Doing a little updating....**Updated**

Hey all...I've been updating my lists and blogrolls. I've also begun following some of my favorite people and am inviting you to follow us here as well. Whether we're personal friends or 'web' friends I'd love to keep track of you! The following widget is over on the right. Come join us!

***Had some questions on what this is....When you follow a blog it sends any new posts from those you're following directly to your dashboard on your own Blogger. It's very, very convenient and a great time saver for you. If you're like me, and don't have hours of computer time a day...following blogs will allow you to see if there are any updates from other bloggers and sends it directly from your own site, without clicking on anything else:) It's a great way to maximize staying in touch and minimize time commitment in doing so. Go over to the right....click on 'follow this blog' and it will tell you what to do. You can follow "incognito" or let yourself be known. I'm planning on adding myself to other blogs because it is much more convenient to have everyone at my fingertips all in one place!!

IT"S RAINING DUCKS HERE TODAY!!

Perfect day today for little duckies to paddle in puddles! Say 'paddle in puddles' 3 times really, really fast. :) Heh. Too much indoor time today with the rain. We're all getting a little loopy....hence the duck-boot-wearing-time-to-send-you-outside-cuz-you're-too-LOUD-and-need-to-desist-with-the-fighting-girls!! Aren't they perfect little duckies??!!

Here's your mind bender. 1 and 2 have conflict 'occasionally'. 2 and 3 have regular conflict. In fact...lately it's minute by minute.:) 1 and 3 rarely, if ever have conflict. When 1 and 3 conflict...Mommy listens because something has really, really happened involving needed intervention and pointing little sweeties in the "way they should go". All other conflict is usually the result of 2 and 3 losing any and all manner of self-control, and needing parental controls put in place to prevent harm to other numbered children.But...in this scenario...1, 2, and 3 are actually 3, 4, and 5...so it brings back memories of 1 and 2 doing the same thing. Got it??

Wordless Wednesday :)

....although it must be known....this group is never, ever wordless:)

Yet Another Excellent Message From John Piper

This is from a sermon given in Alabama....yet is relevant to ALL of us today. I love how John Piper uses the English language both in verbal and written forms. One if not several of his books are mainstays by my bed....begging me to continue in my study of the supremacy of Christ, and the precious Gospel we've been given. I have been riveted by this video these last few days. My prayer is that you are touched and your heart changed as well!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Thursday was Mom's ??th birthday so us girls went out for a night on the town :) Gathering Mel, Mom Jo and friends Medana and Megan we headed out to see a chick flick and to have dessert. We had such a great time! Mom, I hope you know how much your family and friends love you and consider you a dear treasure. Thank you for all you do! We love you so much! Here are some pictures from our fun night!

My Kitchen May Never Be The Same...

Miss THANG directs the show. All of them really.

Leni made her mommy a 'horse' themed cupcake. Should I take that as a hint??!

And this one...wants to be the leader but Eloise gets in the way. She delights in crafty things and showed her green/pink tongue all day. Very proud of that!!






But I don't care!! These little ladies of creativity decided to make cupcakes for Mommy's 'real' birthday yesterday so I let them have at it!! This was after the gifts of handmade bead necklaces and bracelets that this mommy wore all day .... even out to dinner....and.... don't those cupcakes look yummy? They were made with lots of attitude(!) mostly towards each other....and lots of love. The best I've ever seen!! MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Thanks girlies for a great day!!

Cousins...cousins...and more cousins!!

