Elsie

I am so happy to officially post that Elsie is legally my newest niece. I have loved her from the moment I met her. Brad and JanaLynn have such a neat story that I want to always remember. They were blessed with Allen 8 years ago and have been trying to have more kids for years and years. After much prayer they decided to be foster parents and adopt kids from foster care. 9 months ago they were given Elsie to foster and were not sure how long they would have her. One month after fostering Elsie they found out they were pregnant! We were so excited as a family that after years and years they were able to have another baby. Through time their love for Elsie grew and grew and in December Elsie's birth parents gave up their rights to her. Brad and JanaLynn jumped on wanted to adopted her. On Tuesday the 23rd of February it became legal that Elsie is theirs! It was so neat to be in the court room and hear the proceedings. It was emotional for Brad and JanaLynn because for so long they didn't know if they would get Elsie or if she would be given back to her birth parents. She is the sweetest most happy baby girl and we are so happy to have her part of the Young family. JanaLynn is due in any day with another girl!

Through this process I loved to see how the Lord worked in their life. Elsie was suppose to be in their family but, it was just going to take a couple years. If Brad and JanaLynn were able to have kids all these years they would have never considered doing foster care. But, the Lord inspired them to go in this direction and once they had Elsie they were blessed with another baby! Heavenly Father truly is aware of us and knows what is best for us in each of our lives. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father and I am also grateful that I have that knowledge.

I hope one day Elsie can look back on these pictures at the court house and see all the family that love her and support her on her adoption day.

Happy Happy Birthday!

On Monday we got to celebrate the best guy ever......Dad and my Mike! One of my favorite things about Mike is he loves the skies. I enjoy a nice sunset and sunrise but, Mike really loves them and will make me look at the sky when there is something neat. He has been talking about getting a telescope so he could look at different stars and planets. So, I surprised him with one and he has had so much fun the last couple of nights looking at the sky. He has learned a lot over the last couple of nights and we especially have enjoyed looking at the moon.

Looking at the moon.

Mike and I went out to dinner on a date and then went back to my parents for cake and ice cream. We made his favorite cake and he successfully blew out all his candles with help from the kids. We love our Dad and our husband and we are so for grateful he was born 32 years ago!

Happy Birthday Anne!

Our sweet girl turned 5 and I can't believe she is already this big. We call Anne our little ray of sunshine because she has the best smile and laugh. She can just smile at you and your day goes a little better. As I think back to the day Anne was born it was a crazy day. She almost didn't make it through birth and I can't imagine not having Anne in our life. She is the best sister to both Jason and Eliza and the best helper to me. She helps me clean and likes to help me shop. She loves dancing and playing with her Dad. She is a kind friend and she always puts her friends feelings before her own. We were so happy to set this day aside to celebrate her.

She got a Leapster from Mom and Dad!

Holding up her 5 fingers and looking so big!

I love this picture of Anne and Max. Anne was sitting on the stairs and Max jumped on her lap. Anne is the mother hen to Max and she takes good care of him. She makes sure he always has enough food and and water. She even makes sure he has his naps!

We had all her friends over for a party in the afternoon. It was a baby doll party so all the girls brought their favorite baby doll. The girls went through an obstacle course where they had to put on a apron, put their baby in a stroller, run down the room, pack a diaper bag with baby items, wrap their baby in a blanket, and then run back. We played pin the diaper on the baby, and Mom, Mom, Baby ( duck, duck, goose). We then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was a fun party with a fun bunch of girls and one boy cousin!

Anne getting ready to blow out her candles.

After the party we went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory which was yummy! It was a great day and we love you so much Anne!

Valentine's Sunday

Valentine's Day this year was on Sunday. It was kind of fun to get the kids dressed up in their reds and Jason dressed up by actually wearing a tie. I thought they all looked so cute for Church.

After church we had the Young side over for Family Sunday/ Valentine's Day. We had it our house and we had a fondue party. I have never made fondue but, we had cheese, chocolate, and BBQ sauce for the dips. We had tons of different foods to dip and it was a lot of fun. The picture above is Auntie Jill with some of the grand-kids on her lap. It seemed that she sat down and the kids just flocked to her. It was a cute moment.

We also celebrated February birthdays so we sang to Mike and Anne. Anne received many nice presents from family and she especially loved all the new doll clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Young. It was a fun night celebrated with everyone we LOVE!

Princess Max

The other day we found that Max had put on a princess dress. He must have gone into the girl's room and somehow put this dress on. We were in the kitchen and he came running in with this dress on. We were laughing and laughing at Max and I guess he wanted to be included in all the princess fun.