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I have no idea why some people are not able to see all my posts. I am trying to figure out what the issue is, sorry!!

Makenna is 14!!!

Yep, it is true.  My firstborn has now moved on from that first year of turning a teenager to being just one year away from being able to have a driving permit. GULP.  She enjoys the fact that she often gets asked if she is 16. We do not enjoy that.  BUT we are enjoying her as she grows, so here are 14 things about Makenna. 

She is as tall as me now. 

Grammy took her for a makeup makeover. Beautiful girl. Those eyes.

She wears the same size shoe as me. (I wish it were the same size clothes!)

She desperately wants to return to China. 

So she is trying to "bake" her way there. 

She loves to bake and has decided instead of being a vet maybe she wants to own her own cofee shop/bakery. 

She loves being a part of the youth worship band, and spent the evening of her birthday doing praise & worship with the band.

Nothing makes my mama heart prouder than watching my children worship the Lord. 

In our co-op this year she is learning to knit! She is a lefty so that has made it a bit more difficult when the teacher does not know how to teach lefty's but Makenna was able to learn it right handed. 

She was in a production of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe this summer and LOVED it.

She ran her first 5K recently and ran the entire way! She ran for LIFE. 

She is a night owl like her mama. We don't do mornings. 

She is still homeschooling but is taking math and science through a co-op this year.

She is competitive so give her a challenge and she works REALLY hard at it. 

She is dependable. I worry about nothing when I ask her to do it. 

She is opinionated. I have NO IDEA where she gets that from. ;-)

I think that is 14. I am so proud of Makenna. Though at times we want to strangle each other (I have a feeling we are just a bit to much alike in many ways!) I truly think she is amazing.  There is nothing she enjoys more than serving others and serving the Lord. I know that the Lord has big plans for this girl of mine. 

The Airport Equals China for us!

Drive In fun!

I am pretty sure my children think that the St Louis airport only goes to one place. TO China. Home from China.   

Mark tends to travel often, but we do not go to the airport with him.  So they really only head that way if it involves something big. 

 

Friends Adopting = a trip to the airport.  One came from China. The other, well not far from China and in their eyes don’t all adoptions happen in China?   

 

Last summer we had the college student staying with us, the baby we had custody of.  We made quite a few trips to the airport.  To China.  Home from China.  To China.  

 

We traveled to China in June. They dropped us off. They picked us up. 

My brother Shane came home from China in July. 

 

In August we went to pick up Shane’s girlfriend at the airport. From where?  Well China of course! 

First time to make smores!

 

And then we had our most recent trip to the airport as we sent Shane and Ellisa off to… China.  

First time to TASTE smores, and it was not a winner!

 

It was  so great to have Shane home this summer. He left last July to serve in China as a “teacher.”  I was lucky to be able to see him while at Chenzhou, and to meet his girlfriend, whom I adore.   It was great fun to have her here and experience her first taste of the USA.   We  loaded her up on the good ole American Diet.  We went up in the arch, tried Root Beer Floats at Fitz’s, went to the Drive In, boating on the lake, she experienced an American wedding (pictures to come), Cardinal Game, church, and more!  For the record, Root Beer Floats were NOT a hit.  ;-) 

The Arch!

 

And then we had to say goodbye to her and Shane both as they headed back to China together.  We are so happy that Shane has been called to serve in a place that we love. Even though it is SO FAR AWAY, we know he is exactly where he is supposed to be, doing exactly what he is supposed to do. Not to mention skype is an amazing thing!  

Brother Sawyer

 This week, on Sunday night we had an exciting evening.  We put all the kids to bed but with in about 30 minutes Sawyer was back upstairs. He had this look of terror on his face and could not speak. We asked what was going on and he finally gets out through tears that he felt that God had just spoke to him and was telling him to be a youth pastor.  He was so shaken up and SO certain that he had heard from Him!

Of course we encouraged him and prayed with him and told him how AMAZING that is that at 11 years old he already had heard from the Lord on what he is going to do with the rest of his life!  We also reminded him that this meant he DOES have to go to college and could not fulfill his dream of being a video game designer.  Though we assured him that he could design LOTS of things for youth! ;-)

This boy is a blessing to us for sure. He has such a tender heart and sweet spirit.  Mark and I have secretly always said to each other we thought he would make a great pastor, he has that personality.  But we never said that to him.

My prayer is that Sawyer will ALWAYS remember hearing Gods voice and calling on his life. He is only 11, and so when he turns 13, 16, 21, and the world presses in, I pray he will look back and remember, I pray he will stay on course.  

