Introducing our New Nephew! MALACHI

It's official!! Malachi Wesley Butler is the newest addition to the family! Wes and Brandy got word today that the adoption has passed and he is theirs!!! They will be traveling end of May to pick him up from Ethiopia! SOO that means the WHOLE family will be a Nikki's wedding in June!

He is soo precious!!!
Look at those sweet eyes! I can't wait for Grayson to meet his new cousin and Matt and I meet our new nephew!

Pray for Malachi that his transition will be smooth and he will cling to his mew mommy and daddy! Pray for logistics to go pick him up and safe travels for Wes and Brandy!

Thank You Lord for this amazing blessing in our lives!!!

Grayson is 8 months old!!!

Grayson is 8 months old!!!! 

I can't believe my baby is 8 months old!  He is doing so much! Grayson has mastered crawling and going after everything that is NOT a toy :) and he LOVES chasing after Penni! I think he's like - Hey you can crawl too! :)  I can't take my eye off him for 2 seconds!  He's such a happy baby and still so good. AND he is getting a tooth up top!! Its just barely poking through!
Grayson is wearing an outfit that MEME got him! It's sooo cute and Daddy really likes it because it looks like his shirts! Grayson your so cool and stylish!
Daddy and his boy! What a happy baby!! These are the two loves of my life!
Ohhh that face! He can get away with anything!!! Don't tell lil G that! :)

Jane Goebel - Finally Home!

Last Thursday we got the news that Jane Goebel passed away. She is now with her eternal Father! no longer imprisioned in her body ( she had MS for years and was confined to a wheel chair)

Dad came up with the idea a couple years ago to do shoot of Jane's testimony along with the song "I Can Only Imagine" - Holy Cross Lutheran Church had a dance team that learned a dance to the song... we did this video in 2006. We shot it at Wason High School and some kids in their production class did the shooting and I edited it.

Dad and I went to the funeral on Tuesday, they played the video! It was amazing to think that Jane is dancing with her LORD!!! It was a nice service and great to see how many people she touched with her testimony!

Compassion Legacy Series - Video 4

Here is the fourth video I did for Compassion! Thought you might like to see!!! I can't say it enough that I love this ministry! This one was shown a couple weeks ago!

Once again! Consider sponsoring a child! www.compassion.com

The Butler Family is GROWING!!!!

NO I'M PREGNANT!!! (I'm not ready to split my time with Grayson ) :) 

BUT this post is long over due - The Butler family is growing!! 

First, most people know that Wes and Brandy are adopting from Ethiopia ... well last month they got their referral!! A little sweet boy will be theirs! He is 18 months old and soo cute... because the adoption isn't closed yet I can't post pictures yet but Wes sent me a pic of the little guy and he's beautiful! Big eyes like Selah and brown like Josiah's!

But today was the best news! Their courtdate has been set for the 22nd of this month!! YEP next wednesday!! SO pray pray pray that they pass court! if they do they could be picking up their SON in MAY!!! 

Below is a map of Africa highlighting where Ethiopia is!

Secondly, Nikki is engaged!! So we have a new brother-in-law!!! Welcome to the family Uncle James!!! James and Nikki are getting married in June! June 26th! SO we will be in Houston for the wedding ( in Galveston) we are so excited for them... we just wish we could be more involved with the planning (ok more me than matt :) ) But its hard being so far away! But i'm excited to see family again soo soon! 
Here are a couple pics I took from Nikki's face book of their engagement party! Nice Bling Nikki! Nicely Done James!

The Happy Couple!!! The Future Mr. and Mrs. Gould! Congrats guys! See ya in June!

More easter pics...

Penni and Bazi had Easter bunny ears to wear!! Thanks to Deb and Tom !

Yeah! Good Easter!

Grayson got his first Easter Basket!!! YEAH - as he claps his hands! 

One of my favorite memories rowing up s Easter morning waking up and finding our Easter Baskets on the kitchen table waiting for us! I remember one Easter I got the book "Secret Garden"! SOOO I was soo excited to make an Easter basket for Grayson! Next year I will be able to fill the eggs with goodies and we can hide them and have a little Easter Egg hunt but this year was fun to let Grayson play with the grass in the Basket! :)

Mom is still in France so we missed her for our annual Easter dinner with the Keithley's! A tradition that is over 17 years old! Josh and Kari hosted the meal and we had plenty of good food and fun just chillin'! 

Miss you Gigi can't wait till you come home!

So excited about his easter basket!
An egg!!
What is this fun grass???
Sleepy boy!! He was a little overwhelmed with his schedule being thrown off (being at church for both service while mommy and daddy sang) !
Here are some videos of Grayson playing in his Easter basket and him crawling towards the little space heater at Josh and Kari's! it's the only thing he really goes for!

Easter Service - HE IS RISEN!

Here are some pictures from Easter Service!!! Grayson looked so cute in his outfit that he wore to Erinn's wedding. 

He is Risen! Alleluia!

Yeah for Easter!

Playing while Mommy Works!

Here are just a few pics of lil g playing while I work...

This morning I looked at my video monitor and saw Grayson sitting up! He must have fugured out how to go from his stomach to sitting up on his own at 5:45am! It was so cute him just playing in his crib. This morning he did it again and I saw him do it... but now he seems to give up before sitting up on his own :) prob becuase he knows that i will help him if he whines enough!

I took a short video of him trying :)

Palm Sunday!

Sunday was Palm Sunday! One of my favorite church services! I love singing Hosanna while the kids process in the church waving palms!!! I love the excitement of Palm Sunday and the joy of praising Jesus the king, knowing  that in less than a week He will sacrifice himself for me! 

Josh is the children's director (DCE) of Family of Christ and helped usher in the kiddos down the aisle... Grayson went with him and waved a palm branch! It was soo cute. Matt and I were singing in the praise band so Matt couldn't walk him down himself.

Grayson's first palm sunday service!!! 
Catch me Daddy!!!!!

He's so stinkin cute!!!

Daddy and Grayson playing in Josh's office while we wait for church to start! Grayson was in the best mood and I got some great pictures!!!


MELT MY HEART!!! I LOVE HIS SMILE!

Grayson got some new shoes!
Trying to crawl!


This face is soo funny! It doesn't even look like him! I love it though... of course!

Here's a video of Grayson crawling a little bit!

I did it!!!

Saturday Grayson officially crawled!!! I couldn't believe it! He has been thinking about it and then finally he saw a dog toy and decided to go after it! He only took a couple "crawl steps" but he was definitely crawling! YES - I cried! He's growing up so fast! 

We were at Josh and Kari's (of course) and we were all there to see it! It was great that Matt and I both were there and no one missed it! 
Look at that face! I love it! Grayson is the happiest baby and I'm so incredibly blessed to be his mommy! 

* I didn't have my camera out to catch that first crawl and then it was ready and out for the rest of the day but of course he never crawled again for the day :) But these are pics from right after!

Just a few more...

Just a few more wedding pics to show off our mad decorating skills :) 

We tied the tags to the sparklers and decorated the bowl...

We used the arch and ceremony decorations as a backdrop to the cake table... makes a great pic!

The Newlyweds!

A pic of the bridesmaids bouquet... yes Kari and I did all the flowers for the wedding... bouquets, boutonnieres, arrangements, and corsages 

Another aisle pic :) 

CONGRATS ERINN AND DUSTIN!

Before and After...

Kari and I were in charge of doing the wedding ceremony decorations! we were given a budget and pretty much got free reign on making the "altar" area look natural and beautiful and elegant. Below are below and after pics :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Here's a video of the BIG REVEAL to the bride!! We kept Erinn out of the room until we were completely done! She loved it!