We also made Haunted Gingerbread Houses this year in addition to our Christmas Gingerbread Houses. That was a lot of fun, and we had everyone over to our house for Halloween this year, which was a lot of fun. I think we'll have to make that a tradition. Thanksgiving was really nice, and so was Christmas. Johnny got to come home, which was great. It was really nice to visit with him and with Alecia. Little did we know that Johnny would be transferred to Afghanistan shortly after our Christmas visit. We are so proud of him, but I am the first to admitt that I worry about him every day and pray for him every night. I truly hope that God will keep all of our soldiers safe and bring them home to us as soon as they can. It was really hard to say good bye to John.
Another big thing that Jacqui was baptized this past February. It was such a wonderful experience for our family. So many of our family members came, and Brother Radichel (or Noelle's Dad as Jacqui calls him) conducted the program. Aunt Dawn gave a talk on baptism, Aunt Theresa gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, Cody & Kaylee offered the prayers, her Grandma conducted, Rob did the baptism, Mark & Grandpa Dixon were witnesses, and so many wonderful bretheren in the ward were able to stand in the circle when Jacqui was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was able to give Jacqui her first set of scriptures, and it was really special because the set that I gave her was the first set that I got after I was baptized. Aunt Alecia sent a really sweet note for Jacqui with her testimony in it too. Jacqui described the feeling of getting baptized as feeling like she had a warm feeling and butterflies in her stomach. :)
Here she is in her pretty white, baptismal dress:
Here is our family on Jacqui's special day:
Rob & I have decided to add to our family through adoption, and we recently finished all of our classes. We have chosen to go through the foster care system, and in order to adopt through them you must complete the STARS training classes and the Spaulding adoption training classes. This meant a big time committment for us- twelve weeks of weekly meetings 9 of them from 6-9 & 3 of them from 6-10, but the classes were worth it, and we were able to meet some really great people in the classes as well. One of the couples had adopted through the foster care system before, and they had a lot of wonderful insights to offer. We also recently completed our home study; our caseworker's name is Gail, and she was really great both with us and with our kids. I also just finished making a lifebook about our family. The lifebook will be shown in the screenings, when the workers are deciding which family is the best match for the child. I'm really happy with how the lifebook turned out. Now we are waiting to be paired up with an adoption specialist and start getting profiles. This is all very exciting. We are doing a lot to prepare ourselves and to prepare the kids. We feel very strongly that this is the thing for us, and while we know it will be challenging at times we know that it will be worth it.
We also just recently celebrated Easter, and the coolest thing happened- the Easter Bunny actually came to our house. Rob & I woke up on Sunday morning, got the kids dressed into their outfits, and we noticed that there were eggs in our yard. We hadn't hidden any so we were pretty surprised. It tunred out that a local church group had "egged" us. It was the best and sweetest surprise ever! They hid a whole bunch of eggs and in great places too. So awesome! We'll definately never forget this Easter. We had Stake Conference on Easter this year, so it was kind of nice to go to church for just a few hours, and then have the rest of the day to spend with our family. We went over to Grandma Dixon's house, and then after that we went to Grandma Berger's. All in all, it was a really great day.
Well, I know that is a lot all at once, but I am hoping to become more regular with my posts. At east this is a good start. :)
We also just recently celebrated Easter, and the coolest thing happened- the Easter Bunny actually came to our house. Rob & I woke up on Sunday morning, got the kids dressed into their outfits, and we noticed that there were eggs in our yard. We hadn't hidden any so we were pretty surprised. It tunred out that a local church group had "egged" us. It was the best and sweetest surprise ever! They hid a whole bunch of eggs and in great places too. So awesome! We'll definately never forget this Easter. We had Stake Conference on Easter this year, so it was kind of nice to go to church for just a few hours, and then have the rest of the day to spend with our family. We went over to Grandma Dixon's house, and then after that we went to Grandma Berger's. All in all, it was a really great day.
Here are the kids on Easter:
Well, I know that is a lot all at once, but I am hoping to become more regular with my posts. At east this is a good start. :)
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