I did ask him if he was certain that the Lord had not told him he has another sister waiting in China. He asked me if he did hear that if Mark would believe him.  I told him lets wait and see if God tells him that and then we will find out.  ;-) 

Team Chenzhou 2012

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Updates on Air & my sweet Rosebud

When my mom tells me it is time to blog, I know I am REALLY being a blog slacker!  I hate that I have not kept up better, I WANT to share all the things going on.  Hopefully by the time 2011 ends I will catch up with our busy year! I THINK life is actually calming down, if that is possible. 

I do have lots of pictures with some fun things we did this summer to come, I promise. BUT I had to share some updates on Chenzhou.  If you scroll down a few posts you will read about my collection of money to send them some air conditioners that they were in need of.  And you will read about my Rosebud, sweet baby girl. 

I will start with the air.  We were able to send over enough money for them to buy 2 air conditioners and a heater!  The units are for the hospital wing, which is where the new babies stay and of course the sick babies.  Not everyone who gave sent in a photo, but many did and I love that they did hang them around the unit!

 

The 2nd news to share is about my Rosebud and how amazing God is. If you remember, Chenzhou told me she was being adopted and my understanding was that it was a domestic adoption. Well last week I opened an email from an unfamiliar name and it was telling me she was adopting from Chenzhou,  she found my blog, and I referred to her baby as ROSEBUD.  Let me tell you, the tears of JOY that fell.  We exchanged a few emails with a promise to call so we could talk about "our" baby.  Her mama's first words to me were "You are my baby's angel".  We had a wonderful well over 2 hour talk as I was able to share all the reason why I fell in love with this little peanut that would soon come home! I have no idea why the translation came through as domestic, the communication gap is such a problem. But thank goodness that this mama was searching for info on Chenzhou and we were able to connect! She said that she received the referral 2 weeks after her birthday and was so upset to miss her birthday. And then she found pictures of her party that I gave her! I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to be just a tiny bit of Rosebud's story. Maybe all I was to be was someone to cover her in prayer for awhile. Her family has waited FIVE years for her, and while she is one lucky girl, I know they are really the lucky ones. She is going to be such a blessing for them. When Chenzhou sent the photos of the air, they also sent me some photos of RB in an outfit I had sent over. 

Look at her!  I was just in China 3 months ago and this baby was not even sitting! She is standing!! And looking older, and oh so beautiful! I can't help but hope that MAYBE our bumbos and exersaucers helped out a bit. 

Her family is actually in China and will be holding this angel in her arms on Monday.  I am so thankful, an orphan no more.  My sweet little Rosebud, forever loved.

Kindergarten Rocks

When your babies are babies, kindergarten seems so far away. When you are dealing with two 3 year olds and ready to pull your hair out, kindergarten seems TO far away. 

Breakfast Celebration before School! Decor by Makenna & Sawyer. Omelet by Daddy!

And then, suddenly, it comes.

K is for Kindergarten!

No matter how ready they are, and on some days how ready I am, how can one EVER really be ready? 

So excited!

It is one thing when it is child #2 or even #3.  But the BABIES of the family? 

As many of you know, we sent our older 3 to Victory Christian for kindergarten. (some beyond) And now we homeschool them.   I am a huge fan of school kindergarten for many reasons. 

We knew that we would probably not be able to afford Victory for the girls. We also realized that Mavery was going to need a bit more than they could offer, even if we could afford it.  Along with the fact their preschool teacher strongly suggested the girls being in their own classes. Things we could only get at our local public school.

A school we pay a whole bunch in taxes for that we have not used.

So with much prayer we signed them up. 

I worried. They tested Mavery and questioned if she was ready. At almost 6 years old I felt I could not really hold her back.

I worried because, well, there are things I prefer about homeschool.  No matter what others say.

I have to throw this in.  I find it humorous how many opinions there are on schooling.  How many have applauded me for sending them to public school INSTEAD of homeschool.  As if I finally did something right.  ;-)  Though my homeschool mommy friends?  Have all been very supportive of my decision. Well to my face anways.  ;-)

I have always tried to maintain my stand on school.  I am not a homeschool snob who snubs their nose at those who do public school swearing you would die before you send your innocent children to school.  (you people are annoying!) And I am not a public school snob who snubs their nose at those who homeschool with the always ALWAYS quick comment of “I could NEVER homeschool”.  (you people are REALLY annoying) Because yes you COULD, if God called you to it!

I am simply a mom of many children with a whole variety of needs.  Yes, God has called our family to homeschool our 3  older children.  And for now, He has also opened up a door for our girls to go to a school that can meet their needs.  What will we do next year?? I have NO CLUE! We just take it day by day, prayer by prayer around here.

Ok, where was I?  Oh yeah, sending off my babies.  Being worried.

First day came, and I actually did ok.  It was only 3 hours the first day and they both went in so easily.  Everyone was so sweet and friendly.  No big deal, I walked them to their desk, helped them unpack their backpacks. Mark was there.

Then day 2. A full day. I could only walk them to their door per the school. They looked so little walking in that room, I walked away and burst into tears.

