Beautiful Postcards

Our second adoption fundraiser is underway!  We are selling 4 x 5 postcards in packs of 10 for $8.  You have several designs to choose from.  First, a striking design which I simply love, and I hope you will too!

Our oldest daughter Shelby took both of these photos of flowers which she had planted!  They sure turned into beautiful postcards.  We added a verse on each card.  

 Yellow: "Rejoice in the Lord always." Php 4:4
Pink: "He hath made everything beautiful in His time." Ecc 3:11  

You may choose to purchase only pink, only yellow, or a combo pack which includes 5 pink and 5 yellow.    Any pack of 10 for only $8!

Our goat milk soap fundraiser is also continuing so please scroll down a few posts and read about the wonderful fragrances available.

With the price of stamps ever-increasing, postcards offer a unique greeting, and you save money on stamps - a win-win opportunity.  Not to mention that each purchase helps our family raise funds to bring Leiney Grace home.  Since a portion of our adoption expenses in China includes a $5200 orphanage donation, your support will even reach the many orphans who will remain at Leiyang Social Welfare Institute long after Leiney Grace has joined her family.  So when you are ready to order your soap or your postscards, just leave a comment or email us at dfbjhb@windstream.net    Thanks for supporting our adoption fundraisers!

Fabulous Goat Milk Soap



Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey



Black Rasberry

Our first fundraiser for our adoption is underway!  We are excited to be able to sell such a wonderful product as handmade goat milk soap made by a homeschooling family of 8.  The Jonas Family of Indiana are the owners of Goat Milk Stuff and their website can be found at http://www.goatmilkstuff.com/
I first began using this soap to support another friend's adoption.  We are now hooked on this fabulous soap!   The store brands of soap dissolve way too fast and are so drying on the skin.  The goat milk soap bars are large, long-lasting, smell wonderful, and are so moisturizing.  Please consider supporting our adoption fundraiser by purchasing a few bars of soap.  They make wonderful gifts including teacher gifts and think ahead for Christmas as it is right around the corner.  Below is a list of the 10 scents of soap which are included in our fundraiser. Each bar is $6. Leave a comment to order or email us dfbjhb@windstream.net 


Black Rasberry - a favorite of many

Clean Cotton - simple and fresh

Honeysuckle - will remind you of spring

Lavender - a best seller

Luv Spell - pink and pretty

Nautical - for the men but women like it too

Oatmeal,Milk,and Honey - what's not to love?

Ocean - a beautiful bar with a clean scent

Pink Sugary - heavenly and my favorite!

Purity - unscented,great for babies, eczema

In order to support our fundraiser, the soap must be ordered by our family. Just leave a comment with your email or email us, and we will order your soap and make arrangements to receive payment and will then ship or deliver if you are close by!  Thanks. 

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!



One Less

Waiting in an orphange in Hunan

Leiney Grace Qingquan

Soon to be an orphan no longer

One less.





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. 

It's Official. . .


Summer is over, but here is just a glimpse of all the fun we had!

We have made many trips this summer to visit with Granny.  She had 2 additional strokes in early May.  She is now under Hospice care.  It has been so difficult to watch her decline day after day, but we all cherish our time with her.


  Our annual trip to a nearby beach affords us such wonderful memories year after year.  This year we quickly learned there was something new. . .an ice cream truck.  No doubt it was a hit with the kids.



Lilly and Ellie love ballet.  They took 4 classes during the month of June and enjoyed every minute!





Horses are still a tremendous part of Shelby and Katie's lives.  They enjoyed riding and practicing their jumping together throughout the summer months.  The girls also took their horses to horse camp for a week with their trainer.  I wasn't sure if they were coming back home after that.  They are counting down until next year's camp.  In this photo Fulton was being a most helpful little brother by setting the jumps back up after the horses knocked them down.



Summer at our house always involves countless hours spent outside - early morning and late afternoon only due to extreme temperatures.  The younger children have such fun using their imaginations, climbing trees, building forts, etc.



Katie has come to love the stage.  She has been in 3 plays so far.  This summer she had a blast playing Esmerelda in our local theater's production of Snow White.  As her parents, David and I were so very proud.  She did a fabulous job and even sang a solo!



Yes, we actually humbled ourselves, dressed up like cows, went out in public, and endured the stares, smiles, and laughter of many.  But it was worth it since we all enjoyed free meals at Chick-fil-a - not once but twice in the same day!



No summer is complete without a few trips to a nearby pool to cool off from the sometimes unbearable heat!  Shelby and Katie also enjoyed having their best friend, Emily, who lives several hours away from us, down for a few days.  Here Shelby, Emily, and Katie relax in the shallow end.  Shelby enjoyed a visit to Emily's house as well this summer, but Katie was busy with rehearsal for Snow White so she missed out on that trip.  On another note, little Ellie learned to swim this summer.  She has a ways to go before I would trust her swimming, but she swam quite a few lengths between David and me.  She was so proud of herself.

What a blur!  Where did summer go? 

Homeschool has already begun for Shelby and Fulton.  Ethan and Lilly start next week at their Chinese immersion school, and Katie begins after Labor Day at a new Christian school.