Monday, May 28, 2007

Weekend fun





Here's Rachel playing in the sprinkler, and Julia and Quentin at our church Fun Fair.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

MeiMei and GeGe

Quentin and Rachel have a special bond. They love each other so much, and I love watching them together.


Monday, May 21, 2007

Rachel's video



This is Rachel's adoption video from last year. I just uploaded it to Google video so you don't have to download it to watch it.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Moms for Modesty

I just wanted to pass along this link that I thought was interesting, Moms for Modesty. I get so discouraged and heartsick sometimes when trying to buy clothes for my daughters. I simply can't believe the amount of trashy-looking clothes in stores intended for little girls. It's fairly easy to find cute stuff for Rachel right now, but once they get out of the toddler sizes, it's awful. My little Julia is only four years old, yet apparently manufacturers think she should be dressing like a miniature Britney Spears. It doesn't help that the choices are fairly limited here where we live. Thank goodness for ebay!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Happy Mother's Day!


On Mother's Day I always think about my own wonderful mom, and feel so thankful for her love and guidance throughout my life. Since the day I became a mom myself, I also think about how blessed I am to have my children. Being a mother has been the most challenging and rewarding thing that I have ever done. I have never before felt so tired, so joyful, so frustrated, so exhilarated, or so overwhelmed by both the weight of this responsibility and by the strength of my love for them.

I wonder why life is so unfair, why I have four beautiful children and some people have to struggle so hard for just one. I don't for one minute take any of it for granted. I often think of how things could have been different. When my oldest son was just under two, I had an ectopic pregnancy that caused me to lose one of my fallopian tubes, and almost cost me my life. What if my son had had to grow up without a mother, or if I was unable to have any more children, and we wouldn't have had Quentin and Julia? When I look at the long wait that China adoptive families are now facing, I realize that if we had not started the adoption process when we did, we would not have our Rachel. We wouldn't have wanted to stand in the way of families seeking their first child when we already had three. It is frightening to think that we could have missed the chance to have this precious child in our lives.

This will be my second Mother's Day since I have been touched by the miracle of adoption. I feel like since Rachel became my daughter, I understand more completely what it means to be a mother. I understand how it is about so much more than pregnancy, childbirth, or shared genes. Those things have nothing to do with love - the fierce, consuming, unconditional love that only a parent can know. That love is exactly the same for all of my children, no matter how they came to me. Adoption has been one of the most profound and joyful experiences of my life, and I can't help but feel a little bit sorry for those who haven't had the same privilege.

I want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, especially those who don't have their babies in their arms yet. I have learned that the aching and yearning for your baby is part of being a mother. It's a painful part that you know far too well, but I promise it will quickly fade once you finally see your little one's face. Then you will be swept into this glorious adventure called motherhood, and life will never be the same again.

Mothers - FFFF






This week the photo challenge at Double Happiness is mothers. Here are a couple of collages of both my mom and Jamie's mom.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Fun in the sun





It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, and the kids had a great time playing with their friends and cousins.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

No, no

It's a little late, but here is the FFFF challenge for this week. This one was WAY too easy. You're supposed to capture your kids doing something naughty. Here are just a few of those moments from yesterday. Please don't call the social workers on me!
The girls escaped outside before I could get their clothes on.
Rachel decides that goldfish crackers would taste good in left-over cereal milk.

Ok, this one is bad. I let her up on the counter cause she occasionally likes to sit there and watch me while I'm cooking, but then she stood up and found the children's Tylenol bottles. See that impish look on her face?
Here she is after I put her down and took away her medicine bottles. Yup, she's turning two, all right.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Monday, May 07, 2007

Weekend at Niagara Falls





This past weekend we had a reunion with our China travel group in Niagara Falls. We all stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and had a wonderful time. It was so great to see all the other families again and to see how much the girls had changed. On Friday afternoon we went to see the falls. The girls thought they were neat, and they liked the rainbow, but most of all they enjoyed jumping in the puddles!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Happy May Day!



Last night we made May baskets with the kids to hang on their friends' doors today.