January Top Ten

The whole month of January has been a great start to 2012 for our family.  We've got to spend lots of time together just being us, you know.  So I decided I would make a list of my top ten favorite things about this month. 

1. The weather-  in my opinion, it just doesn't get much better than having 75 degree days in winter.  I think as long as I live in AZ, winter will be my favorite season :)

Check out the short sleeves, shorts, and flip flops!

2. Learning to cook gluten free foods- I'll admit that I wasn't looking forward to it because I thought it was going to be hard.  However, it hasn't been that bad.  I have actualy enjoyed it.  Not to mention, I feel better too!

My first batch of GF chocolate chip cookies!  They were seriously good stuff! 

3. The view- I just can't get enough of the mountains.  It never gets old to look at God's Creation.  This month, I have especially enjoyed it!

Beautiful!!

4. Sun's game- For Christmas, I got Eric tickets to a Phoenix Sun's basketball game.  We could only afford 2, so we got to go on a date!!  We ate at Joes's Crab Shack before and then enjoyed the game together.  They lost, but it was still tons of fun!!

The score at the end of the game :(

5. Family Softball Game- We had lots of fun together.  I plan on writing another post as to why this game in particular meant so much.  Stay tuned :)

She's gonna hit it!!

6. Adoption Updates- We have gotten good news that our adoption is making progress!!  News that our case is going to court to make things official!!  Hopefully soon we will be able to show an actual picture and bring our little girl home!!

7. Spending the day at the lake- Canyon Lake is one of our favorite places to go and just relax.  We spent one Saturday doing just that.  It was awesome!!

Don't you love Brayden's new hairstyle?

8. Babysitting Jace- We love anytime we get to spend with baby Jace. Brayden spent the morning showing him all his trucks that he wanted him to play with :)



After discovering Jace couldn't play with the trucks yet, he found one of his old baby books :)

Aww -a sleeping baby.  It doesn't get much better than that :)

9. Marriage Class- Eric is in seminary and one of the J-term classes offered was a marriage class.  The requirement for the class was that I had to go to and participate, as well as read the books.  (I think when he graduates they should give me a degree too!)  Fortunately, it was really fun.  The books were easy to read and contained lots of useful info.  We got to spend lots of time talking about us, our marriage, and how ministry affects it.  It was a fun weekend, and Eric got an A for the course!

10. Camping in the driveway- Yes, you read that correctly.  We went camping in the driveway.  One Friday afternoon Ella came home from school and her and Brayden decided it would be fun to go camping.  It was too late to pack up all our stuff and pick a place to go, so we just decided to camp in the driveway.  It was lots of fun!!  We even put a TV and DVD player in the camper and watched Dolphin Tale when it got dark outside.  Bonus- We got to use our own bathroom and shower! :)  It was a fun and cheap way to spend a Friday night!

So, that's my top ten for January.  Can't wait to see what will take place this month!!

Brittany

A Super Easy Way to Help!

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with A Charity Project for the newest and easiest way to raise money for our adoption.  Seriously, it is super easy.  All you have to do is go to this link: http://www.acharityproject.com/f/GibbsFamilyAdoption.  If you don't know our adoption story, it gives you a short summary of it.  At the bottom of the page, it gives you an option to donate.  All we are asking it that you donate $5.   SUPER EASY, RIGHT?

You may be thinking that $5 doesn't sound like much.  Well, you could be right.  To some people, $5 is nothing.  But to some, it's a whole lot.  And when added with lots of other people's $5, it equals the goal we are trying to raise- $2800.  This will cover the rest of our agency, attorney, and country fees! 


If you are able to, we would so appreciate your donation.  We would also appreciate you passing this along to your friends and family.  Just let them know our link through email, facebook, twitter, blog, etc!  The more people that know, the closer we will get to reaching our goal.  And the closer we get to bringing this little girl home:

Anxiously awaiting the day I can show this picture without the heart on it!!

So, what are you waiting for? Go check it out!!

Brittany




Quick Adoption Update

We have been waiting on news about Emmalyn's birth certificate for several weeks.  We found out today that we have been awarded the judgement of her birth certificate and the next step is to go to court!!!!   YEAH! 

One more step down and moving in the right direction!!!  Our hope and desire is to travel by April to go pick her up!  I will update more on this as I know details!

Thanks for your prayers!!!


Brittany

Like Father Like Son

Our family likes sports, especially Eric (daddy).  Baseball is one of our favorites, and our favorite team is also the best team in the country- the St. Louis Cardinals. 

I'm sure if you have had your tv on any this week, you know that Albert Pujols is no longer a Cardinal :(   We (and by we I really mean Eric) watched the news for several hours the day that the announcement was made this past week. 

