The Fanning Four

Bethany does not like to share. Plain and simple, just doesn't like it. But she knows  if she doesn't share, she either loses the toy or she goes to her room. So this morning, she came up with her own solution. She was on daddy's lap playing with a toy and she did not want daddy to touch the toy. We asked her to share and warned her that she would not be able to keep playing with the toy if she did not share. So, she got up, grabbed the toy and her beloved elephant stuffed animal and whimpered and sulked her way down the dark hallway of my parents' house. It was down the hall that she could be free to play with the toy all by herself- no sharing. But my little extrovert couldn't handle it. Her need to be around people outweighed her need to have the toy all to herself so she came bounding back to daddy, toy in hand, ready to share.

We measured Bethany this morning and she has grown. She is 32 inches which puts her in the 50% for her age. This is the girl that has been below the 10% for a very long time. And she weighs 22 pounds which is also a big jump for her! I also got to change out her clothes from 12 month size to 18 month size. I guess those Ensures are doing the job. Plus she seems to be eating better these days. Yay for a growing girl!!! We've also been keeping a list of words she says and here's what we have written down so far: whale, duck, hi, bye, daddy, momma (rarely says this), color, car, ball, go, out, up, down, eat, juice, bath, eye, ear, hat, cup, belly, TV, diaper, no, uh-oh, bear, kitty, hot, water, rock, bubble, please, more, clock, amen, cheese (when she hears the camera turn on), flower, "what's this?" 19 months bear picture In other news, we have to postpone our adoption agency meeting for Monday- I'll let you know when we reschedule.

This coming Monday, we'll be attending an informational meeting with an adoption agency. My hope is that this will be the last step before making a final decision about what avenue to pursue for adoption. Once we make the final decision I'll tell you more about the process of how we got there. But for now, just know that there is a lot of praying, thinking, talking, reading, listening, crying, hoping and trusting going on in the Fanning household as we make this big decision. In case you're curious (I know some of you are because some have already asked), Tom and I knew we would pursue adoption before we even got married. For me personally, I've had a desire to adopt for many, many years. And there wasn't any convincing necessary for Tom to share that desire. Eventually, we'll write more about this and why we chose adoption but feel free to talk to us if you have any questions about it. We would love to share our heart on this matter. In other news: Next ...

This past weekend, Tom was the lay director for a Chrysalis Flight . It was a ton of work and he did such a great job coordinating it all. I am so proud of him!! Needless to say, all spare time has gone to directing this past weekend and now that it's over we can take a deep breath, thank God for a fabulous weekend, and look to the future! Notice the new blog name? The coming months will be HUGE for the Fanning family! Most of you know by now, that Fanning baby 2.0 is on his or her way via adoption. Estimated date of arrival? Um, no idea! First, we still need a new house. Yep, still looking! But in order to be good stewards of our money and to have the funds needed for adoption, we have to be very careful in our house hunt- this is why we abandoned the pursuit of building a new home. A new house may be nice but a new child is WAY better! So, step 1- buy a house. Step 2- make a final decision on the adoption route we will take. This is a scary one. There are so many factors ...

Bethany turned a year and a half yesterday and she's getting to be quite the big girl. Well, not big (she's still very petitie) but grown up!  :) She has 7 teeth and is working on another one. She is very talkative, even though most of it we can't understand. She is very social and loves to go to the playground and play with other kids. She still gives right out on your mouth kisses and just learned how to hug. She has stellar dance moves and will even sing a bit on occasion. She likes to brush her teeth, hates having her hair washed, and likes to figure out how things work. She likes to paint and color. She loves to take things out of the pantry. She likes to prentend she's putting on makeup and anything with a handle becomes a purse. She's also spent the last week walking around the house in momma's shoes. She still calls us both "daddy" most of the time. She does know I am momma and will say it when promted but her default is to say "daddy...

Do you ever wish you had one of these at the end of the day? I do!

I am studying Esther with the youth small group I facilitate and we just learned Sunday night about how pride comes before the fall. Haman gets so full of himself and then is totally taken down by the King. If you haven't read Esther, you should! It's like a soap opera!! Well, I should have listened to the lesson more carefully Sunday night..... I took Bethany to the play area at Chick Fil A yesterday because she has a fascination with climbing stairs and sliding down slides. She thinks she's a two year old I guess! So, after a bunch of playing, a bit of chicken, fruit, and ice cream, I took her to the bathroom for a quick diaper change. As I was washing my hands I let her wander around in the handicapped bathroom (where the changing table was) and I stood there thinking how nice it was that she could walk. "Everyone says it's more trouble when they start to walk, but this is great. I mean look at her, walking around like a big girl while mommy washes her hands. ...