Clowning Around

Two Little Darlings

Sugar and Spice, and everything nice.

How Sweet!!!

Miss Smiley

You would have had to been there.

We went to McDonald's tonight after church. We was getting ready to leave. Kevin had went to the bathroom. I noticed Courtney and Brooke was standing at the door of the men's bathroom, but I did not think much about it. Courtney was going to scare her daddy when he came out of the bathroom. Courtney is my hyper one, and she never gets embarrassed. The men's bathroom door opened and out came this man that Courtney thought was going to be her daddy. Courtney screams "Rahhhhhhhhhh" The poor man jumped straight up. He worked at McDonald's. Courtney's mouth dropped opened. Her face turned as red as a beet. Me and those around me was laughing so hard. The poor man, he said " That is a good one. She scared me to death. I guess that pays me back for all those times I scared my mom."
I was laughing so hard I could not talk. I was trying to tell the man that Courtney thought he was her daddy. I don't know if he ever understood, but we sure got a good laugh. Courtney has a very loud mouth, so when she yelled, it was heard very well. (poor man, I am glad this happened AFTER he went to the bathroom.)

Brooke, and the New room

Brooke loves the play room. Can you believe that I was able to clean my kitchen today, without Brooke clinging to my clothes, or bringing 20 toys and playing with them at my feet????
It was so nice. I can even type on the computer without little fingers trying to type also.
Brooke has played in the new room all day. (Yes by herself) Courtney was out there some, but over all Brooke has got toys out of the toy box and played by herself.

HMMMM.........Maybe I should put her bed out there. ;0)

Happy Girl

Swinging, and enjoying the outside.

Sweet Girl.

"What kind of look is that?"

Enjoying bubbles, after playing in the mud.

We love this Weather.

I think I need to go to the beach.

This is fun!!

" I hope our cats have not been in this fresh dirt"

What a Cutie!! (the bucket is bigger than Brooke)

Dirt is fun.

The room is Done

Before ( I still have my side of the garage)

Before

After

Being silly

Finished

Finished (the room is a 13 x 24)

I am so excited. After about 6 weeks the room is done. YEAH. The guy building it could only work on Saturdays, so it took a little long. I am so proud of my wonderful husband. He wired the room himself. He even did a three way switch. He had never done that before. He put the ceiling fans up. He also ran the gas line for the heater. My husband works at the hospital. Electricity is not his field.
I am so proud of him. He did a GREAT job. He was slower than those who do electrical work, but he got the job done. Kevin's dad dealt with electricity and running gas lines. Kevin had helped his dad in the past some. Kevin also did the painting. The past few weeks have been busy for him. I forgot to take pictures as we went. I will post a few that I do have.
The girls love the room. They have ran, jumped, screamed, laughed, and had a great time in the room. We had to decide what to call this room. We had always called it the garage, because that is what it was. Kevin calls it the den. Courtney calls it her bedroom. Brooke and I call it the playroom. I like playroom, because that is what it is. I always wanted a playroom for my children, and a school room. Thanks to my wonderful husband he did this for me. Of course it was his side of the garage that we made into the room, so Kevin wants HIS garage. We are now starting the process of Kevin a new garage. I know you might think it would have been easier to build a room and kept our garage. We could not. There was no where to start the room, unless we build it connecting to one of the girls rooms. That would not have looked right, going into a bedroom to get to another room. We could have put French doors in our living room and went out the back. The problem with that was we would have had to built over the septic tank or field lines. I am happy with the way we did it, because the room is bigger than the way we had planned. I told Kevin I would probably stay in that room all the time. I know the girls will. They both have been in it most of last night, and today. Courtney wanted to sleep in there. I did not want that, because I have to buy blinds for the windows first. It is really hard to tell how it looks with the pictures. It looks better than the pictures. I can still use my garage. We have a door that goes from the garage into the new room. The floor had to be built up to be even with the house. There are a few steps going from the garage to the room.

Our Old Web Site

Since I have started blogging, I have met many new friends. Many of the ones I have met, are people who are adopting. Many of you guys are paper chasing, many are waiting for your sweet son, or daughter. I know I have helped at least two families to see the beauty of adoption, and they are now adopting from China. I am so thrilled that another child will find their forever family.
I know many of you that I have met, don't know about my web site. I wanted to share it. I know when I was on my journey to Brooke, it helped to read about other people's journey. I never post on this site anymore. I always blog, but maybe there will be something on there you might like to read. If nothing else, click on Brooke's song. It is on the home page at the very bottom. A young man from our congregation wrote this for Brooke. It was a real blessing to us.
Thanks again, Bro. Johnathon. We appreciate you.
http://www.angelfire.com/al4/our2littledarlings/

Amy, from catchingbutterflys wanted to know about our fun raisers. I don't know if that information is on the web site or not. Like I said, I never go to it anymore. By Amy asking, it brought my mind back to our journey. I can never thank those who donated their time, and money into our journey. I appreciate what each one of you guys did. You was such a blessing to us, and our family. I started thinking about our journey and realized that many of my adoption bloggers have not heard our story. If you are interested then check out the web site. If you want to read about our journey to Courtney, click Courtney. If you want to read our journey to Brooke, click Brooke. If it does not come up right away, you might have to do it several times.
I guess that is all for now. Let me know what you think about Brooke's song.

