Our Morning

  What's a great way to spend the morning?

Working at the foodbank with my kiddos!

We organize this outing once per month and invite other

homeschool families to join us.

Our job each month is to package meals in a bag to be 

delivered throughout the USA and around the world...

wherever the need may be...so those in need will have a nutritious meal.

Today we were finishing a pallet heading to Africa!

First, we have to don these really handsome hats.

(Note how I'm not in any of these photos!)

Then we start scooping rice, spices, beans, and a veggie protein.

We've tasted it and it's good!

 Can you tell they're serious about their work?

 Then it needs to be weighed.  

Not too heavy, not too light.

Char learned how to read the scale and adjust the contents so 

it weighs just the right amount.

Such a big boy!

 Then, in her pretty hat, Jenna organized the bags into 20 groups of 2.

 Those dots help her count the bags.

What a great idea and a perfect job for little ones that can't quite do the scooping and weighing.

 Then those 40 bags are placed in a box and taken out to the warehouse.

 And when little legs need a break, they can rest while putting labels on bags.

And that is how I love to spend the morning with my kiddos.

7 Years Already?

7 Years ago, Laura, you changed our lives forever.

You opened our hearts to China,

to children with special needs,

to the plight of the orphan,

to medical terms we had never heard,

to a life surrendered to God, 

because there was no way we were going to

care for you in our own strength. 

You have brought our family so much joy and unconditional love.

You are an amazing little girl, and I'm so happy you will be with us forever.

I can't imagine spending our lives without your contagious smile, belly laughs, and sassy little attitude!

Gotcha Day in Daddy's arms, 6/14/05

Nanchang, China

 Napping by the pool

 First bath with Mama in China

 Playing with Mama, Aunt Leesee, and new friend, Abby.

 Enjoying my favorite thing...water...with Daddy in Branson, MO.

 Your smile just lights up the room.  It's impossible not to smile back!

Laura and her current friend, Suki.  You have even learned to love doggy kisses!

 We love you, YiYi.  Happy Gotcha Day!

I Am Safe

Lest you think we live in a dangerous town...we don't.

But just in case anyone tries pulling a fast one on us, 

we have protection on premise.

My in-house policeman...complete with uniform, artillery, and his own set of wheels.

 

 Assisting him is his side-kick Jengo Fett...or is it Boba Fett?  Really not sure about St@r Wars.

I think I'm falling asleep even as I write about it.

 And last but not least...SpiderM@n.  

Yes.  I'm feeling at ease in this town.  

No fear.  

Except for the fact that he can't see where he's going and highly likely that someone will meet up with his tires.

Still Here

  Blogging just hasn't been in the forefront of my days. (Sorry, Uncle Jim!)  Lots going on, yet still enjoying this beautiful summer break.

Let's see.  Jenna started riding her big girl bike and left her trike in the dust.  Jacob rescued the trike from its peril, and joined Jenna for a friendly race.

 Jenna won.  How, really, does one fall off a trike?

Sadly, one of Jacob's best new buddies moved away...far across the ocean.  Such is the life of an expat kid.  He lived next door and the two boys were together all.the.time!

I knew our doorbell would ring about 50 times a day, we may or may not have another mouth to feed at lunch or dinner, and we always had another person joining our family in one way or another...even doing chores!  Such a sweet boy, and we enjoyed the whole family.  We miss our neighbors, and Jacob is having to start over with friends in the neighborhood.  Not easy when you're at this age, and often have clearly different rules by which to live.  Thankfully, he has joined the teen group at church and has plenty of opportunities to spend time with that super group of kids and leaders.

 

We're still hosting our canine friend, Suki.  She will be with us for one more week and she will be missed when she leaves!  Jenna and Charlie, especially, have been having fun with her.  But Laura is the one that gets the biggest kisses in the morning...maybe because she can't outrun Suki!

 

 Our kids take piano, and before they can start another instrument, they have to play for 2 years.  Well, Amarin is there and he chose....DRUMS!  So thankful for quiet drum pads, though I'm sure we'll have to get the real thing at some point.  He had his first lesson this week from the same teacher that gives tuba lessons to Jacob.   He did so well and just beamed at his new endeavor.

As for me, I'm reading as many good books as I can get my hands on this summer.  I love reading.  Love.it!  This is my most recent favorite and I devoured this thing in less than two days.  It is an inspiring story of a young girl, and it challenged me in so many ways.  Jacob is reading it now, too, and it's a great way for him to get an insight into life in Africa.

Our Newest Friend

We have a new friend, and Jenna has a new best friend...Suki.

We're dog sitting for a few weeks, and we're all smitten with this pooch.  

She follows us all around the house, barks briefly when someone comes to the door, and then lies down on the cool tile.  She's so funny, and we're happy she's here.

Florida and back!

 We ventured off to Florida for a week.  So nice to get away and relax.  These pictures are in no certain order...just how blogger decided to arrange them.

 This is the sunrise I watched in the morning...coffee in hand while everyone else was still sleeping.  Like I said in my last post...I can think of fewer things more peaceful than the constant roar of the ocean.

