Holiday Ro-o-o-o-o-o-a-d

VACATION!

Today Kevin, Philip, Elijah, Mom, and I set

off to visit family in Virginia.

Mom is traveling with us, and she promised to

behave. This is how she began

our trip! Hee, hee!!

Stretching before a run at the Rest Stop.

Running like the wind!

Special Treat for Mom and Dad

Sometime ago I posted that I just love it when Ted sings with

our Praise and Worship Team. Even though he usually

doesn't sing alone, I can always hear his voice above

the congregation . . .

A mom can just hear those things . . .

Well, today he was up there singing with the team, and low and behold,

he had a couple of lines of a solo . . .

Oh my, oh my how that made our hearts melt. We immediately

dissolved into tears . . . it was so beautiful to us and reminded us

of a time gone by.

When Ted was little and growing up, he would sing all.day.long. Then he began to sing in choirs at church and at school. Then he began to sing in school musicals and contests.

Oh how Kevin and I loved his voice . . .We would hear it morning, noon, and night, and our hearts would just melt.

And then he went away to college and the music stopped.

Other than missing Ted like crazy while he was at college, we missed his songs.

Now they are back! Yippee Jesus.

Help bring another child home from China

My friend Lori from her blogspot, Joy Unspeakable, is hosting a very cool fundrasier to raise funds to bring home their newest son from China. For a donation, you can receive a chance to win a brand new iPad!




Whoo-hoo - getting a chance to win a wonderful prize and helping an orphan find his family




Can't beat that!




Just go to the button on my sidebar for Joy Unspeakable (it's at the top left), and follow it for details on entering the contest.

A very happy reunion

We spent the most wonderful afternoon and evening yesterday with Philip's China travel group. Vince and Marcy graciously hosted all of us at their farm for the fun reunion.



Out of the twelve families who traveled to China to receive their children (us being one of them), seven of us were there. We had a blast playing, swimming, eating, looking at pictures, taking pictures, and catching up with all of these dear families. :)



We missed the five other families who could not be there. :( Hopefully we can see them next summer!

Our little cuties two years later





All of our sweet children who were there . . .

Ted gets the prize for being the "oldest" child in attendance.





The beautiful mommas!

The handsome poppas!

A little pool time

A little farm time

Even a little "pig" time (not Philip - see the pig in the background)

We are so incredibly blessed to be part of this wonderful group of people.
What a special bond we all share.
Essentially, we were all present at the births of our Chinese children!

Possible hearing loss

Our little Elijah might have a more significant hearing loss than first thought. Even with the tubes in his ears, his readings still showed a slight loss today at his ENT appointment. Does that account for his seemingly noncompliant attitude?

Maybe sometimes . . .

But my guess is that even if Eli could hear 100%, he would still be a tad bit noncompliant!

Good thing he is so cute!!

I'm just saying . . .

Newest family picture . . .

About a month ago my mother-in-law and I were talking about how wonderful our boys were and how glad we were that they were here, and I made the comment that if Kevin and I had started earlier, she would have about 10 grandchildren from China by now.

She replied, "Well, I just have room on my grandmother's ring for two more!"

I'm not saying we are yet, but I am just saying . . .

Kevin and I wonder if anyone is missing from the picture above??

A little bit of this and that

This is what happens when you spend ALL of your "real" nap

time goofing around . . .

Then it turns into this . . .







And you wake up feeling like this . . .

The other day Philip took a very long and peaceful nap in this. . .
Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that his little brother wasn't around, could it??

On more picture from the kickball game . . .

Notice that Philip isn't paying a lick of attention to the game. . .

He was too busy telling one of his coaches something . . .

They have finally caught on to him and gently turn him around to do what he is supposed to be doing - playing kickball.

A very sweet picture of our amazing and wonderful children -

Not biased at all!! :)

A Kickball Pro Now

An action shot!

Running to kick . . .

Some of the faithful (and not so faithful) fans. LOL!!