Some say sending your kids to school is natural.  It is just part of their growing up.  Really?? Because there is NOTHING that feels natural to me about sending my 5 years olds off for someone else to raise ALL DAY EVERY DAY. 

Don’t get me wrong.  There are some REALLY great things about them going.  We have not started homeschooling, so I have been able to do things like deep clean my house, organize, have fun with the big kids doing big kid things.  It is QUIET. It is EASIER. 

And, they love school so far. They are learning, they are happy. Mavery is doing SO well.  A routine agrees with her.   They are thrilled to see each other at the end of the day.

But I do miss them.  And I am jealous that I miss the best parts of their day.  I envy their teachers for what they are experiencing that I am not a part of.   They are MINE and yet I get less time with them than the government, I mean school.

We asked Sage what her favorite thing about school is. She chimed in with the bus, which they ride home.  I asked, the bus, that is the best part?  Her reply? I like the bus, it brings me home to you.

And that is my favorite part too.

Rosebud

 You might have read my posts about a precious little blossom I fell in love with while at Chenzhou this summer. If not, feel free to hear my heart here and here.

I knew that to adopt her would take a miracle.

I also KNOW the God of miracles and believe in His plans.

So, I felt pretty secure in trusting that if she was meant to be mine, she would be.

Through some conversations with Chenzhou, it led to some conversations with my husband. Who is convinced we are done.

Funny guy he is. I should remind you he was done 3 kids ago.

BUT, because he loves God more than his own agenda, he agreed to tell Chenzhou we would bring her home if we could.

I love him.

We passed this on to Chenzhou.  And in return found out that Rosebud is going to be adopted domestically.  

Mixed emotions.

One on hand, I am thrilled! She did not even have paperwork started.  So to know she will have a family, it is what each child deserves!

BUT… She will remain in China.  Forever.  Does  her family to be know God? Do they have a relationship with him?  Will SHE know Him?

It confirmed to me WHY I am going. Why God has planted deep in my heart a love for this country. What my job is.  And why I will return.

Chenzhou was so sweet when they told me the news. They felt bad! I assured them that I was thrilled for Rosebud to have a family, that is my prayer for each child.

What about us? Are we looking?  Mark said he feels like this part of our marriage is ground-hog day. Every so many months we have the same exact same discussion.   I am still not sure what the answer is. Honestly. I am open to another, BUT I also know I am being called to care for the orphans in more ways than adoption. So, for now, we just wait.

And for those of you who think we have enough? I am glad you have an opinion. That is great! However, I do not care. 

Because until there are no more orphans, I will continue to be open to Gods plan.Whatever that might be.

Pinterest

I.AM.ADDICTED.

If you know me even a little bit, you know that I have a bit of a problem with my brain.

IT.NEVER.STOPS.

It is full of ideas. I think about things, wonder, plan, dream. ALL the time.

I came across this sight called pinterest on a blog one day and knew I had to join. Especially when it said by invitation only. It MUST be good if you have to get invited!

Took me awhile to find someone to invite me. Once you join you only get a handful of invites to send out. 

In no time at all I was hooked. Let me try to explain it. You have pinboards, as many as you would like. Think of it as a virtual bulletin board. Or even a bookmark on your computer. You see an idea you like, instead of book marking it, you pin it on your board.  You can categorize things as much as you want. Which is my favorite part. I have tons of boards for holidays, kids, organization, school, recipes, favorite quotes, you name it.

It is a nice mindless activity.  Nothing stressful about browsing other people’s boards and seeing their creative ideas then pinning it onto your own board for future use. 

So while it does not help my never quiet brain, it DOES help me categorize all the ideas I have, or helps me come up with ways to implement them.

Sometimes I need to stop thinking of orphans and think of nothing.  ;-)

If YOU would like an invitation, just email me. I am happy to get you addicted too!

Vacation 2011

I will admit, I was not excited about vacation this year.  I like vacation.  I enjoy getting away with my family.  In the last few years we have enjoyed the beach, Disney World, Amish Country & Hershey World.  

One lane bridge we crossed on our way to the mine. We had an adventure!

Part of going to China this year meant we would have to forfeit an expensive vacation.  We are very blessed that my parents own a condo down on a lake a few hours away, which means we always have a free get away when needed.  That was our vacation plan.

Fitz Restaurant in KC

Kids love the train bringing our food.

But after China as the time drew near to leave, and I heard everyone else talking about their vacation plans, going to the lake did not sound so exciting.  We ALWAYS go to the lake. What fun is there in that?

Mark won out though and to the lake we went.  And you know what? It was FUN! It was relaxing. It was just what we needed this year. We did take a few days in Kansas City, just a short drive from the lake.

And it convinced me, it does not take tons of money to make memories with my children. Sometimes just getting away, together, is exactly what we need.