"Blessed is the man whose quiver is full" Ps. 127
How God Created a Miracle in Our Family...
Most people look at our family and either say "you're crazy" or "what a blessing". It is that statement alone that sets people apart in how they view what happens in life. We were childless for 6 years before God blessed us with our third foster child, Isaiah, whom we adopted. Our tiny, three pound, adorable baby boy quickly became the love of our lives.
8 months after Isaiah was born, my father-in-law gave a woman a ride. That 4 block ride changed our lives forever when she told him she was pregnant and giving up her baby for adoption. Oh yeah...and she was due in 8 days! Well, just 5 days later, we had Makenna Shea!
3 months later, after Dirk and I had just prayed to have another baby when Makenna was about 1, that same birth mother called asking us to take her next baby. Isabella was born 1 week shy of Makenna's first birthday!
The funny part of the story is when we found out that I, the one who could never get pregnant, was pregnant! Ian was born 7 weeks after Isabella! God had given us 4 children all under the age of 1 1/2!!! We were thrilled! Such a work of God's hands it was.
This year we added to our clan when we were surprisingly pregnant again (so much for not being able to get pregnant). We now have 5 under 4! And I now wonder how mom's manage with all those kids so spread apart in age. It may be hard sometimes, but we love our life!
We had Meghan's 3 sisters with us for 11 days and boy did i learn a lot. first i learned that 10 people in a house is a massive amount of people when 7 of them are kids. i learned that kids will incur many many repairs on your house. i learned that repeatedly slamming doors will result in numerous things falling off your walls. and i learned that i am thrilled that they were all at least over 5 years old!!!. we really had fun. they are great girls and were quite helpful with the children too.
Morghan (10) Addison (6) and Michaela (turned 12 when she was here)!!!
here they were right before they left our house
One final jump on the trampoline!!!
i love this pic of makenna!! we were all taking pictures together and i was lucky enough to snap at just the right moment!
yep...this is the crowd that graced our house for so long...yet not long enough. we have a big house and it was still noisy. as a matter of fact today we have not known what to do with such silence now that they are gone...but i am sure we will figure it out!
i loved this pic of elias...such a boy already!
We had a surprise birthday party for Meghan (24!) when the girls were here. she was beyond thrilled to be on her treasure hunt for her presents...
Michaela had a birthday too (12) while she was here so of course a party was in order!
my mom and Michaela.
my mom made michaela's cake...exactly to her specifications!
the birthday girl just needed a kiss!!!
daddy brought home a turtle that he saved from eminent peril and they named him slow poke. i allowed for his containment and torture in a box utnil the next to last day they were here...then i insisted they let that poor thing go. however, they really took good care of slow poke!
michaela finding one of her hidden presents on her birthday present treasure hunt.
a birthday hug!
Can it really be that my baby is ONE??? May 25th marks Elias's one year birthday and none of us can believe how the time has passed. It does not seem possible with this little one. all of thier first birthdays came fast, but Elias's was fastest for sure. Kimberly Smoot shot a couple of pics when we went into her studio to pick something up...the above pic is what came of it...
Here he is telling everybody he is ONE!
Paparum and Elias
Uncle Dennis and Auntie Na got Elias a small pool...can you tell that Elias is enjoying himself...oh yeah, that's right..all the other kids did!
sweet pic of daddy and elias
Meghan and elias
grandma and elias
auntie na and elias
Isaiah and daddy!
Uncle Dennis and Bella putting together the outside walking toy!
Bella thoroughly enjoying her cake...or should i say icing!
makenna made sure all the presents were opened...by her of course!
blue icing makes for fun faces
Addison and Bella
Bella's best friend at pre-k is Caleb. well, when he had his birthday party, they had a blast!!!
the tumblebugs bus ( or tumblebus or tumblebus bugs...) was there and although bella really didn't like the overwhelming nature of sooo many kids in on small space, she did like the zipcord.
trampolines are always a hit!
one day Bella and Elias were sitting together and well...from the pics there is just not much more to say...
Maryann cherry was visiting this day and decided it to be a good idea to snap some pics of everyone just as they were all fussy and ready for bed. i was soooooo glad she did...turns out that is the only pic i have of all my kids (relatively normal looking) with me since thier births!!! thanks MAC!!!
For the Girl's last day of school we went to the Zoo as a field trip. It was cold, rainy, and no one was prepared for the antithesis of a no rain sunny day as predicted from the weather man. i don't want to be melodramatic, but...it was miserable! i pretended to have fun for the girl's sake, but really, we were all miserable.
Unfortunately the sprinfield zoo is about as exciting as watching rocks grow. the most entertaining thing there is feeding the ducks.
we got more enjoyment from looking at this beautiful spider web than even the bears that were behind it!
on our bus ride...the best part!!!
Morghan (10) Addison (6) and Michaela (turned 12 when she was here)!!!
here they were right before they left our house
i love this pic of makenna!! we were all taking pictures together and i was lucky enough to snap at just the right moment!
yep...this is the crowd that graced our house for so long...yet not long enough. we have a big house and it was still noisy. as a matter of fact today we have not known what to do with such silence now that they are gone...but i am sure we will figure it out!
i loved this pic of elias...such a boy already!
We had a surprise birthday party for Meghan (24!) when the girls were here. she was beyond thrilled to be on her treasure hunt for her presents...
Michaela had a birthday too (12) while she was here so of course a party was in order!
my mom and Michaela. 
my mom made michaela's cake...exactly to her specifications!
the birthday girl just needed a kiss!!!
daddy brought home a turtle that he saved from eminent peril and they named him slow poke. i allowed for his containment and torture in a box utnil the next to last day they were here...then i insisted they let that poor thing go. however, they really took good care of slow poke!
michaela finding one of her hidden presents on her birthday present treasure hunt. 
a birthday hug!
