of Indian heritage and oh i cant descibe the feeling of overwhelming HAPPINESS! My God is so good...All the money, time invested and anything else we had to go through was ALL worth it!!!

Through much prayer and willingness to totally surrender our lives for our Lord, we were led to the country of Colombia South America....and there we brought home our Colombian beauties... Gabby and Lily. So in just 4 short yrs, we have been SO OVERLY BLESSED, BEYOND MEASURE, WITH NOW 6 AWESOME FUN PACKED, BELLY LAUGHING ANGELS!

What a happy Momma I am!

Happy ST Patricks Day

Here is a picture of our 4 little beauties after their day of school....Enjoy and be sure to wear your green today.

PLEASE go vote for us....

This is so exciting. WE are one of 5 families that have been selected for the drawing of a new laptop computer.... please everyone out there....go to the link below and vote for us....we are number 4. The poll ends on Thursday...you can only vote one time per computer so PLEASE spread the word and vote on ALL of you computers, home and at work...

Thanks so much

http://nothpnowmommy.blogspot.com/2008/03/xo-laptop-contest-you-choose-who-wins.html


PLEASE EVERYONE GO VOTE FOR US.... YOU CAN ONLY VOTE ONE TIME PER COMPUTER...... so spread the word and vote on as many computers as you can....
We so need this!

And after you vote please leave a comment for me that tells us at what number we are at in the poll. I cant even look at it once I vote...

Boutique Easter overalls

Well here are 2 of the overalls I have made....what do yall think?

Yes I do custom orders.....

Sorry I didnt post this....but YES I do do custom orders....I love to be creative for my girls...and make them GIRLIE GIRLS, because in not the too distant future they will NOT like Momma to dress them......so for now.........Im HAVIN FUN!


I will take a picture of Bella in her complete overalls,,,, they are now DONE....now to get busy with the others....

So YES if you want something done, just email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you..My email addy is rlba272@hotmail.com

Rita

Arent they just too cute

The pink and zebra print outfit my friend Leigh made and brought over last night for the girls....now I have to get busy and make 3 more of them...LOL. The overalls I started late last night and was TRYING to finish today, but with 4 little ones that was kinda hard...Maybe tonight when they go to bed. Im still not done with them, but this will give you a good idea so far...I think they have turned out so cute so far....Whatcha think?? I am trying to do each one of the girls a Easter pair but different..... Im so excited ...this is Bella's pair but she was taking a nap so Gabby had to try them on....

The rear will have a triple ruffle on the BUM, some bows on the shoulder and not sure what else..