handsful

…little of that.  Here is a hodge-podge of stuff going on around here :)

Remember our trip to NC?  We were able to visit my mom’s workplace, a daycare called Building Blocks.  One of the gals there is Ami, and she is a devoted “fan” (ha) of our blog.  She was SO very excited to meet our Lainey, she’s followed our story for quite a while and has grown to love her just from the blog.  Amazing.  She even had a gift for Lainey, an adorable baby doll. 

It’s not exactly “high-tech”, but the pics above are from that day.  I had forgotten our camera, but my mom had hers (as always).  So, the plan was to take her memory card and get a CD made for us to take home.  Well, the machine at Target wasn’t working properly, so all they could do was make these small prints for us.  So, I made do.  Thank you, Ami!!!  (waving!)

Homeschool is in full-swing around here, and it’s going well.  This is from today, our science unit is on rocks right now.  Abbey has always loved rocks, so she was really excited. 

Abbey, all ready for softball practice.  Notice the super cute pink and black cleats (which match her pink and black glove and bat, of course).  This is her first time playing softball, and from what we’ve seen so far, she should do well.  I can’t wait to watch her in a game!

Remember the pic of the violets I posted a while back, with the one pot with only 1 leaf in it?  I started rooting that thing MONTHS ago, and look what we found when we got home from vacation?!?  BABY VIOLETS!!  I just love it. 

Who can resist a toddler in her Oakley shades?  No, they’re really daddy’s. 

More shades, the girl loves them.  And, her leopard that her cousin Anna Grace gave her :) 

We were thrilled when Bruce, Karen, and their son Micah were able to stop by for a visit, on their way to Orlando last week!  We met them in Beijing, they were part of our travel group.  They received their son in a different province than us, and then we met up again in Guangzhou.  You know how you just “click” with some people?  It was like that with Bruce and Karen, like we’ve known each other for years.  Their son Micah recently turned 3, and was also born with a cleft lip and palate, like Lainey.  Here are some other photos from our time together…

Sharing is still being learned by both…

Karen shared her camera with Lainey, and she LOVED it.  I’ve always wanted to capture a picture of Lainey looking at a just-taken picture!  When we take her picture, and she hears the “snap”, she immediately runs over to see and just smiles and giggles. 

Micah loved all the kids (and they loved playing with him…Ethan’s comment was “he’s fun, he can actually talk”….I guess Lainey needs to step up the speech progress!).  But it was obvious that his favorite was Marley.  Guys always go for the blond. 

About a zillion tries, and this is our best shot of them together.  They were climbing all over those stairs!

Good group shot!  Is Micah blowing raspberries?  Boys…

Bruce, Karen, Donna, and Randy

Thanks for a great visit, guys! 

 

If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll remembering reading how we were led on the path to our Lainey.  In a nutshell, we had difficulties having our children, going through fertility treatments that were eventually successful.  We had our oldest daughter in 96 and added 3 more blessings 2 years later.  At that point we were “done” and proclaimed it loudly that we were. 

Years went by, and we started considering the possibility of adoption, slowly and in the backs of our minds.  In 2005, Randy forwarded me the website of a friend of his who had recently adopted from China.  I don’t remember the exact wording, but Randy’s email to me made me think he might be considering this for us…he didn’t really SAY that, but I felt it.  I ended up spending hours reading, sometimes through tears, about their journey to Lily.  I was hooked, and this thing called international adoption was starting to feel personal, like something we were meant to do.  Lots of thoughts, talking and prayers later, we turned in our paperwork to CCAI, the same adoption agency used by Sean and his wife Melissa. 

All that to say…this family that started us on our path to Lainey, changing our lives forever in the most amazing way, is RIGHT NOW in China, adopting their little Emma Faith!  I’d love for you to stop by their blog, and follow their journey along with me!  I’m sure they would love to know that others are watching and praying for them. 

www.seanjohns.blogspot.com 

…than to be in Carolina.  Cousin’s Day came around once again, and this one was Lainey’s first.  She did a lot better on this long trip than the last one in April, thankfully! 

Nana arranged for a photographer to come this year, and that lady’s camera was smoking (literally…it actually overheated at one point). 

Randy took this one of the group shot…hopefully the photographer was a little more lucky.  Tough to get this many people looking at the same time! 

Love this shot of Nana

Yes, it was THAT hot.

Abbey says hello!

Lainey took an immediate liking to Nana and Paw Paw’s dog, Casey.  Could she stick that hip out any farther?

With pictures and devotion time done, Nana knew just how to make the kiddos happy…water slide!  We got Lainey changed and took her to the slide.  We told her goodbye and that mama and dada would be back.  She was so distracted by the fun, that she didn’t fuss at all.  We’re told that she did great all day, playing, napping, eating, running around, chasing the dog, eating, etc.  She slept all night, even through the crazy thunderstorm that night.  We were relieved, though I’m not sure why we were ever worried….Lainey always surprises us by handling everything well. 

