HIS protection...

 Last week, we spent the whole week in the mountains with Kaz’s family. We rented a cabin in Beech Mountain, NC and had a wonderful week with family and a week free from cell phone service and internet service...it was very nice! 

We booked the cabin back in the summer and I never imagined that we would be celebrating Thanksgiving as a family of 4. We sure are blessed. On Thanksgiving night, I had a lot more to be THANKFUL for than when the morning started...Let me explain. 

The cabin that we stayed in had 3 stories[upstairs, main level, and basement]. Annie Rice has been working hard in therapy for the last few months on climbing stairs. Since we don’t have stairs in our house, she has to practice on 2 blocks. I was thrilled when we got the cabin and saw just how much she loved climbing the stairs. She would literally go up them 20 times+ a day. Kaz and I were so proud, because she has been working so hard on climbing stairs and she was not crawling up them, but climbing them holding onto the railing. She became really good at it, enjoyed it, and became so proud herself. On Thanksgiving, I went down to the basement to get something. She was not far behind me. I started down the stairs and made it to the bottom and had turned the corner, when I heard Annie Rice scream followed by a thump. I turned around and when I got to the stairs, what I witnessed has left a horrible image in my mind. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the basement stairs were a little deeper and she couldn’t reach the railing. She slipped on the top step and literally bounced like a ball all the way to the bottom step where I caught her. She bounced on the wood stairs from her head to her feet numerous times. I saw her eyes go back in her head as she hit each stair on her head, and by the time I got to her I was crying more than she was. She cried hysterically for 30 minutes. I held her as tight as I could and wanted to rush right out and go to the hospital. Since I saw it, I couldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be any damage. I yelled for Kaz and when he came down, we prayed over her precious little head. For the next 30 minutes, I blamed myself thinking I should have waited on her. I should have held her hand. I wished I could go back and erase the whole thing. I was scared out of my mind that something was wrong with her head. Since she had plagiocephaly as a child, and still has a soft spot on her head, the thoughts crossing through my mind were horrible. We continued to pray over her and within about 40 minutes she was completely back to her normal self, with a big goose egg on her head. We watched her closely for the next couple of hours, and after seeing the “normal Annie Rice” we decided not to go to the doctor. After the whole thing happened, I just wanted to get away and cry my eyes out. I have never been so scared in my whole life. 

One of the things that I loved most about being in the mountains, was seeing the deer in our yard everyday. We saw anywhere from 4-10 every day, and each time I would see one out of the window, I would sneak out onto the porch to watch them. I did that on Thanksgiving night, and was reminded of the Lord’s protection over His children. I believe He had a shield around Annie Rice as she fell down those 18 steps. For her to have no injuries other than a goose egg and a lot of black/blue bruises is a miracle. I had a lot more to be THANKFUL for on Thanksgiving than what I started the morning off with. 

His goodness and FAITHFULNESS in my life increases more and more each day, and I don’t deserve any of the blessings He has given me. BUT I will praise HIM each day for the trials and the blessings that He entrusts me with. I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. 

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Psalm 18:30

sweet music to my ears...

I am SO BLESSED. I don't deserve any of the blessings the Lord has given me, but I'm so thankful for them all...Especially my sweet Annie Rice. She brings so much JOY into our lives. Her favorite song to sing is "10,000 reasons" by Matt Redman. She ask to hear it probably 20 times a day and will burst into song throughout the day. It's been impossible for us to catch her singing on video, so we decided to get her to do it by using "simon says" and let Kaz record it while we were driving back last night from the mountains. It is such sweet music to my ears, and I know that her sweet little voice singing as loud as she can, brings so much glory to our God. She is a precious gift and I pray that as she grows into a woman she continues to sing her sweet little heart out to the Lord. 

the story of Maggie Ruth...

