handsful

On Sunday, we returned from a VERY quick trip up to NC to celebrate Randy’s grandmother’s 90th birthday!  We had a lot of fun in a short amount of time.  Here are some pictures of Memaw’s day…

We got ready for the party, and then took a few pics.  You’ll notice a certain color theme with our clothes.  Here is Marley, Kendall, Katherine, Lainey, and Abbey.

Foolin’ around with Daddy.  For the record, the official color of his shirt is “Rose”. 

Awwww….

Cousins Kendall and Lainey sharing trail mix.  This is the first time that they really hung out together and played…it was sweet. 

The birthday girl.  In case you hadn’t guessed, her favorite color is pink!  Doesn’t she look great?

Ethan and Payton with cousin Grant.  Trying to look cool in their pink shirts.  I think they’re totally pulling it off. 

Randy snapped this one…

After the party, we all posed for an all-pink picture.  This is Memaw’s family…her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.  Quite a crowd!!  Randy actually took this picture, so he’s not in it :( 

Our family

And, just for fun.  Lainey loves her cousin Caleb.  He leaves for college this summer…hard to believe!

Remember this picture? 

Another adoptive mom was visiting the orphanage with her daughter, and snapped pictures of the children as they gave them treats.  We were fairly certain it was our Dylan, but not 100%. 

Today, we received new “official” pictures of Dylan!  See what you think…

Using a chair as a walker??  :)

Yep, same guy :)  Our adoption agency will be contacting the orphanage in mid-May to ask for updated pictures.  I knew this…it’s customary that they wait 3 months after pre-approval before they ask.  I was impatient and went another route to get pictures sooner. 

He looks younger here…hair is longer, so it must have been shaved recently (we believe this because the pictures of him with shorter hair match the ones taken in late March by the adoptive mom).  He also appears to be on “both” knees?  I guess we’ll see about that. 

There is a wonderful lady named Adele, who has the website www.blessedkids.com .  She is a Chinese woman, living in Texas with her husband and adopted Chinese daughter.  Her family still lives in China, and through them and because of her good relationship/reputation with the orphanages in China, she is able to offer many services to adoptive families. 

Standing steadily, holding onto the shelf. 

I contacted Adele, because she is able to contact orphanages and ask for digital pictures and updated measurements of a requested child.  She told us that her dad was able to call the orphanage and get this information for us.  These pictures are a treasure!  The measurements, however, are a little confusing.  Comparing them to the stats in his initial file from almost a year ago…he’s the same weight (actually a tad lighter!).  I’m not concerned, because he looks healthy (as much as we can tell under all those layers) and because it’s quite common to get skewed measurements.  We’ll compare these to the ones we’ll get in May. 

Playing with tape!  Looks like maybe they’re making decorations? 

Blessed Kids has many services…care packages, translation, birthday cakes sent to the orphanage, etc.  What a wonderful treat it was to open the email with these pictures on Easter Sunday :) 

We also received an email from Brian Stuy (www.research-china.org) telling us he found Dylan’s Finding Ad!  We’ll be ordering that tomorrow.  All this makes this wait for Dylan easier in some ways (more pictures to stare at) and harder because it just makes us want him HERE now.

They’re all fun,

silly,

sweet,

and beautiful. 

And, they’re all mine.  I am blessed.

Our church’s annual Easter outreach “All Cracked Up” was this past Saturday.  It started out a little chilly, but warmed up nicely and we all had a good time.  Lainey stood by the sign like we told her to, but she decided she didn’t have to smile. 

Egg hunts were divided by age, and Lainey’s age (the one that Randy and I were in charge of) was planned for the b-ball court.  The eggs were already out there when we arrived.  Problem…it was windy on Saturday, and the eggs kept rolling out to the edges of the court.  Our kids and friends attempted to spread them back out, but one gust of wind and they were right back.  Oh well, they tried. 

