Happy 7th Birthday, Tate Owen!!

by Steph // Tuesday, August 7, 2018 // Comments off

Friday, August 3rd, was Tate’s seventh birthday!

HOW is that possible?!

Time is a thief, I tell ya!

We made a plan to celebrate this sweet boy on Sunday evening!

Sunday was a VERY full day!

Tate asked for Chop Chae for the meal of his choice.

No one was arguing with that!

We all love Chop Chae!

After cooking and then eating, it was time for presents!

Tate was slightly excited.

Just slightly!

Let this photo speak!

This was by far Tate’s FAVORITE gift!

He LOVES, loves, loves to sing.

And was singing with that microphone non-stop all day yesterday!!

Good job, Hannah!

They had quite the time with the hand bells Addie Mae gave Tate!

Time for some grasshopper pie!

Does the fact that I call mint chocolate chip ice cream cake grasshopper pie tell you how old I am?!

We, of course, sang a squeaky off key rendition of Happy Birthday to Tate first!

We spent the rest of the evening just being.

And enjoying the sweetest of times!

Seven.

I have to keep saying it.

It hasn’t sunk in.

Cause I want to keep them little forever.

And I want them to get big too.

Such conflict!!

Tate Owen, what a joy to celebrate your birthday!!

We are SO privileged to call you our son!!

Happy, happy birthday to our cheerful young warrior!!

A Public Declaration

by Steph // Monday, August 6, 2018 // Comments off

Several weeks ago our church announced their plan to have a baptism service yesterday, and right away Chad expressed interest in being baptized.

Blake and Chad spent time walking through a booklet from our Pastor, and then Chad was sure he wanted to share his testimony and be baptized.

What a joyous day!!!

There was a picnic after church at one park, and then everyone headed to Jersey Lake for the baptisms!

Chad was one of six that were baptized, and they gave their testimonies under the shelter before we all headed down to the water for the baptisms.

On Chad’s 4th birthday, while Blake was giving him a bath, Chad asked Blake questions about Jesus and His saving grace. Chad then prayed with Blake and I, asking Jesus into his heart – to put off his old self and become new – which is exactly what we have witnessed in Chad’s life – growth and fruit. We gathered all the kiddos together that special night and had extra ice cream to celebrate Chad’s salvation!!

Pastor had asked Blake if he would like to be the one to baptize Chad, and that answer was an EASY YES!

Here is a video of Pastor’s words and Blake baptizing Chad:

What a blessed joyous afternoon!!!!!

We are SO, so grateful for all the Lord is doing and has done in Chad’s heart and life!!

May the Glory be HIS and His alone!!

The memories of this special afternoon are already tucked deep into our minds and hearts.

It was the very best day!!!!

First Camp Out At Twin Oaks

by Steph // Tuesday, July 31, 2018 // Comments off

Saturday afternoon I was outside with the kiddos just relishing in this beautiful weather we have been having!

It was then that the thought came to me that we should camp out that night.

Camping out here at Twin Oaks this summer has been a goal Blake and I have had!

I told Blake my idea, he agreed, and then we told the kiddos and texted Grant and Addie to let them know too!

It was the PERFECT weather for a camp out!

The kiddos set up the tent for us!

The evening started with a huge meal and then some games.

Blake got the fire going, handed out the glow sticks he bought for this very reason, and the games continued in the dark!

The boys covered themselves and their frisbees in glow sticks and played frisbee in the dark.

It was hilarious!

We all finally crawled into that tent, including Ruby, and giggled and talked until well after 11 p.m.!

I LOVE CAMP OUTS!!

Especially in the early morning when I wake up to all of this!!

The plan for the morning was to make breakfast over the fire and just BE. TOGETHER.

Nothing better than a good plan coming to fruition!!

After breakfast we sat outside for HOURS.

Just being together, remember?!

On such a beautiful day!

Pretty soon it was time to clean everything up, have a late lunch, and get some sleepy kiddos (and a pup!) a good nap!

I have an amazing clean-up crew!

There were more of us napping Sunday afternoon than not!

We are talking about squeezing one more camp out in before summer is over!

Our calendar is PACKED – so time will tell!!

My heart is still SO full from our time together this weekend!

First camp out at Twin Oaks, you were a HIT!!

Looking forward to many, many more, Lord willing!!!

Three Years Of Forever

by Steph // Monday, July 30, 2018 // Comments off

It’s been THREE YEARS!

Three years since Tate jumped into Blake’s arms in a hotel lobby in Hohhot, China and started his new forever!

You may remember in my recent post about Eliza’s Forever Family Day I made the comment that we talk about these anniversaries with Tate and Eliza and then let them choose how and if they would like to celebrate.

Tate said he wanted to celebrate, but he never could share how or when.

This is our third year of watching Tate struggle greatly with this whole Forever Family Day thing.

Without sharing specifics of the very hard things we have going on here, I will say, mostly for my own memory as I look back on this someday, that this probably will be the last time we mention Forever Family Day in our home.

Time will tell…..but

It’s. Just. Too. Hard.

Since we had told Tate we were going to celebrate this past weekend, we went ahead with our plans of a meal, dessert, and gifts.