Five Years Later...

We started this blog when we went to the Ukraine to adopt our daughter Elizabeth in 2005. Five years later we are loving life with our daughter (now 6) and our son, Chris (23). Tom continues to farm and I have the wonderful job of a stay-at-home mother and farm-wife. God has truly blessed us with two wonderful kids, a great new home, all while being surrounded by a terrific family, friends, and church family!



Sunday, January 29, 2006

Another exciting week :-)


PaPa and Elizabeth had the best time playing with her toes :-) Posted by Picasa

PaPa and Elizabeth playing with her piggys Posted by Picasa

Playing with PaPa Joe Posted by Picasa

Jordan, Meredith, and Elizabeth on the altar after church (Jordan is the daughter of Jim and JoAnn Woodall) Posted by Picasa

Meredith and Elizabeth at church Posted by Picasa

I love the look on her face here, like she is saying "I sure would like a drink, too, Daddy." She had her first taste of ice cream and she likes it. Posted by Picasa

Here is Meredith holding Elizabeth at church. Meredith is the daughter of Jim and Brenda. Meredith is excited that she isn't the only adopted child in church too :-) Posted by Picasa

Reading a book to TT (the cat) Posted by Picasa

Cousin Eric's Birthday Party (Happy 19th BD Eric!!!) Pictures are Dara, Eric, GrandMary and Elizabeth Posted by Picasa

What a beautiful smile :-) Posted by Picasa

Elizabeth, Aunt Holly, and TT (the cat). Another cute dress, it has Dora on it ...from Aunt Karen...and the cute pink shoes are from 'aunt' Traci (mommy's co-worker) (THANKS AUNT KAREN!!! and AUNT TRACI) Posted by Picasa

Elizabeth LOVES Dora! Here she is watching a Dora video given to her by Lacey (an HLG Nursing student....THANKS LACEY!!!) Posted by Picasa

Another cute outfit...this one from MaMa and PaPa Hagan Posted by Picasa

Isn't this outfit adorable? (It's a loaner from Linda Bichsel) Posted by Picasa

What a good picture of daddy and daughter! Posted by Picasa

Ready for another day of school and day-care...she is holding the bear given to her by Fern (she is one of the HLG Nursing students...THANKS Fern!) Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 22, 2006

My Oh My...how life has changed....

We have been home more than 2 months and life with Elizabeth in our family is great! She is such a joy and a good natured little girl! She continues to be a good sleeper....goes to bed around 8pm and usually sleeps until 7am (or earlier if we have to wake her up to go to Day Care).

Speaking of Day Care...she continues to do well there. She may cry when I leave her, but soon she is playing and having fun with the other children, especially a little girl Kayara (?sp) who has taken her under her wing. Some days when she cries, I just want to scoop her up and take her back home, but I know she loves to play with the other children and I love being back to work.

Speaking of work...I am working full time for the first time in a year. I was able to go to clinical at the hospital on Friday and when I logged on, it said the last time I had used the computer was January 21, 2005. Wow! It was a reminder of what I was going through last year at this time (being diagnosed with, fighting, and surviving breast cancer) and boy....am I glad that chapter of my life is behind me and boy...do I love this new chapter "Life with Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth went through a period of a few weeks when she wouldn't eat much, but now...she eats great and she is growing. It won't be long before she will be in 24 month clothes (She'll be 2 on March 7th). She loves spicy foods like tacos. Tonight we had Chilli for supper and she was eating it with a spoon in each hand :-)

She is talking a lot....SHE SAID MOMMY last week for the first time!!! Wow! I had been waiting for that word for a long time :-) She says: daddy, papa, mama, tractor, kitty-cat, bubbles, baby, turch (for church), bye, hi, kerfer (for Christopher, isn't that cute?), oooohh (for moo), meow, woof-woof, yeah, and more. She will mock our movements (like if we raise our eyebrows, she will raise hers, too). Daddy tries to get her to rub her belly and pat her head, which is pretty comical, but she does try to do it. She loves to tease...if I hold out my hands like I want to pick her up...she shakes her head no...so then I stick out my lower lip to pout, and she'll laugh and come running :-) She also will mock the pouting, by sticking out her little lip....too cute! She is really becoming a daddy's girl and loves to play with him.

She will bow her head and put her hands together to pray for every meal (which is so precious) and she will do that most of the time at church, too. She does very well in church and will usually play quietly. Today, she had fun when Meredith came to sit with her in church. Meredith had a cute book that you put raisins on, and Elizabeth was smiling so big and they were having fun playing with and eating the raisins.

She is becoming very social and it doesn't take her long to warm up to new people and she will give out smiles, blow kisses, and wave bye-bye very freely now.

She loves her new family...she loves her brother Chris to carry her upstairs to his room, she loves playing with her Papa Joe (he can entertain her for hours with only a few kernels of corn, lol!). She spoke to Mama on the phone the other night and even said "Mama" for the first time. She got to spend the day with GrandMary and Papa on Thursday while I went to my class in Columbia and she loved all the attention she got. She spent last Monday with her Aunt Holly, (because I had to work, but Holly was off for Martin Luther King Day) and she loved playing with Holly, her toys, and her cat, TT. Aunt Machelle has already spoke up to keep her on President's Day. I could go on and on about each family member she has made a special friendship with, but with the size of our family, it would take ages...but anyway...you get the idea. She is now a member of a large family and she fits right in!

So, how has life changed? I noticed every commercial on TV that has a cat on it....because Elizabeth gets so excited with every cat food commercial! (She loves kitties!)

I notice the lights in Wal-Mart because Elizabeth points them out to me. Elizabeth notices every balloon or decoration in stores...things that I have just blocked out because I am so wrapped up in shopping.

I get to listen to children's songs to and from work and find myself humming "The Muffin Man" quite often, ha! (BTW - Tom says he doesn't know the muffin man, but if he meets him, he's going to kill him because he hates that song, LOL!).

I work less and laugh much more now that Elizabeth is in my life. When I'm at work, I find myself counting the hours until I get to pick her up. When it's time to leave, I can't get to Day Care quick enough, and I'm almost giddy because I'm so excited to see her (Like I would get when visiting her in the orphanage).

I spend more time on the floor playing with her (and I've found that I'm not as limber as I was when Chris was a baby, lol!)

I enjoy seeing my husband getting down on the floor to play with Elizabeth, taking her for a 4-wheeler ride, reading her a book, throwing her in the air, carrying her around on his back, tickling her, etc.

I thought surviving cancer would make me appreciate life more than anything....but really.... having this beautiful little girl in our lives makes me appreciate each day I'm alive to enjoy her presence. I love the changes in my life and Thank God for them daily :-)

Saturday, January 21, 2006


Of course Love-A-Lot Care Bear had to join her in the toy box  Posted by Picasa

Feeding the babies and bears....isn't that cute?? Posted by Picasa

Elizabeth's daddy (and my wonderful husband) made this awesome toy box with wheels that rolls under the crib....as you can see...Elizabeth loves to play in it :-) Posted by Picasa

Giving Uncle Randy a hug :-) Posted by Picasa

Aunt Holly, Uncle Randy and Adam come over for a visit Posted by Picasa

She likes to put Daddy's hat on and then put it back on his head Posted by Picasa

Daddy is saying "Where did Elizabeth go?" She loves playing this game :-) Posted by Picasa

It was great to get to snuggle together and sleep in this morning :-) Posted by Picasa

Elizabeth is saying "Hold me, Daddy!" Posted by Picasa