Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

Today Simon and I have been married for 5 years! This was us then...

Our lives have been blessed in so many ways. God has gotten us through: a deployment to Iraq, move to Colorado, birth of Nicky, Simon's bachelors degree, my promotion to Finance Director, adoption of David, me starting grad school, and the latest of Simon attending the police academy. Wow...God is good!!

Referral Anniversary!!

Happy 1 year referral anniversary to us! Today marks 1 year since we received our referral of David. His name was Abdulkidar and here is the first picture we saw of him

Wow, reflecting on all that has happened in a year is amazing. This adoption journey has taken many twists and turns and it was not over when we arrived home with him on American soil.

Every day has its challenges and rewards.

God has shown me what grace is through David.

God who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have
done but because of his own purpose and grace. 2Tim1:9

David is nearly 2 and only has 10 words. David is a child with a message for us that he just can’t get out. He knows what he wants to tell us, but doesn’t have the language to do it. Can you imagine how frustrating that is? He has a purpose but no way to express it. He is frustrated, sad, lonely, and scared and the only way he can tell us is screaming. Screaming all of the time, a thousand times a day. He wants something and we don’t understand and he screams. He has no other way to express his feelings.

All of the times I loose my patience with him, when I want to just go in my room and close the door where it is quite, the times I want to put him in his room and close the door…even after that, God has still saved me…only by his grace. I am just like David, God tells me to do something and I scream, I am angry and I scream, I am sad and I scream…but God still saves me by His own purpose AND grace.

Not only has David changed a lot in the last year

Jessica has changed as well. God has changed my heart for so many things…

African Boy Hair Care

So, I have been wanting to do this post for ages but have not had time...well here it is. Inquiring minds want to know how to care for African boys hair. Yes, it is different than my hair, but not quite as hard to care for as African girls hair. Admittedly David has more hair products than I do! This is adapted from several tips I have received from friends with girls. I am of strong feelings that my little boy should have as beautiful hair as little African girls!! Here is our regimen for his hair care and I will even include a new pic so you can see how CUTE it really is.

1. We wash his hair once a week (this is important, I didn't believe it at first, but they really don't need there hair washed more than that). We wash it with Pantene for Women of Color (stupid name but it works great and in a brown bottle by the other Pantene). The other days he takes a bath we just wet it with water.

2. After bath days, we use a leave in conditioner. My two favorites (we just use what is closest) are Biolage Smoothing Shine Milk and Carol's Daughter - Khoret Amen Leave-in Conditioner. I absolutely LOVE Carol's Daughter, you can find the website here. You might get sticker shock, but with boys, it lasts a LONG time. Well worth the investment.

3. Every morning we wet it with a mixture of water and oil in a spray bottle. 10 parts water to 1 part oil. I use Africa's best Ultimate Herbal oil. It was less than $5 at Walmart and will last years.

4. After wetting it with the water oil mixture, we use Carol's Daughter - Hair Milk. I love this stuff, it smells great and makes it super shiny and defines the curls.

5. On non bath nights, I will wet it with the oil water mixture before bed.

I have not had any issues with dry scalp on David.

For skin care, we use a Vaseline Intensive Care cocoa butter lotion. I am sure any kind with cocoa butter lotion will work well. His skin does get drying than our other kiddos but this seems to work better than regular lotions.

That is it, a little more intense than Nicky's hair, but well worth the time. :)