The Snowy Day

We had a beautiful snowy day today!  It has been one of many this year.  Usually we get ice, but this year we have been treated to some snow.  We took advantage of the beauty and had a little fun outside!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

First Hike of the New Year…Lost Valley

Jason and I were both lucky enough to have Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Since the weather was warm we decided to get outside and take Luci on a hike.  We headed to the Buffalo River and Lost Valley…it's an easy hike with beautiful scenery and it happened to be a place that neither Jason nor I had been in probably 15 years.  The following are some highlights of the outing.        

View through the few leaves left on a tree 

 

Beautiful Eden Falls…we have had lots of moisture in January so it was flowing nicely 

 

 

Luci REALLY wanted to get in the water but it is still January so no luck...explain that to an 18-month old!      

Found a couple of sticks so naturally we MUST play in the dirt!  Who needs toys when you have sticks, rocks, and dirt?! 

 

 

Luci receiving her first Geology lesson from Daddy 

 

 

Luci rode the 1 mile in… 

 

 

…and she HIKED the 1 mile out.  Seriously, she hiked nearly the whole way out! 

 

 

This was how she hiked most of it; hands jammed in her pockets, running full speed ahead (great for balance!!!) 

 

 

The elk at Ponca…this was the 3rd time we saw them and I finally MADE Jason stop the car and take a picture.  At this point in time elk are his least favorite animal.  Yes, he is deep into the dissertation again and not really feeling the love for his research subjects!

One Year Ago Today...

Hard to believe that one year ago today I saw this sweet face for the first time.

It was instant love-at-first-sight.  Actually, it was love at first hearing because I heard all the details about my precious daughter over the phone and through email before I ever saw her face.

I have been reminiscing alot lately and I am remembering the day of the referral.  I had just come out of a difficult meeting at work and ran upstairs to grab my things before running out the door and up to my internship site in Bentonville for some observations.  As I was putting my phone it my purse, it beeped indicating that I had missed a call.  I looked and saw that it was our social worker.  My heart literally skipped a couple of beats, my hands started sweating, and I started shaking.  I didn't even listen to the voice mail that she had left;  I simply called her back to see if it was the call I had been waiting for.  IT WAS!  She had a referral for our sweet Luci.  I tried to remain objective but as soon as she told me that her birthday was July 16 (the same as her daddy), I knew.  This was the sign that God was giving me...this was our baby!  She could have had 3 heads and 5 legs at that point and we still would have known she was the one for us.

Still, we did the "smart" thing and let our pediatrician look over the referral telling ourselves that we were really thinking it over...but we weren't!  We knew!  She was ours!

 

I know I have said this before but I am so happy that God chose me to be this special girl's mommy!  She is such a perfect fit for our family!  Happy Referral Day (even though you didn't know anything about it) to our sweet, energetic, happy, fun, loving Luci!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us here at the Kindall house!  What could be better than ringing in 2010 in your too small bathtub with your favorite elephant and a bowl of snacks?!  Hope 2010 is full of  blessings for each of you!

 

 

Merry Christmases

We have had an incredible time this Christmas season!  It is amazing how much joy Luci can bring to an already joyful celebration!  As I look back on the past year, I am simply amazed over how our life has changed...not only does our house look different (several family members have commented on this fact...toy explosion), but our whole focus is different!  I won't talk on this for long, but I do feel the need to mention it as I know several families playing the adoption waiting game this Christmas.  Last year was...difficult...We had been on the waiting list for a referral for a little over 6 months when Christmas rolled around.  This was about the average wait at that time and I was starting to get anxious/high-strung/depressed/testy/fill-in-your-own-adjective.  A teddy bear under the Christmas tree to "Jason and Heather's baby" was enough to send me into hysterical sobs and that just isn't like me!  I write all this to say...for those of you waiting, just when you think you can't take it anymore, good news arrives!  A mere 2 weeks later, we had a referral for our precious baby girl!  I couldn't help comparing this Christmas to last...we were no longer missing a member of our family!  She is here and she fills our lives with such joy!  She is our perfect gift and I am so thankful that God picked me to be her mommy!

On to the details of our Christmas celebrations...

We began the season with a Christmas date, just the three of us.  We went out to dinner and then took Luci down to the square for a pony ride and cupcake.  It was such a fun evening and we found out that Luci LOVES ponies.  The pictures speak for themselves...check out the absolute delight written all over her face!  She squealed and giggled the whole time.  Other parents weren't even watching their own kids...they were fixated on our joyful one!

  

excited to be riding my pony

  

close-up of the excitement

The next weekend, we went home and had Christmas with Jason's family.  It was so much fun to see Luci open her gifts and play with all her cousins.  Allie's birthday was also that weekend so we had a double dose of celebration!  Since the pony had been such a huge success, her Uncle Kerry took her to the barn so she could ride the mule.  She loved it as well!  The girl is fearless!

 

LOVE my new frog!

 

Betsy helping Allie open presents

 

The movie basket was a hit with Grace and Dylan

 

Allie and Luci resting on the frog

 

riding the mule

We had Christmas at our house a few days before the 25th.  It was fun with just the three of us too!

  

unwrapping presents with daddy

 

reading in my new chair

 

As soon as she opened one of her new books, she rushed over to my lap to read it 

Our last Christmas celebration was with my side of the family.  We spent the holiday out at my parents' new cabin.  It was very relaxing to get away and just focus on our family!  We were so pleased (and surprised) to find that Luci had 2 big boxes of gifts from Korea!  A friend of my Uncle, who lives in Seoul, had sent Luci some beautiful gifts!

 

modeling my new coat from Korea

 

really getting the hang of this unwrapping stuff!

 

I'll even help everyone else unwrap their gifts!

 

vacuuming up our mess...they should figure out how to make a kid-sized vacuum that really works.  The owner of that patent would be rich!

We came home the day after Christmas to find that we had gotten a little snow...it wasn't the 6 inches the weather forecasters had promised but it was enough for us to get out briefly and play around in.  Luci loved to walk in it but it was so cold and windy that we couldn't stay out for long.

 

exploring...so cold and crunchy Luci's feet won't even sink!

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have many more blessings to come this New Year!!!  God has most definitely been good to us in 2009!

Luci LOVES Cleo

Wanted to share a series of pictures that depicts an almost daily occurrence in our household.  Luci absolutely adores our bulldog, Cleo.  Cleo loves Luci too...in her own way.  Poor Cleo.  The first 11 years of her life were very peaceful!  Don't worry...no babies or animals were harmed in any of the following pictures!