Love you Forever!

Happy 12th "Forever Day" to our beautiful daughter!

Feb 22nd, 1999 will be a date that will stand in my memory for

as long as I live. It was a cold day in Nanchang, China and our

adoption group was told that the orphanage director and nannies

would be coming with our babies around 7 PM that day. It was a

VERY long "labor" and I was becoming more and more anxious

with each passing hour. Around 4 PM Rob burst through the

door of the hotel room and shouted...."They're here! The babies

are here!" My heart was racing as I ran down the hall to meet

the group of babies all wrapped in layers and layers of clothes being

carried by the orphanage nannies. Many of the babies being to cry

as they met their new parents. The excitement was absolutely

CRAZY! I was trying so hard to catch a glimpse of the little baby

that I knew only from the photo that China has sent us 6 wks

earlier. Finally I spotted her! The next few moments are hard to

describe!!! They handed me the most beautiful baby girl that I had

ever seen and my life changed forever! I was finally a MOM!

Shaelyn has been such a blessing to our family and I simply can't

imagine not being given the opportunity to receive such a blessing.

We love you Shaelyn, FOREVER!

Fishing

Shaelyn with her fishing pole. Shay was the photographer for most of the
fishing trip! Thanks Shay for getting some good shots! :)

Mommy and Aiden waiting on a bite!

Aiden "trying" to be patient for a bite :) So cute!

Daddy teaching Aiden how to fish!

Our big fisherman! Just hate we only got nibbles - no catch :(

It was an absolutely beautiful day today! 72 degrees and glorious sunshine!

We decided to take the kiddos fishing. We were not lucky enough to actually

catch anything but still had a great time! Aiden said "the pishes (fishes) did

not wike (like) our worms!!" It was a very relaxing and fun day! God is so

good to us!

Valentines Wishes - Late

Shaelyn with her Bath and Body Valentines "Treats".

Aiden loved his Valentines Hallmark puppy! The ears wiggle and it says several

really cute things.

Okay a little late here....but we've had computer

problems so I haven't been able to post. Hope

everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! We

took the kiddos (Yes they are our sweeties too)

out to eat and exchanged cards at the restaurant.

Then we gave the kids a little valentines treat

and that was all she wrote:) I am very blessed

to have such a wonderful hubby and terrific

kiddos! LOVING LIFE :)

Loving my Babies!

I sure do love these two kiddos! I can't imagine my

life without them! Yes, God could have chosen a different

path for me, but I'm sure glad He didn't! He knew I needed

these two kids just as much as they needed me!

Birthday Party Boy!

Adien's 4th Birthday party was today and boy was it fun!

We had it at Cici's Pizza and invited friends from Aiden's

Preschool, playgroup, church and of course our family.

The theme Aiden chose was Toy Story :) It was a great

party! Aiden is a very loved and blessed little guy!

Happy 4th Birthday Aiden!

Aiden's birthday party will be this coming Saturday but we

celebrated as a family today. It is hard to believe that our little

guy is 4 yrs old already. He is such a blessing to us and we

can not imagine our family without Aiden. His smile is magical

and melts my heart! Happy Birthday Aiden! You are loved so

very much!

Happy New Year!

As I've said so often....God has blessed us far more than we deserve!!
2010 has been a good year for us. Rob and I both have had good health.
Both kids have escaped serious injury or illness. We both have stable
jobs that we have not had to worry about. God has blessed us with a
wonderful family, extended family and church family! Simply put.....
WE ARE BLESSED! We thank God for His provisions, His love and
mercy! With Him leading the way, we can face 2011 with assurance
that His Grace is sufficent! We hope everyone has a wonderfully
blessed, and Happy New Year!

Our Wonderful, White Christmas!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Stockings are ready to be filled. Even Lilly and Sophie:)

Cookies and Milk for Santa!

