handsful

My alarm went off at 5am. Yawn.

We were out the door by 5:50, and pulling into the church at 6am.

Abbey, Payton, and Ethan left for their Testify Youth Choir tour today…they’ll be in Orlando for about a week, doing concerts and a little sightseeing. They’ll be singing at a youth detention center, Wet and Wild amusement part, a church in St. Augustine, and a home for terminally ill children.

They’re very excited and admittedly a little nervous.

Payton’s family group…his “dad” passed out mustaches for everyone. Perfect for Payton.

I’m thankful there are so many strong Christian adults taking care of my kids. Each kid is in a small group with 1 tour mom or dad. Makes those headcounts much easier to handle, and gives the kids a stand-in parent to help whenever they need it. I can breathe easier because of that.

The boys, being the youngest, also have quite a few big brothers to watch out for them.

Praying that my kids stay safe, of course. But, even more so, praying that God uses them as He sees fit, to further His kingdom and for his glory.

We miss you already!

Life is going at break neck speed these days…where are the lazy summer days? Not here! Our calendar has been FULL. But, it’s been mostly fun stuff. Tons of company, lots of boating. Can’t really complain, eh?

So, now I’ll take a break from the craziness and blog.

Last weekend, we doubled our numbers. 4 adults, 12 kids, and 2 dogs. That happens when Tony (Randy’s brother), Dee Dee, and their six kids hang out with us for a few days. One word….LOUD! Oh, and fun.

What did we do? Randy split our big group into 2, and took us out in shifts on the boat. We ate a lot of food – including a night of made-to-order omelets with Dee Dee and I tag-team cooking. We introduced them to our new favorite frozen yogurt place. We laughed a lot. We ran out of food. We totally forgot about taking pictures until their last day with us.

And, here they are…

We call this “rodeo”…when we pile 5 kids (max we’ve been able to get on at once) onto the tube and off we go. Here we have our two big guys, Gabe, Micah, and Josiah.

Randy’s brother Tony and his wife Dee Dee.

Tony didn’t stand a chance of staying on long with his brother driving the boat.

I think he’s a little upset.

Payton and Micah…Micah’s the one in mid air.

Gabe and Ethan

Captain Randy

I don’t have any shots of the girls, since I wasn’t on the boat with the first shift. Maybe Tony will share some of the ones that he got.

My tubing partner was a cute little guy named Dylan.

Look, mama, no hands!

Ethan had to take a spin on the wakeboard, too.

catching some air

Gabe tried the wakeboard, and did well for his first time. It took Ethan a whole summer to master getting up.

And, then, it was time for them to go home. More pictures.

Abbey (15) and Samara (18) – they’ve always been close. And goofy.

cuteness

These three were quite a trio…Micah (11), Josiah (9), and Dylan (3)

Same with these three – Gabe (14), Payton (12), and Ethan (12)

Taking a cue from the older girls…Marley (12) and Anna Grace (12)

The dozen cousins!

And, I promise to take the time to blog more often! I sure do miss it when I don’t. This blogging thing can be addictive.

For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love

I’ll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough

With every breath I take

I will give thanks to God above

For as long as I shall live

I will testify to love

Last weekend, we had the privilege of traveling a few hours east to attend my grandma’s 90th birthday party. In this last year, she’s become more frail. She’s now living in a wonderful assisted living home, since she can no longer care for herself.

But, her mind is sound and she’s just as beautiful as ever.

About 80 some family members gathered to celebrate. Some I’d not seen in many, many years. That was a blessing to her and to the rest of us, too.

One of my favorite parts was looking at ALL the old photos. People brought in albums with photos of grandma as a child, teen, young married woman, and on and on. We laughed at our weird hair dos, 70’s clothing, and noticed how all the old shots were posed behind their cars. I absolutely love looking at my history.

Love the “90” balloon! And, the goofy grin on her face! That’s my mom in the pink and white shirt…she and my Aunt Gail arranged and planned the whole party. It was a lot of work, I’m sure, but oh how we appreciated it!

Grandma has had a hard life, and a great life. Married at the age of 15. She lost my granddaddy years ago, when my dad was just a teen. She married again, and lost him very soon after. Most of her life has been lived alone, but she’s always been surrounded by many friends and always family.

All of her children came…that’s my dad, 2nd from the left.

We were only missing one of her grandkids.

And a couple of great grands weren’t there. But, this is the first time that some of these kids have ever met. Ever.

Wonder what her wish was? And, I hope I inherit her gorgeous white hair. Softest hair ever. Dylan kept trying to play with it! She thought that was a hoot.

