Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A Big Day!

One Step Closer. . .


We were in the midst of homeschooling this morning when we heard the Fed Ex truck pull in our driveway.  What a great excuse to ditch homeschooling and run to the front door (Ethan is being homeschooled again - long story).  The boys were so excited even after they heard is was just a package with lots of papers.  Yes, our dossier arrived today, fully authenticated - Yippee!  Well, our dossier minus the USCIS approval letter.  As we wait for that last document, we will send our dossier on to our agency, BAAS, so it will be ready to go!


Ellie is super excited about Leiney Grace becoming a member of our family.  She prays for her daily.  It's so cute - she always asks the Lord to help Leiney Grace feel better.  We haven't heard Leiney Grace is sick so maybe Ellie just thinks she feels bad being in China without her family!


This was the one gift that Ellie specifically asked for - "A boy Barbie".  I am sure her smile reveals just how excited she was with this gift.  She and Lilly have enjoyed playing with Shelby and Katie's old Barbies so now I guess it is time to add some new ones to the collection! 



Happy 5th Birthday, Ellie!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

One Less

Waiting in an orphange in Hunan

Leiney Grace Qingquan

Soon to be an orphan no longer

One less.




Friday, September 2, 2011















Quite an assortment of pictures which sum up the month of August for our family.  The highlight of the month was celebrating Granny's 91st birthday.  This birthday, celebrated in a nursing home, was vastly different from last year when we grilled steaks at our house.  Yet we did have a wonderful time, and I think Granny really enjoyed seeing so many of her friends and family all at the same time.  She surprised us all when she started attempting to blow out her candles.  She gave it her all and with a little help, blew them all out.   Granny told us her cake was delicious, and she also loved receiving such a big bouquet of red roses from my father.

August always means the start of a new school year.  This year we have changed things up a bit!  Shelby, now a high school freshmen, is being homeschooled except for 3 classes which she takes at a homeschool resource center.  Fulton is reluctanatly at home for all of his classes, but after a fairly rough start, he has accepted his fate -at least for his 5th grade year - and is making the most of it!  Ethan and Lilly are venturing away  from home at a Chinese immersion school.  It too has been a little bumpy! Who knew 2nd graders were suppossed to know SO much?  Not this homeschool mom!  Hopefully the sailing will be much smoother for the rest of the year.  That leaves Ellie and Hudson who are also being homeschooled.  Ellie and I are using My Father's World kindergarten curriculum although she is technically K4 age.  She loves it and is so eager to learn!  Hudson, well, he gets a little preschool time in when one of us finds a few free moments.  He also likes sitting in during my lessons with Ellie so I know he will get more than I may think.  Hudson is very proud of homeschooling as he says quite often "I homeschool." Last but not least, Katie!  No pictures of Katie, our 7th grader, because she hasn't started yet.  She will be attending a brand new Christian school which has been under construction and will open on Tuesday.  She is excited to say the least as she has wanted to go to school for a long time!  I sure will miss her though because she has had lots of free time which I have helped her utilize with all kinds of tasks - babysitting, watering plants, preschool time, babysitting while I pick up the other kids, etc.  She may miss us when she is gone all day but not all of the extra things I have asked of her.   Yet, she has been a good sport and had a super attitude.  However, she did mention that she hopes next year her school starts when everyone else's does : )

Although way over due, Hudson was finally baptized at the end of August.  He wore one of Fulton and Ethan's old outfits.  I am so thankful that I saved a few special clothing items from the older girls and the boys.  After Ethan, I sure thought our family was complete.  Well, God obviously had a very different plan.  More about that in the very near future! 

The snake. . .well, let's just say we are very thankful that we have outdoor dogs who alerted us to the rather large canebrake rattlesnake in our backyard.