Finally...

OK everyone...

Finally got a picture of the four of us! Hope this works for now.

Whole New Page...except...

OK, I got everything updated except our picture. I just realized that I don't have one of all four of us...I'll work on it! But in the meantime, here's some other pictures of our newest addition.

Krennan's 1st day

he's here!

I know, I know, no pictures at this time. When I get home, I'll update everything...I've got to basically redo my whole page, so I will when I get time.

BUT!! He's beautiful and we're having a great time with him!

It's finally time!!

OK folks...no pictures, but it's finally time!! We're leaving in a matter of HOURS to go and bring Krennan home. He is supposed to be born on Tuesday. Please pray for a safe journey, a safe delivery and that our families will be safe while we're gone.

Mother's Day Flowers

My beautiful card and flowers for Mother's Day.
The roses are from Ron and Kaleaha picked the bouquet
on the right...so sweet!

Bicycle Rider

As you know, Kaleaha got a new bicycle for Christmas, she's is such a great bike rider. We're so proud of her. She can brake really quickly and can turn on a dime...well...maybe a quarter!

New Family Picture

Do you know how hard it is to get a picture with the THREE of us? Usually one of us is taking the pictures, so this is our first family picture since our Christmas Card picture. Too bad we can't photoshop out about 50 lbs...

Easter weekend pictures...

Saturday morning we had pictures made with the Easter Bunny. Saturday afternoon there was an Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by Gran's friends, so we went with Eli, Debe and Ashley and her boys. It was a lot of fun. Kaleaha got tons of eggs and the kids all had a goodie cup of candy to take home.

This is the quietest Easter that we've spent in a long time. Church that morning, home for a nap, then back to church for the Easter Cantata. The choir members did a fabulous job as usual. I wish I could sing like some of those people.

More Easter Egg Hunt pictures

More Easter Egg Hunt pictures...

A day at the races

As promised, here are some pics of our day at the race track. My niece, Ashley, with her boys, Alex and Ben and Jake. Ashley's mom, Debe, and my other niece, Mattie. Kaleaha wasn't brave enough to ride with me at first so Debe took her our while Alex and I raced Ashley and Ben. Then Ashley and I switched kids and raced again! Then...Kaleaha decided to ride with me! We had a blast!

Really behind, I know!

I'm sorry I haven't updated lately. I had some free time today and I was going to load you up with all the exciting things that we've been doing BUT...my web album won't let me post any pictures at the moment. I'll try again later, or get my computer guy on it!

We've had family in from out of town, so we've been hanging out with them. We did a picnic, go-karts, playdates, they had a baby born. Lots of exciting things. It's been great to see them all.

Now, since I never have anything to brag about that I've done, I'm going to take a few lines here and do that!! It's been a really busy couple of weeks. I've also been selling Scentsy like you wouldn't believe!!! Holy cow! I've sold over $3200.00 in 7 weeks!! Our bowling league is almost over and I bowled a 636 series last week. Maybe I can top that on Tuesday for our last night. Then to end my week a won a MAJOR award for my region at work. It's my second time to win and I totally did not expect it!! So...it's been a great week for me!!

We'll meet with Kayla again this week and visit with her. Our talks are going really well with her. She's awesome! We've retained an attorney for the adoption finalization, we've been baby shopping and now we're getting ready to paint. So if any of you have a few hours to kill and you are handy with a paint brush...come on over!

Kaleaha is sad about school almost being over. She doesn't REALLY realize that she won't get to see all of her friends, but she does understand that school is almost out. She keeps asking if, when school gets out, we can go on our long vacation again. She's talking about when we went to TN last summer. It was a very long trip and we ARE going on another long trip this summer, but I don't think she realizes all the changes that will happen after this "vacation".

Ron's still busy doing computer stuff and trying to decide what he wants for his birthday. He just happened to be off work last Saturday and so he was excited to be able to volunteer his service for the tornado victims in Mena. He said it was really sad. He had just been there a few months ago and now the house was destroyed. We are very blessed here in our area.

In other news...I've been hooked by Facebook. It's kinda scary how addictive all that stuff is. I ran into a friend of mine from High School and she said that since most of us are so spread out now, they are planning our reunion through FB. So, I went home and signed up to help out, so it looks like it will be an extremely busy summer for us.

I think that's all for the moment. I will try to post pics later!

Weekly news update

Hi everyone, I just wanted to take a second to tell those of you who are calling, texting, emailing, etc, about our new addition...THANK YOU!! We really appreciate your concern, it helps to know that we aren't the only ones who are praying for this to happen.

We have been keeping in touch pretty frequently with Kayla (the birth mom). The more I visit with her the more I like her. She's beautiful, sweet, funny and has a great sense of humor. I talked to her last week and she mentioned doing a web cam conference call with her and her caseworker. So...we did that today. It was very cool!! It's nice to talk and text and email and all that jazz, but it's more fun to be able to see that person while you're talking to them! Thank goodness for technology. We hope to do another call two weeks from now. I thought today's call went really well, I felt like Kayla and I were both able to get some questions and concerns out in the open. I'm grateful that she is willing to put out the effort to build a relationship with us.

Hopefully we'll do some more exciting things in the next few weeks and I'll be able to take pictures and post them too! Anybody who LOVES to paint, call me. I can hook you up!

Please continue to keep both our family and Kayla's in your prayers!

On a lighter note...I think I mentioned earlier that I was going to start selling Scentsy. If you guys don't know what this stuff is...IT'S AWESOME! Look it up and let me know what you think. These things are selling like crazy. In less than three weeks, I've had almost $1000 in sales! It's awesome!!!

Please check out my website and feel free to order!

www.scentsy.com/smichellesmith

Hmmmm.....

This made me stop and think about all the events that have happened in my life. I thought maybe it might make you guys think too!

