Sunday Snapshot {Reflections}

It seems fitting that while parts of 2010 were at a frantic pace, my children and I didn't leave home (with the exception of me going to the grocery Tuesday after Ian got home from work) from the time we got back in town Monday evening until around 5:30 Friday night.  All the time here, listening to my kids recreate Thomas or fairy stories as they played together, or pausing in my daily routine to watch them nap, brought plenty of moments for reflection.

So, so much could be written about the year 2010.  I decided though to challenge myself with highlighting just one defining moment from each month.  (An especially big challenge for anyone who knows just how long my stories can be...)

January found us in final preparation mode to add another member to the family.  Our shopping list included toiletries, gifts for the kids to exchange when they met one another, gifts for orphanage staff, guides and officials, and of course a new van.

***Funny note here ~ I recall thinking it was overkill to trade our Passat in for the Highlander when we were waiting for Kylie back in 2006.  I thought we'd never outgrow that car.  I also remember thinking that it would be a LONG time before we'd max out the Sienna when we bought it...***

proving our new ride would comfortably sit three kids with the help of 'china sister' lottie

February was a very exciting month.  Oh China...!  So many adventures and memories.  But THE defining moment of February was walking into the civil affairs office on the 20th in Hangzhou.  My heart stood still as we opened the door and there she was!  The shock of her being there waiting for us instead of the other way around had me befuddled.  With no time to gather my thoughts on my first plan of action to win her heart, I went into emergency mode.  What to do?  Offer 'emmies' of course...

hoping our newest addition would love 'chock-it' as much as the rest of us

March passed in a blur.  The first week home included an urgent care visit for me to treat walking pneumonia, opthamology, pediatrician, and neurology appointments for Darcy, two sick visits for Ian (who was initially misdiagnosed as they missed his strep), birthdays for BOTH the girls, and the one day in my life when I had THREE three year olds living in my home.  I blame all that plus jet lag on the fact that I didn't make the kids pose for a good picture on that day.

i almost cried the next day when a friend asked me if i had gotten a cute picture of all three three year olds and I realized that in my fog i had missed it.  thank goodness for random snapshots.

And while I was making effort to keep it to one event per month, March wouldn't be complete without including the very first picture of my kids with their cousins!  In my heart I became an aunt the day my sister and her husband announced they were beginning the adoption process.  But this day?...this was the one when I hugged my niece and nephew for the very first time.

march 29, 2010 ~ the day pierson and maylin became american citizens AND stole my heart for good

April gave Caleb a chance to realize his dream of being one of eleven kids in a house.  Following a very abrupt closing of Ian's company (meaning we had three kids and no income), dear friends invited us to join them at a mountain cabin in GA for a monsoon weekend of fellowship as we sought God's will for 'what's next.'

it was better than caleb dreamed

The beginning of May found us clinging to the scripture promising God's vision for our lives that our friends shared with us during our weekend together.  By the middle of the month though, we found ourselves taking an impromptu 1500+ mile road trip to visit friends and family before Ian started his new job.

my grandfather sharing his love of nature with my children

As summer approached in June we found that we were settling into our 'new normal.'  Ian and I were finally getting into the groove of parenting three kids and by this point is appeared to most folks that our children had always been together.

all smiles for their daddy on father's day

July brought with it the intense heat of a NC summer and many, many visits to the pool.  Our kids pretty much learned to swim that month, but the highlight was celebrating eleven years of walking through life with my best friend.

he came home from work with a simple arrangement of my favorite flowers the night we went out to celebrate.  his reasoning?  'my dad said if you like a girl, bring her flowers.'  i love this man!

In the hot month of August we spent more time at the pool, and visited our children's museum and the science museum on the days that even the pool wasn't refreshing enough.  We started our M preschool to rave reviews, but the highlight was spending our annual week at Sunset Beach with our extended family.  There were so, so many beautiful pictures to choose from...

at the time ian and i thought our family was complete for the immediate future.  it seems though that even then ky knew what was coming the next month and was focusing her siblings' attention across the sea...

September can be summed up with the following picture of the little boy we learned would soon be part of our family.

oh sweet daniel, how we long for you to be here with us!

October.  What a fun month! Picking just one highlight was tough!  Caleb's 4th birthday?  A trip to the zoo with cousins?  State fair?  A beach wedding?  First trick-or-treating for DQ?  All wonderful moments that I'm so glad to have documented.  But the biggie for October?  Celebrating two years of knowing our oldest son.

it was a pumpkin patch extravaganza celebration, complete with his 'china brother' henry and family

In November we gathered with family to give thanks.  And this year our extended family had much to be thankful for ~ three kiddos ate their first Thanksgiving meal at home.

five kids thankful for siblings, cousins, and turkey!

