It's all perspective...

The other day at work a nurse wanted to see a picture of Taylor, so I go get some pics and as I am showing them to her another nurse peaks over my shoulder and says 'is he yours' and I don't know her that well but she is very nice and so I said 'yes he is, we actually adopted Taylor from China almost a year ago'. So then she kind of whispers to me, (with pity) 'oh, are you not able to have your own' and instead of giving the great response of 'he is our own', I said well we weren't able to have biological children so we adopted. Then she says that it could still happen for us, and she would pray for us. It was a weird moment because she felt sorry for me and I realized that my response did not make her realize she shouldn't. I don't fell cheated or like I've missed out AT ALL. I feel so blessed and I feel this is the path James and I are suppose to be on. I also feel that God put adoption in my heart a long time ago and whether or not we had biological children we would've still adopted at some point. The whole adoption process for us was beautiful and awesome and I can't wait to do it again! So hopefully I'll be prepared next time with a better response. After you've adopted you get so many comments and you aren't always prepared for what comes out of peoples mouths, so as time goes I am sure I will perfect my responses.

A precious gift.....

We lived in Nashville until I was in 3rd grade at which time my parents got divorced and we moved south. I had a best friend that lived down the street. We were the same age and had so much fun playing and catching the bus together. We spent soooo much time together. My dad stayed in Nashville, in the same house, after the divorce. So when I would visit my dad of course I would get to see my friend. As we got older her parents would even let her come to our home about 80 miles away and visit and spend weekends. It was only in high-school when we both got serious boyfriends did the visits stop. My sister got married the summer I graduated from high-school and my friend came to the wedding. Little did I know that would be the last time I would see her. We both started college and life changed. She called me about 10 years ago to tell me that she was married with 1 child and living in Georgia. I have looked for her number and address for 10 years with no success. I looked for her parents, and nothing. My sister was shopping this past Sunday close to Nashville and was in the Gap store with her back to the entrance when my friend happened to be walking by that store and thought she recognized Traci and came in. Wow!! I mean it's amazing that they connected. She is now living only about 50 miles from me with her husband and 3 kids! I am sooooo thankful that I will be able to at least know whats going on in her life and know what her kiddos look like and who knows maybe we can rekindle such a precious friendship. I haven't seen her for 17 years and that is so hard to believe. I still want to believe I was just 18 like a couple of years ago.......not!

Happy Halloween

Cousin Emma-Pea pod

Taylor and cousin Trey

Cousin Olivia "witch" and the hunter
Taylor with cousin Gracie "chicken"

Taylor has been scared of masks and even bicycle helmets, he also didn't really understand picking out a costume and the whole concept of Halloween. Every time we went to Wal-mart he was scared of the Halloween isle. So for Halloween we just dressed him up like a hunter. I told him he was dressed like a hunter and he would just look at me confused because the only hunter he knows is his cousin Hunter who is a girl and 13. But none the less he looked cute and once he figured out he could say trick or treat and get candy it was on. He was soooooo excited and wanted more and more candy. His cousin Trey walked around the neighborhood with him and it seemed they would always give candy to Taylor first and then he would proceed to tell them "Trey in there" and point to Trey's bag. He wanted to make sure Trey got candy too, so sweet.

Wink Wink

Mini-vacation

Loving the pony ride or as Taylor says the 'who who' ??? (I wanna wide the who who)

Two grown men wrapped around one little finger (Daddy pushing and Uncle Bill hand holding at Dollywood)

Believe it or not, Taylor had never golfed before and got two hole-in-ones and scored 2 on another hole, all this with no assistance from a adult. He placed his ball and hit it! We thought it would be a little chaotic taking him but he tried so hard and did so good....I was impressed!

My first swim with my very patient and awesome daddy!

'cheesing it' once again with my mommy

At Dollywood with cousins Trey and Hunter and friend Zach or as Taylor likes to say 'thhhhack'

Taylor was so funny with the deer licking his hand he just kept saying "oh man" in total disgust! It was so funny.

My master piece

Just getting home from 3 nights in Pigeon Forge, just minutes away from Gatlinburg TN. On the way there poor Taylor got car sick very early in the trip and unfortunately it continued all the way til we pulled up to our hotel. He was such a trooper though! We had a great time. We went to Dollywood, mini-golf, swimming, and a petting zoo. These things were all firsts for Taylor and it was so much fun for me and James to get to see Taylor experience things. We are the typical goofy parents watching their child and gooing and gawing over the littlest things he did. Yes we are big corn balls....but you know...we just can't help ourselves. The first night there after playing and swimming and eating we were driving back to the hotel and he says 'I want home'. After I explained that if he wanted to ride more rides then he would have to spend the night here he said 'no home'. I rode the 'Mystery Mine' ride with my niece, nephew and Zach and it was awesome!! It was so much fun and it's a must do if you ever get the chance. Traci, Bill and James were going to skip it but once we came out they decided to do it and agreed, IT WAS AWESOME!

Say Cheese

When I start to take a picture of Taylor he is automatically saying "cheese" and you can tell it in his pictures. Here's just a few examples.

Getting over fears...

For Taylor's birthday, back in August, his Aunt Susan (and family) got him dress-up clothes. He got pirate garb, spider man costume, and some cowboy accessories. I thought he would really enjoy all of it but it has definitely taken time. He was scared to death of the spider man costume and didn't even want to touch it. He will wear the pirate belt, but not the fake hair/bandanna, rings, etc. I have been getting the best hugs when we go to Wal-mart and go near the Halloween isle because he just grabs me tightly and won't let go until we are a safe distance. So anyway we had a sales flier come in the paper with kids dressed up in costume and I showed him and he asked for his spider man costume, and then didn't want it. So I showed him how he would put it on and how the mask would fit and you could still see mommies eyes through it. So by the end of the day Taylor was a brave boy wearing his spider man costume and even tried on the mask a couple of times. He was really proud of himself and couldn't wait to show his daddy.