back down state so great

naturally he finds fun every where
he sat in with the students, who are so gracious, like he is one of them

a double bonus is that our speediest cousin was racing too

turns out that they have an open meet on Friday night. we have never taken part in it before but this year some of the students who didn't qualify wanted to run on "big blue" so B jumped in too.seeing him run with the boys gave me chills, am I ready for this?

look at him in a fenwick singlet oh boy. actually this is an old one dave was getting rid of so he grabbed one, I probably have pictures of david in the same one!

as I said he funds his own fun

a late dinner

but these people are just like family

it was HOT here is liv with mrs. grady you know she loves adult conversation

it was so much fun to have family there to share this part of our life. Aunt june and uncle Bill even sat in the Fenwick section with us

there are not many kids there but ours find any way they can to stay cool

here are our boys, 5 of them competed the alternates ran the open

her we are again, all state this time, now those are some big smiles

we found jon by the lemonade stand

by the end we are the only fools still here in the heat

at the end of the meet we head to reward ourselves with milk shakes a fine reward

celebration part 2

is this perfect or what? snow is her favorite thing!
we went to a favorite chicago site for HOT days

as I watched this girl today I could help think where she was only 1 year ago. they don't celebrate birthdays so this literally was her first birthday. may 22nd 2009 she had no hope not much of a future no one to tuck her in at night or kiss her owies. She never had seen snow or had anything that was only hers, never been told I love you or heard someone pray for her. Her life then she thought it was good. Now it's 2010 and her world is now wide open she has things she never even knew about. I asked her what do you want to be when you grow up? "I don't know no body ever asked me that before" I said well you can be what ever you want, a teacher like auntie wendy or a Dr like Brooke... her eyes were wide open "really what ever I want?" she has been given a brand new life. I can't help but enjoy watching her live every little bit of this new joy, even if it is just playing in a water fountain on a hot day.

Adoption was Gods idea he was the first to think of it when he adopted us in to his family when we came to believe in Jesus. I can't help but relate Meis life with our life in Christ we were comfortable but had no idea what real life was like with Christ our would is wide open to immeasurable love, no need to fear in the knowledge that our father knows whats best for us. If you are reading this and you don't have Christ in your life think of how lost Mei was with no hope no future and how now she has been given an new life. we all can have that new life with Jesus

what joy to finally have a sister

this would be a picture cool from over head, you will see we gained a new friend

pure FUN

a break for lunch, gifts, and air conditioning (blogger sneaks in it's tricks unexpected)

(oh for the love turned again) this was mei's first time to the bean

back to the fountain for another splash and some gifts from friend, thanks guys

and what birthday wouldn't be great with out a track practice and presents in the training room with state qualifiers?we went to the training room for our boys to take an ice bath. I guess Grays legs were hurting because he jumped in first

he talked liv in to joining but she was the only other Rill taker

dinner? what else dumplings

and back home for ice cream cake perfect for a hot day and no air! I'd say that was a great first birthday celebration! one I know I will never forget.

chee pow sunday

the girls Sunday school class had a tea party because of my ridiculous pain I couldn't take them. Thankfully we have an awesome family that steps right up when I physically can't Rachel (mei's "best friend") took mei

brooke and baby A took liv they said it as really fun

then after they went over to brookes for some good old fashion cool off fun. If you are not a part of a church family you are really missing out , today I was flat in bed all day with my husband on shift, my cousin picked them up for church then after church one friend took gray home with them a different one took sky. B ran home to take care of me and my brother-in-law came over to clean my kitchen floors and all! I love the body of Christ working together for a hurting family, mine. God has the best ideas and the church is one of his finest. Granted it is full of sinners so there are the hiccups that do happen but when the body works as God intended it is awesome. if you are not involved in a church get involved you will be blessed by helping others and a day may come, sadly, when you are the one who needs ultra blessing when you are the one in need.

9 years old- part one

how many girls gets to celebrate her birthday with ten thousand people?well when your dads a coach and his team makes it to state finals on your birthday you do,
sticky buns not possible here

she had plenty of happy birthday calls

heading home we stopped for dinner and she got a special birthday wish

and the last stop of this extra long day was a delicious birthday cake made by some of our favorite girls.

remembering China

this past Sunday we visited a family that we traveled with to pick up our babies and although their baby is way smaller than ours she looked huge to us compared to what she was 9 months ago, they said the same about B!
now when we got there we were informed that baby K only goes to mom dad brothers and gram warning liv not to feel bad, well you know my girl it took her less than an hour to win her over, oh yes even Baby K's mom kept saying "i just can't believe it" I told her there hasn't been a baby yet that didn't love liv I never doubted her charm for a minute. sadly they don't live close enough for liv to be her nanny too

my girl, baby K only weighs 10 # less than liv oh that won't stop her, here they are walking to visit the horsie

they have 4 boys so our boys had fun too

i hardly saw mei and gray all day as they played with the boys all day long

liv even gave her a bath and helped put her to bed. What a dream day for liv. It was a great day all around we are so glad God gave us a family close enough we can drive a visit for a nice long day since we did share life changing days together!