Micah Turns 12

I can not honestly believe that I have a 12 year old - but on April 30 - just 12 short years ago - we began our venture of having children!! Our little Micah decided it was time to make his appearance VERY early in the morning and at 5 am my water broke and we were on our way!! We went into the hospital and just a few short (choke, choke) hours later - with my whole family and Joe's mom present (yes, he came quickly once things got going!!) he was born. It has been an adventure - yes, often, I wonder what God was thinking to give me all of these boys, but I am learning and I LOVE BOYS!!!!! What a blessing our Micah has been, and continues to be, he is tender and caring AND loves his little sister and brothers - sometimes I wonder what I would do without him ~ he is a great helper and a wonderful big brother. I see his tender spirit often and he is developing such a love for God - what a blessing - we couldn't ask for more. Happy Birthday my firstborn, I love you.

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Favorite Photo Friday

Sorry for the lack of posts this week - once again, I have been gone - only three days this time, but yes, for the library AGAIN!! I had to speak at this conference so it wasn't nearly as much fun - how can you have fun when you're nervous?!?!? But, it's home tomorrow so I'll be back to visit all my favorite blogs!!! Anyway - here's Favorite Photo Friday!!

Can you tell it was windy?!?!?! That doesn't steal our fun at the park though!!

Save the Earth!

I'll be a good doobie and post an Earth Day post ~

I'm all for taking care of the Earth, in fact here are some of the things we do at our house:

~Changed our light bulbs to the squiggly more-efficient ones
~Buy energy-efficient appliances when we purchase new ones
~Turn off lights when not in use
~Recycle
~Turn our computers on Power-Save Mode
~Adjust our thermostat down a few degrees

All good things and I'm all for it - hey, it saves me a buck or two as well. BUT there are times when I just say NO - LIKE:

~Saving the whales - NOPE, but I'll jump on the bandwagon for saving unborn babies!!!
~Or THIS from Sheryl Crow - you've got to be kidding - I think she just "stepped over the line"!!! Sorry- although I teach my kids to try to use less toilet paper, I REFUSE to go to ONE SQUARE!!! OK, to be honest, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard ~ or maybe she's just got a smaller derriere than mine!!!

Shout Outs

In case you've missed these BIG DEALS in Bloggerland - here goes:

Monique and Jamey (our friends) have a referral!!!!

Jaden's got a Mommy and Daddy!!!! (another friend!!)

Where do I buy all of Chloe's Hairbows??? HERE!!! (And now that she's online - look out!!!)

Mr. Brian started a new job - go cheer him on!!!

The Blog Fairy is hard at work - for a "new look" - stop here.

I read this today - it lays it all out there nicely - explains why China adoptions are where they are in the whole process.

Oh yes, and miracle of miracles, my sister and her husband updated their blog - wonders never cease!!!

My First Award in Bloggerland

Well - blow me away - I won my first award in Bloggerville. Monkey Giggles nominated me for the Thinking Blogger Award. I love to blog, mainly for family and friends that like to get a small glimpse into our life. But it has become for me such a fun outlet. Not only do I love to read my comments everyday, but I can't wait to go blogging during Chloe's nap - now that she doesn't nap when am I EVER going to blog?!?!?! :) So, I was honored that someone even classified me as a "thinking" blogger!!! Most of my posts do not merit such a name!! More like - bored mother plastering her family all over her blog!!! It's a joke in our house - "Don't let her take your picture - it will end up on the blog!!!" Deep down I think they love it - see how famous they are?!?! So, thank you Monkey Giggles - now I must nominate 5 bloggers that make me think. (And I hate to nomiate people because that always leaves others out - so PLEASE do not be offended if I don't list you. I am puposefully NOT listing any of our travelling buddies - that would be TOO HARD!!)

Always in My Heart....
Catching Butterflies....
Raising Five....
Three Dumplings....
Peace in the Pandemonium....

And many more.....

Now, if you are nominated - you must nominate 5 more bloggers and make a post on your blog with a link back to this one. (All the rules, huh?!?!) Hey, and the best part, you can steal the Thinking Blogger Award for your blog too!!

Favorite Photo Friday

This is one of those blackmail photos that will haunt Caleb someday - but it makes me smile and I wanted to share it. Not sure what was actually happening here, but we have a combination of football helmets and fancy scarves - hmmmm.....

Sharing with Searching

Joe told me about this search engine - Goodsearch - when you go there, you can choose a charity to donate to and each search earns that charity a penny - just imagine if we used GoodSearch instead of say, Google - how much money we could give to worthy charities!! (Bethany Christian Services is one of the options even - for those of you that support adoption!)So - I switched my search engine - you can easy do that by downloading their browser to add right to your search page. Go check it out and tell your friends!!

Sand Castles

Ok, I did a LITTLE bit of shopping in Portland and I brought back these sandals for Chloe. We, of course, had to wear them today - since it is nice outside!!! So, we put them on and went to get Dad for lunch - when we got there - Chloe very proudly said, "Hey Daddy, look at my Sand Castles!!" Hmmm, guess this girl needs to learn her shoe names!!!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

Here I am - safe and sound at home - that is amazing - I was all the way across the U.S. and now I am home. Nothing too exciting on the trip - thankfully no more loose handles, etc. I tried to act like a seasoned traveller - hope I fooled them all!!! My favorite part?? When I came down the escalator into sight of my family - Chloe looked up and took off at full speed running to me yelling, "Mommy, Mommy!!" She nearly knocked me over but who's complaining?!?! It was so cute and left Daddy in tears - quite the moment - I love my family - what blessings!!

