Our little guy....

Eli is a special little guy in our lives! I often look at him and think... "Wow God, look at this sweet boy you entrusted to Shawn and I when we least expected it! We could not have "planned" him into our lives, but you chose to place him here with us. " We are so thankful for him. Those of you who know him and his story know that his entrance into the world was just as "unplanned" and "eventful!"

God has blessed us beyond words! Please pray for our little guy tomorrow, he'll be having some testing done on his hearing (he'll be sedated for the testing.) Nothing to stress out about but a mommy always appreciates prayers! Thanks in advance!!!

Here's a few early pictures of Eli I thought you might enjoy....

Daddy holding Eli for the first time- Sept. '05, he was 11 days old.

Eli and Eli just days after he came home from the hospital- we was a little over 2 weeks old!Eli's had to be a tough guy- this was the first picture of us taken as a family in China when Abigayl joined us. Eli was 6 months old... That's him wrapped in the pink coat, the orphanage workers were concerned that I hadn't dressed him warm enough so they bundled him up in this! We must admit that with 2 older sisters he's worn pink more than once since!

Meet Stanley Lambchop...

We read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown this summer in the summer reading program and the kids made "Flat Stanley's." Lenna's Stanley will be going on an adventure to see the USA and around the world over the next several months. If you would like to follow his adventure, stay tuned to L's Flat Stanley Adventures.

Abigayl's Flat Stanley will be doing some traveling with us as well. We will be keeping a scrapbook about the adventure as part of our home school program as well.

Just some fun summer pictures...

Abigayl and her cousin were having a great time "Swinging"

Grandmas and Papa's...

The kids have gotten to see their grandmas and papas some lately. Enjoy the pictures:)

Our kids love to be read too, especially by grandparents. (Shawn's mom)

We visited the farm (Gayly's parents) last weekend and the kids road with Papa in the tractor
planting beans for a couple of hours.

Garden Update!!!

A couple of people have e-mailed and ask about the kids' garden! It is growing like crazy! We have already enjoyed several cucumbers and hope we have friends who like them because soon we are going to have a lot more than we know what to do with!
We picked enough cherries to make 2 pies! They were tasty! Now the blackberries are beginning to ripen! YUM!!! Eli is "Chief Blackberry Picker," his little hands can get into those berries so quick and seems to do it without getting into the thorns!
Our tomatoes are putting on fruit as are the beans, zucchini and spaghetti squash:)

God's art work in our yard...

The other morning, the kids and I spent some time walking through our yard and looking at God's beautiful art work... here are some photos of what we found...

Our elderly neighbor, Mrs. J, gave Lenna some poppy seeds to plant this winter. She told Lenna to pick a flower pot covered in snow and drop the seeds all over the top and then to wait and see what happened...

Eli loves bugs, he calls all of them bees... this was a bee we found while walking...

The temperature has been perfect to have heavy dew each morning. The kids are amazed at how wet their feet get when walking through it. We took some time to look at the dew on the grass close up. If you look closely (click on the picture and it will enlarge), you can see the many tiny droplets on the blades. The kids were fascinated by them and enjoyed making them run on the ends of each blade...

We have several fruit trees and some berry bushes in our yard. We were amazed that the cherry tree has put on fruit, we got 10" of snow and freezing weather while it was blooming! The kids can't wait until the cherries are ripe! (also the blackberries! Our bushes are loaded! The peaches didn't make it through the snow so no peaches this year!)

Our garden is looking good too! We have carrots, tomatoes, beans, peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, spaghetti squash and zucchini! Yesterday we harvested our first cucumber, Lenna wanted to take a picture of our first one but it was eaten before the picture got taken:) We'll post some pictures soon!

Concert for Greensburg

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you will recognize the name, Mark Schultz. He is a Christian Music artist that we listen to often. Mark is is currently riding his bike across America to raise money for the James Fund, a fund that support orphans & widows, those dear to our hearts. You can check out about his trip at www.markacrossamerica. org

On his 3500 mile trip- he has been riding across Kansas. Last week, he stopped and did a benefit concert for Greensburg. It was amazing, what an evening... he had toured Greensburg earlier in the day, there if you want to see good footage of Greensburg, go to this video blog that he did for May 31st. He opened the evening with praise and worship music before doing some of his own songs. It was such a reminder of how faithful our Heavenly Father is, in even the midst of pain and heartache. Much of the entire town of Greensburg lost everything material they had, some even their lives, but the stories of their faith is beyond words.

At one point in the concert, the entire auditorium was singing "Peace like a River". This beautiful hymn was written by Horatio Gate Spafford in 1873 . He was a man who had endured great loss in his life as well but had found peace .words can not express hearing voices from Greensburg and many others from surrounding communities singing...

"When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul... "