Mya's adoption day!

Remember my friends, Andy and Patricia?

I took these pictures above for them earlier last year as they were entering the adoption process, and needed some recent pictures of themselves for their album potential birth moms would look though.  Andy grew up in the Lynchburg area and took us to this super cool old mill where we got some amazing shots! We had so much fun and I absolutely loved my afternoon with these beautiful people!

Well, God answered prayers in a HUGE way in December.  They were selected to adopt a baby girl! 
I was SO very honored when Andy and Patricia asked me to photograph their special day.  What an incredible journey these two have been on and it is so amazing to see how God has taken hurt and truly fulfilled the desires of their hearts! They are awesome parents and I am just so so excited for them!

The placement was one of the most emotional things I've ever seen.  It was so special and amazing, I don't even know how to describe it.  I still start tearing up when I think back on it! and especially when I look back through my pictures.  The birth parents entered through the door with baby Mya and handed her over to Andy and Patricia.  There was not a dry eye in the room!
 

 Two of my favorite pictures of the day.  This baby is SO loved! 

 Below is the picture of Andy holding Mya for the first time. Absolutely beautiful!

Once Andy and Patricia got to cuddle her for a little bit, we all got to admire her too! 

Mya and Emmie are just 2 weeks apart! They had their first play date the other day! I am just so amazed by God's hand and His timing.

Congratulations Andy and Patricia! YOU ARE PARENTS! and good ones too! I love you guys! :) Thanks again for letting me photograph your big day!

Meeting Family

Last weekend, Mike's oldest brother Paul, his wife Sarah, and their 3 kids, Lennon, Laina and Garrett drove out to Lynchburg and met their newest cousin.  So awesome to be able to share these pictures of the first time the older kids held their niece! 

Lennon was so cute when looking at her hands and feet. He kept commenting on how little they were.

Laina was adorable with her.  She would ask to hold her all the time, but then get bored after a few minutes.  :)

After Paul and Sarah left, I caught Emmie asleep in her pack n play like this:

Which is how she stayed for the remainder of her nap.  Crazy girl!

Sadly, that is all the pictures I took of their visit to Lynchburg.  I guess that's what sleep deprivation gets you! ;) 

Emerson Noel

Our sweet girl is here! She was born Tuesday, November 15th at 3:33pm.  7 pounds 10 ounces and 20.5 inches long. 

We are so very in love and enjoying every minute of this newborn cuddly stage! 

We are expecting to be released from the hospital today as long as everything stays on track! 

Thank you so much for your prayers- they have been greatly appreciated! Please continue to pray as we being this next stage of having a baby at our house! 

productive weekend

I am loving how productive we've been on the weekends! {Michael may be a little tired of doing work...} 

I'm finally starting to feel more energetic and the 'nesting' phase has hit- full swing! I've organized our linen closet, the kitchen cabinets, our dressers- you name it and I've probably sorted it! We have had triple the amount of trash these past few weeks- but it feels so good to get stuff out of the house! And our spring yard sale pile in the basement is huge!

Progress on the nursery is looking great! I finished up the curtains for both the windows and the closet door! Painted my $10.00 ugly wood dresser white- and this weekend we got the crib put together! Here are some updated pictures for the room {sorry- they were taken in bad light AND on my phone- better ones will be coming once I get caught up on my editing!}

My parents bought us the crib at our shower earlier in October and had it shipped to us here in Lynchburg!

Walking into the room, the dresser/changing table is on the left (the green polka dots) and on the right is the closet, and the glider chair. 

 Latte' is already a little jealous of the attention she's not getting from us!

The closet that still needs to be organized! I finally finished making the curtains though! 

And the $10.00 dresser I got at a yard sale! It was super ugly before and a dark brown wood- a little spray paint and it's perfect! 

It's so much fun to see the room finally coming together! Walking by makes us so very excited!

In other news, we sold my first car, that old green Honda Accord I've been driving since I was 16.  A little bittersweet for sure, but it made room for the purchase on our new {to us} Honda Accord.  Slowly, things are getting all together for Emerson's arrival!

After getting locked out of the house- and watching Michael break in by removing our AC unit from the bedroom and climb in thanks to our neighbor's ladder, we ended our weekend with a lovely date night- trying to enjoy these last few days of it just being the two of us.  Steak dinner, Starbucks, AND cotton candy ice cream from Cold Stone.

Oh- and Christmas music.  New Michael Buble' Christmas AND Zoey Deschanel.


Success of a weekend if you ask me! :D

34 weeks :)

nursery happenings

We've been a little behind on getting things ready for the nursery.  It was and still is totally stressing me out! {and yes- I know that we can finish it after she comes if we need to- but I am still stressed out!}


This weekend my parents came into town- my Dad and Michael worked all weekend installing a dishwasher! {I'll be posting more about that once the electricity gets hooked up and the thing changes my life!}

My Mom and I went shopping all day on Saturday and picked up a bunch of fun things for the nursery! I thought I would do a little update for all of you that have been asking!

Here's the crib bumper we bought {the pink is MUCH brighter than this picture shows}:

Some of the crib sheets we've gotten {I've been told you can't get enough of these}:

Then, this weekend, we found this fabric for the curtains:

The stripes will be for the windows, and the floral fabric is replacing the closet doors!

Here's everything together! 

I've still got to finish up the curtains before posting that picture- but I'm loving the way it's all coming together! :)

brunch and a baby shower

Early October we made the drive to Virginia Beach for the last time before the baby gets here.  My Mom and some of her friends threw us a brunch baby shower while we were there! So much fun!

First off, the food we had was AMAZING.  They had a huge variety of drinks, breakfast dishes, fruit, and desserts.  Yum!! 

Love this chocolate/coffee punch.  Best stuff ever. 

Adorable pink cake balls! 

The dessert spread! Cake balls, cookies, and oreo truffles.  

The food table! Muffins and bagels from panera, and amazing breakfast casseroles.  Sausage, French toast, and a pineapple one! I want to make these all right now!

Of course someone got a picture of me digging in! ;)

Opening presents was so much fun- as usual!

Love this newborn size tutu! Can't wait for Emmie to wear it!

My Aunt, Angie- all the way from Arkansas sent the most adorable outfits!  The tights on the dress have pink shoes on them!

An adorable pink fuzzy coat! Love this!

My grandma got us LOTS and LOTS of diapers! What a huge blessing!

Love this dress from H&M! Can't wait to make a trip in there when we are home next! 

Auntie bibs

And my parents bought Emmie her crib!

My Mom bought Michael this bib- with threats of taking it back when he made fun of her ;)

And of course, some family pictures:

Me and my Mom :)

 Me, my Mom, and my Dad

Me and Michael with my parents

Michael's sister, Amber won every single game!

The baby bump at 35 weeks

Me and Michael

Lots of pictures- thanks to my Mom and Michael's sister Amber.  Such a fun shower- and we were so blessed with receiving our crib, pack n play, clothes, toys, diapers, all sorts of baby essentials!