Dinner Bells

Mother's Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:35:00 +0000

This Mother's Day, we dedicated Seth at our church. I wanted to do it last year on Mother's Day but we decided to wait until his adoption was finalized. However, by the time that his adoption was finalized, we had moved to a new town and we hadn't chosen a church yet so we put it off again. Oh well, at least we got around to it before he went to kindergarten! :) It was a special day and both of our families were able to be there with us.

After church, we had a little brunch at our house to celebrate Seth's dedication and Mother's Day.

And Seth helped me decorate (notice the emergency vehicles on the stack of plates :))

Gigi, Nanny and Mammaw opened their gifts from Seth...

This is what he gave his grandmas and great grandmas... he painted these signs (with a little help from Mommy and Daddy) and then we took his picture with them!

And of course, I enjoyed my 2nd Mother's Day with my precious little angel! I am SO thankful that God blessed me with the privilege of being his Mommy!

Easter Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:15:00 +0000

We had a busy but wonderful Easter weekend!

On Saturday morning, I helped my mom, sister and two of my sister's friends with a wedding shower for one my sister's best friends, Amy.

Anna and Amy, the bride-to-be!

After the shower, we went to the lake with Evan's family and then hung out at his parents' house on Saturday night! We dressed Seth and Preslee in matching outfits and tried to take their picture... but they weren't feeling super cooperative so this is the best we got :)

Seth hunted Easter eggs at the lake and he loved it! Every time he found an egg, he would open it to check out the prize and then put the opened egg and the prize in his basket! haha

I love this picture of Evan and Seth! They were throwing rocks into the lake.

When we got to Evan's parents' house, there were Easter baskets waiting on Seth and Preslee with lots of fun goodies in them... including sunglasses! haha This picture cracks me up!

On Sunday morning, We gave Seth (and Jack) their Easter baskets from us before we went to church.

And my parents also gave all of us Easter baskets before church :)

After church, we went to my grandparents' house for lunch and a birthday celebration for my grandpa! And did I mention that we are the proud new parents of a 6 week old Dutch rabbit? haha My sister surprised Seth (and us) with a precious little bunny on Friday night! Everyone keeps asking if we're mad at her and my response is, "Not at all, I just can't wait for her to have kids now!" :) But in all honesty, he's such a sweet little bunny and all of us (even Jack) are getting pretty attached to him!

Our new bunny's name is Gus... (you may or may not remember that our Elf on the Shelf's name was Gus)... so on Friday night when we first met our rabbit, I asked Seth what we should name him and his first suggestion was "Jack" but when I reminded him that name was already taken, he suggested "Gus"! haha

My Mammaw and Pappaw (the birthday boy! :))

My sister has a relatively new boyfriend and my brother has a relatively new girlfriend so on Sunday night we had our first family dinner with both of the new additions! After dinner, we all dyed Easter eggs together!

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

Bunny Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:40:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, Hannah, with Ever After Portraiture, took the spring pictures at Seth's MDO and I LOVE the ones she took of him!! She has a fairly new business and she's trying to get it going so if you live in NWA, check her out! She was so sweet to Seth and her prices are great!

He loved getting to hold the baby bunnies! :)

If you read this post, you know that Seth doesn't do well with characters... but I just keep hoping that he will grow out of this fear, so we took him to have his picture made with the Easter bunny this past weekend. Let's just say that he hasn't grown out of it yet :)

Believe it or not, I'm still not ready to give up! haha After all, he did actually sit there and I feel like I see a hint of improvement in his face... don't you think? :)

A Fun Experience!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Evan has a co-worker that raises sheep and she invited us over to meet her sweet baby lambs last night! It was such a fun experience... I don't know which of the three of us loved it most!!

After we had been in the pen for about 10 minutes, I realized that one of the "sheep" was actually a dog! haha

Seth's goal the entire time that we were there was to catch a lamb! haha He is SUCH a boy! :)

When we were leaving, he saw this tractor and begged to get on it!! If you look closely at his mouth, you can tell that he's saying, "PLEEEEEEEEEEAAAASE!!!!" haha

Victory!! ;)

Spring Break

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:55:00 +0000

Last week, our MDO was closed for Spring Break and a lot of people were out of town at Seth's therapy clinic so we decided to take a little "spring break" trip of our own! We spent time in Little Rock and Dallas and had a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so we only have iPhone pictures from our fun week.

We started every day at Gigi and Papa's house with Sesame Street!