Nice Date

Kevin took me to eat at Outback last night. It was so nice. We left our children with our parents. It was just the two of us. It was so nice to be able to talk without interruptions. Kevin has been so busy with building the new room that we have not got to be together much. I have been dealing with homeschool, terrible twos, cleaning sheet rock dust, among other things. I really needed last night. I felt bad, because I told Kevin I did not want to go home. I wanted the night to last for 24 more hours. I enjoyed the peace and quite at the table. It was so nice to not have to say "Leave the salt shaker alone. Please don't pick on your sister. Please stop crying. Why are you still crying? You have mommy, mommy is right here. I know we left your shirt in the van. Brooke don't you tell mommy no. Courtney please leave her alone, you are making her mad"
Do you get my point? The list goes on. I am with the girls 24 hours a day. I love them very much. I really needed the time with my sweetie last night. Even though it was only for a couple of hours I loved it.

Chinese/American

When somebody signs anonymous, and don’t sign their name it makes me think different things. Does the person know that their comment is rude, or offensive, and they are ashamed to sign their name? If you don’t sign your name, there is a reason. Most of the time it is not a good reason. There is times that you might forget, or new people don’t understand how to leave a comment.
I don’t mind posting a anonymous comment if I think it was meant for good.
I want to say America is the best Happy New Year we could have. I am proud to be in America. Just because I feel this way don’t change the fact that I have a Chinese daughter. My daughter has Chinese genes. My daughter was giving to me by God. I
have no doubt on that. People have made statements to me, that is very rude. Most people are kind and don’t say things, but there are those few that just don’t understand. People have made comments to me like “She is American now, so why do you have to have anything to do with China” First, she is American, but that don’t change her genes. Second, Kevin and I signed a paper when we adopted Brooke that we would tell her about her heritage and we would tell her about the culture of China. We do not lie. In America we celebrate the New Year in January. In America we have some crazy ways of celebrating and bringing in the New year. The same goes for China. China celebrates in February. If you don’t have a daughter or son from China, then I know you don’t understand about these holidays. With us signing the paper that we would tell her about her heritage, we feel we must do that. There is many Chinese holidays that we will participate in, as long as it is not sin. I also think it will be a help to Brooke to see other children that have been adopted from China. We may not always participate in these Chinese Holidays. Brooke may not be interested when she is older.
Brooke is a American citizen now. That still don’t change her genes. Brooke will want to know about her heritage, and we will do our best to tell her.
I hope this helps those who don’t understand. Here is a few more things you can think on. We are a CHINESE, AMERICAN, HAPPY, FAMILY.
Brooke may not be flesh of my flesh or bone of my bone, but she is still miraculously my own. Brooke may not have grew under my heart, but she grew in it.

We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life.
But those who make their journey home across time & miles,
growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them,
are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us
by God's very own hands.
--- Kristi Larson

Happy New Year

These children sang for Chinese New Year. I don't know what they are saying, but I thought they did a great job. They are singing Happy New Year. Courtney is singing it now.

Happy Chinese New Year

One of Our Chinese New Year Celebrations.

Brooke enjoying a sucker.

The Dragon Dance.

Some of our Beautiful Children.

Brooke with her pig for the pig parade.

Bad Peanut Butter

Yikes. We have the number on our peanut butter, that is the number for the peanut butter that is being recalled. I bought a 6 pound thing of peanut butter from Sams. We have already ate a good bit of it. Thank the Lord we bless our food.

Too Busy, and no Energy Left.

