She found us!

A little background info that you might enjoy.....

May 24, 2014 we got a GIANT surprise! I know this post should have come awhile ago but we didn't have our camera at this surprising event! Luckily Sierra's sweet sister took some pics for us with hers and I now have a copy of them! This amazing sweet girl that we love so much invited us over to a bbq at her family's house. We had been chatting with her for a few weeks trying to get to know one another. We thought this was going to be a grilling session for her family to try and feel us out and see if they liked us. To our literally complete and utter surprise this is what we got about 5 min after walking in their door! 

I personally felt a huge connection to Sierra the minute we got her first email. The second she said "Hi my name is Sierra"......I LOVED her more than I can describe. Obviously now I know that I felt that way because my Heavenly Father helped give me that impression. I feel very strongly that our first conversation here on the earth was definitely not our first conversation ever. She is the one we've been searching for, hoping for and praying our guts out for. She may never know the magnitude of what she is doing for us we are forever indebted to her for being willing to go through this trial just to get our little boy here with us! She is truly an angel and will be a part of our hearts forever! 

We've had so much fun getting to know her. We got to go to the ultrasound with her and actually see him in Sierra's belly! It has been truly amazing and we're so excited to continue this journey! Little baby boy will be here in a short 34 days....we can't wait!!!! 

We love you Sierra, welcome to the family!!!   

I was honestly shocked....I don't remember a lot other than feeling like I might pass out a few times! I always wondered if it would feel the same or be as exciting as when we heard we were getting Mya. Let me tell you it was!!!!! It was so amazing and exciting!!

Family is EVERYTHING!

A few weeks ago we found out my mom has breast cancer. I don't know if I have ever felt the type of panic or pain that I felt when I heard her say those words. 

My mom is my absolute HERO! I kept thinking no not my mom.....why......I can't make it here without her.....we need her.....I wish I could do this for her or at least take all the pain away! Ugh I have felt so helpless. I feel like its been hard to get back on track. I almost feel as though my feet are stuck in concrete and I can't move. 

This whole experience has caused me to reflect on my life and on how much I appreciate my mom and everything she has done for me. It made me realize I want to be more like her. More selfless, more loving and kind to everyone, more willing to give of my time to others in need just like she does, more spiritual. I just want my kids to feel about me the way I feel about her. She took and still takes such great care of my entire family! My daughter LOVES her Grammy Pammy, she doesn't even care if I'm around as long as my mom is there! 

My mom has the biggest heart and does so much for other people. Even though I wonder why such an amazing women has to go through such an awful trial I completely believe that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. We may not understand it right now but I know that anything he has us go through he provides us with the necessary amount of strength and endurance to get through it. He provides earthly angels to bear us up and help us make it through the tough times. I have seen this in my own life and right now with my mom, she is so positive and there are so many people lending their hands wherever she needs them! 

I am eternally thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that my mom will make it through this rough patch in her life. I know that my family can also make it through. I also know we couldn't do it without the love and support of our Father in Heaven. All the hard times in my life He has always been there and given me strength beyond my own. 

I feel so lucky to have such an amazing husband. Without him I don't know what I would do. He's so busy with work, school, putting our yard in, ect, ect, ect and he always puts me and Mya at the top of his list! He is one of the tender mercies the Lord has given me and I feel blessed to call him mine! I also have an amazing family that sticks together through thick and thin. I love my family and I want to make sure I get to be with all of them forever!

I love my mom! I know she will fight hard to get rid of this yucky cancer. I am so thankful for the wonderful person she is and for all she has taught me. 

Summer is over....what!!?!

Just a little look into some of the fun things we have done this summer! I can't believe summer is coming to an end. We are getting very close to having another baby in our home!!!!! When we first found out that a sweet little mama had picked our family to place her baby boy with it seemed like a million years away! It was only about 6 months but felt like it was forever. Now here we are less than 2 months away from meeting the little guy and we are SO excited! It's been a fun summer getting to know this girl and trying to make her feel like a part of our family! Adoption is so amazing we feel lucky to be a part of it! We'll keep posting as we go along this journey.....

We celebrated our daughter's 3rd birthday! So much fun! Can't believe our baby has grown so fast...time has flown by! She is more beautiful and sweet than ever!

Nick and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary! He sent me flowers, arranged for a sitter and took me to our favorite restaurant, plus he made me the cutest mixed tape.....such a sweetie pie! I sure love him. Best 6 years EVER!

I had my crafts in a show trying to raise money for our adoption! We had lots of fun sitting in the booth chatting with customers about adoption! 

Spent lots and lots of time at the swimming pool! It was a HOT summer! I'm ready for some cooler weather!

We got to be in the ADOPTION ROCKS float in a parade! It was a hot day but we had so much fun!  

Family game night!

Teaching Mya to ride her bike...we have a long way to go! She can peddle but she has NO clue how to steer! 

Dressing up, playing with all her new birthday stuff! 

Family parties!

Got to spend some good quality time with Mya's birth mom while she was in town from NYC! I can't believe our little family is growing! We sure love our birth mamas!! 

These two together just puts a smile on our face! So much love!

Goodbye summer of 2014!

Birth Mothers Day!

I got the opportunity to make birth mother gifts for our agency! I was SOOOO excited this is what I love to do. When I can combine my passion of craft making with my passion of adoption, I am a happy girl! I had a lot of fun and hope these special girls enjoyed their gifts!

We celebrated at the birth mothers walk our agency held! It was a blast we only wish our sweet birth mom Amy could have been there. :) We know she's working hard in New York and we miss her!!!! She was in our thoughts and prayers all day. 

These two clowns are always fooling around! Gotta love them! 

