We finally did it!

Decorated our Christmas tree, that is. Our dead Christmas tree. That we have had for several weeks. :/

But it didn't matter to the kids. They loved every minute.

Especially the ride on Daddy horse afterwards. :)

Daddy's are the best jungle gyms.

And they make the best faces.

Very proud of their creation.

The saddest picture of the night.

Christmas Program

Our church had it's annual Christmas program last Sunday evening.

Considering that this is what it looked like in the car on the way there, I'd say it was quite a success!

Baylee did a sweet song with the preschoolers. We had been hearing this song for months, "All your heart, all your heart, Jesus wants to dwell in every part!" Finally, Baylee and Matthew got a chance to be on stage and they both sang their little hearts out. So cute!

Jaden is always the one I'm worried about.

He did very well this year though, only being distracted by a few minor things, like the loose strings from his "costume" and by Reese not standing up on que. :) Overall, it was great, he sang all the songs and delievered his line, "A Lion!!" like a pro.

Brenna and Olivia

Well, as most of you have heard, we are home. Our girl's mom decided to keep them, and boy do we understand her decision. They are absolutely beautiful, no mommy in her right mind could give these angels up. We had them for a couple of days at the hospital and loved every minute with them. They are precious and we don't regret anything about what we went through. It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of this young mom's experience and to get to know the girls a little bit. We hope that we helped her (and them) and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. It looks like for now, our adoption journey is going to take another route. God is in control and we can't wait to see what He has in store! Here are the girls, just in case some of you think we are making it all up. :)

Brenna Laine

Olivia and Brenna

Olivia Noelle

Brenna and Olivia :)
They are going to keep the names we chose for them. I'm not sure why, but I am pleased about it. We love those names and think they fit the girls perfectly! We definitely miss them, but know that their mom loves them very much. That is so comforting. More than that, God gave them life and has a plan for them. All we can do, as with any of our children, is pray for them. We know He is in control of their little lives and in His perfect wisdom will care for them the way that He sees fit.

What's going on???

Well, a lot of stuff! First of all, we had a C-Section date scheduled for Wednesday December 2nd, but they ended up cancelling it because they were too unsure of our birthmother's due date. So, now instead of 39 weeks, they believe she could be as few as 37 and don't want to risk taking the babies too soon. In the mean time, they continue to grow like weeds, out of all of the preemie clothes I bought them I'm sure. :) That is ok though, we want healthy babies. We will wait! In other news, there is nothing. We have just been working around the house, doing school, and having fun! We are starting to realize that things are about to get very crazy, and we should enjoy our time as a relatively "mobile" and "easy" family. ;P Tony and I plan to go to his boss's Christmas dinner in LA tomorrow night (thanks Nana and Granddad!) and we have a birthday party for our sweet friends Elle and Matthew who are both turning 1 tomorrow afternoon! Jaden also has rehearsal for his Christmas program tomorrow morning, and Sunday morning will be our first week in our Church's new building!!! We are thankful that we will get to enjoy all of these things that we though we would be missing. However, we are ready for those girls! God's timing is so perfect, we wouldn't want it any other way. Thanks as always for the prayers, we will be updating as soon as we can. Otherwise, look for pictures of our decorated Christmas tree (that hopefully will appear on Sunday, after it is decorated!)