Little Lost Girl

We were busy around here last night - grading school, etc. - and bedtime snuck up on us. We realized we hadn't seen Chloe in awhile. Joe and I both set off to find her - calling her name, searching in her room, at her computer, etc. We both COULD NOT find her - that always brings a moment of parental panic. So we set the boys to helping us. It isn't like Chloe to hide - so we knew something odd was up. After quite a bit of looking, I thought I had better start looking in closets, etc. so see if she was playing hide and seek or something. So I looked under HERE....And found this....Who knows what possessed her to do this - but there she was - sound asleep. AND this girl DOES NOT wake up easily. We called her name, shook her - there was no waking her. Both Joe and I grabbed a body part we could reach and slid her out - it wasn't pretty - but we got her jammies on and somehow hoisted her to the top bunk. ALL without her waking - as she curled up in her bunk and continued to sleep soundly. I asked her today if she remembered the whole episode - she answered, "Mom, I wouldn't fall asleep under my bed. Are you being funny??" *sigh*

Tour of our Yard

It is time for my annual "Tour of our Yard" - don't worry - I promise it won't be boring - there's a little something for everyone!!

My two-tone Hydrangea - not sure how I managed that!

They don't lie - Bees do like Bee Balm...

Yep, ours was knee-high by the 4th!

One of our MANY hosta - I'm addicted - I admit it - thanks Aunt Connie!!

Butterfly Weed

Balloon Flower

Whoops - Think I might have snuck up on an intimate moment - I didn't even realize it until I was downloading it.

I could go on and on - but for now, this is our backyard - NOW, stop on over and we'll sit in the swing, I'll make you an iced latte, and we'll chat!

Special Needs

I had someone question me today on why we were adopting Jada - if we even knew what we were getting into. I have to say - it does make me stop and think - like we did MONTHS ago now - but I come back to the same thing. We KNOW we are called to bring Jada home with us. We just KNOW it is God's plan. Can I explain it? No. And do I fully understand? No. But I know - Joe and I both fully agree - we know we are to do this. SO when I saw this video - I sat shaking my head "yes" - that's it. Jada's vision may not even be correctable, but she still needs a home. She needs a family and she needs to hear about God - we can do that - and we want to do that.
(Love Without Boundaries - the association that made this video is the one that SO graciously helped us find information out about Jada in the early stages - we have been so blessed through them.)

School Time!

We made the big decision to start school this week. Our dilemma?? Well - if we travel to China during school (which it seems we will at this point) - we will lose at least two weeks of school during travel AND possibly one to two more when we get back as I'm not so sure I'll be ready to jump right back in - depending on Jada's personality and how we feel after travel. SO, to give us some "play time" - we are starting now. Yes, I hear your groans - they sound just like my boys' groans - BUT NOT CHLOE'S!!! She was jumping for joy! She just LIVES for this.
So - day one, I tell her we are going to use pattern blocks and give her the box. I told her to build me anything and let me know when she was done. Here is her masterpiece!
The boys' jaws were nearly on the floor - we all were impressed - we were thinking a simple design and she goes 3-D on us!! The girl is hilarious - and she just loves this! Last night she says to me before bed, "I don't think I am going to be able to sleep mommy." I asked her why not and she replied, "I can't stop thinking about those pattern blocks!" See why she cracks me up all the time!?!?

Soup Anyone??

Our favorite soup at Olive Garden is Chicken Gnocchi Soup - we just LOVE it. So Joe scoured the internet and found a gnocchi recipe and then put a little elbow grease into it, and look what he came up with. I must add - a couple of the boys helped with the gnocchi - that was quite a process!

Mashed Potatoes
Add some butter
Add some flour
Form it into long snakes - Chloe's words
Then form the gnocchi - the boys rolled each one with the fork marks.
It was QUITE the process!Simmering....
Gnocchi boiled
The finished product - worth every minute!!!
(Our tip - it made TONS of gnocchi so we froze about two cookie sheets full for next time!)

New Do!!