Papa took Seth fishing in my parents' neighborhood one night after he got home from work

We visited the Little Rock zoo

Seth helped Gigi cook dinner

We had a cookout at a park on the Arkansas River

On Tuesday of "Spring Break" week, Seth and my mom and I went to Dallas. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo, shopped a little and ate at some fun restaurants!

And then we played with some friends back in Little Rock at the end of the week! :)

And last but not least, this morning, I was working on this blog post in Seth's room while he played (mistake #1... normally I blog while he is napping). He left the room but I could still hear him so I decided to upload one more picture before I went to check on him... mistake #2. Before the picture was finished uploading, he got really quiet and when I went to see what he was up to, this is what I found...

hahaha Oh Seth, you keep me on my toes :)

Becoming A Mommy

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:15:00 +0000

No matter how long I live or what joys my future holds, March 15, 2011, will ALWAYS be one of the very best and most emotional days of my life. One year ago today, all my dreams came true as I became the mommy of Seth Clayton Bell.

For as long as I could remember (at least since I was 7 years old) I had dreamed of becoming a mommy through adoption; for (almost) the entire time that Evan and I had been a couple we had dreamed about adopting together; and for about 7 months, we had been dreaming specifically about adopting a certain little boy with sparkly brown eyes.

March 15, 2011, was an overwhelming day to me because so many of my dreams were coming true and my prayers were being answered... I will never ever be able to explain the joy that I felt on that day.

I realize that I have told our story a million different times, in a million different ways, on this blog... but y'all, I can't get over it. I am SO beyond thankful that God chose to create our family through adoption. It gives me chills to think about all the ways and all the times that God was preparing my heart to become a mother in such a special (and out of the norm) way.... even when I was a little bitty girl.

Thank you LORD for the blessing of adoption and the precious, priceless gift of Seth. Thank you for choosing me to be his mommy and for opening my eyes to the indescribable blessing that you had waiting for me.

Seth, you are treasured and loved more than you will ever know.

A Very Happy Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:50:00 +0000

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday! Evan and I went on a date last night but we wanted to do something special with Seth during the day so we had a fun Valentine lunch!

We had heart shaped pepperoni pizzas and caesar salad (and Seth had grapes :))

For dessert, we had heart shaped brownies!

I love the excitement on Seth's face in this picture!

After lunch, Evan read Seth the new book that we gave him...

And Seth got a surprise Valentine package from his Nanny and Pop!

Then, we got ready and I took Seth to therapy. When we got home from therapy, there were even more surprises waiting on us! My grandparents were at our house (Evan had asked them to come spend the night with us and babysit Seth!) with a gift for Seth and cupcakes for Evan and me AND a Valentine package was waiting on our front porch from Gigi and Papa!!

And last night, my grandparents took Seth on a date to Chuck E. Cheese while Evan and I went to dinner and a movie! :)

It was a great day and Seth LOVED getting to spend the evening with his great grandparents and he was even more excited that they were still here this morning! I love this picture of Seth and my grandpa watching cartoons together this morning :)

I hope you had a fun Valentine's Day too!

A Dino-Mite Valentine Party

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:25:00 +0000

Seth's Mother's Day Out Valentine party was yesterday. Evan took off from work to attend and they decorated cookies and Seth exchanged valentines with his classmates!

I found these adorable Valentines on Etsy. The seller just emailed me the file (after updating the name and changing a tiny bit of wording for me) and I printed them at home... so quick, easy and inexpensive!

Then I went to a candy store and bought Jelly Belly jelly beans in the colors of the Valentines (my goal was for them to look like dinosaur eggs but I'm not sure that anyone noticed! haha) and tied them up in little cello bags and attached the card!

I also made some little Valentines for the kids in the class that I teach. I just put three little chocolate hearts in a cello bag, tied them up with the same ribbon that I used for Seth's valentines, and attached a heart that I cut out of scrapbook paper and then I wrote a little note on the back side of the heart :)

And here's my handsome little Valentine at his party... Even though his shirt is horribly dirty, it was my inspiration for choosing the dinosaur valentines... I love a theme! haha

Have a great weekend! :)

Breadstick Fun and Breakfast Enchiladas

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:30:00 +0000

A while ago, I bought some Pillsbury breadsticks to go with the soup that we were having for dinner. Evan was helping me cook and he offered to put the breadsticks in the oven. When he got them out of the can and put them on the baking stone, he made one of them into an "S" shape. Obviously that one was for Seth and he LOVED it!! So, last week we had soup for dinner again and I grabbed a can of Pillsbury breadsticks for us to play with/eat!!

