handsful

hurdle jumped, that is. 

Found out today that our “Article 5” has been picked up from Guangzhou and is headed to the CCAA in Beijing, China.  The Article 5 is basically another approval…this time, the US immigration saying that they approve us to adopt this specific child.  This is THE LAST document that China needs in order to issue our Travel Approval.  Once we get TA (in around 2 weeks), our agency will begin scheduling our consulate appointment in China.  This date determines our travel dates…they build our trip around our consulate appointment.   

I’m betting on Thanksgiving travel.  I’m also assuming there is no roast turkey and sweet potato casserole in China.  I think I’m willing to delay our turkey dinner for Dylan.

My “China corner”…the blue box holds all of our China documents, copies, etc. The other boxes are where I stash things as I find/buy them. Everytime I go to the store, I try to pick up something on my master list. Tonight, I actually pulled out a suitcase and started choosing what clothes to bring for Dylan.

Wow. This is feeling real.

When Lainey saw HER suitcase pulled out, and I mentioned I was going to do some packing, I thought she knew I meant for China. We’ve talked about it a lot, she’s seen me buy things, she’s helped me pick out things for Dylan.

I had left the room, and when I came back she had some of her things in the suitcase. I explained to her again that it was just mommy and daddy going…that she would be staying here with family. She got pouty, came up for a hug, and said “I don’t want you to go to China”. Break my heart, baby. I can see that it’s feeling real for her, too.

We’ll be doing a lot of talking about the trip, about how we’ll keep in touch while we’re gone…anything to make this easier on her.

Like the title? I spent seconds coming up with it.

So, our kids are really enjoying our new church. The mid-week youth program is called NextGen – next generation. It involves a time of awesome praise music with a jr/sr high band – then some group time with one of the pastors – and, then they usually split up into same gender/grade groups for some group time with a leader.

Another facet of the youth program is called Go M.A.D. Stands for Go Make A Difference, and it consists of ministry teams like photography, worship, art, etc. These teams work together to serve the church and/or the community, using their God-given talents and gifts.

Payton is on the art ministry team. Their leader gives them a theme each week, and they draw something to fit that theme…the pictures are displayed during NextGen on Wednesday nights.

Abbey took this picture of him presenting his drawing to the team (she’s on the photography team, and part of her responsbility is to document the other team’s activities with pictures).

Ethan is on the worship team, and will be paired with a more seasoned guitar player until the time comes when he can join in. He can’t wait.

The theme this week was “everlasting worship” – meaning we can worship God in everything we do. Payton came up with this…

He’s the player helping his opponent up…having a good attitude in sports is a hard thing to do, but when you do, God wins. I loved it, and was very proud of his creation.

One activity that Ethan and Marley have really gotten into since we moved onto the lake is fishing – they love it. Marley was very happy that she caught this big catfish this week! The catfish was less than thrilled…but, he got to re-join his catfish friends soon after this shot was taken.

Now, the cookies…Payton promised Lainey that they could make something the other day and thankfully I had an easy cookie mix in the pantry. With only a little help from me in the stirring department, they did it all themselves.

Lainey, learning the ever-crucial part of making peanut butter cookies. The criss-cross. Check out that technique!

The first bite – success! And, since Marley won’t go near a peanut butter cookie (can you imagine NOT liking peanut butter?!?), we had lots to go around. In fact, I think there are still a few in the kitchen.

Time to wrap this post up, mama needs a cookie.

The night before Lainey turned 4, I was joking with her that I wanted her to stay 3.  She laughed her “oh, you’re so silly, mommy” laugh and said “no!”.  I asked why she couldn’t stay 3, and she said “Lainey wants to be a big girl!” 

Well, Lainey girl, you are…

Good morning, sunshine!  So, how old are you today?? 

Oh!!!!  FOUR!!

Dressed up for July 4th…I mean, her birthday!  Same thing.  She’s ready for church!  (She looks so OLD here!)

sometimes those eyes do disappear when she smiles!

A birthday-girl sandwich.  heh heh

Middle and little sister share a hug

More posing with the birthday girl.  (ignore my goofy grin)  There’s no shot of Abbey with Lainey because most of us were already out the door when Abbey came downstairs.  She’s got her daddy’s “late” gene.  :)

After church, we headed out to lunch.  Fast forward to dessert.  Before the other kids got theirs, a bunch of waitresses came over and sang a VERY LOUD birthday song to Lainey.  She got very serious and tried hard to ignore it.  Then, they planted this in front of her and she wasn’t as serious anymore…

must. get. every. last. drop. 

