Baby Thomas Update... Precious Pink Toes!!!I just got these pictures from my friend, Amanda, of Baby Thomas. Please continue to pray for him as he recovers from his heart surgery! What a blessing it was for us to see his precious PINK toes! What a beautiful color, not that I don't love the colors of blue & purple, there is just something about pink that is awesome! The road ahead for Thomas is all uphill right now, please continue to pray that God will touch his little life, watch over him during this time and heal his little body.Our kids were so excited to see these pictures. They loved on Thomas so much the week we were in Xian in Jan. and absolutely adore him! It has been so fun to see them understand that God is hearing their prayers (and the prayers of many others) for Thomas. Great teaching moments about faith and the love of Christ!

A great give-away at Sugarplum Boutique

My friend Kendra is having a giveaway from her Boutique Blog. Kendra makes awesome hair bows & clips and donates proceeds to orphan care projects as well as having bow parties to help other families raise funds for adoptions now that they have their funds raised. She and her husband are waiting for an adoption referral from Kyrgyzstan and are caught in the hold there.

You have until 7pm tomorrow night to singup for her giveaway! She has several ways that you can get "extra" entries. So head over and check out her shop and blog!

One year ago...

We received a phone call that has changed our lives forever. Emily at our adoption agency had a little boy for us to consider. We said "Yes!!!" before we ever got his records or even saw his face. We knew from the little bit she told us that he was the little man for us! He was 18 months old and was currently living in an SWI in Shaanxi, China. These were the first pictures we got later that day! We signed paperwork and began the wait for everything we needed to bring him home. God knew what the rest of the journey would look like that day and thankfully we did not! 8 1/2 months later, we finally got to hold our sweet boy in our arms! He's now been part of our family for 3 1/2 months and it's hard to imagine what life was like without him in the crazy mix!Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

Much has happened in the last year and we are so thankful for this little man who has come into our lives and changed our family forever!How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

1 Thessalonians 3:9

We love you son!

Baby Thomas Update!!!

Baby Thomas had his surgery in Hangzhou during the night. The surgery took longer than Dr. Li expected Amanda emailed, but Baby Thomas is now in SICU and he is PINK!!! Please continue to pray for him, the road from here is still heading up a mountain for him! Praise God that he survived the surgery and pray that he'll be a little fighter from here. I'll keep you posted!

Post Race picture of our family:)

My sister-in-law took this on Sunday and I got it this morning.

Run to Remember- OKC 2009

Race Day...This was was actually pre-race day in line to get checked in, but I couldn't resist adding it...While the kids were still sleeping, the guys were getting up getting ready to head to the 1/2 marathon start. This is my brother getting ready, he was using the light from the fridge (it was 5:45am) to get ready so he wouldn't wake up the kids.Lenna and cousin M on the elevator at the hotel heading out to the kids marathon (we had to walk a little over a mile from our hotel to get to the start line! Look at all the kids!!! Over 3000 in this years kids marathon!It was hot! Enoying snacks after the kids race, proudly wearing their medals! They gave one to mommy too for running with the kids:)Then we headed over to the finish for the 1/2 marathon & marathon...Our first glimpse of daddy after his race! We were just excited he finished and was still walking as he has been battling a knee injury and left the hotel that morning not planning to run even though he was registered...The guys at the end of the race.Heading back to the hotel to shower, eat and hit the road to head home!Mission accomplished!!!

This weekend has become a special time for our family. We had a great time seeing friends in OKC, visiting the memorial and enjoying race day together as a family. We missed the Choate family this year but they have a good reason they didn't come... since last year, they have moved to the South Pacific to serve the Lord! We can't wait for when they get to come home for a year and join us once again!

please pray for Baby Thomas...

I have mentioned Thomas here several times before. I just got off skype with my friend, Amanda. They are beginning to prep Thomas for MAJOR heart surgery in Hangzhou as I type. Please pray for him as he goes into surgery, pray for Dr. Li who will be preforming the surgery and all the medical staff. Also pray for Gigi, she has been Thomas's "mom" for most of his life.

