Halle's Happy Home

Random Summer

2009-10-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

This album is just some fun, random pictures from early in the summer.....Halle's first corn on the cob, our refinished hardwood floors, Halle's "chariot" (her bike trailer), and more. I hope you enjoy them!

Random Summer

Gone, But Not Forgotten

2009-10-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I'm sure you think I've entirely forgotten about blogging. I haven't! My lack of blogging has been a combination of busyness and frustration. Our summer (and now fall!) has been incredibly exciting and busy! My frustration was with trying to load pictures onto the blog. It was taking FOREVER, and then I would just think I'd have it, and the pictures would move! Or disappear! Or be in the wrong order! Anyways, I have been trying to learn how to blog more efficiently, and am hoping I have it figured out.

I think most of you know that we have a new addition to our family! Evan Michael Lott arrived on July 24, weighing 4 lbs., 10 oz, and 18 inches long. He is sooooo precious, and you will be hearing and seeing much more about him. Because of his arrival, we are planning to change the name of our blog. I'm still trying to decide on the name, but will let you know soon.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get caught up on our summer pictures, and "practice" with my new techniques. Hopefully, they will work! I'm looking forward to staying in touch with all of you through the blog, and hope to do a much better job of it in the coming weeks and months.

Feel free to leave me feedback. I love ideas!

My first summer update is going to be of Halle's Adoption Day! What an exciting and long-awaited event!!! We were blessed to have all of our local family and friends there with us at the adoption hearing. Afterwards, we all went out for a special lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. It was an incredibly joyous and emotional day for us. Our little Halle Simone Lott is a miracle to us, and a testimony of God's working in our lives and the lives of those around us. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving her to us!

This is an album of pictures from that special day!

adoption day

I know this is a rather lengthy post, but I want to include this brief essay I wrote of my thoughts after Halle's adoption hearing. Some of you may have seen this on Facebook, but I wanted to include it anyways.

I have been wanting to sit and write my thoughts ever since Halle's adoption was finalized. What a precious day that was! June 11 will always be a momentous day in our family history. There is really not time to write all the details of Halle's story....the way the Lord brought her to us, the way He provided each need we had along the way, the seeming roadblocks in the process to finalization, and finally the fulfillment of the legal aspect of our adoption journey 19 months after we began.

We chose Halle's name because one of the meanings is "unexpected gift." Her coming to us happened so quickly, at least we only knew about her for a few weeks before her arrival. But the wait before that seemed very long....11 years of waiting, praying, wondering, questioning. The roller coaster of hope and disappointment is hard to describe to those who have never been there. But God was so faithful to us and so patient with us through each day. God had a plan all along. I often think of the verse, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life."

Halle's adoption hearing was such a special time. Brian's family was able to come - his mom and dad, four aunts, an uncle, and his cousin and his family. It was so sweet of them to take off work and make the trip to Pittsburgh to share in our special day. My family all lives too far away, but we know that they were with us in heart.

Our attorney was a Christian, and what a blessing that was. He had told us that each of us (Brian and I) would be asked to take the stand and testify. He said that he would ask us questions regarding the permanence of the adoption and our understanding of that, and of our responsibilities as Halle's parents.

Brian went first. I sat there, holding Halle, looking at Brian, then at our family sitting behind us, then at Halle, and was just amazed at the goodness of God in placing such a precious gift in our family. Then it was my turn to take the stand. The attorney began to ask his questions, and as I answered, I began to feel overwhelmed, not just by the emotion of finalizing Halle's place in our family, but at the beautiful picture of how God placed me in His family. I do not have the attorney's questions word for word, but I am going to try to remember them the best I can and share them with you. If you know the Lord, I hope that you will be just as moved as I was as you are reminded of what God has done for you.

The attorney asked,

"Do you realize that by consenting to this adoption, you are acknowledging that you have chosen this child to be your own?"

"Do you realize that according to law, that means she is your child permanently, and that this decree is irrevocable?"

"Do you understand that irrevocable means that this cannot be changed?"

"Do you understand that Halle is being removed from the bloodline of her natural family, and is being placed into the bloodline of your family?"

"Do you understand that this means that she is your legal heir, and is entitled to all the rights of that position?"

"Do you understand that you are responsible for her care and keeping?"

I know that there were more questions, but these particular questions and my answers kept resounding in my mind. I learned that, legally, the bond with an adopted child is stronger even than that of a biological child because you have deliberately chosen this child. You cannot just "change your mind."

What a joy it is to us to have Halle! She is my daughter, born of and in my heart. The certainty and joy I felt in answering each of these questions "yes" cannot be described.

How much more is it a wondrous thing that God has chosen me to be His child! I have been removed from my "natural" bloodline, and have placed into the family of God by the blood of His Son. I am an heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ. He is responsible for my care, and He will never leave me nor forsake me. His commitment to me is not based on my love for Him, or obedience to Him, but on His choice to obligate Himself to me. My placement into His family is irrevocable. How beautiful! How precious! How humbling! I praise Him for His love for me in placing me in His family, and I thank and praise Him for placing Halle in our family.

I am so grateful to every person who has prayed us so faithfully. You have a huge part in our rejoicing. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. It seems that God may add to our family again by adoption. We have been contacted by a birth mother who is due in August. Please pray for the Lord's will regarding this, and that He will work out the details for His glory.

I'll add more soon!

~Niki

Family Pictures

2009-06-09T06:33:00.001-07:00

Dear Family & Friends,

We've had such a busy spring.....it has been wonderful! We went to Tennessee the last week of April. Brian preached a conference for my Dad, and we were able to spend several days with them there. While we were there, we asked my friend Angela is she would meet us and do family pictures for us. She is such a wonderful photographer! We went to the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and spent about an hour doing pictures. Halle was being so ornery....she was much more interested in playing in the grass than in posing for pictures. I was afraid that she didn't give any good shots, but I was totally wrong. Angela captured her smiling, serious, silly....I just love it! Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy these pictures as much as we have!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Memorial Day

2009-05-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! It started with a picnic at our house after church Sunday night. We had 28 here, with loads of food. We had a wonderful time of fellowship, which finished up with singing around the campfire until late. I hope our neighbors enjoyed being serenaded! Bro. Dave Foster talked me into trying out the upright bass (you can see the picture in the slideshow). It was really fun, and not very hard at all!

Monday morning, we headed for Butler, and went to the parade. Halle like most of it, but was a little afraid of the noise. Then, we went to Hannahstown Road Baptist Church for their church picnic. We had a great time, and Halle had lots of fun running around playing. She liked the other kids, but Grampee was her favorite playmate! We headed home that evening and put together the bicycle trailer her Daddy bought for her. He rode her around in it for a little while...she loved it! I told her it was her princess chariot. I didn't get pictures of that yet, but hopefully will soon.

I hope that each of you had a wonderful holiday as well!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Walking and Talking

2009-03-14T20:43:00.001-07:00

I am finally getting caught up to date on Halle's pictures. January and February were busy, but enjoyable, months. We had lots of snow, lots of family visits, and lots of new changes in our little girl. My parents and my youngest three siblings were here off and on for several weeks in January and February while my mom was undergoing testing at Cleveland Clinic. We really enjoyed having them here, and it was great for Halle to get to know all of them better.

While they were here in January, with lots of encouragement and help from my brother, John, and sister, Cierra, Halle learned to walk. She really had not had a lot of interest in walking until right before Christmas, and she was a quite a chicken. She would take one or two steps away from the couch or Brian or me, and then she would promptly sit and crawl. She could stand up in the middle of the floor without help, but then she didn't know what to do! It was so funny! Thanks to John and Cierra for giving her a little extra incentive in the walking department. Now, she's on the go all the time!!!

Halle is quite the little communicator. She loves to talk and sing. She says lots of words. If you ask her what her name is, she says, "Halle" (It sounds more like Ha-yee). Then if you ask her how old she is, she holds up her finger (see picture below). She has been doing that since right after her birthday. Now she also can say, "Un", for one. She is starting to put a lot of phrases together, "pick up", "help you", "thank you", and more. She also can identify almost all of her body parts....head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, chin, mouth, tongue, arms, hands, legs, knees, belly, and can say most of them. She also says "dress" and "tights". She likes shoes and boots. She repeats almost everything you say. She like yogurt for breakfast and says "Oh-gurt". She also says hot, cup, coffee, milk, juice, and more. She also knows the sign language for "more", thanks to Sarah at church.

Halle learned to roll her eyes. It was so hilarious!

