wall of memories.

i have collected a lot of pictures over the years ( before i received my wonderful, yummy digital camera).




this is the divider that my sweet and very handy hubby made the first year we started home schooling.

it divides our school room from the play room - an essential thing for two very active boys and one focused-on-getting-our-school-work-done-mom.

on the other side is a giant white board for the boys to do their spelling words, math problems, grammar rules or whatever.

i decided to put all my extra photos on the board - a kind of collage of our life.

i love pictures. they tell so many stories that i forget to tell or just plain forget.

i can't wait to hold my daughter on my hip and point to the pictures as i tell her story after story.

there are pictures of birthdays, holidays, and just plain old days (my favorite).

hopefully, our wall of memories will turn into her memories.

happy and funny memories that seem like they have always been there for her.

there is a lot of space left for pictures of her and us.

i'm sure it won't take long to fill up the board with new memories and stories !

LID !!!!!

We have a LID ! YEAH !! Our Dossier made it to the CCAA and they have us logged in!

Our LID date is 07/20/09. ( SPECIAL NEEDS only)

*** A LID just means that China has officially received my Dossier and they
have given me a date that my Dossier was received and logged in *******

seven.

Happy Birthday Will ! I can't believe my little boy is seven years old !

We had a great LEGO party last Saturday. I attempted my first LEGO birthday cake, had a LEGO assembly table for the kids, and beautiful fall like weather.

187 Million.

It is estimated that there are 187 Million orphans WORLD WIDE.

34% OF Christian families consider adoption and yet only 1% of Christian families actually follow through and adopt.


Our family was almost not part of the 1% statistic. We felt called to adopt back in 2004. We cried, felt all the emotions and talked it over a little. Then we found out we were having a baby. But, it sadly ended in a devastating miscarriage and we decided that we would not try again. Our lives were now busy with two little boys that kept me running all day to keep up with them. Our dream to adopt just lay dormant for several years.
Then, in 2007, we started talking about adopting again. But, Chuck had a job change, I came home from work to home school the boys and life just seemed to have too many changes. So we decided to wait a year. I never stopped thinking about our Chinese daughter and I talked about adopting to our sons. They were always asking me questions about adoption and Will especially was very excited about having a sister from China. He seemed to be the one always asking when we were going to adopt his sister. He seemed to be the one that held on to the hope that we really would adopt one day. It's funny how God used a 6 year old boy to bring God's perfect plan of adoption to our family.
In the fall of 2008 ( exactly one year since we last talked about it), I asked Chuck if we were ever going to adopt ? I mean we are not getting any older and if we are not adopting I needed to know !! Chuck said "yes, let's start the process and find an agency". Glory to God ! I think it was Christmas morning every day ! Chuck and I seemed to cry at the mention of any one adopting - we were so filled with LOVE for our little girl that we had never met. After more than 11 months now, we still cry when we think of her or when we read or see another orphan story. God has laid the burden of orphans on our heart and we are "pregnant" with the vision of caring for orphans.

“Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Deliver the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked.” Ps 82:3-4

Why I love My Small Town.

Since I have no new adoption news and the new Shared List doesn't come out until August something, I am sharing about "Why I Love My Small Town".

Our little town put together a Summer Celebration Downtown. It was so Americana and I loved every Southern bit of it. Here's why....



Free Watermelon ! Oh, if you could have seen how cute all the little kids were walking around with huge chunks of watermelon in their hands. And, check out the red wagon with balloons...so cute.



They let the kids screen print their own shirts ! How cool and crafty is that ?



You can hang out with your friends,

and wear your new screen printed T-Shirt.



Hula Hoops everywhere.

Small town band playing by the railroad.



Home-made ice cream.



Lots of smiles.

So Charming.

Love it !

entertainment.

 

the boys became sumo wrestlers last night.

they came up with the costumes themselves and "wrestled", laughed and rolled around.

oh my goodness ! it was so funny !

My new buddies.

 

How can you recognize a Special Needs/China Adoption parent to be ?

They have at least two phones by them at all times.

They may become a little panicked if their cell phone is not charged or they can't find the home phone.

They check and recheck their e-mail.

They have personified their phones and affectionately call them - buddy 1 and buddy 2.

Beams Camp-o-ree Part 3

Our family learning philosophy is that we are and can learn ALL the time, not just Monday through Friday, 8-3:30. This camping trip was filled with learning that was so fun and hands on. Here's some of our favorites:



Learning how to make an awesome smore is an essential life skill.




The boys helped Chuck put up the tent and were very eager to hammer in the stakes.



Walker became an expert on building a good, solid fire for us.






My favorite part of the trip...the pioneer village at The Great Smokey Mountain National Forest. We never grow tired of learning about the pioneer way of life, their courage, tenacity, and beauty.



The boys "mined" for gems and absolutely loved it ! They learned about the different gems and even found some rubies.



A local Bluegrass band played at the Depot for the 4th of July. We love Bluegrass music ! The boys were very intrigued by the stories "told" in the songs and watching the musicians play their instruments a little different than what they are used to. The fiddler was amazing and held his violin so very different than Will does.




Learning about clogging... I love LOCAL COLOR !

Beams Camp-o-ree Part 2

We visited the Joyce Kilmer National Forest near Robbinsville, NC. Joyce Kilmer is known for his poem - TREES - and was also a WWI veteran. The forest is layered with huge Tulip Poplars, waterfalls, streams, caves and beautiful meandering paths. Take a look....

















TREES

by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

"Trees" was originally published in Trees and Other Poems. Joyce Kilmer. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1914.

Beams Camp-o-ree Part 1

Our family is now officially a tent camping, white water rafting, hiking, camp fire building, rock collecting, ruby mining, smores making, dutch oven cooking, bath house bathing crazy camp family ! Here's some pictures from our wonderful trip in the beautiful smokey mountains. I took 547 pictures, so I will post several times. Kinda like a southern baptist sermon - this is part 1.



We stayed at an old fashioned camp ground - Lost Mine Campground in Wesser, NC (near Bryson City). There was a perfect little stream that ran right behind our camp site. You could hear the stream rippling over the rocks and it just put us all right to sleep at night.



Chuck cooked a lot of our meals in a dutch ovens and on the trusty Coleman stove. We had Bar-BQ chicken, chuck roast with potatoes and carrots, rolls, peach cobbler, hot dogs, hamburgers, cinnamon rolls, pancakes,and eggs. There's nothing like eating and cooking outside. Everything tasted so good !!



The boys found these heart shaped rocks at one of the waterfalls on the Nantahala river. So cute !



We went white water rafting on the beautiful Nantahala River. For the most part, it is a calm river with the highest rapid being a category 3. We all managed to stay in the raft, but we almost all fell out on the last rapid, Nantahala Falls. The boys loved rafting the river and can't wait until the are old enough to raft the Ocoee River.