hope fulfilled

i know you're probably surprised to hear from me.  after all, as my mom pointed out recently, it has been close to two months since i've written.  i've accepted that because of the nature of my business, this little blog will probably have some major peaks and valleys, but as the fall rush is gradually slowing i'm ready to once again overwhelm your eyeballs with photos of my darlings. 

but first...

josh and i decided this year to do something "christmas-y" with the kids each day between now and christmas.  we've got a handful of things already on the calendar - baking cookies, watching "rudolph", attending christmas concerts - but the first order of business was getting our tree up as soon as we got back home from our thanksgiving travels.  so yesterday we pulled the truckload of boxes out of the closet and set to work.  we assembled the tree, hung the lights, and started on the slew of ornaments.  the little ones excitedly grabbed handfuls of them out of the "kid box" while i gingerly unwrapped the ornaments out of the "super-special-please-don't-break-these" box.  i gently picked up one of my very favorites and turned it over to read the back for the 1000th time - for your child known only by god.  then like i have every year since 2005, i wept for the child we lost that year. 



like she has with every little one that has ever been a part of our family, my mom cross-stitched a special gift particularly for that baby and i hang the ornament in a prominent place on the tree each christmas.  but this year, as my mind moved from the loss of our second child all those years ago to judah's death last year, i couldn't help but wipe the tears and smile with joy as i remembered a post i wrote last christmas.  the sixth stocking is a story of grief and hope - grief over the tremendous loss our family had just experienced but hope that in the next year the lord would bless us with a child.  this is the third year that we've hung six stockings on our mantle but it's the first year that our house has been home to six people.  and now, just inches from that first ornament made by my mom is another that she recently gave us...




praising god for his faithfulness!

weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

psalm 30:5

the red plate and two of my men

the year josh and i got married we moved to nashville, TN for a time of leaving and cleaving.  for those of you who know the whole story, you know that unfortunately, nashville wasn't that great to us.  but one of the huge gifts that did come during that time was the ability to spend a lot of time with my cousin and her husband who lived just a hop, skip, and a jump down the road.  tracy and todd had this particular tradition that they had done within their own family for a while, and when we got married they passed it on to us.

the red plate.

what's the red plate, you ask?  well, it's not much more than a. red. plate.  it's more about the who and why of the red plate that makes this tradition so wonderful.  anyone who's experiencing something special - a birthday, the first missing tooth, first day of school, anything - gets to eat their meals that day off of the red plate.  and today was jack's turn - because our big boy turned FIVE YEARS OLD today!!






if you can't tell, jack's stuffing his face with a blueberry muffin (filled with five candles, of course!) before we jetted out the door this morning for our second big event of the day.  another precious man in my life was celebrating a big milestone as well because as of friday evening this week, my dad will officially be a retiree!  his secretary had put together a celebration with several members of his police department and josh, me, my mom, my sister, and our combined seven little people were invited to attend. 



no, the lunch wasn't at the mcdonald's play place, but judging by that crew, it probably should have been.  :-)

**tracy, in case you're wondering, that IS the original red plate that you gave us as a wedding gift eleven years ago.  anytime we've moved it's gotten packed with the 'very important and breakable' box so it doesn't get damaged.  and since i didn't feel comfortable carting it into the restaurant for daddy's big manly retirement party, i'll be serving him some goodies on it this weekend.**

music appreciation {lewis style}

jack got his red guitar fixed this week, and our ears are all bleeding a little now because of it. we finally decided to take him out in the yard so the whole neighborhood could partake in the joy, and i shot a couple of minutes of concert video. in loading the video into my movies folder, i saw a bit of a theme that i'd like to share with you. please enjoy music appreciation: lewis style.

my favorite moments:
the acrobatic feat at 0:46
the sudden burst of hunger at 0:54
jack's transformation from 1:14 to 1:25
and finally, the lumberjack-esque dance at 1:42.

that's what happens when we wake up with nothing to do

two things have been the topic of conversation around here recently:  finding a time to travel to my grandmother's house for a visit and josh's craving for williamson brothers barbeque.  so when we woke up this past saturday with no schedule, no sessions, no plans - nothing! - we made an impromptu decision to kill two birds with one stone.  we headed to the booming metropolis of eastaboga as well as had a delish all-you-can-eat meal at williamson brothers - just outside of atlanta.

yes, it's true...we drove to georgia for lunch.  we don't ever do stuff like that, and it was such a fun memory (despite my pitiful attempts at a full-fam photo)!!




clearly micah's got a lot to learn about having a photographer momma.  he thought our cute photo op was time for a round of "head, shoulders, knees, and toes"...with the emphasis on head.





some of the damage (josh is a pro at this)...



and the day wouldn't be complete without a picture of my sweet meme...



and my sweet tootles on our way home.

