Eli's 9th Birthday

Eli turned 9 today! We celebrated with an awesome party of baseball - Eli's favorite sport. The Hooks baseball team is the farm league to the Astros and we got to play in their stadium. It was so great! Then we toured the locker rooms and did food and cake and presents inside the locker room. Eli has never had a birthday party and just laughed and acted really funny when it was time to blow out the candles. It took him almost 2 minutes to finally blow them out. It was a wonderful way to celebrate his life. WE LOVE YOU ELI!

once upon a time

a boy from Georgia met a girl from Oklahoma.

only God can weave our lives in such a way that we look back and realize how He was working on our behalf when we were totally unaware.

Ever since we celebrated our 1st anniversary, we have taken a picture holding up the number of years we have been married. We keep all the photos in a special little album. It is so much fun to put in a new picture every year and look back at years past. The different places where we celebrated, the different stages of our lives - so many memories.

This year we celebrated with special friends who share the exact same anniversary. Micah planned the evening and did a fantastic job. We drove out to Port Aransas and had dinner at this delicious chef owned restaurant called, Venetian Hotplate. After dinner, much to Emily and I's surprise, Micah and Chris had rented these golf cart/low speed street vehicles and had a scavenger hunt planned for the two couples. We had to race around the island and take pictures of the different items on the list. It was so much fun! The boys get an A+.

Here are some pictures of our night together celebrating 17 years together!

new family pics

MIA

I am in the middle of trying to get this blog thing back up and running. wow - what a mess. not that anyone reads this, but I think it is good for me and a way to express myself. so, here it goes....

my blessings

finally an update

It's funny. During the whole process of the adoption and before Apollo came home, I was writing on this blog weekly. Then once he came home, I didn't want to write. Some hiatus... almost 3 months! wow.
I am normally not a real private person, I pretty much wear it all on my sleeve. But now that Apollo is home, I am feeling a bit different. Ok , first of all - his new name is Eli. He wanted us to change his name. He started by asking who named Ali, Will and Meg - when we told him that we did - he decided he wanted to be given a name from us. So... I gave him 4 choices and he chose Eli. His new birth certificate will actually read "Elijah Apollo Davidson". After calling him "Apollo" for 9 months, it has been tricky for us to call him "Eli" - but we are getting the hang of it. US law requires that we re-adopt because of the type of visa he came home on - so we are walking through that process now. We have a court date for May 7!! Yea! Then we still have to get him a Texas birth certificate and apply for citizenship. I will be glad when it is all done and final.
Micah just finished a sermon series called, "Embrace - what my adopted son taught me about God". It was REALLY good - but it was hard for me to let 2300 people have glimpses into that journey - pictures, video clips, stories.... but it was so powerful and God used it to touch many people. The best thing that came from the series was that our church raised the money necessary to build a water pipe from a water treatment plant all the way to Bolga - the village where Eli is from. There is a lake right by the village, but the iron content is too strong making it unhealthy to drink. In 4 weeks, in the middle of a recession - God's people raised enough money for the pipe and to buy curriculum for the schools to use. GOD IS AWESOME!!! you can go to www.reallifefellowship.org to order the series if you want it.
I know this post isn't laid out great and isn't full of creative, clever writing - instead it is just some random thoughts I had.
Eli is adjusting good - it is taking time for things to seem "normal" - food is an issue and just getting use to brothers and sisters and everything else. EVERYTHING is different for him. I thank God that he is making us a family and covering all of us in his grace.
whew - I think I am done for now -
peace out....

any thoughts?

I would love to hear from any of you homeschoolers out there about different curriculums that you LOVE. I am looking at switching things up for the fall and I could use some opinions and thoughts on things you have tried. Even if it is something that you tried and absolutely hated - I would like to know....

Thanks for the input!

one month

apollo has been home 1 month now. and that was the last time i wrote. i have felt very private and honestly have disengaged for a while. i think i am about ready to write. i feel the small tinge of an urge to blog. i will probably write in a few days...but not tonight.

home sweet home

home at last.
we flew in Friday night at 6:30 - we had a grand welcome with family, close friends, balloons and banners.
I just wanted to post that we were home and Apollo is doing great. We have decided to nickname him "Ace", because he is so good at everything he does!

I thank you for the prayers and ask that they continue. The most immediate request is that Apollo would learn to eat our food. There are only a few things he likes so far - oatmeal, bananas, french fries, oranges, and of course rice. He needs to gain weight - not lose it.
I need wisdom on so many things... what to push, what to let go of....

i will post pictures and more details of our trip in a few days...

Thanking God for ALL He has done in my life -

counting the days...

ok, we are now in the last few steps toward bringing Apollo home. B took him yesterday to the US Embassy and he had the visa interview. From what I heard, things went well - no surprises, no amendments needed.... thank you God. B will go pick up Apollo's passport and visa on Friday. I am so thankful for our progress. I have several friends who are waiting on passports, needing amendments.... my heart goes out to them. All of our hearts are anxious to get our kids home - in our arms - around our tables, in our beds....

We arrive in Ghana in less than 2 weeks - on January 23 we will be home in Corpus with Apollo - so amazing~

what a ride.....
being obedient to Jesus is quite an adventure~