Halle loves her tea set. This was one of her silly games, carrying the cup around in her teeth.

This was right after Christmas, and she was having a "tea party" with my mom and several of her stuffed animals.

As you can tell in a lot of these pictures, Halle also loves her little rocking chair (which was her Daddy's when he was little). She says "Otty, otty", and rocks her baby and her animals.

Her big, blue eyes get comments everywhere we go.

She is very ornery, and has quickly learned the word "no". She can also say "yes", but somehow, it doesn't seem to come as easily!

I'm not sure what this face was about!

Rocking her baby. She is very attached to this baby doll, and it goes everywhere with her. She sleeps with it, plays with it, and it sits in the high chair with her when she eats. It's so cute!

Now rocking both babies. The big baby doll is almost bigger than she carry, but she tries. She calls it Abby, as she does every baby she sees in public. We have a baby at church named "Abby", and she absolutely loves her. So, every baby is Abby!

Cheese!

Halle loves my brother, John. She says his name all the time, and enjoyed playing with him when he was here.

Halle and my sister, Cierra

Halle and Grandma Tami had lots of fun!

In the closet, where Halle is looking, is "Mrs. B". Halle is very afraid of the vacuum cleaner, so my mom drew a face, taped it on the vacuum cleaner, and called it Mrs. B. Now, Halle loves Mrs. B. She goes into the kitchen every day calling, "Bee, Bee." She isn't happy until we open the broom closet, and let her say hello to Mrs. B. She likes to tell her good night too. It's so funny, and has really helped Halle not to be so afraid. Thanks, Mom!

Halle and my brother, Asher. She loves Asher, and can also say his name. She points to his picture on the wall, and says "Azher".

This is the face she makes when she wants to give you a kiss. She is a very affectionate baby, and loves kisses. Of course, I love that!

Halle and Grandpa Gary playing in the living room

"Hello?!" Halle loves to play with the phone, and walks around with it up to her ear saying, "Ello, ello, ello". She doesn't like to talk on the phone when someone is actually talking to her....she just wants to look at it. However, she is starting to say "hello", and "love you" to her daddy and her grandma on the phone.

Lovin' Daddy's Steeler toboggan

She thinks she's soooo big!

Halle loves glasses of any kind, especially Daddy's sunglasses.

Here, she is playing with my computer. One night I came in, and she had Internet Explorer opened 38 times. It almost crashed my computer!

Blowing kisses

So sleepy

One

Trying Grampee's glasses on (she says "gaases")

This is Halle's "silly face", and here it's a very messy face, because she and Daddy had been licking the beater from my mixer. I was making peanut butter pies.

"Mmmmm....good"

She has grown very attached to her blankies. She likes anything silky, but especially loves these two blankies, and sleeps with them.

Two of her favorite toys

Halle is so expressive. She keeps us laughing.

I love this face! Is she critiquing her own art here, or what?

My curly girly!

Halle got these new, sparkly pink shoes last week. She loves them sooooo much! She brought them to me the other day, one under each arm, and wanted me to put them on her. Of course, I did....even though I had to change her whole church outfit because it was red!

Mommy & her silly baby at Panera

Having fun

Halle & Grampee at Panera

Halle was "touring" Panera, trying to make friends with everyone. She was quite pleased with herself.

Halle & Gramee

In the tub....one of Halle's favorite places!

"What did you say?"

My blue-eyed baby

Running from Mommy

Such a beautiful smile...and all those teeth! She has 16 teeth now, I guess for being 16 months old. She has pretty much been on track since she was four months old, that every four months she has the same number of teeth as her age. Thankfully, her mouth will soon be full, and we can stop teething!

Heading "up", as Halle says, with Mommy close behind.

Surprise!

We are so thankful for our precious baby girl.

The Christmas Season

2009-02-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

Finally....some long-awaited Christmas pictures. These are the "before" Christmas pictures. I'll post Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together later.

This year, we decided to buy an artificial tree. We put it together while Halle was napping. All it had on it was the lights. When she woke up from her nap, her daddy brought her down to see the tree. She was still very sleepy, but was quite amazed at our 9-ft. Christmas tree. These pictures were of her first look at the tree....

These next few are after it was completely decorated. She absolutely loved the tree, and all the decorations, and did surprisingly well at not taking them off the tree! She had a few little ornaments at the bottom that we let her play with, and that seemed to satisfy her.

She loves her rocking chair (it was Brian's when he was little). She sits in it and says, "Ocky, ocky". She loves to rock her baby doll and her teddy bear.

Doesn't she look big here?

When we got out the greenery and lights to decorate the rest of the house, Halle wanted to sit in the box of greenery. She was being so adorable, I couldn't stop taking pictures!

So ornery!

All dressed up for church...

....so silly....

...and still quite sleepy!

She loves to "drink coffee" from Daddy's cup. (No, we don't really let her drink coffee!) But she says "hot" and also says, "coffee" very plainly.

Our neighbor, Carol, brought Halle an adorable little cat for her Christmas present. Halle was much more interested in Carol's cane!

Our family, all dressed up for a wedding rehearsal

Daddy's girl

Mommy's girl, too

Hurray, Steelers!

2009-02-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

Alright, this is totally out of order (since I haven't posted any Christmas pictures yet), but I just had to post a few pictures of our Super Bowl watching party. We had several friends over after church, and had lots of fun (and several near heart attacks!) as the Steelers became the Super Bowl Champs.

Here Halle is sitting with my friend Mary Kay, and practicing her "touchdown" celebration.

Cheering with DaddyHalle and Mommy all decked out in our Steeler gear....my shirt complements of my hubby,

Halle's pajamas, complements of Aunt Red, and her jersey, a gift from our friend, Jeannine.

Celebrating after the game....well, sort of....Halle was more excited about the cup she was getting to play with!
Congratulations, Steelers!

We're Back!

2009-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Did you think we'd disappeared from the face of the earth? Well, we haven't! We've just had a wonderfully busy holiday season, and it really hasn't been any less busy since the new year started. I am going to try to get caught up on pictures and life in general since the last time I posted (which was Halle's birthday!).

So, this post is going to be Thanksgiving, and a few miscellaneous pictures. The next few will be the Christmas season, and hopefully, I'll be caught up soon!

Thanksgiving Day with Grampee Lott.....

....and Daddy....

....and Mommy.....

.....and there were more people there on Thanksgiving Day, but I got busy, and forgot to take more pictures! My apologies to Gramee.

The day after Thanksgiving, we had another family get together at Aunt Red and Uncle Bill's house, so everyone who couldn't come on Thanksgiving Day could visit with Tim and Kelsey and their boys, Beau and Judson. It was lots of fun!

This is Halle and Judson playing the "piano".

Gramee, Grampee, and the Grandkids.

I just love this! Halle doesn't look too excited about Beau holding her, and Beau looks very excited about getting his picture taken.

Halle and Uncle Rick

Beau and I were taking each other's pictures.

Alright, these are just some random fun pictures of Halle.

Here, she's trying to eat cheerios off of her tray.

"Look, Mom, no hands!"

Halle started doing this hilarious "silly face". We tried and tried to get a picture of her doing it. These are our efforts the night we finally "caught it".

Daddy encouraging her....

....almost there....
Silly face!

Halle is so funny, and loves to be the center of attention. If she does something that makes us laugh, then she wants to do it over and over so we'll keep laughing. It usually works!

More to come....soon......I hope!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

2008-11-04T06:49:00.001-08:00

November 3 is a landmark day in the Lott family. One year ago, on November 3, our daughter was born. What a miracle she is! We are so thankful for her. Although it is hard to believe that she already one year old, I can truly say that we have enjoyed every day of this past year.

She is growing so fast! She has 12 teeth. She is walking along furniture quite well, but doesn't seem to have any desire to walk by herself yet. She is already saying many words. Her current favorites are "hot, yucky, and doggy." She already has a sense of humor, and loves to tease. She also loves to play chase. When her daddy pretends to be asleep, she kisses him to wake him up. She loves books. She's becoming a good eater, and really loves "people food." She plays very well with other kids, and especially loves boys. We hope she will outgrow that a little bit! We are so incredibly grateful to God for her, and pray that we can be the parents God wants us to be.

This is Halle and her daddy on Sunday afternoon.

Halle and Daddy a few minutes later, taking a Sunday afternoon nap.

Halle's first birthday cake, for her party at church on Sunday night.
The cake table at church.

Blowing out the candle!

"How do I look?"

Her first bite of cake.

Digging in!

