Our House

6 years ago we built our house. It was the second house we built, but the first custom home. It is our "dream home". The house we believed we would be in forever. After many, many moves in our marriage, we were DONE and this was THE house. Forever. We found a lot out of town, on over an acre of land, and we poured over plans. We wanted open with cut outs, something unique.

We knew we wanted a house to entertain in. And we have done just that. Many Many Many times.

We wanted a place our kids could run and have fun. And they have.

It is a place where we have loved and learned. A place we have grown. And then grown some more. A place where we have lost...

Remember when Mavery cut off her hair!

And Malaine lost her first tooth? Or who could forget Houdini the hamster?We have celebrated & had so many firsts...
Like Sawyers broken foot. (not that we celebrated that!)


First Days of school
First Ball games


First Dance Recitals




First Slumber Parties!

And First steps!

But when we built this house, we believed our family was complete looking like this.

Till God breathed this dream into our hearts of a baby with almond eyes and jet black hair.

Adoption was conceived in this house as we cried out on our knees to hear.

And we did. Adoption was born here.

Twice.

And so while it was our dream home at one time.

We now know that THIS is the dream we are much more thankful for.

The dream that matters. And so while situations like this have caused us to realize what we can't afford.

Smiles like this make us remember that a house is just a house.

And where ever they are, wherever we all are, is really what makes it home.

So yes, I am sad. Many beautiful memories were created here. It is a gorgeous house and we feel blessed to call it our home. But we look ahead to the adventure of making new memories. We already have a new house ready and waiting for us which is an amazing thing. It is similar in size, just a bit older. (a lot older!) Funny thing is, it is right next door to where Mark grew up, and he had been in the house many times as a child! It really is a perfect situation for us and we know, we KNOW that God has his hands all over this.

We could have stayed like this. Stayed here.

But thank you God for interruptions in our best laid out plans.

Please pray for us as we try to keep the house ready to be seen! We pray for a quick sale and that the family who moves in here will be as blessed by the home as we have been. For the record, the kids are all good with moving. They love the backyard on our new house because it actually has a tree they can climb and a cornfield to play in, I mean look at! ;-) My children are all for new adventures!

Goodbye for awhile to my brother!

We said goodbye to my baby brother in August and we are all sad to see him go. But also SO proud of him! He has been planning for years to go and work in China and he is finally there! He will be teaching English at the university, along with serving in what ways he can. I know it is a big change for him, but we all know he is exactly where he is supposed to be. And looking at these pictures, I know exactly that I need to go back to blond hair! ;-)

Week at the Lake!

We are so fortunate that my parents own a house on a lake just a few hours from here, and are so generous to let us use it when we want! We went down for a week this summer, and it is always so nice to just get away. Lots of boating, swimming and just relaxing. This was the first summer we took the little girls out on the tube and they LOVED it. Mavery more so than Sage, but even Sage did great. The little girls are so interesting with their personalities. Mavery had no issues jumping on the tube and begging Mark to go faster. Yet it takes a whole lot of ice cream bribing to get her in the lake to swim! Sage is diving off the side of the boat into the lake, but is more cautious when it comes to tubing. Malaine was nervous to tube but then did fine. Makenna & Sawyer, well they just want it to go faster and see if they can stand on the tube! No fear in those 2. We did have one scary incident while on the boat. Mavery had just come off the tube and sat on the rope with out us noticing. When Mark took off in the boat, pulling the older kids on the tube, she got wrapped up in the rope and scared us all to death. Rope started to pull her over and wrapped around her neck. Thankfully no harm was done besides me tossing a bag of cookies overboard during it. Which killed the older kids "NOT THE COOKIES". I am obviously teaching compassion well in them! ;-)

Also enjoyed visiting with one of my good friends who has moved away. Thanks Shannon for coming to see us! We miss you!
And while there we looked at these, and the kids tried REALLY hard to talk me into one. Cute, REALLY cute, but now is not the right time for that.

Fun relaxing week!

Summer-Peach Picking

One of these days I WILL get caught up here! My little girls go back to school TOMORROW so I hope that means I will get more blogging time in. (yeah right!)

We were able to go peach picking the first week of August with my cousin and family. They have moved out of town so sadly we do not get to see them nearly enough. The kids were thrilled to spend a day with their cousins, despite the heat.

Mavery Update

We are home tonight from Maverys cath. It has been a LONG day and we are thankful to be here tonight, in our own beds. We were to be at the hospital at 9am. We arrived at 845, and were sent to have a chest xray and an echo done. Which took FOREVER but Mavery was SO good. We then went back upstairs where we were told the cath would not happen till at least NOON, probably later. For a child that has not eaten since yesterday and who LIVES for food?? Ugh! We know that alot of people were praying us up because Mavery literally was an angel and did amazing! Finally after waiting FOUR hours, they gave her the happy drink and took her back.

