Bring Me Hope

Bring Me Hope

It is that time again, time to make a huge difference in the life of a Chinese orphan.  Bring Me Hope (linked above) is taking registrations for the Night Walk.  If you register by May 5th, you get a free t-shirt (really loving this year's design).  I am hoping to register all six of us, so we will take sponsorships if you want to help.  Inbox me if you are interested in sponsoring us.

On any given day, Wyatt can be found drawing somewhere-usually on his stomach on the hardwood floor of the foyer.  I then find papers all over the house with these very detailed scenes and creatures.

When we met Wyatt in China, we had a composition book for him to use for doodling.  He liked it much better when Andy did the doodling, and Andy drew a pig face for Wyatt.  Wyatt mimicked Andy's work and managed a great reproduction of the pig's face.  We were impressed by that drawing and the potential revealed for our, then five year old, son.  However, until the last year, Wyatt showed no interest in drawing, and his fine motor skills left us questioning our initial judgement.  Now, I think a potential talent is unfolding before our eyes. I am sharing a sampling of his work below.

Always the collector, Wyatt likes the machines that press pennies.  He shows off a penny he pressed at the zoo a few weeks ago.

The legendary dragon.

Samurai

Wyatt with a Mario backdrop

Mario world

15!

Savannah reached her 15th birthday today.  I never got used to 14, and now I have to reconcile 15. Wow!

We celebrated at home with family.  

We lit the candles on the cookie cake, but we also enjoyed cheesecake.  Andy learned a secret to making cheesecake from The Cake Boss, and Andy's cheesecake is way awesome!  Andy's mom also brought her homemade angel food cake along with strawberries and whipped cream.  Savannah is our only child who prefers homemade desserts for her birthday celebration. Wyatt sometimes requests them too.

John and Tessa

Per our tradition which actually started because of Savannah's birthday, we take a picture of the birthday child with each of the guests.  I started this after celebrating Savannah's fourth birthday.  Andy's dad lived out of state and joined us for that celebration which we held the day before Savannah actually turned four.  I felt led all night to take a picture of Savannah with her Pa as they were having such a great time together.  However, Andy's mom was unable to make it to the party, and we were going to vacation with them in the summer, so I decided to wait and get a picture with both of them.  Andy's dad was hit by a car while running the next morning and killed instantly.  I now try to follow every prompting to take a picture because when planning the funeral, pictures were gathered of Tom with each of his grandchildren, and we could not find one of him with Savannah.

Uncle Joshua, Savannah, and Dad

Granny (Andy's mom) 

Logan, Austin, and Tiffany - Julia crashed this picture with her smiley face balloon.

Jonathan, Regan, Danielle, and Ira - easier than expected to get both kids to face the camera, but I think Ira is mid blink

Tara

Our day started with all kinds of craziness.  As soon as I first entered the kitchen this morning, Wyatt warned me that there was glass on the floor.  I discovered a group of dish towels laid out on the floor.  The kids picked up the big pieces of glass then covered the rest with the towels, so clean up was a bit messy as I had to be careful with the towels embedded with tiny shards of glass.

Wyatt asked for cinnamon toast, so I prepped and put the toast in the oven.  I walked away and returned to black toast with smoke pouring out of the oven.  When I opened the oven, the fire alarm sounded. Oh Joy!

Savannah had to see the dentist, great birthday gift, right?  I took her and dropped her off and then dropped Julia off at a birthday party.  I used Andy's key because I could not find mine.  When returning to pick Julia up from the party, I lost Andy's key.  I had to drive Zach's car to work in the church nursery.

We started the party, and I went to take a picture of the cake only to realize that the battery for my camera was dead.  It literally lasts for months, so I rarely have to charge it.  I ended up using my phone which is a positive step for me.  In the past I probably would have slowed everything down to wait for the camera battery to charge.  I do confess that I am spoiled by my camera as I am disappointed in the quality of the pictures from the party.

 It always seems that we do not sprint to a celebration around here, we run an all day marathon, but it seems to work out in the end.  I had fun.  Savannah had fun, and hopefully, everyone else did too.

Julia looked like this after her friend's party.  

So Long Spring Break

We concluded a much needed spring break today.

For the first time in more than a decade, we did not even take a day trip this year as a family.  Instead, we rested, painted the trim around our front door and painted our garage door.  Andy took two days off and replaced light fixtures on his break.

