Pictures from Recent Adventures

Hello Everyone! Makenna invited me (Ariana, her sister) to post my pictures from our family's recent adventures! So, here they are.

                                           We recently visited the Woodland Park Zoo!

 Our family at Megarama Day! It's a huge farm where families who have Down Syndrome children can come and ride horses, go to the beach, and meet one another! It was a lot of fun.

                                                        Enjoying a few moments at the beach!

Conner Dressing up at Megarama Day!

                                                         Makenna- a cowgirl at heart! =)                                       
                

  Camera Man

Enjoying her coffee

                                                                 Our family Kayaking

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have a glorious day! =)
~Ari

Sneak Peek~ Recent Adventures

I know it's been several weeks (or has it been months?) since I've posted family pictures up on my blog. And because I've had several requests to post more pictures, I believe it's about time.

I was hoping to post those pictures today, but since I didn't have time, here's a sneak peek of the blogpost that will be coming in the next couple days.

I hope you're all enjoying this beautiful Monday, rejoicing in the goodness of our great God!

Megarama Day on Whidbey Island

Kayaking in Bellingham

Bringing Conner Home...Pictures!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for not getting this post up sooner! It's been a busy 2 1/2 weeks since we brought Conner home! Wow, has it really only been 2 1/2 weeks? It feels like he's been a part of our family for months! The Lord has blessed us beyond measure with this precious boy and is answering much prayer by providing us with a smooth transition. Also, Conner and Charity have such a darling relationship. They are SO cute together! :)

All of these pictures were graciously taken by my amazing friend, Keilah Engstrom of Vanilla Bean Photography. If you click on the link, you'll be directed to her site, where you can peruse through her incredible pictures! :) 

In a few days, I'm hoping to post some pictures of the past couple weeks that he's been home. Ari has taken some super cute pictures, so I'm excited to share them with you all! Hope you're having a wonderful week!)

For those of you who've been waiting expectantly...here are the pictures from the airport.  Enjoy!

  Waiting at the airport for the crew to arrive. :)

 Meeting him for the first time was incredible. It all seemed so dreamy. Poor Conner was SO tired that day. A new time zone, long plane flight, and adjustment to everything really wore him out.

 Charity was so excited to see Conner. The orphanage that he came from sent us a video of him, so that we could "see" him before we met him in person. Charity loved that video and everyday, she would ask, "See Conner video?" When she was actually able to hug him, her face lit up like a light bulb! It was so good to see!

 He definitely gives the most amazing hugs. :)

 Conner was really interested in Keilah's camera. She was very gracious and helped him take a picture. The above picture is the one he took. Pretty cute, huh?!

 What started as a family of 4, 2 1/2 years ago, the Lord has expanded to a family of 6. We are so blessed!

 Sigh..I love this picture so much! :)

 Doesn't he have such a cute smile?

 

Adoption Update: Conner is home!

Photo Credit: Keilah Engstrom of Vanilla Bean Photography

 "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name." Luke 1:46b-47,49

Yes, Conner Matthew is home! Praise the Lord!

Thank you to all of you who sought the Father on our behalf during this adoption journey, and especially the past 10 days of travel.


The Lord has answered many prayer requests. There is an incredible bond between Conner and my parents, especially between him and my dad. It is so sweet to see my dad interacting with his first son. :) The flights, both there and back, were smooth and reached their destinations safely. Charity, Ari, and I had a wonderful time together, while our parents were gone. Yes, there were times of quarrels and impatience, but the Lord continually brought us to repentance and love for each other.


Yesterday, I met my little brother for the first time. And oh, he is so precious! He is all-boy, and continually causes us to laugh at the differences between him and Charity's all-girl personality. They are so cute together and are pretty inseparable! Charity absolutely adores him and cannot stop smiling at his every move.

Conner is adjusting very well for it being his second day home. The only struggles he has right now are adjusting to the time difference and feeling confused with his surroundings at times. Last night, he would not fall asleep unless he was held by my mom. We are all a little sleep-deprived over here, but we are definitely making up for it. It seems like the past day has been made up of eating and sleeping. :) We are definitely looking forward to getting back into a schedule.

Please continue praying for Conner's adjustment to our family. We're not sure how long it will take him to adjust to a 15 hour difference in time, but please pray that it will be soon. It is very taxing to have a little man who sleeps during the day and wants to be awake at night. :) But God is faithful, and He will give us the strength we need!

The pictures displayed here were taken by my dear friend, Keilah Engstrom of Vanilla Bean Photography. (To go to her website, click on the link underneath the pictures. She is an incredibly talented photographer!) Her and her mom graciously drove us to the airport to pick up our parents and Keilah took pictures of our first meeting. I will be posting more of those pictures soon.

It is amazing to think that our second adoption process has ended.....and yet, it is really only the beginning of a lifetime to be spent with this precious little man! Praise the Lord for His goodness!

Photo Credit: Keilah Engstrom of Vanilla Bean Photography

Adoption Update: Off to Hong Kong

Wow, how this past week has flown by! I had hoped to write this blogpost sooner, but time just seemed to slip away from me.

