FEBRUARY 5TH

‎February 5th is such a special day in our family... 3 years ago today, we were meeting our baby boy for the very first time... He was 48 hours old. Our lives were forever changed!

To see more about this incredible day, CLICK HERE.

3 Years Old - February 3

Happy 3rd Birthday to our miracle baby (now big) boy! (2/3/09) Hard to believe that it's already been three years since we were anxiously waiting in Austin, TX to bring you home with us forever. We love you more than you will ever know!

Reid's Newborn Picture

6 Months Old

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

To read my post from just three short years ago... CLICK HERE

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much, Michael Reid! We are so proud of the little man you have and are becoming. And we are forever grateful to your amazing birth family for entrusting you to us - what a precious gift!

Time Flies...

I can't believe that I just ordered these!!!

Where has the time gone??? Is it even possible that I am already planning this sweet baby's 3rd birthday party?

Slow. Down. Father. Time.

GOTCHA DAY 2011!

This past Wednesday, October 5th, we celebrated Reid's GOTCHA DAY!

It's hard to believe that this was already his THIRD Gotcha Day celebration! For those not involved with adoption, "Gotcha Day" is a term that a lot of families use when describing the court finalization date that forever (legally) joins their child with their family. This court hearing seals their records, allows you to legally change their birth name if you choose, have a new birth certificate issued, final adoption decree signed, etc... To say it's a huge day in our family would be a massive understatement!

Reid's GOTCHA DAY was October 5th, 2009 - you can read all about it and see more pictures HERE. In 2009, Ben and I and both of our families also threw a massive celebration party with over 80 of our closest friends and family who so faithfully supported and prayed for us throughout our entire adoption process. It was such a special day! You can see pictures from the original Gotcha Day party HERE.

Ben and I decided that Reid only needed one birthday party per year (he might protest this later.. haha!), so each year on October 5th we spend the day together as a family and let Reid pick anything he wants to do. It's really becoming such a special tradition!

This year, Reid decided he wanted to spend the day at the Little Rock Zoo - his favorite spot! Here he is (with his puppy, Scout) on our way to breakfast at Chic-Fil-A... then off to the zoo!

Our family - love these two with all my heart!

The Penguins

Me and the little man =)

Reid loves the Giraffes...

And the zebras... Daddy was helping him to see better

B and I

This tortoise was the highlight of his day... it begged to be petted like a dog, and Reider LOVED it! Of course!

I really need to get better about taking more pictures, but that is all I have (we miss our personal photographer, Aunt NeeNee!). The three of us had such a wonderful day and capped it off with burgers, fries, and milk shakes at The Purple Cow (again, Reid's pick)!

Michael Reid - Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know! You are the miracle that completed our family and we are so thankful for you each and every day. Looking forward to many, many more Gotcha Day celebrations!

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's Day has to be my very favorite day every year - I can't even explain it. All of the love...all of the emotions. On one hand, I am so very thankful for the gift of Reid and the joy it is to be his Mommy. I stand in awe at the unbelievable sacrifice and unselfish love that allowed his birth family to entrust this baby boy to us. On the other hand, I grieve with Reid's birthmother, "S", as I can't even begin to imagine what she must feel. My prayer is that she feels love... from Ben and I, from Michael Reid, and from the Lord who held our entire adoption in his perfect hands. A friend of mine passed this on to me and I absolutely love it:

Once there were two women who barely knew each other,

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one,

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love; the second was there to give it.

One gave you your nationality; the other gave you your name;

One gave you a talent; the other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions; the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile; the other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide;

The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?

Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.

Here is a picture from my very first Mother's Day. CLICK HERE if you would like to read the post.

And here is Reider on Mommy on my 3rd Mother's Day - WOW! How the time has flown!

We had a wonderful day with our little family of three! The boys let me sleep in, then we headed out to the zoo to enjoy the gorgeous weather and have a picnic. Here's Reid and I looking at a giant cobra:

Reid and Daddy on the train...(again, posing for the camera is not on Reider's priority list)

Loving the train! (And yes, that is a mosquito bite on the side of his head!)

That evening for dinner, Ben made us reservations at the Kobe Japanese Steak House - it was wonderful! I wish I would have taken more pictures because Reid loved watching them cook at our table! Here's the only one I took:

We had one very tired boy at the end of the day!

BIG WEEK!

My apologies to the Blogosphere for being on hiatus... but in case you haven't heard, DFW was iced over and shut down for the past week. CRAZY weather for Texas! Reid and I camped out at my parent's house for a little bit of company, and we have all been SO GLAD that the roads are better and our nice weather is coming back (for a bit). But on to more important topics...

