Summer

My, my, summer's going fast.  A little over a month from now, the kids will be back in school.  There is still a lot to look forward to--camps for the kids, a getaway for Mike and me and, of course, one of my favorites, the State Fair--but it has already been packed full of activities:  Bible School, baseball, CIY for Lael and Arden and a whole lot of swimming.  We decided to buy summer passes to the pool this year, and so did both my sisters.  With the heat and lack of rain, it has turned out to be a good decision.  It is like we have a constant shuttle bus running from our houses to the pool. 




























Arden is working at the pool as a lifeguard this summer, but she still enjoys going when she is not working.  She had to complete a ton of training and testing before getting certified.  The other day, she was there just for fun.  Mike was going to swim in the lap pool, so he told her to put her training to good use if he got in trouble.  She dryly responded, "there are plenty of other lifeguards working Dad."  I guess when she's off the clock, she's off the clock.








Thank goodness baseball season ended, even if Mike did do all the work.




I've got summer flowers along with carpenter bees. Those things are nasty and destructive! First time I've ever had to deal with them, but they were actually making holes all in my shed! I finally got rid of them, and now we have a mole tearing up the yard. I got rid of the bees myself, but I draw the line with moles. Ugh! Mike is trying to get rid of with them, but so far no luck.








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On the way to the pool the other day, we stopped by the school to see what teachers the kids have next year.  Stafan, Shepard, Lyric and Cokie will all be in 4th grade along with their cousin Gabrielle. Lyric and Gabrielle will be in the same class. Shepard is with Cokie.  Stafan says he is glad he is by himself this year.  He and cousin Gabrielle have been in the same class since kindergarten. Gabrielle is a teacher's pet, but when her kindergarten teacher asked her if she could help Stafan (he was just learning English) she just answered, "no," and that was the end of it. Cousin Darby will be in 3rd. Lyric was very excited, because Darby for the 4th time in a row has the teacher Lyric has had the previous year. Then, there is Sawyer who tends to get in trouble a lot and will be in 5th grade. His teacher has taught my Brady, Lael, Arden, Remi and my niece Erin. She is a WONDERFUL teacher and she does not mess around. She is known for getting the kids prepared for middle school.









My sister and her husband took a trip for a few days, and their kids stayed with us.  Between the swimming, church activities and movies, they were tired at night.




Jeeves thinks he is one of the kids.




The kids did Bible school and most of my kids that were too old to attend helped out. My niece Payton taught a class and Bret was her helper. Last week our church also had Creation Day. I think they called it something else, but that is really what it was. They taught the 4th and 5th graders about creation!!





Jesus comes first in our house.  My kids attend church every Sunday and usually a lot more.  That includes Lael and Arden, even though Lael will be 18 y.o. soon.  It is really not a chore to get them to go, because they love church.  Lael and Arden will be attending two Christian retreats in Tennessee this year (they just got back from the first).  I'm really proud of the young ladies they are becoming.

2 Chronicles 16:9

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

I need a family

There is something about this little girl I am drawn to. Her special need is burns. We've adopted two girls that were burned and let me tell you they are SPECIAL girls. They are our Bret and Cokie and they make us proud as peacocks.




Her DOB is 10/15/2003 and her name is Cao Ya Mei.


For more information on this cute little pumpkin contact kelsey@faithadopt.org

God Made You

The next three pictures below are kind of funny, because you can tell who the sisters are. Their mommas dressed them in the same style. Stop! Before you scroll down, see if you can match up the three sets of "two sisters."













These guys were adopted together as babies and became best friends.




















Bret laying on her Aunt.

















She has a sister too, actually several, but only one little like her.

This will make 11...

It was nothing we ever planned or set out to do, but here we are.






















Mike and I made the decision to take the plunge one more time. Actually, it was more Mike's idea this time. The only thing was, he said we would start the process in December. I don't know what happened, because I just kind of went ahead and did it. : - ))))

Keith Wallace of FTIA told me in 1998 some words I'll never forget, "Adoption is like changing sand." We adopted last in July 2010 and in September 2010 China changed a lot of their rules. I had no idea where to begin so I spent last week figuring it out.

We have no idea where we are going or who will be our newest love of our life, but I can already feel God's hand. I've had several friends giving me sweet words and support, but I was wondering why I hadn't heard from Ginger in a few days. I was thinking "Ginger don't you care about me? I've got things to say and tell!!" Then, as I literally drove up to the post office my cell rang and I saw the words GINGER."

The kids are all happy. Their comments have ranged from Lyric's "I'll teach her how to be a drama queen" to my showing Whitney a cute little boy's picture and her saying "Do you know how old you are?" Only 15 minutes later when I asked her if she still wanted to be their guardian if something ever happened to us and she said "I can't imagine anyone else ever having any of my siblings." I just told her she better not raise them Catholic and her and Brian promised to drop them off at our church every Sunday. : - )

Father's Day

I hope our kids know what a GREAT dad they have. Not many men would make the sacrifices he makes for these guys. He always puts himself last, and he never complains about it.

















Mike really is this red. He is putting in a lot of time at the pool.







He is a wonderful uncle too.









Brady called from Germany to wish his Dad Happy Father's day, and Whitney and Brian came by. I took this picture. Oh boy, it won't be long and we will be grandparents.