Back in May/June, Kaz and I felt very strongly that the Lord was calling us to adopt again. It honestly scared me to no end. I had more fears and concerns than I did during our first adoption. I fought it pretty much everyday and then there would be times where I was so excited for it. We talked about what we would do if we did adopt again...We went through Bethany Christian Services for our first adoption, but we have also become friends with a social work over a smaller agency here in Summerville. At the same time, I’ve always thought about international adoption, so we had also talked about the possibility of that. I started doing research, and looking at international adoption excited me so much, BUT every time I would get off the computer after looking, it just didn’t feel right. So we made the decision to go with Bethany again. I literally fought this the majority of the time[another adoption that is]. I specifically remember one day driving and calling Kaz to tell him that I thought we just needed to wait until January to start the adoption process again. I gave him every reason financially and logistically why we should wait. His response was, “we can talk about this when you get home.” The next day, I felt so embarrassed because I knew the Lord was calling us to adopt, but satan was using my fears to fight it, and fight it hard. SO I made the step of filling out the initial paperwork with Bethany without telling Kaz before I did it....I needed to be the one to fill out the paperwork because I was the one that satan was fighting with so much... We were approved, and knew that because all of the other steps we had to compete, it would be at least December before we were on the waiting list. I was OKAY with that. I was in no rush. The WEIRD part was, after we made that commitment and “announced” our news, we felt the Lord telling us to STOP and not move forward with Bethany. That’s the crazy part...Why would He lay this calling so heavily on our hearts, just to stop us? It didn’t make any sense. I honestly became very frustrated. Back in June, I started doing the Ruth bible study, by Kelly Minter, with 2 other girls from our church. They saw me struggle with making the commitment to adopt again, and one night in bible study I broke down on them because I felt so directionless. It didn’t make sense. The Lord would not get adoption off of my heart, and it was very clear He was calling us to move forward right then. So we started praying as a group, along with Kaz and I for direction. 

Roughly around 3 weeks later, we were at my parents house for labor day. We had a great weekend, and were getting ready to leave to come back home, when I decided to check my email and facebook. When I’m at their house, I get absolutely no service on my cell phone, so my messages aren’t instant. I have to check them on the computer. I pulled facebook up and I had a message from a friend from years ago asking if we would be interested in adopting a baby girl being born at the end of the month. I think my mouth literally dropped right there...the end of the month? But I thought it would be NEXT YEAR...I showed the message to Kaz and we decided to talk about it on the drive home. 

The first 45 minutes, I cried the whole time. My words were something like this, “But I’m not ready. What about Annie Rice? What about work? We have nothing ready. This isn’t what we planned. I don’t even know if I want 2. How would this work? What about me, me, me, me, me?” I was completely scared out of my mind. I needed to run in Hobby Lobby a minute before we left Florence, so Kaz dropped me off while he went to another store. What’s so funny, is during that time in Hobby Lobby, my fears started going away. I started looking at nursery decorations and even bought fabric for the nursery bedding. I became so excited I couldn’t help but begin planning. When Kaz picked me up, he said ,”wow, that was fast.” I wasn’t completely 100% sure of this, but IF THIS WAS WHAT THE LORD HAD IN STORE FOR US, IT HAD TO BE GOOD. We talked about it the whole 3 hour ride home, and there were A LOT more tears, but it all got better! Satan was using my fears to paralyze me from seeing what the Lord had in store. We talked to our lawyer and sent over our profile book for the birth mom to look through it. That day was September 3rd. We were told we should hear a yes or no by that weekend, September 7-9th. Kaz was leaving on a 10 day mission trip on September 13th. We prayed so hard to know by the 7th. If this was going to happen, we needed to start preparing and have everything ready by the time Kaz left because the due date was 2 days after he got back from his trip! I’m not going to lie...During that waiting period, I KNEW this was our daughter. It was the same feelings I had before we got Annie Rice. BUT I knew the Lord had to work a lot out, so I just kept praying. Did I mention we didn’t have a current home study? We found out Friday the 7th, that the birth mom wanted us to be the parents. She really liked us and had looked at an agency, the state, and other people they knew and no one seemed right for her baby. SO we contact our lawyer, and asked and prayed if we could have a home study done in those few days before Kaz left on his trip! Can you believe our home study was done in less than 5 days[our part at least]. Miracles happened. We were able to get physicals in a days timing[which is a miracle because we were told they schedule those 3 months out]. Miracle after miracle happened. 

That saturday after we found out, my sweet friend[and member of our bible study] Jennifer, went with me to Babies R Us to look at cribs and dressers. We had to quickly change our guest room into a nursery. I didn’t know if I would be able to bring things home that day, but I was sure hoping because I knew if I had to order them, Kaz would not be able to put them together before he left on his trip. We got to Babies R Us and I told the worker that I needed a white crib and dresser and preferred not to order it, BUT I also didn’t want the most expensive one. She said in most cases you have to order, but she would look in the back. She had 1 white crib in stock, the most basic you can get, which was EXACTLY what I wanted[I had already looked online]. They also had a white dresser in the clearance section still in the box that I could take home that day! Our next stop was the furniture store...I needed a grey sofa bed[the guest room became the nursery]. I told the sales lady what I wanted and that I couldn’t wait 4-6 weeks for it to arrive. She said, “we actually have 1 grey sofa bed that just came in the other day. How does Monday work for delivery?” So in a 3 hour time frame, I had basically the whole nursery complete! ANOTHER GOD THING. 

The next day, we told our sunday school class what had happened and asked for prayer. During sunday school, one of the husbands in the class came up to Kaz and said they had a ton of girl stuff that had been sitting in their garage that they needed to give away. They didn’t need it anymore. Their daughters birthday was the same as our birth mom's due date! They met us that night with a van full of stuff. A swing, bouncer, play mat, exersaucer, changing pad, 12 boxes of clothes, etc. REALLY? The Lord was showing us that HE WAS ALL OVER THIS and He was IN CHARGE. He was taking care of the details...2 days later we met with our social worker to have our home visit for the home study. It was a breeze. 2 days later, Kaz left for his mission trip. AN HOUR before he left the states, I got a message saying they may induce the birth mom 2 days before he was supposed to arrive back home. We began praying hard. I knew that if the Lord wanted this, it would happen, BUT I REALLY wanted Kaz here. 

While he was gone those 10 days, my emotions were all over the place. In the beginning, I was a little mad that he was gone during all of this, and I had no way of contacting him. I was having to make decisions that I never imaged I would make on my own. Then my perspective changed so much, and I began just to pray for him and that the Lord would use him to reach this people group he would be ministering too. I began to see that the Lord thought we could handle this even as crazy as it sounds and as it felt, and HE WAS THE ONLY ONE I COULD RELY ON FOR STRENGTH during this time that Kaz was away. 

Kaz arrived back home on Sunday, September 23rd and I just really thought the birth mom would go in labor that day. BUT, JUST as I said, the Lord had a plan and he allowed our family of 3 to spend time together for a little over a week before the birth mom went in labor. I didn't expect that long...BUT I'm thankful HE GAVE us that. We needed it as a family, and Kaz needed to re-cooperate from his trip. We had been tossing around some names and I really wanted to use the name Margaret. Both grandmothers had it, my aunts and cousins have it, and it's my middle name. Originally, I wanted to use it with another name. We had the name Mary Margaret picked out and I even told my parents that was the name BUT the Lord would not get the name Ruth off of my mind. Kaz loved the name Mary Margaret and when we prayed for this sweet baby, he prayed for her by that name. I talked to him about Ruth and how special it was to me because the Lord had done SO MUCH through the Ruth bible study I had been doing. This whole adoption story happened during this study. The Ruth study honestly changed my life..so he thought about it for a couple days, and really knew my mind was set so he said okay:) HaHa

We got the phone call Monday afternoon that this sweet baby girl was born. The birthmoms delivery was a miracle and even blew the doctors and nurses away...but it wasn't a surprise to us, because we had been praying for exactly what happened. Miracle after miracle. We met sweet Maggie Ruth yesterday. I honestly didn't know how I would feel. With any child, there's a period of bonding and I was so nervous because we knew nothing about newborns and since I didn't physically carry her for 9 months, that bond was only made through prayer up until that point. BUT the Lord is good. When we saw her sweet little face, I fell in love. She's the sweetest baby and such a blessing from God. I really wish I could share more of this story...there's so many details I just can't, but it has been a true testimony to me that GOD IS IN CONTROL OF EVERY DETAIL, HE will allow things to happen that you never dreamed of if they are in HIS plan, and HIS BLESSINGS are more than I deserve. I am so thankful for our little family of 4. It's not what I ever imagined, but I couldn't be happier! 

teaching there little hearts...

