Busy December

We hope this day finds you filled with many blessings! December has been so crazy around our house, from finalizing Britten's adoption, to Britten's First Christmas, to planning her GOTCHA Day Celebration, but it is all worth it and we feel very blessed during all the craziness! Looking back over the past five months, I never would have thought last Christmas that this Christmas we would have our own little family. GOD is one amazing man who has filled a void that I had for such a long time. Britten is the one little precious and beautiful baby that has given us many blessings and I wouldn't have been possible without "C." We love you and thank GOD for you daily! What an amazing journey it has been!

Britten Karson Marshall

Just wanted to share more pictures with you. ENJOY!

Blessing the past five months!

Okay, so it’s been 2 MONTHS since I’ve posted anything! We both apologize BIG TIME! Things are a going great and we are so blessed! Time for writing has been squeezed a little! ;-) So here’s the run-down on the last 2 months…a Cliff’s Notes version:

September 29 – Britten had her 2-month Dr. appointment and had her first set of shots. It was VERY hard for mommy and hearing Britten cry like that was heart-breaking. The good thing is it only lasted about a minute and she went right to sleep for like 6 hours! She weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz and was 23.6” long.

September 30 – Britten belted out her first real laugh…a belly laugh and had a bath in her own pink bathtub.

October 4 – Mommy went back to work…A VERY HARD DAY for everyone!

October 7 – 3 MONTHS OLD!

October 18 – We started adding rice cereal to the bottles. Britten is an eating machine! Nothing seemed to make her full, but the cereal did the trick!

October 24 – Mommy and Daddy dedicated Britten to the Lord at our church during the morning service with several other babies. It was a special day with all the family in attendance! Also, cousin Braelei taught Britten to pull her zebra pull-toy on her car seat! Now she does it non-stop every time she’s in there!

October 29 – Dressed up as a lady bug, Britten went trick or treating with cousins Holly and Hannah at the Ranching Heritage Center with what seemed like 10,000 other people and there kids!

October 30 – First time to drink from a BIG 8 oz bottle!

October 31 – First Halloween…not much going on here…just stayed in and hung with cousins Brooks, Holly and Hannah!

November 7 – 4 MONTHS OLD! Wow, time is flying!

November 12-14 – Went to Perryton for the second time. Started rolling back and forth and slept through the night by herself on a big-girl bed…TWICE!

November 15 – Dad put together a new toy…The Exercaucer! Britten loves it!

November 17 – Ate rice cereal from a spoon and bowl for the first time!

November 24 – 4 month Dr. appointment and 2nd round of shots. Britten was 14 lbs 2 oz and 25.8” long! 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for length! Dr. said she could start her 1st Foods, so she had sweet potatoes for the first time…ate the whole jar!

November 25 – First Thanksgiving!
November 28 – New food…Squash!

That brings everyone up to date so far. Britten isn’t far from sitting up on her own…she tries every time she’s on her back. We haven’t quite figured out the sleep-schedule, but we’re diligently working on it and we’ve almost got it! She can get up on all 4’s for a few seconds, so a little rocking and crawling isn’t very far away either! Whew! She’s growing and developing so fast! She’s so long that most baby clothes for her stage are too short…so we have to go bigger and her skinny little body gets swallowed!

We’re so happy and blessed with Britten in our lives! We can’t believe her first Christmas is already here and she’s no longer a new-born! Hopefully we won’t wait so long to update next time! ;-)

Blessings to everyone and have a Merry Christmas!

Jason, Kara and Britten

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” ~ 2 Corinthians 9:15

I really can't believe Britten is almost 3 months old. Time is flying by and I really don't like how fast it is going and especially knowing that this is my last week home with my little love bug. The thought of having to go back to work makes me sick! My prayer has been for GOD to open doors for me to be a stay at home mom. As I look at her everyday and see how much she has changed from day to day from growing, smiling, kicking, playing, talking, and wanting to laugh, it makes me sad to think of the little things I will miss during the day. (Going to start crying writing this.) Britten has been the biggest blessing and I thank GOD and "C" everyday for giving me the gift of a lifetime. There are no words to describe our ADOPTION journey and the love we have for her. Yes, Yes, Yes, I would do it all over again. I now see why God put myself, Jason, and both of us through some rough roads.....He had the much bigger, better, and perfect little girl picked for us. During our journey I would get so upset with God and ask why are you doing this to me instead of knowing he had the best plan. It's was so hard because I wanted a baby so bad and I wanted the baby now. I know now GOD's plans....I promise are worth waiting for!!! She melts my heart!

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Britten-Blessing us EVERDAY!

God definitely had a plan for us! Jeremiah 29:11

2 Months of Many Blessings

Britten had her 2 month birthday on September 7th and honestly I can't be;ieve she is 2 months. These past two months God has blessed us in more ways than we could ever imagine. Britten is changing everyday and we just sit in awwww of her! She loves to be talked to and she loves talking as well. She will give the biggest grin back, which melts my heart! There are no words to explain the LOVE we have for ADOPTION and our precious daughter Britten!! Thank you "C" for giving us the greatest blessing ever! We love you!!

