"By adopting a child and helping them reach their potential, they help us reach ours. An adopted child is not an unwanted child; to the contrary, they are a child who was searched for, prayed for, cried for, begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full. Love is meant to be shared"
 - Author Unknown

PRAISING GOD!!!

i journal things all the time that i don't want to forget. this is something i NEVER want to forget!!!!!!!

tate is right now on the phone talking to one of his friends from his orphanage that has also been adopted, he ask him, "do you think Jesus is real or no real?"  i don't know what his friend said but tate said, i do, i think he is real.  he went on to tell him how he prayed for rain (we are in a major drought here like never before) and the next day it rained. he was telling him some other reasons why he thinks He is real.  he told him about facing the giants, a christian based movie that we watched and he told him to watch it.  then  he said, i didn't believe in Jesus when i lived in china, but i do now.  he told his friend, maybe you should try to pray sometime.

PRAISE GOD!!!!  PRAISE GOD!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!  THANK YOU, JESUS!!!!!

we have noticed that God has been really working on his heart.  please pray that the Lord will continue to soften his and elliott's heart, that He will continue to draw them to Him and that they will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and give their life to Him.

the gospel

i got this off of hayden's blog (he's my precious boy...1 of 5 :-). this video is extremely powerful. please take the time to watch it...you will be so glad you did.

please help this family....

my friend jen and her husband jay will soon be leaving for china to adopt a precious precious boy! they have 2 bio children and this will be their 3rd adoption. jen is a fantastic blog designer, her business is the art of living custom designs, she is having a really cool fundraiser, her goal is to design 100 blogs in 30 days to raise funds to bring her son home. she has designed several templates that you can choose from, she'll customize it just for you, and install it on your blog for only $20...$20, what a steal of a deal and at the same time you are helping bring a sweet little boy home.   jen is a wonderful blog designer, she designed my blog....anytime my blog has been cute, it's because of her :-). after their last adoption their family was complete....or so they thought , HERE is where you can read about her precious loving heart and how they realized their family was not yet complete.  i have known jen for over 4 years.  their son ben and max were orphanage brothers.  i am asking you to please help them bring johnathan home.  go HERE to get the details. also grab a button from her sidebar and put it on your blog to help get the word out. 

14!!!!!

yesterday, tate turned 14!  this was the first birthday that he had ever celebrated in his 14 years.  i didn't know this until i ask him how he celebrated his birthday at luoyang home (that's what we call their orphanage).  he told me that they don't celebrate birthdays, he said, they don't care about your birthday.  he didn't say that in a way of feeling sorry for himself, he didn't say that in a way of putting down luoyang home, that was just the way it was. period.

for about a week tate had been thinking about what he wanted for his birthday.  we let the kids decide whether they want a party with friends and a small gift from us or family party and a nicer gift (about the amount of what a party would cost).  it didn't take him long to know just what he wanted which fell under the nicer gift category. he wanted a weight bench and weights (you know, football is right around the corner...and he is all about the football :-)....and this boy will use them EVERYDAY, he is so disciplined!   he was so excited and searched the internet but even the cheap ones were a little more than we planned on spending plus they were huge, and i admit i was thinking of how NOT cute it would look in his new room....i know i need to let that go.  he really needed something that was taller and not so spread out, like a bowflex but those were mega expensive,  that was completely out of the question.  i was about to get panicky because it was wendesday night, his birthday was on friday and we didn't have a plan.  thursday morning came and paul suggested that i look on craigslist. before i did i prayed and ask God for a nice set at a good price.  i have gone to craigslist before but haven't ever had much luck finding anything....everything i have ever been interested in was gone by the time i called.  i started looking in the dallas area and they either looked crummy or cost big bucks, so i went to east texas and searched bowflex and there was one....it was for $200, i knew that was a GREAT deal but was still a little more than we planned on spending.  i texted the seller and she still had it.  she was the sweetest lady, we texted back and forth.  i ask her if she would take $150 and she said yes!!!  of course, i ask why she was selling it, she shared that it was her son-in-laws and he got transferred to dallas and is now living in a 3 level condo and they didn't have a place for it and they just needed to sale it fast to get it out of the house they had been renting.  i called a friend to ask her a few questions about the bowflex because they have one...they bought theirs used several years ago and paid over $800. she told me to immediately call the lady and tell her that i wanted it before someone else bought it.  the next issue was how can i get it home...paul was working late thursday and the drive was about 3 hours total, i thought i could probably pull the trailer but paul didn't like that idea.  he had a thought, he called our friends (more like family), mark and amy,  mark offered that i drive his truck (before paul even had a chance to ask). PRAISE GOD!!!  He supplied it ALL!   i called the lady, told her i was on my way and to please hold it for us.  i piled up my crew and we were off, we loaded it up, made it home and there was a boy at our house that was so excited and all grins!!