Lately, I have been reminded more and more what my role as mom is supposed to be. To train and teach this little girl about Jesus. She has been learning so much lately. Since I got back from NYC, I have been working on a little "learning center" for her room. Annie Rice is a very smart little girl. Kaz and I laugh about this, but it really shows her true little self...Every night, when we tell her to go get a book, the first thing she brings back is a set of flash cards. She loves to memorize stuff and she loves to be praised. It's like as soon as she realizes she knows something, she gets excited. I've been working on this little learning center to spend some time with her each day at BUT I was just telling Kaz last night how it wasn't going to be all about colors, numbers or the ABCs. While some of it will be, the majority of it will be teaching her scripture, bible stories, and doing really fun things to help teach her about the Lord. This morning, she made my morning. I was getting ready to go to the YMCA and she was still eating breakfast. I sat beside her and asked her like I do every morning before going to the YMCA, what the Golden rule was. Because I really want her to know when she's around other people she is supposed to be nice, kind, share, helpful, and love God. After she told me the golden rule, I asked her what John 3:16 was. Normally she will say, "only son". This morning she said, "For god so loved the world He gave Only son". She was so happy and started saying "yay" over and over. I was so happy, I started crying:) I didn't get it on video the first time, but asked her if she could say it again for daddy, and thankfully she did so I could get this little video. She's been saying it all morning! Her little heart is beautiful! My prayer is that she comes to know and understand what that verse means one day. 

JOY....

Psalm 126:1-6

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with JOY.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. 

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of JOY. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of JOY, carrying sheaves with him.

The girls in my bible study have been studying the book of Ruth. It really has been an awesome study. Pslam 126 was one of the chapters we read this week and these verses couldn’t have hit more home to me than they did. Kaz and I went through a very hard couple of years with trying to start a family. It seemed like that season of hurt, anger, and bitterness would never pass by...If only I had seen this verse back then...I may not have believed it at the moment, but I sure believe it now. I cried so many tears before the Lord asking and praying for a baby...What He gave me was JOY and a little girl with the most JOYFUL spirit. She really has so much JOY and brings so much JOY to other people’s lives. I’m reminded of this every single day in even the small things that may not seem like much to anyone else, but to me I see the Lord’s hand all over her. He has given her that JOYFUL and caring spirit. I see HIM at work when we walk by a complete stranger who may be smiling or looking down, and Annie Rice yells at the top of her lungs “Hey” just to get a smile out of them. I’ve seen her hug a little boy or girl while playing who was crying, just to help make them feel better. She made a complete strangers day today, as she was the mother of the groom and trying on dresses for the wedding. She walked out of the dressing room to show her husband the dress and my sweet Annie said, “So pretty Mommy” and then as the lady started walking away she yelled “bye bye princess”. The lady immediately turned around and came and gave Annie Rice a hug. Little moments like that may not seem like anything different from other children, but the truth is the Lord orchestrates all of those moments for HIS glory, and HE is daily working in her life to bring HIM THE ULTIMATE GLORY. I pray I always see that.  The Lord did exactly what He promised in Psalm 126...We sowed with a lot of tears, but He has given more song of JOYS than I could ever say...He is so GOOD and FAITHFUL to us. 

storms in life...

The last few months, I haven’t really shared anything personal on this blog...Not because I didn’t want too, but because honestly I have kind of shut down. My mind has been on mostly work and I haven’t spent a lot of time doing anything else but being a mom, being a wife, and work. Work completely took over my life really since the beginning of April. I overbooked myself way before we got Annie Rice, and I never realized just how much work in the last 4 months would take its toll on me. But over the last 2-3 weeks, the Lord has been doing a whole lot in my heart. He’s been showing me just where my heart has been the last few months, but also showing me that “where I have been” is not where He wants me. I’m not talking about work wise...He is still calling me to photography but He is NOT CALLING me to let photography be the main thing in my life. He’s calling me to allow HIM to be the main thing in my life. I have been really selfish lately...Not in ways really that anyone could see except Kaz and the Lord, but there have been certain things that we have been talking about it doing and I have been very selfish in them, EVEN THOUGH I could see the Lord clearly calling us in those directions. 

