Ava's Adoption Video & B&W Wednesday!!

Seeing Ava for the first time on Gotcha Day!!!

Finally after 18 months home my hubby and I spent a few late nights putting together our Journey to Ava on video!

It ended up being much longer so we shorten it quite a bit to be under 10 minutes for YouTube.

I cant believe we are coming up on two years home this summer. Our original LID was April 10th 2006 and they just matched that day a few weeks ago!! We switched to special needs in Dec. 2007 and saw Ava's face for the first time April 15th, 2008.

I still cant believe we would have just received our referral!?

I pray and think about all those families still waiting to see their child's face for the first time. Believe me every bit of this long wait is so worth it!!

It must be because we are doing it again!! ha

Enjoy the link for our journey to China, July 2008!!

Click here to see Ava's video!!

For more B&W see Lisa's blog!

Black and White Wednesday

Boy Scout summer camp a few years back. Nothing special just like the way it turned out!

Too see more B&W's go to Lisa's Blog!

WE DID IT!!!

Major thanks to all the kind and generous people that donated!!

WE DID IT!!!

We raised $10,000 for our adoption. If you look at the side bar and add up the chip in and donations by mail the grand total is $10,214!!!

We are in complete awe of the miracles God preforms and so humbled!!

So as soon as we get our credit this year, each non-profit listed in the sidebar will be receiving a check for $2,500!!!

I can not wait to make a video of signing and mailing those checks!!

Gemma here we come sweetheart!!

Also we just received the most fantastic email from our agency last night. They ask the kids from the Journey of Hope program what would help them not feel so scared when they are adopted. One young boy said he would love a video of his family, home, neighborhood, town, school and daily routine.

So we have an assignment to make a video and have it mailed in the next couple of weeks!!! We are beyond excited and cant believe in a few short weeks Gemma will be seeing our faces and know who we are!!! Im on cloud 9!! This will be such a fun project for our family to do together!!

They will present each child with their video and give it to them to watch as many times as they like until we go get her in about 6 months.

THANKS AGAIN FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!

The Color Versions

Black and White Wednesday

Here's a little photo of what looks like a lonely desert road. Truth is, I had to dodge traffic to get this shot. This road parallels the Colorado River on the way to Moab, UT. The background is Castle Valley. These buttes are actually a couple hundred miles north of Monument Valley, but they are scattered all over Eastern Utah. This area to me is Heaven on Earth. Endless recreation opportunities! In fact, it was due to another motorcycle trip that we were here.

Then there's this one. I thought the layers in the scene were fabulous and had to dismount to shoot it. LaSalle Mountains in the distance, Canyonlands in the foreground.

This one was of some smaller buttes long the White Rim trail in Canyonlands, near Moab.

Standing next to a precipice about 2,000 ft deep. Got my chest pouch on for my SLR - invaluable as long as you don't wreck or drop an expensive lens out the back of your tailbag. (yep, I did that once)

For more B&W's visits Lisa's page, The Long Road to China.

Flashback Fridays

Gavin, his car, metal and goofy face!

Milk carton

Missing self portrait picture! ha

Well this is only from a couple months ago but I never blog enough about my boys! First of all they never want their picture taken so that makes it harder. If I do take their picture they usually make some goofy face.

This is Gavin and he is my 10 1/2 year old. This was his last Pinewood Derby in Cub Scouts because a few weeks ago he crossed over to Boy Scouts. He joins his two older brothers, which makes 3 Boy Scouts now.

Gavin did a great job on his car and got the "Most Creative" metal for it. Sadly it was not a very fast car! ha He decided on a milk carton and even put a missing picture of himself on it!!

(Mom, I know he needs a haircut. Im so bad at arranging haircuts for my boys!!)

Black and White Wednesday

Thought I'd continue the tradition for April since she's traveling today. This is a building in an old mining camp called Animas Forks located in southwest Colorado. Animas Forks, Est. 1875, is at an elevation of 11,180 ft, and surrounded by dozens of peaks in the 12-13,000 ft range. It's located along a recreational trail called The Alpine Loop. A buddy and I rode this trail on motorcycles the year before last and managed to get this photo on a brilliant sunny day. The area is called "The Alps of the U.S.", so named for its beautiful scenery, and is generally located near Silverton, CO. This home was owned by Thomas Walsh. Also along this trail is an immaculate log cabin that was owned by the author/poet/naturalist Henry David Thoreau. There's your history lesson for the day. :-)

Hawaii in Real Time

Here's April in real time enjoying a girls' trip in Maui with some lifelong friends. We've had a ticket booked for a year and a half and they're staying in an incredible house free of charge. The whole trip barely cost a dime and she deserves it so much. I miss my smokin' hot wife!

They've already had tons of adventures - jumping into pools inside caves, getting run off a campground by a crochety old Hawaiian lady, exploring the bamboo forest, swinging from vines, snorkeling, swimming, hot-tubbing, shopping, eating, black sand beaches, you name it.

I miss her so much but I'm glad she's getting some time to chill before the next adoption.

Honey, if you happen to catch this, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Black and White Wednesday

Sean here, covering for April on this post while she's away. Here's something a little different for B&W Wednesday. I took this shot of an indie band that a friend of mine is in. I managed to capture a severe contrast from the bright lights of the stage to the darkness of the backdrop, while producing some dramatic highlights in the process. In any case, I always enjoyed it for those reasons and hopefully you can too. Cheers!