Great idea, Daddy!! :)

And last night, for dinner, we had Breakfast Enchiladas. I was looking in my Southern Living cookbook for something fun that we hadn't had before and these are what looked best to me! They were easy to make (but not super fast) and we all three thought they were delicious!

Breakfast Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 lb package of ground pork breakfast sausage

2 T. butter or margarine

4 green onions, thinly sliced

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

14 large eggs, beaten

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

Cheese Sauce (recipe to follow)

10 (8 inch) flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeños

Optional Toppings: halved grape tomatoes, sliced green onions, chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Cook (scramble) sausage in large nonstick skillet; drain well; set aside.

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and cilantro, and sauté 1 minute. Add eggs, salt and pepper and cook (scramble the eggs). Remove from heat and gently fold in the sausage and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese sauce.

Spoon about 1/2 cup of egg mixture down the center of each flour tortilla; roll up. Place seam side down in a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Pour remaining cheese sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle evenly with monterey jack cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Serve with desired toppings.

***********

Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, undrained

3/4 t. salt

Directions:

Melt butter in sauce pan over medium low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese and remaining ingredients until smooth.

Tip: cook the sausage first, then make the cheese sauce, then scramble the eggs... that way you are ready to assemble as soon as the eggs are cooked!

He gets really excited about dinner... like his mommy! haha :)

January 29

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Yesterday, Evan took several pictures of Seth. When I loaded them on our computer last night, I thought one of them really reminded me of another picture that we had taken of Seth the first time that we ever kept him at our house (before he was placed with us permanently, we had to complete several day and overnight visits with him to meet a DHS requirement). So, I looked up the other picture in our iPhoto library... and the weirdest thing... it was taken on January 29, 2011!! Meaning that these two photos that reminded me of each other were taken on the same day one year apart! Nothing significant or special about this, but I just thought it was cool!

What do you think? Do you see why the photo we took yesterday reminded me of the photo we took last year? And doesn't he look so old in the photo we took yesterday! Such a big boy now! :)

And let's all notice that the bed was made in the picture from last year and this year... well, not so much! haha That's pretty reflective of life last year vs. this year too! :)

Happy Monday!

Moving Blues and Saturday Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

We have lived in Northwest Arkansas for almost 6 months now... and I still get the moving blues every once in a while (like this morning before church)... but I am doing much better. Before moving to NWA (and not including college) I had lived in Little Rock, AR, for my entire life. I LOVE Little Rock. I am comfortable and connected there. My family lives there, my friends live there, my church is there, my favorite restaurants are there, I know the roads and the shortcuts and the stores and the schools, and the doctors, and the neighborhoods etc., etc., etc.

When we moved here, on August 1, almost every single aspect of my life changed... and though we are extremely blessed and I am so thankful for the opportunities that God has provided for us in NWA... It has been hard for me to feel blessed because of the pain of the move. I feel guilty about that, but I'm just being honest. I have felt very alone and frustrated for much of the last six months. But I am working through those emotions and we are working to become connected in NWA and I am doing much better. I won't say that I wouldn't move back to Little Rock tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself but I have decided to enjoy my time and find my purpose here whether it's for the next six months or the next 60 years.

And on a happy note, one of the best things I've found about moving to a new town is that it feels like you are on an extended vacation. There are so many new things to learn and explore and enjoy. Yesterday, we took the opportunity to explore our new(ish) home and we came across some pretty wonderful places and we had a really great day!

We started the day out by going to Hobbs State Park. The visitor's center has a museum type area with live reptiles and amphibians and some fun and interactive learning areas.

Then we went to War Eagle Mill for lunch. It was SUCH a cool place!! After lunch, we threw rocks into the War Eagle Creek.

Love, love this picture of my boys in their boots!!! :)

Our last stop for the day was Turpentine Creek- a wildlife refuge for exotic cats (and they also have a bear!). It was feeding time when we arrived and the roaring coming from the cages was pretty scary but Seth LOVED it!! I couldn't believe how close we were to some of the animals- way closer than you can get to them at a zoo!

We ended our day by having pizza with our friends, Haleigh and Logan, but I didn't take any pictures! Haleigh is also a NWA resident originally from Little Rock and we went to high school together... so she understands my situation and it has really helped to have her up here! :)

Here's to having a good attitude; making the most of the situation that you are in; and figuring out what God has for you no matter where you are!