Back home and time for presents…one from mommy and daddy, and one from big sister Abbey.

A blow up pool with sprinkler!  Awesome!

It’s all she asked for…

A little mechanical hamster.  She named it Tashu, same as one of Marley’s hamsters.  She made it a little bed in her wardrobe :)

Time to try out the pool.  The big kids do the hard work. 

Lainey had the easy part!  She loved it. 

Yes, that IS a taco with 4 candles in it.  Lainey requested her birthday dinner be from TB.  She absolutely adores the place, wants to eat there EVERY time we suggest going out.  So, we sang to her and she blew those candles out!  It took a few tries, but she did it.  In fact, for each taco she had (3), she put the candles in again, we sang again (in triple time!), and she blew ’em out again! 

It’s hard to believe that she’s 4 years old.  I look back at the pics of her when we first received her at 19 months old and think how little bitty she looks.  She’s so growny and independent, loves helping me out with whatever I’m doing (I know, that eventually wanes a bit…), and simply can’t wait for her brother to join us.  Oh…Dylan.  That’s right!

He turned THREE on July 4th.  We sent a cake to him using the in-China organization called www.ladybugsnlove.com  We’re waiting for pics of his celebration (the company takes the money we send and gives it to the orphanage with the instructions to buy the cake and provide digital pictures proving that the money was used for that purpose)  We’ve seen many birthday celebration pics, and were fortunate that Dylan was in a few of them!  I hope he enjoys having his own party :) 

In the meantime, Abbey bought a birthday present for him, too.  We’ll have it here, waiting for him. 

Thanks, Abbey…he’ll love it. 

Next stop…Marley, Payton, and Ethan’s birthday on the 7th! 

 

No, not her first SPOKEN word…that was “eye”, in case you’re wondering.  She made the long “i” sound and pointed to her eye.  Hence, her first meaningful word spoken in English. 

No, I’m talking about her first written word.  Not that she KNEW she was writing a word.  She just loves to write letters and run up to me and ask “what that say?”. 

This time, she was making a Father’s Day card for her daddy and just started writing letters.  My jaw dropped when I saw what she’d done.  GOD.  Clear as day (and G is usually not this neat and easy to read!).  Lined up straight, in the dead middle of the page.  I know it could just as easily been “bug”, or “cup”, but I thought it was super cool that her hands made the name of our Creator instead. 

She looks a little smug, don’t you think?  You go girl…keep proclaiming the name of our Lord :)

Lainey has been asking for quite some time (with encouragement from her siblings) to have her ears pierced.  Since Marley was 4 when she had hers done, I wanted to wait till Lainey’s birthday.  Well, we were at the mall last Friday and figured a week early would work :) 

We told her it would hurt a little, so she was aware.  She said “okay” without any obvious concern. 

Waiting…Payton let her watch a cartoon for distraction. 

We went to one place, and there was another little girl having hers done.  The kids said “Quick!  Get her out of here so she doesn’t hear that girl scream!!”.  The lady working there didn’t give me warm fuzzies anyway, so we found another place. 

Randy held her hands, while I manned the camera.  This was maybe a second before the dreaded “ka-click” sound. 

Did she scream?  Cry?  Whimper?  No.  Nothing.  The girl didn’t blink.  Didn’t flinch.  Randy said her hands didn’t even jump as he held them.  She’s a rock, our Lainey. 

As hard as I campaigned for the little diamond-like ones, she chose the blue :)

Sparkly blue earrings AND a lollipop?  Does it get better? 

Admiring her new look. 

We did have some drama the NEXT day.  We were sitting down to lunch after church and Lainey came up to me.  She motioned to her right ear and there was NO earring.  Yikes!  We did a quick search and found it.  Then, spent the next 15 years minutes trying to get it put back in.  It would go in about 3/4 of the way and then didn’t budge.  We called the store and they said to aim it at the back hole (which was extremely hard to see!) and push fairly hard.  So, after Randy and I each took turns trying, Randy managed to get it through.  There were definite tears this time around, but she was so brave to let us work on her so long. 

One part was funny, though.  I’m in desperate need of an appointment with an eye doctor.  My close up vision is quickly going down hill, so when it was my turn, Randy stuck his reading glasses on me!  Ah, growing older is such fun. 

Happy almost 4th birthday, Lainey Q!

Mom…can we use a roll of toilet paper?  Lainey and I wanna do something. 

Uh…sure.  I guess.  Have fun :)