Here is the ham - hammin' it up!! I got this crazy hat to use in Story Hour and look who's claimed it already???!? Of course one has to get the camera out for moments such as these - it's all memories!!!!!

The Travel Queen

Here I am - it may look like I'm in my hometown with all those TULIPS, but NO, take a second look - I am in Portland still. The gal I am traveling with,Sonia, just thought I needed my picture taken by these TULIPS that are not even from my home!!! (Since we live in Tulip land!!)

We had a day - we had meetings all morning and then decided to venture out on our own again. To all who know either of us - that is a surprise that they even let us out without GPS units attached to us, but yes, we may only be in Portland once so we go out venturing. Today's venture - the Chinese Gardens!! So we get on this tram/bus thing and off we go - we just listen for our stop - hey, we are good!!! The gardens were gorgeous - I am SO glad we took the time (and BRAVERY) to go. It was on the way back though that our traveling courage was tested - we already STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB around here - everyone takes one look at us and KNOWS we hail from Iowa!!! We get on the train and grab a hold and get ready for the jolt we know happens at every stop and start (see, we are getting seasoned, aren't we?!?!). Sonia, she's smart, she grabs the iron pole, Me - I grab the leather handle hanging from the ceiling - I've seen people do it, I figure I can do it too. I am holding on for dear life as we are jolting forward and my strap breaks - I AM NOT KIDDING - totally comes right off the pole and I am just praying I don't land on the floor OR in the bum's lap next to me!! Thankfully, I find another pole to grab onto - I AM NOT KIDDING AGAIN - people are laughing from three train cars in either direction and one lady looks at me and says, "You will have to pay for that - See that camera?? You were being taped." I was dumbfounded - I thought - You have got to be kidding!!! Then, thankfully, she busts out laughing. I am SURE I was three shades of red - needless to say - we got off at the next stop - nope it wasn't even our stop, but we were getting out of there!!! Enough free entertainment for the people of Portland!! Hmmm, I'm thinking tonight it's room service and it's a good thing we're leaving soon - Portland can't handle too much more of us and I doubt we'd ever leave our room again anyway!!!!

See you all in SAFE Iowa!!!! (If our city even talks about putting in a tram thing, I will have a word with the city - those are DEFINITELY NOT SAFE for travel!!!)

Favorite Photo Friday

Well - here I am - still in Portland - still missing my family - and STILL in meetings!!! They are good though - can't complain - the ONLY thing I can complain about - it has rained EVERY DAY so I can't even get out and take some fun photos for my blog!!! Maybe soon it will stop - but it better hurry - I only have a few more days!!

So -here's a photo from Easter - nothing I love more than Daddy time - so sweet!!!

Not Home

Well - in case you had missed my presence in bloggerland - I am in Portland at a library meeting - or that's what they'll tell you anyway - shhhh, don't tell that they have GREAT shopping here!!! (Just kidding Joe!!!) So - I haven't been able to post regularly nor do I have any great pictures to share - so I'll share an old one with you until I can get out and take some photos around Portland - it is beautiful here - everything is blooming - which, from what I've heard, is MUCH nicer than my hometown at the moment!!! Did someone say SNOW and I'm missing it?!?!?

So - I'll be here for a few more days and then I'm back again - but now that my internet is working, whew, I feel better already!!!! :)

I saw another blogger that had done this and I loved it - it's Chloe on Gotcha Day holding her referral pictures!! Is that even the same little girl????

Happy Easter

We have had a wonderful Easter as a family - from coloring eggs to celebrating Christ's Resurrection with our church family to our annual Easter Egg Hunt to just relaxing with our family!! We have a God that is so worthy of being served ~ How blessed we are!!!

(As usual - if you want to enlarge the picture - just double click.)

Now It's Really Gotcha Day!!

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Almost Gotcha Day

Well, I'm really a day early because two years ago we had one more day of sight seeing before we got our Chloe but I can't stand it a minute longer (AND I have something more fun for Gotcha Day) so today I will post some Gotcha Day photos!!!

Yep - that's our long-awaited little one - she wanted NOTHING to do with us!!!! (In case our travel group has forgotten ~ remember those long days of screaming!!!)

2 Years Ago - on THE WALL!!

Wow - 2 years ago we were climbing the wall and although I was out of breath and wondering what shape I was really in - I do remember thinking, "I can't believe we are REALLY here!!"

And, while you're in China - there's nothing like a good Rickshaw ride!!! I honestly don't think we paid our driver enough - poor guy!!

2 Years Ago Today.....

Here's where we were two years ago today....

That's our hotel in Beijing.....

AND the Beijing Airport at Night....

And would we like to be there again?? You bet!! We were on a mission to get our Chloe!! We're coming up on our 2nd Gotcha Day ~ stay tuned!!

Bit of Nature

Coming home last night from Grandpa and Grandma's we came upon this bit of nature - Joe willingly pulled over and I jumped out to capture it - good thing we did it when we did - not five minutes later - Mr. Sun was long gone!!!
It's hard to tell on here how beautiful it was but Chloe was sure someone "painted" the sky!!

Weekend Family Fun

In case you missed us - we've been gone - we went to Grandpa and Grandma's this weekend because Uncle Eric, Aunt Neese, Cory and Emma were there!!! We wouldn't miss an opportunity like that to invade their normally-quiet and calm home!!! We don't get to see my sister and her husband very often so this was a real treat - we had a great time. It is so much fun to see the cousins all together ~ the time just goes way too quickly!! (Look - Grandpa and Grandma are still smiling!!!)