Many of you know that the first week of February is so very special to our family! The first big event is February 2nd. Ben and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this year - hard to believe it's been so long! (We didn't actually celebrate considering we were both in two different states, but we are taking a week-long adult-only vacation the first week of March, so we are looking very forward to that.) I love that man more every day and am so thankful to walk through this life with him!

Then... on February 3rd... Reider turned the big T-W-O!!! We obviously already had his birthday party... and despite the icy weather, we still had a great day! We made a chocolate "Happy Cake" (as Reid calls it) that he REFUSED to share with any of us. We all became closet cake eaters to avoid the Reider wrath. =) Here he is enjoying some of the "happy cake":

Then... we ALWAYS celebrate February 5th. What a blessed day that is! Makes me tear up just remembering... February 5, 2009 is the very first time we ever laid eyes on our sweet baby boy. What a complete gift he is! You can see pictures from that day HERE. Hard to believe this was just two short years ago! Can someone please tell me how to slow this time down?!? We will always be so grateful to Michael Reid's amazing birth family for entrusting him to us. They showered him with unselfish love and we are so thankful he has such a wonderful story. We can't wait to share more of it with him!

And... we are adding to the momentum of our very special week with a MOVE TO LITTLE ROCK this year. As I am typing this, the movers are here and packing us up. They will be here through Wednesday, then we all drive out on Thursday morning. As I have said, it is bittersweet for sure. We will miss being so close to our families and great friends. But, in the same breath... Reid misses his Daddy (and I miss him like crazy, too!!) so we are very thankful to be living under one roof again soon! Prayers for serenity this week would be much appreciated. =)

And... to end... here's a short little video of my budding "musician". This is what we do when we're iced in ALL DAY LONG. Reid loves playing the piano and singing!

Big Changes...

There are some big changes coming our way, and we would be so grateful for your prayerful support...

Yesterday, Ben was honored to accept a great promotion with his company as the DMM for the state of Arkansas. Yep, I said Arkansas... The three of us are about to be the newest residents in Little Rock. :) We feel very blessed to be given this opportunity and have a complete peace that it is the right decision for our family. However, it is still very bittersweet and incredibly hard to leave our families, friends, and amazing church here in Dallas/Ft Worth.

Many of you know that we have moved away before - we lived up in Minnesota from 2006-2007 while Ben was in a training program for this same company. Against all odds, we found out in Jan 2007 that we were getting to move right back home to DFW. We had no clue (at the time) how the Lord was providing for us. He knew what we were about to walk through with the infertility and adoption struggles... and His provision of our strongest support system during that time was a blessing beyond measure. We truly could not have made it through those years without that physical presence of love, support, and felt prayers. For that we will be forever grateful. It has been a wonderful, comforting, and refreshing time to be surrounded by so many people that we truly love.

But we also know that the Lord doesn't always allow us to stay in those comfort zones - that there are new challenges and new things to learn to help us grow. And we are again taking a leap of faith and trusting in His provision and plan for our lives. He has never let us down and we are excited about what the future holds.

Ben's promotion is effective as of December 1st (this has been a whirlwind!)... He and I flew out to their regional offices in Nashville yesterday to sign contracts and make everything official. Ben will be commuting back and forth from DFW to Little Rock for the month of December as I finalize things here (selling this house, finding and buying a new home in Little Rock, etc - just the small things. Ha!). Our plan is for Reid and I to be moved and join Ben the beginning of January. I will send out our new address/contact information as soon as we find our new home. The good news, is that we will not be very far away (about 5 hours) and DFW is home base for us so I know that we will be back to visit everyone often.

Again, we would truly appreciate your prayers that everything goes as smoothly as possible. We are so grateful for you and blessed by your friendship.

And... we really hope that all of you have been DYING to go on a vacation to Arkansas...(I mean, who wouldn't?!? Wink, wink.) We will have a room waiting for you!

All our love,

Holly, Ben, & Reid

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY, REID!

On October 5th, 2009 we had the great blessing of welcoming Michael Reid into our forever family - it is a day we will always celebrate! For those of you new to adoption speak, click HERE to learn more about Gotcha Day =)

This year, Gotcha Day fell on a Tuesday so I took cookies up to Reid's class at school. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was too busy playing with the kiddos. Obviously, they are all still too young to understand, but most of them enjoyed the cookies anyway =)

Each year for Reid's Gotcha day, we will let him pick anything he wants to do as a family. We look forward to making this such a special day in his life! We are forever grateful for the sacrifice and love his birth family showed in choosing adoption and in choosing Ben and I as his parents. We couldn't be more blessed! Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Michael Reid!

And... just a cute pic from the other night... Reid and one of his best buddy's, Adalyn (or "Ady" as he calls her!)... too cute!