Have a great week! :)

Miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:50:00 +0000

For the last 2 weeks, we have been in a funk at our house! Last week, I was REALLY sick. I was coughing so much that I couldn't sleep or talk and I just felt SO awful. We basically stayed home all week and Nick Jr. babysat Seth while I laid on the couch in a daze. Ha! And this week, Evan missed 2 days of work with the same stuff that I had last week and Seth has missed MDO and therapy this week because of pink eye and an ear infection... I am SO over being stuck at home! haha

I took this picture yesterday morning... this is all the medicine that was sitting out on our kitchen counter (to be honest, we are keeping my parents' lab and she has arthritis and two of the medicines are things that Seth takes every day of his life... so all of these meds aren't because of our current sickness! But I still thought it was funny!).

On Tuesday, before Seth got sick, we went to his 2 year check up. He had to get 2 shots and we found out that he is in the 96th percentile for height and the 85th percentile for weight... poor tiny child. :) That afternoon, we went to get frozen yogurt as a reward for surviving the shots!

The next morning, I had to finally wake Seth up at 10:30! He had been asleep for almost 14 hours and I was starting to get worried about him! When I woke him up, I discovered why he had been sleeping so much... his eye was super red and his snot was super green! So we headed back to the doctor for the second day in a row!

And now on to the reason that I am actually writing this post... In the last two days, we have seen two new doctors. When we moved to NWA at the end of the summer, we chose a pediatrician and went to one appointment with him before he moved to another town and left the clinic. So, we chose another doctor in the same clinic but we had never actually seen him (before Tuesday) because Seth hadn't had any check ups or sick visits since September. Then on Wednesday, when we had the sick visit, our new doctor didn't have any available appointments so we had to see yet another doctor.

So, twice this week, I have had to update a new doctor (and complete stranger) on Seth's rather extensive medical history. As I sat there rattling off all of the things that have happened to Seth in the last 24 months, both of the doctors looked at me in amazement and commented at different times on how miraculous Seth's story is... something that I have almost forgotten because it is so everyday life to me now. It was so good for me to watch a stranger experience the miracle of Seth's life. It was so good for me to remember that although I have experienced God's goodness many times in my life, I had never witnessed a true miracle before Seth.

I am so thankful to God for the miracles that he has done in Seth's life... and I am talking TRUE miracles like "raised the dead to life" and "made the lame to walk" and "made the blind to see" type miracles. The expectations on Seth's life after he was injured at 6 months of age were grim but God is bigger than grim expectations. Among many other miracles, my son, who was once near death, is now full of energy and zest for life. My son who wasn't guaranteed to walk, who wore braces on his feet and didn't take his first steps until he was 15 months old, now runs and climbs and dances. My son, who lost his vision completely after the injury, now has the vision of a typical 2 year old.

My son is a miracle and I don't ever want to forget that. My son is a miracle and I don't want to ever stop telling his story. My son is a miracle and I don't say it enough.

"I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds. Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples." -Psalm 77:11-14

Our First Family Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Better late than never, right? I could have just skipped it but I really wanted to record our first official Christmas as a family of 3! So here is my attempt at a quick overview...

The night before Christmas Eve (which I like to refer to as Christmas Eve Eve), we rode a Christmas train! It was wonderful and Seth LOVED it!! It was a real train that traveled from Springdale to Fayetteville and then back to Springdale. The kids wore their pajamas and we were served cookies and hot chocolate. We also sang Christmas carols and got a visit from Santa and Frosty the Snowman! :)

About halfway through the train ride, we gave Seth a Christmas present... "The Polar Express". We plan to ride the Christmas train every year and we wanted to commemorate the first year of our new tradition so we gave him the book and wrote a little note in the front of it!

When we got home from the train ride, we made cookies for Santa!

We had our "Christmas Morning" on Christmas Eve morning this year because we wanted Seth to be able to have a Christmas at home but we also wanted to travel to see our families during the weekend.

After we opened presents, Seth and Evan went outside to try out Seth's new ride while I made pancakes!

We had double chocolate Santa pancakes and they were delicious!! I saw some similar Santa pancakes on Pinterest but decided that I wanted our Santas to be made with chocolate pancakes and fresh fruit. I found the recipe that I used for the pancakes here. We also did "Elf on the Shelf" this year and our elf, "Gus", came to our breakfast to say goodbye until next year! :)

And don't worry, we didn't forget about Jack this year! He had some goodies in his stocking too! :)

We spent the rest of the day at home playing and packing and we headed to Little Rock late that afternoon. We got to Little Rock around 8:30 and we went straight to my grandparents' house for dinner and a few gifts.

My grandmother, my mom and me playing in our new hats :)

My grandparents gave Seth this superhero costume and I thought he looked SO cute playing in it!

We spent that night with my parents and on Christmas morning we opened more presents, ate brunch together and read the REAL Christmas story together before packing up and heading to Arkadelphia to be with Evan's family.

