Double birthdays--Toby's FIRST in a Family!!

Crazy happy to have him HOME for our birthday!!!

What a joy it was to celebrate this year TOGETHER with Toby!!  As you probably know, we have the very same birthday, August 13th! That was one of the "God winks" that helped confirm that he was indeed our son. Last year, we did a fundraiser...an effort to find 42 people who might consider giving $42 in honor of my 40th and Toby's 2nd birthday. But guess what?!?!?! Instead of raising the hoped-for $1,764 that is 42 X $42...YOU AMAZING FRIENDS AND FAMILY gave over $8,000 for our birthdays!!!!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are truly amazing. We even had gifts for our birthday from as far away as SINGAPORE!!!  Astonishing. And now, that precious orphan is now home. And he's our son. And it was his birthday. His first ever to be celebrated in a family. His first ever in a home. His first ever with cake and ice cream. His first ever presents.  And my my did he like it!!!

This is the cake I made him...with his beloved "Bu Ow" (pronounced BOO-ow) that he got from his very first emergency room trip. Yah, that IS kinda funny huh? 

With the actual stuffed dog toy that inspired the cake.

Opening gifts was especially fun!

This is the moment he realized what it was--AIRPLANE!!

Anneli steals a kiss with kitten Mitzi Moo.

Just being a teenager. ;)

With his new guitar!!! Happy boy!

 I ADORE the wonderful way that Zeb held back...not stealing his brother's new toys away and actually handed some of the pieces for him to play with...what a FABULOUS brother!!

Afterwards we were invited outside to watch the BIKE SHOW!!! :)

Lovely announcer Jensi presented each bike rider...

The amazing Darrah Kate!! (Note her standing UP riding trick!!)

Here comes....Zareb the maestro!

This trick is called, "Super high wheelie!"

AND NOW....the STAR of our show:

OLIVER!!!

Look at that balance, folks!! 

(Anneli's role was to cue kids for their parts from the garage)

Seriously?!? I never knew he could do this!!! (and i love his tongue out!)

Not to be outdone by her older brother, DQ is riding with her left hand OFF the handle!!!

It was a really wonderful celebration!!! And if all this wasn't enough...Brian got a picture of the kids with me!! (...and the miracle was that only ONE shot was snapped!! They actually ALL SMILED IN ONE FRAME!!!)

Thanks for sharing my birthday, Toby. You absolutely bless my life so much. Rock on!!

Da Big One!!

I have long loved birthdays!

And...as much as it's not "proper" to...I love MINE! :)

And this year folks, it's the BIG ONE.

Yes, somehow it happened and I'm turning:

and our little Toby is turning 2 on the very same day!

As I see it, I got to use this fabulous day for my birthday for forty wonderful years. Now it's time for me to give this wonderful birthday to someone else...a very special little boy in China.

You see, it was the sharing of our birthdays that God used to speak clearly to us that Toby is our son. He went from being another unwanted orphan on a waiting list to standing off the page as our child. And it was that AUGUST 13th that did it.

So, I got to thinking...what best way to celebrate this momentous occasion????

Although I have much excitement over turning 40, my heart is broken because on the other side of the planet, a little boy sits in a crib and needs to have immediate medical attention so his muscles and joints do not further contract with his condition. That little boy will spend a birthday with no fanfare, no cake, no funny little songs that our family sings. In short, he will turn 2 without any celebration at all.

This simply breaks my Momma's heart.

So, I propose to you we do a little something.

In place of my birthday, I choose to have 40+2 friends/family donate $40+2 to our Adopt Together account to help bring him home.

I want to be SURE that he is HOME for his next birthday, and every single one after that!!

Will you celebrate my 40th and Toby's 2nd by giving to our adoption account? If you have a big birthday celebratory heart, you might consider giving more than $42...say $420? Or $4,200! I don't want to stop the celebration by limiting anyone! ;) 

And you get an extra little giggle by reading all the way to the end...a genuine circa 1974 picture of ME at age 2...the same age as our little Toby!

Let's bring this little boy HOME!!

The Love Strand 9/28

I love having pictures around my house. I love my husband and I love having history with him. Today, I've taken pictures of a few old pictures I still keep around. (In low light--sorry for graininess!) In the main picture, we were just dating...oh that wonderful summer of 1995! In the wedding picture, it was our first spontaneous kiss as Mr. and Mrs. (that one in the ceremony was a bit artificial!) Our photographer captured us kissing just as we came out of the church.