We are FAMILY!!

We were blessed to be surrounded by our family upon sweet baby Nora's arrival.

 Proud Pops!

 Pops, Mema and the girls

So blessed Mema was able to love on sweet Nora when we brought her home from the hospital

Turner sure loves his Mema 

 The girls

 Sweet cousins

 Sweetness

 So thankful for Aunt CC...she immediately dropped everything and came to our house before she moved to Colorado to help keep Turner and Lydia's schedule somewhat "normal" with all the craziness going on.

 The week after we got Nora back, we had already planned a fun slumber party with Lydia's birthmom and siblings.  We had a blast!!!

 This picture just melts my heart.  Lydia's birthmom Kassandra has been one of our biggest prayer warriors over the past several months.  She has encouraged me and given me so much hope.  I love you so so so much Kassandra. I couldn't hand pick a better birthmom for Lydia and so blessed you're my dear friend!

 The boys had a blast playing dress up all weekend long!!  I'm going to stock up on Halloween costumes when they go on sale after the 31st!

 I love love love family time!

 everyone but Antonio

 Lolly and Nora

 Finally a picture of Antonio...he's too cool for all my obnoxious pictures!

 Yes, we eat ALOT when we are all together.  So thankful my John loves to cook.  He made Kassandra's favorite....jumbo Hamburgers!

 Grandma Judy and sleeping beauty

 Big brother Antonio

 Our 1st Sunday together....Lydia refused to smile :) 

 He's glowing!

 Be.still.my.heart.

 Proud mommy!

 Blessings from Brokenness

Psalm 27: 13

"I am confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord"

I prayed and believed this verse at my core during the 3 weeks away from Nora. 

Nora Sophia Rose

 Well, we've come a long way since my last post.  Our journey to Nora has had so many twists and turns but God remained faithful as promised.  My hearts desire is that our journey glorified HIS Kingdom and will serve as a reminder of his faithfulness and may even encourage others to never loose faith despite heart ache, anger, and confusion.

Here are some pictures from our 1st days with this little angel.

 One proud daddy! I fall more and more in love with this sweet man every day!  I couldn't hand pick a better daddy and husband

 Blessed beyond belief

 our little bundle weighed 7 lbs and 14 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Sophia is the name her birthmother chose and Rose is after my dear little Grandma Rose.  And we love the name Nora :)

 The admiration and love I have for her mom can never be put into words.  She is kind, loving, strong (she gave birth 100 % natural) quiet, brave, sensitive, joyful and is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  We are so blessed by her selfless act to choose adoption and we celebrate that she wants to have an on going relationship with us! During Nora's birth, we had the privilege to meet her grandma and grandpa, 1 aunt, and 1 uncle and her birthmom's best friend. It was truly a family affair.  We look forward to getting to know them better over the years.

 some quality snuggle time with her birthmomma

 One big happy family!

 2 very very proud siblings.  Turner and Lydia are in LOVE with their "Baby Nora" and can't quit holding and kissing on her. 

 Turner's favorite thing to do is help feed her and then of course he gets a kick out of burping her too!

 And Lydia just loves to snuggle with her and sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"  in the sweetest high pitched voice

 coming home from the hospital was hard work!!

These 1st 4 days with sweet Nora were such were a blur but oh so wonderful.  Our hearts were broken into a million pieces when we had to give her back...but 3 weeks later God put the pieces back together! After 2 weeks with her birthmom, promises weren't being upheld and her birthmom knew deep in her heart, adoption was the best choice for her daughter....so through a string of phone calls and visits, she changed her mind and relinquished her rights.  All of this went on while we were in Florida with the Satterfields....unknown to us :)  Deaconess wanted to protect our hearts just in case something went wrong.  In the mean time, for an entire week, this precious precious family loved on our baby girl for us.  One bright sunny Monday afternoon, I got a call from Meghan with Deaconess which  I thought was a bit strange since we had taken our name off the list for a few months.  We chit chatted for a while then she proceeded to tell me she had really been working hard while we were on vacation....I was still a bit puzzled and asked what she meant.  She then told me the entire story and asked if we wanted to come pick up our baby girl!!!!  Of course we did...and less than an hour after that phone call, we held her in our arms again, but this time forever!   

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all our friends, family, and even strangers who have prayed and encouraged us over the last 2 months.  We felt every single prayer and are so thankful God put each of you in our lives.