The Birthday Boy!

We celebrated Brody's seventh birthday this past week! I just can't believe it. I look at him and still see the little chubby-cheeked two year old, and it's so hard for me to believe it's been 7 years since that Sunday afternoon that he made me a mommy. 

I crawled in bed with him after he fell asleep the night before his birthday, and I just held him for a while. My last time to snuggle him as a six year old. 

He woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning ready for his annual birthday pancake! As we sang happy birthday to him, he reminded us that he wasn't really seven until that afternoon. :) Typical Brody.  We love our number pancakes on birthdays! 

He mentioned the night before that he wanted a 7 shirt to wear to school on his birthday, so I whipped this baby up before going to bed. It's crooked and imperfect, but he loved it all the same. 

After school, he had a delivery of balloons and a card in the mail from Uncle Tony and Aunt Carrie! That was fun for him!

We played outside for a while before heading to dinner at Larry's Pizza...

We just had the family meet us for pizza that night, since his actual party wasn't until Saturday. 

Bass Pro Gift Cards! (He is his Uncle Ryan's nephew for sure...)

Batting Gloves...

A new backpack...

A camo hoodie...

I love this birthday boy!

On Saturday afternoon we had his little party at the church. It was by far the easiest party ever. I let him invite just a few friends over to the church gym for a couple hours. Seriously - throw a few boys in a gym with a bunch of balls, and they were entertained for hours. And Brent and my dad were very helpful organizing a few games of wiffle ball, etc. 

We loved his Cardinals cake made my Amy Burns! It was absolutely perfect! 

This is my favorite picture :)

Gabe's dad brought his gift over in this pink pony gift bag as a joke - the kids thought it was HILARIOUS. ;)

We are so thankful for a great group of kids and friends who love our boy and were there to celebrate him with us!!

And our lego-loving dude had this gift put together not long after we got home!

Happy Birthday Brody Cameron!!!! We love you!!!

EP Submission - That long-awaited phone call!

It finally happened!! Lennox was officially submitted for EP (Emigration Permission) on February 20! I cannot even begin to tell you the relief we feel. I told a friend earlier today that I feel like I can take a deep breath for the first time in many months. I was beginning to feel that suffocated by the unknown, and that is a very unpleasant feeling to carry around with you. 

I was on my way home from Brooke's program at school when a sweet friend sent me a message at 10:15 letting me know someone in our Facebook group had been submitted. My stomach jumped up in my throat, and my heart was pounding. As excited as I was at the possibility of this being our day,  I immediately felt so full of fear of being skipped over again. I got Levi settled with a snack (Brody and Beckett were at school) and tried to busy myself with some things around the house. I was loading the dishwasher when, at 10:40, my telephone rang, and I saw this Tulsa, OK number on my screen. Best. Feeling. Ever. :)

I think I squealed (more than once!) when our awesome case worker shared the news with me that we had been submitted!!! I can't even begin to tell you how great it felt to hear those words. 

For anyone who may have missed it in a previous post, this means that Lennox's case has been submitted to the government for them to review and issue Emigration Permission. Our case worker told us today to look for approval in approximately 60 days (just an average). About two weeks after that, our case will be submitted to the courts for review, and then we will be summoned to court. Families wait on average 4-6 weeks to hear of their court date, and the date is usually set a 4-6 weeks out. Again, all just averages. You never know. 

We celebrated this milestone tonight with dinner out!

And frozen yogurt to top it off!

I know that we will have more hard days of waiting ahead of us. There will be more bumps in the road and more unexpected curves. But today, we are rejoicing in the amazing news of a huge step toward our boy! We are so thankful that The Lord has lifted a difficult weight off of our shoulders and blessed us with this great news today. 

Moving forward. Little by little. 

Valentine's Fun!

We had such a great Valentines weekend! Brent and I have never made much of a big deal about Valentines Day. We just try to make it fun for the kids, and that's about it. I fact, it's become tradition that Brent takes a picture of someone's flowers at work and texts me the picture with a sweet valentines message. I look forward to getting my virtual flowers every Valentines Day. ;) They are free and they last all year! Ha! 

We started out our day with Beckett's ice cream party at his preschool that morning. They sat in a little circle and took turns passing out their cards. Such sweet kiddos!

Then it was time for ice cream!

Friday afternoon was Brody's school party. This is his buddy, Seth. Such silly boys. 

Love all of these sweet boys!

Brody already had plans to spend te weekend with grandparents - they wanted to take him shopping for his birthday and to see the new Lego movie, but the rest of us headed to Shreveport after school for a little supermini-vacation. 

We had planned on checking into our hotel to change and get ready before heading out to dinner that night, but it was about 5:45 as we pulled into town, and we knew that if we waited another hour or so we might be waiting a while for a table somewhere. So, we decided to just go ahead and eat early, as is. We decided on Posado's, and it was so good. We were seated immediately, had a fabulous waiter, and the food was delicious! 

Our hotel had a pool, so after eating, we ran into Target to get the boys' new Puddle Jumpers. The other two I have are pretty worn and needed to be replaced. Beckett immediately wanted me to take his picture with the big red ball. Ha. His favorite thing about Target! :)

As soon as we checked in and opened the door to our room, these two were stripping their clothes off and putting on swim suits! 

They had the BEST time swimming! After all of the cold weather we've had lately, a warm swim was soooo nice!!!

Every time Levi would get out he would feel of his swimsuit like this and say, "Oh no! I all wet!" Guess he forgot how swimming worked. ;)

Seems that Beckett is going to be a little fish just like Brody!

Levi finally had enough and climbed in my lap to dry off while Beck swam a while longer. 

Look Mom, I'm a sloth!

This was my bed partner that night! Everyone slept so great - and those beds were seriously the most comfortable I've ever slept in. 

We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel the next morning, then headed out for a day of shopping! We hit Academy first, then Bass Pro, then the Outlets at the Boardwalk! The weather was BEAUTIFUL, and they were having great sales :)

After the Boardwalk, we ate lunch at the boys' pick, Chick-Fil-a! Then headed to Ashley Furniture and finally bought a new dining table we've been eyeing for a while! It seats 10, and I am thrilled! We will be able to seat our family of 6, plus a few more! Can't wait for it to arrive in a couple weeks!! Guess I did get a pretty great Valentines gift!!