Look See~ Miss E!

This child has been waiting for this week all year!! At Kristin's K4 they have a "Star of the Week" -with a child being the featured attraction for the class in turn all the live-long week. Let's just say.....Kristi-loo has been chomping at the bit for her turn (uh, we're at the end of the alphabet) ALL YEAR!! Finally....her week has arrived. Now, the "star" gets their own bulletin board all about them, and the last 15 minutes of every class for show-n-tell, stories, etc., and gets to be the 'special helper' for the teacher. Don't you all want to be stars too? Monday, Julie came in with Leni and Katie and Mom Jo. Julie spoke about what a big family we have, and how Kristin is a special part of it. She then told the class all about K having a sister from China and that makes her a Jie-Jie (big sister). You'll see the pic of K telling the class what a Jie-Jie is and Miss Katie being a Mei-mei (little sister) Kristin gave all in her class Chinese New Year gifts including a paper dragon. Wednesday.....Mommy told the story of Eloise and how Kristin came by that name. The class then was told how we have "oreo girls"-two dark cookie outsides with Kristin being the creamy middle. K even handed out oreos to the class! Tomorrow Miss E has a special suprise coming! Watch and see who/what it is!! What fun it is to be 4 and a STAR!!!!

P.S. Mom Jo...look carefully in the last pic and you will see newly adopted leopard 'Elizabeth' that Leni hasn't put down since Mom Jo bought it for her earlier this week! It even went to school!

SHHHHHH!!!!! Don't Tell......

........Kristin what the other two do while she's at school on Mondays!! :):) Thanks to our Ms.Medana who gave the girls a giant baking basket with cute aprons for Christmas! Thank you! The cookies were mmmmmmm! And K never knew what she missed!! SHHHHHHH everyone!

We Had A China Reunion!!

Last weekend we loaded up and went to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo to have a day with 3 of our Travel Group families from China! Our daddy was at a conference, so Mel, Julie, the mommy, 3 girlies and Cade set off for the great adventures of the day. We met the Crokers..Bob, Cyndi, and sweet Malia (2), Janet John and Kayla (about to turn 3), the Seltzers..Eric, Kerisma, Derek, Matt, and Alexis (2). We get together a couple of times a year with the Seltzers and Crokers, but haven't seen Janet and Kayla since we left Guangzhou. It's pretty amazing to see the changes in these girls as they have left orphanage life behind and are thriving in their American homes! All are talking, LOUD, and running around wanting ice cream and goldfish like all other kiddos. I love, love, love doing this to keep these girls heritage together, and because these families have become great friends! My camera broke just as we got there, so these pics are from Mel's camera. I was bummed, but grateful we got some precious pics of our day! What did we learn from our Zoo trip? 1.That Cade loves fish and the manatees....but not much else here except his mommy 2.Leni doesn't appear in many pics because she was always running ahead to see the next animal (animal FREAK is she!!) 3. Malia and Kristin bonded:) 4. Mr. Seltzer's job has been keeping him particularly busy as of late (he's a detective) 5.we're amazed that the Crokers (Maryland) and Janet (Michigan) would fly in for this:) 6.this mommy never, ever gets to finish a conversation... and finally...... 7. Mel absolutely puts the zoo at the top of the list of favorite things to do....especially goats and chimpanzees! What does everyone think about these 4 Asian Beauties? We love you guys and can't wait till our next Jiangxi Girls adventure!

P.S. Thank you everyone for all the cards, letters and notes of encouragement on my birthday! You know who you are! You really made my day of turning 29 (again) much more special!!

Birthday Pictures!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!!

