Mia's Homecoming video

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Her once upon a time is now

"Once upon a time..."

There is something so magical about those words, and about fairytales of princesses and their happily ever after.

I found this sweet picture on my friend Katrina's blog the other day and just loved it! Katrina is adopting the sweet little one in the corner picture with the pigtails. Her name is Carlene. Katrina was a faithful supporter of Mia and followed every step of our journey to her and while we were in Ukraine, we found out that Katrina was now going to be embarking on this amazing journey herself and was committing to going and saving sweet Carlene!

I was thinking about these 3 girls in this picture and how they are still waiting for their "once upon a time" and their "happily ever after". Yes, one of them is lucky enough to now have a family coming for her and she will soon get her happily ever after but she has no idea they are coming for her. That was one of the hardest things for me while in the adoption process, knowing that we were doing everything we could, as fast as we could to change Mia's life for the better and give her what she deserved, and she had no idea.

She had no idea that she was indeed a princess.


That she was indeed loved by someone (or many someones) on the other side of the world.



She had no idea that her once upon a time was about to begin



and that she was finally going to be able to live her happily every after


But she knows now


and the princess that was hidden inside her for 4 years is finally making its debut in the world



Her once upon a time is NOW



and she is living it with a smile
side by side her sister
Be strong and of good courage.


You are truly royal spirit daughters of an Almighty God.
You are princesses, destined to become queens

Your own wondrous story has already begun



" Your “once upon a time” is now."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf-


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Summer Family Photos

We attempted family pictures with Kris' family this summergrandma and grandpa and the grandkids
The whole crew
DeMartini family
Leishman family
Mercer Family
Cox family
Madsen Family
Grandma and grandpa
The siblings and Kris' parents
Mia was NOT having pictures this day. She literally cried through almost all of it




Bree was thrilled to posse for her individual shots....she is such a cute little ham!





Of course "big eyes" had to make an appearance
Ky babe

Adrie Lou bell

The ONLY time of the whole photo shoot Mia was not crying was for her individual shots so the photographer snapped away fast before she changed her mind




Bree wanted to take pictures with Mia but Mia was not a fan of the idea


We tried to get a picture of all 3 of the girls who happen to have down syndrome and this is how it progressed....Lyla crying and the others confused

Then Mia joins Lyla
and then Bree is out of there...well we tried...maybe one day we will get them all to cooperate at the same time
These cute cousins wanted a few pictures together...such cute friends they are