And December...Christmas.  We enjoyed the fun of decorating a tree, exchanging gifts, getting visited by Santa, but above all we celebrated the humble birth of our savior in a manger.

one of my very favorite ornaments, given to me by friends of the family for my second Christmas

The manger which led to the cross.  The cross which ultimately bridged the divide between us and our Creator.

This year more than ever before I've seen the simple complexity of His plan to draw us to Him.  Oh how He loves us!

[See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are...]  1 John 3:1
 
May you know His unyielding love for you in 2011!


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change of NYE plans

Woke up to an all too familiar "barking" this morning. Then right after breakfast discovered this on the couch...  

I think our New Year's Eve plans just changed.  

Poor baby woke up long enough to ask if we were still going to the play area at the mall today, got a drink of water, and then reposition himself on my bed.  

Now the question is, "To try to get into the ped. in an attempt to get steroids or not to try to get in to get steroids...?"  Because stridor breathing is no fun through the night!

last day to give HOPE for the holidays

Life in a doll house

So the boys (yes, I know one of them isn't home yet) got a train table.  What was on the docket for the girls you ask?

A doll house.

checking out the dollhouse for the first time ~ there was squealing galore!

A GIANT doll house.

**for reference, Ky is currently right at 42 inches tall **
***scratch that 42 inches, that's so august's measurement.  checked her just before she went to bed.  she's 43 1/4 inches now.   somebody make the growth slow down a little!***

(see previous post about how this cozy house is starting to get more and more snug...  Ian and I were so excited about our crazy ~ and I do mean crazy ~ good deal we found on Amazon, with FREE shipping, that we clicked on the purchase button before we stopped to really think about where the doll house was going to fit).

Despite the "where is it going to fit in our house" issue, doll houses have been the topic of choice with the girls for a while now.  We researched high and low, considering the size of the house (would it allow both girls to play together) and the stuff it came with (some houses cost much less, but come with NO furniture and furnishing a house for dolls is almost as expensive as furnishing a real house) and what size dolls could fit inside (they already had a few "fashion dolls" that the giant house would accommodate and we knew they were getting fairy dolls from grandparents, but doll sets for little houses are EXPENSIVE). 

There were a few other little surprises.

ky was adorable that morning ~ EVERY gift she opened brought about a delighted face and the phrase, "it's just what i always wanted!"

dq quite excited about her butterfly craft kit

But the focus of the day was definitely the doll house.

even "david" decided to get in on the doll house action

barbies, fairies, and princess ballerina dolls are enjoying their new home

Since we got home Monday night, the kids haven't left the house.  (I only have to go to the grocery store).  They haven't even asked to go anywhere.  There have just been hours and hours of doll house time.

It's so worth hardly being able to walk through our living room...

Choo choo like Thomas

Ever since we first started our membership at our local children's museum, Caleb's favorite, I mean very most favorite thing to do while we are there has been to play trains. 

january 2009, in his favorite spot at the museum

So much his favorite that we were baffled that he rarely ever played with his Thomas starter set that had been given to him his first Christmas home.  Last Christmas we talked about getting him a train table, but decided against it because he so rarely even gave Thomas a second look at home.  But his fascination at the museum continued.  Then we decided, maybe it is because he only has a small oval and one engine.  Maybe if he had a big set...

So off to Craig's list we went.  And man did we hit the jackpot!!!  Table, six storage bins that fit underneath, over 100 pieces of track, bridges, tunnels, sheds and trains, all for much less than a new table with no storage.  (Funny thing is that we high-fived each other, contacted the seller, and committed to buy it before we really considered where in the house it was going to reside ~ let's just say our cozy house is getting more and more snug...)

Anyway, on Christmas Eve Eve, (not a typo, the kids open their gifts from us ~ and anyone else who ships them to our house ~ on Christmas Eve morning to avoid hauling tons of stuff down to Mama's for Christmas day) Ian and I excitedly brought the table into the house from out in the storage shed and did our best to quickly put together a small section of track.  When we finally went to bed we weren't quite sure that Caleb would be as excited as we were about his train set. 

We need not have worried.

When he turned the corner to the living room he couldn't get to the table fast enough.

yeah, the track set up is pretty lame, there's a straight section that dead ends into a corner.  however i was pleased with what i managed at 2am ~ i'm sure i'll get better soon

He continued to move around the table, checking it out from all angles.