In addition to China reunions...we've had the Charleston VanLue group here this week. That means only one thing....fun!! AND more cousins to play with. The P.C. had loads of entertainment input with Grayson,8, Jackson,6, and newbie Weston ,20 months, as they ran, climbed trees,picked oranges, fed ducks, ate the ducks food, chased ducks, ate more duck food, did science experiments, tried not to fall in the yucky duck water....you know the routine. (Yep, that's me in the middle of this elite group of elementary grey matter:))Kristin actually looks like she belongs to them...they are so very much alike in every way possible :) This day at our big family gathering thingy....Weston became my buddy. Now he weighs as much if not more than Katie...but while we were duck scaringImeanfeeding...Katie Mei sang him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and would you believe the little bugger went to sleep on me?? Now we're bonded forever. Katie kept saying..."He seeping Mom FOR WEEL (real)!! Not te-tend!!(pretend)" She's so LOUD that it's a wonder the kids could sleep at all (not to mention a certain other VanLue that has only one VOLUME AND IT IS THIS ONE!!!) They were/are so very cute. This pic reminds of great times!! We can't wait until our next visit. It was waaaaayyyyy too short!! I love all the gatherings of family we've had lately and seeing the heritage these girls now have. What a privilege to belong to such a superb family!!

3 Little China Sprouts~

One of our FAVORITE events of the year is getting Katie Mei with her orphanage mates from the Taihe SWI, Jiangxi PRC! We do this a couple of times a year and it's always, always a greatly anticipated event! To see these little girls placed into their parents arms at the Civil Affairs office in Nanchang....to where they are today is indeed a miracle. We love seeing how they're growing, TALKING (that's an understatement!) and how their personalities have developed. This past Saturday we were able to be with the Crokers from Maryland, and the Seltzers from Tampa. Here you will see Alexis (by far the tallest), Malia (the sweet one with the dumpling cheeks you want to squeeze:)) and our Katie Mei (the eater in the pic...and the smallest). Pretty neat huh? All from the same orphanage....all adopted on the same day....all within just a couple weeks of each other in age....and these pics to us are priceless. :) Makes me want to go back for more!!!!:) BTW- We missed you this time Kayla!!!!

The Girl With the Cool Eyes.....

Just sayin...
You can't ever go out of town without a little drama huh?? Well....the minute (yes, minute) we were literally getting in the car to head to the beach the day after Christmas, our little 44 lb. package of "drama-major!!" decided to run headlong into our wrought iron barstool. The barstool won. She cut her eye pretty badly....and tends to be pretty darn LOUD whenever ANYTHING happens. So...groceries were in the car, melting popcicles were on the Mommy's mind, in addition to "What the heck are we going to do with this eye that is obviously needing medical attention??" The other kids were already buckled in their seats and this lovely little blonde had run back inside to get "Ducky". Now, realize this is kid #4 so we've been through our share of kid-bleeding-screaming-scrapes-bumps-cuts-bruises...but this seemed more than the usual.I took a deep breath. (In...Out..) Ok. Called Dad. Dad came and gave us 3 choices. (Dad is a MD. Let's just say...the man comes in handy quite a bit:))
In order of our choices:
1. Stitches (you're talking holding down DramaChild for stitches close to her eye. Ugh! Not to mention the shot to numb the boo-boo. No...no...no...No...NOOOO...thanks. Did I say no thanks??!!)
2. Glue (this just seems wrong. Super glue is for toys and plastic parts. Not your body...and especially beautiful eyes like these!)
3. Do nothing now....if it scars badly, we'll fix that when she's older. (now we're getting somewhere!!)

Can you guess what choice we made? It was hard...but we chose to clean and disinfect it well several times a day...and left it open. Now...it has healed beautifully and those eyes are captivating us once again. :) Because she has blond eyebrows, we may choose have to have the scar altered when she is older. Much, much older. Much, much much, much, much ...older. Maybe when she's a senior citizen. I used to say Julie was the most dramatic of the 5...but I do believe this one has her beat. That will please Julie bunches!! and..... gives us lots of stories for Miss K for when she's older. Now would you believe ....out of 5 kids, no one has ever broken a bone? We have a pretty good track record I think. :) and....last but not least....aren't those freckles we just brought home from the beach cute??