Quick Update

As usual, I somehow fell WAY behind in blogging. Ugg. Hopefully I'll get better about that soon! I just feel like I looked up and it was already October... crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun! If you look below, I (finally) posted some pictures from our family vacation to Horseshoe Bay from Labor Day weekend. I also posted a short video of the smartest baby in the world... that's right... Reid is now spelling his name and counting. Too cute! Wow, how we love this little guy!

A quick update... Reider has been going to school for almost a full month now on Tuesdays and Thursdays (9am - 2pm) - and he absolutely LOVES it! We are so very glad! He truly enjoys school, learning, and playing with all of his new friends. We are so grateful for the wonderful teachers he has been blessed with, and they are so in love with Reider as well! I can't say enough wonderful things about Southlake Christian. Please let me know if you are interested in more info for your own kids - I would be glad to get some to you =)

And tomorrow, October 5th, is a HUGE day at our house... it's Reid's GOTCHA DAY! It's so hard to believe that a year has already gone by since we were at the courthouse finalizing the adoption of our sweet, baby boy! You can look here for pictures of that special day =) To celebrate Gotcha Day with Reid this year, we will be taking treats (cookies and cupcakes) up to his class at school tomorrow. Then this weekend, we will have a family day and do whatever Reid wants to do (most likely the aquarium or zoo). I can't wait! I will post pictures as soon as I can!

Hope. Believe. Obey.

If you are in the DFW area, then please DON'T MISS out on the ULTIMATE GIRL'S NIGHT... tonight! I am helping host this under the vision of my dear friends, Bill & Kelli Jones. This will be a wonderful evening and all proceeds go to helping special needs orphans in China.

We are TRUTH. Adoption Blogger Day.

While our immediate family has not been involved with international adoption (Reid's adoption was domestic), we have many friends who have been... and it has touched our lives on numerous occasions. This week a story has been plastered all over the news, and our adoption communities are standing up for the TRUTH. Here is an email I received today from an adoption group we are involved with that I thought worth sharing.

The outrageous treatment of Artyem by his adoptive family has rightfully resulted in outrage by the Governments of Russia and the United States and all who care about children. The tragedy has cast a light on intercountry adoption that says it is not safe, the system failed and adopted children cause insurmountable problems. The heartbreak of Artyem Saviliev's abandonment has once again elevated a singular incident to a level which may result in the suspension of intercountry adoption. Suspending adoption, even temporarily, will only cause thousands of children to suffer the debilitating effects of life in an orphanage.
You, the community of adoptees, adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, child welfare professionals and child advocates know that the outrageous and indefensible actions of one parent are not indicative of how children are treated by adoptive families. You know that families who encounter difficulties do not simply abandon their child. You know that help is available, that solutions are found and that families can thrive. And you know that suspending adoption does not protect children but only subjects them to the depravity of an institution...and an entire life without a family.
You, the adoption community know the truth. You live the truth. You are the truth.

BIG WEEK AHEAD!

This is a HUGE week for our little family - so many blessings and so many things to be excited about!

Today - we leave for VACATION... two weeks of no stress and worries - just fun!

Tomorrow - Ben and I celebrate 8 years of marriage...(02/02/02)

Wednesday (Feb 3) - Reider turns 1 - how quickly this year has gone!!

Friday (Feb 5) - Marks the day we held our precious baby boy for the first time!

We are going to be so busy with travel over the next few days, that I will most likely get behind on blogging. But rest assured, I will definitely write a 1-year post for Reid. And... we can't wait to celebrate his special day with all of our family and his little friends at the end of the month. We'll be having is birthday party on Feb 27th - I'll upload a pic of his invitation later...they turned out so cute!

For now, just a few pics...

This is one of my favorites...the first few moments as a family of three. I can't even describe the emotion... our lives were forever changed.

So hard to believe that our baby boy looked like this one short year ago...

And today, we have an active, thriving, hilarious, few-days-short of a one-year old little boy!

We love you, Reid!

I warned you...

I have to say that I warned you about gearing up the adoption talk this month... And, without making a statement either way in regards to my political views, I do think this is AWESOME.  

White House Press Release

Happy National Adoption Month!

Happy 9-months, Reid! =)

WOW...what a difference 9 months makes!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone... Michael Reid, you continue to bring nothing but pure joy and happiness to your Mom and Dad.  We love you more every day, if that's even possible!