Eventually we had to pick him up and bring him near the tree to open presents.  He couldn't be bothered with gifts for want of playing with his train tracks.  Until he realized that it was a very Thomas Christmas...

grandpa curly (my grandfather) sent cranky

checking out harold the helicopter

Toss in Emily, Percy, and Harvey and you have one excited little boy.

cranky in action

I honestly thought the child was going to cry when it was time to load in the van and head to Grandma's house.  "I just wanna play trains!" he said as we dragged him out of the house.  Good news is that Caleb hasn't left the house since we've been back in town.  How has most of that time been spent?

Why playing trains of course.  Guess two years of really wanting something makes it even more fun...

The only thing he's asking for now to go with his train table?

His little brother to be home so they can play together.
(I know, just melts your heart, huh?)

Oh, and yes, I'm aware he is wearing one of my pink headbands on his head.  That's his David (of David and Goliath) look and we decided to embrace it and photo document it instead of creating a fuss on our Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas

[...and many will rejoice because of his birth] ~ Luke 1:14

May you find yourself rejoicing as you marvel at the depths of His love for you this Christmas!

We pray that His joy will be contagious and spread ~ much like the laughter of siblings who love one another.

From our house (and hearts) to yours, Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday {ornaments}

Wordless Wednesday {"tractor pull"}

**it was pretty slow around here Friday night**

dragon guns

Today sticks became 'dragon guns' on our walk. Kylie gave me the run down on how they work. 

"Well, you see, when we spray them some stain spray comes out and it stains the dragons and activates them and then they turn into signs. So every sign you see is actually a dragon. We've saved our neighborhood."

And there you have it...

Shepherds, Wise Men and...Race Cars?

When I was on a family trip to England years ago we went to see a modernized version of Romeo and Juliet.  They drove a Corvette out on stage to use for transportation. 

Apparently one of my kids aspires to modernize the nativity.

I should contact Disney now and see if it's too late to rewrite the storyboard for the upcoming sequel to Cars...

Fleeting

I'd love to know exactly when it is that we as 'grown ups' loose our ability to come up with imaginative play.

As we took a LONG (with the cold temps we've been confined to the house way too long) walk today, my kids were no longer young children, but dragon fighters.

Their dragon fighting weapons?

Sticks.

I asked Kylie (the ringleader) how exactly they fought the dragons.  She proceeded to give me the full explanation, which included the following:

"So you see, we have these dragon guns.  But don't worry, they don't shoot people, just dragons.  And when we shoot them, stain spray comes out and hits the dragons.  That activates them and turns them into signs.  So all the signs you see in our neighborhood are actually dragons that have been changed.  We've saved our whole neighborhood from lots and lots of dragons..."

Can you just imagine what the world would be like if we approached all our problems with the creativity of a child?

Sunday Snapshot {"Aww sugar sugar"}

as if a sugar cookie could make him any sweeter ~ Daniel decorated cookies at his foster home preschool on Thursday

[...How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.] ~ Romans 10:15.

Granted in this case the feet are those of our postman and the blog writer for Daniel's foster home.  I don't know either personally, but today I'm extra thankful for both!  The postman because he brought us an envelope from immigration.  Finally we have fingerprint appointments ~ next Thursday!  And from what I hear, currently approvals are coming pretty quickly after the fingerprints.  We may even try to walk in on Monday or Tuesday ~ depends on when friends are available to watch the kiddos. 

And the blog writer?  Well, I think it is pretty obvious...
(Okay, technically a picture isn't really "news," but it does serve as 'visual news' that our sweet boy is happy and healthy ~ good enough for me!)

The timing of his photo was PERFECT!  Just in time to be printed out so we could think about him (as if we really needed a reminder) while we had the first annual M family cookie bake-a-thon today.

Take 3 eager helpers.

thanks again for our aprons mel!

Then measure...

Q learns how to level off the flour

...mix...

hard to believe that just last year the sound of the mixer brought her to tears

...pour...

getting experience with the phrase, 'slow as molasses'

...smash...

perfect that Caleb selected the candy cane snowball cookies ~ he LOVED smashing candy canes into smithereens!

...scoop...

carefully getting 'just the right amount'

...and then sprinkle.

he may be impulsive, but he was meticulous with the sprinkles

Before you know it you will have four types of cookies and some very carefully decorated chocolate dipped, sprinkle coated pretzel rods.  We made a huge mess, but it sure was fun!

And if you look carefully, you'll see that Daniel was supervising all the while...

We pray this last week before Christmas is full of sweetness for you and yours!

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