tiny toes...

holding hands
that would be marker on Rosie's thumb
just keeping it real.

matching bracelets
I had these made just for their baptism

just love their faces on this one.

and those toes just make me smile.

Baptism photos

I wanted to make sure we made time for some pics at Nicholes of the kids in their baptism outfits.
I'm fairly certain that with three kids being baptized on the same day it is simply going to be a bit crazy.
I didn't want to discover after the day had passed that we didn't capture any photos. Thus the reason for
our trip to Nichole's (as if I need a reason for a visit to Nichole's)

Anthony

Yahaira

Rosie

just cause

this day was all about them...
and I do love those faces.

cupcakes...

when I asked yahaira what the best part about going to the courthouse was
she replied "cupcakes" but of course every day is just that much better when a cupcake
is part of it.

what a day...

a day we waited for.
when that day arrived time seemed to stand still.
until we walked into the courtroom, and then it became a blur.
So many moment, shared with so many amazing people.
memories forever etched in our hearts.
loving that last picture...taken as they walked away from the courthouse.
(a place they had never visited until their adoption day, a place we spent many hours wondering just what the future would hold)
a beautiful picture to complete our journey to adoption.
(the sweatshirts were a gift from my sister, so perfect, so thoughtful, so her.)

adoption day...

the formal part,
being sworn in, answering questions
and in just a few moments
it was done.
The Haycraft's are now a family of 8.

afterwards a small celebration with those who came to witness
this amazing moment.

Each night as a part of their prayers we include a thank you to God for bringing them
into our lives, for making us a family. The night before the adoption we were talking about the next day
and what would be happening. Yahaira wondered if God would know about the adoption day, I assured her he would.
Anthony wondered if we should write a note, I asked what he thought it should say, he said "thank you for our adoption"
he is my one of few words :) So the next day a note was wrote and attached to some balloons and after the hearing each of them let their balloon go. I thought that giving them a hands on, visual would make the thank you to God more understandable. In the larger picture on the bottom Rosie is saying "Thank you Jesus" as she watches her balloon drift towards the sky.

waiting...

Monday afternoon
waiting for our turn.
(imagine that a little more waiting)
this time it was just fine to wait...after all this time a few more minutes wasn't going to change a thing.

we had brought some balloons, a special daycare family brought some more.
thinking that just made my little ones so very very happy.

and of course while we waited it seemed like a perfect opportunity to capture a few photos
of all 6 kids.

Lippizzaner Stallions

The Lippizzaner Stallions were performing Tuesday night in Mankato. The kids and I along with Grandma Betty joined Linette and Grace, Liz and Pauly to take in the performance. It made for a long day/night, but I think everyone had a great time. Pretty amazing to watch these horses and riders perform with such precision.

Dance program

Monday afternoon Anthony's class held their dance program. During PhyEd they have been learning different dances and Monday was the highlight of what they had learned. He was so excited to have all of us there to watch, Linette even came with her daycare kids. Loved watching him perform, you could tell that not every song was popular a few times he looked towards the ceiling as tho to say "please just let this be done."

Happy Adoption Day!

The picture pretty much says it all.