Ready, set, go!  See Lainey in the middle?  We had to prod her to get her out there, and then she basically just walked around like she had no clue what to do.  ??  Thankfully, a little boy with a basket full of eggs shared with her. 

Call me cheap, but I didn’t buy her an Easter basket (gasp), so we used this pink bag.  We’re a non-Easter bunny/Santa/Toothfairy family so my kids are obviously deprived. 

Payton, Marley, and friends help her go through her loot.  They were looking for a special yellow paper that meant she’d won a prize.  She did.  Silly Putty!

After the egg hunts, it was time for a KidStuf show.  The teens dressed up for fun…the cute little ladybug on the right is Abbey. 

Next, was the Manhunt.  A special egg hunt for the big guys.  There were gift cards for a certain chicken restaurant (see the cow?) and a golden egg with a Lowe’s card.  Food and tools…motivation.  See the guy in the middle with the wide brim hat?  My guy. 

He zeroed in on the sandbox.  Afterwards, he told us he did find a silver egg, but left it there so a guest could find it.  Should I believe him?  :)

This face wouldn’t lie. 

Abbey snatches the camera, and helps prove that I was there. 

Lainey finds her smile surrounded by her brothers and their friends. 

I hope you celebrated Palm Sunday today.  This week we remember Jesus, his sacrifice, and then celebrate the truth of his resurection.  Happy Easter!

How sweet.  Ethan is teaching Lainey how to play his guitar!  I love it when the big kids share their lives with Lainey.  I’m sure L will give him a big hug and kiss for this privilege. 

Or, maybe she’ll just steal his guitar pick.

What do you get when you combine 5 preteen boys, a dad who is only chronologically in his 40’s, air soft guns, ammo, pizza, midnight movie, sticky explosions, a potato launcher, 2 sleepovers in a row, junk food, Guitar hero, and bible study? 

You get Randy’s Real Life Group’s PROGRESSIVE SLEEPOVER!  Weeks ago, the guys were all talking about doing something special as a group.  Those discussions turned into a full-out, all-things-boy weekend.  The itinerary was:

Arrive here at 6pm Friday night

Play, hang out, make explosions, and shoot potatoes into the pond behind our house

Riddle/illusions/word search competition

Guitar Hero (boys sing LOUDLY)

Bible study

Leave for the midnight showing of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Get home around 2:30, go to bed

Wake up at 7:30 for a work-day at church

Air soft gun fight in the field behind church

Go to the next house for more bible study and another sleepover – more playing, junk food, etc. no doubt

Get up for church

I’m fully expecting my boys to come home after church on Sunday and collapse into heaps on the couch.  But, the fun they’ve had will be remembered. 

More pics of their time here on Friday…

Love this shot.  All 5 boys working on illusions and riddles surrounded by soda, pizza, and an array of artillery and ammunition. 

Here is the “other” boy, pumping up the potato launcher.  Fuzziness credited to Ethan, the photographer. 

Potatoes must go THAT way.  Grunt. 

What’er you lookin’ at?  Haven’t you ever seen potato shootin’ before?

Next…

Set up soda.  Decide the lucky kid to drop in the Men*tos candy. 

How about Ethan?  He’ll do anything. 

jumping back and…

Cool. 

I think that’ll be enough to describe the whole weekend.  After they wake up from their naps tomorrow.

Click the link below to go to the Change This World website – if you read an earlier post of mine, you’ll remember that is the organization that arranged for the Jr. High at our church to package 15,000+ meals for Kids Against Hunger.  They did a write up on their trip to CFC.  You can see the back of Abbey packaging meals (black and white striped jacket) and a pretty interesting picture of Randy having a hair net malfunction.  Only MY husband. 

http://www.changethisworld.com/2010/03/15120-meals-by-middle-schoolers/ 

Reading this makes me even more proud of my kids taking action in this world for Christ, and it makes me want to find even more opportunities to make even a small difference.