"You should try this, Dad."

Trying out the spoon

Grampee Lott feeding her ice cream.

Playing with new friends, Rachel and Ben.

Gramee Lott and Halle

Grampee, Gramee, Beau (cousin), and Halle

"Is my crown straight?"

"Hi!"

Halle and Ben (Halle really loves Ben. She tries to get him to carry her around at church all the time.)

Halle opening presents (with lots of help from Mom). This is a "November" teapot.

Her own Steeler box (made by Judy Foster)!

Her new telephone

Modeling the hat Gramee bought for her.

The following pictures are on Monday, her actual birthday. We got up in the morning and got ready to leave. We drove to Greensburg, because we were buying a mini van. We've been shopping for one for a while, and it just worked out to buy it on Halle's birthday. I would venture to guess that most babies don't get a car for their first birthday!

My beautiful little birthday girl!

"Daddy bought me a van for my birthday!"

We went out to dinner with Grampee and Gramee that evening. Here, Grampee is feeding Halle salad. She loved it!

My little doll baby again. She was the talk of the restaurant (as usual).

She smiles and waves at everyone.

Expressing her opinions

Playing with Daddy

Our family

Playing with Grampee

Gramee feeding Halle a lemon. She actually really liked it, and kept going back for more.

Who's eating the lemon here?

Silly Daddy

Back home, playing with the new blocks we got her for her birthday.

The pajama princess!

We had a great day on Halle's birthday. She still has one party to go! Her family birthday party is on Saturday. I'll be sure to post pictures of that as well.

Our Vacation

2008-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

We went to Clinton, MD for our vacation, and did some sightseeting in Washington, D.C. It was my first time to go to D.C., and I loved it. There's so much to see. We had such a great time! We stayed with Dr. and Mrs. Creed. They are dear friends, and wonderful hosts

We did some sightseeing during the days, and played Rook in the evenings....it doesn't get much more fun that that!

Halle had a wonderful time, and found a new set of grandparents in the process. She's really a good baby, very flexible. She had lots of fun exploring a new place and finding new toys.
It rained while we trying to see some of the sights (as you will be able to tell from the pictures), but we still had a lot of fun!

The first night we were there, we drove (rode) to D.C. to see the city at night. It was so beautiful. We were trying to take pictures from the car, so this is the only that really turned out.

We spent a day at Mt. Vernon. I really loved that. These are the statues of the Washington family that are in one of the buildings (I can't remember the name of it!).

This is the model of Mt. Vernon. It is really amazing. Everything is replicated exactly.
Daddy and Halle on the front porch of Mt. Vernon.

Halle playing peek-a-book with the camera from Daddy's shoulders.
A view of the Potomac River from the porch at Mt. Vernon. Isn't it beautiful?
Waiting to go inside.
In the gardens
On Thursday, we went to D.C. It was sort of rainy, so we went to the National Air and Space Museum. We spent the whole day there, and still didn't see everything! It's amazing!

On Friday, we went back to D.C. We started at the Capitol. This was about as close as we could get. Security is really tight since 9/11.
A nice man offered to take our picture, so we're actually all in this one!

As soon as we left the Capitol, it started raining...hard! So, we decided to visit the Library of Congress. It is beautiful! The exhibits were fascinating too, so we spent a couple of hours there.
Halle liked it all. She was a little noisy for the Library, but no one seemed to care.

After lunch, we decided to visit the Lincoln Memorial. The rain had let up a little bit, and it was just misting, so we decided we could walk to it. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction, and we had to walk pretty far. We hadn't been out of the vehicle a minute when it started raining again! We all got good and wet. Thankfully, it was warm, and didn't hurt us a bit. We just looked a little soggy!

That's Brian and Halle down there below Mr. Lincoln's feet. It's hard to believe how big it is!

Our view from the Lincoln Memorial. Even in the rain, it was lovely.
Halle with her newfound friend, Dr. Creed.

We had a wonderful vacation, and made lots of good memories!

Busy Summer, Busy Baby

2008-09-12T07:46:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since I've written, especially in baby time! Since my last post, Halle has begun crawling, pulling up to objects (like the couch), and has cut several more teeth (she now has eight!). She is a well-traveled little baby, and just this summer has been to Idaho and to Washington, D.C. She is trying to talk, saying words like duck, cup, yes, and many more. She doesn't say them all the time...just when she wants to. Just this week, she learned to walk along the couch (while holding on), to climb the stairs (scaring her mommy half to death), and to drink from a straw. She has quite a sense of humor already, and keeps us laughing. She loves attention, and is very friendly. She's pretty adventurous and isn't scared of much. However, she is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, and seems to be a little bit afraid of the dark. She has also learned to give hugs in the past few weeks, and I am loving that! I'm going to add some random pictures on this post, and will add pictures of our trip to D.C. a little later this week.

Halle figured out how to take her arm out of her shirt a few days ago. She thought it was very funny!

Halle loves to play the piano. Mommy is thrilled about that! This is her "How am I doing?" smile.

Halle also LOVES the bathtub. She can say "bath", and she's not afraid of the water at all, as you can see by her splashing.

My big girl standing at the couch.

Family, Friends, & Fun

2008-08-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

When we came back from Idaho, my parents came to pick us up at the airport, and to get Asher and Donald and take them home. It was really fun to have Mom, Dad, Cierra and John here (along with Asher and Donald) for a few days. The visits are never long enough, but we had a great time. This is Cierra holding Halle.

Halle loving on Grandma Tami
Grandma and Grandpa with Halle

Playing games with Grandpa and Daddy
Halle's "piano"
On July 3, we watched fireworks at Westminster College. It was so much fun. Halle wasn't scared at all, just very interested and intense.

I love this picture! She's watching the fireworks here.
It was rainy and a little cool that evening. She had sandals on, but her feet were cold. The only socks I had in her bag were pink! She didn't seem to mind at all!!!

On July 4, some friends of ours rented a limo and took us and another couple from church to Pittsburgh to watch fireworks. It was really fun. We stopped and had dinner on the way down. Here are the guys in their section (l-r, Brian, Jesse, and Isaac).

Here's the kid's section. Halle, Nathan and Ellie. Our driver said he'd never seen a limo full of baby seats! The kids were really not that impressed, but had fun anyways.
Daddy feeding Halle while we listened to the Army Band.The music was really great...very patriotic and inspiring.

This is my baby girl's silly face. She is so funny right now. She keeps us laughing.

Our little friend, Nathan, came over to the house and Halle was playing with him. She gets a little rough sometimes, but he really loves her. They're so cute together.
Group hug!

Nathan thought that the bloomers to Halle's dress were a hat!
Halle and Daddy are best friends.

Halle's Big Trip

2008-07-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Halle is already a well-travelled little girl, especially for only being 8 months old! On June 18, we left for Idaho to visit my brother, Nevin, and his family. Brian was scheduled to preach a tent meeting for him, and we also wanted to spend some family time with them. My brother, Asher, and his friend, Donald, went with us. This was a missions trip for them.

This is Halle the day before we left, playing in her favorite toy.

She was enjoying getting reacquainted with Uncle Asher.

Cason's birthday was the 19th, so we were able to celebrate with him. He got new boots and a new hat!

The boys all loved Halle. This is Braden (left) and Cason playing with her.

My blue-eyed girl
These are my nephews at church, (L-R - Colton, Braden, Dawon, and Cason)

Halle and Daddy (and Cason)
Our family

Halle giving Daddy kisses

Aunt Jennibeth and Halle
Uncle Asher and Halle were best buddies

Halle playing with a train

These pictures were taken Sunday morning. We had a tent at the fairgrounds in Bonners Ferry, and had a three-day meeting. It was great!

This is Colton talking to Halle

Braden and Halle
I had to include this picture. We had the kids inside a blue tent for Sunday School. I took a picture of Colton and Halle, and this is how it turned out. I thought it was really cool! This is the tent we had at the fairgrounds. Isn't the background gorgeous?

All of the scenery is beautiful. This is an elk farm on the way to Nevin's house.

This is just a view from the highway.

Uncle Nevin and Halle playing

Uncle Asher and Halle

Halle learned to clap while we were in Idaho. This is the first night she did it. When you say "good girl" she claps.

Mommy & Halle

The three of usDaddy & Halle - can you tell they're having fun?
Halle and Dawson playing
All of us having breakfast at Panhandler Pies.

We went to the lake for a picnic. Nevin and Brian were trying to get the grill to heat up.
Halle taking a ride.