Never tell a 5 year old that she has a haircut the next day - at least not THIS 5 year old - because for the next 24 hours - every 5 minutes - I was asked if it was time. This girl LOVES her haircuts. I put her in bed last night and she came out with such a serious face and said, "Mom, I just can not sleep thinking about my haircut tomorrow." Then she comes out this morning - fully dressed - glasses on - and says, "I am ready to go to my haircut." Poor thing - I had to tell her that the haircut wasn't until supper time. So 5:30 finally came -
Chloe's hair was SO long - our hairstylist had to sit and cut off part before she had Chloe sit down! We cut off 8 inches so we could send it in - there was one place online that took 8 inches, so we are going to try that.

She looks good with long hair or short!!!
Sassy and Cute!!

Our Stories

Some days you just need to hear words from God - and then He does just that. Lately, Joe and I have felt we need more than usual!! We are so grateful for the friends and family that hold us up in prayer and encourage us. We need that. Continue to pray with our family that God moves mightily in China - we pray he moves papers and hearts to get us there soon.

A friend sent me this in an email - she took it from Joanna Weaver's Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Here's what Joanna Weaver says, and I think it is so good:

"God wraps up my good with your good and the good of both of us with the good of others. The plot lines of our individual stories weave together to form his master plan. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is left out. There are no dead ends or red herrings; every story line is given his greatest attention, his diligent care. Your story matters to Jesus, just as the individual stories of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus mattered to him. But he always has the big picture in mind as he handles the stories of our lives. He knows the beginning from the end, and he operates accordingly.
So don't be surprised if your personal plot takes a couple of twists now and then. Don't get upset when point A doesn't automatically lead to point B. There are no detours in God's story line, not really. Just complications that he's more than able to resolve....God always has a play. But it may not follow human logic. In fact, it may often seem to go directly against what we believe about God"

Thank you, Sue - that was JUST what I needed today!! We needed to hear it and maybe others will as well. People ask why I blog - well this is why - I've been encouraged over and over, and I've met wonderful people on this blogging journey!

The Pits

When friends give you a HUGE box of cherries - here's what the Bilby's do:

(yes, Joe used G**gle to find this ingenious idea!)
We have frozen cherries, cherry muffins, cherry jam - AND HIVES!!
(Talk to Becky about that one. Guess fresh cherries and Becky don't get along!)

Slip N Slide

One of Chloe's birthday party gifts was a Slip 'N Slide - of course, we wasted NO time in getting it out and up!

And no summer outdoor time is complete without a water fight - Chloe hung in there with the best of them!! You ask why you don't see many pics of the boys?? Because I was made to promise that I would not put them on the blog in their summer attire! (Cracks me up - they must take after their mom!!)

The Process

Adoption is truly a roller coaster ride. We are told we have months to wait and miraculously (and I DON'T say that lightly) our I800 came back in a week on the U.S. end - that is amazing and that was with an additional supplement - we saw God's hand, and we were SO excited that we might be moving VERY quickly now. Then we get an email today saying now that our paperwork is FINALLY in China, we can still expect to wait MONTHS before we get our approval to travel. I am telling you - the whole thing truly feels like a roller coaster. And you NEVER want to let your hopes get up - there are just SO many things that can happen to slow you down.

So I really needed this email from a dear friend today. I asked her if I could quote part of it - it was just SO good and something I want to always remember.

I was just reading this Piper comment about prayer. He says that (and I'm wildly paraphrasing here) we don't pray in order to change God. We pray, that God might change the heart of the one who's praying. So... I know that God isn't sitting up there saying, "Well, I'm not sending this little peanut home until SOMEBODY prays just the right thing" or "...until 1,119 people have prayed on her behalf". Or whatever. He has His plan in place, and He allows us to come to him with our petitions -- to walk closer with Him, to be uplifted in our conversation with Him, and to grow closer to those whom we pray for/with. I think God's allowing me to pray for Jada has definitely given me a soft spot in my heart for her... permanently. Even though I don't know her! And when I see Him answer our prayers with responses like super-quick I800's, it brings Him glory -- which is precisely what we were made to do.

My dear friend has hit the nail on the head. AND believe me, she's a friend that KNOWS what this crazy wait is like. (We were covering them in prayer not so long ago.) So we continue to lift our prayers to the One that has the path already laid out before us.

Here is what I read today in my time in the Word:
Isaiah 55:8-9:

The Lord says, "My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."