Three Years Ago

We got the call, in a sense - it was actually an email, on July 20 and on July 22, we had a precious 4 lb. 14 oz. little boy in our arms.  This picture was our first image of the little man who joined our family.  It still seems so surreal at times.  His adoption process from start (decision after lots of prompting) to the day we had him in our arms was only about 15 weeks.  God had/has big plans for this young man and we are so blessed to be a part of it!  We can't image life without him now!

Sweet Carter

I am working on a post about this amazing little boy's birthday but I had to go ahead and put up a sweet story.  Tonight, I was about to take Grace to bed but handed her to John to say goodnight then I walked out of the room to do something else.  While John held her, she got a huge pouty face and was about to cry.  When I came back and was just looking at her cute pout, Carter stood by me and said, "Mommy, she wants you!" in a very sweet little voice.  He has such a sensitive little heart underneath all that mischief!!

Here is the journal entry for the start of Carter's 4th year:

You are three years old!!  You love telling us “I fwee!!” and so excitedly!  What a joy you are in our lives!  It’s really hard to believe that you have been with us for three years and have just grown and changed and have started to show us how smart you are.  One thing I’ve really noticed since you started talking so much is that you really know what you want and make sure we are aware.  It’s nice that we never have to guess how you feel about things. 

Music has always been a love for you but recently you show favorites in songs.  You love to sing “Roaring like a lion” and you get so excited about the song “Jump Rope” on kids place live.  You sing, “dump (up), down, dump down.”  Parker has declared it your song.  As I thought about it, it fits your personality because your life is like a jump rope – you are up, up happy as can be or down, throwing a tantrum on the floor about getting your way.  In the last three weeks, we have seen those tantrums infrequently though.  We have high hopes that you are outgrowing them a little. 

For your birthday we celebrated with Nanannette & Grandpa Marvin starting Friday afternoon, we played Saturday morning at home and then your cousins, Parker G, Warren and Graeham came over to swim, celebrate and have cake.  It was a late night for you little man…  you couldn’t settle down for anything after your cousins left at 9.  Of course you were up bright and early on Sunday so we made it to church and then took you to the zoo because you LOVE the lions and tigers.  “I wan see da animaws!”  By the end of the zoo visit, you were melting down because you were so tired but you had such fun!

Our Big Three Year Old

Again, another year has rolled away.   God is growing Carter into a young man full of life!  This week I spent so much time thinking about his birth-mom and what a blessing she is to our lives for having carried this precious boy and chosen to give him a forever family.  How did we get to be the ones to have this privilege?  

 We have a tradition of decorating, 

which includes lots of streamer and balloons,

 bedrooms for birthdays.   

I'm not sure he spent much time noticing these decorations though, he was anxious to get downstairs.  Throughout the morning, Carter kept having mini break downs.  I think we had talked about his birthday a lot this last week and he had some uncertainties about what this day would bring or maybe what turning three would mean to him.  By noon, he was doing much better.  

 He LOVES wearing Parker's jersey and insisted on sleeping in it this night.  He would spend his day with a lacrosse stick in his had if we would let him.  If we did thought, there wouldn't be much left of our house that isn't damaged.  

Tentative entry into the decorated kitchen.

A little of what I put in the letter to Carter's birth-mom:

Little Carter is three!  He loves telling us “I fwee!!” and so excitedly!  What a joy he is in our lives!  It’s really hard to believe that he’s been with us for three years and have just grown and changed and have started to show us how smart he is.  One thing I’ve really noticed since he started talking so much is that he really knows what he wants and will make sure we are aware.  It’s nice that we never have to guess how he feels about things. 

Music has always been a love for Carter but recently he shows favorites in songs.  He loves to sing “Roaring like a lion” and gets so excited about the song “Jump Rope” on kids place live.  He sings, “dump (up), down, dump down.”  Parker has declared it Carter’s song so now he repeats that.  As I thought about it, it fits his personality because his life is like a jump rope –up, up happy as can be or down, throwing a tantrum on the floor over not getting his way.  In the last three weeks, we have seen those tantrums infrequently though.  We have high hopes that he is outgrowing them a little.  

Someone loves cookies, cake, icing, ice-cream - pretty much anything sweet.  :)  Happy Birthday Carter man!  

We love you so much!