Dawson decided to try eating dirt. I don't think he liked it.

The boys had lots of fun playing in the dirt.

Nevin and Colton at the lake

Driving back home from the lake

Dawson finally decided he liked Halle about two days before we left.
Silly baby! Don't you love those teeth?

On the way home in the plane

We flew right beside a big storm....here's some of the lightning I could see out the window

Halle is such a good little traveller. On the way out, we flew from Akron to Chicago, Chicago to Seattle, and Seattle to Spokane. She was so good! People were coming up to us and commenting on what a good baby she was. On the way back we flew from Spokane to Denver, and then to Akron. We had a wonderful trip, enjoyed being with our family, and made lots of wonderful memories. Hopefully, we'll do it again next year!

Busy Summer Days

2008-07-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted. We left June 17 for Idaho, to visit my brother and his family, and were there for 11 days. Then, when we came home, my internet service was messed up, and they didn't get it fixed until this week. In the middle of all that, we had my mom and dad here for three days, and we've had revival! Busy, busy! I'm going to post as much as I can without totally overloading...hopefully I'll get caught up soon.

On June 14, we celebrated Brian's parent's 40th wedding anniversary. They had a vow renewal ceremony. Brian, his brother, Tim, and Bob and Marlene's pastor, Bro. Mark Wagner, all had a part in the service. Our nephews, Beau and Judson, were the Jr. groomsemen, and Halle was the "flower girl". My sister-in-law played the violin and I played the piano. Bob's brother, Bill, was the best man and Marlene's sister, Red, was the matron of honor. We had a wonderful day. It was very sweet and special, as we looked back at God's faithfulness to Bob and Marlene and our entire family.

Before the ceremony started, we did family pictures. Halle was very sleepy, so as you can see, she wasn't very happy for some of these. Oh well, she was happy most of the day!

This is our little "flower girl"

The flowers didn't last very long!

The Lott family (L to R - Janelle, Madison, Makenna, Isaiah, Rick, Pat, Jean, Cathy, Tim, Judson, Kelsey, Marlene, Bob, Beau, Brian, Niki, Halle, Bill, and Red).

This is the flower girl making her entrance with her daddy....she fell asleep before it started!

Tim making comments during the wedding.

Beau and Judson were so cute!
Renewing the vowsHalle was helping Gramee and Grampee open their presents.

Helping Grampee eat his cake
Studying her reflection in the spoon
Giving Uncle Rick "five". Wave bye-bye, Halle

Bye-bye, everyone. We'll post more soon!

May Days

2008-06-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

This is Halle at church with our friend, Beth. Beth bought her this adorable outfit, and bought one to match for Ellie, Halle's nursery buddy.

My little long-legged girl loves to chew on her feet.

Nathan wore his sailor outfit too, so I was trying to get pictures of the three of them together.

Halle was really enjoying Nathan....Ellie was just taking it easy!

Halle loves Nathan, and he loves her back....can't you tell?

Halle and Grampee on Memorial Day. Gramee bought Halle this outfit and a patriotic headband to match.
At the Memorial Day parade in Saxonburg.
"Is it really going to rain on my parade?"
"Yep!"

She's a flag-waving American! I took these on a Sunday morning. This outfit was gift from our friends, the Creed's. She was being such a little doll. It was hard to stop taking pictures. I almost made us late for church!

My silly girl.

Halle LOVES her swing in the backyard. This was her first time to try it.

This is fun!
"What are you doing, Mom?"
"I'm not ornery at all."

Funny face.
This outfit is a gift from our friends, the Martenn's. Can you tell that Halle has lots of friends, and even more clothes?!

Daddy feeding Halle some applesauce.

Halle's bonnet Gramee bought her. She liked the strings a lot. Halle likes her yogurt!!!
Halle is growing so fast and doing so many new things! She changes almost daily. At her last checkup, she weighed 15 lbs., 12 oz., and was 27 inches long. She waves now, says da-da, ma-ma, bah-bah, guy, and many more sounds. She can give you five, and daddy taught her to "headbutt". She is sitting up fairly well on her own. She now has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. She loves see-saw and pattycake. She also loves music. She's really getting quite a personality. She is very silly, and gets really funny at night when she's sleepy. She laughs at everything. She also has quite a temper, and lets you know when she doesn't like something. She's a very pleasant baby, and so much fun!!! I have loads more pictures just from the last week, and I'll try to post more soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Family & More

2008-06-02T13:02:00.001-07:00

On the Monday before Mother's Day, Halle and I were invited to go to a Mother-Daughter banquet with my mother-in-law. This is Halle and me on the front porch before we left.

Halle and Gramee at the banquet.

Halle was the "belle of the ball".

Giving Gramee kisses.

Halle was playing on the floor and covered her face with a diaper.
She thought she was very funny.....so did we!

Halle had so much fun playing with her cousin's toy a few weeks ago that we went and bought her one of her own. She loves it!

My sister and her family came and spent a few days with us. Alicia spoke at my Ladies Spring brunch (and did a wonderful job). Halle had a great time playing with her five cousins. Here she is with Audrey (left) and Macey.

This is Alicia, Briley and me at our ladies brunch on May 10. Briley sang with us, and Alicia spoke. We had a great time.

Me and my precious baby girl on Mother's Day morning before we left for church.

Our family at church - Mother's Day

Six Months Old

2008-05-14T19:08:00.001-07:00

It's so hard to believe our baby girl is six months old! She's a very active baby, and loves to be played with. As you can imagine, she gets quite a bit of attention, and enjoys every minute of it. She really likes to see herself in the mirror!

Halle is quite the Daddy's girl in the past few weeks. She has started crying when he leaves and reaching for him. He loves it!
All dressed up for church...

After church, she was playing on the floor, and I thought she looked like a flower with her dress all spread out.

She liked playing with the sheer layer that was over the dress. It was really funny.

We had a Lott family birthday party, since we had several birthdays close together. Halle was playing in her cousin's toy, and absolutely loved it. Grampee was playing with her here.

I'm starting her early on the piano!
Silly face!

This is my beautiful baby on her six month "birthday".

This is one of her new faces that she makes all the time. She keeps us laughing.

I love dressing her up and taking pictures....you couldn't tell that, right?

Halle loves the aquarium.

She doesn't quite understand why she can't touch the fish...but she tries!

A Long-Overdue Update

2008-04-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. We've had a busy month! Thankfully, I have kept my camera busy. I am going to try to do several posts this week, so I can get all our new pictures on from the past few weeks. Check back often!

Halle loves to play with her feet

I wish I was that limber!

This is an outfit that Uncle Tim and Aunt Kelsey got for Halle.

Playing on the floor.....again

Halle had a big adventure....she and Mommy flew to Tennessee to see Grandpa Gary and Grandma Tami. This is the morning we were leaving. She was getting ready to say goodbye to Daddy. Needless to say, he was quite sad to see us go. He said that Halle was not allowed to do anything new or cute while we were gone. She didn't anything new, but of course, she is cute all the time!

This is Halle at the Pittsburgh airport. Everyone was stopping to talk to her, and she was loving it! She's very friendly, and attracts lots of attention.
Ollie is her toy elephant (hanging from her car seat), and Polly is her bunny rabbit. Polly's full name is Polly Esther, named by Daddy. I love it! She also has a doll named Dolly, and a cow named Molly (Molly Moo is her full name). I guess we like the rhyming thing.

Here we are on the plane getting ready for takeoff. The lighting wasn't so good for this shot.

A man across the aisle was kind enough to take this picture for us. We met so many nice people, and had lots of help getting through security and on and off the planes. We had a stop each way, so we were actually on four different planes in the week. Everyone was great!

We had a wonderful week at my mom and dad's. This is my sister, Cierra, holding Halle. She is a great little helper, and really enjoyed helping with the baby.

Grandma Tami with Halle

Halle LOVED Uncle Asher. He played with her and sang to her, and she thought he was just great.

This evening, we were watching a movie, and everyone took turns watching Halle. She was lots more interesting and funny than the movie was!

Grandpa Gary giving Halle a kiss.

"Uncle John" finally decided to hold Halle after several days. He didn't want to hold her because he was afraid she would spit up on him (which was very likely), and he didn't want to have to wash his hands. Anyways, he finally decided to hold her, and found out it wasn't so bad after all. Of course, he only held her long enough for me to get these pictures!

Halle got her bath in Grandma's kitchen sink. Halle loves to take a bath. She's never happier than when she's in the water.

Grandma let her play with the rag!

