Thanksgiving as a family!

Ahhh the holidays are here and so is our baby... tonight when we were watching Little Mermaid and snuggling with Payton, all we can think is how wonderful our life is.

Not even a year ago we didn't even know about Payton and here we are with a 15 month old sharing every day and moment and feeling so lucky to have her in our lives!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Todd's side of the family! We enjoyed some great times with them, including playing the piano, watching mickey mouse clubhouse, climbing the stairs, eating really good food, and enjoying the cousins!

Here are some pictures of our First Thanksgiving as a Family of Three!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!

Forever changed by adoption

Payton ready to go to church today!

The other day Todd and I got to go on a date to Boston. It was so nice! We had a wonderful meal and went to see The Christmas Story the play. Payton stayed with our dear friends and had a fun time with them! When we were at our lunch Todd and I were talking about our life and what we want in the future and we decided to recommit to a few things...Keeping our focus on Serving God and Loving Others and Always working together as a family. 

Yesterday was National Adoption Day and we are so blessed to have Payton in our life because her birthmother felt such love for her that she knew she deserved a family that wanted to focus on her. To give Payton the best we have and to show her how to love others.

Today at church we were getting ready for the service and Payton was upfront playing the piano with our talented musician Sara Pattie and two wonderful saints of the church were standing there clapping and the joy on Payton's face was priceless.

Payton and I! I am blessed with my silly baby girl!

We are home now and Todd and Payton are snuggling and watching a Disney movie and just enjoying being together and all I can think is how blessed we are!!

We are blessed! We have a God that loves us, who commands us to continue gathering with other Christians to have a community to help raise our beautiful daughter! We have a God who loves us no matter what and wants the best for us!

We are blessed with friends and family! We are blessed with food, a home, transportation, education and we are blessed because God picked us to have Payton be our daughter!

We are forever changed by adoption and I feel blessed every time I look at Payton. Every time I see her smile or sooth her tears. I feel blessed every day I get to teach Payton to love God and to pray to Him because she was loved BEFORE she was born or a part of our family! We are blessed by adoption and I am so thankful for my family!!!

Our BLESSING!!!!

A nice evening and our trip continues!

So tonight has been an awesome night! After church Payton took a nap and woke up on the wrong side of the crib so we made it through the afternoon. Payton was much happier after a good dinner and a relaxing afternoon!
We turned on some music on the tv and had a dance party and chased daddy and Payton just laughed and laughed! She loved it! We then just played and played and laughed together as a family. It is the simple moments in life that are so special! We are blessed and everyday we remember how blessed we really are!

I thought I would continue on our awesome September journey! We enjoyed staying in the Disney campground! They had a wonderful pool that we got to enjoy twice!! Payton loved the warm water as well- we had a great time.

The next day we went to breakfast and enjoyed Chef Mickey as we celebrated Payton's birthday! Payton loved Chef Mickey! She was a little nervous about Goofy because he was so tall and the first character to come around but she warmed up greatly to all the characters and in the end wanted to kiss all the characters! We had an amazing breakfast and then headed to Epcot! It was super super hot!! That did not stop our fun! We visited more characters, went on rides, had a nice meal in France and all around had a great family trip!

Not sure about Goofy

 

 Payton was getting the hang of the characters!

 Payton fell in LOVE with Donald Duck and now always wants Donald Duck toys/pictures, etc. She loves him!

 She thought he was so funny and followed him around the restaurant. 

 Look at that face! PURE LOVE!!!!!

 Meme, Payton and Minnie!

 Kisses for Mickey!

 Uncle David and Payton in Epcot!

 Walking around Epcot! Payton did not want to sit in her stroller once she realized she could walk!

 Not wanting to say good bye!

 Trying to kiss Minnie!

 Meme and Payton outside of Nemo ride!

 She loved the fish!

 Meme and Payton playing in the water feature!

 Payton loves her Meme and Poppy!

 Our family!!! 

After Disney World we headed out to see Great Ma and spend a night with her! We enjoyed a BBQ dinner and the next day Payton got to go on a ride (or like 15) on the golf cart! She adored the golf cart!!! We loved being with Ma and David and were sad to leave but looking forward to the rest of our adventure!