I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Carla and I am playing along! I’ve seen many “bloggers” lately doing this and thought I’d join in when Carla asked me to!
Favorite person (outside of family): Too many to name
Quirks about you? Love to sing and do crafty things like stamping and scrapbooking
How would the person who loves you the most describe you in ten words or less? Family person, loving, and likes helping others
Any regrets in life? Uh, yeah, I’m sure everyone does! Most of mine were between the ages of say 14-24
Favorite charity or cause? Anything that has to do with adoption of course and our church Northpointe
Favorite blog recently? There are quite a few I am addicted to and love reading at least once a week but the one I can’t stop checking in on is Bring The Rain. I posted about it a couple of times and it's about a Christian family going through something no family should ever go through, the loss of a child and really puts life into perspective.
Something you cannot get enough of? Church and Starbucks!
Worst job you ever had? Probably working for 4 Endodontists (they are the dentists that do root canals). It was my first dental job but all the patients were always in a lot of pain and in bad moods, not to mention it was extremely boring!
What job would you pay NOT to have? Anything outside in the heat
If you could be a fly on the wall, where? Hmmm, not sure about this one
Favorite Bible verse right now? My always favorite verse, is on my blog, Joshua 24:15
Guilty pleasure? Starbucks coffee, it’s the only coffee I will drink and very expensive!
Got any confessions? I like to be in control of things
If you had to spend $1000 on yourself, how would you spend it? Hmmm, I really want a sectional sofa or new dining room table.
Favorite thing about your house? The openness of it and the addition Mark just added
Least favorite thing about your house? The torn up backyard from our two basset hounds and Mark not liking to do yard work!
One thing you are bad at? Confrontation and letting others know that they upset me or did something wrong
One thing you are good at? Crafty things and singing
If you could change one thing about your circumstances, what? Our bills would be paid off and I could not work so much. Overflow of money to adopt more kids! :)
Who would you like to meet someday? Jesus
What makes you feel sexy? Dressing up
Who is your real life hero? Good teachers
What is the hardest part of your job? Standing all day
When are you most relaxed? Watching television with my family
What stresses you out? When there are a million things to do in a week
What can you not live without? My family and Jesus
Why do you blog? Started it to keep people posted on our adoption process but now it’s a great way to keep in touch with others and meet new people
Who are you tagging? I am tagging Joy, Tonya, Cheri
Rules:1. Answer the questions.
2. Link back to who tagged you.
3. Tag 8 bloggers in the above categories to do the same.

Last Day of School and Catching Up on Posting Pictures!

Inside the limo
Katelyn, Amanda, and Jennifer
The Girls at In-N-Out Burger
Katelyn cooling off at the swim party
The gang minus two who already had gone home
Kennedi and her teacher Miss Veronica
Kennedi at "Water Day"
Not afraid of ONE thing!
Bradley and his classmates with their teacher Miss Moore
Sorry, another post with the pictures out of order! First of all, bear with me because I have not posted pictures of the kids in awhile and so I'm trying to catch up by posting the end-of-the-year activities! Today was the last day of school for all three kids. Kennedi and her class had "Water Day" as you saw above and she was so excited to wear her bathingsuit to school today! She LOVE the waterslides and would FLY down them at top speed. This girl is not afraid of anything! She had a great time! Katelyn and Bradley started their day at awards where Katelyn made Citizenship and Honor Roll and Bradley received Citizenship (next year he'll be eligible for Honor Roll)! After awards they each went to their classrooms for movies and popcorn. School was out at 11:30am. Us 6th grade parents had a big surprise for the 6th grade class when they got out of class, the limo you see above! When the bell rang, they all had to make a train and keep their eyes closed. We led them out to in front of the limo and had them open their eyes. They were so excited, screaming at the top of their lungs. Have you ever heard 7 pre-teens scream??? They all headed in the limo and the limo took them into Fresno for lunch at In-N-Out (myself and 3 other moms followed them into Fresno). When we arrived at lunch, the girls were all in tears. We asked the limo driver how they did in the car over and he said they were "emotional"! They were reminising over their time at KCS and began to cry over what they were leaving behind! The boys kept saying "stop crying!". Girls and their emotions! We all had lunch and then got to cruise down Blackstone! :) We took the "long way" home and ended our limo trip at Amanda's house for a swim party. They had a bounce house water slide that they put up to the pool where the kids could slide down and end up in the pool. We had cake and ice-cream and the kids had a great afternoon together. They will always remember their last day at KCS! :)

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend and will take some time to thank God for the blessings you have!