This is the morning we had to go back home. Halle and Grandpa got some last-minute snuggles in.

Grandma held Halle until it was time for us to walk out the door.

By the way, this beautiful little dress was also a gift from Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Tim. I just love it! I had people stopping me at the airport to tell me how pretty she was dressed.

We had a wonderful week visiting with family and friends. Halle not only got to see my parents, two of my brothers, two of my sisters, and four of her cousins, she also got to see both sets of her great-grandparents. It was so good to see everyone. I hope we can do it again soon, but next time Daddy has to come too.

Halle's Photo Session

2008-03-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

We took Halle to JCPenney for her four-month pictures. My mom made her this beautiful outfit, and made her an embroidered diaper with her name on it. I didn't want to get her dressed until we got there, because I didn't want her outfit to have spit-up on it. Anyways, she fell asleep in the car about 10 minutes before we got to the mall. I was really afraid she was going to be a grouch when I had to wake her up and change her clothes. Just the opposite happened as you will see! She was a total ham!!! She grinned and laughed and was an absolute doll. Can you imagine how hard it was for us to choose pictures, and not spend a fortune? Thankfully, they sell the downloadable pictures now, so I can post all of them here for all of you to see.

First Easter & More

2008-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Halle is growing by leaps and bounds. Her four-month checkup went well...she now weighs 13 lb., 4 oz. and is 25 1/4" long! She has two teeth, and is trying to cut more. She is now rolling over both ways, and is starting to reach for us. As you can see, she has discovered her feet, and loves to chew on her toes.

This is a cute little outfit some friends gave us. She's hanging out on Mom's bed here.

Here she's enjoying Dad's chair....I think now it's Halle's chair!

This is an outfit I bought before Halle was born. I just love it! The bad thing is that she's already too big for it!

Mommy & Halle all dressed up for church.

We had a mini getaway before Easter. This is Halle and her daddy in our hotel room.

We spent Good Friday in Butler with Grampee and Gramee Lott. Halle discovered Grampee's spoon, and managed to get it in her mouth. It was so funny!

This is Easter Sunday morning. Halle looked so adorable in her little bonnet and dress. I never could get her to smile for me, but she looked cute anyways.

Halle managed to get her Sunday morning outfit very dirty! So Sunday night she wore the outfit the Grandma Tami made for her. It's a vintage pattern, and it's so cute. We took her to JCPenney last week, and had her pictures taken in it.

I guess that's all for now! Halle just woke up, and I need to go get her. Check back soon!

Four Months Old

2008-03-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

On Valentine's Day, we headed out for Illinois. We spent the weekend in Mattoon, where Brian preached at a Saturday evening Valentine banquet, and all day Sunday at Calvary Baptist Church. This is Halle and her daddy at church Sunday morning.

This is the "tourist attraction" of Gays, IL (where the church was located). It's a two-story outhouse!
This is Halle sleeping on the bed in the motel room.

She looks so little on that big bed! Our room was very nice. We had a great time on our trip. It was good to reunite with some old friends, as well as make some new ones.
Oh my! Halle loves to play with her daddy

Flying high!

This is Halle watching hockey with Daddy. She is so funny....she has just started noticing the television, and she is very attracted to fast-paced sports, especially hockey! Daddy is loving that.

Last week, we went to visit my sister, Alicia, in West Union, OH. We were able to spend three days. We had such a good time. Here Halle is getting a kiss from Aunt Alicia.

Here she's giving one back! She really loves kisses. It's so cute.

I had to put this picture in. This is my niece Audrey. She got ahold of some scissors, and gave herself a haircut. This is her reaction after her mom and I came in and were horrified!

This is Halle and cousin Macey. I think they really look alike. You could see it even more if Halle was awake.

Last Saturday, we had a Lott family get-together. This is Halle playing with Gramee.

Here, she's reading a car magazine with Grampee. She actually looks interested!

Checking out Grampee's Pepsi.

Halle has cut two teeth since I posted last. She cut her first one on February 17th at 3 1/2 months old. I couldn't believe it! She cut the other one yesterday. She's been kind of cranky with them, but overall she's done pretty well.

She's such a little doll. I just have so much fun with her and the camera! She kind of gets entranced by the camera, and freezes when I get it out. It's getting a little better, but I'm very thankful for digital, or I'd have a lot of pictures with no smiles.

This is Halle mid-yell. She has a new "yelling" thing. It's so funny. I guess she's just discovered her voice, and is making the most of it. You can also see her tooth pretty well in this picture. The one on the right (more visible) is the one that has been in a couple of weeks. Right beside it, to the left, is the one that just broke through yesterday.

Halle and I went out for lunch yesterday with a friend. We had so many people stop by our table while we were eating to tell her what a doll baby she is. By the way, don't you love the boots?

This is my Halle girl most of the time....all smiles! She loves to be talked to, and just lights up when she sees Mommy or Daddy. We have so much fun with her.

Alright, last of all, this is a video we got yesterday. Halle has been laughing out loud for about a month, but this is the first time I've been able to catch her on camera. Enjoy!!!

Three Months Old

2008-02-13T11:02:00.001-08:00

It is so hard to believe that our Halle is already three months old! This picture (and several following) was taken on February 3rd, Halle's three-month "birthday". She is "on the phone" with Gramee and Grampee Lott who called to wish her a happy birthday! The outfit is her Christmas present from Aunt Pat & Aunt Jean.

This is Halle looking at our living room light fixture, which is one of her favorite things. We're not sure why, but she absolutely loves it! She will lay on the couch and smile and laugh at it, even when it's not on.

Mommy and Halle ready for church.

This is Daddy & Halle at Halle's first hockey game! Mary Kay and Jesse Goff offered us free tickets to see a local minor league hockey team play. It was fun. We stuck cotton in Halle's ears, so the noise wouldn't scare her half to death...she seemed totally undisturbed (and unimpressed) by the whole thing!

This is Mary Kay and Nathan, my little buddy, at the game.
This is Halle and Daddy taking a nap. Doesn't she look totally relaxed?

This is me and Halle getting ready to head to a Valentine banquet on Friday night. It was at a friend's church. Brian preached and we sang. It was really nice. This little outfit was a gift from our friends, the Johnsons.

This is me and Halle getting ready to head to a Valentine banquet on Saturday night (we've been on the banquet circuit). This banquet was hosted by Hannahstown Road Baptist Church, where my in-laws attend. We had a great time.

This is Brian and me playing a game at the banquet. Each of us had a string connected to our wrists, and they interlocked. We were supposed to try how to get separated without taking the strings off of our wrists. We never did figure it out, but we had fun trying!

Our little family at the banquet!

This is Daddy and Halle on Sunday morning, getting ready to head for church.

I wish I had a matching hat!!!

Halle is watching Mommy's favorite cartoon....Little Einsteins. She just discovered the TV this week. She has also learned to roll over, scoot on her back, and laugh out loud this week. She's been a very busy girl! Oh, and I must not forget, she has learned to scream when she's mad. That one I could have waited a while on!!!

These last few pictures I took this morning. We had snow yesterday, then ice last night, then more snow this morning. I think we have six or seven inches. It's so beautiful! I love it....especially since I don't have to go anywhere.

Our back yard

From the front porch, to the left
From our front porch, straight ahead
Halle is so much fun, and such a little doll. I wish all of you could see her up close and hold her. She is a little snuggle bug, and would prefer to be held 24 hours a day. I'm trying to help her learn that's not a practical option! But I do enjoy holding her as much as possible. It still seems hard to believe that she is here with us. We are so incredibly thankful to the Lord for her. Please continue to pray for her adoption process to go smoothly. Thanks so much for checking in. I'll try to add more pictures soon!

My Beautiful Baby

2008-01-28T17:26:00.000-08:00

These are some older pictures, but I just had to let everyone see her cute little boots that Auntie Marlie bought her.

My little girl is growing like a weed....11 lbs., 2 oz.! I can't believe it!

She closed her eyes, but I thought this smile was so funny!

My mom and I were playing with the camera and Halle while she was here. I think these pictures turned out so beautiful.

Don't you love the pouty face?

This is Halle getting ready to go for a ride in the car.

Halle and Daddy

This is Halle on Sunday in the beautiful outfit Aunt Pat got her for her shower.

If you haven't checked my blog lately, be sure to scroll on down. I added two posts tonight (I have to catch up!). Also, the two posts before that got on out of order somehow. Thanks for checking in!