At Evan's parents' house, Seth got to meet some Aunts and Uncles that he hadn't met, we ate dinner together and we opened MORE presents... and we learned that Seth is a really great drummer! :)

We spent the night with Evan's parents that night and the next morning, Seth was FINALLY ready to hold Preslee. She was almost a month old at this point and every time we had tried to get him to hold her before, he quickly opted out! haha

He loves his sweet baby cousin (and I LOVE how he is holding her tiny little hand in this picture)! :)

Evan and I have officially decided that Christmas as parents is WONDERFUL and we look forward to many, many more! :)

A VERY Long Day and Pretty in Pink

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:30:00 +0000

The week before Seth's birthday, we had to make a special trip to Little Rock for an 8 hour EEG at Children's Hospital... it was a LONG day, to say the least. Seth has a history of seizures and his physical therapist and occupational therapist thought that they may have noticed him having some "absent seizures" so that was the reason for the testing. It wasn't painful at all but it was a VERY long time for an almost two year old boy to sit still and he was very frustrated. I felt so bad for my sweet boy and we were SO glad when it was over!

We spent the night in Little Rock after the EEG and then the next day, my mom and brother came back to NWA with us... because I needed their help! As you may have noticed, my family has a LOT of double birthdays!! My mom's birthday and Evan's birthday are one week apart; my grandmother's birthday and my brother's birthday are one day apart; Seth's Forever Day and my birthday are one day apart and my sister's birthday and Seth's birthday are 3 days apart!! So, Seth wasn't the only family member that we celebrated last week! My sister, Anna, turned 23 on the 12th and we had a little birthday party for her on Thursday night when the rest of my family arrived at our house for the weekend.

Here are a few pictures from her girly party...

My mom had the napkins imprinted with Anna's monogram!

This picture was taken when Anna was 18 months old!

It's hard to see but one of the cakes says, "Happy Birthday" and the other says, "Anna Victoria".

The birthday girl with her table :)

Seth loves his "Nanna" SO much!!

Now, if I had only blogged about Christmas, I would be all caught up! haha

Maybe next week :)

Seth's Birthday Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Seth's birthday was on a Sunday this year so we started the day out by going to church. My parents and siblings were still in town so they went with us. When Seth's name tag printed for Sunday school, it said, "Happy Birthday!" on it! I thought that was so fun but I forgot to take a picture of it!

After church, we all went out to eat. Seth opened a few little presents and the restaurant brought him an ice-cream sundae with a balloon tied to it and sang Happy Birthday to him!

After lunch, my family went back to Little Rock and we went home to take a nap! On Sunday night, Evan, Seth and I went to a movie! It wasn't technically Seth's first movie but it was his first kid movie and he LOVED it!!! We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

It was a fun day with our sweet TWO year old! And it feels so weird to say that! :)

More Party Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Here are a few more pictures of the people and activities that we enjoyed at Seth's cowboy party last Saturday!

On Friday night before Seth's party, I was in the kitchen working on some party things and a HUGE surprise walked through our door...

For those of you that don't know, Seth was in foster care for the first 14 months of his life. He had a WONDERFUL foster family... the family has four children and during the 14 months that Seth was in foster care, they cared for 2 foster children... Seth and Micah. Micah was adopted by an amazing family last June (click here to watch his adoption video) and he now lives in South Dakota with his parents and 3 older brothers. Seth and Micah were VERY close because they are 7 months apart in age and they lived as brothers for almost 14 months... but because of the distance, they haven't been able to see each other since June.

Back to the story... so I'm in the kitchen and Seth's foster parents and two of their daughters walk through our door... I knew they were coming to the party on Saturday but I was surprised to see them on Friday night... and THEN I noticed that Micah and his mom were behind them!!!!!!!!! I was SO excited and SO shocked!!! I couldn't believe that they had flown all the way from South Dakota to come to Seth's birthday party!! It meant so much to us and we were SO happy to get to spend the weekend with them!

From left to right...

Ella (Seth's foster parents' daughter), Laura (Micah's mom) and Micah!

While the pony people were setting up in the front yard, we "line danced" on bubble wrap!

Seth's precious cousin, Preslee, wore her sweet little cowgirl duds to the party :)

Seth was a little overwhelmed by everyone singing, "Happy Birthday", to him!

Blowing out his candle...

He did it!!!

I love his face in this picture... he was seeing the ponies for the first time! :)

Seth's friend, Brody!

Looks like Seth's telling the pony something pretty important...

Sweet Micah loved the ponies too!

