Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas Friends!

This year has been one of SO many changes... This year we wont get around to sending out Christmas cards so, consider this your e-christmas-card... :)

Of course, as many of you know, this year has been crazy for us... In May of this year our son Carson was born, and his adoption was finalized in August. Some other noteworthy events of this year are...

Jessies dad is still on dialysis awaiting a kidney, he went into kidney failure for the third time last year and is prayerfully anticipating a third kidney transplant. Along with that this year, Jessies mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thank you Jesus they found it early and after three surgeries is now officially cancer free. Her last reconstruction surgery will happen sometime this next year. Thank you all for the love and encouragement you've shown our family during this time!

We bought a house! We found a great little 6 year old energy efficient house in North Pole (15-20min drive into town to Marks work and church). We love having our own place, and the boys having their own rooms. We've got quite a few little "fixer upper" things to do, then we'll post pictures!

We got a dog, Black Lab mix of some sort, her name is Molly... We love her. Shes very sweet and Caleb ADORES her. They play together really well, which means mommy has to do much less entertaining:).

This year we started helping to run the Kids Church program at our church as well. We run the program every other sunday, and there is another volunteer who runs it on our off weeks. We love the kids, and since Childrens ministry is Jessies passion, she is THRILLED to be involved with them again, and looks forward to what God has in store!

Last piece of news... We've been in touch with AKSOM (Alaska School of Ministry) and the AG headquarters here and are enrolled and will be taking classes again starting in January to continue to pursue getting our lisences to minister.

We pray this year has been a great one for you and yours, and pray Gods many blessings upon you in this upcoming year. May we never forget the reason for the season, Gods son, our Savior Jesus, being born! What a reason to celebrate!

Much Love,

Mark, Jessie, Caleb and Carson

More Pictures by One Eyed Wonder Photography

Here are a few more pictures I just got back from our sweet friend, Sadie, with One Eyed Wonder Photography... We took these back in August (I think?)...

Our Month of September Update

Well, since I already did a couple posts this past month, I'll keep this one short... We had a great month with the finalization of Carsons adoption and a visit from Marks parents! See the last couple of posts for pictures and the fun stories of the fun we had while they were here:).
We've had lots of people asking us about our house lately... We have heard back that the owner and bank have accepted our offer, we're just waiting on "Freddie Mac", the "Investor company" to approve it. We expect to hear by the end of the week (fingers crossed). So far its still looking good for escrow to close the end of October! Yay! We're very excited to get into our own place, with more space inside and out, and not hear the noise from our sweet landlords who live directly above us:).
Thats about it for now! We're excited for the things God has in store for our family for the coming month! In the month of October we will be starting to run part of Kids Church at our church we attend, celebrating Mark and Calebs birthdays, helping to put on the Harvest Carnival and moving (hopefully!). We thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve Jesus, here, in ALASKA!

The Many Faces of Carson Ray

Since I realize I didn't have any photos of Carson in the last post (bad mommy...) here are a few new ones:)

Content...

Happy...

Giggles!

Visit from Marks Parents!

We just got back from an absolutley delightful trip to Anchorage with Marks mom and step-dad. Of course, we had to make a stop in Denali, drive through as much of the wildlife preserve as we could with our own vehicle, try the Denali dinner theater, and stay in the Mt. McKinley Chalet! Awesome experiance! Then, we continued our trip with a stop in Wasilla to visit the house Marks step-dad built back in the late 80's before we made it into Anchorage! We had a delightful evening in Anchorage with a stay in the Ramada Inn! Then, after we dropped Ed and Debbie off at the airport this morning, we made one last stop with the boys at the Anchorage Zoo! Carson slept through it, but Caleb LOVED it! It was fun to get to see some of AK's animals up close! On our way to Anchorage we saw one moose on the road, and on our way home we spotted two along the side of the road! I never was able to get a picture in time... but it was thrilling to see them!:)

Here are a few "scenic pictures"... I know my grandma and aunt will especially like to see these:)

Ed, Debbie and Carson enjoying Denali Dinner Theater... Pictures to come of Ed playing the roll of the "hero" in part of the play! Such a fun experiance!

This is the house Ed built back in the '80's. The front portion (from the downspout forward) is an addition thats been made by more recent owners. Ed was thrilled to see it still standing! :)

The Zoo was really pretty! Lots of bridges and trees, had to take a few pictures! Unfortuniatley, Carson slept the ENTIRE time we were there and it was pretty chilly, so we kept him bundled up in his carseat:)

Pictures of the animals will be on a different post, as there are quite a few of them! More pictures to come as soon as I get them downloaded off my phone:)

Camping

Well... We went camping back in August and I TOTALLY forgot to post pictures when I did my August update! Anyway, they're here now! :)

Cuddle times are the BEST!

Angelic little sleeper:)

Fun with daddy... Silly boys!

Enjoying lounging arround:)

We had a great time and can't wait to camp lots more, next season!

Carson is OFFICIALLY ADOPTED!

We had Carsons final adoption hearing today! He is officially OURS! God is SO good! It seems like it took FOREVER to get it finalized, but its only been just over three months since he was born! Gods timing is always perfect!

We are looking forward to moving on to the next phase in life, worry free and just happy to be a family. I can't begin to tell you what a relief Mark and I both felt when the judge declared Carson be legally our son! SUCH JOY!!!

Thank you all, from the depths of our heart, for all the love, encouragement, and prayers you have shown our family during this often stressful, emotional time of adoption:).

