Branson Fun Slide Show

There are so many pictures that I wanted to share with everyone that I decided the easiest thing was to create a slide show. The kids had a really good time with Grammy and Papa on vacation!

Enjoy,
Miss Jenny

Wildfire Video....

After a little nudging Sawyer decided he wanted to ride this roller coaster. He screamed all the way through the ride but begged to ride it again!! We got the video to share with everyone.

Enjoy!

Miss Jenny

Branson Pictures

We had a GREAT day!!!
Getting ready to ride the swings (Miss Jenny rode with Malaine)
Fun on the frogs
Notice the leash :)
Thier caught!!

We are headed out to Dixie Stampede but wanted to load a few pictures from the day.

Miss Jenny

Monday with Malaine

While the older two were at their friends staying up until 4 am, Malaine was able to come spend the night with cousin Jaylyn. We had fun going to the zoo Monday morning and enjoyed our day riding the train, seeing the animals and having some DQ ice cream after. Yum!

It was a beautiful day outside to have lunch!

They wanted to pose with the snake. :)

Train Ride! Choo choo!

The apes were out playing and a couple were sitting right by the window.

They all wanted a good view of the giraffes!

Cousin Amy

Suson Park with Sage

Sage is a monkey and if other can climb it so can she!!


Shannon had Sage on Monday and took her to Suson Park in South County, St. Louis Cara and Chelsea went to play and see the animals. Danielle and two other kids from church joined in for the fun as well. I went over to eat lunch with everyone and join in the fun for a little while!! Sage seemed to enjoy herself playing and laughing. She has learned that if the Sun is shinning here then the moon is in China and if the moon is out then the sun is in China. She is so funny!

The older kids were with friends Sunday night and Monday. I hear Makenna stayed up until 4 am with friends (but they say she was not cranky after that!). Sawyer went to bed a little earlier.

Tuesday the kids were with Nina and spent time with their cousins. When Grammy got off work they left to head out of town. They should now be in Branson having a good time!! I will join them tomorrow and promise to add pictures of all the kids tomorrow night. I believe tomorrow is Silver Dollar City and the Dixie Stampede!

Miss Jenny

Kid's Weekend

The Laxton Children have been having fun. Friday after Home school Co-op the Kids went the the Magic House with Megan and Shannon. (Pictures to come when I get them). Each of them said they had a really good time. I'm told Sage did well!

Saturday the Kids spent time with the Grandparents celebrating Malaine's Birthday. (Megan also has photos of Malaine opening presents that I will post when I get).

Then today the kids came to church. It was a special day at church because we were celebrating our 50th anniversary. There was a special presentation in the services. Then this evening was a special time at church. There were carnival games set up for the children and a bounce house! The evening ended with prayer at the property the church bought that will be the site of a new church building!

Makenna and Sawyer went to the same house to spend time with friends. Malaine got to go home with cousin Jaylyn and Sage went to stay with Nina. Enjoy the pictures of the kids playing at the church.

The kids will spend Monday evening and Tuesday with Nina before leaving for Branson Tuesday night. I will be joining the kids Thursday in Branson and have more pictures and updates for you!

Miss Jenny

Happy Birthday Malaine!

Malaine I hope you have had an awesome time celebrating your birthday!! I wanted to post some pictures of the fun we had at the park on Thursday.

Thursday the kids started the day going to MOPS. Then got Subway for lunch which we took to the park for a picnic! While at the park Sage would point to the sky everytime a plane flew over and say "Mommy, Daddy in plane go to China."

Miss Jenny

Happy SIXTH Birthday Malaine!

We love you SO much and miss you tons and we are sorry we are missing your special day.

We know you are having lots of fun and we are thinking of you and wish we could be with you. But soon we will have your new little sister with us! Thanks for being such a sweet girl, you are such a shining star in our family!

First Day of Fun

This is Jenny posting for Shannon. I am the Director of Preschool and Children's Ministries at the church where she attends. I will periodically be posting pictures and stories of the fun the kids are having while Mark and Shannon are traveling to get Mavery. I spent today with the kids and will post on that tomorrow. For tonight I will post about Wednesday.

