Our Last Box is Unpacked!!

I just finished unpacking our last box! This move has been a bit harder than the others, for three reasons. First of all, the house was filthy when we moved in. I can't blame anyone but myself because we rented it sight unseen. The house is really nice, but it needed some good scrubbing. So I had to clean everything before I could put stuff away, and that slowed us down. The second reason is that I'm pregnant, so I couldn't move any boxes. And lastly, we have a darling baby who loves to play. We took lots of breaks to make sure she was getting the attention she needed. But we are here and adjusting really well. Samantha LOVES the carpet. Our old house had hard wood floors, and that wasn't very fun to play on. But the carpet here is nice and thick and we spend lots of time playing on the carpet. She is about to crawl any day now. We love the central air conditioning and the garage, two luxuries we didn't have in Kirksville. I also love the shopping. There are stores everywhere! There's even a Target a block away, and I have been there many times these past two weeks, picking up cleaning supplies and odds and ends.


We have had a lot of help moving in. Jonathan's family and our dear friends, Suzanne and Colby, have helped us so much. The boys unpacked our truck and Suzanne and Sarah have helped me clean and put stuff away. I don't know what we would have done without them. It has been so fun to be around family again. Samantha has loved meeting her aunts and uncles, Grandma, and lots of cousins.

Our dear friends, Suzanne and Colby, live really close and we love that we get to see them often. They have been our best friends for years and are like family to us. Jonathan and Colby have been best friends since high school, and Suzanne was my roommate right before I married Jonathan. Suzanne and Colby met at our wedding and got married a year later. We feel so lucky that our two best friends married each other! And they have a beautiful little girl a little older than Samantha. We know that Sami and Julia are going to be the best of friends. Here they are sharing toys, Julia is chewing on Sami's toy and Sami is chewing on Julia's toy...what's a little saliva among friends anyway?


While we are happy to be here, we do miss all of our Kirksville friends. I will always love Kirksville. It was where we brought our daughter home, and where we grew so much as a couple and individually. We love the people there, and felt their love for us. I am already excited for Jonathan's graduation because we will get to see everyone again.

Happiest of Days

This weekend has been one of the very best of our lives! So many wonderful blessings were ours and we felt the Lord's love for our little family. I want to share a few of the highlights here. On Thursday, Jonathan's dad, Larry, came into town and it was so good to see him again. On Friday afternoon, our birthmom and her parents arrived. It was wonderful to see them again! We were so excited for them to see Sami girl and all the neat things she can do now. They brought us all lava-lava's that were made from fabric they brought back from Samoa, even Sami has her own lava dress. Thanks Mary Ann, we love them!



On Friday evening, my parents and my little brother (who is not very little) arrived, and that was also a happy reunion. They adore Sami (who couldn't?) and couldn't wait to see her. And we were so excited for them to meet the wonderful people who gave us our darling daughter. Our birth family and our parents clicked immediately and a friendship was instantly formed.

The highlight of the weekend was our temple sealing to Samantha. Samantha became ours for eternity in the Nauvoo Temple on July 12th at 3 pm. As Jonathan and I entered the sealing room, we immediately felt the love of so many family and friends who had gathered to join us for this wonderful occasion. As I looked around the room, tears filled my eyes and I felt the love of so many. Then we Sami was brought to us, it was the happiest moment! She was so beautiful dressed in white. We love her more than anything and felt the joy of being an eternal family.




And on Sunday, Samantha was blessed in church. Another wonderful, amazing experience. We felt the Lord's love again and felt of her great and noble spirit. Once again, we were overwhelmed with love by friends and family.

I feel that this brief description doesn't do justice to the amazing feelings and joy that we felt. I cried this morning after everyone left and it still hasn't hit that it is over. We waited so long and have been so excited for this weekend, and we were not disappointed in any way. It was wonderful!

It was such a privilege to have our birth mom and her family with us for these special events. We felt their love for us and for Sami over and over. I think it's hard for many to understand how we can be so close, even our case worker has been amazed at our relationship and how smooth this adoption has been. I wouldn't want it any other way and it is a blessing for us and I believe it will bless Samantha as she learns that she was adopted because she was so loved, not because she wasn't wanted. I think it's wonderful that Samantha knows and feels how loved she is, and by so many.

We missed those family and friends who weren't able to make the trip to Nauvoo. We also felt of your love and know that your thoughts were with us. Thank you.

And now we start a new adventure. Friday morning we start our move to Mesa, AZ for Jonathan's clinical rotations. Our next update will be in our new home.

Happy Fourth of July!

Our days in Kirksville are numbered. In fact, we leave for Arizona two weeks from today. So we needed one last celebration before we all split up, and what better time to be together than Independence day! So here's a group picture of some of the people we have been hanging out with for the past two years. We are definitely going to miss you guys!


Moms and their babies:



Just the babies:



My tired little angel:



I think the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. I didn't really appreciate this country until I went to a couple of third world countries and I was so shocked at how people lived. For the first time, I saw real poverty and desperation. I am so grateful for all the opportunities and privileges our country offers. I am so grateful for the men and women who sacrifice so much for our country. God bless America!

Chrissy goes to the dentist!

This is my first official post seeing as how Chrissy is too embarrassed to post this particular event and thinks that I don't know how to do it. ;) When Chrissy got back from the dentist I simply could not resist exploiting her situation. Strangely, when I saw her the first thing that was going through my mind was, "Wow, they really knocked out her facial nerve." Anyway, she is a great sport and let me film her so here's to you sweetie!!

-J