Exciting "Lyza" News!

So now I am showcasing Lyza for a few days.....bet you didn't see that coming did you?!

We have had some exciting news regarding Lyza in the last few weeks! It is amazing how fast she is growing, how much she is learning, talking and doing!!!

Check out this link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ftia-guatemala-post-adoption/

After all our great news today.......the above is what appeared on FTIA's Post Adoption Group homepage today! How blessed are we today?!

She can sing all her ABC's......see video below!

She can count to 10 in Spanish and English!

She knows ALL her animals and their sounds!

She knows her shapes!

She knows her colors!

She can dance like nobody's business!

She says "Please and Thank You" most ALWAYS!

She is learning to play pretend and use her imagination!

She has learned how to get out of her crib and playpen......yes, we are looking for a toddler bed now!

She says "Ohhh Noooo" to everything that falls or may go wrong!

She calls out the letters to "Wheel of Fortune"!

She knows all the Dora songs and most any other Nick Jr. songs!

She's amazing......I am just amazed at how much she has grown and has been learning this last month! Where did my LITTLE girl go??

She loves for you to read to her.....and quite frankly, she does read back to you!

Now for the EXCITING NEWS!

First of all we received the new edition of "Adoptive Families" magazine to find who other than Miss Lyza on page 68 in the promotion ad for FTIA! How exciting! I certainly was not expecting that and was grateful they sent me several copies to share with friends and family. The ad is below!

OTHER exciting NEWS?? YES! You have seen this photo below I am sure, as I made it via snapfish with a "Birthday" photo shoot I did for her. I made the collage for her birthday to enclose with her invitations to her Princess Party.

Today I was contacted by a freelance writer from SNAPFISH.COM asking for the story behind the photo and a formal written letter asking for permission to use it on their home page! I was excited because it was my own photography...and plus, on the homepage....how fun is that??! They asked if it was my own photography and wrote a small blog about her adoption to go with the photo, so maybe I will get a little bit of exposure with starting out with my photography business "Walk by Faith" Photography! She also asked if I would be interested in designing a couple of their Christmas cards with photos of my girls for advertising! How cool is that......I get compensation PLUS free pictures! I am so excited! The photo advertisement will start running on 12/31/08 to start off their new year of advertising!

I will post more Lyza tidbits, photos and info in the next few days! Plus I have new "professional" photos....(I can say that now right, since I am a professional...te he he) of Madisyn that turned out wonderful! My parents got me a new camera for Christmas that I had my eye on. Ironically, one of my friends was saving for the same camera and got it a few weeks ago. I am doing her wedding in February so she has graciously given it to me to play with for as long as I want (Amanda, you may regret that!). BUT, it took me awhile because there are SOOO many features on it but Chris and I sat down for a couple of hours and figured most of it out. Luckily I have great "models" to practice on. Chris even let me practice on him! (Shhh, don't tell him I told). So I am super excited about that because now I am booking indoor sittings along with outdoor sittings as well! It is the perfect time of year to be starting, as I have many Christmas Photo sittings and am just loving it!

xoxooxxoxo

Lyza knows her ABC's!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

HAPPY Birthday JENNIFER!!!

Thinking Back...
To the time when we first began
to be friends, I wonder –

WHAT IF the different roads
We traveled before we met
had never come together?

WHAT IF we hadn’t had
so much in common?

WHAT IF we hadn’t
felt close to each other
right from the start
and grown closer as
time went by?

LUCKILY,
Everything happened just right.
And I’m so glad,
because your friendship
means a lot to me.

And I know it always will.

Happy Birthday my dear friend!

Still About Madisyn........

Yes....I have decided to dedicate yet another day to "Madisyn"! Actually....I've decided to take a few days each day this week to dedicate to each of my children, husband and other family members! So every few days......someone new will hit the spotlight! I have a feeling Lyza will be next BECAUSE, she has learned to sing all her ABC's and I cannot wait to post the video of her singing them for you!

Today is Madiysn's day again though...so I will give you a few tidbits and facts on Madisyn!

She was born at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, OK 12 years ago! Hard to believe 12 years have passed!

She loves sports and excels in Soccer, Dance, Volleyball, Basketball, Golf.....and is good at just about anything she tries!

She loves music.....she loves to sing and perform....but also plays the violin, guitar and has taken piano lessons!

She loves to read......she definatly gets this from me, as I love to read also......

