I came, I saw, I conquered....

Recognize this quote? It was attributed to Julius Caesar, but this week it is an ode to our sweet dog Caesar, who suddenly passed away last Friday.

He was born in May of 1999 and came into our lives shortly afterward. I still remember a trembling puppy hiding underneath our deck. We had to send a five year old Joshua in to retrieve him! The two of them soon became inseparable!

Aren't they both so cute?!

In early 2004 he was joined by Romeo, who became his younger, more annoying brother, whom Caesar was forever tolerant of. Together they saw many sites camping and hiking, including the hike at Ft. Ebey, pictured below with Josh.

There were so cute together!

Speaking of tolerant, Caesar was soooo tolerant of the kids. Here are a couple of things they put him through over the years....

When Jaelyn joined our family in 2006, she was deathly frightened of the dogs, and would scream and cry anytime they got near. It was Caesar whom she first learned to feed, and he patiently allowed her to crawl over him and pull his fur without ever so much of a growl.  And Kaia, well she just adored him from the beginning, as you can tell by the photo below. Just as long as he was getting attention, he was a happy camper!

He conquered our hearts, and there were many tears with his passing. We will miss you Caesar*; thanks for bringing us nearly 12 years of smiles!


*footnote: although we will all miss him, the girls were paging through their "Dog bible" the following day, picking out the next breed of dog they will be getting. Border Collie,  really? I think not!

Princess Pirate....

This week was Kaia's post-glasses checkup, to measure how much her right eyesight has improved since wearing glasses. Unfortunately with the glasses she is only seeing 20/70, not the 20/40 we were aiming for. That means eye patch therapy began this week....

Like the glasses, Kaia was excited when she picked out the purple unicorn and the white kitty eye patches she is to wear. However, this excitement quickly dissipated as she realized exactly what this meant, being only able to use her poor eye to see. We had to pick up Jaelyn from a friend's house on the way home from the vision clinic, and at first she refused to even come out of the van due to embarrassment. I left the van sliding door open, and after about five minutes of me chatting at the house door, she slowly slithered out of the car to play with Jaelyn and her friend. This early experience had me worried, but I must say that Kaia has been much more positive about wearing them since then, more than I ever anticipated.

She has to wear one 4-5 hours a day, so on the drive home from school, she selects which one she wants to wear for the afternoon/evening. On Saturday and Sundays we can work around our schedule so that she can wear them while we're at home.  I think the biggest challenge ahead will be when soccer season begins next month. Saturday games shouldn't be an issue because we can work around the games, but evening practices may be. We will tackle that hurdle when it gets here. For now I am thankful she is keeping so positive, and I think she is the cutest Princess Pirate around!

Moving on up.....

Yep, our firstborn is "Moving on up....," to a top floor apartment that is, one that he can call his own! Well actually it's not his own, as he has a room mate, but you know what I mean....

I must admit I have mixed emotions. I know he has wanted to do this for some time, and we are ready for him to "spread his wings," but as a mom, I can only wonder if I have prepared him enough for this. I realize we all have to start somewhere and learn from the bumps along the way. Just hoping that the bumps aren't too rough, and that the road ahead leads somewhere. A positive is that it will probably improve my prayer life!

My first reaction to his apartment is that it is better than my first place, but it is quite sparse. If anyone needs birthday ideas, he needs lots (I realize his bday is not until August)! I will try and get pictures posted sometime.

And yeah, he's had dinner here twice since he officially moved out on Friday;-)

I'm Melting, I'm Melting....

Do you recognize this now???

All in His Timing....

I honestly did not think this day would ever come, but I'm happy to say I was wrong! Since we first met Min Hao Li back in 2007, we have wondered why he did not have a family, and have prayed for this to come to fruition. He was an energetic 5-year old who seemed to have the rule of the place;-)  He particularly bonded with a grandfather on our team who affectionately gave him the nickname "Booger," due to his mischievous behavior. Here they are pictured together.

When we returned in 2008, we were disappointed to see that Booger was still there, but excited to learn that he was being adopted by a family in Sweden. That enthusiasm was short lived when we received Chinese New Year photos from the orphanage that following winter, proving Booger was still there. Why was he still there? With being unable to return in 2009, we were anxious to see if he was still there in 2010. We found he was now attending the local boarding school, but he and the other children we had worked with previously, were allowed to come visit with us twice during our stay. We asked what happened to the family in Sweden, and were told that his paperwork had been lost. Again, we advocated for his adoption, and was ensured that they would make it happen. If you understand China politics, or the "Lost in tranlation" concept, then you understand why we did not hold our breath.

It was fun to see how much he has grown up since we last saw him two years ago. Quite the handsome boy now....

However, our God is a mighty God who can doesn't care about roadblocks. I am thrilled to say that Booger's family is now in China, and will soon be bringing him home to the United States! Despite the long journey, it only encourages me more to keep praying for these kids, and continuing our summertime trips to Chaoyang. I like to think that our visits help prepare them for their family some day. Won't you join me in continuing to pray for these precious children?

Please, No More Snow...

Believe it or not we have had record February snowfall here, but I think we're all in agreement that enough is enough! Mike and the kids are now up to four extra days tacked on to the end of the school year, and from today's boredom, I am thinking they would've rather been in school today than in summer.

The enthusiasm was high to begin with, evident by Josh making a snow angel, in his boxers, at 6 am. The snow came down so quickly in the early hours that we got 3-4 inches in just an hour. The kids and dogs were frolicking around the front yard, while Mike shoveled the driveway (which he would have to do again in just a couple hours). Josh's enthusiasm was outdone by our neighbor girls, who decided to build their snowman while wearing their swimsuits. I was chilled to the bone just watching them! We then did some sledding on our local hill (which was not nearly as conducive to sledding as it was back in Nov.), and snowman making in the front yard (but not as good as these creations from the past). After recovering in the afternoon by watching movies, snow was gathered outside to make Snow Ice Cream, which was quickly devoured; that's when boredom set in.

 It did make for some beautiful scenic pictures though....

Japanese Maple tree in our front yard

Pine trees in our backyard, heavy laden with snow

 Today, the second day home, the kids have been bored, not even feigning their enthusiasm by playing outside! Due to unusually cold temperatures, the snow is supposed to "stick" around for a couple more days, but thankfully school should be back on for tomorrow. With President's Day being this past Monday, why am I feeling so tired if it is just a two-day work week?

One More Brag...

Yep, one more time for me to brag, then I promise to stop for a week a little while. Just had to say that this past weekend Mike was honored as Regional Coach of the Year (last week was District honors) at the regional wrestling tournament. So that means that he will be entered for Statewide Coach of the Year at this upcoming weekend's state tournament. Unfortunately for Josh he didn't do as well as he had hoped last weekend, so he is not moving on, but five other wrestlers are. Josh will be going down with them though, and I know he totally has his mind set on being a participant there next year. When he does, I'll link back to this post, as being a part of what propelled him to accomplish his goal.

Moments before coaching Josh (before his heart rate and blood pressure soar!) Trust me, he does not look quite this calm during the action....