Mariah (Seth's foster parents' youngest daughter)

Cowboy Braeden!

There were brushes for the ponies and even bows to put in their hair! haha

The best foster mom in the whole world! :)

Carriage rides...

This is one of about 6 pictures that all look very similar... Laura and I really wanted a picture with our boys but they were being so silly that this is just about the best that we could do!

After looking through all 400+ pictures from the party, I realized that we forgot to take pictures of a lot of important people! Maybe we should have a checklist for next year! haha Both sets of Seth's grandparents, one set of his great grandparents and all four of his aunts and uncles were there and we didn't take his picture with any of them! :(

Up next... what we did on Seth's actual birthday! :)

Our Little Cowboy's Birthday Bash

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Seth turned 2 yesterday and we celebrated on Saturday with a Cowboy birthday party!! We had a GREAT weekend... so great that it's impossible to fit it all in one post... so I'm going to have to break it up. Today, I'll share the party details... and maybe a few pictures of the birthday boy :)

We chose the cowboy theme because Seth loves horses. He has been around horses his whole life because his foster family had two of them and we have taken him to ride ponies several times in the past year and he just gets so excited every time! So, last fall, when I drove past a sign advertising ponies that would come to birthday parties, I just knew that's what we had to do!

This is the invitation... designed by my friend, Leslie, at Giraffic Arts!

The front door... I made the wreath, found the mat at Hobby Lobby and we borrowed the horse from a family friend that teaches horseback riding lessons!

A wide shot of the table!

I had the "Circle S" monogrammed on the cow print fabric for the "Circle S Ranch" and then my grandmother made the table square for us!

The cake was made by Rick's Bakery in Fayetteville!

"Cowboy Campfire S'mores"

"Chuckwagon Cherry Pies"

"Wagon Wheels"

"Pigs in a Blanket"

"Cow Tales"

"Chick-O-Sticks"

"The Watering Hole"

Water bottles, Cream Soda and Root Beer for the adults and Apple juice for the kiddos!

I had a hard time taking a good picture of this table because of the lighting... but these were the party favors: cowboy hats, bandanas, sheriff badges and little horse stuffed animals. The sign says, "Howdy, y'all! Thanks for comin'! Get your get up and your giddy up here!"

The nice people from "Backyard Barn" brought four ponies... two for petting, one for riding and one for pulling a carriage up and down the street!

And finally, our precious little cowboy :)

Thank you so much to our friends and family who came to the party and made Seth's birthday extra fun and memorable! And a special thanks to my whole family who came up Thursday night and helped us with everything from cleaning the house to cooking the party food to setting up the party... We couldn't have done it without them!!

More to come in the next few days! :)

Happy Birthday, Seth!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:02:00 +0000

2 years ago today, my life was forever changed... and I had no idea.

One year ago today, I was an emotional (but hopeful) wreck... praying and clinging to the hope that I would be given the gift of becoming Seth's mommy. I may or may not have had a breakdown at his birthday party...

Today, I am the happiest and most blessed momma around because God gave me Seth Clayton Bell... a gift that I will never ever deserve.

Thank you LORD for my precious gift!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet Seth!!

Seth's MDO Christmas Party

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Yesterday, Seth's MDO class had a Christmas party! They wore their pajamas and decorated gingerbread men and then watched a Christmas movie! I teach the class next door to Seth's so I am never able to go to his parties :( but Evan is always sure to be there! :) Seth gets SO excited when Daddy comes to MDO!

Also, I made these gifts for Seth's MDO teachers... I saw the marshmallows on Pinterest and found the cute little containers at Walmart!

The cans are filled with Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Marshmallows (to go in hot chocolate) and they are so easy to make... you just melt dark chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips), dip the marshmallows in the chocolate and then roll them in crushed candy cane, place in a wax paper lined dish and allow them to cool in the refrigerator until the chocolate sets. After the chocolate sets, store them in an airtight container. I wrote, "Just add hot chocolate!" on the lid to help his teachers know the intended use of the marshmallows!

Seth was so cute taking his gifts to his teachers! He was so proud of them! haha

Hopefully, I'll get caught up enough to share a few of our Christmas decorations and traditions sometime next week! Right now, I'm just trying to get our Christmas cards in the mail sometime BEFORE Christmas! haha But hey, if I don't, who doesn't like a nice Christmas surprise just when you thought the fun was over? :)

Have a GREAT weekend!

Pictures With Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:10:00 +0000

On Friday night, we got Seth all dressed up and we headed to the mall to see Santa.

I was a little nervous because he has never done very well with characters...