Today is Mommy's birthday!!! We won't tell how old she is, and we won't tell Kristin either because she would probably share it with everyone. This is Julie by the way...who at the moment is accompanied at the computer by 3 little princesses in their jammies. See, Mommy and Daddy spent the night away from the VanLue Zoo (also known as our house) so that Mommy could get some well deserved and needed sleep and relaxation. So Mommy Julie watched them for the afternoon/night and this morning until Daddy comes home. Sad to say we don't have many funny stories from the day yesterday, other than I ended up with all 3 in my bed last night...yes Mom...ALL 3! She warned me about the other two...but apparently Katie heard of our little slumber party and wanted to join us...so she proceded to scream every 15 minutes until I went up and got her out of her crib to join the rest of the girls. I'm quite surprised I didn't wake up with bruises...Leni's a kicker and Kristin was apparently dreaming of becoming an air traffic controller because she was moving her arms like crazy...which of course ended up in my face :) Ahh I love my sisters!! Since my mom has no control over this post (hehehe) I wanted to take this opportunity to honor her in front of all you blog readers. Mom, thank you seems inadequate for all that you do for our family. Not only taking care of us, doing mountains of laundry every day, cooking outstanding food, cleaning, driving, bringing the video camera to every performance or special event (yes she even still does this for my stuff too), planning birthday's and other holidays, and countless other things would make you a hero to anyone. But to me, you Mommy are a hero because of something else, something much deeper and more important. Above all else you serve the Lord and delight in bringing honor and glory to His name. There is no greater gift that a mother can give to her children than being an example of the Proverbs 31 woman, and Mom, you are that woman, without a doubt. You do indeed surpass them all. Thank you for being a mom, my best friend, and an example of true servanthood, true humility, and true greatness. The things you do surely do not go unnoticed and we are all grateful for the daily sacrifices you make our on behalf. Thank you for your heart to above all serve the Lord and glorify Him in everything you do. We love you, and happy birthday!!!!!

Faces and Stories of the Week~Post at Bottom:)

Here's a few faces and stories from our past week. When we go about our days, we don't really think about it.....but when we see it in print...or pause to reflect ....we usually go... WHEW!! These girls keep us hoppin! All of them, young and old included in that comment:)

First...you'll see Eloise in full form with Julie egging her on. Kristin these days is either delightful or m-e-l-t-i-n-g. no meduim. She reminds me muchly of Julie at that age....and see for yourself ....she's turned out quite nicely.:)

Second, you'll see Eloise-Goes-To-Ballet. Ok, here's the deal. With Julie at the same age (4), she was dressed perfectly in black leo (required by school) , not a thread picked on her tights, shoes perfectly in order and in bag, and not a hair out of place in required bun. When Kristin left our house she resembled the picture painted in the previous sentence. Mom Jo is ballet driver....and when she got to ballet with Miss E, some other child got out of her car. Some other child :) (certainly NOT Miss E) picked a GIANT HOLE wrapping all the way around her leg and up her backside while driving with Mom Jo. We did not have a spare pair of tights. Also we do not have enough hair at almost 5 years old to put into required class bun. So yes, she went to class with giant hole and fuzzy-hair-thinking-it's-in-a-bun-because-all-other-girls-have-one-but-we-still-have-no-hair-but-I'm-very-cute look. She had one of her best ballet days ever. Huh!This Mommy would've fainted dead-away if Julie had gone to class like that. With Eloise....it fits the bill I must say.

After class Mom Jo took her mini-me to Chik-Fil-A....at mini-me's request...and ordered and GOT...a bag of pickles. Hmmm....wonder if they're organic??? Pickles are a delicacy for Eloise and she'll do pretty much anything for them. See previous post called "Pickle -Crouton" for another tale of pickles....wrapping around a cute blonde named Kristin.

After bag of pickles.....these two adventurers went to the dollar store. Where Eloise brought her sisters gifts. What did she get?? She got Katie a Winnie-the-Pooh stamping kit. Good Job, K! Except they use it as make-up and fake tattoos. (Where do they learn this stuff??) Then they brought Leni giant Gummy Rats. Yep! MMMMMMM! Leni was beyond excited! Put those on top of pickles! They ate them too. This mommy looked the other way.

Tired yet?? Next you will see the famous...Princesses Dance Around Boogie Boards Shouting Whatever Wee Sing Song Comes To Mind At the Moment. You've heard of this haven't you? The mommy had to stop her activities...pull up a chair and watch. Very, very cute. Leni was watching from her nearby tree, where she lives when not a human.

Proceeding to our latest endeavor....potty training with our black shoes on. A girl must be well-shoed when learning to do her business. Anything less just will not do!! (or poo?!)

Last...they wore him down. The daddy I mean.....outside!PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, can we do our silly string because we "never" get to do anything fun and we don't care that it's 52 degrees .....said big girls to the Daddy. Being the wonderful dad he is...took them outside and let them have at it. It was cold. They had fun. They were cold. Did I say it was cold?? Note tattoos on K's face from Katie's stamp kit.