Today, He reminded me of a really sweet message. These last few days have been long! Potty training...and what we’ve been doing is just that. Using the potty a whole lot, which means I have been sitting and watching Annie Rice a lot! I haven’t really had a lot of time to do much else unless she’s sleeping or when Kaz gets home because she goes to the potty every 10 minutes it seems like[but that’s a good thing:)] Today I put dinner in the oven and it had about 30 minutes before it would be done. Kaz got home and I decided to go for a run. The weather was kind of iffy...It wasn’t raining but looked stormy. I started running and felt great! About 5 minutes into the run, it started steady drizzling, and by the time I had turned around at my halfway point, it was raining so hard it was hard for me to see...I kept looking, hoping I would see Kaz driving in the car coming to pick me up, but I never saw him. A few minutes later, the rain had slowed down, but it was still stormy. When I made it home, even though I was soaked, looked like a mess, and the clouds were still really dark, I couldn’t help but smile because I finished the run and it honestly felt refreshing. I wanted to walk so badly the last half mile, but I just couldn’t...I wouldn’t let myself. The whole run the Lord kept reminding me of something He really showed me while we were going through our “rainy/stormy season” of infertility and adoption journey. I even had a sign made to hang on the nursery door that said ,”It only rains for a little while. So when it does, drop your umbrella and dance awhile”. The Lord reminded me that the storms in life will come, but He wants us to rejoice in them and “dance” as the sign says...The rain may be light or so hard you can’t see out of it, but He WILL ALWAYS be there even if I CAN’T SEE Him. Just like in my run today, He carried me through to the finish even though I was tired, wanted to give up and walk at the very end, and wanting so badly to just see Kaz coming to pick me up. Much like I do the storms in life...I just want Him to “pick me up” on the journey and make the last steps easy. BUT I’m THANKFUL He doesn’t do that! Instead, He lets us keep running the race, pushing us and carrying us through, so that when we are on the other side[literally and one day in Heaven], we can smile the biggest smile we’ve ever imagined. What a GREAT and MIGHTY God we serve. All of the things I have been so selfish about, are really because I am scared to move forward in any direction. I’m scared because I don’t know what will happen, and right now my life is great and comfortable. BUT HE reminded me today, that if HE CALLS me to something, HE WILL CARRY ME THROUGH no matter how scary and how many rain storms come my way....and who am I to judge? What I think "might" be a storm in life, could turn out to be one of the biggest blessings of all? I think I’ve already learned that lesson at least once....I don’t know why it hasn’t stuck yet. 

And to think I thought I was just going for a nice evening run....He is GOOD and I am THANKFUL. 

happy birthday sweet Annie Rice...

I can't believe how fast this year has gone...My Annie Rice is 2 today! As an adoptive mom, even though I didn't physically give birth to her, her birthday is still just as important to me as someone who did give birth to their child. I will never be able to give her details of what happened on her birthday, but I will be able to share with her that her birth mom and dad loved her and that the Lord brought her into this world for a very special reason, and that He has big plans for her life. She is growing into such a sweet, caring, little girl. We tell her that all time...She is so thoughtful and caring. We have told her that so much, now when she blows someone a kiss, etc she will say to herself, "So sweet". I can't imagine life without this little girl, and I'm so thankful that the Lord called us to adopt so that I could be apart of this little girl's life. She is a true blessing and something that I will never take[at least try not to take] for granted. We love you so much, Annie Rice. You are a true JOY and BLESSING in our life. 

1 year ago....

 Today....

life....and a cookie cake!

WooHoo! My busy wedding season is O-V-E-R! I still have 12 more weddings this year, but that is spread out in 6 months compared to 15 weddings in 10 weeks! I’m very thankful for my job. I love my job! BUT I have ran myself ragged the last few weeks. We have a week of VBS at church and then we are going to the beach for a week! I can’t wait!

Life with Annie Rice has been so much fun lately. Her little personality is growing everyday. She’s becoming more independent, defiant, and chatting up a storm. 

I love that she still lays like this sometimes...with that little butt stuck out!

Last week, I had the opportunity to do a children’s story time of my children's book at Burry Bookstore in my hometown. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, Annie Rice was sick last week and it literally lasted all week. At first she had a temp from Sunday-Wednesday of 102.6-100.6[that was her first fever in a year..], then she just got extremely tired, grumpy, and just wanted to sleep all the time. I was very proud of myself on Friday...I really needed to get in a good 4-5 hours of work, but she just did not feel good. She didn’t want to do anything but stay in my arms. So we watched Beauty and the Beast and she fell asleep. Instead of laying her down and working, I decided to let her sleep in my arms and didn’t work until that night when she went to bed. It felt good to make a decision I wanted, not based on work. I haven’t done that very well the last few weeks..Work has always come first the majority of the time. I enjoyed my time cuddling with this sweetie so much, and about an hour into it, I wanted a nap so I let her sleep in my bed while I napped too! 