A week ago, we received "the call"; for those of you who have ever gone through an adoption or are in the process, you know what this means. It is the time when all of the paperwork has been completed, the "red tape" has been cleared, and it is finally time to go.

My parents are leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. There is much hustling and bustling going on over here, but it is a truly exciting time as we prepare to welcome Conner Matthew into our family.

                              Yes, that's our little man. He's slightly older now, but still so cute!

Note: Because of the adjustment period that takes place after an adoption, my blogposts will probably be more sporadic. But I will definitely work on getting a post together with pictures and updates as soon as possible. :)

For this week, we need prayer, much prayer! Here are some specific requests:

• Preparation grace-As my parents finish all of the last-minute plans, please pray that they will have grace to remember everything and continue resting in the Lord. It is easy to get stressed out during times like these, but it is so beautiful when the Lord's grace floods our hearts and calms our anxious hearts. 
• Traveling mercies- Their flight is 18 hours long....yes, it's very long. And as they've already gone through it once before (with Charity), they are not looking forward to the flight. It is very intense, so I hear, and therefore needs much prayer for mercy, patience, and more grace. Please also pray that they will maintain a kingdom-focus throughout this trip, allowing the Lord to use them in whatever way He desires. 
• An immediate bond between my parents and Conner- According to the orphanage workers, Conner is sensing that something is going on and is becoming more clingy to his caretakers. Please pray that the Lord would prepare his heart to let go of the life he's always known (in the orphanage) and form an immediate attachment to my parents. This is incredibly important!
•  Joy and unity for Ariana and I- From past experience, we know how the enemy loves to bring disunity and strife in times of tiredness, impatience, or difficulty. It is such a blessing to have Ari as a sister; she is always such a great help. Please pray that we will treat each other as better than ourselves this week and serve one another and Charity with Christ's joy. Also, for friends and family worried about Ari and I being home-alone with Charity....don't worry. Some friends have graciously offered to stay with us! :)
• Grace for Charity- Our little sweetheart is very attached to "mommy and daddy", so it will definitely be hard for her to be separated from them for over a week. Please pray that the Lord would comfort her and give her the strength that she needs. 

Thank you so much for your prayers! They mean more to us than you know!

Have a blessed week, dear reader! Like I stated earlier, I will try to post an update as soon as possible! 

February Trips~

February was a very busy month! During the first week, my family and I were in Florida, enjoying a family reunion at Disney World. Two weeks later, my dad and I were in Texas, attending a business meeting and touring the Lone Star State. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

By the way, the trips are displayed in the opposite order. I downloaded the Disney trip pictures first, not even thinking about what order they should be in. It's a rather long process to drag pictures on Blogger, so I'm just going to post them as they are. :)

Texas Trip:
A couple months ago, I started working for my dad as his secretary, taking over some of his basic jobs and helping to keep him organized. It has been a wonderful learning process and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Back at the beginning of the year, my dad found out that there was going to be a sales meeting in February, so he decided to take me along for training. The meetings went well, but my favorite part about the trip was being able to spend some one-on-one time with my dad. He is such a blessing to me!

One of the tourist stops we made was to Zilker Botanical Gardens. We didn't have much time to see them, so we rushed through and enjoyed what we did get to see.

My dad, falling into a well ;)


This was a real window from a mansion, which had been destroyed. They saved the window and gave it to the park.


Bamboo Forest


This was at the top of Mount Bonnell. It's actually not a mountain. You just have to climb some stairs to reach the top. The view was gorgeous!

The view from our hotel balcony! It was stunning!

The view from the balcony at night. Such a gorgeous sunset!

My favorite tourist spot that we visited was The Alamo. I love history, so it was such a blessing to be able to go somewhere I had previously learned about. By the way, this picture is just of the gift store...in case anyone was wondering. :)

Me standing at the back entrance to the Alamo.

Yes, there it is. Isn't it beautiful?

It was a very warm day in San Antonio, and my dad graciously treated me to some ice cream. Mmm...it hit the spot!

And of course, we had to stop at the local Goodwill to see what they had. :)

Disney World
For their 40th wedding anniversary, my grandparents graciously decided to take the whole family on a trip to Disney World. We had a wonderful time, catching up with the family, as well as enjoying the Disney experience.

There's the whole crew...with Donald Duck. :)

This baby elephant was so cute!

Ariana and I in front of the Epcot ball (I forgot the ball's name).

Princess Charity

Such a good daddy...

Ariana loves anything Chinese, so she was ecstatic when we went to "China" in Epcot.

Okay, I know this picture is kind of weird, but I was trying to quickly take a picture before the ride ended, when suddenly the little ride turned a corner. Hence, the strained expressions. :)

Cousins! They were so cute together!

This was made out of Legos!

Enjoying some cuddle time with grandpa

I thought this display was really fun!

Hanging out...

Both of these trips were great fun, but more importantly, they were incredible times of learning. The Lord used the busyness of it all to point me to my need for Him. It is one thing to learn to abide in Him at home, but quite another in the chaos and busyness of the world. It is something I still need to learn! At the time, it was a painful learning experience, but looking back, it is so sweet that the Lord used my weaknesses and shortcomings to draw me closer to Himself!