And there you have it. All this happened in 24-36 hours. Gotta live it to believe it...and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Our Awesome Time With Our Cousins

Scott's youngest brother Michael, wife Michelle and 3 boys Grayson (7), Jackson (5) and Weston (7 months) were able to come down for Christmas for an extended time this year. The girls haven't had that much time with their cousins so all were super excited to have this time together! Our family headed to a neighbor's Disney townhouse for 10 (!) days after Christmas, and we were even able to celebrate Grayson's 7th birthday there with a swim/pizza party in his honor! Uncle Mike is a PHD in Speech Pathology/Audiology (correct me if I didn't post this properly) and recently returned from several weeks in Yunnan, China with Operation Smile. He's been all over the world with them helping repair and return function to cleft lip/palate and other facial deformities in children. He's our kinda guy! Our girls are still talking about their cousins and the fun they had......our only let down is that they don't live nearer. You guys just need to move here!! These girls love their cousins!!

Hidden Treasures from Show Hope~

Take a moment and watch please. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day running of our lives (which is good in many ways:))...but it's always a good idea to refresh our 'brains' as to the realities many face as we just go about our day. Ask God to show you how in your realm of influence, you can discover your own 'hidden treasure'. This gives you an idea of where our Katie is from, and why I love this video and support Show Hope!

Yep.....Every Family Needs An Eloise!

So, what do we do around here for entertainment? Just ask our resident Kristin...or I mean Eloise. Sunday afternoon, she was SUPPOSED to be playing quietly. Instead she proceeded to glue her new princess crayons down to our fairly new 'this is where we sit and do our school' table. Not with a glue stick mind you, but the gluey, gluey kind that makes a yummy mess for a 4 yr. old. You know ....the kind you and I used in school way back when. She used the WHOLE bottle and had about 20 princesses slimed to the table. This mommy didn't have presence of mind to take the picture when Snow White's head was buried under a glob of Elmer......but the good news is that I cleaned all crayons (waste not, want not) and found that princesses of both the human and crayola variety are thoroughly washable. All was restored to order in our little kingdom of pink. Eloise strikes again. What would we do without her????!!!!

Brilliant I Say! This Child Is Brilliant!

Beginning with a Leni story. When we learn our letter of the day, we make it out of wood first (Handwriting without Tears) then we draw it in salt, make it out of playdough, draw it with chalk....etc. before we finally move to paper and pencil. On Monday's (playfully called 'domestication day') Kristin goes to her school while the mommy attempts oh so carefully and somewhat (using this term very loosely:)) successfully to homeschool Leni ,while Katie incessantly talks, tries to get in my lap, wanders around, changes clothes 42 times, and makes messes. Can any of you relate?? Well, this day Katie was UNUSALLY quiet. Sooooooo.....I was really focusing on Leni and not even watching what Kate was doing. Leni had done her wood letter 'H" and had moved onto other 'media' with Mom, and doing very well. I hadn't even said a WORD to Katie about what I was doing with Leni...she was just wandering around....or so I thought. Soon...I heard ..."MOM"..."MOM".."MOM"..."YOOK!!(look)" This little girl had gotten out the wood HWT pieces, and made the letter "H" totally on her own with absolutely no prompting!! She even said 'huh-huh...MOM!!!...Huh-huh!. Let's just say, she's brilliant. I think I'll pay her to teach the older girls next year! This picture is totally unposed. Note the potty chair in the background. Katie drags it around with her just in case. You just never know when you're gonna need to go!!:)

Deep Calls to Deep~

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls: all your breakers and waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Ps. 42:7-8

Time for our book lists for the new year! This year Scott has chosen THOMAS WATSON as his choice of author for the year 2008. Currently he is re-reading 'The Godly Man's Picture', and will proceed from there! Hopefully, this year I can get him to give some thoughts here on his discoveries as he dives into some very deep spiritual insights.

