This is only week 2?

It was not what we expected.  Week One must have took more out of some of us than expected! If you are on Facebook, you know we had a child in the ER for 12 hours. Dehydration. Hallucinations from the dehydration and eventually passing out.

She was a little better and had 'come to' by the time they transported to a pediatric ER for further evaluation. She thought her ambulance ride was "epic". She's doing much better but we're still watching her closely as she's not 100% just yet.

Our second week of gymnastics was much better for Lily this week. No tears. All smiles.

The kids floated foil boats around the Nile River and we eventually turned the buckets of water into the Red Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf and found a paper plate to represent Babylon.

Our tutor academy, CC, is going extremely well. This week I captured a picture of some of their geography work. The Hebrew Empire.

Our week ended much better than it began. The girls had another set of sisters over for some play time, cupcake decorating and an American Girl movie. 

Such a busy week, sure leads to a very tired weekend though. 

Today I am learning to shop online at Sam's with their new Click N Pull, so we can simply pick up our items at the store Monday night without actually walking the isles, sort of like reserving a library book. 

Kya and I made breakfast for the family this morning while Dale and Aaron were at soccer. I sure hated to miss his game but what a week!

~ Be Blessed ~ 

Summer with Friends & Family

We were able to make it to Florida at the end of summer to see our friends and family. 

We had a fantastic two weeks!

While there....

We celebrated my sister Hope's 10th birthday with a bowling party. This was Lily, Aaron & Joy's first time bowling. They all loved it. Unfortunately, all the pics of them actually bowling turned out blurry.

The girls helped Meema bake Hope's Birthday Cake(s!)

 The girls also spent some time with Pop-Pop fishing in his backyard

We made it to Tampa to visit our friends over at Miracles and Blessings who just welcomed home their two newest daughters from China. 

When we first met our families only had 1 child living at home (their daughter, Tiff, in the striped shirt). Now together we have 10 children living at home! So fun! Such God moments we've all had together! 

And, it's always bitter sweet to see Dale's adult sons. We miss them so much. 

It's still hard to not be part of their daily lives.

We were also able to spend at week at the beach (and see more friends there). 

But I am gonna have to save that post for another day. 

Fall is all around us

Living up here in Maryland has been fabulous to see the seasons change. Fall is one of our most favorite times of year. You begin to eat warm food again instead of summer salads, hot teas instead of iced tea, the leaves are colorful, the air is crisp and the fireplace is cozy and life seems a little more romantic.

We have a family tradition of having a Family Fall Party here at home. This year we actually found a family that is also free on October 31st every year to join our celebration, so we picked them up off the street and invited them over. No, really, these are our dear-dear friends that have become our Maryland family and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.


All dressed up and ready for some fun.

Wrestling with Uncle Kenny.

Working hard on pumpkin carving.



Showing off their hard work.


Givin' some love.

Moments We Cherish

This day was just one of those days I cherish and always will. All the kids, all the friends, the little talks, the games....these sweethearts all lives so far away now, but they are always close in my heart. I love each of them as my own (thankfully 4 of them are my own!).





~ meeting Jake & Emma: the newest members of 'the clan' ~

My Little Daisy's

Is this not the cutest bunch of girls?!


I am so blessed that my girls get to hang out with such Godly, sweet little ones, and that they have such a fantastic Troup Leader!

Travels! Travels! Travels!

The kids and I made it to Florida and are having a great visit. On Saturday we spent the day with our dear friends from Bits & Pieces. We love you Bella, Krista, Vito and Zsa Zsa! Can't wait 'til next time.



(more pics to come from Jacksonville)
(Tampa photos posted to Facebook)

Updates from Abroad

Some of my dearest, dearest friends are in China *right now*. About 1 hour ago they received their new 15 month old son. We were just able to video conference so I could see their sweet baby boy, Ethan William. Wow! I am full of emotions and beyond elated for my sweet friends. Here are some snapshots taken from our webcam.




My heart is so full, I don't even know what to say!
Thanking Jesus for this miracle!

Christmas Eve 2008

Since moving here, we have these dear friends that we have adopted in our hearts as family and we love spending Christmas Eve with them. This year Krista and the girls all made reindeer food and then ran outside (even in pj's) to throw the reindeer food in the grass, to give the reindeer plenty of energy to keep going through the night.



Krista always makes a wonderful dinner and Zha Zha does a fantastic dish (Dale's Fave!), of breadcrumb pasta. We LOVE their cooking.



Krista always puts a lot of work into holidays and cooking. She is wonderful at it. Here is her annual homemade birthday cake for Jesus.



After saying goodnight to our friends, Dale and I finished putting the gifts around the tree....All set for Christmas Morning!

Long Overdue Party Pictures!

On Autumn's birthday, beginning of October, I posted pictures of our family party. It has taken me a long time to post pictures from her friends-party. Finally, here they are! She had SO much fun. It's been a month and she still talks about it. She invited her closest friends and somehow there was 17 of them...all from families we adore. We were happy to celebrate her birthday with each of these families, children & parents alike. Thank you each for coming and making her day so very special.

It's was a Spiderman theme. We had scavenger hunt, water balloon toss, pinata, presents, pizza & cake. We always have a few friends that hang back and chill out for the rest of the day, those friends all went swimming. And we ended our night with a family dinner at Bob Evans (at about 9pm, the party was finally over and Autumn was one happy 5 year old!).

Happy Birthday

Friends, Friends, Friends....I love 'em!!!! Thank you Jesus for these WONDERFUL family friends!!!! We traveled to China in 2004 with Bill & Debbie. They were adopting Abby & we were adopting Kya. In 2006 our families returned to China. They adopted Jadyn and we adopted Autumn. The girls are all the same age. Their birthdays are in Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec. And this year they all turn 5. Every year we get together to celebrate with a combined birthday party. This year we met in Central Florida on our family vacation & made it a costume party. It was very cute.

This is Kya & Autumn waiting for their friends to arrive.



As we waited for the pizza to arrive, we visited for a bit and opened gifts.






Then the "big 5 year olds" all went swimming.



Lily put on a little performance for us.






And, finally we had cake & goodbyes. I hate goodbye! I miss them so much!