Reunions, Raspberries & a future jockey:)

We had the SWEETEST reunion on Thursday with the Smith family and their sweet ones! What makes their family super special to ours is they got their referral for their sweet baby girl just after we returned home with Isaac. Her crib was actually in the SAME ROOM as Isaac’s at Hannah’s Hope in Ethiopia—and I got to see her and spend some time with her when I was there. I had not seen her in almost A YEAR (the 27th of June is Isaac’s ONE YEAR Gotcha day and July 2nd is the day our family was all together! We’re celebrating with our family and close friends on the 2nd…AND guess what–THIS Wednesday is our readoption here in the states where Isaac will be a US Citizen and adopted in the States once and for all!!! BIG stuff ahead!!!!)

Back to our sweet reunion (got side-tracked there with all the fun ahead!)…the LAST time I saw these two together–Isaac was 14 pounds and she was just 6 pounds. Amazing what happens when love comes home isn’t it???

Laney just LOVED her and didn’t want to leave the little princess’s side! BUT we did steal a picture or two of the Hannah’s Hope roomies together…

We ATTEMPTED a big group shot…but no worky…

They just wanted to PLAY and NOT have their pictures taken…so we let them–so no more pictures of our fun afternoon together! The kids all picked these in the backyard together…

And we whipped up lunch and a fun dessert with the raspberries…Raspberry Cream Cupcakes!

This is a must make recipe if you have raspberry bushes (or find some good ones at the local fruit stand or grocery)!!! You can get the recipe HERE. Anything that gets 227 five-star reviews on the FoodNetwork site is worth trying in my opinion:)

THEN…later that day I photographed a precious little man from Ethiopia, little V, and the Parker family! I donated a session for a fundraiser for the Cook family (another AGCI family adopting from Ethiopia–and the Parker family won!) SO I got to spend the later of my day with the precious Parker family and this scrumptious little man who will soon have surgery in August…

This kiddo is FULL of life and personality–and he gave me QUITE the workout chasing him around!!!

Finally–I raced to the hospital from the photo shoot to see my VBFF in the whole wide world new baby–baby #3!!! It was such a sweet time with Kelly, Tami and me (and of course her hubby Shawn who has to endure us all together rain or shine!). This time–it was all SHINE of course…and we are so, so thankful to welcome this precious little girl into the world!!! I know she will be such a big part of our lives–so it was just so meaningful for me to get to hold her—and to think I will be a part of ever birthday, so many playdates and just fun. Isn’t she beautiful???

Hope ya’ll all have a great weekend!!! We got ours started off right with yet ANOTHER Hannah’s Hope reunion–BUT I forgot my camera for that one! Got to spend the day with the McBrayer family and little Luke! Another one of Isaac’s old HH roomies!!! They are MOVING to our town just a couple of miles AWAY FROM US all the way from TN!!! How crazy is that??? Don’t you know God was smiling when I got to meet him at HH!!! Laura and I got our referrals for Luke and Isaac the SAME DAY. We wanted to travel together so badly–but court craziness had us traveling first. Only God knew that He WOULD put us together–only it’d be a year later just down the street from one another!!! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! What are the chances that 2 boys from the same orphanage in Ethiopia would end up just up the street from one another in our town! Gotta love how God orchestrates details!!!

Y’all stay cool!

Andrea

P.S. Ahhh! I ALMOST forgot to show you my future jockey!!! Thought this would start your weekend off with a smile:) How cute is he?? Thumbs up folks!