Here he is with his cake.It is hard to tell from the picture but there is a little icing left on his face from where he stuck his finger in the icing right after I sat it down. I am amazed he did not try to grab a handful! 
It took him a few times to get the candles blown out but he was so happy and was ready to eat "CAKE". He ate two large pieces. He loved all the presents but I think the most excitement of the day was having balloons! Even this morning when he came down stairs he was so thrilled to see the balloons. 
Daddy and M with his new toy.
It took him a few times to get the candles blown out but he was so happy and was ready to eat "CAKE". He ate two large pieces. He loved all the presents but I think the most excitement of the day was having balloons! Even this morning when he came down stairs he was so thrilled to see the balloons. 
Daddy and M with his new toy.The dedication went amazingly well also. Usually we dedicate infants and a little crying is usually the only disruption, but with a now 3 year old, I could only imagine the tantrum he might have if he did not get to go over and play with the drums. But, he was GREAT and held our hands and had the crowd eating out of his hands. It felt like a completion of sorts to our journey. We started this due to the prompting of God and we wanted this entire adoption to glorify HIM. So to finally stand in front of our church and commit to raising M in the Lord, was such a fitting piece of the journey.
Here he is being the perfect, charming little boy:
This weekend was so great that I am hoping that it is a starting point for a long stretch of happy times for our family. The past 6 months have been very sad for our family. We first had to deal with Russ' Mom's sudden diagnosis with cancer and then her death in January. After that His Dad, who has been battling cancer, started to go down hill quickly and unfortunately passed away in April only 91 days after his beloved wife of 51 years. With their deaths and the adjustments we have been going through with bringing in a new little one into our family, we are all ready for a long stretch of boring, not a bad boring but a boring that just consists of a regular routine that we can enjoy each moment not rushing from one thing to the next.
To touch on a few more highlights over the past month. We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters, in which the kids really enjoyed. Then M had his first dentist appointment. He is such an amazing little boy, he was such a tropper and did everything the dentist asked. They were going to skip the x rays because they did not want to push their luck but when he saw the chair, he jumped right up and was ready for the pictures! Then there was his first Easter Egg Hunt! He was not sure what to do at first but once he realized there was candy in the eggs, there was no stopping him.
All these great moments just make me love him more with each one and that is a wonderful feeling. There was a time I wondered why I just did not love him with all my heart but love takes a relationship and a relationship takes time and now I can say to all of you who may feel like I did several months ago, time changes things. And after almost 7 months of having him in our lives, to stand up in church and dedicate him to the Lord and celebrate his first birthday with a family and to feel the emotion of love that I felt, well I just have to say, PRICELESS!