I'm not normally a very emotional person. What do I mean by that? Simply put, I try not to let circumstances control my emotions and live on a roller-coaster, or subject my family to my selfish-rantings of every emotion that bubbles to the surface. My current mantra is to maintain a 'steadfast-resolve' no matter what happens on a day-to-day basis. Easily said right? Much harder done! I know I've probably driven this author down everyone's throats :) but Julie gave me more of Amy Carmichael's books for Christmas...... Just what I wanted. For some reason, I am a puddle on the floor with every sentence and thought this woman penned. She speaks straight to my heart as if she's in the room with me! Amy, as a young, single woman boarded a ship by herself bound for China/Japan in the late 1800's to become a missionary and never looked back. She ended up in southern India for 50+ years, the last 21 of those bedridden (no air-conditioning!!) What sounds noble, and even somewhat glamorous as we glaze over her story in a few words, is very different as you dissect years, and years of journals, letters, words of wisdom that she either saved from others or wrote herself. This was a very difficult life marked by hunger, poverty, danger, sickness, and rich blessing. Amy writes from a heart that has borne the "marks of maturity' only given to those who have lived in the 'trenches' and fought valiantly for the gospel in extraordinary adversity. She writes about her experiences, sure, but goes much deeper than that .....she takes you into a 'deep calls to deep' experience of what it means to be totally, and utterly dependent on God and God alone. It's the deep of her life and thoughts that is so provoking to me as she labored intensively for her God through circumstances that would crush the ordinary. She was an ordinary girl, made extraordinary by the hand of her Master. (My desire for myself and our girls~) Come with me now as I take you to an excerpt from one of my Christmas presents.... 'Gold by Moonlight' .

"I know the plans which I am planning for you, plans of welfare and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope." Thoughts of peace for our prayers, for our intercessions for others which seem to be ineffective: a future and a hope for the prayers that we feared were covered by snow, and for those others that appeared to fall to earth like the falling stars that break and scatter into nothingness as we watch them-even those prayers are folded up in the thoughts of peace that HE thinks towards us. (Rotherdam)

These words are for us. We may take them though they were spoken to another people in another age. All the green fields of the Scriptures are for all the sheep of His pasture: none are fenced off from us. Our Lord and saviour, that great Shepherd of the sheep, Himself led the way into these fields, as a study of His use of the Old Testament shows. His servants the writers of the New Testament, followed Him there; and so may we. The words of the Lord about His thoughts of peace are for us as well as for His ancient people Israel.

Hammer this truth out on the anvil of experience-this truth that the loving thoughts of God direct and perfect all that concerneth us; it will bear to be beaten out to the uttermost. The pledged word of God to man is no puffball to break at a touch and scatter into dust. It is iron. It is gold, that most malleable of all metals. It is more golden than gold. It abideth imperishable forever. If we wait till we have clear enough vision to see the expected end before we stay our mind upon Him who is our Strength, we shall miss an opportunity that will never come again: we shall never know the blessing of the unoffended. Now is the time to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise, " even though as we say the words there is no sense of exultation. "It is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight", by which I understand something less helpful than daylight would be in the search and the finding of gold. By moonlight then, (pain, adversity, hardship), let us gather our gold.

What are you facing today where a 'steadfast resolve' would be required of you? Are you seeking easy, the path of least resistance?? or being willing to be "hammered" on the anvil of life experience....for the glory of our Lord? "The day will come when all loss will bear the image of the heavenly. For, said our Lord and Saviour before He was offered up, "He that findeth his life shall lose it' and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and ever since in every garden of His lovers, there has been a cross.

Please take a few moments to ponder these thoughts. My prayer for you is that they penetrate to"deep" and call to your soul as they have to mine. Enjoy the pic of the girls. Recognize anyone?? These were gifts from Scott's parents to the girls. :) If only our Eloise could really grow some hair like that!!

P.S. I finally did some blog "housework" and added a blog roll at the lower right. If you typically read here and have one I haven't listed please let me know.... I want to add you!! Do not be afraid to be bold....for I am slow and it takes me a while to get anything done.....:)Brandi, I tried to get to you but it wouldn't let me. What do I need to do?

Look What My Husband and Daughter Did!