And just as I suspected... as soon as Seth saw Santa, he burst into tears and clung to me for dear life!!! So, Santa (who was an exceptionally kind and understanding Santa) suggested that we take a family picture instead! haha Not exactly what I was hoping for... but it's a funny memory and since Seth is big enough to get down and leave now, I'm pretty sure it was the only way we were getting a picture at all!

I'm wondering when kids transition from being terrified of Santa to thinking he's magical and wonderful? haha I guess we'll keep trying until we get there! :)

Preslee Bell Turner

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Our niece is finally here!! Preslee Bell Turner was born November 29 at 6:56 am. She weighed 6 lbs and 13 oz and was 20 inches long with tons of dark hair! She's definitely a cutie! :)

Julee went into labor late Monday night and we got word that they were headed to the hospital after everyone in our house was already asleep. Evan and I laid in bed for about 30 minutes after we got the call trying to figure out what to do... we were dying to get to the hospital but we weren't feeling great about dragging Seth to the hospital at 2 am if Julee was going to be in labor for a long time. But the texts kept coming that she was progressing quickly so around 4 am, we loaded up the car and headed to the hospital!

Heading into the hospital... In his pajamas :)

Thanks to Nanny for bringing Seth a "goody bag"! He was very entertained while he waited to meet his new cousin!

Mommy and Daddy waiting to meet their precious girl!

We finally got Seth dressed around 5 am... in his "I'm the Big Cousin" shirt!

Getting some loving from Pop and trying so hard to stay awake!

The proud parents and their little sweetie!

Seth was so worried about Aunt JuJu laying in the hospital bed... he thought she needed some kisses!

Uncle Evan

Aunt Rachel :)

Passing out some more kisses!

He loves his new cousin... he's been calling her "Pres"!

Checking out Aunt JuJu's bracelets

After a few naps (and showers) we went back to see Preslee (and her parents) again! Look closely and you will see Seth's jealous face! haha :)

Momma and her precious and long awaited baby girl!

We are SOOO happy for you, Matt and Julee!! :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Get ready for picture overload!! haha But I have to put all of my Thanksgiving pictures in one post because I'm hoping that our new niece, Preslee, will arrive any day now and I will need to post pictures of her! :)

We spent the first part of Thanksgiving Day with Evan's side of our family...

Papaw and Seth checked out Seth's latest obsession... a police car that sounds real and makes me think I'm getting pulled over every single time we're in the car! ha

Seth loved hanging out with his Aunt Ju Ju and Uncle Matt!

Nanny helped Seth get ready for Christmas with a new book :)

Julee and me... I can't wait to be an aunt! Any day now...

And the whole gang :)

After lunch, we drove to Little Rock to have Thanksgiving dinner with my side of our family...

Gigi and Seth

Seth and his Great-Great Uncle Bill!

Hanging out with Daddy and Uncle Luke

And Aunt Anna (also known as "Nana")...

We shopped and watched the Arkansas/LSU game :( on Friday. On Saturday we were supposed to go visit my dad's side of the family in NE Arkansas but my aunt and grandmother got sick on Saturday morning so our trip got canceled. I was really bummed because most of that side of my family has never met Seth! :( But we made the most of our day by rolling pumpkins down the hill in my parents' backyard and going to the Christmas tree farm!

Seth LOVED pumpkin rolling!!! He rolled all the little pumpkins down the hill and cheered for the big pumpkins as they rolled! :)

Lucy, our labrador RETRIEVER, also loved the pumpkin rolling because she thought it was a game of fetch! haha We got so tickled when she chased the pumpkins down the hill and came running back up with them! She was SO proud of herself! :)

Right about the time we got to the Christmas tree farm, it started pouring down rain!!

My dad got completely soaked cutting down their tree...

And my sister and I stayed nice and dry inside the car :)

Eventually, we all ended up getting out to drink hot chocolate and shop in the little Christmas store!

Rain or shine, it was a GREAT day! :)

And a great long weekend!

We are so thankful for our families and all of the blessings we have received in the last year... especially the blessing of becoming parents to our sweet little man!

Teepee Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:55:00 +0000

Yesterday, Seth's MDO class had a Thanksgiving party. I teach the class next to his at MDO so I couldn't leave my room to go to his party but Evan was able to be there (and I may or may not have peeked over the door a few times)! :)

I signed up to take cupcakes and I found the cutest teepee cupcakes on Pinterest! I thought they seemed very boyish! :)

They were a little trickier to make than I anticipated but I still thought they turned out to be pretty cute... flaws and all! haha

And Seth and his friends seemed to enjoy them... once they figured out how to eat them!

