(click to enlarge both)

Video

Here she is singing part of "Happy Birthday!" As you can tell, the color is WAY off in my camera...this is my old point and shoot and I think it's officially biting the dust. She was very distracted during this but it's all I could get!

Ashley Update!

As we approach our "3 months home" anniversary, I thought I'd give everyone a quick update!

Ashley continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and her courage. Courage from a 21 month old? I'll explain in a bit...

As far as her language skills...it is really an amazing phenomenon to watch. After only hearing English for 3 months she can....

*Sing "Happy Birthday to Ash a lee!" Yes, all of it! I'm trying to get this on video so ya'll can see.

*Say and point to every family member, including grandparents

*Say and point to almost every body part

* Says "no" and "yes, mam"

*Ask for her "bob ee" (her word for her sippy cup....YES a sippy cup...we got off the bottle last week...yipee!!

*Tell us when she wants to go "nite nite" and in the morning, sits in her crib and yells, "mama!! mama!! Avery!!" Avery loves to get her out of her crib in the morning so she tries us both, I guess!

About the courage?

This little girl has been thru so so much in the last 3 months. I am SO proud of her heart and her spirit...she is a survivor, already at 21 months old. We are still working on attachment...she has attached herself like glue to us, and is making great strides in public. Now, when I take her to church on the playground, she'll run pretty far away from me to play....she always knows exactly where I am, but she's confident enough to play with kids and not be under my skirt:) She's still not ready for me to leave her yet, but we'll get there. She plays with kids at playgroup and is not timid anymore. She gives high fives and love to my friends that she recognizes. She still really won't let anyone hold her, but that is a good sign, and one we're glad to oblige at the moment.

Her MRI scan came back great! thanks to those of you who emailed me and asked! She does have some things we want to keep an eye on at the base of her spine, but for now, the Dr said, "She looks great, we're not ordering anymore tests, and come back in September!" Praise the Lord!!!

Video to come!

Need help

Calling all China moms....I need to order some new silk dresses for the girls...the ones I bought just three months ago in China, are already snug and I need them soon....where can I order them from?????? HELP!!!

Tiiiiiiiimmmmmbbbbbeeeeerrrrrr!

Well there are a few (5) less pine trees in the world today. We finally had some taken down that were in danger of crashing into the house, and have dumped their needles in our pool for way to long! We have about 12 pine trees total so there are still plenty left. The little girls were asleep and the big girls at school when the fun got started so I decided to snap some pics to show them. However, the crew took a long lunch break so they were still going at it until late afternoon and all the munchkins got to watch.









There is a lot more sun in my kitchen as of 4pm today :)





















So Jay comes home to supervise and I headed with Ashley, to the bank. I was gone all of 20 minutes. When I came home, all the girls were outside and came running to the car....apparently they had gotten to ride in the cherry picker (the bucket truck...here in the south, we call them cherry pickers:). Daddy ran inside (haven't I trained him good), to grab the camera.

Look, isn't that sweet of that guy to take my children for a short ride?













Yeah. What I saw next almost cost my husband (who is sporting a broken left arm), ANOTHER broken arm....lest you think that they are not very high up in this picture.....take a look.....















DO YOU SEE THIS???? DO YOU SEE WHAT HE LET THEM DO????? THOSE ARE MY CHILDREN ROUGHLY 3 STORIES IN THE AIR...AND ANNALYSE IS

IN. HIS. ARMS.

I am not what you'd consider a "cautious" parent....but I.ABOUT.LOST.MY.LUNCH.

So let's hear it....anyone have a "when mama is away...." story to share?????? Betcha won't be letting Jay babysit your kid anytime soon!

Oh My!

I love getting goodies in the mail!! Last week, I ordered these precious little clips for Ashley and Annalyse...most of the money went to Stellan, and they even had a special that if you bought two sets, you got one free!! They are really small and would work even on fine, baby hair. You can get them at her Etsy shop. Don't they look even more fab with spaghetti?

I can promise you'll see more of these to come:)

Ally

"Avery, you are about to get on my last nerd."

"Avery, life is not all about AVERY. It's all about Jesus."

"Avery, you are pushing my buttons!"

Or...what you hear after 10 days of "Spring Break together-ness".....(is that a word?)

Easter 2009

We had a wonderful Easter Morning! I got the girls up early so we could do pics before church...If I did them afterward everyone's hair would be a mess and the dresses would have cracker crumbs all over them :) All of them looked so beautiful! This was Ashley's first Easter and she loved the basket. M&M's for breakfast...who can beat that? When the girls were toddlers, I put Cheerios and Gerber puffs in their eggs and they loved it...but Annalyse and Ashley are no fools...they saw the candy in the big girls baskets and would not have stood for such healthy substances!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter celebrating the EMPTY tomb!! He is ALIVE!!!

Welcome Friends!

Welcome to the new site everybody (all 10 of you that read on a normal basis that is:)!

Now that we're HOME from China...can I get an Amen?.......I just have to manage one blog, as this will combine the old family blog and the adoption journey!

I've posted a few things already so take a minute to get caught up. Here are a few "housekeeping" things I need to go over.

*Please DO NOT link our blog to yours without asking me. *smile* I have 4 little girls to protect and I really do not want the boogie man showing up at my door. Also, if you know our last name, please do not link us as that...please just put "crazy woman with 4 girls" or something clever like that *smile again*

*Please leave comments!!! I love reading them...it's AMAZING how many people actually emailed me and asked to read this blog and get the link, now COMMENT people! I get so little adult interaction during the day, it helps me stay sane.

*I'm going to add a link to the adoption site soon...please DO share that with friends...I pray that it's an encouragement to families out there that are in the process, or praying about, adoption.

Each of our girls is a treasure. We love them each the same (although some days I may offer to rent out the 2 year old:) and they each have been uniquely designed by our Father. We are a family that loves the Lord and serves Him in full-time ministry. We are honored to have you along our journey and pray that here you may find a little of everything...laughter, tears, and the occasional inspiration!

Welcome!

Oh yes, she did....

....take her clothes off at playgroup.

And oh, yes I did...take her picture.

Enough hair for a BOW! Ashley 21 months

For me, having girls never gets boring! Ash finally has enough hair for a bow:) I can't wait for her hair to keep growing...finally people know she's a girl (yes, people have asked!)