Happy Birthday Katie!!/Happy Father's Day Dads!

Life for us has been extremely difficult lately. The stomach flu took its toll earlier in the week in addition to circumstances that were "seemingly" out of control. While I cannot elaborate, I can say these next words have upheld me this week. They are from a wise woman named Elisabeth Elliot whom I go to frequently in my quiet time.
"Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all. In unforeseen events let me not forget that all are sent by you.....We cannot make ourselves holy. But when we surrender ourselves to the Lord, learning day by day to treat all that comes to us with peace of soul and firm conviction that His will governs all, He will see to our growth in grace. He will so govern the events in our lives, down to the smallest detail, as to provide for us the conditions which may make us fruitful. It is not for our sake, but for the sake of others. The beauty of the flower is not for itself. It offers itself to God's sunshine and rain, gives its fragrance to any who pass by, but it must wither and die before the fruit can be produced.
Faith need never ask, "but what good did this do me? Faith already knows that everything that happens fits into a patterns for good to those who love God. An inconvenience is always whether we see it or not, a blessed inconvenience. We may rest in the promise that God is fitting together a good many more things than are any of our business. We need never see 'what good it did,' or how a given trouble accomplishes anything. It is peace to leave it all with Him, asking only that He do with me anything He wants, anywhere, anytime, that God may be glorified." (A Path thru Suffering-E. Elliot)

Resting in this....we were able to have a wonderful combined celebration of Fathers Day for the Dad's in our family, and our completely wonderful most-recent-addition's birthday....Katie Mei! She's 2!! She's talking up a storm, loves make-up and shoes, begs for ice cream and popcicles, and will sit and read forever! She's also been known for a few temper tantrums lately :) Please enjoy the pictures of our party today. We had both sets of grandparents in addition to our cousin Kevin from Virginia (here on a missions trip) and Mel/Jason. We're very grateful for our family!

Yi Nu Ping An~

Happy 2nd Birthday Katie!! But everyone else shhhh! We're celebrating big next weekend but wanted everyone to know our Katie is 2 today! A very different girl from last year! Last year she wasn't even crawling yet and this year she's as active a 2 yr. old as they come. She's talking (3 word phrases) and we can hardly get her to be quiet!! (poor daddy has these 3 non-stop talking little females...there is no way for him to get a word in!!:)) We are so blessed and grateful for our girl! Here she is today with her nephew Cade playing in her very purple room. This week she only wants to wear bathing suits all day!?! so that's what we do :) More pics from our party to follow!

"Yi Nu Ping An"--"One girl, peaceful and safe"- Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Nothing Is Normal Around Here!

Well, we knew Leni had 2 loose teeth, but we thought we had time. After all, she's only 5. By parental standards neither tooth was "ready". She had a few more weeks of "wriggling" to do.(!) Sooooo.....apparently she got facinated by tooth-fairy tales, and decided to pull her tooth herself. When she did, it flew out of her hands into the "black hole" we refer to as our play room (it's really our dining room but mom got tired of the dining set and sold it....the room now contains many, many toys..until mom can again find a new dining room set). Now, the mommy (me) is called from upstairs....immediately puts tissue into bleeding mouth as Kristin gives a play by play account (she talks like a 21 yr. old....make that a very loud 21 yr. old:)) of the whole proceedings. Katie is also excitedly jumping around (but she doesn't know why) and mom gets on her hands and knees to try and rescue daughter's first lost tooth, while trying to figure out just how Leni got that thing outta there. (first teeth have to go in the memory box!!) With much "help" and finding lots of things that weren't teeth :) TA-DA!! We found it! Now the mommy-fairy had to call the daddy-tooth-fairy to report goings on....and to tell him the mommy-fairy is broke and has no fairy $$ to put under little daughter's pillow (without the 3 little daughters hearing her talk....no small feat!:)Later... with much fanfare, pomp and circumstance, tooth was put under pillow and wouldn't you know!?! The tooth fairy found her way into our house while little girls were sleeping! (they said they were never going to sleep...but were staying up all night to "meet" said fairy!) We also got a new collectible horse from the Mom-Jo fairy! Here's a picture of Leni with missing tooth. TA-DA! Just another day.......

Our Taihe Orphanage Girls Reunion at Sea World!!

What a weekend we've had with friends and our girls! We've tried to stay in touch with Katherine's orphanage/China sisters as much as possible. There were 8 adopted at the same time from Taihe SWI and they now live all over the U.S. This weekend we had the honor of celebrating with the Seltzers from New Port Richey, and the Crokers from Maryland (yes, they flew in for the occasion!!) Our China dolls all turn 2 within a couple of weeks of each other....and our plan is to continue the tradition of getting them together as much as we can....but hopefully, around their birthdays. We had 2 full(!) days of laughing, talking, and watching our daughters interact together....hopefully forming bonds and friendships that last a lifetime. We were in awe watching them as they have changed SO MUCH in the last year! Saturday we spent the day at Sea World in Orlando...the girls loved petting sting rays, dolphins....the Elmo show was a hit!....seeing the penguins and sharks! Then Sunday we met at Disney Village...had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. and then rode the carousel....followed by a little chocolate at Ghiradelli's. We're grateful to the other families for making the effort to come and give these precious girls some of their heritage....each other. They're all about the same size, wear the same size shoes, and are talking. Their personalities are absolutely adorable!! We hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed our time together. The bond between adoptive families is remarkable! Until next time!! And to think we all met in China....1/2 way around the world! Here we are a year later!!