Visiting with Grandma & Grandpa

2008-01-28T17:04:00.001-08:00

My mom and dad came in on Saturday, Jan. 19, to spend a few days. They came especially for Halle's dedication service on Sunday. My dad preached all day Sunday, and we had our special service on Sunday afternoon, so several of our family and pastor friends from neighboring churches would be able to come. What a blessing to have so many of our family and friends gather to celebrate Halle, and to pray for us as we dedicate ourselves to the Lord to try to be the parents He would have us to be. That's the good news.

The bad news is (you can all yell at me later) that I didn't take any pictures at the dedication service! I meant to, but during the service, I was holding Halle most of the time, and after the service, we had all been crying, and I was going to wait a little while. The problem is....after a while, I forgot. This picture of Mom with Halle is the only one I got at church that day. Sorry! We did have someone video this service, so it will be good to have that.

Grandma Tami spent lots of time holding Halle.

So did Grandpa Gary! Can you tell she was sleepy here?
One night, Halle took a late evening nap and would not go to sleep. At about 2:00 a.m. (after I'd tried laying her down three different times), Dad tapped on the nursery door. He said he wasn't sleeping anyways, and sent me to bed. He stayed up with Halle till 3:30! That was real quality time with his granddaughter. Thanks, Dad!

Uncle Asher was a big hit with Halle.

So was Aunt Cierra.

I don't have any pictures of "Uncle John" holding her because he never did. He was afraid she would spit up on him. I'm sure he was right!

We had a wonderful visit, although it was definitely too short (it always is). It was so sweet of them to come, and I enjoyed our time together more than I can say.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

2008-01-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas...our best ever! Our best present, of course, was our beautiful little daughter. We had our church Christmas service on Sunday evening, the 23rd. After the service, Halle and Ellie were both being good at the same time. It was Christmas miracle, I think! So we had lots of fun taking pictures of them together.

Nathan is in love with the babies.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. Gramee and Grampee Lott came up on Sunday and spent the night, and spent Christmas Eve day with us. That was fun.
This was Halle's stocking from Gramee and Grampee. You think she's going to be spoiled?She's not quite sure what to think of her new rattle....
...or her new snowman.

This is a keepsake ornament that Brian's parents bought for us. It's so precious.

I made this for Brian's mom and dad. (I did one for my parents too.)

This is the lamp Halle got for her bedroom.

Christmas Eve night we went to a service at Slippery Rock Baptist Church. We had a wonderful time. It was good to see so many friends, many who had not yet seen Halle. I'm having a ball just showing her off! We dressed her up in this little outfit, and she looked just like a china doll.
Christmas Day was spent with the Lott family at Rick & Janelle's house. We went up for brunch at about 10:30, and spent the whole day. We had a wonderful time, as we always do. Everyone took turns holding Halle. I tried to get pictures of everyone with her, but I think I missed a few. Sorry!

These are some of the cousins.....Rick and Brian with Isaiah and Halle.

Aunt Kathy & Halle
Mommy & Halle
Aunt Pat & Halle
Rick & Halle

As you can see, Halle had to change outfits about halfway through the day. This is the Christmas sleeper and bib that Miss Jeannie gave her. It's so cute!

This is Isaiah. Isn't he adorable?

Brian getting ready to open his "snowman" package. I thought that was really neat! Makenna opening her tea cup and saucer from Uncle Brian and Aunt Niki.
This is later in the evening when she had tea in her new cup.Maddie opening her Care Bears DVD.

Rick and Janelle and the kids got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We all had fun playing with it that day. The best part was watching Brian and Rick boxing. It was really hilarious! I have a short video, but haven't figured out how to upload it yet.

We praise the Lord for giving us a wonderful holiday with our families and friends. God is so good to us! We especially thank Him for our "unexpected gift" - Halle.

Two Months Old

2008-01-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Halle is growing by leaps and bounds! She went for her two-month checkup on January 3rd, and she weighed 9 lbs., 5 oz., and was 22 3/4 inches long. She is already outgrowing a lot of her newborn and 0-3 months clothing, especially sleepers, because she is so long. The doctor said she is in the 75th percentile on her length. I believe it! She is such a doll baby, and is learning new things every day. She now smiles and coos a lot. She is trying very hard to sit up, and can pull her head and shoulders up off the couch or floor. She is very good at expressing her feelings, especially when she's mad! She fights sleep very hard, but is sleeping fairly well at night, at least most of the time. She usually wakes up once to eat. These are some of her pictures from the last few weeks.

This is Halle in her new bathtub that Mommy and Daddy bought her for Christmas. She absolutely loves to take a bath. She hates getting out! She cries when I put lotion on her, but she has never cried in the bathtub. I'll say that and she'll decide to hate it next week!!! Hopefully not.

This is Halle's new toy we bought with some of the money from her card shower from our friends in Georgia. She really likes it, and has discovered her hands in the last week or so. She is realizing she can actually choose to reach out and touch something.

This is Halle's adorable winter hat that Aunt Alicia bought her for Christmas. I'm not sure Halle knows what to think about it. She looks so serious in these pictures!

Halle playing with her daddy

Can you tell she's suddenly growing hair? She's getting so chubby, too. Here she's sitting in the corner of the couch. I was trying to catch a smile, but she's learned to get serious when she sees the camera come out. I think it scares her.

Here she is again playing with her toy.
This is my little cutie pie, just being cute!

The sweater was a gift from Aunt Alicia, and the slippers were a Christmas gift from her Uncle Asher. I think they're so darling!
Happy Halle

Not-so-happy Halle

That's the latest. My mom and dad are coming in this weekend for her dedication, so I will try to post all the pictures from that sometime next week.

Halle in Georgia

2008-01-18T15:43:00.001-08:00

Halle became quite the traveler on her first big trip. When we left Knoxville on Friday, we drove to Georgia to visit our church family there. What a wonderful weekend! It was so good to see so many dear friends, and to show Halle to so many people who have prayed for her (and for us) for many years. We stayed with our pastor and his wife, Bud and Jeannie Martenn. They're Halle's other "grandparents". You can't have too many grandparents, right?!

Preacher with Halle

"Nana" with Halle

Marlie with Halle
Kyle, Marlie's boyfriend, with Halle

Danielle, my good friend, holding Halle

Aunt Mary holding Halle

Here we are at Don Lolo, our favorite restaurant. We met our friends, the Smallwoods, there and had a great time, and some great food!

Kristen and Stephen with Halle

Grace holding Halle
Daddy & Mommy with Halle

Halle loves her daddy. She was being so cute!

Camden came over and helped me give Halle her bath

Singing with the choir at Bethel Memorial Baptist Church on Sunday

The kids choir sang that morning too.

Our nieces, Savannah and Mariah, had a special part. They did a beautiful job!

Marlie, Kyle, Brian and I sang. It was so much fun!

Mommy & Halle

Time with Tim & Kelsey

2008-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Once again, it's been too long since I've posted. I'm going to do a series of short posts, and try to get caught up! After we went to the cabin, we spent two days with Brian's brother, Tim, and his family. Their kids, Beau and Judson, are soooo cute! Beau was just smitten with Halle as you will see.

This is Beau opening his Christmas present....a Thomas the Train book.

Judson got a push-and-go train.
Me opening Halle's present from Uncle Tim and Aunt Kelsey....somehow we didn't get a picture of the beautiful dress they got her. Oops! We'll have to get one this summer when she wears it.
Halle stretching.
Beau holding cousin Halle. He was so adorable with her, and didn't want to give her up, even when she started crying.
Uncle Tim with Halle

Judson...what a cutie!
Aunt Kelsey with Halle
Eating at the Japanese restaurant
Halle doing more stretches...she loves to stretch!

We had a great time, and hope to see them again soon!

Christmas at the Cabin - Part 2

2007-12-30T19:22:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday morning, our friend, Angela, came to do family pictures for us. She is a brave soul to tackle a group like ours! Thankfully, the weather was great, so we headed down to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge. It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure a lot of work for Angela! These are just some shots that I took (or Esther took) with my camera while Angela was working.

I think I was getting ready to say something here....kind of a funny face!
A "candid shot" of Lish's family trying to get ready for their family portrait. Nathan with his kids...Camden, Savannah, and Mariah
Camden & Nate

My mom and dad

Mom & Dad with Cierra, Asher, & John
All the Neal children - we were laughing about something!
Jimmy talking to his kids...I thought this was so sweet.

