We truly are a family redefined. We are husband, wife, son, daughter, step children, biological and adopted children and most importantly, Children of God.

A friend pointed out that I needed to update my blog header. After our adoption from Ethiopia, I had updated it stating how the adoption of Sara Joy completed our family. Well... the journey continues. After much prayer, we have decided to follow what we feel is God's calling for us...we went to Ghana with the intention of adopting a four year old girl, Isabella Hope. Little did we know that she would be the catalyst to bringing home not only her, but her half brother and sister. We will now be adding not only Isabella Hope to our family, but also Mary Grace (9) and Gilbert (6) who we will transition to the name Nathaniel Timothy. The shock is wearing off and the JOY and EXCITEMENT are overwhelming. Now truly, our family is complete. The great part of journeying with God, is that it's always an adventure. He knows where we are going, and for us it is all a marvelous surprise. Looking forward to sharing our family adventures as we walk daily through life and as we venture off to Ghana to bring home Mary, Nate and Isabella! It's always an adventure redefining our family!



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Birthday Girl


Anna's 8th Birthday Cake - iCarly

I'm a bit late in writing this post, but I thought I would share some pictures from her birthday celebration while I was at it....and we didn't officially do that until Sunday.  So - while this post is a little late, I write it with much love for my Anna Clare! I even changed the font color to pink in honor of Anna and her new-found love for the color pink.  This time last year, she could not STAND the color pink - now it is her favorite!
My sweet 8 year old Anna Clare AiYi Roach - love you my doll baby!

I don't even know how to begin to describe just how much my Anna Clare means to me.  What a precious treasure she is in my life, and in our family.  My beautiful Asian princess!
The birthday girl and her sister - aren't they both just beautiful???

We had a small family get together this weekend in celebration on Anna's birthday.  We kinda carried her birthday out over three days, ending it with a party on Saturday with the grandparents.  First, on Friday, her actual birthday she took home made chocolate chip cookies (her favorite) to her class.  When she came home we had dinner and Tim took her to the high school football game.  They had a good time, even though it was chilly!  Saturday we picked up her cake for her party on Sunday, did some errands around the house and then let her pick out where we would go for dinner.  As per usual, she picked Olive Garden.  We had a nice time celebrating my little girl's birthday with her....and had a great dinner!
 Sisters!
 More sisters - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these girls!
 Sara Joy on Anna's birthday - look at that face!!!  That is TROUBLE!!!
Sweet Sara Joy - happy to be celebrating her sister's birthday!

Sunday the grandparents came over.  It was so nice to have the family under one roof.  Mom had to come without Denis which was kind of sad, but we understood.  He was still feeling a bit under the weather, so he stayed home and my mom came on her own.  Tim's parents came as well.  We had a nice, easy dinner.  Tim did hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and we had baked beans, green bean casserole and a nice fruit salad.  It was all very good!
 Great picture of Tim and his dad!
Three generations - my mom (grandma), me, Sara Joy, Anna Clare, and Tim's mom (Mamaw)

Anna got some very nice gifts.  We got her an iPod for  her birthday and a couple of outfits.  Mamaw and Papaw got her a couple of outfits and an home.  Mom and Denis got her an outfit and an iTunes gift card.  She enjoyed all of her gifts very much and said it was her best birthday ever.  I guess the kids like it better when it is simple than when I do something all busy and complicated!
 The birthday girl - opening gifts
I am blessed to have such a sweet and beautiful daughter!

After everyone left we settled in and all watched a couple of movies together.  Mamaw had brought us some home made pepper jelly so we had a "snacky" type dinner of crackers, cream cheese and pepper jelly.  It was good!
This is the only evidence I have that Cameron was even present... he threatened me when I said I would put the picture up on Facebook.  Apparently he didn't like the picture.  Good thing he doesn't  read my blog - or maybe he should start.  Love you Cam!

My Anna Clare is such a blessing to me.  I really can't imagine my life without her.  She is such a special little girl.  I love her to death!  Happy Birthday Ms. Anna Clare!  So thankful God brought us together and that you are my daughter!


In Christ,
Charity

2 comments:

Paula said...

You have such a beautiful family... happy birthday Anna Clare!

Andrea St Jean said...

Hi, I found your blog. By the way, this is for Anna Clare. My name is Anna Claire too! Just that it is spelled Claire.I want to be pen pals. You don't have to be pen pals with me. I'm 8 years old too. If you want to be pen pals our moms will work something out. Happy Birthday Anna Clare!
:)
Anna Claire (hahahahaha)