***HUGS***

Our Little Girl Graduates KCS!

(Sorry the pictures are pretty much out of order....) Even looking back at these pictures tonight makes me teary-eyed! These pictures are from their Graduation Ceremony last night. I cannot believe our Katelyn is leaving the only school she has ever known, a very small private Christian school, to venture to a public Middle School in the fall. There are only 12 kids in her Graduating Class (about 70 kids in the whole school!) and these 12 have been together since they were 3 years old and in preschool! They are more like brothers and sisters than anything else. Needless to say, there were many tears shed last night to see our little ones all growing up. :(
The second picture above is of Katelyn saying her speach of her greatest moment at Kerman Christian (KCS). She told about when she was in 3rd grade, she nominated her 2nd grade teacher (Miss I) for a local news channel's Teacher Of The Year contest. They chose Katelyn's letter as the winning letter and gave Miss I a make-over and interviewed Katelyn for the news.
The fourth picture is of Katelyn and her teacher this year Mrs. Jourden. The other pictures are of all the kids together, 7 girls and 5 boys. All but one of them are all going to the Middle School here in Kerman so they'll all see each other in August but it will not be the same as it was at their small little elementary school........

Fresno Grizzlies Baseball Game Field Trip

Katelyn's class along with the 4th and 5th grade class went to see a Fresno Grizzlies game about a week and a half ago. Mark went on the field trip with Katelyn and they had a great time. It was very warm that day however! Her last field trip for Elementary School! :(

Thankful Thursday

Seems like every week on Thankful Thursday I have been most thankful for my family, especially my children. Most of you probably know that Steven Curtis Chapman's 5 year old daughter died tragically yesterday in their driveway. She was their youngest child and adopted from China. They have adopted 3 beautiful daughters from China and used the same agency we used, America World. They also began an organization called Shaohannah's Hope where they help people with the costs of adoption and help bring these children home. Our agency sent out an email requesting that people go to Steven's website and donate to their new Maria Miracle Fund in memory of Maria http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6259. If you are willing, please donate. They also have a blog for Maria http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/. If you cannot donate at this time, please just say a prayer for their family. How sad for them, their life changed in an instant, and ours can too........

Work went well this week although I'm glad it's the weekend (and a long one too!). Sorry I have not posted pictures of Kennedi since her party, I'll have to do that this weekend! She is doing really well like always. She has gone to pre-kindergarten all week and was supposed to take a nap there each day. My friend Julie picked her up on Monday and Tuesday so she didn't have to take a nap. Yesterday Julie could not pick her up so I got her blanket ready yesterday morning for her to take to school to nap. She was getting dressed and I went in to check on her, she was half-dressed in the corner of her room crying. She said "I don't want to sleep"! So of course I arranged for her to go to my mother-in-laws so she didn't have to "sleep" at school! I think she's afraid to sleep anywhere other than in her bed. She would not sleep on the plane home, at Disneyland, in the car, no where but home, so telling her she had to sleep at school was scary for her. Today Julie picked her up again so she was happy! :)

I promise to post some pictures this weekend! Kiss your children and family and thank God for them!

**Blessings**

Thankful Thursday

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go!

Well, hello everyone and happy Thursday! I know it says Wedneday's date above-that's because I started this post last night and finished it today so it has yesterday's date-sorry. I am down to 3 days left of my family leave then back to work I go. Part of me is so sad that the time has flown by but a small part of me is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Being a stay-at-home mom is a lot of work with 3 kids! I give all the moms that do this all the credit, they're amazing! It has been nice to be able to drop the kids off at school, pick them up from school, go to any event they have, make sure they do their homework after school, etc.! And even though I say it is a lot of work and tiresome at times, this Thankful Thursday I am most thankful for every living second I have here on this earth with them and the ones I love. A week or two ago I posted here on my blog the address of another family's blog and asked you all to take time to read it. Well, I visited the blog again yesterday and was again reminded how much we should hold on to every little second because in an instant your world could change. If you have not read the blog, please at least take some time to watch their video their church made of their story. Honestly, it will touch your soul and make you realize that whatever you are going through at this time, God has a plan for it all and He will get you through it. Click on this link and go to the video Rocked To My Core http://withoutwax.tv/page/3/ It's a lenghthy video but very powerful. Please take time to watch it, you'll be touched.
Thank you for continuing to check in with us and our family! Kennedi continues to do really well and is learning about the valley heat (it's getting up to 100+ degrees this weekend)! Her new things to say are "oh my gosh" all the time (even when nothing is happening or no one else is talking she'll just blurt out "oh my gosh"!) and "what are you doing" over and over again along with "why?" (even when she knows "why"!) a million times a day! Whew! Our other 2 children never went through the "why?" thing and now I know why it drives parents crazy! :)
Have a very blessed weekend and make it a joyous day, life's too short not to! :)

**Blessings!**

Happy 6th Birthday Kennedi!

