Meet Yuzelca...

I just realized that I have never introduced Yuzelca! For over 10 years we sponsored Lizeth from Bolivia through Compassion International. We were saddened when she suddenly dropped from the program just months before she was 18. Since she shared an exact birthdate with Joshua, we celebrated many milestones along with her (birthdays, holidays, the deaths of her mother and grandmother) and watched her grow up into a beautiful young lady.

That feeling of loss for me was probably why I neglected to mention Yuzelca when we were assigned her to sponsor.  We were mourning Lizeth, whom we intentionally selected as a family, because of her shared birthday.  With Yuzelca, we just received a notice that we would be sponsoring her in place of Lizeth.  I feel bad now, because we didn't warmly embrace her. She was young, not old enough to correspond like we had been with Lizeth.  I know it wasn't her fault, and didn't we start with Lizeth when she was that young (or just a bit older)?  And we have even received correspondence from both her parents, which is sweet.

So now I want to make up for lost time in introducing her, and doing a better job of corresponding with her. This is not a very good photo, as I had to scan a small photo for this. But notice anything in this photo that makes her a good fit for our family?

Yep, this young sweetie in South America, Bolivia to be exact, is wearing a Chinese dress! Don't you just love it?  Perfect;)

Birthday Fun....

My birthday celebration began Saturday night, as Mike, the girls and I headed to the local corn maze for some flashlight hide-n-go-seek.  We spent over an hour in the maze hiding from one another. Tell you what, Mike and I don't stand a chance against our petite, flexible nine year olds! They can crouch down into tiny balls and hold that position for more than 15 minutes! And who knew they could keep silent for so long!

Sunday, my actual birthday, we spent some time with the dogs hanging out at the beach. With Fall definitely in the air, we basically had the place to ourselves.  Someone forgot to tell the dogs it was cold though, as Cocoa had a blast in the water, and even Romeo got his paws wet.  I love this selfie that Mike shot of the two of us, capturing the girls in the background playing with the dogs.  Although Kellen was with us for part of the day, I missed both my boys...

Fall Festivities...

There is definitely evidence of Fall all around us. First off, the pumpkins! Kellen's girlfriend and I took the girls out to the local patch to pick theirs out. Just look how beautiful last weekend was...

We missed Josh during the carving, as it was one of his specialties! However, as is also tradition, I did roast the seeds and send some to him to enjoy.

Other signs of fall in our house?  Although this is the first time in eight years that we don't have a high schooler involved in homecoming, that doesn't stop Mike from participating! Here he is on Tacky Tourist day. I say he played the part well...

And here was the homecoming football game. You can barely see the visiting bleachers through all the fog.

Now we are heading to find our way through the corn maze in the dark, using flashlights. Sounds like fun to me, but I better go bundle up!

Everything Mike!!!

These past two weeks or so have been all about Mike, and we are proud of him! First of all, he flew back to his hometown for dual purposes; his 30th class reunion, and being inducted into his school's hall of fame for being on the state championship football team, then following that up by winning the state wrestling championship at 142 pounds (almost 30 years later he would return to the championship with his son, but he was nearly 20 pounds heavier!). Unfortunately he accidentally deleted the video of the speech he had to make at the inductee ceremony, but here he is proudly modeling his new t-shirt...

Four days later he celebrated his birthday. But since his birthday fell on the day parent/teacher conferences dragged on lasted until 8:00 pm, we had to make sure it felt like his birthday, so we surprised him by adorning his desk with a balloon bouquet!

The next day he continued the celebration by driving to visit Joshua for Dad's Weekend at WSU!  Josh's gift? A WSU Dad sweatshirt.  The problem with that?  You see, Mike and I are both diehard Beavers, as we graduated from OSU.  Who was WSU playing against Dad's Weekend? Yep, you see the dilemma.   It was difficult for Mike to wear the sweatshirt, as at first he first wanted to walk around with just "Dad" showing...

But he decided to "sacrifice" for his son...

Josh was happy to be one of the first students through the gates so that he could earn his Cougar Super Hero Cape. Doesn't he look cute...

A compromise was made at the game. Dad wore the sweatshirt the first half, but kept his head warm with his OSU beanie. The second half got too cold, so he had to layer up.

And to cap off the past two weeks, the Beavs pulled off the win. But Mike says the best thing was definitely spending time with his son. Can't wait for Mom's weekend, but I have to wait until next April!

Love This Girl...

Fingernail painting was on today's agenda. The girls begged to do it on their own, and assured me they would not make a mess. With me standing nearby, I let them have at it. Kaia's nails got painted a pattern of Seahawk green and blue. What was most fun though was watching Jaelyn paint her own nails. Who said the brush is the part that has to move? She is such a great problem solver....skills that will do her well later in life! And her nails turned out great!