Shannon and Mark spent all day Wednesday on an airplane to China. While they were on the long plane ride the kids enjoyed time at Chuck E Cheese!! No one remembered a camera but I was able to scan pictures to share with everyone.
Hopefully you can tell this kids had a good time with Grammy and Aunt Debbie.

Ready, Set, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it is official. We have left the house, said goodbye to the kids, apologized in advance to the grandparents and wished them the very best of luck, (kidding of course, they acted very excited to have the children, and the kids were thrilled to get rid of us I think!) We have packed and repacked and checked and rechecked everything in our suitcases. I have cleaned every inch of my house over and over. Well, I never did get the refrigerator pulled out or the stove, so if you are staying at my house, don't look under those appliances, deal? Though the dishwasher is clean underneath, we had to get that fixed last week so if for some reason you want to check there, it is good! hehe! My lists are all checked off and there is nothing else I can do now but get on that plane and GO! Yesterday, I was not so sure I was going to make it, that I was going to get it all done. But tonight, as I am sitting in a hotel room by the airport, I feel good. I have even stopped saying for the hundredth time, did we get it all, did we forget anything? At this point if we did, we will live w/ out it. We have us, we have the laptop, we have the camera and all the paperwork. Nothing else matters. As I looked through my master list I made way back when, the only thing (that it totally a lie, the only MAJOR thing) I did not get crossed off was losing lots of weight. And unless I manage to lose 10 pounds overnight, that is just not getting crossed off and I am even at peace with that. Right now my eyes are on the prize. My Mavery will be in my arms in just a matter of days. My heart has been in China since I stepped off that plane 2 years ago with arms full of Sage. And now we return for our 5th child, quite possibly the ending to our story. (Mark would shout out a big amen ,we are done here!) For almost a year now I have stared at her face and wondered so many things. And now, no more wondering. Soon we will touch her skin, hear her voice and hold her in our arms. We will turn that sad face into smiles and wrap her up in all of our love. Here we GROW again!!!!!!!!

**Join us at our travel blog by clicking here or on the picture card on the side bar. Amy made the cards for us, aren't they sweet?

**Kids posts of things they are doing will be posted here. (and believe me, they wish we were gone another week for all the invitations they got this time!)

**I have added some posts if you scroll down, some are posted before Makennas birthday.

Catching Up-YMCA Diving for Donations

I wanted to make sure you got to see pictures back from our April event when our friends son wanted to help us by doing a fundraiser. You can go and check it out here.

My Sage

It is hard to leave the kids, I struggle with all of them of course. But Sage, I am having a really hard time. She is SO little. I struggle with guilt over being gone from her that long. Though the alternative is taking her. And you know the thought of that just breaks me out in a cold sweat. If you have met Sage, you know what I am talking about. 14 hours on a plane, I would rather have my teeth pulled out one by one with no drugs than to put myself OR the other passengers through that. She does not want to go on a plane to China, she has told me that over and over. "I no like plane to China, they go to fast. "Sage likes her bed, she likes her routine. She does not do well when you take away her nap, or even if you try to move her from her house. So while I will miss her horribly, taking her is not an option. We feel we are supposed to devote 100% of our attention on Mavery in China and that just could not happen with Spicy Girl there. So, she stays behind. But it is more than just the leaving her for 2 weeks. It is the, I am bringing home another child. Right now, Sage is the baby, the princess, she runs the show around here. Soon, she is going to have to share her crown. And not only is it a new sister, it is a sister that is her age. I know this is all normal, this is how it was when we added Sage and Malaine was the baby, or when we added Malaine and Sawyer was a baby. Or when we added Sawyer and Makenna was the ONLY princess in our house. I know that every mother goes through this guilt and so you can understand. Just hard.