She loves American Idol and Dancing with The Stars. She swears some day she will be on Dancing With The Stars! :-)

She's a world traveler! She has traveled more in her short 12 years than most do in a lifetime! Her father lives in Pennsylvania so she makes frequent trips there....and her grandparents live in Wyoming and she goes there each year also. Chris and I love to travel also with her and she also takes a few yearly vacations with her dad and family in PA also!

She's an excellent student and excels way more than I ever imagined I could. Her favorite subjects are Math and Science!

She loves Animals.....all animals. Except right now she is a little scared of "George", her iguana, as she is not used to him and gets whacked a lot by his tail!

She is a WONDERFUL big sister! I must admit...this took some time to master. She was an only child in our home for 12 years......so it took some getting used to not being in the spotlight ALL the time. However, she is great with Lyza now and she is such a great role model. Lyza adores her most of the time and Sissy's room is very fun for her.....so that is a special treat to get to watch cartoons or play in Sissy's room!!! I think Madisyn kinda likes it too because she gets to play with all the kiddo toys and watch the kiddo cartoons and has a good excuse to do so!! (Big Smiles). She also has two step brothers in PA, one older, one younger!

She is a hard worker and always puts 110% into everything she does and tries....by this I mean school work and sports! (Not cleaning her room or doing chores :-)!

She is a wonderful daughter and friend....more than any mother could ask for! Lazy days by the fire in the winter playing cards, board games or reading books are the best! Snow days with friends over and tons of hot chocolate to make...and tons of snowsuits/winter gear to dry are the best times/days of my life! She is certainly the life of the party and we LOVE having all her friends here and gathering for games, great talks and good times!

She has a passion for God, Bible Study and helping others that is unreal! She is a member of the Youth Group at her church and at the second service helps teach in the Pre-K classroom. I know she is active in her father's church as well!

So......basically I am just doing a little "mommy bragging"...as I hope one day she looks back and sees just how much I (we) love and cherish her. I know she will grow up to be the kind of girl that we always hoped she would......she's a smart, bright, funny, beautiful girl! We are so very proud of her and I want her to know that each and every day!

(I love making cards and leaving notes in her backpack.....I hope she never gets to old to smile when she sees a card in her backpack or school book that is from me!)

Thanks for making us so proud Maddy! What a jewel you are!

xoxoxoxoxox

"Once Upon A Dream"

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

FFF - My Theme - Miss Madisyn

Thank you to everyone for your sweet comments on the previous post.....I am still VERY worn out and tired, but had to post these super cute photos of Madisyn! What a night she had....it was a long night for all of us, but so very worth it! It is amazing to see your children excel in what they love to do the most.

Our night started with two basketball games, in which she performed two dances. Unfortunatly their cd skipped a bit and the video didn't come out real well...but, as always, she puts on a good performance and it didn't seem to phase her to much!

After the basketball/dance games we had to go straight to hair and make up for the talent show. We had about 30 minutes to get ready, as she was in the very first act as a back up dancer for an 80's song. As much as the girl loves to sing, I think she had more fun picking out the 80's outfit and dancing to it than she did singing her solo! Wow...don't I feel old when we are picking out 80's attire! She did great...and it was a lot of fun, as you can tell from the photos!

She was act #10 on her solo "Once Upon A Dream" by Emily Osmett from Sleeping Beauty. She did a wonderful job and from the applause, hoops and hollers.....it is apparant she is a very well liked girl at school, which always makes a mother proud! Unfortunatly there also, my battery went dead in the middle of her performance, so you will only see 1/2 of it in the video that is to come shortly! We have it on video from the camcorder though, so no harm. I had to take photos for the yearbook and am actually getting a new camera for Christmas since my Photography business is taking off so well "Walk by Faith" photography....and my good friend just purchased the camera I was thinking of buying. She is loaning it to me so I can figure out if it is the one that I want or not....as I am hoping to do her wedding photos in Feb. if I can get comfortable enough to do them! Who wants to be responsible for messing up wedding photos, right?!!! Not me! Anyway my mother in law went to get the battery charger during the basketball game, but I did not have time to fully charge it to get all of her performance!

After taking all the photos for all the talent show acts we got home pretty late. My Guatemalan Angel was still awake in her crib...so I could not resist getting her up, as you would think only being away a few hours was like being away for days for me....so I played with her until nearly 11 pm! She slept in for me though...so that was good!

Madisyn has two birthday sleepovers this weekend....so we plan to chill out and take it easy! It is rainy and yucky out....so a fire going and a pot of chili is just what Chris and I need! Enjoy the photos.....and enjoy the video when I get it uploaded!