I am going to be missing from action for awhile. My body is just about wore out. The month of February is really busy for us. Thursday night I took the girls to the Peeking Acrobats. Friday night we went to some friends house. We have not been around them in about two years. We had a great time. Brooke and their little girl played GREAT together.
Saturday night we went to Kelly and Chris's house. We had breakfast, for supper. Kevin fixed his famous chocolate gravy. We had a great time with them.
Sunday evening we went to a Chinese New Year Celebration. Kevin and I was responsible for the balloons. We had about 70 balloons to blow up, tie a string to, and then tie to chairs. Our fingers lost 5 pounds. LOL I was so tired by the time we got home.
Today I decorated at the fire hall for Courtney a Valentine Party. Tonight we had the party and I am completely worn out. 15 girls was way to many. They was good, but it was hectic. My body was so worn out from the busy weekend.
On top of all of this we are trying to finish our extra room. The men finished it Saturday. We have the clean up to do. There is so much sheet rock dust that it is sad. The dust has even came into the house. I have so much to clean up. We then have to paint, and get the carpet down.
This weekend Courtney has a play to go to. Next weekend we have a play, rodeo, and another Chinese dinner to go to. Our plate has been very full. I don't know when I will have time to post pictures from all these fun things we are doing. My computer has been acting very strange lately. I may have to to a system restore on it. I have no idea when I will have time to do that. I have so many blogs to catch up on, but I just don't have time. My dear husband has been so busy trying to get this new room built for me. He has done the wiring and running the gas lines. He has been so busy also. I feel like I have not got to be with him much lately. All his free time is spent working on the room. I know we will enjoy it, when it is done. I told Kevin we need a few days away, to just relax. I don't know what the word means anymore.
The first week of March Kevin's mom is suppose to have knee surgery. She will be at our house for a awhile after the surgery. I am not for sure when I will get back in the groove of posting and catch up on all my favorite bloggers. I guess that is enough of my rambling. I will catch up with you all one of these days.

McDonalds

Brooke is loving it.

.

Brooke can spot a McDonald's a mile away. Does this mean we take her to much? LOL
She loves McDonald's. If we ask her where she wants to eat, she says "McDonald's." Kevin ask her what she wanted for breakfast the other day. Her reply was "McDonald's"
I took the girls to the Peeking Acrobats Thursday night. I had to pass two McDonald's. Brooke was yelling "McDonald's mommy. McDonald's" Like I said, she can spot them a mile away.

Courtney has got where she don't like McDonald's. She wanted to go to Burger King the other day, and Brooke started yelling "no, McDonald's" What am I going to do with these silly girls?

Praying

Talking

Copy and paste the link below. I can't get this to publish. I do not like this new blogger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz0eWXMzJ9g

Alzheimer's

My Grandmother.

Brooke combing Granny's hair.

Granny, with three of her Great Grands.

I hate the terrible disease. This is a sad thing to see anybody go through. This terrible disease robs the mind.
My sweet grandmother has been going through this for the past year. Things are getting worse with her. Many times she will not know me. My mom is the most faithful daughter in the world. She goes to see my grandmother every day. She has done this all my life. She don't miss a day unless she is sick or a emergency comes up. My mom has always been the one who takes my grandmother places. It makes me so sad when she does not know my mom. My grandmother is still living by herself. She has a little room connected to my Aunts house. Many times my Aunt will go check on her, and she don't know she is her daughter. Many times she still knows us. She will tell us things that happened years ago. The next minute she will blank out and say "now who did you say you was?"
My grandmother loves Courtney. She has always been close to her. We went to visit her last week and she did not know who Courtney was. Now do you understand why I hate this disease? I have tears in my eyes as I type this. My grandmother has been robbed of her mind. God has allowed my grandmother to live 88 years. I am thankful for that. I just feel so sad for her. She adores Brooke. Brooke adores her. Brooke has been in love with my grandmother from day one. I never told my grandmother we was adopting. We all felt it would be to much on her knowing that me and Courtney was on a plane. I will never forget the day we brought Brooke home and took her to see my grandmother. We walked in and my grandmother says " Who's baby is that?" We told her that she was ours. She did not believe us. When we finally convinced her that Brooke was really ours, she could not stop smiling. She hugged her and kissed her. Brooke went right to my grandmother. Brooke has always went straight to my grandmother. She kisses her and treats her like a Queen. Brooke adores my grandmother. Many times Brooke would go to my grandmother before she would others.
I have many good memories with my grandmother. I can remember as a child going to her house. I guess I have some of my best memories there. I would fix her hair. She would spoil me really good. She would pop me pop corn and anything I wanted that she had. She could make the best cornflake pies. She would make the crust out of cornflakes and then make a chocolate filling.
I will never forget the day she saw Courtney. My grandmother knew of my struggles with infertility. She was so happy when I got pregnant. The day Courtney was born my grandmother could not be there, because she had just had surgery. We came home and went by my Aunts house, so my grandmother could hold Courtney. My grandmother started crying when she held Courtney. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a heart pin. She gave it to me. It had number one mom on it. It was hooked to a little card. Talking about touching, I was touched. Seeing my grandmother cry, was hard on me. I am so thankful for all the good memories I have with her.
My grandmother is having dementia also. She is seeing things that is not there. It is funny to here some of the stuff she says. Courtney don't understand and she can't help but laugh. My grandmother will start telling me to look out the window at those men in the trees. She says they have been working all day in those trees. She also talks about apple trees. She sees people outside in a apple orchard picking apples. One day she said there was little girl outside playing by herself and nobody was watching her. It breaks my heart to see this happening to her. I miss the grandmother I used to have. I wish this terrible disease would go away. I heard a story one time about a little girl who would have bad dreams. The little girl would say "GO AWAY BAD DREAM. BOO. GO AWAY BAD DREAM BOO" The bad dream would go away. I wish I could say this, and this terrible disease that has robbed my grandmothers mind would go away. I love her so much.