Britten 7 weeks

God you are amazing! As I sit here and stare at my daughter, I can only give credit to our Heavenly Father and thank her birth mom “C.” The past 7 weeks have been crazy needless to say. We have been busy with work, getting the house somewhat organized and trying to fall into a routine. We are almost there and Britten is doing better with sleep and her daily routine. She recently came down with a cold bug and is a little more fussy than usual with congestion, but we’ll get it under control very soon! She is growing so fast and is already up to 9 lbs 10 oz! Her hair is growing so fast too! She is becoming more interactive and loves to have you talk to her. She just listens and watches every move you make and smiles all the time! Her nursery is almost finished and soon to be organized. We are ready for that project to be over with! We can’t believe we’ll be taking her in for her 2-month appointment in a couple of weeks! Time really does fly when you vault into parenthood! I have been blessed with the opportunity to stay at home for the first 6 weeks of school! I got my classroom ready and went to the first day of school to make sure everything was organized and ready for the sub. I explained to the kids what was going on and why. Some of them were very curious and still a little confused! They’re very funny because they’re so transparent! Hopefully I’ll get this updated a little more regularly, but no guarantees! ;-) Until then…
Love and Blessings,
Kara, Jason and Britten

Britten

Here are more pictures we have taken since being home from OKC. I am so far behind trying to keep up with everything....Please be patient. I am trying hard to learn all of this multi-tasking stuff!~ Life has been crazy but in a good way and I would not trade it for anything in the world. We are working on getting days and nights straight and trying to make Britten stay up more in the day. This has been the biggest challenge. Any ideas or hints as to make this a success. Thank you for all your calls, cards, gifts, food, prayers, love and support during this very special time with Miss Britten. It is hard to believe that she will be a month in 5 days!!
Love and Blessings,
Kara, Jason, and Britten

Finally Home

I know it's been awhile since I posted anything and I honestly thought I would have more time since we have been home, but that really hasn't been. We came home on Saturday, July 17th. On the way home, we stopped in Memphis, Texas to visit my grandparents and they were so crazy about Britten. Britten loved Mere and was so happy when Mere had her. After visiting we headed home and finally got to Lubbock and it was so nice being home. We didn't get into bed until 1:30. Jason and I paid for it on Sunday! When we got in bed that night, I thought wow I can sleep all night finally. Then it was like ummmm no you can't. WE are really PARENTS now. Like Jason and I told some of our friends, it felt like we were just baby sitting and then it hit Saturday night. We would not trade it for anything in the world because GOD blessed us with the best birthmom ever and the most beautiful and precious baby girl! We love with you both more than ever!

Friday on July 16th, "C" wanted to see Britten before we came back to Texas so we met her at the agency and spent about 3 hours. I can't descibe this....there are no words other than "C" you are an amazing woman and you will forever be a part of our family! I gave "C" a cross necklace from James Avery as a token gift and I have one that I wear everyday. The cross represents God's love for "C", Britten, God's faithfulness to us through this adoption journey and for us to always be reminded of each other. There is not a day that I do not thank GOD for "C" and Britten! Without GOD, our faith, trust, grace and obedience through this Jason and I would not have Britten. Thank you GOD for blessings us more than we could ever imagine. There is no journey like adoption and I would do it all over again!

Britten has been fighting thrush since we were in Oklahoma and we had to have her mouth painted twice while we were there, started medicine on Monday and it never would get better. She was not a happy little girl. We visited our pediatrician here on Wednesday and we started new medicine and praying this takes care of it. Not being able to make your precious little one happy made of feel like total failures and then Satan starts getting the best of you. She has not been sleeping well at night so Jason and I are dragging but we know GOD will not give us more than we can handle!

Thanks for all your love, support, prayers, calls, food and gifts. I will get better with blogging and keeping you updated.

Blessings,

Kara

Poor Precious Britten

Yesterday we notice that Britten was getting some thrush in her mouth so we called the pedi and they told us they wanted her system to fight it off. Mommy did not like this answer. As the evening went on she got very fussy so I called the pedi and she told us to bring her in on Thursday and they would swab her mouth with the purple dye and she should have comfort within 12-24 hours. In the meantime, give her Tylenol so needless to say last night was not a good night at all. She has not been this fussy ever so I knew we had to get a handle on it. It sucks and makes mommy and daddy feel awful and feel like it is our fault. I DO NOT like her being uncomfortable! Please GOD take this away from her now!

Wednesday, July 14

Britten is 1 week old today. She had a very special visitor, Chassidy. Chassidy brought mommy and daddy some awesome salads from Charleston's and we really enjoyed spending time with her. Thanks Chass for the bag of goodies! We have already read I Love you more than Rainbows! We really appreciate all your love, support, prayers, and numerous hours on the phone during our journey. We love you and can't wait to spend more time with you and your sweet family.

Thank you "C" for giving us the most precious gift ever. We will never ever forget this day! You are an angel sent to us from GOD and we love you with all our hearts!!

Tuesday, July 13th

Today we had an appointment with the pediatrician at 10:00 and found out that Britten is a really healthy baby. She now weighs 7 lbs. and 1 oz. We did have to go have some blood work done to check her jaundice levels and received a call that her levels were normal. Today was a very stressful day for little Miss, Mommy and Daddy. She was a trooper though and slept most of the day! She is still eating well and every 2-3 hours around 2-4 ozs. She loves having books read to her and loves cuddling. We love you and can't wait to be home! Please keep "C" in your prayers as she goes to court tomorrow and I can't even imagine all the emotions she is feeling. "C" we love you and thank GOD for putting us in each other lives. Britten is an amazing gift from GOD!!

A Few More From The Shoot!