the good stuff

 I love children's artwork.  Lucky for me I get to see it all the time.  

Especially the artwork of young children.  One of my students has been drawing me reindeer pictures for about a week now.  :)

Seriously, how cool is this truck?   Awesome.  

  Some of the fourth grade classes disguised their turkeys.

But this is my current favorite.  Sarah drew this picture at preschool.   

When I was in college I took an art class where we learned that there are stages of drawing that kids go through.   I can't remember the names of all the developmental stages, but I do know that Sarah drew a classic example of the stage where arms and legs stick out of the head!  ;)   I just love this.   

When I asked her about her picture, she said, "Mom, this is a picture of you.  You're walking in the grass barefoot and you're happy."  

My girl knows me well.   And just look how skinny I am.   haha

{ 17 }

'Tis the season at our house.... the birthday season!   We have three birthdays, a "gotcha day", Thanksgiving, and Christmas... all in a three month period.  Whew!
Justin is now 17.   Seventeen???   Seriously?   I'm speechless.  How is it possible that we have a 17 year old son?

His friends decorated his truck (I should say, the truck that dad lets him drive!) at school and filled it with balloons (apparently the truck was stuffed full of balloons when he first opened the door).

One of his friends gave him 2 goldfish.  Points for originality, but I am curious to see how the new owner keeps up with the maintenance.  ;)  Jason and Sarah were very interested in watching them eat the fish food.

Happy birthday, Justin!  You are a fine young man who loves God and strives to do what's right.  You are so smart and funny-- there's never a dull moment at our house!  You are a great example to others.  We are very proud of you and love you!

Has it really been *three* years?

From the first time we saw your sweet baby face, we knew you were the daughter we had been praying for. 

And this knowledge brought us amazing peace and comfort as we waded through paperwork and hoped and prayed that the process would go quickly and smoothly.

Ten months later,on November 2, 2008,  we were overjoyed (and a little overwhelmed!) to finally meet our daughter!  We were so excited that I could barely hold the pen to write things down that your foster parents were telling us!!  You slept through our arrival and only woke up when we were leaving New Day Foster Home.

Your foster mother told us that you were busy, smart and quite stubborn.  She emphasized that you were very busy.  We nodded our heads and smiled... after all, we were the parents of four boys! We felt like we were experts on busy toddlers.     

But in all honesty, we were surprised just how busy you were, from the very beginning.  

Busy, fearless, and very outgoing.  You loved your bath, you loved the buttons in the hotel elevator, you loved all the people we met. 

You loved the hotel swimming pool and were not at all happy when I held on to you in the deep water!!  

You loved Ike, our amazing guide.

And you loved Daddy, from the get go.   Daddy was completely smitten as well.   ;)

We had a wonderful experience in China, and I still think about our trip all the time.  

And I am humbled by the incredible gift that we have been given.  I am humbled and grateful for the gifts of five beautiful children.

One of the greatest pleasures in my life is to watch you experience and enjoy new things for the first time.

Happy forever family day, Sarah Mei.   We. love. you.