Luke is 1!

Luke - 1 Year Old!

March 10th

Woohoo! I am one! My first birthday rolled around a few weeks ago and I finally got to see what all of the birthday hype was about. It was fun being the center of attention for the day (my sister usually claims that spot). Here are some pictures from my big day:

Mom seemed happy to have survived my first year!

I rode the carousel for the first time (not impressed as you can see on my face).

Later in the evening, we had some friends over for pizza and cake. Check out my cool cake!
And my very own smash cake.
Turns out, I didn't care a bit about the smash cake. Everybody was staring at me saying something about "digging in" but I just wasn't feeling it. Mom was recording the whole thing but it is too boring to even show you. I put my finger in the cake one time and was done. Talk about overrated. This next face sums up my feelings on the matter of the smash cake.

I did have fun with the presents though and loved getting some "boy" things to play with around the house.

Hitting the one year mark turned out to be pretty cool and I am enjoying my new found maturity. I weigh 20lbs 12oz and made it a whole year without cutting any teeth (pretty impressive I think). I like to play peek-a-boo, clap my hands, play with balls, chase my sister, and swing outside.
My newest interest almost gave Mom a heart attack the other day. She walked through the playroom and found me like this:
Up on top of the play table eating my Cheerios. I figured out how to climb up the chairs and chill out up there. It must not be that big of a deal because Mom grabbed her camera to snap a picture before she made me get down. It stinks because now she moves the chairs away from the table when I am playing in there.

That concludes my monthly updates! Now that I am one I will probably be too busy to maintain the blog, so I'll be turning it back over to Mom. I'll try to remind her to keep you posted on what's happening with me.
Signing out,

Luke

We should be friends

Chad and I have a running list of famous people that we are convinced we should befriend and hang out with all the time. They are people that just seem so genuine and real and generally point us straight to Christ while acknowledging their own sinful humanity. People that follow Christ so hard that it makes you want to be a better follower as well. Steven Curtis Chapman and his family are right at the top of the list.

This SCC admiration is not a new thing, as both Chad and I grew up listening to his music. We also know the Chapmans as adoption advocates and founders of Show Hope, an organization that helps Christian families reduce the financial barriers to adoption. They brought three sweet girls from China into their family and have worked tirelessly to promote orphan care. More recently, through the tragic loss of one of their daughters, my admiration of and respect for the Chapman family has grown. I remember the day I heard on the radio of their loss, in the car traveling for work, and have followed their story of grief closely. Mary Beth Chapman published a beautifully written book, Choosing to See, that gives her personal story from childhood all the way through her journey of mourning and grieving for the daughter she lost. She is refreshingly honest and hides no detail of her own struggles through her life. I would highly recommend her book (as long as you have kleenex close by). God most definitely used her book to speak directly to me about His will for our family and adoption.

Chad and I were able to attend SCC's Songs & Stories tour with Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson here in Jackson a few weeks ago. It was AWESOME! Now, we were positive we would LOVE the concert before we ever went, but it was one of those experiences that you didn't want to end. Not only were the three artists featured incredibly talented, it was so neat to hear the stories behind the songs they had passionately written throughout different times in their lives.

A portion of the concert was devoted to sharing about Show Hope and its mission. SCC shared the song "When Love Takes You In." It is a song he wrote after their first adoption journey during the formative time of establishing Show Hope. While he sang the song, the screens showed clips of families (including his) meeting their adoptive children for the first time and welcoming them into their families. Talk about emotional for the two of us! It was so beautiful and made me even more excited about the time coming when we will hold Lottie in our arms for the first time! Although that exact video is not available for me to share with you, I am including the music video of his song as well as the lyrics so beautifully written.

I know you’ve heard the stories


But they all sound too good to be true


You’ve heard about a place called home


But there doesn’t seem to be one for you


So one more night you cry yourself to sleep


And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes


A miracle starts with the beat of a heart


When love takes you home and says you belong here


The loneliness ends and a new life begins


When love takes you in

And somewhere while you’re sleeping


Someone else is dreaming too


Counting down the days until


They hold you close and say I love you


And like the rain that falls into the sea


In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go


There is nothing that could ever cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart


When love takes you home and says you belong here


The loneliness ends and a new life begins


When love takes you in it takes you in for good


When love takes you in

If I haven't said enough about SCC and his family, check out the comments written by Andrew Peterson who has been on tour with SCC these past few months. He says it much better than I can.

http://www.rabbitroom.com/2012/03/what-i-learned-from-scc/

I am so thankful that God has used, and continues to use, the Chapman family to encourage others like me.