Follow along on our family's journey with our newly adopted daughter from China. I advocate for children as a volunteer Guardian Ad Litem, representing abused and neglected children in court. I share my faith here and my desire for the care and justice of the abandoned and lonely in the world.
One of my favorite times of year is when my sister, Polly and her son, Aaron come to visit us from Colorado. They come every summer for a week and we have a great time together just hanging out, visiting and having fun!
Unfortunately, little did we know, they would arrive during a tropical depression here in Central Florida that has lasted the ENTIRE week. But that won't stop us!! We headed out to Cocoa Beach (East Coast) on the 2nd day they arrived and actually had some wonderful sunny hours before the rain started and it was a PERFECT morning! The kids played and played, we went up to the cafe for lunch, played a little more and headed out just before the storm. One plus to the weather, the big waves for the boys who wanted to body surf! The big boys spent the whole time out on their boards!
Matthew and Cousin, Aaron. Why did I just take one shot of this and Aaron's eyes are closed? I should learn to take more than one shot at a time, because it is such a great shot of the boys!
Hua Hua getting her buckets ready to go down to the water. Cutie!
Joshua spent a lot of his time sitting here and making his sand castles!
Brothers
All my kiddos together for just a moment before they went off to do what they like to do! I wish I would have gotten cousin Aaron in this shot, but he was up at the towel by Polly at this moment.
Hua Hua looks like she is in surfing position!
Love this action shot of Joshua running in the water
Sisters there in the water (of course Christina is STILL texting). Cousin Aaron heading out with his boogie board.
It has been a very busy last couple months of school and summer is already in full swing! There were several posts of spring events I had hoped to post and never got to it, and then I started to just get SO behind!! So what I decided to do today, was grab some pics from each event and do a highlights post from the end of the school year! So, here we go with a lot of pics!!
Joshua's Field Trip to Sea World Orlando - I was his group chaperone - Here we are on the bus, ready to roll! Joshua and his buddy, Rudi.
The boys mapping out their day at Sea World!
A HUGE walrus!
The Whale and Dolphin Show!!
Feeding the Seals!
Watching the sharks swim overhead in the walkthrough tube at the giant aquarium was just amazing! There were so many sharks and other creatures!!
Wait... How did those boys get into the aquarium?????
Matthew's best buddy Elijah. Matthew is either over at his house or he is over at ours every weekend. :) I love those faces in the morning! They are enjoying the usual favorite breakfast I make on the weekends of eggs and muffins! Yum! Christmas cups?? oh well!
Time for the Earth Fair at the kids school! BEES!!!
Hua Hua fascinated by the owl at the Earth Fair.
Still looking at that little owl!
Joshua's sweet face holding that baby goose?? I know it wasn't a baby chick or duck.
Hua Hua getting her face painted at the Earth Fair.
Joshua got his cast removed! If you recall, he broke his wrist while Katie Grace Hua Hua was in the hospital having her heart surgery.
Moving on to Field Day at school! Katie Grace Hua Hua had a great time following Joshua around to each of his events!
The blindfold roll! Not sure if you ever spend time in Florida, but Lawd have mercy, it was hot that day!
Just a cutie patootie picute of Hua Hua! We were gardening that day.
Cousins Alyssa and Tyler came to visit from Colorado! They all went to Disney!! In order: Alyssa (17), Matthew (13), Christina (17), Tyler (22).
We all went to see The Avengers!!! It was awesome!!! Also, my husband, Jacob, celebrated his Birthday in May!! Happy Birthday Honey!! I love you!!! (see I told you I was really behind on some important events!)
Here are the kids and I ready for The Avengers! We even dressed for the event!!!
Hua Hua had a check up and her heart is doing wonderfully! The cardio effusion has decreased considerably. Her oxygen sats are great - 98! She will remain on the Pulmonary Hypertension medicine for a little while.
One sentence you will hear from Mis Katie Grace Hua Hua frequently is "I do it!!" Thankfully she has the sweetest, most patient nurse at the Cardiologist's office who lets her "do it". Here she is attaching all of her stickers at sensors for her EKG.
Christina at her Spring Band Concert in which she played Bari Sax. They did a beautiful job. Here she is with her boyfriend, (yes, still) Paul. She just finished her Junior Year.
Christina has some very EXCITING NEWS at her concert tonight!!! She was named Head Drum Major for the Marching Band for next year's season!!! For anyone who does not know what that means, no it is not a majorette who twirls a baton!! (someone actually thought that is what I meant!!) , she will be leading and conducting the Marching Band!
Christina also celebrated her 17th Birthday in May!! Happy Birthday Christina! She was also honored as the Director of the Academic Ambassadors at school. Great job!!
Matthew had his Spring Orchestra Concert playing 2nd Seat Violin as a 7th grader. Next year he will be in 8th grade an will continue playing as he loves this instrument and is doing so well on it. Normally, we would be well into football training for the summer by now, but he did not make weight this year as he was supposed to move up into a higher age division. So he/we are sort of bummed about that. We will have to make plans for some other sports for him like possibly go back to Taekwondo. He is very athletic and loves to stay active!
Did I mention how close Hua Hua and daddy have gotten?? They play together all the time now and daddy is a favorite! Here he is "sleeping" in a bed she made for him on the floor. :)
Well, with dance, band and leadership, we were driving Christina all over kingdom come. Soooo, we decided to get her a car!!! We found a cheap used car. It is a Hyundai Accent. I guess cheap is the key word here, although it looks flawless on the outside, it has broken down now already a couple times, ugh!!!!
Last week of school was Memory Book day at Joshua's class. The kids sang songs and recited poems. Ms. Kaiser, the BEST teacher EVER, made each child the most amazing memory book. Page after page of photos, art work, class work all laminated into a big book!! Can you believe she made those for all of her students??!!! She is amazing.
Happy Father's Day to the most awesome daddy ever!! Hua Hua's favorite, upside down!!!
Joshua loves daddy, too!
Father's Day happened to coincide with Recital Day. I don't know if any of you have girls who dance, but recital day is a BIG, LONG, LONG day! Christina and I were off to Lakeland early in the morning and I just remained there with her for the day. I stayed for both recitals, taking her for lunch in between. Jacob brought the kids to the evening performance and we didn't get home until late that evening. All of the dancers did a wonderful job and we were so proud!
Just a cute face.
I also missed Mother's Day too on my blog. So I would like to say, Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother-in-law, Susan aka Lolli! Happy Father's Day to awesome Pops! We love you both!
Happy Mother's Day to my lovely momma!!! Happy Father's Day to my wonderful daddy!!! I love and miss you both and can't wait for our visit home to Colorado this summer to see you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A video of Joshua's class doing a poem. I'm just giggling at Joshua winking at me!
I saw this film trailer and my heart aches at how the value of a strong, beautiful, apt and necessary half of the human race is seen as something to be discarded.
I look forward to seeing the film when it is fully produced.
I'm so grateful that God hears the cry of those oppressed and sends His favor. But I have to remember, we are the body. We are His hands, His feet, His voice. Our voices will be the way of freedom for those who need, if we let Him guide us.
Isaiah 61:3 The Year Of The Lord's Favor:
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