Two very excited Kiddos sporting their new PJ's. :)

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Roberts' house

EVERY creature was stirring, including a toy mouse! (Zhu Zhu pet)

Mom in her PJ's and Dad in his cap

Were seriously hoping everyone would just take a nap! (sleep all night)

The noise level was CRAZY as the kids ran about

It was making Mom and Dad really want to shout!

Supper is in our tummy, bath time is done

Prayers have been said and songs have been sung

Now we snuggle in our beds waiting for Santa to come!

Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas Cookies and Friends!

Every Christmas we decorate Sugar Cookies with the kids. This year

we included three of Aiden's little friends. They all had a terrific time!

Love, love, love making special memories!!

Christmas Fun

Aiden proudly showing off his gingerbread house.

Shaelyn and Aiden on the Santa Express with their little friends.

Aiden coloring his tote bag.

Aiden and his decorated gingerbread man.

Shaelyn helping her little friend make an ornament.

Aiden showing the organic ornaments he made for the birdies!

Today was a wonderful day spent with special friends! A few of

the families that we have gotten to know through our local

Smart Start program joined us for "Breakfast with Santa"

at Aiden's preschool. While there, the kids got to make a

lot of Christmas crafts including a gingerbread house.

It was so much fun and very festive. Then we took the kids

to the Green Goat Art Gallery. There they made organic

Christmas ornaments for the birds and other wildlife. After
that , we took them to ride the Santa Express at the

Transportation Museum. This was especially neat because

Santa and his helpers came aboard our train ride and passed

out candy canes and oranges to the kids. To top it all off, while

we were on the train ride, it started to snow! It was a perfect

day! We are very blessed with incredible friends!!

Blessed and Thankful

For several years, I approached each upcoming Holiday with a bit of dread.

The silence in our house was profound and seemed to get louder with each

passing year. We dreamed of Trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving Parades and

the joy of Christmas morning with our kids. I must admit that I had many

questions and lots of tears! I simply could not see God's plan because I was

looking through human eyes. This picture is a wonderful reminder that

God's ways are BEST! My blessings are too numerous to count and my

gratitude is overflowing!

Happy Halloween

Shay and Aiden in their costumes!

Sophie and Lilly had a costume too!

Even though our Halloween fun is not entirely over (we have

trunk-or-treating tomorrow night at church), we already feel like

we have had a terrific Halloween! The kids attended a Fall

Carnival last weekend that kicked off our festivities. The kids

picked pumpkins, trunk-or-treated, made a craft and

of course ate yummy food. Then we attended another

Fall Carnival at Aiden's preschool where the kids played

games and trick-or-treated again. Yesterday they attended

yet another Fall Carnival where they also trick-or treated.

This afternoon we took them Downtown where all the

stores were participating in trick-or-treating. Then we

headed to the mall for trick-or-treating. We then topped it

off by taking the kids to see Toy Story 3 this evening.

Needless to say.....we are TIRED! Tomorrow we have

church in the morning and then we carve our pumpkins!

Tomorrow night the kids have Awanas and then we

trunk-or-treat AGAIN! This time we are participating

in the trunk-or-treating by decorating our "trunk"

(truck bed) to resemble the Biblical story of the 3

Hebrew children and the Fiery Furnace! Should be a

lot of fun! *BLESSED*

A Fun, Fall Day!

Today has been an extremely fun day! Rob and I took the kids

to a Fall Carnival at the Preschool that Shaelyn use to attend

when she was little. It is the sister church of the Preschool that

Aiden now attends. They had a really neat "pumpkin patch"

where you could purchase a pumpkin and then decorate it.

We ate lunch there (yummy hot dogs) and the kids enjoyed a

cake walk, craft, bounce house and even truck or treat! We

then came home and made our scarecrow family on the bench

out front. We set our pumpkin family on the front steps until

it is time to carve them for Halloween. We then enjoyed

playing in the many, many leaves that nature has blessed us

with in the back yard. It has been a day that we will remember

with fondest memories!