Serving Jesus with Thanksgiving in our Hearts,
Mark, Jessie, Caleb and Carson Dickinson:)

Dickinson family with the Judge and the Cox's

Caleb got to sit in the Judges chair, she was SO sweet on him and made it fun for him too.

...There will be many more pictures to come, just wanted to get a couple up for all those who have been asking to see some! My phone was off, so I'll have to get the ones Mom took from her camera:)

Visitors!

We are excitedly awaiting a visit from Mark's Mom and Step-dad! They will be arriving September 12 and leaving the 19th! YAY!

Also upcoming, next Thursday is our last court date for finalizing Carsons adoption! Any friends and family in the Fairbanks area are invited to attend! Call or email me for details:). Praise God for His faithfulness!

Please be praying especially for Carsons birth mom, she is still having a very hard time, understandably so.

Thank you friends and family for your words of encouragement, love, and continued prayers!
Mark, Jessie, Caleb and Carson

August

What a busy month! Lots going on!

Jessies mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and had two surgeries this month. The second surgery was successful and they found no cancer in her lymph nodes, praise God! She begins radiation and hormone therapy soon. Jessies dad is still in need of a kidney transplant, no match found as of yet. We (Mark and Jess) are getting tested next Monday to see if either of us is a match.

We put an offer on a house this month! Yay! We're praying Gods will be done, of course, and cant wait to get things moving along. Its a short sale and the owners have accepted the loan but we're waiting on hearing back from the bank still... Its a 2bed 1bath house in North Pole (only 15min from Marks work) with an unfinished full size daylight basement. If we are able to purchase it we'll turn the daylight basement into a master suite to make the house a 3bed 2bath and have instant equity! We signed up for AKSOM (Alaska School of Ministry) classes and will start next month. We're VERY excited to continue working towards getting our ministry licenses! We have all our transcripts and are looking forward to figuring out how far along in the process we are/what classes transfer etc.

Jessie has been asked to start taking more of a roll in Childrens Church, there are a lot of changes being made at our church right now, so please keep us all in your prayers. Lots of good things happening, but even good change can be hard sometimes.

Mark had his yearly review and is being promoted to "second manager", no pay raise but better hours and will officially have a "full time" status.

Caleb is loving telling stories... He's getting really good at reciting the bible stories he's learning at home and in his Sunday School classes. We love hearing him tell us the stories the way he understands them. It cracks us up!

Carson is rolling over, cooing, smiling, and even occasionally laughing! He's such a joy! We are so excited, tomorrow will be TWO WEEKS away from our final adoption court date! Praise the Lord! What an exciting journey adopting our sweet boy has been! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

That's it for us this month! Keep checking in with us for our monthly updates!
Love the Dickinsons

We had a wonderful church friend, Sadie, take pictures for us. Here are a few I know you'll enjoy!

Our Handsome Carson Ray:)

<3

Caleb being a very cute goof ball

What a handsome boy!

...I'll be adding a few more soon!

July

July was SUCH a fun month! We got our first visit with Poppy and Gigi since we moved here, had Carsons dedication, Carsons birth parents went to court and signed away all custody, AND we got our date for our court appearance that will finalize Carsons adoption! BUSY month! :)

Carson was dedicated July 17th at our church, Fairbanks First Assembly of God by Pastor Paul McDonald, who did a WONDERFUL job, and made it SO special! One very cool thing I'll mention is that Pastor Paul is ALSO adopted!
Carsons birth parents signed away custody at the courthouse on July 22nd. At that hearing our final court date was set for September 8th! We cannot wait to get the adoption finalized! Please keep his birth family in your prayers as this is a very emotional time for them. They need Jesus.

This month Carson started cooing, grabbing at things, smiling, and occasionally squealing! Though, our FAVORITE thing hes started doing is sleeping through the night in 6-7 hour increments!

Caleb has turned into quite a ham and is enjoying imaginative play even more now-a-days. Currently he very much enjoys acting out different bible stories, assigning rolls to his stuffed animals and action figures and he plays God... yea... we may need to work on that... LOL He likes to organize his play (first we will do this, then we'll do that) he's quite the little organizer and likes things "just so". His current favorite food is smoothies we make with fresh fruit and a no sugar added smoothie mix sold at North Pole Coffee Co. Caleb still adores his brother and is more than happy to throw a dirty diaper away or give Carson his "binkie boo" (pacifier) when he cries. We'll be looking into part time preschool for him for this coming school year to give him something to do during the winter months and to help him get ready for kindergarten next year (no, I absolutely CANNOT believe he's growing up so fast!)

Here's a few pictures from this past month. Pardon the quality as they were all taken with my phone! I'll get on top of things for next month and get some better quality pictures with my camera!

Daddy and his boys:)

Gigi cuddles for the first time!

Our first walk in the new stroller thanks to Grandpa Buba and Grams!

Ahhh... this is the life!

Carson Ray cuddling with Steve Ray and Darold Ray (Grandpa and Great grandpa)!

Caleb and his "Best Buddy Uncle" at Creamers Field

Papa Buba cuddles

Caleb and Daddy playing at the park in our neighborhood

Cutie pie!

First Dickinson Family Portrait since Carson was born!

Of course, when Poppy comes to visit, he takes the boys to ride the merry-go-round

Caleb was VERY excited to get dressed up in his new suit Gigi got him for his baby brothers dedication!

I'll post more pictures of Carsons dedication later, but here's one to show how CUTE he was in his little outfit Gigi got him!

Caleb is getting SO big!!! High five!

I bet you didn't know purple hair is in...

Carson loves hanging out in his crib watching his mobile... Mommy loves it too:)