Man of La Mancha

Girls Night Out

On Saturday night Dad had arranged a huge surprise for Mom as an early birthday gift. So, Mom Jo and I were more than happy to carry out Dad's plan. First, dinner at Carrabbas, always a good choice. After stuffing our faces and stomachs full we proceeded to drive...and drive and drive and drive to an undisclosed location. Mom had NO idea where we were going and was trying to guess the whole time. All we told her was that Dad had gotten tickets to a concert/variety show and we didn't know much about it but we wanted to humor him anyway. So Mom starts freaking out thinking that we're headed to some cheesy musical or comedy show and that we were too nice to tell Dad that's probably not what Mom wanted for her birthday. Little did she know that we were really on our way to see her all time favorite singer LINDA EDER!!! Linda Eder is a Streisand-ish (but way better in my opinion) Broadway singer and has been in over 900 Broadway performances and has 10 solo cd's and 5 cast recordings under her belt. There really is no one that compares to her...she is UN-BELIEVABLE people! So we get to the theatre and Mom saw the sign advertising it and screamed! She was really excited. Our seats were amazing! 6th row!! And our Linda sang most of our favorites including this one from Don Quixote...yes I was bad and videoed :) (be sure to pause the music below before you watch the video) We had such a great time together. A shout out to Dad for doing a GREAT job pulling this together. Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

Beach Week!

We started something this year that may just have to be a new tradition. :) After an awesome Christmas not because of "stuff", but because of the people that were here this year:) ...the whole group headed over to New Smyrna where Grandma and Grandpa had 2 side by side condo's waiting for everyone. We had an absolute blast just being together and playing..building castles, finding crabs, fishing......some crazy people even ventured into the 64 degree water! The rest of us thanked the Lord for the heated pool!! Our son Jason and his uncle Steve (there's a 20 something year age difference:)) were both competitive swimmers in their day. Steve still swims 'Masters' and recently swam across San Francisco bay from Alcatraz. Anyway, he and Jason decided to test their skills in the condo pool which was fun to see. They're both in great shape (uh..still:)) and the lungs are hangin on!! Julie's 'courting buddy' Jon came as well...we definitely missed the rest of his family as they had to head back to Carolina.:( Next time guys!! The weather couldn't have been more perfect....and at night we took our lantern out to see "God's Show" every evening right after dark. The beach is VERY dark because of turtle nesting....so when you stand near the water and turn off your flashlight/lantern you are immersed in the amazing glory of the nighttime sky. This nightly adventure was a highlight!!This mommy came home kicking and screaming!!Here are some pictures from our stay at New Smyrna Beach. We had a great time playing and swimming with our cousins from California and relaxing before the new year began. We love our Florida beaches!Even Eloise behaved herself....mostly because we ran the little 5 year old bleach blonde ragged everyday...so she just fell over at night. Good plan heh??!! The last day we went to Smyrna Dunes State Park. They do not offer camping there as some readers have asked...but it was by far another highlight of our trip. See for yourself! In fact...we've already been back for another visit since then!!Our nature girl (Leni) would live there if we let her."Mama...we have to help the gopher turtles! They're 'most expinct! (almost extinct:)....actually endangered...but she's apparently worried about the Florida turtle population). The park is 73 acres with boardwalks all around it. 1/2 of the park is on the Indian River and you can walk around to the Atlantic (where all the sharkies are!!) The tide pools are full of marine life and we found starfish 'calling' our names to pick them up! If you haven't been yet....by all means GO!! Thanks for indulging us with all our pics. As you can see......it was grand!.....and next week...the Charleston cousins are coming for the whole week!! We can't wait!!

P.S. I know we have some new readers. Just FYI and to avoid confusion:) we have 2 bio children...the oldest Jason is married to Mel and they have a 2 year old son Cade. Julie is 20. Then per the prompting of the Lord, we adopted Leni at 7 months...she's now 7...then Kristin at birth...she'll be 6 next month.(they're both domestic adoptions)..and one month after Cade was born, we traveled to China to pick up our 5th child, Katherine (Katie) Mei in Nanchang, Jiangxi. She is Cade's aunt...yet they're only 10 months apart to the exact day. God works in amazing ways!! It's lively around here:)to say the least....and isn't God good!! I started this blog to stay in touch with relatives and because there is absolutely NO time to scrapbook. (we also homeschool:)) anyway....I'm amazed that people follow us...but thank you and believe me...there's never a dull moment!

