Happy 3rd Birthday Marcus!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Marcus, Happy Birthday to you!!! We are celebrating Marcus' 3rd Birthday today. We had a farm-themed party last Friday with some of Marcus' new friends. We had so much fun. We played games, ate burgers and hot dogs, had yummy cake and ice cream! Marcus is very blessed with a lot of great friends here in Kansas. To check out the fun, here is link to an on-line album of pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=501033118703%3A1041603706

Today, we headed out to Target for Marcus to pick out a new tricycle! He also picked out a cool new helmet and some new "race cars" (his new fascination thanks to the movie Cars)! Any car with a spoiler on it is a "race car"-- no matter what it looks like! It's so funny to be walking through a parking lot and hear him yell "race car" only to see an early 1990s Pontiac sedan with a spoiler on the back! We had a fun birthday lunch at Longhorn Steak House. Our waitress Renee was great. She doted on Marcus the entire meal after he told her it was his birthday. She brought him a cool twisty straw, a little trophy with a birthday sticker and the best part was the hot fudge sundae with 3 cherries for his 3rd birthday.

He's had so many phone calls from family and friends. Any time the phone rings he asks, "For me?" What a lucky little boy to have so many people who love him!

Happy Birthday Marcus! We love you so much and can't wait to celebrate lots and lots of birthdays with you!

Great news!

We received word and official paperwork that our Finalization Hearing for Marcus' adoption will be November 2! We are so excited that our request to shorten the wait time was approved and that we could get a court date so fast.

Marcus and I leave on Wednesday the 14th to head to S.C. for a visit. We are just going to stay around until November 3! Bryant will fly out on Oct 30 to celebrate Halloween with us and be there for the hearing. We'll all get to fly home together!

It's hard to believe that a year ago at this time, we were waiting to get our home study approval! Now we are about to officially in the eyes of the court have Marcus as our son -- of course, we don't need a court to tell us that!

We appreciate all the support, prayers, and love that everyone has given to us through this process. We certainly have learned a lot and hope that some day we can help another family navigate "the system" that is so complicated! We know every obstacle and delay was worth it when we look in Marcus' sweet smiling face. I guess that was our pregnancy, labor and delivery -- just took over 18 months!

We celebrated Marcus' 3rd birthday on Friday night. I'll wait to post some info and pictures about that on his actual birthday on Monday!

Fun at the Farm

On Saturday, we visited the Red Barn Farm in Weston, MO. What a fun day!! It was overcast and a bit chilly (especially when the wind would blow), but we still had a great time. Marcus was so excited to go to a real farm with animals and tractors!! Look out Grandpa Lee -- you may have a farming apprentice on your hands!

We took a fun tractor-pulled hayride out to the pumpkin patch where we were able to pick out the perfect pumpkins for our front steps! We picked out 3 -- one for each of us! Then we visited the animals -- chickens, turkeys, goats, miniature horses! Marcus even got to pet one of the tiny horses on the back.

We had so much fun that we know we will go back for another visit! Next time we'll take the horse-drawn hayride to explore into the woods! Should be fun. Check out our pictures at http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=3kgkaqjj.5z7rtmtj&x=0&h=1&y=ruwg7n&localeid=en_US