All posts by Molly

Everyday Life, Project 365

Pigtails (Days 31 & 32)

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I put Lena’s hair in pigtails yesterday. Oh, it was so cute. She doesn’t really love me playing with, nor does she sit still very long, so it won’t be a regular thing. But how stinkin’ cute is she? Milk moustache and all.


Baby Pippi, anyone?

Oh, this boy. Our friend Danae says he is 110% boy and I cannot agree more.


Miss J had to go wading. The weather was warm, but that warm must still be very cold!

Are you going to get sick of me just sharing photos from our walks? We don’t do much else during the day! I could take photos of all of the paperwork I’m doing right now? The napkins I’m printing?


This, right here, is why I love Kansas. My only issues with it is that we lack an Ikea and (usually) winter is cold. But, these wide open spaces make up for it.

R really wanted me to take his photo laying in the grass. I tried, but he kept rolling around!

These are the two songs I’ve been listening to a lot lately…


Yet will He bring dark to light/yet will He bring day from night.

Just fit this mixture of loss and hope in our lives right now.

Everyday Life, Project 365

Life (Project 365- Days 28, 29 & 30)

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*Make sure you read the post before this one, if you haven’t already*

The thing about life with little kids is that it goes on… loss, big decisions and all, life with little kids still retains some normalcy. Know what I mean?

We got a box of goodies from our far away family on Friday. Dress up clothes for the kids and real clothes for me. It was definitely a happy thing to receive, but the kids were busy when I opened and I forgot to show it to them until Saturday…
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They had a blast going through it.

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Even Josie had to see what was in it for her (nothing, sorry Jos!).

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We had the cowboy and the little southern belle.

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On Sunday, Reed asked me for two pieces of paper– black and yellow. He colored two pictures, a sunny day and a stormy day. Now, this is what’s so funny, look closely at which is which! The stormy day is on yellow paper and the sunny day is on black paper!

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We had dinner at Danae and Kyle’s on Sunday night. This has become a weekly thing. It is a nice way to end the weekend and start our week. Anyways, Danae made us quesadillas. They had all sorts of toppings and Reed wanted to try the jalapenos. Danae was like “noooooo!”, but I just warned him that they were hot and eating them might hurt. He still wanted to try them. So, I took one and cut a tiny little piece off. He ate it. Then he finished the rest of it and asked for some more! He said he liked them. They were “tamed” jalapenos and both Lena and Aaron ate them without crying, so they must not have been too hot. Still, I am surprised and impressed that he likes them!

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This face doesn’t show his true reaction.

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Then things just got goofy.

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This is how I found them this morning when I went to wake them up. This makes me happy.

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He got a muddy kiss from a dog. He didn’t care that he got it… just that I had to wash it off.

Today was a beautiful day… 67 degrees here! Aaron was home early and we all went out for a walk.

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I’ll be so sad when she starts to run normally. I love her joyful hops with arms out behind her.

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I needed a photo with my little silly.

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And with my medium silly.

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And with my big silly.

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R drug this big stick across the road. Then L pulled it off to the side. This stick was HUGE, and I loved her determination to move it. ALL BY HERSELF.

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Reed picked up this stick and said “Hey guys, check out my junk!” And then I said “What you gonna do with all that junk?” And then Aaron said “all that junk from a tree trunk.” If you don’t get why that’s funny, that’s probably for the best and it means you are a way classier person than us.

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Battering ram!

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The long lost Olsen triplet!

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Cutie.

These next few pictures could be titled “My Children are Best Friends.”

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Aaron got to try out the baby carrier and Lena got a ride for the last part of our walk.

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Baby A ALREADY got a present. Danae made him a soft photobook that we can put our own pictures in. I love it! Thank you, again!

Everyday Life, Project 365

Project 365: Days 25, 26, & 27

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Just a little bit of normalcy…

Reed himself a paper hat on Tuesday.


My girl and I, before we got the news yesterday. I love this girl. She has spent a lot of time giving me hugs. I decided she gives the world’s bestest hugs.

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I baked cookies last night. I put most of them away, but then I forgot the last batch. I woke up this morning to this note. Nina is one of our dogs and she is a known cookie lover.

Second Adoption

Sad

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We’re so sad and angry about losing Alyona. We felt so close to bringing her home. We felt like she was already a part of our family. We already have her car seat and her bed. I was slowly accumulating clothes for her. I had all of the supplies picked out to make her a hooded towel, picked out just for her.

I can’t really look at her photo because it just makes me feel sad. We will never see her again. We will never know how she’s doing or get updates on her. A “family” stepped forward to “foster” her. They knew about our plans to adopt her and wanted to stay in Russia. They have known her for years. While I can understand their motivation, their timing and execution is just cruel. They knew about us and they had actually told the hospital that they would not be pursuing Alyona unless we didn’t pass court. Alyona may never leave the hospital… we will not know and there is nothing we can do.

We have the opportunity to go to Russia during the time we had for our court trip and instead accept the referral of a new child. I think that we will chose to do this. While this is quick, everything is in place already. I think that moving forward will be painful and healing. We are praying about which child is the perfect fit for our family.

We are so grateful for all of those who have prayed for us and cried with us. We have truly wonderful friends and family walking through this with us. Please continue to pray that Alyona has all of her needs met and that our family has some clarity about our decisions moving forward.