For Christmas this year this mommy received a couple of priceless gifts. First, daughter Julie made me a 2008 calendar of the VanLue Girls. She took the girls one Saturday morning ~way before Christmas....(friend Stephanie took the pics, and Kathy P. came to assist:)) and did 12 months worth of pics....then made it into a calendar! Each girls birthday month features that girl, with priceless pics and poses in between --reflecting each one's personalities. What makes it even better, is that no one told the mommy~they actually kept a secret for weeks!! WOW! Written into the calendar pages are dates with each girl, and special sleep-in mornings for mom, dinners, and various special times. Can't wait! Julie also had hanging as a suprise in her daddy's office, a HUGE framed pic of the 4 girls with the saying "In a daughters eyes, you're a hero." Let's just say, she made both parents cry this Christmas!!

THEN my husband had a book made for me entitled "They Call Me Mommy". Get out the kleenex! There's a poem we found titled 'The Orphan's Prayer' which he printed in the book, with new verses written by him....and each girl has a book section dedicated to her. Katherine's has her China story we had written before we left, along with travel pics. There's even a section for Cade!

The finale is a quote from Steven Curtis Chapmans new song about envisioning mothers all around the world....'You may not see it now, but I believe that time will tell...how you were changing the world, one heartbeat at a time..making history with every touch and every smile....' because they call you Mommy.

Life for us this past year has been on fast forward....crammed with unusual amounts ups and downs....all sovereignly deemed for us by the Lord's hand. As it says in Isaiah, " His thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways"! How true! How vast is the knowledge of our Father as he apportions to us exactly what we need at the proper time! You will not find our family seeking that which the world calls easy or even average/normal......what you will find is this mommy dripping with diamonds....yes, diamonds....not what you think of ordinarily, but those of the eternal nature......four extraordinary, rare pink ones (actually five...Mel is extraordinary too!:) and two blue:) We are blessed beyond measure and know it's only by the hand of God on our lives that we are even able to have what we have, and do what we do. We're looking forward to all this year holds and in enjoying these beautiful girls and guys!!

Today We...........

Went to Africa, saw gorillas' backsides (ever meet a non-compliant gorilla?), observed the reticulated giraffe, gazed upon the giant "hoe-man", brushed a goat, watched a parade, petted a yellowed-butt-big-eared-rodent-thing-from-Africa we can't remember the name of, cried because we weren't tall enough, saw hissing cockroaches, a 15 ft. python (we didn't pet him), several tarantulas, the infamous warthog, marvelous meerkats, poision dart frogs that were bright-blue-and-green, hippos, alligators (oh, excuse me....African crocodiles:)), had tea at Minnie's House, rode a rollercoaster because Katie is tall enough:), saw Tinkerbell fly, stood in awe at Cinderella's Castle, and MET MICKEY!!!!!!!!

Backing Up~ part 3 ~Christmas Eve

So, since weren't busy enough....we decided to take 14 people to Sea World on Christmas Eve Day ......and it was one of the best decisions we made this year!! Scott's brother Michael and sister in law Michelle along with their 3 boys, Grayson, Jackson, and newbie Weston came down from Charleston for the holidays. Along with both sides of Grandparents we all caravaned to see "Shamu" and were suprised to find that it wasn't very crowded at all! The girls had a blast with their cousins (Eloise's mostly companion is now Jackson.....two peas in a pod!!) and Katie is in love, love, love with her "Hamu"! Uncle Mike made Katie say "hoe-man" all day just because it was funny. So now, it's the "Hoe-man" and "Hamu" non-stop. We have been somewhat worried that Katie wouldn't talk because she's seemed in no hurry....but in the last several weeks things have changed....... we counted how many times she said 'Mommy' on the interstate using mile markers. Her record? 47 times in a one-mile stretch. The girl can talk!!! Sea World had changed the "Wild Arctic" ride into "The Polar Express" which everyone loved. Katie and Weston were too little to ride, so they went on to meet Santa. Suprisingly enough we were able to get a great photo of all the cousins with Santa. The only ones missing from our wonderful day were Mel/Jason/and Cade. We rotate every-other-year with Mel's family and this was their year. We were blessed to have them Christmas Day, however and had all at our house. Truly a blast of a year!! The photo you see are the "cousins" minus Jason's bunch. Auntie Michelle is not a cousin- but- a- mommy, and was drafted to hold Weston for this the official 'Christmas Cousin Photo before Shamu' picture. Pretty cool group don't you think??