Brayden sat right there with him and watched it too.  He loves his daddy and wants to be just like him.  The whole time Eric sat there watching the news unfold and then he would repeat it all to me while I was busy doing something else.  Much more important I'm sure :) 

But, Brayden seriously hung on every word that came out of Eric's mouth.  So much that when Ella came home from school that day, Brayden told her exactly what had happened. 

He said, "Ella,do you know what?  Albert Pujols (but he says Pujas) doesn't play for the Cardinals any more.  He plays for the Angels.  And they live in California.  But we don't like them.  We like the Cardinals. We're always gonna like the Cardinals."

I just smiled the entire time he was talking.  I looked over at Eric and he had a huge smile across his face.  I could tell he was saying to himself "that's my boy!" haha

He looks just like his daddy :)

An unrelated picture of Brayden wanting to be like his daddy

Although this story is funny and sweet (at least to me), God used Brayden to teach me a lesson that day.  He reminded me that I should have as much desire and enthusiasm for my Heavenly Father as he does for his earthly father.  I should want and desire to be like Christ, and to do that I must spend time with Him and listen to what He is telling me. 

Thank you, Jesus, for blessing me with my children to teach me more about you!! 


Brittany

Happy Birthday Emmalyn!!

To our sweet girl,

                      Today you turn 3 years old!  We love you so much and can't wait for the day that you "officially" become apart of our family!

                       We have thought about you and prayed for you all day long!  We have prayed for your protection and for peace for your country as well during this election season. 

                        We are excited to be celebrating your life today, and can't wait to celebrate the years to come.  Although today brings much happiness, it also brings a little sadness too thinking of the three years that we have already missed :(  But we'll just make up for that when you get home!!

All our love from across the world,

Mommy and Daddy

(And Ella and Brayden too!)



Happy Birthday Brayden!!!

Today is a special day!  Not only is it my birthday, but it is also Brayden's birthday!! 

My sweet Brayden,
                 I was truly blessed 4 years ago today when you were born into our family.  I had no idea how much fun a little boy could be until you came into my life.  You are growing up way too fast.  I think sometimes in my head I picture you as this:

Look at that sweet baby face!

But time has flown by, and you already are such a big boy!

My little cowboy!

 You have such a fun personality, and you make me laugh all the time!  It is truly a joy to be your momma!  I am so proud of the little boy that you are are.  I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you in the years to come! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!  I love sharing our birthdays together!

Orphan Sunday

As many of you know, this past Sunday was Orphan Sunday.  This is a day for Christians to all come together and do exactly what the Word of God tells us to do- "Defend the cause of the fatherless.." Isaiah 1:17.  Although we should be doing this on a daily basis anyway, this day is important because many events are planned across the entire world to raise awareness of orphans, adoption, etc.

Of course, this day is especially important to me this year.  Our family can't wait for the day that we get to bring our little girl home.  To us, she is already apart of our family, however, she has not felt that love yet of having a family.  Seriously can't wait for the day that I get to tell her that I'm gonna be her momma forever! 

This year, Eric was asked to preach on Orphan Sunday (not because it was that specific day but because the preacher was going out-of-town).  However, this was no coincidence. 

As most of you know, we live on a Native American Reservation.  I have never heard the word "orphan" ever come out of anyone's mouth here.  I have only heard the word "adopt" a couple of times.  It's just never talked about.  For many, "adopt" is not something that they want to hear because there are many families whose children have been "taken away".  They have never thought of it in a Biblical sense that we, who are believers, have been adopted into the family of God.  So, Eric got the privilege to preach that message and to challenge the church to get involved and do something about the orphan crisis.  It was so awesome to be apart of this reservations first ever Orphan Sunday event!  Eric was able to share many statistics, both globally and locally that really opened the eyes of everyone.  One of those statistics was about the Gila River Indian Community (where we live).  Last year, 400 children from the reservation needed to be placed into foster care.  There are only 2 foster homes on the whole reservation.  Many of the kids were sent to group homes because there was no where else for them to go. 

There were several people afterwards that came up to Eric and asked, "What can we do?"  Praise God!!   That needs to be the question that we all ask.  If we are believers, we are called to do something!! 

One event in particular really stood out to Eric and me that day.  There are 2 girls in our youth group that have just started coming in the last couple of months.  We don't even know if they are believers, but the message really got to them that day.  They decided to get a coffee can and attach the bulletin insert on the front of it.  They went around the entire community where we live and collected money for orphans.  That night, they brought it back to us and said, "We didn't really know what to do, but we had to do something."  How awesome is that!!!

How about you?  Did you do anything special for Orphan Sunday?  

Brittany