Hannah's Referralversary

It was 1 year ago today that we received the referral for Hannah. We knew that we were near the top of the list and that they had not given out any referrals in a couple of weeks. We heard they had several to give out, so we had been waiting anxiously. The reason they had not given out any referrals in a couple of weeks was because of some turmoil in Guatemala. They were on hold. We got the call around 8:00pm. They asked to talk to both of us. Shortly after that we received several emails with pictures and information about Hannah. We left for Guatemala about 11:00am the next day. Here are some pictures we got with our referral (the pictures were taken when she was 1 day old) and a couple of pictures from today.

Pumpkin Fest

Saturday we went to a Pumpkin Fest at a local apple orchard along with Jason's sister, Anna. It was fun and all the kids enjoyed it. We got a pumpkin and some squash. Here are some pictures:

Noah climbing over the pumpkins:

We went on a hayride through the apple orchard:

It's pumpkin carving time:

Our happy jack-o-lantern:

Here is a picture taken 2 years ago when Joel was just a little older than Hannah and Noah and Anna helped us carve our pumpkin and Jason, Joel, and Anna were all looking in the pumpkin:

Decorating My Office

I (Jason) moved into my own office at work a few months ago and haven't hung anything on my walls. I've finally decided on a picture I took in Antigua for one wall and pics of the kids for another wall. Here they are...

Antigua, Guatemala


The kiddos...

Reception for Hannah & Noah at Jason's Work

Just over a week ago there was a reception at Jason's work for us with Hannah and Noah and for another employee who recently had a baby. It was at the end of the day on Friday. It was very nice and so thoughtful of his company to honor their employees and their families.

Here are some pictures:

Hannah's 1st Birthday!

Hannah's birthday was yesterday, October 2nd. It is hard to believe she is already a year old. We are so thankful for Hannah and the blessing that she is. Last night we had a small party at our house with Jason's parents, sister, and brother and sister-in-law last. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner, cake and ice cream, and opened gifts. Hannah had her own little cake. She was a little cautious at first, but she dug in and ate almost the whole cake. Noah also got a small piece of cake. Hannah and Noah are not used to sugar and I guess it really did them in. Neither one slept very much before about 2:00am. I spent over 4 hours rocking and trying to get kids to sleep and Jason spent quite a bit of time too.

I made a butterfly cake and a small flower cake for Hannah:

Hannah blowing out her candle with Joel's help:


She is feeling the cake and not quite sure what to think:

Noah enjoying his cake. He tried to shove the whole piece in his mouth:

Hannah finishing up her cake:

She needed a quick bath after cake and before gifts: