Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We've had a full house for the past week, and no time to blog or upload pictures. Here's one of Kieran and me making banana bread for our guests last week. We had a wonderful first Christmas with him. When there's time, we'll get some pictures up of our holiday celebration. Hope you had a good Christmas and our prayers are with all adopting families who are waiting for their children. May 2010 bring many referrals!

More fun firsts

Our first bit of snow this winter. Hopefully we'll get more so Kieran can really experience the wonder of it.

We went to a flight museum. Kieran loves airplanes, so he was completely overwhelmed with awe and wonder to be surrounded by aircraft. It was hard to get him to look at the camera for a picture!

The hot air balloon simulation was one of his favorites because he could make the balloon go up and down.

Future astronaut?

"Merry Krimmas!"

Kieran shows Piglet a Christmas ornament from Rwanda.

Piglet looks on with great interest as Kieran hangs the ornament on the tree
So many firsts: Kieran's first Christmas tree, the first ornament on the tree for the year, our first Christmas as a family of three, er... four (sorry Piglet), what a special year this is for all of us!
"Merry Krimmas", says Kieran. He isn't really sure what all this Christmas stuff is all about, but he loves looking at the tree and the lights. Tonight we're going to add the rest of the ornaments together.

Catching up

I know, we haven't posted anything in a while. So this is a miscellaneous post to catch you up on the latest at our house.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family.

Mike braved the cold on Tuesday to finish the fence.

Kieran and I decided to get some fresh air and watch the progress on the fence.

Kieran thinks his Daddy is awesome.

Kieran leans in close to Mommy for a cute snuggly photo. I love it!

The fence is done!! It looks awesome. I think the neighbors are jealous. :)

Kieran is an irresistible subject to photograph. He loves getting his picture taken, so it works out well for all of us!

P.S. Some of my photos are cut off on the right side (yes, I'm right and left challenged!). I don't know why, and can't seem to fix it. However, if you click on each individual picture, you can see the whole thing. Computers...arg!

Six more reasons to give thanks

I can't contain my excitement! Three families are in Rwanda right now and have just met their children for the first time! As I read their blogs, so many memories of our recent trip to get Kieran are resurfacing. The tiny waiting room, the moment when he was placed in our arms, the crying, the soothing, the bonding with our child...and the exhaustion, there's nothing else like it. Congratulations to the Bowers, Smiths, and Spores! Soon to follow them are Kari's family, the Vincents, and the Furrs. I am spending a lot of time on the computer, when I get the chance, to read their blogs. Our prayers are with them, and our hearts are rejoicing as six more children are grafted into families forever. Awesome!

Citizen Kieran

Yesterday we went to court to get Kieran's re-adoption completed. Although he was legally adopted in Rwanda, we had to re-adopt him here in order to get his U.S. citizenship, birth certificate, passport, etc.., as well as to legally change his name. It was the last major paperwork hurdle to finish, although we still have a few more citizenship forms to finish. So now he is on his way to becoming an official U. S. citizen! He was very good in the courtroom, and we all had a great day!

Project update

Hello to our blog followers. We've had a few people ask how the fence project is going, so here are some updated photos for ya. The fence is mostly done. Mike just has some finish work on the cross pieces. I think it looks fabulous, and I'm so grateful to have a husband who can do home improvement projects like this!



Kieran looking cute in his airplane hoodie from his Aunt Jeanne. He loves airplanes so this is becoming his favorite jacket to wear when he's chilly. Good choice Aunt Jeanne!

Quick update

I just wanted to share a few milestones... We had our six month post placement visit last week. It's hard to believe six months have already gone by since we first met Kieran. He is thriving! We went to the doctor for his two year check up this week. Our doctor was impressed by the progress Kieran has made since she saw him in July. He's grown two inches and gained five pounds! He was barely walking last time she saw him. Now he's so mobile. It's awesome to look back and see how far we've come. Another big leap in development has been in his verbal skills. Kieran is able to count to ten and he recognizes all of the numbers 0-9. And, he's got the alphabet memorized. Today he shocked my socks off when he pointed to a capital L in a book, correctly identified it as an L, and then turned the book upside down and said, "seven!"

Family photos

This post is long overdue. In October we spent some special time with family. Kieran was a miniature celebrity and got his picture taken with lots of family members. These photos were taken by his Aunt Berta. Thanks, Berta, for letting us post them on our blog.
Cousin Rose
Uncle John & Aunt Trenna
Cousins Vanessa & Rebekah
Aunt Trish
Aunt Berta

Thank you to all of our family for your love and support of our adoption. We are so grateful that Kieran has been welcomed with open arms.

Family photo

Fall at our house.

Goofin' around

We're getting ready for colder weather, which means new hats and mittens. Kieran was modeling his new gear for me, and I just had to capture the silliness with my camera.
"Cheese!!"
"If I put on my cute smile, can we be done with pictures? I want to get back to playing!"
"Ok, how do I get these off? It's getting hot in here!"

A slumber party

Kieran's buddies, Trent and Henry, were here for a slumber party earlier this week. Of course, their mommies were here too! We had such a blast getting the boys together again. Last time we saw them was in early August. All three have grown so much since then, and it was fun to see the huge leaps in development the boys have made. Our families recently celebrated five months since our adoptions took place in Rwanda. All three boys are healthy, happy, and bonded with their families.

A bottle of sunshine

I have decided that Kieran is a bottle of sunshine. If somebody is sad, just a dose of Kieran will cheer them up. His smile seems to light up a room. (Yes, I'm biased but isn't that the way parents are supposed to be??) His life has brought so much joy not only to us and our family, but also to strangers that we pass by when we are out and about. Just today, we were in the grocery store and Kieran was bringing smiles to people in the produce department, the dairy section, the canned food aisle, and the check out stand. Thank you God for our bottle of sunshine!
Mommy & Kieran sporting their cool sunglasses on his second birthday. Daddy and the birthday boy. Take a look at the fence Mike built! Now we can all relax in the backyard.
Kieran with his cousin Rebekah at a volleyball game. Yep, it's blurry cuz I couldn't get him to hold still long enough for a decent photo. Rebekah was our babysitter during the game, thanks Bekah!!
Kieran and his cousin Vanessa. (We were at the game to watch Vanessa play.. btw, her team won!) Kieran adores his cousins!! Wish we lived closer so they could babysit more often. :)
My handsome boys. I love that Kieran will wear his baseball cap so he can be like his daddy.
Kieran and Grandma. This was a big first for Kieran, he got to spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They had a blast together.


One little boy from an orphange in Rwanda became a son, a grandson, a nephew, and a cousin to many...we are so blessed that God chose to weave Kieran into our family tree.

Happy Birthday Kieran!

Today is Kieran's second birthday. We celebrated a little early since Grandma and Grandpa were in town last weekend.
Can I eat my carrot cake now?? Mmmm...cream cheese frosting!
The balloons were actually his favorite present. Wouldn't you know it?
Kieran with his second cousin, Caleb. They had fun playing with Kieran's favorite toy, Tow Mater.
"Oh boy,an airplane!! Thank you Auntie Kendra."
This was taken on a different day, but I had to include it because of the cuteness factor. Grandpa was reading Kieran a bedtime story.
The end of a birthday celebration. Kieran with Mommy & Grandma. He's sporting his new race car pjs from our sweet neighbor, Sue.

Thanks for dropping by!