P.S. AFTER the oxyclean incident (see post below)....a water pipe burst in our master bath. Apparently the builder did NOT install a turn off valve under the soaking tub...so emergency call went out to husband to GET HOME PLEASE and figure out how to unflood the flood! After 24 hours with no water....we now have water back. But no master bathtub. Oh well. I'll take flushing over a bathtub:) I would've made a lousy pioneer:) Oh yea...ChemDad suggested going to Costco and BUYING Oxyclean. Brilliant. But not as cheap.:)

John's Mama told him it was better to die a Christian in the bush...than live a Muslim in slavery.......

As I've been prayerfully considering what to read, study and focus on this new year...the current winter newsletter from EPM arrived in our mailbox. This story has haunted me for days. It's about a little 5 year old orphan boy from Sudan that lives in the bush totally alone. In fact...the title of the story (if the link doesn't take you to page 3 make sure you scroll down) is "Not a Soul in this World for Little John". I hope the core of your being is touched after reading this and you will join me in prayer for the "Johns" around the world. I cannot seem to get this little boy out of my mind....as well as others like him that are being preyed upon by the enemy. January 11 BTW is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. May God touch your heart for all he wants to pour into you in this new year.:) I know one area that will continually be at the top of my prayer list!!

"That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you are able to help others, and refuse, so often did you do them wrong."----Augustine

"Obedience to the Great Commission has more consistently been poisoned by affluence than by anything else."----Ralph Winter



On a MUCH lighter note.....I tried to make homemade Oxy-clean yesterday because we go through buckets of the stuff and I had found a recipe. Anyway....I made it...stored it on top of the washer...very smug and pleased with myself...only to find out this morning that the container it was in BLEW UP all over the laundry room and now this mommy's version of what was to be a help became a HUGE mess. And yes...I am married to a Chemistry major. :)He doesn't know about this yet. :)

Christmas Week!

We had quite the holiday this year. So many people were visiting this year which was great! We had lots of family over on Christmas day. Cousin Cathy and Frank from Indianapolis, Aunt Carol and Uncle Carl (he's 93!!) flew in from Ft. Wayne, Scott's brother Steve, wife Ann and kiddos Neils and Jens from California...along with the local group of Grandma, Grandpa, Mom Jo, Mel, Jason and buddy Cade. It was really fun to see everyone and spend time together. We were also able to spend time with the Browns from North Carolina due to recent circumstances (see posts below). We ended the week with an extended stay at New Smyrna Beach in beautiful Florida weather. We're looking forward to all that this new year will hold, and how God will prove himself faithful to us once again. Here are many pictures from Christmas. Beach pictures to come!

P.S. Can you tell Julie made the slide show ??:)

P.S. AGAIN~~~~~the beach we're on in the photo below is Smyrna Dunes Park in North New Smyrna Beach. It's a state park that I didn't know about and it's absolutely pristine! Get in your cars and drive there now! 1/2 of the park is on the river, and the other 1/2 is the Atlantic. You can walk all the way around seeing nature at it's finest...especially with Eloise, Leni and Katie-who-will-not-talk-at-school-but-at-home-NEVER-has-a-quiet-moment doing a play-by-play of the birds, dolphins, sharks, sharks, sharks...did I say sharks??!!:)

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! We're back...and based on the above pic...guess where we've been? Yep...lots of friends,brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents (and the boyfriend...Julie's that is..haha) gathered before, during, and after Christmas for a whoop-de-doo family reunion we haven't had in a very long time! After Christmas, we all headed everyone to the beach for 6 days of glorious Florida in the wintertime!! A constant reminder as I watched these three play with their relatives...is that they have so many that love them and care for them as family. God knew from the foundations of the earth that these 3 little girls born into questionable circumstances would just a few short years later be playing TOGETHER on the beach surrounded by family. It doesn't get any better than that!...and for the fact that for the most part :) everyone pretty much behaved themselves:) More pics to come!! Thank you God for the gift of family!!

********Brownie Points to the one who can correctly identify what beach the girls are sitting on. Hint....East Coast AND I'd never been there before. Mom Jo took us the last day:) Any guesses??!!?? from you brilliant observers??***********