Moon Festival

OK--so I've become a huge slacker in the blogging world! Combination of football, three & seven year old girl drama, middle school & being without my laptop are just a few reasons! I'm trying to catch up over the next couple of days. Sorry!
I can't remember if I shared the fact that I email back & forth with both of Sydney's foster families (usually once every 10-14 days!). I feel that we are fortunate to have this communication with Sydney's previous families. I promised them we would celebrate the Moon Festival with our family & send over the pictures. And of course, I did not take enough pictures--bummer!
We went to one of the local Asian markets here in town in search of moon cakes, pearls for the bubble tea & the yummy green veggie things we ate in China. We ended up having a wonderful time with our family! The food & bubble tea were not great :(. Only one of our family members ended up loving the moon cakes & she is pictured below!

Cousins & Friends

1st day of School 2010

We had a great summer! We were blessed to have two wonderful girls come to our house & keep the kids. Thank you so much girls! We miss you & hope that you both love your new schools like crazy. Thank you for being positive role models! With summer ending, school starts! Philip is in the 6th grade this year. 6th graders move up to middle school :(. We were all nervous the days leading up to the 1st day. I can remember taking Philip to kindergarten. (teary, teary, teary!!). Philly had a "good" 1st day. All of his teachers were nice & his friends have the same lunch (which is always a great thing no matter how old you are!).
Ashlyn started 2nd grade. This is our 7th year at our elementary school so it feels like home to us. Ashlyn has a wonderful teacher & great friends in her class. We feel blessed to have our kids go to a public school with Christian teachers & principal. Kinda like private without the cost & uniform. (but sometimes I think a uniform would be great for Ashlyn!)
Our sweet Sydney started Mothers Day Out (MDO) also. She is in the dog room at a church close by. Kinda funny because Sydney was born in the year of the dog! All of us have been talking to Sydney about how awesome & fun school was going to be. She just quietly walked into her classroom & started playing. No tears, no clinging, nothing. (i was kinda expecting tears & wailing but nope) The teachers are super sweet & the classroom is very clean & bright. Sydney was excited to see me but enjoyed her time there.
Hope all of you had or will have a great 1st day of school! I'm glad these last couple of days are over because it is exhausting on me to have all of this change & worry!

Handsome Philip.
Sweet stylin' Ashlyn

Cutie Sydney

Carlsbad Caverns

Wow--it has been awhile since I posted. Thank you for all of your comments from my previous post. I just want every orphan in this world to have a forever family!


Before summer was over, we took a quick weekend trip to Carlsbad Caverns. The caverns are really cool. Cool to look at & very cool temperature wise. Can you say burr in July???!! Philip has been wanting to go for years so he really enjoyed reading all about the caverns & the bats. I would recommend this to any families traveling thru the Carlsbad area. It is a day activity & really cheap. Like $12 to get in! And no fee for parking.

Inside the caverns.

Kids snuggling up during a little break from walking!

PJ & Philip could of stayed there for days!
The girls back out in the heat!

Why can.......

So..these random thoughts have been going around in my head since we came home from China.

Why can people save up for or make sacrifices for:

Granite countertops. Or whatever remodel project they are wanting to do in their home! I really like granite.Beach Vacation. Who doesn't love chillin' on the beach with your loved ones?!

Down Payment for a new home. Cute house!

Sweet ride just like the Real Housewives are drivin' or the teenagers here in my city. The car looks pretty spiffy!

But they can not make sacrifices for this:

I have been around tons of people that say to me--We would love to adopt but: it is just not in our financial plans right now or we would need to this first or that first.

Seriously--there are close to 150 million orphans in this world! Adopt first & then save up for your spiffy new ride!!

So glad that we answered God's calling & made sacrifices to bring Sydney home to her family! Sydney has blessed this family beyond words.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:5

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure & faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Philip Turns 11!

Hard to believe that Philip is 11! We have been celebrating his birthday for almost a week now. Love summer birthdays! God has blessed us with an amazing young man. Love you Philip!

Philip & Ashlyn's 2nd Tri

The big kids competed in their 2nd tri this weekend. They love doing them! It was super hot waiting for the tri to start. Sydney was starting have a 3 year old melt-down before it started :)! Good thing we had the stroller. Kids did great during the tri. I'm thinking they might want to start doing the "real" ones soon. Since the kids start at different times, it was a little difficult to get pictures of them doing all 3 events!

Kids hanging out before the start.
Philip during the run. A little tired!!

Ashlyn was hurting at the end.

Philip @ the end!

Ashers @ the end!

Surprise!

On Tuesday, we received 52 "new" pictures of our Sydney from her life in China. I had made contact with an individual & they thought they might have 12 pictures for us. We would of been excited to see just one new picture of Sydney but 52!! We also learned that Sydney was with 2 foster families not one. And we have contact information for them! And we have several pictures of them with Sydney. We feel so blessed to have these pictures for Sydney.
It was a little different/difficult to see Sydney with "another family". Sounds strange but true. Sydney was very happy in the pictures. And looked like she was close with both foster mom and dad. Now we just need to make contact with the foster families. What to say? What to ask? What not to say?? A bunch of questions we would loved answered. But really I just want them to know that Sydney is really happy, healthy & loved like crazy!
I posted a few pictures of our girl for you guys to see.

Olsen Park 4th of July Parade

Our neighborhood had their annual parade today. We always enjoy it--bouncers, face-painting, walking around the neighborhood with decorated bikes/strollers/scooters, friends & food. This was Sydney's first parade & 4th of July. She was not sure what to think!

Before the parade. Thanks Shannon & Ashlyn for decorating the stroller. It looked awesome!

Philip & friends. This is probably the only time we saw Philip til the end.

I do not know this family but thought their "ride" was pretty cool!

This is what Sydney did the majority of the parade. I'm sure she was thinking--"why are we walking around the block with all of these people?!"

1st experience w/arm painting. She peeled it off during nap-time!!

Shannon (our awesome sitter) & Ashlyn

6 Month Post Placement

Hard to believe that Sydney has been home for 6 months! I was looking back at our Gotcha Day pictures and could hardly believe that was Sydney. She is nothing like that quiet little girl that would just sit on our bed for hours. Thank Goodness because that would of been too easy!!
A few ways Sydney has changed: Sydney has started to get out of bed sometimes in the morning & after nap time instead of yelling "Mommy I don't see you" until PJ or I come get her. She speaks (or yells) in complete sentences. Sydney does not feel like she has to eat everytime she sees food. Knows her name is Sydney and that she is 3. Loves the book Goodnight Moon--which was Philip's favorite too. Sydney has become the new "sassy pants" in our family!

Playing outside with Daddy!