a picture update

We have been enjoying a quiet January. Starting to have more play dates, finding a rhythm in life and learning so much more about our boy. He is full of smiles, laughter and curiosity! He explores every inch of a new space and even his own space sometimes! 

He continues playing with all of his different balls and loving them, he is becoming a book worm, enjoys animals, knows many of his body parts, is a parrot to his dad mostly and is simply learning so much each and every day! It's amazing to me how much he is learning at this age. I am so blessed to be home to watch and experience it all each and every day! Our son is my joy and I am a very blessed mom! Here are a few recent pictures of our beautiful boy!

"CHEESE" is what he says every time the camera comes out :)

I love my subject to practice all my photography skills.

 He is so easy to practice with :)

Colouring pictures for daddy!

Winter fun!

"Mom…come on" :)

I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as we do! 

Be Blessed...

Celebrating our 3 month old family

Our family is 3 months old today!  I can't believe how fast time has flown and wow have we learned so much about our little man! He has learned and grown so much over the last 3 months:

~ he is now eating a variety of solid foods but will spit out when it is not his favourite. (which we are thankful for)
~ he has a good routine for sleep but still working on sleeping through the night.
~ he calls us momma and dadda constantly throughout the day.
~ his hugs are the BEST, which he just learned at the end of December!
~ his smile melts my heart!
~ he LOVES to be outside even in the cold.
~ his vocabulary has expanded so much in the last 3 months and his learning amazes me each and every day.

and so much more…

He is a 3 month old genius, at least to us. Yes he is 17 months old but to us he is 3 months new! This is a different way to think about things and I just could never put it into words! When I read this blog so much of what she wrote is exactly how I feel and it is so nice to be able to share words that put my feelings on paper for others to read! I hope you will take some time to read this post by a new friend who has adopted an adorable son from Ethiopia. 
Thanks Bekah for letting me share this post and I hope it gives a good picture of what our family is experiencing!

We have had our much needed and wonderful cocooning time as a family since coming home and we are feeling confident that Solomon is attaching to us. There are definitely still certain things that we will continue to do for a while but we are open to visitors and calls to hang out! Just please don't be offended if we have to do a rain check that particular night or day! :) 

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers, love and encouragement throughout our journey! We now look forward to sharing our journey of parenthood with you! 
Be Blessed...
Shaeline

my story of hope

"Jesus is the reason to celebrate the season..."

This is a song that I grew up listening to and for me it states the true reasons for Christmas.

Jesus is my faith and my hope. Throughout the last 3 years I have had so many ups and downs and my faith has been tested time and time again but there still always seemed to be hope. There is no doubt in my mind that God was in control but I am a human which means that there will be times of doubt. But this time of year always reminds me of the hope that the birth of Jesus brings to all. 

Hope
"to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence"
"to place trust, rely"
" to believe or trust"

This is why Christmas is the perfect time to remember why we put our hope in Jesus Christ. He is the only one to place our trust, rely on throughout our whole life, to believe in and to look forward to the day that we get to be with our Savior. No one said it would be easy but it's the only way to live! (in my opinion)

Hope never completely disappeared throughout the last 3 years of our lives but that doesn't mean at times it wasn't small. There was so much to hope for but I needed to remember to keep my hope in God and His Son who continue to be the author of my life.  I have met so many wonderful people throughout our journey and they have been such a blessing to me and such an encouragement as I become a mommy! They helped me to focus on remembering to rely and completely trust in Christ. That. Is. Hope.

I would like to recap our story of hope because just last week on December 10 it was 2 months since we became a forever family! This wouldn't have been the amazing journey it has been without the hope that we have in our Christ!

This was our first day that we met our son- October 3, 2013

He's forever ours- October 10, 2013

(Poor little guy was sick)

Our last day in South Africa- November 18, 2013

Looking at these pictures remind me that hope in Christ is so important to have in my daily life. He hears the prayers and desires of our hearts and He has blessed me beyond measure with our beautiful son!

Another story of hope soon to come...

Be Blessed...