The rest of our weekend was full of seeing people.  On Friday, we took the kids to my mom’s “office” (she works at a daycare) for a visit.  I’ll be adding some pics of that on a later post.  After that, we picked up lunch and took it to my grandmom’s house.  My aunt Gail and cousin Michael joined us and we had a great time, catching up and laughing at Lainey as she wore grandmom’s glasses, shouldered her purse, and held onto her cane.  I have no pics of this, unfortunately…forgot the camera.  I know, I’m still mad at myself. 

Lainey was then treated to an eye exam by her own Uncle Tony.  He told us that she has a little bit of a prescription, but nothing that needs attention right now.  He also confirmed what we suspected…her left eye occasionally (about 1/4 of the time) turns inward.  Again, he said there’s no need for treatment right now, given how intermittently it occurs.  It could go away on it’s own.  He’ll check her again in a year. 

Skip ahead to Saturday night (when the kids were at Cousin’s Day), and we had our annual triple date with Tony and Dee Dee (R’s brother and sis-in-law) and John and Kim (R’s step-sister and bro-in-law).  Beautiful restaurant, great food, and not a kid’s menu in sight.  Ahhh…

Church and then a very lazy Sunday afternoon with Randy’s mom Ann visiting us at Tony and Dee Dee’s house.  Then, it was time to get on the road. 

Lainey and her favorite optometrist, uncle Tony

Kissing cousins, Samara and Lainey

All of Lainey’s cousins enjoyed getting to know her better (the little ones high-fived her all weekend!), but Caleb took a special interest in her.  Once he found out that Lainey would eat anything, he set out to find something that she would refuse.  He never found it, but not for lack of trying. 

The NC family and the FL family…all 15 of us. 

We stopped by my mom and dad’s house on our way home…she wanted a new picture to add to her “grandmom” frame. 

An uneventful ride home (love those kind) and a great meal at Cracker Barrel (thanks, mom and dad!) and we were home. 

With Fay FINALLY gone, we actually went outside to play this past weekend…the grass was only a wee bit damp, and it was great to enjoy the unusually cooler weather (which, has gone away and we’re back to crazy HOT as of today).  Here, big sis is sharing her snack with little sis.  It’s hard to tell, but Marley has poison ivy on her face and neck these days.  It finally got so bad, that she was put on prednisone a few days ago.  Thankfully, it’s beginning to go away. 

Someone in our household is signed up for softball for the first time, so she’s getting a few pointers on throwing from dad.  Gotta love a black and PINK glove. 

Looking good, girl. 

Payton’s looking good, too. 

Well, until Lainey takes away his ball…he doesn’t look like he minds too much. 

EJ is also practicing, with his baseball games coming up this fall, too.  I wonder how many of his games will overlap with her games?

Lainey is telling Marley to drip the water from her cup on her head.  Crazy child. 

Lots (and lots) of rain, some big gusts of wind, but nothing that would cause us damage, thankfully.  So far, it looks like Fay is sort of going around us, but we’ll see how it goes tonight.  We tied up our little palm tree (beside the swing) and so far it’s holding it’s own.  Fay is a little camera shy, this is the best windy picture I could get…everytime it got really crazy, I’d grab the camera and run outside.  Only to sit there and wait for another one that would never come…UNTIL I went back inside. 

So, what do you do on a day where it’s too rainy and yucky to go anywhere and school hasn’t started yet?  If you’re me, you ORGANIZE!  I’ve gone through a few closets and cabinets lately, and today was the pots and pans.  Looks like someone wants to help?!

No, I didn’t put her in, that was totally her idea…she did it quickly, when I had my back turned so, of course I ran for the camera ;) 

Basketball, his fav sport (just like his dad)

Payton is our “middle child”, in that he has two big sisters, a little brother and a little sister.  Never mind that one big sister and one little brother are only 1 minute apart from him :)  When I told Payton that I was going to write a post about him and his “Payton-isms”, he got very excited.  When I asked him if he knew what that meant, he said “nope”.  lol… That’s him.  He’s got the best sense of humor and always says these funny things out of the blue. 

• It’s almost school time around here, and I’ve been busy making up a new daily schedule, a new plan for handling chores, and a way to communicate little requests to the kids without having to “nag” (not that I EVER nag…).  I made up a clip-thingy to hold their chore slips and Payton found it the other day.  He looked at it with a confused look on his face, looked at me, and then smiled and said “you’re planning something aren’t you?”  Just the way he looked at me and said it, cracked me up. 
• I was walking down the hall the other day, and came upon Payton walking toward me with a pout on his face.  He said “I need a hug”.  Well, of course I hugged him for a minute and then he pulled back, sighed a big sigh, and said “ahhhhh…my mama meter is full”. 

Just a couple of examples of how Payton regularly makes us truly laugh out loud.  We think he’ll either be a comedian or pastor when he grows up (the boy can pray like nobody’s business)…maybe both?  I think I’ll go get a hug from him