♥ Reasons to Smile ♥

Yesterday was a good day. It was a day to celebrate for two reasons!

First of all, these two precious little girls are officially Richie and Missy’s (my brother and sister-in-law). MY nieces. The adoption was final yesterday. It’s been a much longer process than they anticipated, but the judge declared it final today. Of course, Sydney and Ellie were already “ours” before that, but it’s a BIG DAY to celebrate because now it’s “official”! Yay!!!

Take a look at how they have bloomed! The picture on the left of this collage is Sydney on the first day Richie and Missy met them in person, and the one on the right was taken by Joy (at their house) in August! She has the sweetest smile and the prettiest blue eyes with the longest eyelashes! She’s also our little spitfire. Richie says she’s just like me. Well, good luck with that, Richie.  :)

And here’s little Ellie on that same day in July 2011, then again in August of 2012 in a picture also taken by Joy (at their house). Ellie is attached to her daddy, and she also has him wrapped around her little finger. It’s taken many trips to Alabama to get her to warm up to me, but it gets better every time! She just got one of her cochlear implants the beginning of this year. She has come such a long way. She is our little peanut and she is precious!

The second reason to celebrate is that our Luke had his check-up today with the Spine Clinic and got a GOOD REPORT! The doctor was amazed at just how normal he is and didn’t even think a MRI was necessary and told us that he’d see us in a year! Praise the Lord! God is good!

Just look how much our Little Emperor has grown. The picture on the left was taken in July 2010 and the one on the right was taken by Joy in August 2012 (right before he got a much needed haircut).  

Speaking of Luke, this is one of his latest things. He likes his monkey hat.

He has been wearing it to bed. He says it’s his sleeping hat. I think he’s seen people wearing sleeping caps in books. I couldn’t resist getting this picture of him asleep in his monkey cap.

Another one of his latest things is his imaginary friend, Bingo. This is new territory for me. Neither Colt nor Joy had an imaginary friend. Luke talks about Bingo a lot. He will say something and when we ask where he heard that, he says Bingo told him. Bingo has been in the hospital, but is out and doing better evidently. Bingo has black hair and gray eyes. Bingo sounds like a very interesting character.  Sorry I don't have a picture of Bingo for you.....you'll have to use your imagination!    

 And I’m going to share a couple more pictures with you today because they make me smile. Joy and Luke were singing and dancing around the living room to Mandisa’s song, Good Morning. Actually I was singing and dancing with them until I stopped to take the picture. We sure do love our music!

 

Thanks for stopping by today and remember to take time to stop and enjoy the music……and dance!

♥ Tammy ♥