First Day of 3-K

Adair started 3-K on Thursday at God's House Kindergarten.  This is a new school for us this year and I think we are all going to love it.  It is a very quaint and warm school.  They focus on the gospel everyday and desire for the children to learn about Jesus.  I love that Adair will be exposed to the Bible outside of home and church.

Her teacher's name is Miss Beth and she is precious.  Adair already loves her!  Two of her best friends from church are also in her class and I know she will come home every day after school saying "Sarah Kathryn this and Caroline that".  It should be a fun year full of learning, encouragement and growth.

Craft Note:  If you are curious about her bag, I made it and it was SO easy anyone can do it.  These little tote bags come in a pack of three for $6.99 at Hobby Lobby. 

If you would like to give it a try, here's how I did it.

Supplies:
Canvas tote bag
Template for letters (from Word)
Heat and Bond Light
Fabric scraps
Embroidery thread
Scissors
Needle
Iron

Steps:
1)  Print an outline of the letters you want in the right size in Word and cut them out
2)  Pick out your fabric, cut squares of fabric a little bigger than your letters, then iron the Heat and Bond Light onto the backs of the squares following the directions on the package
3)  Trace your letters on the Heat and Bond Light side of the fabric (make sure you face them the right direction)
4)  Cut out your fabric letters
5)  Iron your letters onto your bag following the directions on the package
6)  Use embroidery floss (I used 3 pieces together) and hand stitch around each letter; you could also embelish with buttons, fabric flowers, etc.

Introducing Our Daughter

Many months ago, we told you about our heart for China and today we are excited to introduce you to the daughter God has given us through adoption.  Here she is, the newest member of our family...we proudly introduce Emalyn Mae Qing.

 Our first unofficial family picture

Emalyn with her big sister

 

Emalyn is 15 months old and has a first degree cleft lip.  She is tiny for her age, but seems very healthy.  Her cleft lip seems to be mostly cosmetic and doesn't seem to interfere with her eating or babbling.  Her file says she is well liked and fairly on target for her age, developmentally.  Qing is part of her Chinese name and it means "celebrate".  Which we will do for the rest of her life! 

 

It is surreal not knowing every detail of her life and growth and needs and likes/dislikes.  Everyday I try to imagine what she is doing, if she is eating well, sleeping well, well loved, played with...it is hard not knowing much for sure.  Please pray with us that God would prepare her heart to meet us and that He would prepare our hearts, too.  A friend who has an adopted sister told me that her mom always prayed that someone would cry when they took their daughter from her orphanage.  I love that, because it says that someone loved her enough to shed tears because they wanted what was best for her, a forever family, but they would miss her.  I want that to be my prayer for Emalyn.  I pray that someone with her now loves her enough to cry when she meets her forever family.

We are so thankful to be at this point so quickly and we pray that the next steps move along as quickly as the ones before them.  We can't wait to hold our daughter in our arms...to love her up close instead of a world away.

If you would like to read our full referral story or follow along as we make our way to China, visit our adoption blog at http://www.alongroadtomeetyou.blogspot.com/.

So Close, but Yet So Far Away

Many months ago, before we even turned in the first piece (of many, many pieces) of paperwork, I announced that we were beginning the adoption process to bring our second daughter home from China.  God has been so faithful during this journey and has continuously reconfirmed His call for us to adopt.  We know that our daughter is waiting somewhere in China to join her for ever family, our family.  We anxiously awaiting the day that we will see her sweet face for the first time and, even more so, the day we will finally hold her in our arms. 

We are one big step closer to these big moments today!  We are officially DTC!  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the adoption lingo, DTC stands for "dossier to China".  Our plea to adopt and all of our paperwork is on its way to China.  Once it arrives, we will wait 3-4 weeks for a log in date (LID) and then we are officially waiting on a referral.

We covet your prayers during this time.  These are the things we are praying for specifically.

-Wisdom for Lifeline (our agency) and Lily who will be matching us with our daughter.
-Clarity upon referral; that we would know without a doubt if we are staring at the face of our daughter.
-That God would provide a special person to love our daughter and comfort her while she waits.
-That God would prepare her heart to be adopted and provide a supernatural peace through the transition.
-That God would prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families and friends, to love her, accept her and grow her up in the Lord.
-That this process would continue smoothly and quickly.

Thank you for supporting us and praying with us during this process.  If you want to follow all of the details of our adoption visit us at www.alongroadtomeetyou.blogspot.com.

Special Friends, Special Weekend

This weekend was a very special one!  Two of my closest friends are getting married this Fall and we've been celebrating around here.  Three weeks ago we had a backyard barbque for Loren and Bobby to celebrate their wedding coming up on September 24 and this past Saturday we honored Kara and Mark with a shrimp boil.  They will tie the knot on October 8.  I am so very excited for these girls and can't wait to see what God has in store for their families!  Unfortunately, it rained the night of Loren's party, so I was scrambling so much to save the tables, chairs and centerpieces from the rain that I didn't snap a single picture.  I did manage to make my rounds with my camera this weekend, though, and thankfully we escaped the summer thunderstorm this time!

