Dancing Lights at Calloway Gardens

Geoff had a good time playing with light on the trolley ride through the Christmas light displays at Calloway. The ride was so bumpy, that it was nearly impossible to get any clear shots--so, he made the most of it and actually liked the result! Kind of crazy and abstract, but amazing what the camera saw on a slow shutter speed. Hope you have fun looking!

Fairy that brings spring

This one is my favorite! I think it may have been an angel.

This is the shot of Snowflake Valley with a fast shutter speed

Snowflake Valley at a slow shutter speed
Gorgeous tree covered in lights reflecting off the lake

Our first adoption purchase!

We bit the bullet and purchased this decor for our nursery! We are so excited!!! This is our first purchase for our adoption. We are still #10 on our waitlist, but when we found this nursery, we couldn't resist!!

Inoticed the full picture doesnt' show up for me unless I click on the mousepad and click on "view image". Then the full picture appears--if you want to check it out!
I'll be posting more pictures from Christmas soon, so keep checking back :-)

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for following our journey!

Holiday Angels and Christmas Luaus!!!

What an exciting few days it has been! We closed "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" yesterday after 29 performances! Anna Grace was a lovely angel in the angel chorus. She enjoyed posing for these pictures ;-)

And, today was the day of Anna Grace's birthday luau! What a good time we had. Anna Grace's "Yaya" flew in from Asheville, NC and "Mama B" made a trip into town . Here are a few memories from our special day.

Merry Christmas everyone! And, thanks for reading. . .

December Days

Anna Grace and her daddy went exploring at a local camp site!!

Throwing stones in the creek is so much fun!

Sweet girl

Anna G. and her daddy went to the walk-through living Nativity. It was very cold, but they had cookies and hot chocolate. . . mmmmm.

Today was the close of "Amahl and the Night Visitors". I hear we had a special guest attend out show today. . . Patsy Riley!!! How exciting! It feels great to finish a great run and have my evenings with my family back again.

Now, we have a few days to get ready for Anna Grace's "Ya-ya" to come into town, get ready for our Christmas Birthday Luau this Saturday and then Christmas!!!

JOH hasn't had any referrals yet this month. . . I'm hoping for big Christmas referral surprises in the next couple of weeks!

Congratulations to Michelle and Byron Couey (my other Alabama buddies) who just arrived home with their baby girl, Brooke, from Taiwan only yesterday!!

Thanks for reading and following along. . .

What a crazy December! :-)

Well, there is no exciting new adoption news for our family at this point this month. Our latest news is the crazy show schedule Anna Grace and I have. AG is in the Children's Theatre production with me (5 days a week--twice a day----oh. . . . and 2 Saturday matinees), and I am also in an opera"Amahl and the Night Visitors" as the role of the mother. It is an amazing story with beautiful music. It is a beautiful show--not flashy, but beautiful in the message, the story and the music. It runs 2 weekends. So, all in all, I'm performing 7 days a week--sometimes 3 times a day!!! Anna Grace is a little less (but not much). Whew, we are having a great time, but it is very tiring. We both realize that by this time next year, we won't be able to hold that kind of schedule (when we have a little new member of our family :-). But, in the meantime, it is a great way to pass the time as we wait for the phone to ring.

On the other hand, we have many friends from our agency who are now in Taiwan traveling to bring their babies home!!! Congratulations, Michelle! There are so many others too---it is wonderful that so many families are being brought together just in time for the holidays :-)

I will have some pictures from our performances and Christmas fun to post soon!

Thank you for continuing to follow along our journey! Hopefully, we will have more exciting news to report soon :-)

Have a great weekend!

A Jam-Packed December!!

Well, it is already December, and with it comes LOTS of excitement! Hopefully, there will be many more referrals this month for JOH families. We had such a slew last month, here's hoping for another one like that. If we keep going at that rate, we could have our referral by February!! How thrilling that would be.

In the meantime, Anna Grace and I are opening "Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever" this week, and I'm opening a second show at the same time, "Amahl and the Night Visitors". It's pretty grueling having two shows going at once. But, it has been a great deal of fun too!!! It is truly a blessing to be able to do what you love to do and use your gifts and talents in such an amazing community of professionals--continuing to grow on so many different levels. It's so important to continue to grow throughout life--and how awesome it is to be able to do it alongside my daughter!!!

Not only are we juggling two shows. . . Anna Grace turns 6 this month too!!!! Boy, does time fly. I can't believe little AG is already 6! Her actual birthday is Monday, but we are having her party on the 20th. Brace yourselves . . . we are having a Christmas Birthday Luau. Anna Grace wants to do the Limbo, the hula and have a coconut race. She has it all planned out :-) That's my girl!!

Of course, I haven't forgotten Christmas in the midst of all of these things. This Christmas we have so much to be thankful for. . . the family we have, the job Geoff has (while so many are without), the wonderful opportunities to use our gifts, our health-----and the hope and eagerness that the new year brings. We know that by the time our Christmas tree goes up next year, we will have another precious member of our family. So, this year we celebrate all that we are and all that we have right now and the beautiful changes to come. . .

Have a wonderful Christmas season, and I will post as I have pictures and news to share along the way! Thank you for reading :-)

Finally in the Top 10!!!!!

Wow! What a month November has been for Journeys of the Heart!!!! 5 baby girl referrals for Program III, and the month isn't over yet! That is just amazing! Now, after a whole year of waiting, painfully, I might add, for our homestudy to be completed in order to get on this wait list---we find ourselves (for the 1st time) experiencing a "RUSH" of movement in our adoption process. And, I must tell you----it feels great!!! We got on the waitlist in September as #19 on the list---and we (2 months later) are #10 on the list! You can do the math. . . if the pace keeps up (which is probably not likely) we could have our referral and see our sweet baby girl's face for the first time in January/February! I realize there are dry months with no referrals or only 1 or 2 referrals---but allow me to dream a little!!!! It could happen. . . :-)

This week has been a rough week at the White House. Anna Grace has been very sick with a bug/virus of some sort that has given her a high fever for 5 days straight (103!!) and a terrible respiratory issue with wheezing and barking coughs (violent coughs that lead her to gag). The Dr. couldn't seem to find what was wrong, but did hear the burbling in her lungs. So, this weekend, we have laid low and she has been taking a steriod to bring the inflamation down in her lungs. We're hoping she will continue to feel better soon. She has missed school and rehearsals--and most of all--she has felt just terrible.

We did go ahead and put up the Christmas tree today (since we were all here home-bound). That is the EARLIEST we have ever done that, but I realized with the schedule we have coming up--- 2 shows about to kick into full production mode--travel, etc.--- if we didn't do it today, I wasn't sure when we could. So, it is done, except for the outside. I don't want the neighbors to know we jumped the gun on Christmas decorations--so we'll wait for the outside until "after" Thanksgiving. Haha!!! It feels GREAT to have it done and not have to try to fit it in between a million other things.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, safe travel, and much to be thankful for. Thank you for following! I'll post some pictures soon.

And, "cheers!!!!" to more referrals while the ball is rolling!