But on the flip side, Sage is getting a sister! She is getting a twin! I always wanted a twin sister, someone my age. What a blessing for her to have a play mate her age and someone who gets it, who lived the same life she did before they were in our arms. I can't wait to see them in action together, even just that first meeting, when they lay eyes on each other for the first time! I know we are in for alot of adjustments, but we are ready. I think Sage is ready. Maybe ready to "train" her up in the Sageness way of life. Oh my goodness, what if Mavery acts like Sage? I think our life is about to get REALLY fun! ;0)

Our China Blog!

Ok, I have a million posts that I am determined to get caught up w/ before we leave here, but wanted to go ahead and share our new blog link! Tomorrow night we will be leaving the house and so I will move my new posts to that blog. You can click here or www.2china4mavery.blogspot.com. I will also be moving my email to my gmail account, which is linked on that blog, but it is shannonlaxton@gmail.com

The blog fairy, who is the most patient woman in the world, you would not believe what I put that poor woman through trying to decide on a "look" for our china trip., did an amazing job I think on the China blog. Take a peek and see what you think! I am still playing around with some things, but you can get a look at our full itinerary.


But keep checking here. The kids updates will be here while we are gone. And like I said, I have a bunch of posts that I need to publish before we leave!

Counting down till take off!

Malaines EARLY 6th Birthday

Did I mention that this time of year is birthday bonanza for us? Malaine Shaye will offically turn 6 on October 11th, and yes we will be gone. So, we declared that this weekend was her 6th birthday with us! We celebrated the whole day, just as we would have if it was her birthday. The other kids are not quite sure they agree that she gets 2 birthdays, but they went along with us anyways. We spent the day at Chuck E Cheese which I dreaded to do for a Saturday. But actually, it was not that bad. We went early and the kids had a great time. Those of you who know Mark well will enjoy this. For the kids birthday party, my dear Aunt and Uncle gave them gift cards for Chuck E Cheese. (thank you Ray & Judy!) So we were excited to go for FREE on Saturday. But it is only free if you remember to turn in the gift cards when you pay. Which Mark did not do. So, guess we will get to go to Chuck E Cheese AGAIN. Guess that is one way we can introduce Mavery to America, take her to meet the BIG mouse and let her go in overload from all the noise there. Kidding of course, we will totally use Mavery as an excuse to stay away from all annoying places for quite some time! ;-). Maybe the grandparents would like to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese while we are in China? It is FREE! One thing that is so funny is that Sage does not like Chuck E, I think I have said that before. She chants over and over, No chucke, no Chucke. But she does love the games and totally knows how to put the coins in and is all about tickets.

So Malaine has more celebrating to do, but at least we were able to play for a day. And yes it is a cake made of ding dongs. Hey, I am going to China this week, making cakes was just not on the agenda! My kids thought ding dongs were quite the treat, so I did not feel quite so bad. Mark enjoyed telling them how that is what Grammy fed me for breakfast as a child. They are so jelous of the good ole days!

Apple Picking

We spent the day recently at Eckerts Apple Orchard with the Harriss Family along with our homeschool co op. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast! Of course getting out of school is always a treat and being with friends makes it even better. This was Sage's first time to pick apples and she thought it was pretty cool to pick the apples right off the tree and eat them.

The Millstadt Farm is lots of fun as you can watch pig races, go through a corn maze, we saw 2 week old baby goats, and the kids favorite was the "haunted house". It was nice to get out of the house and away from packing for a few hours!

Makennas Birthday Pictures

We celebrated Makenna's birthday at IHOP the night before her birthday. My children love breakfast for dinner. I on the other hand have decided we will not be visiting IHOP again. The service was bad and we paid $50 for pancakes, that is ridiculous. But she was happy so I guess that is what counts. She has been having fun with her new camera. And her pictures are really good. On the day of her birthday she spent the day helping out up at the church. She was pretty happy that her birthday fell on a Wednesday and had fun taking ice cream cake to awana!

Praying

There are many things we are praying about as we get ready to go. Some things that are on my list

• Please let the plane stay in the air, the way it should, and if possible not even letting it bump around in the sky. I hate to be picky and all, but this is kind of a major thing. Just let us have a smooth boring flight. I won't even ask for decent food or clean blankets, just that it is a safe flight.