Haha Have a great weekend! :)

Appointed

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

November is National Adoption Month and today, National Adoption Day was celebrated in our hometown with a press conference and a balloon release in honor of all of the children that were adopted through foster care in 2011. Because of our recent move, we couldn't attend the balloon release but I couldn't let today pass without sharing my heart for adoption.

Adoption is an indescribable blessing and gift from God.

I believe with all of my heart that God (alone) creates all children and he creates them to be cared for and loved. He has a plan AND a family for each child. I believe that sometimes He places children in their families through pregnancy and sometimes through adoption... and there is no difference. I believe that before God creates every child, he chooses their parents and he doesn't make his decisions based on skin color, eye color or DNA. The very reason for our existence is to bring glory to God and I believe that is the only factor that He considers when choosing the makeup of families.

I don't, by any means, believe that every family is called to adopt, but I do believe that a family has been called to adopt every child. I believe that there are so many orphans and waiting children worldwide because something is holding those families back. Because I have experienced the immeasureable joy and blessing of adoption, I find it almost as heartbreaking that families are missing out on raising the children that God created for them as I do that children are missing out on being raised by the families that God created for them.

Behind every adopted child, there is a God-sized story... A story that is so amazing, that you know that the child in the story was meant to be in his or her forever family.

At the beginning of this year, I shared a lot about our adoption story... but I want to share a few more details today to show the evidence of my belief that our son is absolutely meant to be in our family and to prove that God is SO much bigger than obstacles or fears.

-Seth's biological mother was not from our state. She should never have given birth in our state, much less our city. If she had given birth in any other state or city, Seth would have been in the custody of that state and we never would have met him or had the opportunity to adopt him.

-Seth's foster parents (family friends of ours) were never supposed to be Seth's foster parents. They were supposed to take in another foster child a few days before Seth was born. However, when DHS went to get that child, he could not be found. So, when Seth was born, they became his foster parents instead. Then, a few days later, the child that they were originally supposed to take in was found. Although, in the past, that family had only taken in one baby at a time (and they already had a full house with four of their own children and a teenage foster child), they decided to keep both babies.

-When Seth was four months old, his foster mother needed a babysitter for both of her foster babies for the day. My mom volunteered to keep one of them and Seth happened (though I don't believe in coincidences) to be the one that his foster mother chose for my mom to babysit. That was the day that Evan and I met him for the first time.

-Seth changed foster homes when he was five months old. When he was six months old, he was physically abused and hospitalized. Although Seth came near death, the Lord miraculously chose to spare his precious life. When he was discharged from the hospital, he was returned to our friends- his original foster parents- where he was safe and loved.

-According to the rules in the state of Arkansas, a couple must be married for at least 2 years before adopting or fostering. When we started the process to adopt Seth, we had only been married for 16 months (and we were honest with our social workers about this). We brought Seth home two months BEFORE we had been married for 2 years.

-Seth became available for adoption before we even started the process to adopt. Usually, children under 2 years old are the first to be adopted. All odds were stacked against us for him to still be available by the time we were legally approved as an adoptive family.

In addition to the above obstacles that we faced, we also dealt with financial concerns, the pressure of social norms, disapproval from family members and fear of the unknown... but God was bigger than everything holding us back and standing in our way.

Adoption is not some big, scary, unattainable thing. It's not a community service and it's not something that only rich people or middle aged people or people with two or three biological kids or people with infertility can do. It's a blessing and a gift. Evan and I are nothing special and we haven't done an extraordinary thing by adopting Seth. We are just proud parents, thankful for the son that God blessed us with.

If God is calling you to adopt... if you are feeling even the tiniest of tugs... don't ignore it, don't downplay it and don't put it off. My guess is that God is not calling you to "adopt", he is calling you to parent a specific child with a face and a name and a story and a future. A precious child that may or may not share your skin color or your eye color or even your favorite subject in school... but he or she was created for you and God doesn't make mistakes.

This is the beautiful face, meaningful name, heartbreaking but hope-filled story and bright future that God created for us (and we so don't deserve him)...

Don't you want to meet the child or children that were created just for you?

Family Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Bell) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Remember this photo that I posted a few weeks ago?

Well, our fabulous photographer, Mindy, at MJW Photography, posted several more pictures from our session on her blog tonight... if you want to check them out!

Wanna know what's really cool about Mindy? She participates in a program called, Celebrating Adoption, that gives one free photo session to adoptive families within the first year of their adoption. We are so grateful for this gift and we will treasure these pictures forever!

Thanks, Mindy! :)