Memorial Day weekend

What a weekend it's been! I wish I could share pictures because I have some pretty cute pictures to share. However, I cannot. Nicholas, my husband, dad and step mom and his sister are here visiting for the weekend. They were able to bring along two very sweet children with them. Currently they are fostering two awesome children and our family couldnt enjoy them anymore than we do. This afternoon we took all the kids swimming and they had a blast together. Yesterday we all attempted the mall together! It was quite interested...shopping with a teenage girl (Nick's sister) and 7 children! Definately a fun family moment. The children all play together awesome and it'll be a sad day in our family when they go back to their family! But so exciting for them to be reunited like that! Nick's dad and their little family had a graduation party this afternoon and so we brought the girls back here for a nap. Here in about an hour we will be heading to the park for pizza in the park, playground time and a family game of whiffle ball!! I love that our family can be so active together and have so much fun. The heat index today is 98 degrees with a temperature of 95. It's hot but we're keeping the kids all hydrated well. I couldnt be more blessed by the family I married into! I have a wonderful father in law and step-mother in law. A super strong mother in law and some great in-law siblings! Our girls are blessed with lots of cousins their age and our time with all them is always so much fun. Makes the weekends go way too fast though. I have many pictures I'd love to share but only one that I can share right now. With that being said, look how adorable Kynzie is with her daddy and the love of my life! Nicholas is such an amazing dad and I couldnt be more proud to have him as the father of my children and as my husband!!

Mailbox Diversity

So today the girls received a little bit of culture in the mailbox. Last week I ordered some African baby dolls from a lady here in the States who is originally from Africa. Our girls have several caucasion babydolls, an African American and an Asian baby. The thing I love about this experience is that the girls have never once asked questions about their skin differences or the appearance of their eyes or hair. To them it's just a normal everyday thing. I LOVE THAT! So often in today's society you hear comments about different races, with many stereotypes labeling the different cultures. Our playroom consists of a globe and play items of many different diversities. Kynzie is too young yet to really notice the differences and similiarities but Ashalyn absolutely loves getting the globe off the shelf and talk about different places. We discuss how we would have to get to Africa or China or Ukraine. First it started out by her thinking we could get there by boat. Makes sense in the mind of a 3 year old who has never flown in an airplane and travels to our family lakehouses to boat on a regular basis. But what I love most about this...throughout the day when playing with the other children I babysit for, I hear her say things like, "my brother and sister live in Africa. It's far far away. We will go see them someday." As far as the babydolls, the babies they play with most are the ones of different character traits than their own. I've never pointed out the differences in particular but we talk all the time about her favorite song..."Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, Brown, Yellow, Black or white. They are precious in His sight. Jesus loves all the children of the world.

Right now, we have absolutely no idea what is planned for our family. Currently we are working on our domestic homestudy. Our international is on hold at this point with immigration. Who knows how long that's going to take. Seems like we have been on a standstill for that for months. It's a bit discouraging but at the same time exciting that our domestic is rolling as quickly as it is. I KNOW that God has huge plans for our family. One day we WILL travel to Africa to pick up our babies there! Whether now or ten years from now, only God knows! While we wait, we pray for all the children who will join our family! If while we wait God chooses us to be parents to a state waiting child or a newborn adoption AWESOME!!!! OUr doors, hearts and arms are wide open at this point! We have said, "Yes God!" and if he plans on us becoming the "Rice family Duggers" I couldnt be more willing! 5,8, 10 even 14! I prayed last night, "Lord, whatever you want from us, use us! Use us however you desire." With that being said, we cannot wait to see where we will be. While we wait for our upcoming trip to Africa and on immigration. We are also on the wait list for an adoption within the United States. We want a huge family and if anyone were to ask us to raise their baby or child you better believe we will be praying for that opportunity and if that's where God leads us than how awesome is that? I cannot wait to see what's in store for us! The girls were so excited to open the box of babies and couldnt have been happier!

Our story in the life of a blog!

Blogging has never been my strong suit.  I'm very long winded but type and then delete most the time.   However I am really feeling the urge to blog again but with a new blog sight.  Our previous blog was started with the intentions to journal my first pregnancy!  Nothing of major context other than that of what your "typical" family has to blog about.  The pregnancy of our daughter Ashalyn was perfect.  Our first baby girl was in our arms and we blogged about the everyday happenings of spit up, first smile, to first words.  It was a cute little blog for 3 months!  After those 3 months I learned I was pregnant again, super excited but very nervous for our two children to be so close in age, especially since mommy hood was all new to me! 
The second pregnancy got blogged about but not near as much as the first.  I was not super mom yet and not near capable of trying to blog and keep up with household chores and the responsibility of a beautiful baby girl.  As we neared the final days of pregnancy number 2 I blogged much more.  She was born and all together I stopped blogging.  Not because I wasn't proud because believe me, she was just as beautiful as our first.  But she was so much more perfect! 
Now you're probably asking how in the world can a mother say her second born was more perfect than any of her other children?!?  I say that with 100% truth in that matter.  My second born was born sleeping at 8.5 months gestation.  A car accident with trauma to my stomach claimed the life of our second born.  In my world, she would of been more perfect if awake...but being a Christian I know without a doubt that my baby girl is flawless in a world of no hurt, no pain and no tears! Blogging stopped because I wasn't ready to face the world. I wasnt ready to share my thoughts and by far wasnt ready to show my weaknesses to people I didn't know. A long lost friend, previous co worker, found me on facebook and asked me my story. She had seen pictures I posted of me holding my sweet baby. And she asked me to share my story, she said that I should blog about it. So I began to blog about the life of my baby girl, Miranda Lyn. Days went by, months and years. Blogging was my out. I soon found myself meeting other women who shared somewhat similiar stories. And as that time went I miscarried and then carried my little miracle baby. Another baby girl, born "perfect" in the worldly manner. 10 fingers, 10 toes and beautiful!! Our two living children are the lights of our world. But our family is not complete. We tried again...and again....both resulting in miscarriages due to the previous trauma to my uterus. Saddened to find that for me to carry another child I'd be placed at a high risk pregnancy. But I am not one to dwell on that. My God is so big! My God provides alternatives!! And with just that He placed many opportunities before us to be wtih children. And He placed the biggest and most burning desires in our hearts! That desire that led us straight to the path of Adoption! We know we would like a big family. However many God chooses for us. And we know without a doubt that adoption is the way for us. We are open to all races and gender and pretty open to all ages. Whereever God leads us to we are ready to say, "Yes! Yes God!!" So with that being said..this blog is about our adoption process. It's about parenting our little ones and getting them accostumed to whatever situation will be placed before us. Whether its a cross cultural experience or a matter within our very own families, a newborn infant, twins/triplets or even octuplets! Maybe even a teen mom who just needs a little guidence! Whatever it is, our prayer is that the Lord uses us! That he protects our family as a whole and guides us into His direction!! So please feel free to join us on this super exciting journey!!!! :-) The Rice journey of a lifetime!!