Last Friday we were able to go and participate in Sophie’s last ballet class for the summer. It was a lot of fun. As a special bonus I got to see my dear brother, Jeremiah, who took off the morning to see his little ballerina! It is always such a joy and treat to see everyone! There aren’t many pictures of Molly and me, but we all know how that goes :) – oh, and thanks Jer for taking the photos!

A year ago today (August 28th) was one of the most amazing days of my life. It was the day that Evelyn was declared legally our “natural” daughter. A day of completion. After much heart ache, many tears, much prayer, a drawing nearer to God than we could never have understood otherwise and the incredible and unnatural joy we felt throughout the entire process…Evelyn became ours! To those who have never adopted it may be hard to comprehend just how special this day is. The only real comparison I can come up with (and I’m pretty sure it’s biblical) is that of the day a sinner comes to repentance before the merciful and Almighty God. The day a sinner is drafted into the family of God. The joy and the rejoicing that takes place in heaven on the day any lost sheep is found and brought home is most certainly the same joy and rejoicing that takes place when a family on earth adopts a child.

I felt the same joy I felt when I became a believer. The same joy you feel when you hear someone else has become a believer. There is an understanding and a bond in Christ. The same goes for adoption. We felt an incredible bond with those present at the adoption hearing, and feel this same bond when we hear of others adopting. It’s so very similar to when, as a believer, you hear someone is interested in becoming a Christian or has, it’s incredible! In some way this day is more special than her birthday, it’s a reminder for me of a new birth in Christ’s family. A reminder of the day I became a member of His family. It’s something you never forget. It’s so intricately connected to my understanding of Christ and His care for His children. I really hope I can write about this more at a later date. For now, here’s to a wonderful day of recollecting on God’s blessings to us.

Evelyn Kate – we love you!

How we celebrated this year – Daddy made a special breakfast! We had gluten free German babies! We then had some special family time with just the 3 of us while Elijah took his first nap. We read some stories about adoption and told Evelyn how special she was. Then we went to the mall to play (cuz it was kinda cold). Evelyn and Elijah enjoyed playing and then Evelyn enjoyed playing on the carousel. We also let her pick out a $1 toy at Target. All day we kept saying, “special”. Today is special! And it was. After nap we played in the yard and had special smoothies. We also had a family picnic on the ground and watched a movie. It was simple but so special!

I still need some help from my Photo Shop pro, husband…but here’s what I got so far.

Here are the final 6 photos for Evelyn’s 2 year photo shoot. There are others that we love, and maybe you do too. If there’s is another you like more let us know and we’ll send it to you :-)

It’s been a busy summer of fun and lovin’. We so enjoy being a family in our new home. We’ve also been able to spend time with people we love.

These first two videos are just a sneak peak into our day here at the Larsen estate.

The two below are part of our lesson on the fruits of the spirit. This was Joy week! Evelyn “got” some of it. More than I expected so I’ll say it was a success. If nothing else it was a great topic of discussion for all of us that week.

We’ve been trying to capture Evelyn singing “her” hymn (click her if you need to be reminded what “her” hymn means) for about a month now. We finally got it! Not perfectly, but we were stoked to capture it on “film”. It makes my heart so warm to hear her sing this beautiful hymn.

This was our family night before our long trek to Northern CA for our beautiful niece, Juliett’s birthday!

As you can see, Elijah has taken an interest in the guitar.

You know, I think we could start a family band!

I came into the room to find Evelyn thought Elijah needed his hat. It was adorable, she put it on him herself.

Our trip for Juliett’s birthday was short but worth it…more about that in the next post dedicated to the birthday girl!

I’m so blessed to be Evelyn’s daddy.

But in the meantime we’ve managed to have some fun.  These days she has no trouble finding something to amuse her.

 

One of her favorite words these days is “food.”

 

Seriously… that’s not a basketball.

 

She loves cooking.  I helped her make pumpkin cookies for Thanksgiving.

While mommy was getting ready, we went for a walk and got in touch with our earthy side.

She’s so big now.  What happened to our baby?  (In the second picture she’s watching the ants.)

Today we celebrated Sophie’s birthday.  Jack jumped for joy.

Cute niece, Sophie kins!

baking gluten free blueberry muffins with mommy!

her new favorite toy!

my preggo belly – about 28 weeks and Evelyn at the Wallaces showing off her froggy jams.

making funny faces…yeah that’s her potty seat…don’t worry it was clean…sort of :-/

trying on parts of a Halloween costume!

Today – being cute!

with her cuz at the mall…looking at puppies!

we all got Starbucks…even the girls! Is it bad that whenever Evelyn sees a green straw she goes crazy begging for a sip? :-) actually it’s usually always water…they actually give out LARGE waters unlike nearly anywhere else!

Fun times playing at the mall! Wait until they learn how to shop :-)

I guess better late than never huh?

I have a lot to say, but little energy and little time. It was a a VERY special day as we celebrated our sweet chosen Evelyn. Some of her birth family was even able to make it. It was sweet to be reminded that this little girl is loved SO much by SO many!

We also had a special time of prayer and thanks to God for bringing us all together! We all sang her hymn as well, “My Jesus I Love Thee”. It was so sweet for this mommies heart to share such a beautiful day with all those we love!

Auntie Molly made the adorable and delicious cupcakes!

lots of wonderful gifts!

Cousin Sophie showing Evelyn how her new toy works!

 

Evelyn with her birth grandparents, birth uncle and mommy and daddy!

With Uncle Jeremiah and then with Gramma “G”, Papa Tim and Gramma Mary.

It’s been a busy Saturday, but I just had to post these pictures of my favorite baby girl.  She and mommy had fun playing dress up with the soft, furry scarf.