Jimmy being the "sun screen" for Nevin's family

Halle & Mommy

Esther with Dawson & Macey
Aunt Niki & Macey
Savannah & Macey
Colton giving Macey a kiss

Aunt Jennibeth with Halle

Uncle Nevin with HalleGrandma AllaDean with great-granddaughter, Halle
Asher with Halle
Grandpa Charles feeding Halle
Aunt Alicia with Halle

Briley holding Halle

Grandma Lela & Halle
Uncle Nathan & Halle
Grandpa Bob with Halle....
....& me
These next few pictures are great! My dad took the kids to Patriot Park on Tuesday night to see the Christmas lights. As they were driving back through Pigeon Forge, he saw the the Krispy Kreme "Hot Donuts" light was on. My dad just can't pass that up. Back they went to Krispy Kreme, where everyone got hats and they brought back two big boxes of hot donuts.....yummmmm! I had stayed at the cabin with Halle and Audrey (she was sick). They brought me back a hat and a donut, though. What a memory!

Halle took her first sink bath in Pigeon Forge. She loves taking a bath, just looks a little cold here!

This is all the kids camped out watching The Polar Express on the big screen tv. Fun!
Well, that's most of my pictures from the cabin! We had such a wonderful time.

This is Halle in her car seat after we left the cabin. She was smiling in her sleep.

I was having fun taking pictures of her in the car while we were waiting for something. Isn't she adorable?Stretch!

Wednesday night we went to Swan Pond Baptist Church with my parents. Nevin preached. It was so good just to be together. This is me, my mom, and my sister singing. It was so much fun!

That night, my aunt and uncle, and several of my cousins drove over and went to church with us. We had a mini "family reunion" at church. This is my Aunt Kristi holding Halle.

This is my cousin, MaryBeth with Halle.

This is Charity, my cousin Logan's wife. Thanks to all of you for coming. It was great to see everyone.

My next "installment" of pictures will be our time with Tim & Kelsey, and our trip to Georgia (we did all of this in one week!). Check back soon!!!

Christmas at the Cabin - Part 1

2007-12-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, my family celebrated Christmas early this year. My brother, Nevin, and his family were coming in from Idaho, so we rented a cabin in the Smokies for a few days and had Christmas there. What a wonderful time! I was so excited, not only to see my family, but because this was the first time any of them were able to see Halle in person, and hold her. You will see that just about everyone took turns getting their hands on Halle. I got pictures of all but one or two. This is Halle's first "trip", and we were a little concerned about how she would do in the car, but praise the Lord, she did great! I have loads of pictures. I've tried to pick only my favorites, but I'm still going to post a lot. This is going to be part one, with more to follow. Hope you enjoy them!!!

This is our cabin...."Family Gathering"...how appropriate! We had 31 people there!!!

Nevin & Grandpa Charles enjoying the game room.
This picture is of the grandkids lined up to get their presents from Grandpa Bob. Briley is definitely her mother's child!
Grandpa Bob with the great-grandkids. (Mariah is holding Halle).

The great-grandkids with Grandpa Charles (Asher was also in the picture, but kind of "lost his head"...sorry, Asher!).

Mariah opening her present from me. I did each of the older girls a "tea party in a bag", complete with teacup and saucer, tea bags, a special spoon, and a cookie cutter. We had two tea parties while we were there!

Cierra getting her tea cup.

Halle liked Audrey!

Savannah holding Halle

Mariah with Halle

Cierra and Halle

Grandpa Gary feeding Halle

Isn't that the cutest face ever?

Grandma Tami with Halle

Ok, that's all for now...part two is coming soon!

Catching Up

2007-12-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Between trying to do all of my Christmas shopping in one week, and being gone all of the next, it just hasn't happened! I promise I'll try to get caught up. Halle has changed so much in the past three weeks. She has gone from a very fussy baby to a fairly content and happy baby. She is so cute! You will definitely see the changes in the pictures I post.

This is Halle and Ellie in our church nursery....sleeping beauties!

This is Chesney and Nathan...our other two little "angels" in the nursery.

Most of you probably got one of these pictures in your Christmas card. My friend, Alisha, took them for us in our dining room.

This is Halle's first "in the water" bath. She hated being sponge-bathed, and was screaming, so I decided to stick her in the water. She immediately quit crying! I couldn't believe it. She really likes her bath now...just doesn't like getting out and being cold.

This is a really cute outfit that Janelle gave us. As you can see, this is one of Halle's less happy moments!

This little hat and booties are just soooooo cute. She looks so adorable in them, you will see them again in later pictures because she wears them a lot!

This is a Christmas dress Halle got at her shower. I'm having so much fun dressing her up! She looks like a little baby doll.

I'll try to post pictures of our trip soon...so please check back!

New Places & New Faces

2007-11-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday night was Halle's first church service. She slept in her car seat by the piano while I played. I hope she'll learn to do that all the time!

Some of you may know that I collect snowman...this is the beautiful new figurine that Aunt Red gave me. I just love it!

This is my neighbor, Mitzi, who stopped by to visit with Halle, and brought us some diapers. Thanks!

This is another neighbor, Annabelle, who came be today to see Halle, and brought her an adorable little "My First Christmas" sleeper. I'm sure you'll see pictures of it later.

This is Daddy taking a nap with Halle.

I love the way she sleeps with her hands up by her face.

This is Halle at Miss Helene's house. Helene is a lady in our church whose husband is very sick. His name is Jesse. Please pray for both of them. Anyways, she is unable to leave the house much, so we took Halle to see her. I think Halle liked it!

This morning, Halle was alert and very calm, so I decided to have some fun with the camera...

...big yawn...

...stretch...

....contemplating...

Several people have said that it's hard to get a good idea of her size in these pictures, so I wanted to get some of her next to my hand.

Big, blue eyes

These next few pictures are in the beautiful heirloom dress that my mom made for Halle to come home in. I ended up not changing her clothes before I brought her home because she was so upset by the doctors examining her. Anyways, we're going to get pictures taken tomorrow at a studio, and I wanted to try it on her first. It's so gorgeous....just like Halle! (You can't tell I'm a proud mom, can you?) Thanks, Mom, for all of your hard work.

Our Baby Shower

2007-11-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our baby shower at church. What an exciting day!

This is Halle and me getting ready to head for church. See Halle's frown? I think she knew she was going to have to get in her car seat!

This little outfit was a gift from Janelle (our cousin). It's so cute! Still a little big on Halle...but adorable. The shoes were from our friends, the Grant's.

It was really cold Saturday, so I bundled Halle in her little sweater coat that she got from Marian O'Brien (a lady at our church). I think it's so sweet and adorable.

This is my little buddy, Nathan, at the shower. He was very unhappy for a while because I couldn't hold him and Halle at the same time. He's still a little jealous!

This is the beautiful cake that Mrs. Anna Gregory made for the shower. There was chocolate cake, white cake, and marble cake. Yummmm! It was as good as it was beautiful.

These are the favors that were made for shower. What a precious little keepsake! They had candy inside. The glare made it hard to get a clear picture, but they were so cute.

Here is a picture of the place settings at the tables.

These are the game sheets....the poem is one that my mom wrote.

Everything was so beautiful and well-organized. Thank you so much to all of you who had a part in making this day so memorable and special.

Aunt Red did the devotions. She talked about the mothers in the Bible, and how God's Word is our "instruction manual" as mothers. She also shared her testimony of how God gave her a son after over 11 years of waiting. It was very special to me for her to share how God had worked in her life. I know that she has a unique understanding of how incredible and exciting it is for us to have Halle after waiting for so long.

Now comes lots of pictures of opening presents. This one is especially dear, because this afghan was crocheted by Memaw, Brian's grandmother, before she died. It has been set aside, and waiting for us for several years.

Makenna, our niece, was my gift helper. She brought me my packages and helped me open them. That was lots of fun for both of us! She is such a sweetie!

Several of the ladies of my church went together and bought the changing table that matches my new crib (some of the other ladies had already bought the crib and brought it to me). They also bought me a swing, and gave me money. What a blessing!

Aunt Jean bought Halle her first Steeler clothing. Halle can't be a Lott and not be a Steeler fan!

This is the snowsuit that Gramee Lott bought for Halle. I'm sure she'll got a lot of use out of it this winter. (Mommy prays for snow!)

Rachel (with the blond hair), helped with throwing away all of the wrapping paper. Nathan was "helping" by checking out all the toys. He especially liked the fishing pole that Bro. Stan bought for Halle!

Halle and Aunt Pat

Friends....Alisha, Ellie, Halle, and me

Alisha and Ellie
(Isn't she adorable?)

