And the Grand Total Is.....

 

 

The totals are in!  At our open house to meet Ramya we asked for no gifts, but instead, for people to donate money to Vathsalya to help meet some of the orphanage's needs.  All of our donations are in, and we are excited to announce that our grand total is...

 

 

$623.00!!

 

Thank you for helping us bless Vathsalya.  They are going to be so excited!!!  

This is Real Life

On the day we were getting ready for family photos, I thought it would be good to show you a little bit of what real life is for us.  It would be amazing to have it all be as perfect as it looked in those photos, but yeah, that's not us ;).

The beauty of my laundry room just before.  I took things from other places and shoved them there, plus had laundry to put away.  Oh, and of course, it was 5 minutes until pictures and our clothes were still not ironed ;)

 

This is me about 20 minutes before picture time.  I still hadn't showered, I wasn't dressed, and I had no makeup on!  Talk about pushing it to the last minute!

 

 

And here are the stacked toddler beds that are normally in our room.  We had to move them for pictures, so we just kinda crammed them in the bathroom :). 

 

 

 

Not to mention I stayed up the night before to pick up so there weren't toys in our photos.  Yup.  That's real life for ya!

 

 



 

 

 

Wow

Two months ago she was sitting in a crib.

Tonight she was sitting on a pony, eating her first cotton candy, playing carnival games, and getting carried around by her momma and daddy.

I still look at her in awe of the fact that she is actually here with us.

Life is good!

Ramya's Adoption Meet and Greet

On Saturday we had a big open house for friends and family to come and spend time with us and meet Ramya.  Many people had already met Ramya, but it gave us time to spend together and celebrate.  We had a wonderful time and really appreciate everyone who came out to spend time with us!  Ramya did really well.  She wanted me to hold her quite a bit, but also had fun playing with the other kids (especially during quieter times with less visitors).  We also let my parents hold her, as they have seen her many, many times, and she loves that.

We also decided that in lieu of gifts, if people wanted to bring something, we would take donations to send to Vathsalya to help meet some tangible needs they have.  I'm excited to share our grand total with you soon (I have a few donations coming in soon :)) and know that it will be a HUGE blessing to Vathsalya!  Thank you to everyone who generously gave!

Our welcome table

 

 

A box for donations to the orphanage

 

 

Lots of friends came out!!  I'll share just a few photos, but we were surrounded by many people that love us, and we loved it!

 

 

Vanessa (on the left) gave Madi a great hair-do!

 

 

My mom and younger brother

 

 

My mom and dad

 

 

Playing with the kiddos... I had out bubbles and water guns.

 

 

We had tons of food, of course!  I didn't make it all myself, like I usually do, but I still made quite a bit myself.  We had Subs (from safeway), potato salad (homemade), cole slaw (homemade), veggies and ranch (store bought packet), spinach dip (homemade), salsa (homemade), taquitos (costco), chips (costco), fruit salad (thanks Kelly for helping cut ;)), lemon bites (costco), cookies (costco), brownies (homemade), hummus (costco), crackers (costco), guacamole (homemade), chicken salad (costco), meatballs (from Costco- some were marinara (sauce from costco too) and some were a spicy sauce I made myself (that grape jelly/chili sauce recipe) and I think that's it!

 

 

The dirt pit... always popular!

 

 

A fun Costco purchase that even the girls can use (thank you Petey and Chuck for the help with this!!!)

 

More sand/dirt play in our matching WHITE dresses ;) ...

 

 

Evidence of dirt play written all over her cute little face....

 

 

Love letters for Ramya's memory book

 

 

 

What a wonderful day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Slideshow of our India Adoption Trip

Madi's Dance Recital

Madi had a little dance recital at the community center a few weeks back (actually, the day of her seizure.  She had the recital during the day, the seizure at night).  She was so proud of herself and was beaming the whole time!  She told my mom and brother/sister-in-law that they were going to come and bring her flowers, so of course they did.  How can you say no to that?!?!?!  She did an amazing job and we all really loved watching her.  She's such a little joy!  Here are some photos and videos from her day...

 

 

 

(I love the little wave she does on this one ;))
 

Conner Got a Red Stripe!

I'm a bit behind on posting a few things I've been wanting to post, but here is a video of Conner getting a red stripe in Karate.  He's only been taking his lessons at the community center for about 6 weeks, and we were quite surprised when he got a stripe already!  We are so proud!  He works very hard and loves Karate.

P.S.  He won't let me hem his shirt and pants, so please excuse his sloppy look :)

 

 

Here is a photo of his certificate as well :)