Happy Spring!

Matt & I celebrated 16 years of wedded bliss on Friday. It's been a wonderful journey... So thankful...

It was HOT here this weekend. The girls could not wait to open this "welcome home from China" gift from Aunt Kim :) Can you tell who is having the most fun???

Enjoyed a late evening walk on the Trail last night. It was a long day of baseball games and outdoor fun with friends... This trail holds many "waiting for Ashlyn" memories for me. It's so surreal to see her running around in the very same place I walked and prayed for 2 long years, waiting for her arrival.

Family lunch after church today:) Thank you Grandpa & Grandma!!!

Seeds Natural Supermarket... So thankful for family-friendly stores.

We have had some glorious days as a family lately. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. Alex ran in a district track meet Friday night and came in 2nd place. He is #14 in the entire state for middle school in the 400 meter. This is his very first year running track and we are SO INCREDIBLY proud of him. He has had a couple of really good weeks. He just seems at peace and happy lately... he is growing. I took him out for coffee one morning last week. We had some great mommy-son time:) He loves that. He loves to talk and I am so thankful for that. Last night he was sick and asked me to come lay in bed with him and scratch his back... brought back memories from when he was just a wee thing... so sick with rotovirus and had to have drops of gatorade every 5 minutes for hours on end to fend off dehydration... hours and hours of Elmo videos while daddy and I laid on the family room floor with him. He will always be my baby and I remind him of that daily:)

Baseball has started back up for Aidan and he continues to excell in this sport. He has coach Kurt for the 4th season in a row and we are so thankful. This man is every parents dream coach. Aidan is a natural little athlete. He is pitching this season and shows great potential there. He also plays 1st base, but he is best at short stop. We love watching him play.

Ansley has been singing on the stage for children's church alot lately and really finding a love for that. It's fun to see each of our kids find their niche. She is our little enthusiast... always the helper and a cheerleader. She and Ashlyn continue to amaze me. They are so similar. I knew they would be. They still have those "moments", but for the most part, they are bonding and developing a real love for one another. Yesterday, after they made a mess with the little girls in the back yard water fun, they needed to shower off. I didn't want them trapsing water upstairs, so I told Ashlyn to shower first in my bathroom and then Ansley. She didn't want to be in there alone so she asked if Ansley could come too. I said, "Are you sure?" (they are both very modest) and she said, "Mom, we are sisters... She is my sister!"

Abby and Averleigh are the sweetest of friends. I am so pleased with how well Averleigh has handled not being the only baby anymore. She absolutely adores Abby and Abby adores Averleigh. They give hugs and kisses to each other and play so well together. They are so good for each other.

Averleigh is growing up and changing so fast into a bigger little girl. It saddens me to see her changing. I have LOVED every moment with each of my babies and it is hard to think those days may be over. (May being the key word;)

Abby is still not talking. We are trying to work on that... Speech therapy will start in June I hope.  Please pray for this. Her window of opportunity for speech is narrowing. She is a delightful child. She loves to pretend play with her babies. She loves to color and make messes. She loves to mimic everything we do and she loves to eat:) She is the sweetest little thing...

Ashlyn is simply amazing... She has stolen our hearts and we are in AWE of God's goodness to us. Her English is coming along really nicley. We hardly ever use the translator anymore. She is so funny. She is loud and laughs all the time. She says the funniest things. She has great manners and is very considerate of others. She is always the one I can count on to be a team player. She steps up to help me out at every opportunity. I have to be very careful not to take advantage of that. She asks me several times a day (along with my husband and 4 our of  5 of my other children) to have another baby.. "Just 1 more mom, pleeeease?"... We will see:)

So much going on in our lives... So much more than I ever find time to document. I still want to go back and share our China trip with you... There are just SO many pictures and so many things to tell you. I have started that post, but it feels like it's turning into a book... hmmmm...

Oh, btw, I was asked to write a post on our agencies blog last week! You can read it here! It was such an honor and so fun:)

Gotta go for now...

Blessings Y'all!

-Rebecca & Family