My husband, Eric, is the love of my life. We have been married almost 15 years and we still believe we have the most beautiful, romantic love story in the history of the world (though we admit to being just a tad biased!).  God beautifully scripted our romance 15 years ago, and has faithfully scripted our marriage ever since.  We are each other’s best friend, and even through the storms that life brings, we have found that when God is at the center, even the hard times only draw us closer to each other.  Eric and I love to talk, dream, brainstorm, read inspiring biographies, go on bike rides, and sing together.  We love raising our kids together and find great delight in each stage of parenting.  We share the same passion for awakening the modern church and rescuing orphans.  I personally consider Eric to be one of the greatest men of God I’ve ever known.  He is an anointed preacher of the Gospel, an encourager-extraordinaire, and has a heart full of compassion for the weak.  I have the privilege of witnessing Eric’s life behind the scenes, day in and day out.  He is a man of integrity, honor and courage.  Though he readily admits to being a work-in-progress, I can honestly attest to the fact that he lives what he preaches, even in the private aspects of his daily life.  It is a tremendous blessing to be married to such a God-fearing and loving man.   To read more about our love story, click here.

My kiddos, Hudson, Harper, Kipling and Avonlea, are the other great loves of my life.

It is impossible for me to talk about my kids without smiling!  Even when they are fussy and demanding and overtired they are absolutely the joy and delight of my every day.  Eric and I have far too many “pet” names for our little ones, which include (but are not limited to):

               Schnuggle-bunnies   |   Bundaloupes   |   Bundles of big time love   |   Little lumps of love   |   Pumpkin pies   

                         Sweet potatoes   |   Preshy pies (i.e. “precious” pies)   |   Busteroo Bonzai (this one is Hudson’s)    

          Little lollipop (this one is Harper’s)   |   Schnuggles and cuddles   |   Chunks of cuddles   |   Big piles of good moods

Okay, I know that most of these make absolutely no sense. It’s one of those things where you have to be there. These nicknames, when combined with a cartoonish tone of voice and followed by a plethora of hugs, cuddles and kisses, seem perfectly normal in our house. Especially once you encounter our absolutely adorable, schnuggable children! (Not that we are biased.)

Here are a few more details about the cutest kiddos in the world:

Harper, age 3, (a.k.a “Pea”) is a sweet, girly, feminine bundle of cuddles.  We adopted her from Korea when she was 5 ½ months old, and it has been one of the greatest blessings of our lives!  She loves the color pink, loves frilly dresses and loves bows in her hair.  In addition to all of her girly fluff, she loves to wear goggles and sunglasses around the house – even when she bumps into things because she can’t see.  It is not uncommon to see Harper all dressed up in a pretty dress, with pink bows in her hair, and a pair of bright green goggles over her eyes!  Harper is painfully adorable!  Everywhere we go, people stop and give her things (like candy and toys) because she is so magnetic.  At Disneyland, the characters will ignore the other kids waiting in line in order to play with Harper for an extra-long period of time.  Harper’s favorite things are cuddles, kisses, and her pink fuzzy blanket. She also adores chocolate and ice cream – a sweet tooth for a sweet girl!  To read more about Harper’s adoption, visit our adoption stories page.

Hudson Jack, age 5, (a.k.a “B”) is a bundle of non-stop curiosity, creativity and energy!  He loves to come up with elaborate inventions and re-arrange our house in the process.  It is not unusual for us to find various household items in extremely odd places – like a jar of honey in the bathtub, or daddy’s dress-shoes in the oversized decorative bowl in our living room.  Usually these odd discoveries are the result of Hudson’s imaginative world, and he will always tell you the story of how and why he needed to place the item there for one of his inventions.  He loves to make art projects and tape them up all over our house.  He also loves to give gifts!  Nearly everyday he decides it is someone’s “birthday” and he has a present wrapped and ready for them.  The other day he informed me that it was my “birthday” and the presented me with a gift bag – inside the bag were his and Harper’s kid-sized toothbrushes (still wet from being used that morning) and a tube of their Winnie-the-Pooh toothpaste.  So with Hudson, you just never know what surprises are around the corner next!  Hudson’s dream in life is to be a rescuer of orphans, and his first mission trip to Haiti is coming up in January 2010.  He can’t wait and talks about it daily.

Kipling, age 1, (a.k.a. “Dubber”) is all boy.  We adopted Kip (domestically) last November, and he has been such a joy and delight to our family!  He has huge blue/green eyes (which are the spitting image of Bex, his tummy-mommy) and an infectious, ever-ready smile.  He loves to explore, climb, grunt, and discover.  He was crawling even before 6 months, and is now toddling everywhere as fast as his little legs can carry him.  Dub is always on the go, always tackling a new challenge, and yet he is always ready to share a cuddle and a smile, no matter what great adventure he’s in the middle of.  He has recently learned a few words: “Da-da”, “Ma-ma”, “This” and “Uh-oh!”  To read more about Kip’s adoption, visit our adoption stories page.

Avonlea (a.k.a “Avy-Rosie”) was our fun surprise from God.  Right when we brought Kipling home from the hospital as a newborn, we learned we were pregnant with baby number 4.  Avy is a beautiful, bright-eyed baby.  From day one, she was super-alert and her eyes were sparkly and watchful.  She is also an extremely happy and social baby.  She started smiling (not just the gassy smiles!) at 4 weeks old.  Now, she grins from ear to ear whenever anyone talks to her.  She loves to giggle and belly laugh, she is very musical - she bounces and dances whenever she hears any kind of melody.  She loves to watch her siblings play and roam – and she and Kipling have already started to develop a hilarious baby language between them.  Avy is such a sweet, refreshing gift from God to our home.  She and Kip are only 7 months apart, which makes life somewhat challenging at times, and yet we wouldn’t trade it for anything!