This day was all about Mya's birth mom and celebrating adoption in general! We love you AMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birth Mothers/ Mothers Day to all girls who have been through this and made the most selfless decision to place their child along with all other girls who are carefully contemplating their options. We love you, respect you and will always honor you in our hearts! Without women like you we wouldn't have our precious little girl. We are forever thankful!! All our love! 

Nick, Tiff and Mya

Where can I turn for Peace

Where can I turn for peace?

Where is my solace

When other sources cease to make me whole?

When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,

I draw myself apart,

Searching my soul?

Where, when my aching grows,

Where, when I languish,

Where, in my need to know, where can I run?

Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?

Who, who can understand?

He, only One.

He answers privately,

Reaches my reaching

In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.

Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.

Constant he is and kind,

Love without end.

As I sat in Sacrament this last fast Sunday our family had very specific things we were fasting and praying for. I sat there focused and tried my best to hear my Heavenly Father’s guidance and/or directions that he may have for my family. I ended up reading in the Hymn book and came across one of my most favorite songs that I haven't heard in a long time “Where can I turn for peace”.  Reading through this hymn took me back to one of the darkest times of my life, a time when I needed peace; I needed to know that I could get through the trials that had been placed in front of me. I remember hearing the words to this song as a girl read them in Relief Society, getting chills and knowing that this was a message from my Heavenly Father for me.  He was there for me and He would be the one to help me get through any hard time that I would face. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace as I continued to read the words. It was a pivotal time in my life and in my testimony. My hardships didn’t go away in fact they lasted and intensified for several more years. But through the heartache I learned to rely on the Savior and allowed him to help me and at many points carry me through my days. In the midst of pure chaos I was really able to find peace through Him.

I look at where my life is now I literally have all the blessings that I wanted and waited for, for so many years! This song helped me to reflect on the blessings that I have now and reminded me of the dark hard roads that I had to walk to get here. I was reminded that the only place I ever found true and lasting peace was when I turned to an all loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. Those dark days helped me to get to know them, love them and trust them. I hate that life gets crazy and I seem to forget that sometimes. It also made me realize once again that I am where I am and I am who I am because of those hard times. I had so much to learn and I still have so far to go. I just have different challenges and trials in my life now than I did back then. I needed the reminder that when life gets hard as I’m sure it will a million times over I do KNOW where I can go and I am grateful for that!

I’m not sure why I felt the need to share this.  When I needed to hear the words of this song it was shared to me by a girl I didn't even know and I will forever be grateful that she shared her testimony and love for this song with me! I hope these beautiful words will help, inspire and heal someone else the way they did for me.  I am so thankful for my amazing husband, my beautiful baby girl, and our families which include Mya’s wonderful birth mom. They are all also a great source of peace and I know a heavenly gift to help me through this crazy ride of life! 

February went too fast!

We LOVE spending time with our families!

Our trip to the dinosaur museum. I love having my sister and her 2 kids so close! We love going to do things with them as much as possible!

More family fun at the Artic Circle playground! Perfect for when it's too cold outside to go to the real park. These two become inseparable!

Playing dress up with cousin Bentlie! We babysit my sisters kids sometimes when she has hair clients and we love it!

Mya pretty much lives in these dress up clothes right now! I always said I would never be one of those moms that let their kids wear stuff like this to the store....I have to admit I have done it! She loves them so much and really when else can you dress like Ariel on a normal day and get away with it!

More cousin time! All of our family is near by so it makes it nice to be able to get the kids together often they all really love each other!

Potty training at it's finest...

This is what we started with to keep her on the potty, lots and lots of puzzles! 

We had to take turns, lol it got a little old! 

Now we have had over 1 week with no accidents. She gets herself on and off the potty! We are so proud!!! 

Sometimes she still likes to have some entertainment on the pot like blowing bubbles! Hey whatever keeps her motivated is fine by us! We're saying goodbye to diapers and hello princess underwear! Woo Hoo! Go Mya!!!!!

Valentines Day!!!

This is what we put on Mya's mirror for Valentines Day! I also put one on ours for Nick that said "I love you" Nothing big but it's fun to wake up to a message like these! 

Nick knows the way to my heart! No joke one of my most favorite things in the world to do is vacuum! I have always wanted a Dyson and now I have one! I love my man!!!

We got Mya a cute little tent with a giant Elsa (Frozen) balloon tied to the top and then we filled the inside with heart balloons! It was so cute and she was SO excited to wake up to this little surprise!

We had a great day! Nick took work off and we just hung out all day followed by a fun family dinner at Arbys! This may have been the lowest key Valentines Day ever and we had so much fun just hanging out as a family! 

Happy Happy Birthday Nick!!

Mya wanted to get Nick this giant Olof balloon again from Frozen! She's a little obsessed :) Nick loved getting this sweet gift from one of his favorite girls! We made him some breakfast and later on took him to see the Lego movie! We hope he had a fun birthday, he sure deserved it! 

We had a fun family dinner at his parents house the next day. Mya always loves to help us blow the candles out!

You know you're getting old when a shaving kit is what you ask for and are excited about getting for your birthday! :) 

We had my whole family over to our house for a dinner birthday party! They got him a drill which we are BOTH excited for! We played Ticket to Ride for the first time which was also so much fun! Can we just say one more time how much we LOVE our families!

Dance, dance, dance!!

Mya just started taking dance this year and we've had so much fun! She's a blast  to watch, it's adorable to say the least!! She calls her teacher Miss Hillary and tries so hard to do exactly what she says! We put her in dance to try and help her get used to listening to a teacher since she'll be heading to preschool this coming fall. She's getting so big too fast! I wish I could push pause sometimes. Every stage she goes through I call my favorite but man right now is AWESOME! She is our little buddy :) We talk, laugh and she can interact so well at this point it's just fun. I really wanna pause right now...... she's a sweetie we sure love her!