Claire's Baptism and meeting Aspen

Claire got baptised on Sat Feb 23, 2008 with her friend Eli. It was a beautiful event. Claire has been so ready, eager and excited in her decision to be baptised. There were so many family and friends that love her and came to support her. This is Claire and her friend Eli. They chose to get baptised the same day as they have been friends since birth.

I will add a link for you to see more photos. Grandpa (Brenda's Dad) was one of the speakers at the baptism and Grandma (Brenda's Mom) played the piano and Grandma Patty (David's mom) said a prayer. Our friends and family wrote wonderful notes to Claire and Eli at the baptism for them to put in their baptism memory books.

Here is a family picture of all of our family that flew into town for Claire's baptism and to meet baby Aspen. What a blessing to have a baptism and a new baby at the same time!

This is David's mom and Brenda's parents and nephew.

Here are some collage photos of our family members.

Everyone was so excited to come and meet Aspen and hold her and give her hugs! I can't blame them, she is a cutie!

The Greatest Gift of All... Love

How can we thank the girl,

Who helped to answer fervent prayers?

Who in seeking inspiration placed this child in our care.

Joy fills our heart, to fulfill this sacred role.

We will treasure quiet moments.

To teach and train this precious soul.

We will seek those quiet moments

When our hearts can hear you speak,

You didn't give her up, you gave her more.

...We love you Ashley and Brett...

Claire turns 8 !!

Claire turned 8 years old today! She was so excited. We had a birthday party for her at home, a "Mad Scientist" party complete with science experiments, explosions, games and cake! Here is a video of one experiment where soda shoots 10 feet or more into the air! (Sorry, the video is sideways...)

Aspen was quite the crowd pleaser as well as so many more people were excited to meet her. This is the elephant birthday cake that David created for Claire per her request. Claire is a fan of Alabama's Crimson Tide football team and their mascot is an elephant. It had nothing to do with the theme of her party, but hey, it's what she wanted!



Claire is really looking forward to getting baptised this Saturday. We have lots of family flying into town to come meet Aspen and to be here for Claire's baptism. They start arriving tomorrow. Here is a collage of photos we had taken of Claire for her baptism.

Bath, Belly Button, Birthday and Bonding

What a day! Aspen's umbilical cord came off! Right now it looks like her belly button will be an "outie". I couldn't wait to give her a real bath. She liked it so much better than the sponge bath.... Here is a photo.

Double Click on the arrow below to view the video of her first real bath !

Aspen went to church for the first time today for a short time, everyone was excited to meet her! Then this afternoon some wonderful friends of ours came by to visit. They are one of the families that wrote a reference letter for us as part of the adoption process 8 years ago before Claire was born.

Claire loves practicing the piano with Aspen sitting on her lap, so this evening when Claire was practicing, Aspen fall asleep on Claire's lap. Double Click on the arrow below to view the video. Not only does Claire enjoy the bonding time, but we figure it is excellent early exposure for Aspen's future music education!

We ended the evening today with Claire's family birthday dinner. David made Claire's favorite dinner -seafood alfredo pasta with scallops, shrimp and crab with side dishes of salad and red pears !! Yum! Tomorrow is Claire's birthday and David is making her a birthday cake right now while I'm updating the blog site. Per Claire's request, the cake is supposed to look like an elephant. Claire is a huge Alabama fan, and that is their mascot. We'll see how that goes....

David and his little girls

Here are some more family moments from today.

And our 2 daughters....

Aspen - 8 days old

When Claire was just 8 days old, I took some photos with her. I wanted to do the same with Aspen. Here is a collage of the photos with Claire and Aspen, taken exactly 8 years apart.

If you click on "Play" on the SmileBox below, you should be able to see a slideshow of more of the photos I took with Aspen when she was 8 days old.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Family Moments and Visitors

Aspen is a week old now! Today I also made a collage of some of our favorites first moments together as a family of 4! [If you click on the photo you can see it larger. I also added some more details to the Jan 29 posting below.]

Claire can hardly wait to come home from school everyday to play with her little sister. She won't do her homework until she's had some play time with Aspen, and the only way I can get her to finish her homework is with Aspen right by her side. I got a photo of it today.

We've had lots of visitors to come and meet Aspen too. It is such a delight to welcome our friends and family into our home and see them share our joy and excitement over our 2 girls.

Today Aspen stayed awake for a 3 hour stretch in the morning and again in the afternoon! I was so delighted to get to talk to her and see that she was listening! And Claire was thrilled in the afternoon to see her awake. She sleeps for longer stretches at night now too.

Happy Baby

Aspen's appetite has suddenly increased 2 fold! She drinks almost twice as much as she did the first few days. It must be tiring to be an infant, she sleeps all day long (except between about 2 and 4 am). Her eye color is still unclear, they are still kind of a slate, grey color. We have had so many friends come to visit over the weekend I hardly had time to do anything else. Everyone is so eager to meet her and play with her. One day I was feeding her and she brokeout into a big grin, luckily the camera was ready to roll.