We were told they would be dilating the stent put in last year. But when the Doctor went in he said it was still wide open and that all looked well. I am still a bit confused on WHY we had the cath but assume it was because the pressures are still a bit off, so maybe they thought the stent might need dilated. The only thing he said he saw of concern is that there is alot of leakage going on, (which he said is a normal thing for Tetralogy of Fallot) and that she will probably need a valve replacement sooner rather than later. We knew she would eventually need this but thought this would happen when she was older. He said the thinking is changing and that they believe it is now possibly better for them to happen sooner, to cause less damage on the heart. They are now able to do these valves through caths but in Maverys case the first one will have to be done through a surgery, but then his hope is that the replacements (valves only last 10 years give or take) could be done through cath.

So in 6 months when we return to see our cardiologist, he wants to have that leakage checked through either a stress test, (if she will cooperate on a treadmill, hmmm) or through an MRI of the heart. They will measure and then watch it for awhile and make a decision.

Mavery came out of the cath OUT. If you remember our earlier cath's, she came out kicking! So we were thankful for her being so calm. After a cath you have to lay flat for SIX hours to make sure they do not start to re-bleed from the entrance site on her leg. About 4 1/2 hours in, they took her off the sleeping drug, and she woke right up. And was great for the next 1/2 hour or so. Then Mavery emerged and we had a ROUGH last hour. At exactly 5 hours and 50 minutes in, she went crazy and had the nurse yelling at her, yelling at us and her wound bleeding. And if it bleeds bad, it means you start the 6 hours ALL over. Praise the Lord it stopped and we were able to leave. Thanks Ms Jenny for staying to "play" till the end! ;-)

I did ask if Mavery can ride rides and basically if it says do not ride w/ a heart condition, she can't ride it. ;-( This is very sad because Mavery LOVES rides, and the faster the better. but it is just to chancy so this will be something our family just has to figure out.

We are thankful tonight for good news overall. We are thankful for the changes we can see in Mavery in how she did today. We are thankful for our family and friends who helped us today and prayed for us. We are thankful that we get 6 months before we have to return to the doctor! And we are thankful to be home tonight in our own bed with Mavery by our side.

Mavery's Heart Cath Tuesday

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 31st, we go in for another heart cath. This makes her 4th hospital stay in less than 2 years. If you think about us, especially her, please pray for her. I will try to post an update, but we expect that everything will be routine. They are going in to try to dilate the stent that they placed in last time. Routine, but still scary to put your child under. Thanks for your prayers!

Sawyer is TEN!

On August 1st our only boy turned double digits! In honor of him, I wanted to share 10 things about him.

1. He has a truly tender heart and hurts for those hurting. He actually feels bad if he gets in trouble. Not everyone in my house is like that. ;-)

2. He is the wittiest person I know and always has something to say that makes us laugh.

3. He is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and has now read all the books. Have you seen the books, they are thick! Loves to read.

4. He is really into video games. Lego Harry Potter was the hit gift. Till sister Sage broke it. Sigh.

5. He is really into complicated board games. Heroscape is his favorite to play with his dad.

6. He is way smarter than me at anything electronic and is often called in to help me turn on, well, just about anything.

7. He likes to talk and has alot to say. Which makes school tricky at times, but I also never have to wonder what is going on with him.

8. He has a very vivid imagination and I do believe could write a book someday.

9. He has a good relationship with each of his sisters, but Sage calls him "MY buddy".

10. Is LOVING that he has been able to move his bedroom to the basement this year. Though suddenly moving from upstairs to downstairs has turned him into a slob. Or maybe that is being 10. ;-)

Sawyer is such a sweet soul and I am so thankful for him. Happy Birthday Sawyer!

Spicy Sisters Unite!

On the hunt for something, not sure what.

Sage trying to tell her what to do I think.

And Vivian explaining that she knows just what to do with the frog they have now caught.
Mavery did very well, though she wanted to see her China friends too!


I always love when we are able to see families that we traveled to China with. I have said it before and it does not change. Traveling half way around the world and watching each other be united with your children, it bonds you. We consider these families, our families. And for our girls, we want them to keep up a relationship with their "sisters" that they lived with before us. We were thrilled when we found out that Jay & Landy along with Vivian would be traveling through St Louis for a short stop. They live in Phoenix so we have not seen them since we stepped off the plane in LA together, bound for our home destinations. Vivian and Sage are just 1 day apart in age and boy are they a match for their spiciness! WOW! They are so SO much alike. They may not look a ton alike, but they sound alike, and they were both trying to see who was going to win at being the boss! ;-) I wish we lived closer, would love to see the girls together more, but I am thankful for these little glimpses we do get.

Sage Gotcha DayVivi Gotcha Day

And now

VBS 2010

Sage & Mavery cracking up! I can't remember what the song said, but every single time they came to a certain verse, they looked at each other and just laughed!

Pre-schoolers were so cute in their vests!

Sawyer singing, such a cute cowboy!

Makenna singing away & sweet Malaine below in the pink hat.

Better late than never! Kids had a blast at Saddle Back Ranch this year. (yes this was July) Makenna's last year to be in VBS, she is now offically a part of the youth group. (EEK!) Amy did an amazing job with the kids and music, as always. Lots of kids, lots of fun!