Wales Update~

Julie and the team made it safely to Merthyl Tyfdil, Wales! She was able to call home today and check in with her Mommy! They had a few flight delays but all in all it was a good trip. Julie said this was easy after the China production of last year :). She was able to post on Stephanie's blog and they will be updating it as much as they can. Here is the link http://szthdyfrhsglry.blogspot.com. The pics she refers to didn't download which is probably related to slow internet. She said the connection was/is pretty spotty. She LOVED London and wants to go back. Where they are is beautiful country with lots of sheep! Hope you enjoy reading!

Off to Wales!

Well....our girl Julie is off to Wales for the next 2 weeks. She's on a mission trip through our church and Sovereign Grace Ministries. This is the "music" trip and the Xtreme Band she is a part of will be performing at various locations, including leading worhip at a team related church there this Sunday. The church there actually meets in a castle!! Needless to say they are all extremely excited at all God has planned for them. Please pray for safe travel, that their voices would stay healthy, and people's lives will be touched. 95% of the population of Wales doesn't attend church. Our prayer is that God would radically change lives and hearts through these next 2 weeks, and that God would be honored by these young people's lives as they seek to proclaim God's word to the nations. Here's a couple of pics of the team (some) and of Julie and Steph. They are the only female representation in the band :) so they stick together. Julie sings alto and Steph is soprano. Watch for continued updates!

Well....did you think we'd fallen off the face of the earth? We have been gone for 3(!) weeks but the time has flown by! A very good friend gave us the use of a townhouse just a mile from Disney property for the last few weeks. We had every intention of blogging from there but there was no internet access. It actually was nice being disconnected for a while....but now we're back and up and running.
We had a blast! Mom and girls stayed out there the entire time (only a 30-40 min. drive from home) while Dad/Julie went back and forth. The girls swam, swam, and swam....then slept like logs. We went to Sea World, Disney (all over) and had lots of quality family time. We also had visits from several friends and family. Mom Jo stayed the first week and then we had visits from the Cox, Jones, George,Rejonis, & VanLue :) families. We also ran into several families from our church out there as well. At night Mom got some much needed R&R....and enjoyed catching up on some reading and sometimes sleep :) It was a God given, much needed time of rest and renewal for us! There was even a few days without cell phones. Dad sat a pool soaked Katie up on top of the stoller not knowing my cell phone was underneath her....and well...my phone was peed upon. Bye-bye phone. Cingular was very nice and gave me another with thanks to my wonderful husband for orchestrating the delivery!
Another little girl from China adopted a month before Katie was there as well. She was 2-3 weeks older but no kidding...about 2-3 inches taller and talking up a storm. She was adorable! We also met a family from Korea and the Phillippines who questioned why we had an Asian daughter. When we told them she was adopted from an orphanage in China they all asked if they could have their pictures taken with her....so....Katie posed and smiled pretty for the Korean family from Virginia.
For a fun day with Julie we went to the Port Orleans resort there for Beignets and pool fun. Dad was sent in search for food with the girls and came back 30 min. later with all 3 girls hair "wrapped" (and no food). They were so excited! Julie and I made sure Dad knew he did good with that one! We didn't know Dad would even know what hair wrapping was!! They're still talking about it and eventually everyone was fed. :)
Another day we were at the pool and they had a "belly flop" contest. About 30-40 people lined up. We looked up and there was Leni in line. Soon Katie wanted to join her. Eventually all 3 girls entered the belly flop fanfare....with Katie Mei getting the most applause from the crowd..(yes, she flopped into the water with help from her daddy). A memory burned into my mind forever!!:) Definitely a mommy moment!!
We introduced the girls to Cracker Barrel resturant....and now Katie's favorite food is Chicken n Dumplin's. Very funny! All 3 girls ran around with wild hair (wrapped with ladybug beads of course) and no shoes for 3 weeks. A great time! We can't wait to go back! Enjoy the pictures and hope you aren't bored (there's alot of them!) It's good to be back! Let the diet begin! :)

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!!