Heaven on Earth

We have experienced a bit of heaven on Earth. Our court date was set on October 16 for our adoption finalization. We were thrilled! And what added to our joy was having so many of our family join us. With family members all over the country, it was a big sacrifice for them to come.

My parents arrived first... a week before our big day. It is always such a treat to have them visit. My dad needed to head up to my sister's house to help out with some things, so my mom and I played. We went shopping, out to eat and she even helped me redecorate my living room. It was so fun!

Patrick's parents arrived soon after. They drove all the way from Indiana- a 3 day journey- wow! They have not seen Cal since he was 2 months old and they could not believe how much he had grown. He loved hearing grandma sing and grandpa could always make Cal smile.

Patrick's parents brought an extra special gift... a high chair for Cal. But this was not any ordinary high chair, this was the same chair used by Patrick's dad as a baby and also used by Patrick and all of his siblings, and most of the nieces and nephews. It is beautiful and packed full of sentiment. We love it! It completes our dining room perfectly! Cal looks so big as he sits in it.

Knowing they were bringing the chair we decided to give it a formal debut and save Cal's first solid foods for it. We started with rice cereal. (I just realized that I took all of those pictures with Patrick's parents camera- oops!) He spit more of it out than he swallowed, but it was a great first try! We gave him a graham cracker for dessert and he LOVED it!

That night my brother, David and his family arrived (Marla, Emma, Grace, Davey and Baby Evan). They flew in from Ohio and we sure wish they lived closer! Cal loved meeting them!


Little Evan is almost 2 months younger than Cal. He is equally squishy- we love those chubby babies- so dang cute!

We had a night of pumpkin carving. These kids are so creative! We had a great time. With so many pumpkins we had lots of yummy seeds to roast- delicious!

So cute! They did a great job! After carving pumpkins we belted out some karaoke which is a speciality of my brother's family! They ROCK the microphone!My sister, Mindy and her family arrived on Wednesday from California. Now my entire family was here. Like I said, it was heaven on Earth! Cal LOVED all the attention!

All of the nieces (on my side of the family) playing with Aunt Erin's camera :) Such cute girls and there are lots of giggles and fun when they are together!
Hangin' outside enjoying the last of the warm weather. It was a perfect week! My sister, Lynell and her family traveled from Syracuse (an hour north of us) to spend time with us.

Every room was filled with loved ones!

We are so thankful for the sacrifice family members made to share our special day with us. How blessed we are to have such a great family. We love, love, love you!!

(Our special day will be my next post:)