The Happy Couple: Kara and Mark 

Sweet friends who came to celebrate with Kara and Mark:

Kimber, me, Sharon, Katie, Kara & Loren

Yummy, but Messy Shrimp Boil

The Almost Newlywed Game: Describe your fiance in one word.

He said "sweet"; she said "fun"...what a match!

Best friends from our Samford days:

Sharon, Katie, Kimber, Loren, Mary Ellen, Kara, me & Meg

As you can see, it just so happened that so many of our precious friends from Samford were able to make it into town to celebrate with Kara this weekend that it became a mini girls weekend.  We had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out with each other's children.  It was such a refreshing weekend!

The kiddos: Jack & Sam, Britton & Jacob,

Adair, Hadley & Ellen Kate, and Sixten

The kiddos with the girls: Kara, Blair, Loren, Meg,

me, Mary Ellen & Tricia

Fun Filled Fourth

Our sweet friends, the Hawleys, invited us to join them for a long weekend at their lake house over the 4th of July holiday.  We had a wonderful time hanging out with great friends and enjoying the lake, pool, water table, boat and jet ski rides, watermelon, bubble baths and more! 

Adair had a blast swimming and playing with Webb and Kate.  She also enjoyed acting as a big sister to Webb's little sister, Marlen.  We all enjoyed wonderful home cooked meals, relaxing and quality time with family and friends.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate our country's independence. 

May we always realize how fortunate we are to live in America the beautiful and never take for granted our freedom to make our own choices and to worship as we want and who we want.  God bless America!

Watermelon! 

Hank with all three kiddos: Webb, Adair and Kate.

Bubble bath!

Adair and Webb filling up the water table.

Adair's adorable "swimming" face.

Loving the boat ride!

Webb, Adair and baby Marlen

Adair loved jumping off of the dock.

Adair and Webb completely tuckered out.

Adair's first ride on a jet ski.  She loved it!

I am going to add a funny story here, because it's one I don't want to forget.  As we were packing to go to the lake, Adair asked if she could take a couple of movies.  I told her that was fine and to go pick them out and put them in her bag.  She chose "Tangled" and "Mary Poppins".  On the way to the lake, it occurred to me that "Tangled" had been in the DVD player, so I commented to Hank that we had forgotten it at home.  Adair quickly interjected that she had gotten it out the DVD player by "not touching the bottom like Daddy taught me" and put it in the case before putting it in her bag.  I looked at Hank, shocked, first because she remembered it was in the DVD player and got it out, and, second, because she managed to get it into the right case.  As Hank said, I think we are in trouble!

A Blueberry Kind of Day

This morning, Adair, Hank, Mom, Dad and I went to pick blueberries.  There's nothing better than fresh from the bush blueberries and we had a great, yummy time.  Adair, of course, ate more blueberries than she put into her bucket, but she had fun and learned a little about how blueberries grow.

Happy Father's Day

We had a fun day celebrating Father's Day.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful man and role model as my child's father and my own father.  Adair and I love you both more than we could ever express!

An Artist in the Making

As I was blog-surfing a few weeks ago, I came across a fun art project that looked perfect for young kids...tissue paper art.  Adair loves anything "crafty" (except coloring with crayons...I guess crayons are too amateur for her), so we tried it today and it was a huge hit. 

If you'd like to try this project with your own children, it's really simple. 

Here's what you'll need:
Card board
Tin foil
Tissue paper
Elmer's glue
Foam paint brush
Glitter (optional)
Sequins (optional)

Instructions:
~ Cover your card board with tin foil.
~ Cut your tissue paper into small pieces.  Squares, circles, hearts...your choice!
~ Pour some glue into a bowl and add a little water to make it thin enough to paint.
~ Cover your foil covered card board with a layer of glue, then place tissue paper on top.
~ Continue to add layers of glue and tissue paper until you are satisfied with your art.
~ Add glitter and sequins if desired.
~ Let dry completely before placing up right.

This kept Adair busy for at least an hour.  For more fun ideas visit http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/.  Have fun!

Best Friends!

My very best friend, Hollie, has two girls, Anabelle and Addyline, who Adair absolutely adores.  Anabelle broke her arm on their trampoline just a week before Adair got her trampoline for her birthday and, while it's been a tramatic experience for Anabelle, Adair thinks it's cool and has been pretending to have a broken arm ever since.  Let's hope she can keep pretending and we won't have to go through what Hollie and Anabelle have been through these last few weeks!  We wish you a speedy recovery and we love you, Anabelle!

Red, White, Blue and Birthdays

To continue the birthday celebration, we spent Memorial Day with our families to commemorate Adair's special day.  We had a great time together and Adair got to blow out more candles, eat more cake and open more gifts, which she loved, of course. 

 Trampoline!

 Adair with Nona and Joe-pa (my parents), Mama Alice (my grandmother),

Mimi and Grandpa (Hank's parents) and Granny (Hank's grandmother)

 Three!!!

Swaying to her Happy Birthday song!

With Adair's birthday falling right at Memorial Day each year, it's easy to let it go by without thinking much about our our service men and women and the price they pay for the freedom that we enjoy every day.  So, thank you to those who lost their lives for our country, to those who lay down their lives for our country, to those who leave their families and friends to fight for our freedom and security, and to the families who live on while they are away.  We appreciate you more than we could ever express and thank God for you.