Yesterday, she broke out in a rash and scratched it so much, this morning is looked like she walked into a bob wire fence:(

Today, we took a few 2nd birthday pictures. Her birthday is July 6th, but I wanted to go ahead and take some pictures to use on her birthday party invitation. Since her LOVE right now is cookies, I knew I had to make a cookie cake of some sort. Pinterest helped me pick just the right cookie cake:) I honestly couldn’t have picked anything better...This morning when I made the cake, she was begging to eat it before we even left the house! So naturally, she dove right in for the pictures. I WILL be sharing more from our session later:)

It may not look very big, BUT that's 4 dozen cookies!

This is what my little cutie did on the ride home. She stayed like this for a good 15 minutes...

When I got home, I started looking through the pictures. These are a few I LOVE. The one of her crying WILL be framed. It’s precious. After we were finished, we told her to walk to us on the railroad tracks. She didn’t want to walk on those tracks not one bit, so she fell dramatically to the ground and gave us this face. It’s priceless!

How cute is this little ruffle bottom?

Tonight, while Kaz was folding clothes, he told me I needed to get my phone. Little priss put all of my clean underwear around her neck and walked proudly around the house wearing them! I love her to pieces!

HE IS SO GOOD....

One thing I know for sure...The Lord’s plan is perfect. I may not always understand it, but I know that His plan for me is the best thing possible in this world. Annie Rice has been the biggest blessing in our life. I look at her every day and wonder how did I get so lucky to have her as my daughter. She was loved before we ever met her...and our heart has grown with so much love for her it could probably explode!  Before we adopted Annie Rice, we knew that she had special needs. We were told her development was a lot worse than it actually was. Since we have gotten her, she has grown so much! She has achieved so many things that she couldn’t do before...At 12 months old, she could roll over and sit up if you put her in that position. That was it! She couldn’t crawl, sit up on her own, hold her own bottle, etc. I can honestly say up until around December, her delays never bothered me. It was something I simply didn't’ struggle with...But after hearing multiple comments from different people, our pediatrician, and even people we didn’t know I let Satan get a wedge in, and this area started to bother me. Play dates with friends who had 6-7 months old, started bothering me because they could do more than Annie Rice could and she was 17-18 months old. I have seen myself get more and more defensive with others when it comes to her development because I have just wanted everyone to see just how far she’s come...I wanted people to see what I have seen her do! But the truth is, it shouldn’t be anyone else’s concern. Annie Rice is loved and she has grown and developed and that should be it....but it’s not that simple:( It has been a daily struggle for me. She started physical therapy and seeing an early interventionist about 3 weeks ago...I think that has added to my struggle because I’m told every week where she should be...Sunday, was one of the hardest days that I’ve had with her development. I struggled all day, talked to Kaz, talked to friends and held back the tears....I just struggled. I KNEW HOW FAR SHE HAD COME BUT I WANTED HER TO WALK....And I know that she will walk just not in my timing...On Monday, she had PT and I had planned on really talking to the PT about some of my concerns. I woke up that morning and prayed that the Lord would do big things that day....I could have jumped up and down with what he did do! My sweet baby girl took 3 steps on her own during PT. She hasn’t taken any since but that’s not the point. The point is, she did it! She has started pushing her shopping cart more and more....taking about 15-25 steps each time she pushes it. I am so proud of her...She bucks and fights us pushing her, but it’s the same way the Lord pushes us. We may not like it, and even though it’s good for us, at the time we are comfortable where we are....It’s amazing how much the Lord shows me through those 2 little eyes. While my struggles with her development will not disappear, I’m thankful that the Lord has given me the strength to keep fighting through them, and that HE is continuing to do big things in this sweet little girls life. I am blessed beyond words....

daddy & daughter...

I planned a really special "valentine's date night" for Kaz from Annie this past weekend. I really want it to become a yearly tradition and as the years go on for her to be involved in helping with the planning:) There were 4 parts to the date but below is the first one! A daddy/daughter photo shoot! I could frame every one of these pictures:) They are so sweet!