My favorite memories of her are when I had sleepovers at grandma’s house. We lived just down the road, so I spent a lot of time with her. She would always give me one of her pretty nightgowns to sleep in, and safety pin them so they’d fit. Her home was heated by coal, and the grate was in the hallway…I still remember how warm it was standing over that! Days were spent watching baseball games from the tree in her backyard (the fence looked down onto the little league field!) or climbing the tree in the front yard.

And, oh my, could she COOK. Chicken pastry, her creamy boiled potatoes, and chocolate pie to die for.

You are a treasure, Grandma, and I’m so glad that we could show you that on your special day.

Love, your granddaughter
Donna

We should have been packing for our trip to Florida. But, how could we not spend some time on the boat? It was a gorgeous day…

what’s the fun in just jumping in the lake like normal?

Abbey learned how to spin around on the knee board last summer.

Marley learned on Memorial Day. And, mastered it.

life’s rough for these two.

Girls just wanna have fun…

We decided to go ahead and let Dylan try a quick dip in the lake…

He wasn’t quite sure, and we realized that his life jacket is too large for him. He kept tipping forward, which he did not like. That might be because he doesn’t have 2 legs weighing him down.

Another first….last summer, Lainey rode on the knee board by just hanging on with her arms. This year, she scooted right up, secured the velcro strap, and rode that thing like a pro! She never stopped grinning.

Only Dylan could fall asleep on a boat.

Wake up, dude.

Time to head home, so once we got to the entrance of the cove, Randy let Payton try a turn at driving. He liked it.

It was a very fun day. We never get tired of the boat :)

6 months today! Seems like yesterday, and forever at the same time.

He’s been in the pressure sock one week (tomorrow), so he has one more week to go. His incision is healing nicely, and he’s not as squirmy about me touching it. The sock doesn’t bother him in the least…I never thought it would. He’s a very “roll with it” kinda kid. Usually.

As he’s become more comfortable with us, he’s developing some not-so-great habits, too. A little bit of whining, especially first thing in the morning. And, he can get upset easily. But, he snaps out of it really quickly with a lot of eye contact and reassuring words. Pretty soon, he’s giggling again…he holds no grudges.

We’re having some eating issues again, too. He’s SUCH a light eater, we still have to encourage him to eat his meals and they’re not big meals. Tonight, we had some success by having him race Payton. He loved that. We tell him he’ll get big and strong, and that seems to motivate him. He’s STILL 27lbs. Exactly. I plan on talking to our agency for some advice.

But, all in all, he’s such a sweet and happy kid. We’re blessed by him everyday!

As you can see, he’s got a new toy. His walker is a new favorite thing. Our sweet friends, the Gambil’s, are letting us borrow it for as long as he needs it. Their daughter, Hollyn, has had her leg for a few years and rarely uses it anymore, so they insisted we take it. It has helped immensely with keeping him up off the floor and he loves the independence it gives him.

Another bit of news: we had our 6 month post adoption visit from our social worker this week. China requires 2 reports, including current photos, at the 6 mo and 1 year mark. We mentioned that we’d not gone through the re-adoption process with either Lainey or Dylan and she assured us it’s quite easy in NC. We looked into it for Lainey while in FL, but it was a very confusing procedure and using a lawyer was going to be $$$. She told us she’d walk us through it at our next report appointment. This is such a relief to know that we can get state-side birth certificates for them and it won’t cost us a fortune!

Happy 6 months!

having parents that will take time to watch the littles, so we could take the bigs with us.  their willingness to bring  those littles back to us later, so they could enjoy some of the conference with us.

listening to God-gifted speakers, as they share what’s on their hearts for all us homeschool moms and dads, and teens.  being encouraged to continue doing what we do, always with God’s grace.

having a husband get just as excited as I do, as we plan our next year’s schooling.

finding a way to cart around all those book fair finds.

and, having fun filling it up.

running into lots of old friends, some we’ve not seen in years.

seeing new friends that we’ve made this past year.  last year at conference, we didn’t know a soul.

watching our kids (well, at least some of them) find new books to read this summer.

taking time to find some fun things for them, as well.  (the slingshot, survival knife, and rainbow light are still up in the sleeping kids bedrooms!)

receiving a handful of brochures that Abbey collected at the college fair.  buying SAT practice manual.  three years to go.

realizing I didn’t get to see or buy all the things we need for next year, because we spent too much time talking to friends.  not regretting that in the least.  being thankful for internet shopping.

letting the bigs go out to dinner with their cousins.  all by themselves.  taking the littles to meet Tony and Dee Dee for dinner….enjoying the food, conversation and laughter.  that glass of wine was nice, too.

somehow timing it just right to avoid the huge downpouring of rain as we walked to the restaurant.

sleeping in the van on the way home.