i wanted so badly to make his day extra special....to make up for lost time.  i told him he was king for the day and he got to decide on everything we would do.  i ask him if he wanted to go out to eat but he didn't, he said he wanted to have a family dinner at home and he wanted hamburgers and johnson sweet corn on the grill and he wanted me to make him his favorite, dr.pepper cake...so that is what we did! we are a family that plays together and works together but today when it was time to unload the dishwasher, fold clothes and pick up the house,  KING TATE wasn't allowed to lift a finger....he thought that was the coolest...:-).  he also wanted to go swimming and for ME to swim, not just watch, so that i did!  we raced across the pool, dove to the drain, and dunked each other. then to top it off our outting, when we were leaving he got to back the car out and drive to the gate to pick us up (no worries, he only drove in the parking lot and the parking lot was empty :-).  i think that beautiful smile of his never left his face all day long.  he was thrilled with every phone call and facebook birthday message he got, he was so appreciative that he responded and thanked each and every person for their birthday wish and there were pages of them.  it was a great day!  one i think he will never forget, i know i won't  :-).

viv & max both wanted to sit by the birthday boy :-)
**

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!!  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

wordless wednesday

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vivi's riding on 2 wheels now!

last week was a big week for miss viv.  she learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  i started teaching her and then tate took over.  he is so patient and a GREAT teacher.  she was so proud of herself!


















proud proud girl!!!

catfish hands

i thought this was so funny that i had to journal it.  my mary kay lady gave me some samples of some hand care products.  elliott opened one and started squeezing out the lotion so i decided we would just test the products out on him.  first was the scrub, which grossed him out because he said it felt sticky like honey with salt in it...lol...but he was game and let me continue his hand therapy. :-) i scrubbed and scrubbed until it was almost dry on his hands and then i rinsed them with warm water.  next was the lotion....i lotioned his hands real good and let it dry.  he felt of his hands and said  MOM, my hands feel like a CATFISH! LOL!!!

so call a mary kay representative today and you too can have hands that are as soft as a catfish. :-)

paper art

tate loves creating things with paper. remember this?  he just started playing with paper and created this ball...no pattern, nothing but his creative mind.  i think a corner of vivi's new room, needs several of these hanging from the ceiling at different levels....sounds pretty cool huh!

 tate told me that he wanted a straight (exacto) knife to make something.  i bought him one but didn't know what he was going to make.  he has been cutting paper and making some really gorgeous art....would you look at the details. he put these in a large frame to keep them safe so the pictures have a little glare on them.  the pictures do not do his art justice. 

and don't think some of his beautiful cut paper art won't be on display in our new home.  :-)

beating the TX heat

i am so blessed to have several friends that have pools.  they have been so generous and have invited us to come swimming anytime. thank you all so much....WE HAVE HAD A BALL!!

kooper, a friend that is visiting for a few days.

ells first time off the diving board.  he has come so far....last year when i traveled to china, i took them swimming, elliott was terrified and would not let go of the side for anything,  NOW, he is swimming all over the place!

 no worries!

ells cute feet :-).

it's so much fun chunkin' your sister in the pool....i don't know who likes it better, tate or viv :-)

kooper, chillaxin'

he melts my heart!

there's that smile again.

miss viv LOVES the water!

tate and i challenged each other to a diving showdown...LOL.


if you wonder why all the pictures are in color except the ones of me, i'll fess up...i'll come clean...i'm trying to camouflage the starky whiteness of my legs....LOL. are my legs this white? no. are they far from being this white? NO!  8-)

i would have to say that tate won our little showdown.  i wiped out and busted the water more than a few times.  lucky me, ells didn't catch it with the camera because i would have had to share.....tate would have made me...LOL.

(((

 thanks again my sweet friends!