2♥1♥ Recap

We had a bit of an emotional roller coaster this year, but the amazing moments surely made up for the bad.

Before I get to the recap, allow me to share our Christmas card with you. I just sent it out, (I used to have a master list but this year I had to redo it so it took awhile to get all the addresses). I love it! (from Shutterfly)







Every year I make a Shutterfly book for that year, and I am so thankful that I thought to start this little tradition. For this year's recap I will share some of my pages.

Last year on my recap, I wrote:
What does 2010 hold for us? In April we are celebrating 3 years with an AMAZING trip to New England which we are both SOOO excited about! Paul will turn 30!!! And kids... well ever since 2007, I have been writing about adopting in the new year to come. This year may actually be THE year, but I have learned one thing from my looking back- it really is all up to Him, and I am happy with whatever He has planned for my life.

So without further adieu, here was our 2010:

{Sorry for the borders on the pages- obviously they are not there in my book} :)

January my book was released and in March I had my first book signing.

During the spring, Mr. Incredible put in a sprinkler system all by himself, (with a little help from his dad).

In April we celebrated our third year of marriage with a trip to Boston, and we fell in love with the town!

Buzz and Woody actually had a page, but it showed their names and faces so I couldn't show it here. For those that don't know, we first met them in March and decided then to adopt them. They finally moved in with us in July, and they also were reunited with their family in July. This was a very hard time for us. We love these little boys and pray for their salvation and safety every night. These little boys made us parents. ♥We were told by our agency to give it time to see if the boys would come back to us. While waiting, we decided to pursue a little girl. That is where Sweetpea entered the picture. Here we are on August 26th- the day Mr. Incredible finally met his little girl.

In Septemeber my friends threw Sweetpea a shower. :)

October 29, 2010- Sweetpea's Gotcha Day! She was finally home with us!

December 2nd- Sweetpea's parental rights were terminated!

Decemeber 4th we celebrated Sweetpea's first birthday

There are obviously more pages to this book, but I put a few for you to get an idea. :)

I am so thankful that God chose 2010 to finally be the year we became parents! Our marriage grew even stronger, (by the Grace of God), and we fell more in love with our furry child.

What does 2011 hold? Our 4th anniversary, Sweetpea's adoption, my baby sister graduates high school and will go off to college, I'll turn 25, the 5 year anniversary of my sister's Home going, and possibly another adoption. We are still waiting on our little Nemo- hopefully we will get more news on Monday. This waiting for him has been frustrating to say the least. I know God is sovereign- I just want some answers already!

God has blessed us abundantly and graciously and we are so thankful. We look forward to 2011 and pray that we will glorify Him in all that we do in the new year.

Happy New Year!

Dream Come True

I am still dreaming about those singing/talking birds and mice and the Fairy Godmother's Bippity Boppity Boo to get the cleaning done! ;) I took a break to post this:


August 17th 2008 I wrote this poem for our future children. We wanted to adopt SO badly at the time.

I dream of the day when God smiles down,
And shows us which child will be ours for now.
The day we adopt you and carry you home,
Where you will always be loved and never alone.

I dream of the day when we will see,
If a prince or a princess you will be.
The day I can dress you in blue or pink,
Whether son or daughter, our hearts will link.

I dream of the day that our waiting will end,
You will become our child, whom God will lend.
The day you will enter into my arms,
Where I will always protect you from hurt and from harm.

I dream of the day that you will be mine,
To love and to cherish until the end of time.
The day I can raise you to know and love Jesus,
From sin and from strife, He is the One who frees us!

I dream of the day that you come to know the Lord,
The One with a gift that we could never afford.
The day that you accept His gift that’s free,
We will be the happiest parents anyone could see!

I dream of the day, because it is not yet our time,
So we are waiting on the Lord for His timing Divine.
The day we want so dearly, we must wait for it some more,
But we love you already: yesterday, today and forevermore!

We were so desperate to adopt. Little did we know that almost 2 years to the day, (8.24.10), I would actually meet our daughter for the first time. If you told me back then that I would have to wait 2 years, I probably would have broke down crying. Now when I hold Sweetpea, however, I am so thankful. God is Sovereign and He sure knows what He is doing!