 On our last day (told you there was no certain order!), we visited a citrus grove and picked our own grapefruit.

 Back to day one...riding on the monorail at the airport.

 And just being "Goofy!"  We had to convince the older two that it was OK to be silly.  The little ones needed no convincing.  It comes quite naturally to them.

 We got to our destination in time for a late lunch...and someone just couldn't wait to get into Florida mode.

 We hit the beach every morning.  There was a gentle breeze, the tide was going out, and the waves weren't crazy huge.  Many castles were built last week.

 And it was a good time to look for shells.

 Only one mishap.  While in the pool area, a kid fell on Amarin and the kid's tooth went into his head.  Poor Amarin thought the kid's tooth was stuck in his head!  Luckily, no stitches needed...but a very cool bandage by Dad for bedtime.

 Miss Jenna got her hair braided.

 One night, the complex had an animal show.  We held alligators, 

 tarantulas,

 and snakes.  Note how much fun Laura seemed to be having. 

 One morning, we saw a replica of a space shuttle being taken out to sea.  It was on its way to Texas.

We also got up at 4AM one morning to watch a rocket launch.  

 Jacob and Laura playing in the ocean.  Laura LOVES the water.  She would not sit still unless she was in the water.  And if we sat her down too far away, she would just crawl her way into the waves.

 She's in her element, no doubt.

We stayed near a pier where cruise ships enter and exit.  This pilot boat was leading out a cruise ship.  Jacob's thinking he may want to be a maritime pilot instead of an ambassador now.

 At the end of the trip, we visited an animal sanctuary.  How many times do we have to tell the kids not to play so close to the gators?!

One worker got very, very close to feed the gators.  

We decided to play it safe and feed the baby alligators a hot dog through the fence.

 

 

 At our last hotel, we had little visitors.  The gentleman on the left fed these baby ducks a muffin every afternoon.

 We had such a relaxing trip, but it's always good to get back home.

A Paradox

I'm MIA until next week. Partly because I have no clue how to upload pictures to this iPad, the typing is a bit of an oddity, and my laptop is back home. But I leave you with my paradox for the week... I can think of few things more peaceful than the constant roar of the ocean.

Dear Management

This is a pet peeve of mine...it really makes me angry when I see this garbage displayed, especially at kids' eye level, and I believe that this is justified anger.  But until families start making a fuss, nothing will be done.  So consider either emailing corporate offices as I did today, speaking with management (I think my stores are sick of me!), and while you're at it...flip these magazines over so others don't have to see it!

Dear "Insert Your Store Here" Management,

As parents of young children, we are concerned about the merchandise that is present in your checkout lanes.  Our children frequent your store with us, and we repeatedly need to redirect their attention away from magazines, specifically, Cosmopolit@n.  The cover of this magazine contains explicit language and images that are inappropriate for children.  We have discussed this numerous times with employees and management.  There continues to be no plastic covers over this magazine, which other stores do in fact use.  We realize that the magazines are the responsibility of off-site reps., however, store management is ultimately responsible for products within their stores. We would request that the magazines be covered properly, moved to a location that families could avoid, or don't carry the magazine at all.  Thank you.

Go Blue!

Jacob played this at his tuba lesson yesterday and didn't realize what song it was!

I told him that his dad would love to hear it...being a UofMichigan alumni.

I can just see it now during football season...

Baby Alea

Our van is full, but our hearts still reach out to the orphan.

Here is a case that I'm working on here with our local hospital.

This baby girl needs a liver transplant, and it needs to be pro-bono.

Orphanages just don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for these surgeries.

Unfortunately, it looks like our hospital does not do liver transplants, but we're still checking the possibilities for this baby girl.

What about the hospitals in your area?

Do they do liver transplants?  Can you call and find out?

You can read about this sweet girl HERE.

It's That Time!

 Anyone else geeked that it's garage sale time?

We love hopping in the van and finding garage sales.

The kids were at the door at 8AM, money in hand, ready to go.

Let me just say that the girls made out big time today, and will have clothes to wear...if they keep up their typical growth pattern...for the next 3 years.

So what did $70.00 buy?

16 dresses

4 skirts

5 pants/capris

26 tops

1 shorts

2 pair of gloves

1 bathing suit

1 cover-up

1 sweater

2 pair of tennies

We found lots of name brands, some with tags still on them.  And some of the clothing,  I wonder if they ever wore it at all.  One mom said she loved buying dresses for her little girl, but she would refuse to wear them.  That's an entirely different topic on "who's the boss," but so glad she didn't because the girls have some nice, new dresses.  We covered all seasons, right down to clothes with autumn leaves and 4th of July.

So thankful for great sales!

1/2 credit down!

Jacob has a plan, Lord willing.

He wants to graduate from high school early.  Like 2 years early.

Then before college, he wants to go on a long-term missions trip to an African orphanage.

(He has always wanted a baby brother from Africa!).

But one thing at a time.

He just finished his first high school class, earning 1/2 credit.

Archaeology.  He loved it!

This fall he will carry a full load.  He is very excited to get started.