birthmarks {the beginning}

i can remember vividly one of the moments that brought me to the point of confession.  i was changing micah's clothes a few weeks back, and as i pulled his shirt up over his chunky tummy, i noticed something i hadn't before.

a birthmark.  something given to him by the lord that makes him unique, something that makes him who he is.

my first thought was, how in this world has he been home with us for a month now and i'm just now noticing his birthmark?  yes, bringing baby #4 home has certainly been unique from our first three experiences.  we weren't able to spend those early weeks with micah doing nothing more than rocking, cuddling, and studying his features, which was even more reason to slow down now that he's home.  i want to be a mom who notices the freckle on her six-year-old's right pointer finger and the birthmark behind her four-year-old's right ear.

or the tiny mark on her new baby's belly.

so here's what's on my heart:  the lord has given me this precious family, and everyday for us holds something unique, something that makes us who we are. 

kind of like birthmarks.  they're the things i want to notice and the things i want to remember.

a lewis reunion

as i mentioned before, we now have a big one-year-old in our house.  typically around here a first birthday calls for a big celebration equipped with all of our family, balloons, cake, goodies, and a loud rendition or two of the "happy birthday" song.  having only been home a few weeks, though, micah wasn't quite ready for such hoopla, so we opted for a quiet day at home.  but it wasn't without its fun...in fact, we had a huge treat in getting a visit from much of josh's family who came in from connecticut and florida for the day. 



micah got to meet many of his family members for the first time on his birthday...






while the rest of us were able to catch up since the last time we got to be together.







don't worry, micah still got his sugar. 



and aunt jaci and uncle greg might have even taught him a little birthday dance.



the day was made even more special by the fact that micah wasn't the only new baby to join us this year.  baby hadley was a doll, and we were all so thrilled to meet her.



we love you guys!!

june 27

we landed in ethiopia the second time on a beautifully bright tuesday morning.  we gathered our luggage, loaded everything into the driver's van, and he drove us through dusty, rocky, people-filled streets to the gates of acacia village.  the bald, toothless baby that had met us there just three months earlier now had a head full of hair and two darling teeth peeking up from his gums.  but something else had changed, too.  his smiley, go-with-whatever character seemed different.  by this time he had spent more than three months with the nannies at acacia, and he knew them, he loved them, and he wanted them.  

 

the first tears i ever saw my son cry were as the social worker, helen, placed him into my arms.  

 

 

after a couple of meetings with the nurse and a counselor for some here's-what-he-likes-and-doesn't-like training, the gates closed behind us and we left with micah in our arms.  he didn't smile.  he didn't even want to look at us.

 

 

he cried in the bath...

 

and even when we were playing, he sucked his finger continuously for comfort.

 

when we landed back in the states, his sheer exhaustion and the overwhelming excitement of our homecoming proved too much and he fell into tears over and over.   (photos courtesy of my sweet friend and fellow photog, lacey, of LB studios)

 

 

but then we saw it happening.  we saw his expressionless face begin to grin.  the grins turned to smiles.  the smiles turned to laughter.  and after six weeks of having our sweet baby home, he knows the love of a family...

 

he no longer cries in the bath...

 

and his tears have been replaced with belly-laughs of joy.

 

happy first birthday, micah alexander lewis.  we love you, we pursued you, and we thank the lord continually for the gift you are to our family.

"god settles the solitary in a home."
psalm 68:6

day one and counting

josh and i talked over and over in ethiopia about when this would feel real.  when would we actually grasp that micah was ours and that the getting-him-home portion of this process was over?  the plane ride over was exciting...




and taking custody of him shortly after our plane touched down in ethiopia melted my heart.



driving away from acacia village for the last time with our baby in our laps was thrilling, but we were still having a hard time believing that he was really ours after all this time.





it might have begun sinking in as micah and i played together at our guest house...




and watching my husband love on our new son made me weepy.




things got a little more real when after 30-something hours of traveling, our plane finally touched US soil and micah became an american citizen (micah's doing his happy dance - you just can't tell in this photo).



but it wasn't until we stepped off of our sixth plane in five days and were met by a host of family and friends that it really hit.

micah is ours...and he's home.






i've been writing this post in my brain all day today, and i've tried unsuccessfully to come up with the words to thank you - the amazing gift of family and friends - for the countless ways you have loved and supported us during this 2 1/2 year process.  as my dear friend, kerry, stepped into our living room today, laid eyes on micah, and collapsed into a weepy mess, i was reminded of how she and so many others have invested into the life of a precious boy in ethiopia.  once without a family, micah lewis is now loved dearly by not only the other five members of the lewis crew but also by the countless members of an extended family who have poured their lives into bringing him home.  so i know this doesn't even come close to expressing how deep my eternal gratitude is but...thank you.  the lord has moved in mighty ways for the sake of this sweet baby's life.