the.big.2

Covenant Dean,
You are the big 2 today!
Mommy & Daddy love you dearly and you live up to your name of "promised" in so many ways.
You bring joy to us and your sister and can light up a room with your smiles, laughs and your ability to EAT. Trucks, tractors, trains and anything on wheels including wagons, strollers and bikes bring you great delight. You love puppies and most animals. You also love Thomas the Train, Winnie the Pooh and Daniel Tiger and love visits to the farm.
2 years ago you came into our world after a very hard labor. One year ago you were still wanting to "see" Mommy every night. And today, you are beginning the toddler stage of "no's" and tantrums. Yet, we wouldn't trade any of that for who you are.
Covenant-you are a "promise" to us from our Almighty and we pray you are in Perfect Hands.
Much love,
Mom & Dad

["Perfect Hands" is performed by The Mariners]

Covey is 1

Wait...one year already!? Really?! [click here to reminisce]
That's unreal...nostalgia (usually reserved for my dear husband) set in as I put together this little video and realized what a darling God blessed us with 1 year ago.
Amidst the still-not-sleeping through night months, nursing woes, no sleep, early crawler leads to early walker & overall not much sleep, he is such a fun little boy! He loves ANIMALS, wrestling with his big sister, BOOKS, trucks/planes/anything with wheels, throwing things, and not sleeping through the night :).

Covenant Dean...you were named because of God's promise of faithfulness and God has sure blessed us. Thanks you for all the joys you have brought to our family!

Psalm 84:12

Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

a hodge-podge

With the addition of #3 to our family, continued communication & paperwork for #2 in our family, travel & holidays in between...my blog has been sorely lacking.  Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it to catch up my social site when I get so far behind...

But then I take a deep breath and realize in years to come this blog will serve as an archive of sorts-almost a daily journal for our family and then I re-prioritize my dear blog.  Plus I have lots of friends and family who repeatedly "encourage" me to update.


So now you all take a deep breath, because there are LOTS of pictures to follow :)
Random pictures...Easter, Mother's Day weekend in Iowa, Chicago X2, & Memorial Day
[**they are NOT in chronological order**]

 Easter Sunday pictures

 Why not have a garage sale?  While they are lots of work, it is always fun to de-clutter my basement & go through closets...what is one man's "junk" is another's treasure, right? :)

This is not all mine...I always enlist my in-laws "junk" too!

 Haven loves garage sales because she gets to see friends like Rich & Vicki...

 ...and for some reason, I always get to see former students at my garage sales...T-Rev, you can come without us having a garage sale :)

 ...and Haven loves seeing her cousins & Grandma!

In early May we attended CAFO's Orphan Summit in Chicago.

It was neat to see our Ukrainian friend who is now attending college here in the states...what a testimony!

 ...and I caught up with a cousin of mine I haven't seen since high school!

 Mother's Day weekend we headed out to Iowa...Covenant did great on the trip & Grandma Iowa was ready to love on them both!

 Covenant's first coffee with Grandma Iowa and her friends.

 Haven playing on Lucy & Jackson's play set with Burkelle

It was a quick trip, so this was the only picture we got of the two "new" cousins, Kayleigh (on the left) was born 3/7/14 & Covenant on 3/26/14

 Uncle Butch & Aunt Kathy got to meet Covenant too

 Covenant meeting Uncle Buddy

 

 Ms Aisley meeting her new cousin...she is going to get a new baby brother or sister in Oct.

 

 Haven and Charlee at Logan's Roadhouse

 Haven's last day of preschool...here she is with her Big Kid Buddy, Ms. Jessica

 Garage saling is always fun, but going with the Baners is even MORE fun!

 Haven and Elle with Elle's garage sale purchase.

 Arlan and Haven camped out the other weekend...Covey and I held down the house :)

 

The end of May we headed up to Chicago to spend time with Arlan, who attended a conference for work.  So the kids and I tagged along and went to see the sites during the day and hung out with Daddy during the evening.

 Lincoln Park Zoo was fabulous!

 Haven was VERY determined to find the giraffes...and we did...inside eating!

 another highlight for her was Navy Pier's ferris wheel...so high, so slow & so fun!

 family selfies on the Ferris wheel

 a treasure find & suggested by our friend Tami (who we got to spend the day with but alas, I have no pictures!)...don't be fooled by these Donut Vault prices folks...these donuts are worth every cent & are enormous!

 The Lego store at Water Tower Place where Haven was elated to find one of her Lego Friends as a statue :)

 American Girl Doll store also at Water Tower

 While Rainforest Cafe was probably her favorite experience of this Chicago trip, it was NOT Covenant's...over stimulation, along with animal noises at high decibel levels combined with an interactive thunderstorm every 22 minutes proved too much for our 2 month old.

 Navy Pier

and every afternoon, we would head back to the hotel & rest up so we were ready to go when Daddy got done with his meetings

 Haven LOVES hotels!

 She was fascinated with this juggler in Millennium Park

 Daddy & Haven at the Bean

Covenant's first Bean picture

Easter with the Miller brood at Alan & Theresa's

Covenant and Carter had great seats!

Oh Gabe!  I love how cute & ornery you look all at once!

Yeah for Carissa being home!

Memorial Day Sunday at our place with the family...