Everyone is praying that Thomas will survive the surgery, he's been such a miricle baby as it is! If you would like to see pictures, there are some new ones on the Starfish Foster Home blog...

I'll post more when I know...

The Run to Remember-OKC 2009 Our visit to the Memorial...We visited the The Federal Building Memorial on Saturday afternoon... as I mentioned in an earlier post, it is a humbling place to be. Many of us remember April 19, 1995 very clearly... where we were, what we were doing, etc. So much happened in that quick moment between 9:01am & 9:03am... Lives lost and so many changed forever. For me, the empty chairs that can be seen in this picture always pull at my heart, especially the small ones for children who lost their lives that day.Looking out over the memorial...

And the Winner is....

Nancy, I sent you and your family a message, just email me your mailing address and we'll get your box sent in the mail:)
Thanks to all of you who sent comments for Lenna's birthday. She was very blessed by each of you! It has also been a great opportunity to teach her about giving to others as well as receiving:)

FOR TODAY, April 27, 2009

Outside my window... It's a chilly spring morning, cloudy & windy

I am thinking... about our weekend, we spent it in OKC for the Memorial "Run to Remember." As always, the time spent at the Federal Building Memorial is always very humbling for me. I remember exactly where I was at 9:02am on April 19, 1995 when the Federal Building was bombed, the news footage that followed, etc. I'm thankful for the weekend our family together there.

I am thankful for... Lenna's birthday last week, for friends that we had
pizza with to celebrate on Friday night.

From the learning rooms... reading, math and some art this week, I am also working on planning some field trips with the weather being nicer outside.

From the kitchen... I need to finish menus for the week, I am making several double meals this week for the freezer that I can give to a friend who just had her 7th baby:)

I am wearing... Black sweat shorts, my usual Muleshoe Mules Sweatshirt & barefoot!

I am creating... still working on the Asian Lantern quilt, hoping to have it to the long arm quilter the end of the week. I really want to try making on of the mini quilts in a new book I got this past week from my my secret pal in my online adoptive mama quilting group- Paper Pieced Mini Quilts by Wendy Vosters.

I am going... to the library today and the post office, Nate has another doctor appointment this week.

I am reading... A Life that says Welcome by Karen Ehman & the book of Philippians for my Bible study, Count it all Joy with Kay Arthur

I am hoping... For a beautiful week, lots of good books read with the kids, fun times outside and lots of laughter this week!

I am hearing... Kipper the Dog, we rarely watch too many videos but the kids are watching one while I catch up for a moment this morning from our busy last few days!

Around the house... Laundry, neating up to do, beds to be made, books to be returned to the library, sewing projects to finish

One of my favorite things... Listening to praise and worship music in the morning, time with the Lord and teaching my children memory verses.

A few plans for the rest of the week: I must finish some sewing projects this week, planning field trips, thinking about our May plans and planning for the months.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The "Survivor's Tree" at the memorial reflecting in the pool Abigayl & Eli at the reflecting pool at the memorial

Head over to Peggy's and check out some other women's daybooks for the week!

Thank you & our morning here in OKC..
*** updated***
Everyone finished their races. Uncle Gaylon finished well, Shawn who wasn't running because of his knee injury ended up running the 1/2 as well:) He's actually feeling pretty good! The kids had a blast, they ll finished and got their medals:) I'll post pictures tomorrow once we are home and settled!


Thanks for all your birthday messages & prayers for Lenna! We appreciate them. We will do Lenna's drawing once we are home tomorrow. Yesterday we spent the afternoon here in the city, we took the kids to the Fedreal Building Memorial which is what this race honors. It is a humbling place to stand and remember...