Again....thank you so much blogger buddies for your kind words! They mean so much to me! I will be catching up on everyone's blog this weekend!

And ......WAY TO GO MADDY....We love you and are so proud of you!

This is what it looked like just minutes after she got home! Tired little singer!

She's obesessed with her Santa Hat right now! Explain in a later post!

Flowers from Mom and Chris.....and the grandparents!






Our little Dancer






FRIENDS













STARS for SURE








80's DANCING!








YOU GO GIRL!











Mommy and Madz

Angel from Lyza

"Once Upon a Time"

RISING STAR

Wow, she loves the gifts afterwards!

FFF - My own Theme today! Maddy!

Today my FFF is going to be about Madisyn! However, I am too tired tonight to post the ton of pictures I have taken this evening and to go into depth about her wonderful, LONG night! She had to dance at two basketball games, then she danced as a back up dancer to an 80's song in the talent show....then sang a solo "Once Upon A Dream". She did wonderful and I have many shots of all the events of the evening! I am going to rest for now, but thought you might enjoy this photo card my friend Jen made so that I could put it in a card to give to her after her performance tonight. We worked on it today....it has some of her past performance photos on it and she just loved it!

Take a break while I am resting and read the below post on Jen's new (and improved) adventure into the blog making world!! Make her day....shoot her an email....make her day even more, and a friends....buy them a gift certificate for the upcoming holidays to give them a beautiful holiday blog!

More Later!

Blog Makeover??

See the blinky to my right?? Jen's Design Shop! Well.....Jen is REALLY jumping into business to help fund their adoption of baby Gabriel! Most families think that once the child is home, the financial aspects of the adoption are over. Not true......in some cases it takes many years for a family to get back on their feet from such an adoption. It is a lifechanging event in every aspect of one's life. Not to say these little guys and gals aren't worth it.......every single penny and then some! Nevertheless, the finances still keep plugging on. Are there ways around that? Some adoptive mothers choose to stay home full time to be with their new babies who have been in and out of foster homes and/or orphanages for adjustment reasons. I am one of those. Bonding with Lyza was my number one priority when bringing her home. She has done very well...and even as she gets older I see it more and more and it makes me more than happy to have her come to me for little boo-boo's, scrapes or hurt feelings. I simply love being a stay at home mom, as do many others. Jennifer is a stay at home mom (who also works outside the home as a teacher a few days a week while raising her 14 year old daughter, Tori). We have so much in common.

I encourage you to go to her "about me" page to view some of her work, prices, philosophy and her plans for the funds she receives from this blog makeover job she has taken on. She really is easy to work with, competetive prices by far and will work with you like she is your best friend! Seriously, if you do not like something, you will NOT hurt her feelings by asking her to rearrange or fix something. She would MUCH rather take the criticism than to have you unhappy with a product. All her info is on the blinky to the right of my blog! Give her some of your ideas.....see what she can do with your toughts. You won't be sorry. Gift certificates available too! What a great Christmas gift for a blogger buddy!!!

Again......her "About Me" page will blow you away! Keep up the great work Jen! We will also be doing Christmas cards.....and if you are in my area, I am a photogrpaher so can do your sittings way cheaper than at a studio! And I guarantee you will lovewhat I do, OR....we will redo them!

Best Wishes and I hope you take the time to look over her smashing, hip, new blog!!

My Silly Princesses!!

I have really silly Princesses!! These photos were taken at my parents home a few days ago. Miss Lyza did NOT want to go to bed. Her pack n play was at the end of me and Maddy's bed. She kept standing up tickling our toes going "Getchy, Getchy, Getchy", then pulling our comforter into her bed. She has a thing with taking her pants off right now, so every time I would say "Lyza, get your pants on", she'd scramble under the covers with Sissy so Sissy could save her. It was quite cute. I went to get my camera to get a few snapshots of this cuteness and as soon as she saw the camera she said "CHEESE"! Good Girl Lyza! Anyway.......after several bribes to get the pants on, her hiding with sissy, etc. I had to just put them on her and put her in her crib. She then kept up with the tickling of the feet and pulling our comforter so Madisyn and I decided to go to the living room to read until she fell asleep. When we came back to bed.....Lyza was asleep, but she had taken our whole comforter into her pack n play to sleep with! So we had to steal it back! Our few days away were pretty fun!

More to come later....just had to share this series of events first!