Saturday, May 31, 2008

The 6th and 7th graduations!




High School graduation is a big deal and now all of the older 7 have graduated!

Congratulations Mikelle! She graduated October 2007, after an exchange year in Argentina!

Congratulations Robin! Her graduation was on May 17th, 2008 at Hall High School where she had been on exchange for two school years!

Way to go, girls! We're proud of your accomplishments!

Friday, May 30, 2008

The journey continues...


We are hoping to adopt again! We have a homestudy and are looking for a little girl who will be close to Ella. It's been so wonderful for the boys to have each other as brothers and friends, I know it will be wonderful for Ella and her sister to have each other, too.

Please pray for us to find the way to be united with the little daughter who is waiting to be a part of our forever family!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Back in school!

Joel is back in school! He has been so excited to get on the bus in the mornings yesterday and today, and to share what he's brought home in his backpack! He was really tired out yesterday and slept most of the evening.

As the days are feeling more like spring we have been able to take the kids outside and play on the slide and take little outings again. I'm SO happy to sweep winter off the calendar and break out their T-shirts and spring jackets!

Ella is adorable in her new little summer shoes and she's such a funny girl! She spotted a mirror yesterday in the shoe store and sat right down in front of it and laughed and made faces at herself--we had a hard time getting her to leave it to walk so that we could see if the shoes fit right. Infant size 5.

Last night Lora and her friend Xiao Hua ("Sarah") taught the little kids a cute little Chinese song that teaches babies to name their eyes, nose, etc. Timmy loved it and clapped wildly for himself at every opportunity! Lora volunteer teaches English as a Second Language at the community college twice a week, so we are blessed to get to meet some of her friends that she meets there. One of the best parts is that we also get to learn something about their culture...and Sarah has shared some authentic Chinese cooking with us! Another thing we've recently learned is that Lora talks in her sleep... in Chinese!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Talking in sentences

When kids learn to talk it's always so fun hearing what they'll say. It's especially fun when learning to talk has taken a little longer...

With Joel, we don't need to wonder what he's thinking because he does a lot of "self-talk" lately. For instance, at the lab the other day when two different people poked him in two different places trying to get blood and a third person was going to try again, I had to tell him "It didn't work, Joel, they have to try again," he was so good. He sat up and watched the whole thing with me holding his hand and said, "No be scared, Joel, no be sad, no cry!" Then as it was happening he scrunched up his face and said, "I sorry!" and when it was finally working he said, "Alright! Good job!" and when it was finished he chuckled that relieved chuckle (like when you finally hit the pillow at the end of a very long day) as they taped the gauze on and he said, "All DONE! Now go home!" Then he walked straight into the lab's reception office where his sticker book lay open where he'd left it and found several new stickers waiting for him to put in it. The staff loves him so much they spoil him.

This morning as we were eating breakfast Joel said, "Whata' you doing Joel? Eating toast? Eating Eggs? Why you drinking milk Joel?" Then he said (in hopeful suggestion to us to put a movie in), "Shrek Fird? Oh, okay! Sweet!"

He cracks us up!