Please pray this morning for Uncle Gaylon(Gayly's brother), he and Shawn have headed to the start line for his first 1/2 marathon. Start time is in 19 minutes. Please pray for his endurance running, no injuries and that he "enjoys" the race!

The kids and I, along with my sister-in-law and niece are heading out in a bit for the kids marathon this morning as well. Keep us in your prayers as we finish their last 1.2 miles with them (they have logged in the other 25 already.) We want to have fun, enjoy the morning and then head to the finish line for Uncle Gaylon. There are over 3000 kids signed up to run this morning.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2

The birthday girl!Today as I was thinking about, I was amazed how quickly Lenna has grown. I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I had a lot of pre-term contractions with her pregnancy and spent months on bedrest leading up to her birth. The day she was born, she struggled a bit in the minutes after she was born and was taken to the NICU which was her home the first 3 weeks of her life.

Today as we celebrated Lenna's life and birthday, we rejoiced in the precious gift He has given us! She is a joy! She loves being a big sister and mommy's helper. She loves to spend her day dancing, singing, playing the piano and making beautiful things. Books are also a love of Lenna's, especially the Box Car Children Mysteries. She is tender hearted and has a love for orphaned children around the world, her heart was pierced in a special way when we were in China earlier this year and she spent hours loving on a little boy named Thomas at a foster home in Xian. How blessed we are that God has entrusted us with her and our prayer is that she will continue to grow and thrive as a child of God. Happy birthday Lenna Lou!

Don't forget, there is still time to sign up for Lenna's Birthday Bloggy giveaway...

As we were looking back through pictures to post, I thought I would post a few of my favorites of her first year of life...

Today is Lenna's birthday!
A Bloggy Giveaway!!!!

Hard to believe it has been 6 years since she made her grand entrance. It was love at first sight- though that was a only a quick glimpse as they whisk her off to the NICU. Tons of dark hair, the exciting announcement that we had a girl... what precious memories! We are looking forward to celebrating today!

We are doing a bloggy giveaway in honor of Lenna's birthday! Leave her a birthday wish in the comments and we'll put your name in the hat. You have until 5pm Saturday night to leave her a birthday wish and be in our drawing... We will announce winners Sunday night after we return from our Memorial Marathon Weekend.

So what's the prize??? that's a secret, just like it's a secret what's the birthday gifts! I think you will be blessed though:) We have several friends we know that live overseas and check in, please leave Lenna a birthday wish, I'll ship this gift to you if you win:)

So please, leave Lenna a birthday wish below in the comments:)

More Science fun...

Our Praying Mantis hatched yesterday morning. Eli was sitting at the table eating his breakfast when he got really excited! Hundreds of little mantis were crawling out of the egg case! It was so cool! The kids got really excited about Mantis after we watched Kung Fu Panda, I thought it might be fun for a school activity.

We had fun watching them, reading about them and listening to them jump around in the habitat. Then we took them outside and set them free. Mantis eat other bugs and if they don't have other bugs to eat- they eat one another! I wasn't ready for the kids to experience that! We did keep one that we hope to watch and feed if we can catch him some little aphids, etc.

The Mantis were hard to get pictures of in the habitat, but I took some pictures as were setting them free next to the garden. Hopefully they will find lots of yummy bugs to eat there!

Nate loved the mantis, he kept wanting us to put one on his arm so it would crawl around on him:)

Just a fun picture of Eli coloring in school yesterday morning. The kids have really gotten excited about coloring lately which has been fun!We got our Praying Mantis egg case from Insectlore.com
Here are some other links with educational lessons, activities, etc. about Mantis:
www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001413.shtml
www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/mantids/fiveactivities.asp
www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/mantids/didyouknow.asp
www.acornnaturalists.com/store/PRAYING-MANTIS-LIFE-CYCLE-REPLICAS-P5844C218.aspx

Blessings of Today & bloggy giveaways...

Thanks for praying for Anna Grace!

She is on her way home!!! Surgery went great yesterday!

