A day of celebration

Easter - I am struck by the pure joy that we get to celebrate a risen Saviour everyday, not just on Easter. What a day to remember. As Emma has been getting older it has become more of a reality the task upon us, to raise her and teach her of the Lord that Matt and I know and follow. I love seeing her learn about Christ and pray that someday that songs that she is singing and stories that she repeats will become so real to her and penetrate deep into her heart and that she would know that He is risen - He is risen indeed!

New Room

Here are some pics of Emma's new "big girl" room. She loves it!

Bunk Bed - we bought these pillows in New Mexico about a year ago as the inspiration for her room, sad I know, but I really like them. There are two more in the next pic in the dollhouse, she likes to set them up for her tea parties, which is too cute.

The dollhouse that our neighbors gave us, again, a long time ago just knowing it was perfect for her room. All it needed was a good paint job and some Mod Podge.

Emma her first night in her big girl bed... can you find her :)

It's so fun to watch them grow up so fast - maybe I can slow the process down a little - or just continue loving every day and every stage!

Family.

Love family! Such a blessing to be all together - here are a just a few pictures from our time so far.

The dads and kids going for a ride while us ladies shopped!

Uncle Matt and noodle wars - I think he lost.

Someone can ride a tricycle!

All the cousins

All together

Bitty Baby

Emma got a bitty baby for her birthday and lets just say, she loves her! This morning they were too cute in the matching pj's I had to take some pics. I am not sure what she thought was so funny in this first one, but she had tears she was laughing so hard!

She really likes to "take care" of her. In the last one I caught her saying "see the birds baby". She is going to make a great big sis. Speaking of which, have we mentioned that we are about one step away from becoming a licensed foster home?!? We are amazed at how God has grown this in our hearts for about 4 years now and cannot wait to live out James 1.27 - but more on that to come later, this post is just cute pictures :)

Overdue

We are needing a new family pic...

This was the last time we were all together, Easter 2009, way too long! We are packing up right now and getting ready for some family time. Love you all and cannot wait to all be together so soon!

Blessed with amazing grandparents!

Emma has some amazing grandparents! I cannot talk about her birthday without putting a special post just for them. Over the month of January Matt and I had a number of Saturday long commitments and our parents were amazing and came each weekend to hang out with Emma. For her birthday she got to have both sets here, they took her to the children's museum and did a lot of playing. Our dads did so many projects around the house, our moms cleaned and cooked and they all just loved on our little girl. Thank you to Pops, Susu, Paka, and Gigi for your love to us and Emma, not just those weekend, but all the time! We are all truly blessed.

2.

We had a great 2nd birthday celebrating our precious Emma -

we had a mini party with our park friends.

We love you Emma, you are growing and learning so much everyday. You are such a joy (98% of the time). I love hearing you sing and talk so much, you have the sweetest voice. You are really into knowing what everything is and chances are if I tell you, you will remember the next time you see it. You are such a good listener and are really learning how to obey right away. You notice that dad has to do school work a lot, and it is easy for you to convince him to come out and play. He is glad to only have a few more weeks left. You still love to read books and to be outside. Its hard to say no to you, especially when you put your little hands on my face and say "pink cooookie with bown spinkles pease". We cannot wait to see what you will learn tomorrow. Thanks for being such a joy, we are so blessed!

Happy 2nd birthday sweet Emma.