Referralversary

The Lord told us in January of 2008 that our baby was in Africa. A little over 2 years later on April 27th, 2010~exactly one year ago today~we saw his face for the first time.

That evening was one we will never forget. I couldn't sleep for looking at these sweet pictures all night long...

So tiny

Immediately in love with that hair!

This one cracks me up, with his puckered lips giving a "fist pump"

Notice his shirt says "Future Hero to the Rescue" Love that...he had already rescued my heart that night.

He's still fascinated with his hands

Fast forward one year and I am truly in awe as I look at my beautiful, sweet, independent, full-of-life toddler.

Judah, I am blessed and honored to be your mother and I cannot imagine my life without you in it.

Happy Easter!

Judah's first Easter was busy but very memorable. It began on Friday with a 10+ hour drive from North Carolina to Kentucky. That's right, over 10 hours with a 13 month-old. Big. Fun. For any other trip, we would have flown, but we had to drive this time...I will spare you the reasons :-)
Besides Judah's difficulty getting to sleep in the hotel Friday from midnight until 2am, as well as the enormous blow-out of poop in the car (and on me while changing him) on the last leg of the trip, I would say that overall we were blessed with a good drive!
After a quick nap upon arriving on Saturday, it was off to Granddaddy Cunningham's for delicious food and an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Okay, so the Easter egg hunt was more like "let's look at all the pretty eggs in the basket while indoors" because it was stormy and rainy the entire day....in fact, it is still stormy and rainy as I write. Nevertheless, Judah had a great time playing with his many cousins!

All the kiddos (and Great-Granddaddy) around the "Peeps" cake

Getting the hang of "eggs in a basket ":-)

Counting his eggs

This morning we were blessed to attend church with Jeff's parents and brother at Jeff's home church. Judah sat with us the entire time and made it through the service without a "peep"...with the exception of dancing to the hymns...so cute!  

with his Pop

with Mommy and Granma

 Thank you, Father, for the Third Day. He is Risen, and we are forever grateful!

Our Little Sunshine Turns One~ A Look Back

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

Although I don't have the best of voices, it was that sweet song that soothed and brought smiles to my precious boy during his first year of life. So when I thought about the "theme" of his first birthday party, that is what immediately came to mind. It also helps that his favorite colors are orange and yellow! Okay, he didn't tell me that but that sure is what he always gravitates toward :-) Jeff and I went back and forth whether or not we wanted to have an actual party for Judah's birthday or keep it quiet and simple with just the three of us. After much thought, we decided to go all out. After all, I LOVE birthdays....and with the impending move out of our home as well as North Carolina, we thought it would be nice for Judah to share a day with all of our friends here who have made Carolina our home and celebrated every step of our journey to Judah. Additionally, Judah rarely gets to see his grandparents, so having all four together at his party was very special. So....thanks to Etsy, ideas from other blogs, and a very crafty mother-in-law, we had a heck of a yellow and orange "bright" celebration!

Welcome to the party!



We've got cupcakes



Plenty of orange and yellow food...

And drinks :-)  

 

Love the banner, made by my mother-in-law



Our guests received little clay pots of yellow flowers

We were so fortunate to have pictures of Judah from every month since he was 6 weeks old

And what's a birthday party without cake?! And especially the "smash cake" for Judah's first! It was so cute... wish I could say that I made it but I didn't :-(...we did make the cupcakes though!

Sunshine of Sugar!

Hmm...what's this?!



Make a wish!

Testing, testing...

So curious but still not sure

Daddy shows him how it's done!

Now we're talkin'!

Taking "smash" literally :-)

Would you believe he shared some with Allie?!

As well as his hair?!

By the way, all of these pics were taken by Kate at Craven Creative Photo and Design. They turned out great and it was so nice to enjoy and experience every minute of the party instead of worry about getting all of the perfect snapshots. One idea I stole from a blog is to have a "photo booth" of sorts where everyone at the party could get their picture made with the guest of honor...here are some of my favorites...

Just hangin with his best buddy Wyatt

And with his other best buddy, Carson

Mesmerized by Maddie

with the Coward's...now there's a new addition...his smallest friend, Caden

And I just love this one with his KK making him smile :-) 

We were very blessed to have one last hoorah in our North Carolina home...and for what better reason than celebrating our precious son's first year of life?! I'll leave you with my favorite black and whites from the day. Looking forward to years and years of birthdays with you, sweet Judah!

Just a Little Off the Top Please

Oh, the first hair cut...a true rite of passage into toddler-hood...our little J-man experienced that recently...sort of. Jeff and I love his curls (okay, mini-fro) so much that we just couldn't bear to cut it all off. However, he has had two "afro-horns" as we've affectionately named them for several months that have needed to go. You know, the hair that grows in earlier and faster than the rest? Well, J's was just perfectly placed on each side of the top of his head :-) They had. to. go. It was a quick, painless experience....well, maybe not so painless for his mama, who just can't believe her baby looks like such a big boy!

In awe of my big boy driving his airplane :-)

In control of the plane with his OUT OF CONTROL hair!

Always content with Mama's keys

All done!

Examining his first locks



Look everybody!

Big "High Fives" from Mama for doing such a good job!

And playing trains with Dada as a reward...don't they both look thrilled :-)