Sweet Hannah

Our sweet Hannah, with her beautiful smile, just started the next chapter in her story!

We got Hannah moved to her own place on Saturday – but first we had a little celebration on Friday night!

Since the kiddos wanted it to be a surprise, we did not ask Hannah to choose her meal and dessert.

We broke tradition!!

We think we had a pretty good idea what to make though – and when Hannah got home and expressed her delight in smelling bacon, we figured we did ok!

The kiddos made Hannah cards.

Blake bought Hannah her first set of tools!

We had a grain-free peach crisp with coconut whipped cream for dessert.

It was YUM, because I had some too!

The kiddos must say they miss Hannah a dozen times a day!

We all miss you, Hannah!

But we are excited for you!

The next chapter in a beautiful story!

We can’t wait until we see you again!!

We feel so privileged to have been able to share in your story for the last seven months!!

Happy new place to you, sweet girl!

It’s Still Summer

No summer is ever alike it seems.

This one has been the most far from our normal yet!

After devastating rains which brought a lot of damage to our area, we have been enjoying the beautiful weather the Lord has blessed us with this week!

The kids put out a plea to their Dad to keep the pool up as long as possible, and he said yes!

The farm is SO beautiful right now!

I have not been sitting down, except to share here on this little space on the world wide web, but I do plan to take the bench off of our porch to set on our new porch over at Twin Oaks!

I wonder if it will end up being my favorite spot there too?

I am thinking not – because the views off the deck will be AMAZING!

You know it’s still summer when you see O’Malley passed out on the porch all day!

I think he roams the whole night long.

Summer, we love you!!

Stick around, OK?!

Tate’s Day!!

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of the day Tate was placed into our arms!

Tate struggles a bit with his anniversary.

I think it has a lot to do with his age – because he was four at the time he remembers more.

I also think it has a lot to do with his personality – he is a deep thinker.

He still wanted to celebrate though!

He told us every single thing he wanted to do!

We started the morning with a surprise for our early bird.

We had bought him the same toy that Eliza picked for her day in a different color.

He loved it!

After breakfast and chores, he and I were off to the store to get some strawberries and ice cream for the dessert he chose.

It is super fun to have one-on-one time with this precious boy!

He talks non-stop!

Tate asked for his big sissy and the babies to come over to play!

They were happy to oblige, of course!

They all play so nicely together!

Don’t worry, I have photos of River too!

YES! He really is that adorable!!

After lunch Kay went home to nap the babies, and the rest of us got in the pool for a swim.

It was freezing cold, but we had fun!

Soon it was time to start dinner prep!

Sticking with tradition, Tate picked his meal and dessert!

Addie Mae gets some tall orders!

She is always happy to oblige!

Two layer vanilla cake with chocolate frosting!

Once everyone rolled into the farm, we had a delicious dinner of baked chicken legs, yam fries, roasted cauliflower with bacon, and steamed green beans.

Yummy!

Good choices, Tate Owen!

Tate wanted to go for a walk after dinner.

One of our favorite things to do!

Usually the kiddos ride things, but we forgot the road had just been chipped!

Finally, dessert.

SO good!

Tate told us that this was “the best day ever!”

I love seeing life through our littles eyes.

It is inspiring!!

Tate Owen, your story is miraculous in our eyes and we just are not worthy to be a part of it!

We could never have imagined how the Lord would bless us as we prayed over your photos and videos long before we could even do anything to try to make you ours!

We are so, so, so grateful that we are your forever more.

You are SUCH a bright light in our lives and we look forward to many more celebrations of that wonderful day you became Tate!

Happy Tate’s Day, our cheerful young warrior!!

We love you to the moon and back!!

Eleven More Sleeps

If everything goes as planned, we only have eleven more times to sleep here at our beloved Adoni Acres Family Farm.

I am pretty sure not many of us have processed that fact, because we are just SO busy.

Last week and this past weekend were full!

Besides Eliza’s big day of appointments on Monday, we had other appointments as well.

Chad had a check-up at the orthodontist.

I remember when Chad first starting seeing the orthodontist, they would put a pillow under his bum so he could fit in the chair right!

Now his feet hang off the end of the chair – and he makes all the technicians gasp when they see how much he has grown.

Yep.

Our gentle giant of a boy.

The doctor said it is time to start stage 2 (or is it stage 3?) of Chad’s orthodontic care.

Chad will be getting braces again – but we pushed it off until early March of next year – after we get settled in the new house and get Eliza through her surgery first.

Sadie also had an appointment!

For her one year check-up and vaccinations.

The kids had a ball helping me take her to the vet!

There was not much happening over at Twin Oaks last week, as they are waiting for everything that was ordered to arrive!

The upstairs floors were put in though!

They turned out fantastic!

We are running the same floor through the entire house – upstairs and downstairs.

I cannot wait to swiffer them!

I know, I know – who says something like that?!?

No transition pieces, no bumps in between rooms – they will be a breeze to clean.

You will find that is the theme with EVERYTHING we chose for the new house.

Easy to clean.

Oh – and durable too.

On Friday afternoon, we watched (and watched, and watched!) as the semi for the move was dropped off in the barn yard!

It took several tries to get it down the driveway!

Friday night we got to bed on time to gear up for a weekend of loading that semi!

We took a hit on our help when Grant got called out for disaster relief at 3 a.m. Saturday morning.

The rains here have been devastating!

There were 34 roads closed in our county alone late last week.

Grant put in a long day Saturday hauling rock to flooded areas.

Addie Mae works on Saturday too!

We may have been a skeleton team that was left – but we got after it all and got SO much done!

Hannah was a HUGE help with anything and everything – including keeping two little people happy!

Kayla and her little side kick came and helped late Saturday afternoon and evening!

It was just the push I needed to keep at it.

Addie Mae got home from work and she and Hannah fed us all and cleaned it all up!

After church on Sunday we got back to it – this time we had more muscle!

Literally!

We are loading the semi with anything we do not think we will need for several months, and it will be parked and stored for now.

It will give us a much easier move come moving day, and give us a chance to finish the new house so there will be a place to put everything.

There is still a lot left!

But I bet we have gotten rid of well over half of everything if not two-thirds!

I went through every tote in the basement before we carried them out.

These two big totes –

fit in this blue tote by the time I was done with them!

We are not the only ones moving.

Sweet Hannah, who has been filling our home with her smile for the last seven months, is moving too.

We are sad that she will not be joining us at Twin Oaks, but happy for her as she starts the next chapter of her story!

We will miss you more than we could ever say, Hannah!

There will be lots of hard good-byes coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Hannah, the horses, our cats, this blessed place we have called home.

We are not just leaving our home, but a lifestyle that we have lived for years now.

Farming was the hugest blessing ever, and we are going to miss it dearly.

We could never have imagined what the Lord would do for us here at Adoni Acres!

The same will be true for Twin Oaks!

It’s time to find out!

Twin Oaks – here we come!

Eleven more sleeps!

THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!