Gramee and Halle

Aunt Red and Halle

Janelle and Halle

Aunt Jean and Halle

Halle's new swing - Brian and I finally figured out how to put it together Saturday night.

Halle likes her new swing!

I just thought you'd like to see this...Halle still doesn't like light, and she often covers her eyes if it's bothering her. Here, she was trying to sleep and had her eyes covered up.

She has started laughing in her sleep! I know she doesn't realize she's doing it, but it's so cute and funny!

Ok, that's all for now. I know that's a lot of pictures, but I wanted all of you to share in the joy of my baby shower. What a wonderful day!

Happy Thanksgiving....La, La, La

2007-11-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

For quite some time, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. I love the fall decorations, the wonderful aromas, the food, and, most of all, just getting together and spending the day relaxing with family and thinking about all the things that I am thankful for. This Thanksgiving has been my most thankful one yet! How blessed I am to have a wonderful family....especially my husband, and now a daughter, Halle Simone. It is still so hard to believe. I am so thankful to the Lord for His goodness to us, and the miraculous way He has worked out every aspect of Halle's coming to us. I am also thankful to all of you who love us, and have been faithful to pray for us for so many years. I am most thankful that we have a God who hears and answers our prayers.

This Thanksgiving, we spent the day with Brian's parents, and his Aunt Red and Uncle Bill at his mom and dad's house. We were excited because it snowed off and on all day. It was so pretty!

The Lott ladies in the kitchen

This is an amazing picture....Halle is in her car seat, and she's not crying! She was sleeping when we got ready to leave our house, and she didn't wake up until we got to the Lott's house (an hour away!). That was such a relief to me. We haven't gone many places since she's been born, but until yesterday, the car was not a happy experience for Halle.

Here Halle was just enjoying laying on the floor and stretching for a few minutes. (Isn't her outfit cute? My neighbor bought it for her.)

Grampee decided to play with Halle....she loved it!

Grampee kept Halle happy while we worked on Thanksgiving dinner.

Gramee finally got a turn
Another amazing thing.....Halle took a nap while we ate Thanksgiving dinner! I was very happy with that arrangement. Brian and I haven't been eating at the same time lately - we take turns holding Halle while the other one eats. Just one more thing to be thankful for yesterday!

Daddy fed Halle when it was her turn to eat.

What a beautiful, happy Thanksgiving!

Halle Awake

2007-11-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

I know this is my second post today, but Halle was awake this evening, and was being so calm and cute that I had to take some pictures....then I wanted everyone else to see them! I was getting ready to change her diaper, but she was being so content that I decided to wait a few minutes. These first few pictures are before her "change", the bare legs are after. Her legs are so long and skinny - she definitely takes after Brian in that regard!

So pretty!

I thought these next few were so precious....Brian had knelt down by the couch and was talking to Halle. She was looking at him so intently. What a miracle she is!

Halle's World

2007-11-21T07:33:00.001-08:00

I thought I would add a few pictures of what Halle does.....sleeps and gets held! I am enjoying her so much. She has had a rough week with the withdrawals, so I haven't had much sleep, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I told someone that I would want to hold her all the time anyways, but now I have a doctor's excuse! We were told that the best thing for her is to hold her and try to keep her environment calm and happy. What an amazing gift she is! I still look at her every day in total awe, and find it hard to believe that she is ours. I hope you don't get bored with the pictures of her, but she's such a doll, I can't stop taking them!

The only place Halle will sleep without being held is in the recliner. It's so cute!

It's her little nest.

Halle's so special that she had visitors all the way from Honduras! We were so thrilled to have Missionary Natividad Delarca and his wife, Cora, with us on Sunday. I have been unable to take Halle to church yet, and really missed being there, but they came over for fellowship after the service. I have known the Delarca's since I was just a girl, and Brian was able to visit Bro. Delarca in Honduras last year on a missions trip. As you can see, Halle liked Mrs. Delarca!

Here are Daddy's sleeping beauties! I'm not so sure about the "beauty" part, at least for me. I was so tired, because Halle did not sleep at all on Sunday night. On Monday night, I crashed while Brian was awake. Brian decided to take our picture while we were both sleeping.

This is Halle's first piece of mail...addressed to her. This is from her Aunt Pat and Aunt Jean. Brian said that maybe everyone can start sending Halle the bills! I will post more after Thanksgiving.

Two Weeks Old

2007-11-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today is Halle's two week birthday. It's hard to believe she's already two weeks old! What a precious little sweetheart she is. I thought I would post just a few pictures from the past two or three days.

This is Halle "burping". She was so sleepy and sweet! I wish she could feel like this all of the time.

This is Halle's "first snow" on Thursday. There wasn't a lot, but it was so pretty floating in the air all day long.

This is Halle's bath on Friday. She wasn't hating it too much!

This is Halle and her dad, with her new friend, Ellie and her dad, Isaac. The girls were born five days apart. I'm excited about Halle having someone so close to her age at church.

Just a little P.S. ~ Halle's cord fell off today. I tried to get pictures of her new "bellybutton", but they didn't turn out so well. I didn't want to undress her and make her all mad again. Just thought some of you might want to know about this little "milestone". Love you all!

Halle at Home

2007-11-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Gramee Lott came over to help with Halle. She watched her so I could get some sleep! She also helped with cleaning. Thanks, Gramee!

Halle needs to be held a lot, so here we were trying out the sling so I could get some housework done. She liked it for a little while.

Halle is quickly becoming a daddy's girl. He thought we should get a picture of her shirt - it's quite appropriate!

Today, Halle had to go to the pediatrician. She was given a good report, although she is still going through withdrawals. Thankfully, the symptoms are relatively mild. We praise the Lord for that. However, between taking a bath, riding in her car seat, and seeing the doctor, Halle (and Mommy) have had a long day. Maybe she'll sleep tonight!

Mommy's little sweetheart

Finally Home

2007-11-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

What an amazing week! Wednesday we were able to get custody. Praise the Lord! I haven't updated since then because I've been at the hospital. This is Halle's crib card. How exciting it was to see our name on there!

Gramee and Grampee were her first visitors at the hospital after we got custody. We had lots of fun, and Halle decided to wake up and be sociable. She was so alert!

We took turns at the hospital, holding Halle and watching her. She needs lots of holding and comforting to help with the withdrawals. You can tell we were really disappointed about that!

We were really hoping and praying that she would get to come home on Saturday. Praise the Lord, she was allowed. This is right before we loaded her up in the car seat (which she really hates!).

Finally home! What an emotional homecoming this was.

Halle had a very big day! She slept all afternoon, and stayed awake most of the night. We're hoping to get that turned around sometime soon!!!

Mary Kay and Nathan were our first visitors after we got home. She brought us supper last night. What a blessing! Nathan wasn't too impressed with Halle. He wasn't interested until he saw Aunt Niki holding her....then he was mad!

Halle's first Sunday at home was pretty calm. Rick and Janelle and the girls came over. Janelle played the piano at church today since both of our pianists had babies this week! Thanks, Janelle. The kids were so cute with Halle.

Maddie, Aunt Niki and Halle.

Makenna, Madison, Isaiah, and Halle

A Topsy-Turvy Day

2007-11-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging. I hope I can figure it out (if you're reading this, then I suppose I have!). We were hoping to finish the custody paperwork today, and be at the hospital tonight, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, it didn't work out. The birthmother had to stay in the hospital for an extra day. She is supposed to be released tomorrow afternoon, and Lord willing, everything will be signed then. Needless to say, it's been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster today, but all is well, and we know that the Lord is in control of the whole situation. Please continue to pray for things to progress smoothly, especially tomorrow. Halle is doing well...very few withdrawal symptoms. Praise the Lord! I just can't wait to sit at the hospital and hold her for three days!!! Since we did come home, I thought I would post these pictures from our visit today.....(isn't she beautiful?!)

First Official Post

2007-11-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

So, you may be asking why I am posting the first post on Niki's blog. It is because I am her sister and I try to dominate her life in whatever ways that I can! Just kidding!:)

Actually, she called and asked me to set her blog up for her and post some pictures since she is at the hospital holding their new beautiful baby girl. She had been putting pictures on Snapfish but some haven't been able to open them up so she asked that I get this going for her so everyone could see the pictures.

Oh...to all the family out there...I have already declared myself as Halle's favorite aunt so that is something you all are going to have to deal with emotionally. I'm sorry. :)

~Alicia

Alright....drumroll please.....I introduce to you Halle Simone Lott: