Happy Birthday, Isabel!!!

Our first born...turned 7 today! She is such a precious gift from God! Her gentle and free spirit has brought a love alive inside our hearts that we would never have known with out her!!!

We are so proud how she handled the past 6 months...she is maturing into an amazing young girl...

...we ended up having a birthday treat with my wonderful high school friend, and Isabel's dear friend, Heidi and Preslie! What a great girls day we had...in Chicago at, yah, you guessed it, The American Girl doll store! The girls were in "doll dream land" from the time we arrived to the time we came home...a full day with lots of giggles and fun!






For school Isabel had to write a few things about herself to share with the class, it was fun to read what she wrote as she had to give a little testimony (of course, she had to translate a bit for me, as most of it was in Spanish)..."Jesus is my friend. He loves me, and I love Him. He answered my prayers when he gave me a big family. He is my Savior, and he cares for me very much!" When she was all done writing she looked up at me very seriously and said, "Mom, He has really helped me come a long ways." I said, "What do you mean?!" She answered, "I really do love having my new sisters...yah, Caroline is pretty great!" The last month, Isabel has been rather tough on her new little sister, but, I can honestly say, I have seen a change of heart. For the first time since we have been home, she invited Caroline into her room and played with their dolls for a very long period, with giggles and laughter...watching her get out of the car, and wait for her little sister to walk with her, letting her little sister give her a huge birthday hug without pulling away, and hugging her back...it has been incredible to watch...

And John and I celebrated 13 years of wonderful wedded bliss yesterday! Well, it hasn't all been bliss, as anyone who knows/experienced the road of infertility, miscarriage, adoption, moving several times (to pay for the adoptions), and then adding more chaos into our lives with 2 more kiddos who have experienced some tough stuff...most wouldn't call that bliss...no, I probably wouldn't either...but, I can't imagine anyone else by my side during the last 13 years of experiencing such joy, loss, mess... and victories! And I can't imagine our family looking any different. John is an amazing godly husband and dad...loyal and true...and I am one undeserving wife and mom!!

Happy Birthday, Isabel...and Happy Anniversary, John!

Oh...and great picture of the 3 of us, Silas! Nice work!