I keep trying to get a good photo of her yawning as it is so cute. Of course, anything she does is cute. Claire cleaned her room this weekend and gathered a whole armload of toys and put them in Aspen's room for her to keep. Claire keeps putting small stuffed animals in Aspen's bassinett for her to play with ...too cute. I gave Aspen another bath, and this time she didn't cry until the very end.

Night Owl

Night Owl (noun). A person who stays up and is active late into the night. We have learned that Aspen is nocturnal, she is like a little baby owl. She slept all day, then was wide awake from 1 am to 4 am. She would just lie there cooing and looking around and taking in her surroundings. Occassionally she squeaks and then she'll fuss a bit when she wants milk. I could not put her down, she was so darn cute. So now I'm walking around sleepy. She is also very strong. I had her lying against my chest and she was lifting up her head and holding it up for minutes! I was so impressed. She looks you right in the eyes. Her legs are also incredibly strong, she already tries to stand up.

Everyone at the pediatrician's office was so excited to meet Aspen today. She is doing great, she lost a few ounces which is not uncommon. She has been drinking up a storm today.

Aspen and I walked to the bus stop this afternoon to meet Claire on the school bus, the weather was so nice. Claire dropped her bookbag and came running and hugged and kissed Aspen. She calls her "little sissy". Claire and I made up a song for Aspen this afternoon: "We love to see our little Aspen, she is so beautiful, she is our little miracle, that came from heaven above. For your sister and your parents have wanted you forever. We loved you even before you were born. You are our precious angel."

Aspen's birth announcement

Make a photobook - it's easy!

Here is Aspen's birth announcement. You can watch this by clicking on "Play" in the purple circle. Aspen is a special little girl, she has both a birth family and adoptive family that love her so intensely. A very dear friend of mine recently said to me that the love we feel for a child is the most pure and Christ-like love we can experience. I think we would all agree.

Day 1 at Home!

It was so wonderful to come home! When we left the hospital, Claire sat next to Aspen and read the book "Goodnight Moon" to her. Aspen promptly fell asleep and slept the whole drive home. When we got home, David had a bottle of sparkling cider for us to celebrate with.

Aspen is such a sweet, calm, quiet baby. She really started to eat a lot more today, but she is still very sleepy. She was only awake and alert a couple times today. I gave Aspen her first bath, and she was not very thrilled about it. But she smells sooo good. Tomorrow she goes for her first doctor visit!

Claire was so eager to come home from school today to play with her little sister. She said that at recess she and her friends played "baby shower". Brenda does lots of volunteer work at Claire's school and all the teachers at the school were so excited to hear that Aspen is home, Claire said so many teachers talked to her today! We've had lots of friends come to meet Aspen already. She is well loved!

The Moment We've Been Waiting for!

She's here!!!

Aspen arrived with quite a commotion on Tues 05 Feb 2008 at 10:32 am after about 50 hours of labor. 7 lbs. 12 oz and 20 inches long. I'll add more photo's tomorrow. The Birthmom Ashley and baby Aspen are both doing fine. Ashley was a trooper during the whole process. Aspen made everyone nervous by swallowing meconium. The respiratory team was standing by. When she was born they kept her from breathing while they intubated her - twice - and suctioned her out to try prevent her from inhaling it into her lungs. We were immensley relieved to see her turn from blue to pink!

The birth parents Ashley and Brett had lots of family and friends there to support them. Here is a group photo with Brett's mom and Ashley's mom and younger brother.

Ashley and Brett are amazing, we admire them so much. and they have a wonderful family. Here are a few photos of Aspen's birth family:

Ashley invited David and I to be present during Ashley's labor and delivery. Here are some photos taken shortly before Aspen was born.

What an amazing experience that was, one we will never forget. Claire was waiting right outside and was so eager to finally see her baby sister. She watched from the other side of the glass wall for over an hour while the nurses worked with Aspen.

David and I stayed with Aspen every second. We were so awed by her beautiful, cute little body and marveled that she was really there in front of us. It drove us crazy that we could not hold her immediately. Then finally she was in our arms. :-)

We are so overcome with happiness. The words of Michael Mclean say it better than we can.

The Moment: Years of waiting. Months of planning. And now, in one matchless moment, the miracle at last occurs. There is so much love in this place, and it’s pure and it’s true because none of the people in the room at this moment are as concerned about themselves as they are for one precious baby.

Something Perfect
There’s an ache that’s missing today
There’s an emptiness that’s been filled
There’s a cloud that’s lifting and drifting away
There’s a ragin’ storm that’s been stilled
There’s a joy that’s real
There’s a wound that’s finally healed
There’s a future replacing a past
There’s a breath of new life in the cast
And there’s something perfect
Happening here
And this moment will bury
The mountains of fear
And through countless tomorrows
It won’t disappear
This something that’s perfect
Happening here

No one knows, so no one can say
That tomorrow all will be well
Will the brightest promise that shines on today
Shine tomorrow? No one can tell
But one thing is sure
And will be forever more
When such unselfish love has been given
The world just made more room for heaven.