First Camp Out At Twin Oaks

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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

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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.

At the last minute we also added a camp out here at Twin Oaks to our plans.

Being ALL together was JUST WHAT WE NEEDED.

It was a good plan!

There will be more on our first camp out at Twin Oaks coming up!

I will be honest – Forever Family Day is something I do want to celebrate.

How could I not??

They are two of the most joyful days of my entire life!

Reflecting on ALL the Lord did during our adoption processes and trips to China and then celebrating it all again brings joy to my heart.

There will never be enough praise.

The Lord has trusted us with SO much!

It is an EXTREME PRIVILEGE to teach our two precious littles how much they are loved and how they are living God’s perfect plan for their lives.

It is my desperate prayer that they will both embrace this truth to the depths of their soul.

I know the Lord has big plans for our two mighty munchkins!

He will heal them, and use this all for good!!

Tate Owen – we said so many prayers for you and over you before we could even do anything about trying to make you our son!

You were loved from the minute we saw your sweet face and beautiful smile!

And we will love you forever more!!

Happy, happy Tate’s day to our cheerful young warrior!!

Summer Stuff

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Let’s start this post with a weather report!

The weather has been FANTASTIC.

BEAUTIFULLY FANTASTIC!!

I love all the seasons – but 80 degrees and sunny?

YES, please!

We relished a little bit in the weather this weekend and headed to the bike trail for some exercise!

It was sunny, breezy, cool, and the perfect day for a bike ride!

Tate rode almost the whole 3.5 miles.

Until he needed a break, so we left his bike parked knowing we would turn around to go back the same way we had just came.

He took his break from his bike RUNNING.

This boy takes our breath away!!

Eliza had sprained her ankle last week, so we dug out the stroller we bought her when we were in China and she rode in that!

Blake and I do not have bikes anyway!

It is one of our goals to get some when the budget allows!

Such a fun afternoon!

We plan to do it again soon!

Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees!!!!!

Eliza spent quite a bit of time like this over the weekend.

Sweet baby.

Blake and I had date night Friday night!

We are on a journey to deepen our marriage, and I hope the Lord will give me the words and opportunity to share it all appropriately someday!!

Did I mention that our fourth grand baby is A GIRL!!!!????

If you watched that video in the last blog post, you probably can’t get the voice of the crazy lady who was screaming in the back ground out of your head to forget the fact that our grand baby is a girl!

I was a smidge excited.

Just a smidge.

Tate wanted a photo of the baby, so Kayla brought him this!

Library day.

We do it often.

It will be a good memory from these kiddos childhood!!

Always the tutus.

Tutu.

That is a weird word!!

So funny!!

Haircuts.

Another normal thing.

Every three weeks whether I like it or not!

Ruby got a haircut too!

It was our first attempt!

It took four days…..really, it did!

We just kept going back to it to finish it up, teaching her to be calm each time we did.

This is before we cut the hair on her face!

She looked SO funny!

It has been the desire of my heart to have some one-on-one time with my grand babies!

Well, as much one-on-one time I can get with all my kiddos at home, that is!

So we stole one leaving church one Sunday!

Things to work on.

ALWAYS a normal thing.

My guys are a blessing!

They got another door painted!!

I have been enjoying the weather as much as time allows, and worked on planning fall school one day with my sunglasses on!

I also spent a morning on the phone scheduling all of Tate and Eliza’s medical appointments for their check-ups.

We have our trip to UW Children’s Hospital in Madison coming up in September!

Ruby is a good pup.

She is catching on very quickly!

I watch her a lot for Addie Mae.

Don’t tell her I love it – ha, ha!!

The boys help me with her, but Chad still is a one dog boy.

Even when it’s cold and rainy!

We were thankful for the gentle rain that day!

We did not have to water the grass seed!

Food.

Such a normal thing.

They eat.

Everyday.

A LOT!

I love to make it!

And I love to keep the kitchen tidy and organized!

We were blessed with several boxes of zucchini lately!

Addie’s friend was here (our friend too!!) and we quickly shredded it all up and froze it!

And then she made this zucchini cake with the littles!

They said it was yummy.

Stir fry is a great meal to make the day before grocery day.

To use up any leftover veggies and chicken!

My daily view.

I love them.

I love that island too.

We use it HARD.

Just saying.

Thankful for summer.

And all that the Lord has allowed!!

Hope you all are having a thankful summer too!!!!

Gender Reveal Party

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This past week Kayla had an ultrasound to check on Paco!

Yes, Chad nicknamed this baby Paco.

I think it has stuck.

The ultrasound showed that all looks well with baby Paco!

David and Kayla hoped to also find out the gender of baby Paco!

But they wanted to wait to know the gender until family and a few friends were gathered together to celebrate with them!

So the ultrasound tech wrote the gender of the baby down on a card and sealed it in an envelope!

David and Kayla then gave that envelope to this sweet girl!

Our Hannah!

Hannah got the appropriate powder cannons ready for the reveal party WITHOUT TELLING A SOUL!!

Sunday afternoon it was time for the gender reveal!

We wore our votes to the party!

There are lots of pink votes here!

The party started with the reveal!

Everyone gathered on David and Kayla’s porch, and David and Kayla stood below us all and shot off the powder cannons!

Baby Paco is A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

I think we need a new nickname!

After all the excitement it was time to have dinner.

And enjoy being together with friends and family!

We were SO excited to celebrate the gender of our fourth grand baby!!

It was such a wonderful party.

Our hearts are SO full and our cup is overflowing!!!

It will be hard to wait till mid November to meet this precious little girl!!

In the mean time, I think I have some shopping to do!

Congratulations, Kozelek family!!

Your precious daughter is already SO love and SO celebrated!!

We cannot wait to meet her!

And welcome her to our crazy!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

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