Family of Five

This past weekend our little family of 5 decided to take a little trip away. Jason and I thought we should get a little trip in with our family of 5 before Lucy comes, so with the help of a generous Christmas gift from Jason's consultant work, we reserved a room at the Radisson in Bloomington, MN that contains the Water Park of America. We didn't tell the kids until we left. Needless to say, they were filled with glee!

During our adoption process Jason and I have had multiple conversations about not neglecting the children we have been blessed with by focusing all our attention on Lucy and the adoption. We have prayed for our children and even read a book that was recommended to us called Grace - Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. It gave us a new perspective on how we are handling the discipline and instruction of our kids. Seriously, I was beginning to think, "how could add another child into this family when we could not even get our current family under control". We were having a few issues with our oldest son when we decided to step back and focus on our parenting and spending more time as a family. This book and a lot of prayer has really helped. Believe me, we still have our days, but with this perspective of the grace shown to us by our Heavenly Father and the need for that same grace to be given to our children by us as parents has helped me in dealing with issues that come up. Anyway, this weekend away was a time to be together and enjoy our family of 5 before we become a family of 6. : )

"Aiden, are you having fun?"

Ian trying out the surfing.

We stopped at Lego Land at the Mall of America

I think Izzy was a bit delirious at this point. She was so tired.

The boys checking out all the cool creations with Legos