Needless to say when I saw this at the store, I knew Sweetpea had to have it for her room:

In other random picture news:

Sweetpea last night at our almost weekly Crackle Barrel dinner. I know it is hard to see, but her pants have a built in tutu! It was a three piece set from Target. It also came with a cute gray jacket. Did I mention I love princesses? ;) Oh, and does that face have "Stinker" written all over it or what?! :)

Miss Beauty blowing Raspberries at me

She is so proud of her new clapping skill

She started to wave but her sleeve was in the way. She was a little confused. :)

Wet Wednesday Workday

It is raining and nasty today. Perfect weather to actually get some housework done. First of all, we still have not sent out Christmas cards- I AM DOING THAT TODAY!!! lol Also, back in October when I pulled my back muscle, I was about to begin many projects that have since been put on hold. Now that my back is pretty much healed and Sweetpea and I have gotten used to our schedule, I think I can finally get to work again. Before this Cinderella heads off to do her chores, ;) let her share with you some pics from yesterday:
On Christmas Eve, Sweetpea learned how to clap. She always had her own form of clapping but now she can properly clap. She is so proud, as are we. :)

Seriously Mom, another photoshoot?

Do you like my penguin headband and shirt and my boyfriend jeans?

Her go to cheesy smile :)

A better view of her headband

Bolt does get a bit jealous of Sweetpea getting all the attention, case in point. ;)

Sweetpea Beauty with her namesake. ;)

She is scared of baby dolls and stuffed animals- she will just cry until you take them away from her. Not Sweetpea Beauty, she loves her...
Well, she REALLY loves playing with that tag, but at least she is not afraid of the doll! lol
Bolt loves his new bone so much that he decided to bring it with him everywhere...
Ok, so it was an accident, but it was so funny seeing him drag it around the house! I untied him after this pic obviously. :)

Alright, if you see the singing/talking birds and mice, I could really use the housework help today- or the Fairy Godmother would do nicely too. I don't need a prince, (I already have one), I could just use some Bippity Boppity Boo to get the cleaning done! ;)

Mini Photoshoot Monday

A mini photoshoot

I loved this sweater from Babies R Us. I just love all the colors.

Sweetpea showing off... she will walk one day! :)

A little out of focus because I was using natural light- and that is not the easiest with a moving child. She just looked so beautiful in that light!

Ms. Beauty and I spent today shopping where Mommy got to spend some of her Christmas money.

I got the pink and gold glitter Toms. Can you tell I wear my black ones? lol

How perfect is this for the playroom?!

I also bought a new flash for my camera, but it didn't do much so I will be returning it. I may bite the bullet and but the more expensive one- IF it makes a difference it the shot- we shall see.

Happy last week of 2010!!! eesh.

Christmas 2010

We hope y'all had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did! Here are some pics from the last week:

My loves before Church last week.

Dressed for summer in December- something is not right!


Sweetpea's Christmas outfit:

I cried in the store when I saw this onsie. When you get our Christmas card, (yes, I still have them in my living room), you will see how fitting this really is). :)

We don't do santa, so to improvise, we did a photoshoot at Memorial City Mall:

And she is not happy...

Mom in the shot makes it all better. ;)

We Keierleber's started a new family tradition this year. Every Christmas Eve we will go to the zoo where we can share the Creation story which leads very nicely into the first sin- the Fall of man. So when we celebrate Jesus's birth the next day, the kids will understand why we needed a Savior in the first place. Christmas morning we have a birthday party for Jesus, complete with cake, (come on, cake for breakfast- what kid wouldn't want that), and we save gift giving for later that day. We do not want Christmas to be all about gifts because that is NOT what this day is about!

There were baby elephants. Umm- to quote one of my fav movies, "Wrap him up, I'll take two!" {from Disney's Meet the Robinsons}

Sweetpea insited on making a PSA. What a thoughtful girl. ;)

Christmas day, Bolt also got into the gift giving fun:

Look at the size of that thing!!


Like I said, we do not go overboard with the gift giving aspect of Christmas. Bolt got a bone, Sweetpea got things to decorate her room, (pics to come), Mr. Incredible got a new tool, and I got these:

At first I wanted a locket or something mommy related. Definitely a necklace, but I just couldn't decide what I wanted. You see I wanted something to symbolize my children, the only problem is that I only have one baby home with me, while my other babies are out waiting for me, (whether in orphanages, foster care, or in a womb somewhere). Then I decided I really wanted something with Starfish on them. Why starfish? They are our symbol for orphans. Where did I get this from?

The Legend of the Starfish

A vacationing businessman was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy.
Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide and were sure to die before the tide returned. The boy walked slowly along the shore and occasionally reached down and tossed the beached starfish back into the ocean.

The businessman, hoping to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, walked up to the boy and said, "I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day. Surely such an industrious and kind hearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time. Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?"

The boy looked up at the man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, "It makes a difference to that one”.

Now everytime I wear my gift, it reminds me of my waiting babies, and of course my sweet pea who is home forever. :) She is such a gift and we are so thankful for her!! Adoption Rocks!!