• Soft beds. The Lord said ask for anything right? So if we could just land us a soft bed, I would be so happy. I have considered sleeping on the floor to prepare myself, or even the dining room table as I am sure my carpet feels better than chinese torture beds. It's the little things in life..


• Outlets that do not outsmart us or blow up my CHI hair iron. You all know the humidty in China is not so good, and you all know that I have high maintenance hair, so if my flat iron goes out on us, it won't be pretty.


• That my oh so sensitive stomach that is revolting on me as I am stressed right now, would just calm down and be still. I promise not to eat donkey or monkey or ox stomach, just be kind to me.


• How about that my 2 year old and pre teen year old would not ruin us from ever having babysitters again in the future. I have visions of the grandparents dropping the children at the airport and jumping on the plane when we return!


• That Mark and I can agree on this shopping stuff. Now THAT is a serious thing. Do you remember our shopping from last time? We SO stressed each other out. But let me tell you, I am prepared this time. I have my list made down to the detail of what and where it needs to be bought. I am sure it will involve at least one extra suitcase, shopping for 5 kids, that is alot!

Ok, so you don't really have to pray for any of that. Besides the plane, I would appreciate some prayer in that area. I do not enjoy flying, it makes me nervous. You can pray for the hair thing to if you really feel led to! ;0)

Seriously, we do ask that you pray for us. Things like..

• Our children and all those taking care of them. It is alot of work, and we are so thankful for grandparents and friends that are so willing to help us out with them. We know we are so blessed to have the support system we have here, and do not have to worry about leaving our children, and that we can both go to China for Mavery.


• Sage. I worry the most about her. She is my baby, and I have not been away from her this long. Plus, she is going to have a new sister that is her age. She won't be the only baby. Her personality is so amazing, I think she is going to do great. But I know there is going to be adjustment.


• Health, all the way around.


• And of course Mavery. Not only our meeting, but we return back to her orphanage on Tuesday, the day after Gotcha. So please cover her in prayer that day.

Again, we are so blessed and thankful and know we are going wrapped up in the prayers of so many. What is the saying, it takes a village to raise a child? I say it takes the village just to make it through the adoption of a child. My village is strong that is for sure.

Meeting Mavery

It is so easy to get wrapped up in the "process" of adoption. I am a list maker, and at this point, if it is not on my list, it does not enter my mind. I am thankful that what is on my list manages to enter my mind to be honest! It is scaring me how confused Iam right now. Last night I was whining to Mark telling him, " I walked across the room for a reason, but I have no idea why". And he said" Welcome to my world, that is how men have always been!" hehe!



So, it is easy to just work and check off my list and keep moving along. But in those quiet moments at night, my thoughts are so full of Mavery. She has been heavy on my heart, just trying to imagine what it is going to be like for her. I try to envision Gotcha day, what that moment will be like. With Sage, we expected crying, and lots of tears. What we got was this calm little angel who just looked at us as if to say" What took you so long?" Yeah, Sage sure had us fooled in China, ask our entire travel group, she was the calm baby. ha! So her gotcha was nothing as I imagined. She was perfect, it was perfect. They placed her in my arms, and I felt such peace.



That is not what I expect this time. Sage was 9 months old. Mavery is almost 3 years old. I hurt for her and all she is about to go through. While we know it is all for the best, she sure is not going to think that. Please continue to pray for her. Our prayer all along has been that God our Father would plant us in her little heart, that she would see us and know us. So far what she knows of us is that white people come to the orphanage and kids disappear. They tell her to say hi to mama, and a white person is holding a big black box. So is a mama a big black box that flashes at her? Or is a mama a bear that when she presses its paw it speaks some weird language and says I am your mama?

It will be ok, we know it will be ok. This was what God planned all along and He will help us to comfort Mavery. And our gotcha moment is going to be just as magical as it was with Sage no matter what. Because even if she screams, I will finally see her and hear her and be able to touch my daughter.

