Thanksgiving with Cousins

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. It deserves a much longer post which I don't have time to write today. Instead, I'll share these fun cousin pictures that Sophie took when she borrowed my phone.

A Step On the Path

My nephew Legend was baptized yesterday and we were able to attend! 

Sophie sang a musical number and I was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. Legend's grandma on his mom's side gave a talk on baptism first and had visual aids of a path with footsteps she'd prepared. When she finished her prepared remarks she whispered to me that there were a few footstep cutouts left if I wanted to use them. I incorporated them into what I had prepared and we suddenly looked like we were really well coordinated. I was so happy I could participate in Legend's special day.

On a related note, yesterday I learned that I've been saying the word persevere wrong my entire life. I spelled it on the board the way I have been saying it: perservere. Whoops.

Legend, we love you and we're so happy you chose to be baptized!

The Littles

I took a last-minute trip down to my brother's house on Friday to lend a hand while my sister-in-law recovers from surgery. I played with my niece and nephew, read books with them, made dinner, chatted with my sister-in-law, visited an awesome library to the two littles, hung out a little with my older nephew when he got home from school, got kids into pajamas, tucked my niece and older nephew into bed, then rocked the youngest to sleep. It was a full day.

I totally failed to take pictures with my older nephew, but I did take some of the younger two while we were at the library, and then one during the rock-to-sleep.

I wish I could have been there longer, but I'm glad for the time I could give.

We Love to See the Temple

With Topher continuing to improve, and a seal of approval from the ER doctor, we spent our Wednesday afternoon driving down to Washington DC for a very special event. Remember when my brother and sister-in-law adopted my niece and nephew in January? Well, yesterday they were sealed as an eternal family in the Washington DC Temple.

It was amazing.

We love you guys! Thank you for letting us be with you on your wonderful day!

Cousin Time!

Uncle Jordan and his kids visited us for the weekend while Aunt Leah had a much needed rest at home. The weekend was full of playing, church, playing, movies, playing, food, playing, sprinklers, and playing.

Zariah enjoyed doing Peter's hair before church on Sunday. Peter was not as enthusiastic about the project, but was a good sport nevertheless.

Zariah and Maverick were both eager to help water the garden.

Sophie was practicing her babysitting skills. She loved getting to help watch the babies.

I snuggled Maverick to sleep while Jordan got Zariah and Legend to sleep one night.

We did a little park hopping the morning of Memorial Day.

That afternoon we pulled out the swimsuits and sunscreen and ran through the sprinklers. Bryan prepared a delicious dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, and sides. Popsicles served as dessert.

Then everyone came inside, washed off the grass and sunscreen, and watched a movie while Jordan packed up the car.

It was fun for Topher to be one of the bigger kids this weekend. He and Legend played well together and didn't require the same level of supervision that the littles needed. 

Thanks for visiting guys! We love you!

A Day on the Bay

Peter's spring break was a four-day weekend and I feel like we packed a week's worth of activities into that time. On Friday Phoebe went with some friends from church to an indoor waterpark and had a great time. That evening Peter and Cooper saw the Super Mario Brothers Movie to celebrate the birthday of a boy from church. They loved it.

The next morning we drove to Maryland to celebrate my brother Jordan's 40th birthday. We had fun chatting and playing at their house before relocating to a park on the Chesapeake Bay for a cookout.

photo credit: Leah

photo credit: Leah

It was a chilly day, but we were so happy to spend it with family!

Blessed

Yesterday morning we made the two hour drive down to Maryland to witness our nephew Legend and niece Zariah be given a name and a blessing. In our church this is usually done when children are infants. However, since Legend and Zariah were adopted into the family in January, they were given their blessings now as bigger kids. It was a gift to hear my brother Jordan be the conduit for both of the powerful and tender blessings.

Plus, we loved getting to see family, even if it was just for sacrament meeting.

Jordan and Leah, thanks for inviting us to be part of this special day!

 

Officially Cousins

Almost two years ago my brother Jordan and his wife Leah were expecting their first baby. They had also gone through the long process of becoming foster parents. Shortly after being approved (maybe the next day?), they got a call that a brother (age five) and sister (about three months) needed a home. That brother and sister have been with them ever since. And, as of last Friday morning, they are officially part of their family. Before Friday I hadn't been able to share any information about them on the blog, but now I can!

Our little family planned to travel the two and a half hours down to Maryland to see Legend and Zariah join their family. I let Leah know that some of us had had COVID and let them make the call on if we would be there or not. She said it was fine as long as we tested the kids right before we left. The hearing was early on Friday morning, so we got a hotel for Thursday night. That meant the COVID tests would need to be on Thursday afternoon.

Unfortunately, Sophie and Peter both tested positive minutes before we were supposed to leave. Peter was upset. Sophie was devastated. Bryan already had to stay home to work, so they stayed at home with him. I double checked that it was still okay for the rest of us to come. Then I got on the road with Cooper, Phoebe, and Topher. We made it to the hotel a little after eight and finally convinced Topher to go to sleep about an hour later.  

I was determined not to be late, but traveling with other people meant that I didn't have total control over their behavior. After more stressing and pushing on my part than was pleasant, we left for the courthouse on Friday morning with thirty minutes to make a twenty minute drive. After one missed turn, we parked, paid the meter, and ran into the courthouse with minutes to spare. After going through security and wandering around we discovered we couldn't find them. Frantic, I went back to the security guards and asked where the adoptions were taking place. That's how we discovered we were in the wrong building.

The white van in this picture is ours, that's where we parked. See the big brown building on the left? That's the courthouse we went into first. See the smaller brown building on the right? That's where we should have been.

We ran. We ran so fast Topher lost a shoe and I told Cooper to just pick it up and keep going, we didn't have time to stop to put it back on. We had to run all the way around the building before we found an open door. We were now a few minutes past when the hearing was supposed to take place. I was so upset at the thought that we might miss it. We finally made our way through a second round of metal detectors and security and went up the elevator. We were ushered into the courtroom, just behind another latecomer. We sat down just in time to be told to stand for the judge.

We made it!

A few minutes later the judge announced that Legend and Zariah now share Jordan, Leah, and Maverick's last name. I know mine weren't the only teary eyes in the room.

I'm thrilled to be able to share this picture of their family of five. I'm so happy that I officially have a new niece and nephew and that my kids have two new cousins, especially since we've already considered them family for a long time.

They had a lot of people that came to the hearing to support them that morning. We're so thankful we could be among them. We love you guys!