Head over to the blog Reality Check and leave her a comment to join her "Pay it Forward" Contest!

Be watching for the Bloggy Giveaway that I am listing here later today in honor of my sweet girl's birthday!

You must go over and check on little Kate on her mom's blog! The pictures from earlier today are so sweet! If you have read her story you will know these are truly a beautiful sight!

Happy 393rd Birthday Mr. Shakespeare!

Interesting William Shakespeare Facts....

William was born April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died on April 23, 1616.

William married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 26.

There are only two authentic portraits of William today.

Shakespeare did not have a university education.

William did not publish any of his plays, fellow actors did after his death.

This website has a number of activities for kids about Shakespeare.

Please pray for Anna Grace this morning.Anna lived in HH with Nate in China and came home with her family a few weeks after us. We have many pictures of sweet Anna and Nate together. Please pray for her today as Anna is having her palate repaired this morning! You can check out her family's site here.

A Simple Woman's Daybook
FOR TODAY, April 21, 2009

Outside my window... bright spring sunshine, a gentle breeze, the sounds of birds and children playing at the school playground down the block.

I am thinking... How thankful I am for our evening as a family last night! My sweet husband got the lawn mowed, the kids helped me plant our new strawberry plants and played outside while we worked and we had our supper on the back deck of ham & beans (ham left over from Sunday's dinner at church for missionary friends) and Alaska Sourdough Corn Bread (made with the starter I began a few weeks ago and we are really enjoying!

I am thankful for... SPRING! I love this time of year... tulips, buds on the trees, gentle breezes and everything starts to green up after winter!
For a friend who was willing to help out with little ones this afternoon when I take Nate to his doctor's appointment!
That we had a great weekend with Jonas, Lisa and little A this weekend as they came to share about their work with Campus Crusade!
That little Kate, a sweet girl with a severe heart condition that came home from China the week before Nate is busting out of PICU today!!! This is a huge praise, head over to her mom's blog to read their amazing story!

From the learning rooms... Great Composers- currently Mendelssohn, Learning to count money- coins and change, continuing addition and subtraction, phonics and working on 100 Lessons for reading with our little ones, just finished reading Balto- The Bravest Dog and we are looking forward to celebrating National Jelly Bean Day tomorrow!

From the kitchen... lunch- sandwiches, fresh carrots, salad and grapes

I am wearing... a Muleshoe Mules Sweatshirt and capri pants, barefoot as usual:)

I am creating... still working on the Asian lantern quilt, have a couple of other projects in the wings. Making some little things for our daughter's birthday with week.

I am going... to take Nate to another doctor's appointment today, to the library tomorrow and then to the big city on Friday. We will be celebrating Lenna's birthday! Saturday we are heading to Oklahoma City for the Memorial Marathon Weekend. The kids will be running the kid's marathon and my brother will be running the 1/2 marathon. Shawn planned to run but is still struggling with his knee injury so he's working to rehab it so he'll be ready for the Marine Corp Marathon in the fall (he's running on the Love Without Boundaries Charity Team again this year!)

I am reading... Philippians and have started the Precepts for Life Bible Study, Count it all Joy. I am also reading another Box Car Children Mystery and Granny Han with the kids.

I am hoping... whoever has to draw Nate's blood today does a great job!

I am hearing... children playing, laughter

Around the house... open windows with spring breezes! I love it!

One of my favorite things... a phone call from a far away friend to just catch up on life and encourage each other!

A few plans for the rest of the week: we'll be busy! Traveling, a birthday party, sewing and doctor's appointments... most of all, hopefully lots of fun in school:)

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
My children love to color, especially on plain paper and to create pictures that tell stories... this morning the crayons were on our school table as they were all hard at work!
Head over to Peggy's to check out some other daybooks!

Sledding?!?!?Crazy?!?!? but they had a blast thanks to some neighborhood boys willing to pull them:)