Zach and I visited a college for the first time. Zach anxiously awaited this first college visit.  I felt like the school would be a good fit.  The student to teacher ratio is 13:1.  Tutoring is included in tuition.  The school draws many international students which indicates that the education is solid.  Zach would most likely be able to play football and pursue ROTC.  Zach was not as excited about the school.  He liked it but prefers to be near a big city.  High school has been less than enjoyable because of cliques, so he is concerned that a small school for college will be more of the same.  We will visit another school later this month, and I believe it will meet Zach's expectations and desires.

While on the break Zach picked up an extra shift at work and turned in his restricted driver's license for an unrestricted one.  He was eligible for the unrestricted license in February but never had an opportunity to go and make the switch.  He also registered to vote.  That boy is growing up.

We enjoyed nice weather this week, and we have waited quite a while for it.  Even with the extra rest, the last two days have been a marathon, so I will try to get to bed early tonight.  This week will reveal how challenging it is to run a library with no physical library.

Picture Day

Yesterday I took Savannah to have her annual pictures done.  She will turn 15 in less than two weeks. 15!!! How can this be?

After her session, I took a few shots at home.  I can never share our professional photos online because of the copyright, but I thought Savannah looked especially pretty yesterday, so I am really looking forward to seeing the proofs.

Savannah and I disagreed on the shoes.  She did not want to wear the boots because I took pictures of her in the fall in a blue dress with boots.  She wanted to wear Sperrys or go barefoot.  I insisted that 10 years from now, she would regret wearing Sperrys.  Therefore, we comprised and she had pictures taken with and without the boots.

Our photographer has captured pictures of my kids from the start.  He and his staff have gotten to know us, and we have really enjoyed getting to know them.  I had a very nice chat with the assistant photographer yesterday.  She does all the editing work and has really learned what I like over the years.

Pictures are one area where I really splurge and have no regrets over it.  I have a nice camera and have gotten pictures I love of all my kids.  However, I cannot do what a professional can.  I really need some classes and have limited funds and time for such an extravagance, so I will continue to take my kids to a pro.  They behave better for a pro too :)

Just the Girls

 Zach worked today, and Wyatt enjoyed a play date, so the girls and I decided to stroll through the zoo.

Julia enjoyed taking pictures, and maybe I haven't ruined my kids when it comes to pictures.  She has a good eye, I think.  Other than the picture of Julia, she shot all the photos below.

The grizzlies were such fun.  They chased each other and wrestled, and I love how she captured this with the outlines of onlookers.  

Easter Weekend

We celebrated Easter in a big way.

Our weekend started with a trip out of town on Saturday where we celebrated Ch-b-easter. Of course that is not a real word, but we celebrated Christmas (yes, Christmas- an accident requiring a long recovery for Andy's sister derailed our Christmas plans), birthdays, and Easter.  

We had a great time celebrating and visiting, and I think all the gifts were a hit.

On Easter morning we headed to church first thing. We attended the only service we could all attend as  a family given Zach's work schedule.  He left church and headed straight to work, so for the first year ever, Zach did not receive his Easter basket with the rest of the kids.

We changed our clues for the Easter basket scavenger hunt.  The kids only had the scripture reference and had to look that up to determine the key word to find the next clue.

We found it symbolic to make the last few clues send them to a cup, bread, and the cross.

I worked the afternoon service at church.  If you are a member of my church, and you love children, the 2:00 service on Christmas and Easter really runs short on volunteers.  Please consider serving at those services.  While I was away, the rest of the family sent Zach on a solo search for his Easter basket, so I did not get to witness it.

After serving at church, we headed to Dad's for our Easter dinner, egg hunt and egg coloring.

I got some quality time with Ira.  He is such a happy baby, and I hope the two on the way are as easy-going and happy as this guy.  

All the teenagers decided that this would be the year that they would stop the egg hunt.  They just wanted candy, so I told them they had to hunt eggs to get candy.  Zach stated that they could just go to Walmart and buy a bag.  What party poopers!

Wyatt led the prayer for Easter dinner and did a great job.  His prayer reflected much thankfulness.  Wyatt thanks everyone often.

Julia has new clothes - a Christmas gift that is so Julia.

Regan picked up eggs one at a time and took them to Jonathan to put in her bag - so cute to watch her run back and forth picking up eggs.

Regan loved coloring eggs.  In fact, her only real meltdown was over having to stop.

We finished the day with The Bible on The History Channel.  We missed the first hour of the final episode but found it to be a very nicely done series overall.

We start spring break today with plans for cleaning, painting and such.  I have to admit that I need an attitude adjustment.  Instead of hanging on to the joy I felt yesterday over a king who would die in my place and resurrect himself from the dead, I am bemoaning the fact that I have one spring break left with all of my kids at the same time.  We have never taken an overnight spring break trip, and that looks like it is out of the question for next year. How selfish am I?