1. Maybe. . We were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

2. Maybe . . . when the door of happiness closes, another opens; but often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don't even see the new one which has been opened for us.

3. Maybe . . . it is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.

4. Maybe . . . the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

5. Maybe . . . the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

6. Maybe. .. . You should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.

7. Maybe . . . there are moments in life when you miss someone -- a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child -- so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.

8. Maybe. .. . The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

9. Maybe. . You should always try to put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that something could hurt you, it probably will hurt the other person, too.

10. Maybe. . You should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them alone. Profound!

11. Maybe. . Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours.

12. Maybe . . . happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.

13. Maybe . . . you shouldn't go for looks; they can deceive; don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

14. Maybe. . you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

15. Maybe . . . you should try to live your life to the fullest because when you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling but when you die, you can be the one who is smiling and everyone around you crying.

Maybe .. . . you could send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life, to those who can and do make you smile when you really need it, to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down, and to all those whom you want to know that you appreciate them.

Quick Note

OK EVERYONE!!

No time for major news, but here's a quick update.

First, we are still talking with Kayla several times per week. Please keep both her and our family in your prayers. We pray that she will pick us to raise her baby, but all of the people involved need your prayers.

Second, I did decide to sell Scentsy, so don't you all fight over who wants to do my first party. I'll have plenty of time to get you all in!! Just get me your date early. Remember weddings and graduations are coming up. You can't have candles in dorm rooms, but you could still smell good!

www.scentsy.com/smichellesmith

Scentsy Seller

I am VERY seriously considering selling Scentsy products, if you guys haven't seen these products and are "smell-lovers" you have GOT to try them out. You can visit their website at http://www.scentsy.com/ and view their products, but we got hooked on them last summer and I have hooked up a bunch of my friends and family with these things. Seriously, if you love candles, but not the smoke or the hazard, the Scentsy warmers are the THING for you. Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about Scentsy. I promise, you'll be addicted!!

Today's news

Hey guys, I know everyone is anxiously waiting for news from us. We still don't have anything 100% solid to report. We are frequently in touch with the baby's birth mom and we are building a relationship with her. She is a very sweet and funny young lady. We have found through this process that we have a lot in common. It's been fun talking with her. We are keeping her in our prayers and we ask that you do the same. If this is the Lord's will then it will work out however it is supposed to.

Do any of you know how HARD that is for me to say? ME, the control freak!! I can't stand the suspense and I want to hurry up and get everything ready, but I'm forcing myself to wait!! I hope the Lord appreciates my patience... :o) Keep us in your prayers too!

This week's update

Sorry, guys. No new pictures, we just haven't done anything worth taking pictures of. A couple of bits of news though...

1st-Our cousin, Christy, is having a BOY!! Her and her husband, Greg, have a little girl, Madison, that is around 5 years old and they found out on Thursday that this one is a boy! We are SUPER excited for them and send out our Congrats to their family.

2nd-We've been anxiously awaiting news on "our" addition and hadn't really heard anything until Friday afternoon. Our friend that originally made the call about the baby to us, called and gave us the birth mother's phone number. We are supposed to call her tomorrow, so all of you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE add us to your prayers.

You know, it's funny. We weren't looking for or even thinking about another child. We were happy and busy with Kaleaha and I may have mentioned this before, but we had decided that if our family was meant to be larger, then the Lord would make the opportunity fall into our laps.

I was talking to one of the workers for LDS Family Services this week and he posed the question; How did I FEEL about this? I can honestly answer that I feel confident that this is the path that our lives are supposed to take. Over the years that we've been involved in the adoption process we have received SEVERAL calls about a baby here or there that we could possibly get. Some of those seemed like good possibilities at the time and then, for whatever reason, they didn't work out. I know without a doubt, looking back, that the Lord was waiting for us to have the opportunity to raise Kaleaha. She's such a special little girl and it's been so much fun to talk to her about the possibility of having a baby brother or sister. At first, she was not excited, but over the last couple of days she has started telling people that there is a very special baby coming to live with us. How I hope that she' s right!!

Now that the opportunity is here, we realize that we are SO excited about this. A little stressed too, because of all of things to be done, but I know that if this is meant to be that everything will work out in the Lord's time. Please keep our family in your prayers!!

Crazy Life

I know I say this everytime I go a few days without posting something, but our life is just too crazy. My nephews started basketball so we've gone to a couple of games, plus bowling and work and now gymnastics. Who really has time to work??

Last week, Kaleaha had an accident while she was at Gran's house and we had to take her to the doctor on Monday. 2 antibiotic shots, a Tetnus shot and 10 days of antibiotics, plus unlimited daily treatments... Not a great week.

Then we were sitting at dinner the other night talking with some friends who are expecting a baby. Let me preface this part by saying that people have been asking us left and right lately if we're going to add to our family. Ron and I had already decided that we would not pursue any additions, but if something fell into our laps, that would be fine. So we're having a nice peaceful (with a four year old) dinner with our friends talking about their baby and my cell phone rings.

It's a call from a close family friend who has information about a girl who wants to place her baby for adoption with us. She's heard about us from a mutual friend. WHOA! I was almost speechless. That's so far away from anything we were even thinking about until we started discussing it later and realized that maybe that's the reason for all of the questions about family lately. We both are praying for all of this to work out however it the Lord means for it to, but WOW!!

Did I mention that this baby is due in 6 weeks??????

Then, I got sick on Thursday and have not felt human until last night. It's been a crazy week!!

Stay tuned for the next installment of "How Our World Turns". Keep us in your prayers, we're going to need them.

Gymnastics Star

Here's our new Gymnastics star. We finally took the plunge and signed Kaleaha up for Gymnastics. She appears to love the class, but I really think she's just in it for the fashion!