Orphan Sunday-November 8th

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Fun at the Park (trying out the new camera)

September 11th carries a very negative connotation for most Americans after the horrible events 8 years ago. However, for our family September 11th, 2008 is exactly one year from the day we arrived home with this precious little girl! I don't know if you can see it in her face but this little one is full of spunk! She is a very strong willed little girl, she thinks she can do EVERYTHING. We constantly hear her say..."I do it, I do it", even when it's something that is impossible for her to do. Lily is becoming more loving and affectionate. It's strange both our daughters did this backward hug thing. When you ask them for a hug they would come up to you and then turn their back to you. We would have to turn them around and say, no, this is how you hug.

After our trip to Catalina Island, where I broke our old camera, we had to purchase a new one. We bought a Nikon P90 which is still a pretty basic point and shoot camera but it does a pretty good job. I got some practice in at the park the other day. The girls love to ham it up for the camera.

I love taking pictures of children when they don't know the camera is on them. You can catch them deep in thought, or making some funny face, their little faces are so precious.

We thank God for bringing Lily into our family, she has brought a lot of spark and liveliness that's for sure. Emily and Lily are becoming really good friends and sisters. Their play together has improved and grown. It's a joy to sit back and listen to them just giggling up a storm as they play together. We are truly blessed!

Celebrating Gotcha/Family Day 2009

One Year Ago Today this precious little one was placed into our hands to become our daughter. It's hard to believe that one hear has passed already. We have been so blessed to have Lily in our family. Yes there have been growing pains and struggles but all of this is part of God's design to cause greater growth in all of us.

This picture is out of order but I'm too tired to try to fix it. I know that if I try I'll end up deleting it or something. Lily loves ice cream and cake....well....ice cream mostly

Daddy brought home Chinese food for dinner and Lily said, "Thank You daddy for making me Chinese food". I actually get credit for making edible food! (inside joke, I can't cook)

Emily and Lily have grown to love each other more and more. Emily is a great big sister. Almost every day the play a game Emily calls "Family" where they pretend to be the mommy and baby etc. We usually end up with Emily's entire bedroom contents in our living room.....eeek! Don't worry, we make her clean up the mess.

I just had to include this picture of Lily. We had to purchase a new camera since I recently broke our old camera. We bought a Ni*on P90. At first I was having all sorts of problems with the pictures being blurry, color distortion etc. I was ready to return the camera until I got online and started reading tips from current users. Anyway, I took this close up of Lily and really like it.

After raising 5 biological sons, then adopting two daughters from China you would think that we would be done with thinking about adoption. BUT GOD has continued to fill our hearts with the desire to help orphans in whatever way He sees fit. Our church supports an orphanage in India called "Little Lights" where over 3000 children are cared for, fed, taught about Jesus and prepared to go out into society with a real education. Recently we were blessed with the priviledge of participating in a special offering to help them purchase the final plot of land on their 10 acre compound. It is a blessing to help these children whom God cares for so dearly.

Lily's First Vacation - Catalina Island

Eighteen years ago today we visited Catalina. ( Yes, that means today is our 33rd anniversary) It was our 15th anniversary. We always intended to bring the kids to Catalina. we finally made it last week. The girls loved playing in the sand.

The captain of the glass bottom boat was kind enough to take a picture of us after the ride. We got to see lots of fish,kelp, and sea weed.

Lily is driving the Under the Sea boat. She seems to think sticking out her tongue looks good.

Lily's first time playing miniature golf. She came in first place. Was it beginners luck or daddy's help?

This picture says it all. Fun! Fun! Fun!

We had dinner with this beautiful view. Lily is showing her beautiful tongue pose again.

The girls wanted to take their pictures with these two bald eagles. there are over 50 real bald eagles living on the island.

We had a fun trip and went on quite a few tours. We saw seals, sea lions, flying fish, and several kinds of local fish. The water was sooo blue. Lily seemed to enjoy the trip, but missed the dog. She wanted to go home and see her " baby dog".

July Events

Friday we went to the park. The kids had a great time climbing on the rocks. Of course, they had to fit in a snack time. Can't go any where without the snacks. Kids without snacks :( no way!

Lily is taking a little break from the climbing. The kids played hide and go seek.

We had a wonderful visit from our friends Debbie and Lillian. They moved to Mississippi 2 years ago. Lillian, Emily, and Lily were having a blast. The time went by way too quickly.

Lily swinging during our visit with Debbie and Lillian. Lily really loves to swing.

The girls enjoying the swing set with Debbie watching in the background. Boy do we miss those two.

We went swimming at Jeremy and Jen's house on the 4th. No Jeremy and Jen and no fireworks. We had a barbeque and swam. We opted out of the crowds at the park and just had some family time. ( Yes, we took over our son and daughter-in law's house with their permission.)

Lily Re-Adopted and visit to the Beach/Magic Mountain

This Friday we completed our re-adoption of Lily. In California (the most bureaucratic state in the union) we have to re-adopt our child in order to get a California birth certificate. Plus, due to the great government efficiency it will only take 18 months to get it!!! Anyone who wants big government ought to think twice...

We went to Magic Mount*in recently with our kids, grand kids, and daughter in-law. As you can see, our little Lizzy is very stylish sporting her latest purchase in shades...

The kids had a great time in the "kiddy" section. We also found out that Lily is a little dare devil when it comes to rides, she loved the little roller coaster and this ride. It's a bus that goes around and around, up high then down low.

We went to Carpenteria Beach and found that Lily does not like to get her little feet in the sand. Notice in one of the pictures that she is standing on a beach towel because she didn't want to touch the sand....nor the water for that matter. But, she didn't mind putting her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the sand! Yuck!

One Year Ago Today We Received "The Call"

It's hard to believe that one year ago we received "the call". I had been watching the "rumor queen" site and knew that the call was coming. The phone rang and our caller ID said the name of our agency. I knew it was the call. The conversation went something like this. Agency " you have a daughter! She is 8 months old." Me "really? That young? When is her birthday?" Agency "October" Me "October, what day?" Agency " the 17th." Me"that's my grandson's birthday. What year?" Agency " 2006." Me "she's not 8 months old. she's 19 months old and exactly the same age as my grandson."

I asked if they could email me a picture. They could not. We would have to wait until Tomorrow to get the picture along with all her info. I waited all day for UPS to deliver that package. UPS came and picked up packages for our company, but no package. About 5 pm still no package. I began to cry. Ok I finally got a hold of my self and we ate dinner. As we were eating dinner along comes the UPS truck again at about 6 pm. There was our long awaited package with all the info. about our precious daughter.

Here is the referral picture we received along with several others which are shown on our blog. She is about 1 year old in this picture so it didn't even give us a good idea of what she looked like at 19 months.

This is the day we got Lily in Nanjing China at 22 months.

This picture was taken on May 30th of this year. Our happy little girl loves to swing!

One thing we would like to point out for those who may be working on their second adoption is that the second one was completely different than the first. In other words, God did certain things during our first adoption process to confirm His direction for our lives in the adoption but He did not do the same thing for the second, but none the less confirming of His will. For example, when we received the referral call and found out that Lily was exactly the same age as our grandson, it was God's way of showing us that he hand picked this little one to be part of our family. Jerry had been saying...."I don't care how old she is as long as she's not YOUNGER than our grandson" Well, she's NOT younger than our grandson.....she's exactly the same age!!! God does have a sense of humor and the joke was on Jerry!