Gifts Galore and Dedication to God!

This Mother's Day was especially special to me because well, first, I am now mom to 3 wonderful children and, second, we were able to dedicate Kennedi at church yesterday! As you can see from one of the pictures above, there were quite a few families there dedicating their little ones! It was a very nice ceremony. Kennedi looked beautiful in her new pink and lime green dress I found especially for this day! Just a couple months ago she had no idea what Mother's Day even was and I'm sure has never been up in front of a large church like this! What a God we serve!





Whew! What a party on Saturday! Sorry for my delay in posting about her Birthday but we were completely wiped out on Saturday evening and yesterday was Mother's Day and her dedication! Now the kids are off to school and I can take a few minutes to post you all these pictures! Let's start with gearing up for her party.... She was very excited about the fact that she would be receiving presents but all she said all week was "I don't like lot of people". She was not thrilled with the fact that we had invited about 150 people to come welcome home Kennedi and celebrate her birthday! Saturday morning she woke up happy and the kids sang her Happy Birthday. We got her ready for her big party and headed out to leave. The first thing she did was say "I'm six now, no carseat!" so we removed the carseat and she happily got in the car just like the other kids and buckled up her seatbelt! My mom had ordered a bounce house and so really for the whole day she did really well with the "lot of people" and bounced in the castle and came out to "kind-of" meet people she hadn't met yet. She still gets really shy when all the focus is on her (I'm sure that's something she'll get used to!). About 100 people came, we ate, had cake, and opened and opened presents! She had 50 presents in all and they keep coming! She has received 20 outfits, 2 bathingsuits, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 teddy bears, tons of books, rollerskates, a scooter, and a few other toys! WHEW!!!! When we were on the last present she was so happy to be done! I hope she doesn't think her birthdays will be this way every year! It was worse than Christmas!!! Thank you so much to everyone who took time to come out to her party and for all of your thoughtfulness! She is so loved by everyone! :)

Thankful Thursday

Cannot believe it is already another "Thankful Thursday"! The pictures above are from Chapel at school today where Glory Riders came with their horses. Cannot wait to pick up Kennedi and ask her about them!

Today I am thankful for:

~Always having my parents-Kennedi had a nightmare last night and I often wonder what is going through her head and what she had a bad dream about, is she scared. Cannot imagine what she has been through.

~Being able to worship God-This Sunday, on Mother's Day, we are dedicating Kennedi at Church, something she would have never experienced in China.

~This time home with the kids-My time is dwendling down (only one week left) and although a small part of me is ready to go back, I have really enjoyed being here and being more involved with the kids and school.

~This beautiful California weather we are having

~Kid's Laughter (Isn't it the best?)

~Kennedi's birth parents-on this being her Birthday week, I thank God that they gave birth to her and wanted her to have a better life than they could provide. How hard that must have been. You gave birth to a wonderful little girl!

~Last but definately not least, for Kennedi-that God brought us together. Happy 6th Birthday (on Saturday) sweet girl! We love you!

**HUGS**

Well, Happy Monday everyone! We had a wonderful time at the "Happiest Place on Earth" this weekend and arrived home yesterday evening. As you can see from the pictures below, Kennedi really enjoyed our trip! She did amazingly well on the car ride over on Thursday and didn't even say "finished" once! Thank God for DVD players! They watched about 4 movies and we were there! Thursday evening we relaxed in the hotel room. Friday morning we woke up and headed over to Mimi's for breakfast then to California Adventure for their opening at 10am. We had a great time at California Adventure (I really enjoy this park because it is much more laid back than Disneyland and we can take our time). Kennedi amazed us by liking anything that went fast-the faster the better! We rode the River Rapids which goes really fast and you usually get really wet! She LOVED it! We got wet but not too bad so that was good! Well... later that afternoon she said "I ride wet!" meaning she wanted to go on the rapids again. So we went and waited this time for 45 minutes to ride. Unfortunately this time I got hit by a gieser (sp??) and ended up drenched which Kennedi thought was hilarious! I had to buy a hat afterwards because my hair was out of control! Plus it was 5pm and so it was getting cooler and I was having a hard time drying off! Oh well, it was a ton of fun! The video above is of Bradley dancing with the talking trash can that roams around California Adventure. We headed over to Disneyland for dinner and the fireworks and made it back to the hotel by 10:30.

