Incredible Sportsmanship

My friend Julie, knowing what a sports fanatic and strong believer in good sportsmanship I am, brought this article to my attention. It is so nice to see when people get it right. It truly builds my belief in humanity again. Now if we could all go out and do just one selfless act a day....

Catching Up....

So I have some catching up to do, as April has flown by without me posting much. First of all, we had Kaia's 4th birthday over our spring break (everyone's that is, except Mike), followed by her Ariel birthday party that she has been dying for. Turns out her party was on the nicest day of the year so far, so the pinata was outside instead of in the garage.


After watching Kellen set a PR (personal record) Friday night in the 800, we met up with my parents on Saturday at Josh's wrestling tournament, where he placed 3rd in his weight class.


Remember the beautiful day for Kaia's party? Well the week after we had 2 inches of snow on the ground! I wasn't sure the tulips would come out at all this year, but alas, they did. On Saturday we also stopped by the incredible Skagit Valley Tulip Fields for some beautiful back drops. Of course, the first thing I did was to tell the girls to stay out of the mud. Yeah right, Kaia gets pulled into water like a gigantic magnet. Silly me didn't pack any extra shoes or pants. Oh well, she dried:)

Teenage Boys...

Just a glimpse into the gym bag of a teenage boy (and he's proud of it).

You Know You're....

I have to start off by saying I completely stole this from my friend Lisa's blog....thanks Lisa! Those of you in the adoptive community will find this amusing:


You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth. (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

-Author unknown

Sponsor-a-Crib

Many of you know that my husband and I are headed back to China this summer for a mission trip to the Chaoyang orphanage in China. The orphanage has requested the donation of 20 cribs. As you can see by the photo, they are dire need of new cribs. Many of the kids did not even have mattresses in their cribs, or if they did, they had no sheets. Mind you the humidity there is quite high, so they would sweat like crazy on the mattresses. We were able to purchase air conditioners last year, so hopefully that has helped. Our mission team is looking for 20 sponsors for the cribs, or 40 1/2 sponsors. The cost of a single crib is $150 (or $75 for 1/2), and is tax deductible. Our plan is to have them delivered while we are there, so that we can set the cribs up, then take photos of the kids in their new cribs. We would bring back a picture for each sponsor so that he/she could see his/her donation in use, as well as have a photo of a child to pray for daily. Would you please consider this worthy cause? Please email me if you have questions, or if this is something you are interested in, and I will tell you what steps to take next. Thank you for your consideration!