Crocs...You gota have em

I love my Crocs.

Taking a Break.

What a Cutie!!

I forgot my cowgirl hat.

TERRIBLE TWOS

What am I going to do......? :(

Would you like to Laugh?

I know you all need a good laugh. Even though you did not see the details that I am about to give you, I know you can imagine it. My dear husband sure got a good laugh.
Tonight I ended up with a broke wrist and nose. Teasing, I think. I don't think they are broke, but they sure do hurt.
I went outside to feed my two Sheltie's. The female is always hyper. She comes bouncing up to me very fast. I step on her foot. She yelps, and I try to move off of her foot. (to fast) We have had some wet weather around here. As I am trying to move fast, my feet slip on the mud. I am sliding, and trying to hold myself up. I did manage not to fall, but my wrist took the beaten. It slammed into the side of the house and felt like it bent. Oh it hurt so bad. It is still hurting. This happened several hours ago.
About a hour ago, Brooke and I was laughing and playing around. She was in my lap and I had her tickle box on. She was laughing, and threw her head at me. My nose caught the beaten. It sounded like it broke. It felt like it was broke. It hurt so bad. Tears came to my eyes. All I could do was put Brooke down and hold my head back with my hands on my nose. I knew blood was going to be everywhere. It did not bleed, but the pain was enough to take my breath away.
Did you enjoy my two funny accidents? It is funny now, but it sure was not at the time.
O.K Kelly, Stop laughing..............You to mom.

Trust God With Your Dreams

Many times during my adoption journey I had to think on this scripture.

Trust God with your dreams

Today's Scripture

"The vision is for an appointed time. Though it tarry, wait earnestly for it, for it will surely come." (Habakkuk 2:3)

Today's Word:

We know God has put dreams and desires in your heart—things you are hoping, praying, and believing for. The Bible says "if we'll pray in faith, according to God's Word, then God will hear us and He will answer those prayers."

When you have a dream from God in your heart, you don't have to struggle and try to force it to happen. You don't have to be worried or frustrated, wondering if it's ever going to come to pass. When you have the promises of God deep in your heart, the Bible says you will "enter into the rest of God." That's a place of total trust. A place where you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is going to see you through. It's a place of faith, knowing that God is in complete control, and at the exact right time, He will bring your dream to pass!

A Prayer for Today

God, You know the dreams of my heart. I rely on You to bring them to realization and trust in Your perfect plan and perfect timing. In Jesus' Name – Amen.

Better Late Than Never

I took two of my wonderful friends out for their birthdays today. Kelly's birthday was last week. I will not even tell you when Lori's birthday was. I have been planning on taking her out and it just has not worked out. Kelly chose Chinese, so that is where we went. We had a nice time with no children. We all love our children very much, but it sure was nice to be able to sit, talk, relax, and enjoy our food. I forgot how it feels. I don't leave my children much. We are going to have to do this again. Lori and I have Kelly beat in age about 3 years. Lori thought it would be nice to go to a spa for a day of relaxing. It does sound nice. I think the year Lori and I turn 40 we might have to do that. Even though Kelly is three years behind us, she will have to go with us. That is almost 7 years down the road so who knows. I think the year we turn 40 we need to do something. I think it would be nice to go to the Smokeys and rent a cabin for a few days. By that time maybe Brooke want be such a Mommy's girl. I don't know how Kevin would like that. LOL Bless his heart, he is spoiled with me around. I don't know what he would do without me for three days.
I don't want to think to much about 40. Yuck. I have to say 30 was real hard on me. I hated it. I was encouraged that I had a younger husband. LOL
We really did have a great time today. It just went by way to fast.
I love you much, Kel and Lori. ( also little Gabriel. He went with us.He was so good)

Kelly with her burned lip. Bless her heart. She will have to blog about her lip. She really had a rough day yesterday.

Not the best picture. The lady took forever to take the picture. Have you ever had to hold a smile for a minute? Lori had food in her mouth. LOL and Kel, hates having her picture taken. We was wanting the lady to hurry and take the picture and she just kept looking through the screen. Oh well, that is the only one I have.

Lori, Holding Gabriel.