Smiles, Hugs and Kisses.....

When you fall in love with a child, Smiles, Hugs and Kisses mean so much more!!!! We cannot believe that we have passed the 3 year mark since we first met our precious daughter Alyssa. We traveled the first week of June in 2008. We fell in love with her before we even traveled on the first trip. The referral photo's took our breath away. And when we finally met her, the Lord had "knocked our socks off" with this amazing little child. She did not know what smiles, hugs and kisses meant. She was so scared, and she did not understand that her world was changing forever, and so was ours!!!!
To see Alyssa today her smile makes us laugh and sometimes cry. She has this amazing little laugh and she is so full of life. Her hugs are so tight that sometimes we think that she will not let go. Sometimes she says "Mommy, hug me really really tight"!!!! I squeeze and squeeze until she starts laughing and smiling saying "That's enough Mommy"!!!! She loves little kisses on the lips and the chin, and she also loves to have Butterfly Kisses!!! When I take off my glasses to give her a Butterfly kiss, she tells me "Mommy you are so beautiful"!!! To look so closely in the eyes of this amazing child I am so overwhelmed at the love that she has for us. She makes every day so much fun, and we are very humbled that the Lord chose us to be her forever family.
She is growing up so fast!!! She turned 4 years old on May 5th. We had a Cowgirl birthday party at the park. We had a pinata, sack races and stick horse races. Alyssa is so in love with cows, horses and farm animals. She keeps saying that someday she is going to be a farmer. She used to say that she wanted to be a veterarian, but now it is a farmer. We believe that she will be involved with the care of animals in some aspect.
Wade and I have most recently completed a playhouse for her, which she calls her barn. We bought a used playhouse, and transformed it into a wonderful playhouse. It has farm print curtains, wood flooring, a door bell and it will also have a kitchen that Wade is building.
We are starting to enjoy our summer, and looking forward to the Fall. Alyssa will be starting PreK at Russellville this Fall also. She was in a program that is like PreK at First Baptist this past school year. She really loves to go to "school".
We are also looking forward to our last post placement visit in October for Russia. We have most recently been looking at the pictures of Russia from both trips. We really wish that we could return to Russia to bring home another child, but at this time it is just not possible. We are still in prayer and thought about another child. The Lord provided everything needed for our first adoption and we are anxious to see the next path that He leads us on.
We are glad that some of you are still asking about the blog. We were not sure that anyone was still watching. We are so very busy enjoying our family that we just do not post enough. I will try to post again in the near future.
Thanks so much for stopping by. And remember to say a prayer tonight for all of the children in this world that do not have a family. We pray that the Lord will watch over these children until maybe someday soon that they will also know what it is like to have Smiles, Hugs and Kisses....

Blessings to your family...
Julie