For the record, I am seriously praying that if she has to NOT like someone (because we know that often the kids will choose one parent) that it is ME she chooses to like! ;0) No worries, Mark knows this is what I am praying for! He could handle the rejection much better than me! hehe!

Hebrews 11:1

Now Faith is

Before Mark and I married, adoption was on our hearts. Due to some medical conditions that Mark has, we actually wondered if we would choose to birth children, or simply adopt all our babies. But through prayer we believed that we were supposed to trust and in turn we recieved 3 blessings by birth. And while I was thankful for those 3, I felt there were more children out there.

Being sure

In 2004 I felt very strongly that we were supposed to move forward with adoption. That God clearly said, your child is out there. Mark was not on board. It was not a fun time as we tried to figure out the will of our Father. I poured over scripture as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do. And God pressed Hebrews 11:1 on my heart. I breathed it every day while I waited for God to change Mark's heart. I had no doubts God was telling us to find our child. And in February of 2005, Mark said we were having 4 kids!

Of What we hope for

As the days turned into weeks, turned into months, then into over a year, I continued to hold on to that verse with all I had. And finally on August 21st, 2006, we held our Sage, the answer to all we had hoped for, the reason we waited for so long, our 3rd daughter. It was as if God himself had stepped down and handed her to me right there in the middle of China. And we thought we were complete. That our waiting was over. We had asked, and we had our answer.

and certain

Yet, leaving China, there was that tug on my heart. And soon after the jet lag wore off, I knew we were supposed to return. That we had another child. That our child was probably there, when we walked on that soil. That we had left one behind. And so I began to search and seek and try to figure out what in the world God was saying to me. Because Mark was certainly feeling a whole different tug, maybe a finished basement tug or a leave the kids in private school, or a fun Disney vacation, or even a paved driveway & patio to be honest. ANYTHING besides another child.

of what we do not see....

Then I saw Mavery, browsing a list of waiting children. And I looked into her eyes and I felt not that I had looked at a child that needed a family, but that I had looked into the eyes of my daughter. But it made no sense. HOW could I feel so strongly and Mark think I was losing my mind? Those were rough days. Even more so than when I felt first led to start an adoption. Mark and I have always had a good strong marriage, and that was not a fun time for us. We were so divided and he was so certain I was wrong. It would have been so easy to give up and give in. We were miserable, so I once again held on to that scripture. Hebrews 11:1. My faith wavered that was for sure, was I wrong? Was this just something I wanted, was I keeping this little one from her family?

Yet then God led me to look up her birth verse and as I read it I just knew. Hebrews 11:1.

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see..

There is no doubt in my mind as we prepare to leave on this journey in just days, this is what God had planned all along. Mavery was mine from the day she was born on November 1st, 2005, and even in those 9 months she grew in another mama's tummy. While I prayed for my child in China through my wait, I thought I was praying for one. But my prayers were covering 2 little girls, 2 mothers who were going to make decisions to walk away, our lives would be blessed by 2 from a land far away. Someday Mavery might wonder, why did Sage come home first? And we don't know the answer to those questions, but we do know that God is in control of her life. He has held her for me till we found her. He allowed her to grow real in my heart even when I was in China I think. He softened a daddy's heart that was honestly DONE having kids. A daddy who is so excited to hold her and love on her and have her in his life as his.

We are counting down the days here. Our arms ache to hold Mavery, and yet our hearts cry to leave 4 behind. (well some moments our hearts smile, you know when they are all screaming and fighting and driving us crazy!?!) It is almost like I can't think about goodbye, I just press on towards the goal. I look ahead to a month from now, when we will be HOME, together, living life the way we have prayed for since we saw Mavery.

I am still clinging to Hebrews 11:1 as we prepare to go. I am certain that God is going ahead of me, preparing the way, as well as standing behind me, holding my 4 here in His arms.

Makenna is 11!

Happy Birthday Makenna! Our first born. The one who is teaching me to grow as a mother daily as we figure out this parenting thing. Her foot is almost as big as mine, she is almost as tall as me, and some might say her attitude is just like mine. ;0) We love you Makenna and are so glad you are our daughter!