You are EVERYWHERE now... crawling and pulling up on everything!  At times, you even think that you can walk and are learning the hard lessons of "respecting the floor."  You talk and laugh all of the time... it always makes us smile to hear your little voice and try to figure out what you are trying to tell us.  You've started saying a few words - mama, dada, baba (bottle, I think)... not sure you fully understand what you're saying yet, but it's a start.  Oh!  And how can I forget to mention your love for growling???  You think it's hilarious and growl at everyone you see.  You also love to sing in the car and are quite the "ham" in social settings - wanting to make everyone laugh (and you always do!). =)

You continue to be our own little food disposal - you eat a TON!  (And just about anything we put in front of you.)  You eat three full "food" meals per day and are still taking 4-5 8oz bottles.  If we don't feed you fast enough, we definitely hear about it.  =) Your new favorites are spaghetti, lasagna, and chicken with pasta.  You also love fruit smoothies for breakfast, have a sweet tooth for ice cream (just like your Dad!), and have finally mastered the sippy cup.  You LOVE brushing your two bottom teeth after you eat and have several more teeth trying to break through on the top.  I can't wait to see how much you've grown at your 9-month well check this Friday!

Your favorite toys continue to be anything electronic that aren't necessarily yours (laptops, cell phones, remote controls) - but you also LOVE anything with wheels.  We've already got quite the car collection going for you!  It's really fun to watch you "drive" your cars around on the floor now that you've figured out how to make them roll and move.  You also love to wrestle...that's how you and your Dad spend the majority of your time together...(and you wear your Mom out with it most days. =)  It's always fun to see how excited you get when your Dad gets home in the evening - melts my heart!

I could go on and on... My heart is just so full as I sit here and write this and think about where we were at this time last year.  We became eligible to adopt on November 18th of 2008...it hasn't even been a full year and we already have a 9-month old!  How fitting, too, that November is National Adoption Awareness month.  Just to give you fair warning...that means that I'm definitely going to take the adoption talk up a notch this month...haha! (As I hear a collective sigh from both of you reading this...=))

Happy 9-months, baby boy - we are forever thankful for you and we love you!

Reid's First Halloween

I can't even describe the added joy and fun that kids bring to holidays like Halloween - we had an absolute blast with our little guy yesterday!

As you can see below, Reider was a Dallas Cowboy - and a very cute one, I might add!  (Can you tell that his Dad picked out his costume? ha!)

Here's Reid doing his best Eli Manning impression...

Reider and I before his very first costume party

With his Dad =)

We had 3 different Halloween stops yesterday - busy, busy!  Our first, was sweet Adalyn Love's 1st birthday party.  We all had a blast!  It was a costume party for all of the kids - and Candace and Josiah did a fabulous job putting it all together.  There was a professional photographer taking pictures, incredible food, fun, and even more incredible cake.  

Here's a pick of Reid with Cade and the birthday pumpkin, Adalyn:

Hanging outside with Mom...

Reid & I, Adalyn & Candace, Isabella & Jayme - such special friends!!!

Our little family...Reid was definitely more into his football than smiling for the camera =)

Myself & Reider, Tiffany & Brielle, Jayme & Isabella - love you all!

And, yes...we did attempt some group pictures with all of the kids...that was quite a task!  I don't think we got a single picture with them all looking the same direction...=)

The funniest part was watching all of the parents trying to make their kid smile...

Such a happy boy! (I think this was when Candace pulled out the puffs...puffs = crack for babies)

The AMAZING Halloween cupcakes!  (I only had a few...haha)

After all of the costume party fun...we ran Reid home so that he could take a quick nap, then we were off to the Harwood Terrace Fall Festival with Grandma and Grandpa:

And Uncle Jeff who came home from Baylor for the weekend!

Reid had a great time meeting all of Grandma and Grandpa's friends...and then he found the leggos...

And the cars... (the boy LOVES anything with wheels!)

And for our final stop of the day, we headed over to Doc & KK's where Aunt Neely and Uncle Craig were having a party.  Here's a pic of Reider with his Doc and KK (so sad I didn't get one with Aunt Neely & Uncle Craig!)... As you can see, he had one of his cars and was not at all interested in anything else...

It was such a great Halloween!  We made so many fun family memories and are already looking forward to taking Reid trick-or-treating with all of his little buddies for the first time next year!

In other news... A lot of you read my tweet about our sweet friends whose adoption of baby Isaac fell through about two weeks ago.  (He was taken from them after several days because the birthparents changed their minds.)  Thank you so much for all of your prayers - I know they were truly felt.  In what seemed like a hopeless situation, God once again has made beauty from ashes... why does that never cease to amaze me??  Yesterday morning, Dave and Bethany got the best call of their life... the birthparents changed their minds (again) for the final time!  They had the great honor of brining Isaac David home FOREVER last night!  Praise the Lord!  It truly is a miraculous story and one that they are excited to share!  You can check out their blog for more details (http://www.teamrinntx.blogspot.com/).