Happy News...

I get tired of all the negative news, so I thought I would share this wonderful story. I hope this gentleman is successful, because his heart is in the right place!

Where's Joseph when you need him???

First of all I have to say I never rarely dream. If I do, I have a difficult time remembering them in the morning, and they are not typically about what is happening in my life "real" life. That is why I am perplexed by last week's dreams, when I had back-to-back dreams about this summer's return trip to Chaoyang.

In the first dream, I was so excited to see the children at the orphanage, since it has been two years since we last saw them. I noticed one of the children I was looking for was not there, and I was entertaining the thought that she was not there because she had been adopted. You see, she is a hermaphrodite, and I highly doubt that she will ever be put up for adoption. She is the sweetest girl (see below) and would thrive in a forever family, but that is not always how things work there. In my dream I ran up to one of the nannies to ask where she was, and was so disappointed to learn she was just away from the orphanage for a short time, having some testing done.



The next night my dream was that on my drive to the airport, I realized that I had left all my toiletries back at my house. Now if you know me at all, you know I am a low maintenance gal, so it wasn't my makeup I was worried about. It was the fact that I had left all my medications behind (I am Type I diabetic and have Hypothyroidism). For some reason though, I didn't worry about not having my insulin, just my thyroid medication. I kept debating whether or not I should turn around and get them, missing my flight, or keep on going and risk illness while in China. I decided to drive on in faith, and low and behold, when we got to the airport our flight was delayed. I quickly called my oldest and asked him to grab my toiletries and make the two hour drive to the airport (without speeding, of course). My dream left off there, so I am not sure what happened after that.

So if there are any Joseph's out there who can interpret my dreams, send them my way...

Finally....Easter!

Well we Mike was finally able to get pictures off our camera and uploaded, so I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I will begin with Easter and add more later.

The day before was a dreary day, so instead of our usual egg hunt at the fire station, we opted for a drier hunt at....



Fortunately Easter itself turned out a bit nicer, so we were able to hunt outside without getting wet (unlike last year). Yes, they were a bit competitive, but all kids, big and small, participated and had a good time. I won't just won't reveal who won....

Team J:



Team K:


Grandma and Papa were up again this year to celebrate Christ's resurrection with us!


Our crazy family:

March Madness...

Since it's March Madness time, I thought I would post an inspiring basketball story. Jaelyn loves to view success stories of people who are like her, so here is the latest we came upon. I truly believe that she will one day inspire others in the same way!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Not so good report....

So last week Mike took Kaia for her post-myringoplasty checkup, and unfortunately she got a not so good report. It seems her hearing in her left ear has dropped from a low hearing loss to a moderate hearing loss. The doctor was quite surprised by this, especially since the repair looked good when he looked at it. So now we go back in May for another hearing test. Praying that things look better by then.

Spring is here....

Here's more than one piece of evidence that Spring is here!

Great Read....

Seems I have slacked off on my blogging lately, but I do have good excuses (really)! First, my camera is on the blitz (yes, the new one I blogged about in November), so I can take pictures, but I can't get them off the camera. Second, I've been busy putting together this year's team for our work in Chaoyang. I'm very excited to be returning to Chaoyang after having to go to Heng Feng last summer. Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful experience, but I just missed my kiddos in Chaoyang. And lastly, not a lot of exciting things happened in February, so I didn't want to bore you to death:)

Speaking of the team, one book I am recommending the team read is Kay Bratt's Silent Tears. Kay tells of her experience of living and volunteering for two years at an orphanage in China. So much of her experience I could completely relate to. An encore edition of the book is just getting ready to come out. so check it out.

If anyone reading this is interested in being a part of this year's team, please let me know, as things are starting to roll, or if you just want to support the trip/orphanage, let me know that too. We are planning on purchasing a playground for them this year, and I will post more details when I have them.