Saturday we had to meet the Girl Scouts in the park at 9am. Once we all met up the girls headed over to Adventure Land to ride the Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones. Then they shopped and shopped (having 7 girls together and them all getting $150 from the troop to spend made it a day of mostly shopping). Then we rode Pirates and had to head over to Rain Forest Cafe. Once back from Rainforest, we headed over to Tomorrow Land for some more rides. At this point we decided to leave Katelyn with the girls and her troop leader to enjoy Disneyland while we took Kennedi and Bradley to ride rides. The girls wanted to shop too much and Kennedi and Bradley were bored and wanted to ride. This made me nervous leaving her because it was so crowded but thank God for cell phones because we checked on her often and she was good about checking in. Ugggghhhh, not ready for Jr. High and this independence with her thing! Anyway, we had a good time riding rides and the girls had a good time as well. At 10:30pm we rode the new Finding Nemo submarines and Kennedi was already fighting her sleep (she will not sleep anywhere other than in a bed-no matter what) so I took the 2 kids back to the hotel (we arrived at 11:30pm) and Mark stayed with Katelyn until closing and made sure she got out of the park okay (she spent the night with one of the other girls).

Yesterday, we woke up around 8am and headed over to Downtown Disney to meet Katelyn. While waiting for her Kennedi got to experience Build A Bear for the first time and she made a bunny with a bathingsuit-so cute! We met up with Katelyn, had lunch at ESPN Zone, and then headed for home exhausted. It was a great trip and Kennedi can't wait to go back. The pictures below are of the trip-enjoy-and have a great week! :)

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the ability to go to Disneyland! For those of you who know me well I'm sure you're saying "AGAIN?". Yes, we are going again but man I have to tell you, with now 3 kids this trip is not cheap! So it MAY be awhile before we're able to go again. Yes, I know, "awhile" for us is like maybe a year :) but it still MAY be awhile before we go again! Normally we would not be going this quickly after a huge trip to China (I still need to pack. For some reason getting those suitcases out again after China makes me feel ill, remembering all the stressing and making sure we were under 44 pounds!) but Katelyn's Girl Scout troop of 6 years is going as their last hurrah. They have been saving all their money raised from selling their nuts and cookies so they could go on this trip at the end of their Girl Scout career. They each received money for their ticket to the park, lunch, and $150 spending money-not bad! So.... we HAD to go. We're leaving as soon as the kids get out of school today for the 5-6 hour drive (LA traffic). Not looking forward to the drive because we now have little Miss Impatient! Katelyn and Bradley have always traveled real well and slept or watched movies-you never really heard from them. Not this one! She keeps saying "take airplane, it fast". No, we can't take airplane, we have to take car-sorry. I'm sure we'll hear "finished?" then "finished now?" about a million times before arriving. We have the DVD Players ready to go so I'm hoping she watches movies and surprises us all by being somewhat patient! Tomorrow we head over to California Adventure for a day to ourselves then Saturday we meet up with all the families at 9am for a full day at Disneyland (the girls think we're staying there until midnight). Sunday we head back for home. It should be a fun time! People say to me "man, Kennedi's going to think Disney is a monthly event for our family, Hong Kong Disney last month and Disneyland this month!". I HOPE NOT! :)
Today a large group from AWAA headed to China! A "blogging friend", Joy, and her husband are part of this group! You can read their blog by clicking here: http://www.owensfamilyadoption.blogspot.com . Please pray for this group of families for their safe trip and attachment to their new little ones come Monday morning! There's nothing like this trip!
Another family that just returned from China a couple weeks ago with Miss Maggie Mae (I know many of you have been hooked on her blog-Love Keep Growing More Love-on the left here!) posted a link to another blog that is a must read! If you have time, please take it to read this blog from the beginning http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com . Once there scroll down on the left and go to the very first posts (January I think) and work backwards. This site will really put life into perspective, a moving journey.
Okay, gotta run and pack! The next time I post will probably be on Sunday with tons of Disneyland pictures! Have a great weekend all!

**Blessings**