The Girls Are Going to Libby Lu!

Aunt Mali is taking the girls on an overnight trip
before school starts.

They are getting to spend the night in a hotel , eat out and swim.

And then.........................


They are heading to Libby Lu for a
"Chick Day".


I have never been, but I hear that it is really cool.


Layton, Hannah, Riley & Rachel are going to a wonderful time
being powdered ,polished , & pampered.

They will even treat you like a Rock Star,who's on tour,
complete with stage make-up, hair, clothing, and accessories.

I am sure they will leave excited and exhausted.....................



And Uncle Joe will leave this!

Have Fun!


Peace.

2 weeks to go!

I have 2 weeks left before my "self imposed"
diet deadline.

I have lost 26 pounds and I have 4 more to go.

Doesn't seem like much to loose(in 2 weeks), but I will not be
working with Brandon until we can find a more 'Mama Friendly'
time slot, AND I really like donuts....so we'll see.

I wish I had taken a before picture........maybe I can find one.

I loved it when Cassie did the 'before' and 'after' shots.

I found an American Eagle bikini that I had purchased for our
Bahamas trip,last year. I couldn't take it because it said that it
was a LARGE on the tag, but when I put iton it looked like
an EXTRA SMALL.

I put it on 4 days ago, and it was a little too big.

I also found a dress that is a size 8 that I purchased for a
cruise in 2001. I got it home, couldn't get it over my hips, hung
it in the closet and haven't touched it since. The tag was still on it.
I wore it to church a few weeks ago.

So even if I do not get to the 30 I had hoped for, I'm happy
with where I am.

I feel better , I am sleeping a lot better, and I have more energy.

I'm glad I did this.

I miss the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream,though..............I miss that a lot.

Peace.

Cookin' Up Chaos!

We always let the kids pick the menu on the girls last night here.


Everybody gets to help.
Layton and Hannah were in charge of the baked fish.
Oh! How happy their husbands will be.


Riley and Mary were getting things ready to make the
bundt cake.
Note** Mary likes to cook in her underwear.....
She gets that from her Daddy's people.


Riley , Ben , Mary, and Rachel were in charge of dessert.



They did a great job.



Rachel's first egg landed on the floor,but the
second one made it to the bowl.


Mary was the official mixer for the eggs, oil ,water,and butter.


Then out came the hand mixer. Lehmann's has them online
and the kids love it.
No batter on the walls!



Everyone got a turn.


Riley was telling Ben that ALL of the lumps had to be gone.


Now for the moment we've all been waiting for....
Licking the Bowl!


Yeah..I know some of you are screaming,"But the Eggs are raw!".
Well, My Grandmaw always let us lick the bowl
(and the beaters and the spoons) and we all lived..
So I figure they will, too.


This was my favorite part.
All of the kids were complimenting each other on a job well done.
It was pretty sweet.

The girls will not be back until Thanksgiving break.

We miss them already.

Peace.

UPDATE of sorts..........

Yes! This is the way I have been feeling for the last 2 days.

We have not heard anything from the CCAA on our request to adopt the boys.
I know that it has taken a good bit of time for parents with children on the Shared Listing to get a response, so ours was bound to take longer-since the boys are not on anything.

Anyway.... After I talked to our agency I realized that my husband I have been sponsors with the organization that houses them for 4 years...why not just see what THEY can find out.(Which is probably what I should have done a long time ago. Hey! I never said I was a rocket scientist.)

So I make a call, get an e-mail address, e-mail the chick, and she calls me back in less than an hour. I tell her the situation and she says this, "Most of the boys that have no OBVIOUS special needs or OBVIOUS disabilities are now being kept in China for the Chinese to adopt. I am afraid that this is going to be the case with the boys. I will e-mail the director of the home that they are in and find out exactly what is going on, their status and if they know anything about your letter of request. I will let you know as soon as I hear back. It usually takes a few days. " Hmmmmm....O.K.?

I was a little stunned by this.
I guess I never thought that there was a possibility orphaned children would NOT be given the opportunity to be adopted abroad because they appeared to be healthy .

Boggles the mind.





On a Happier note:

1. Even if this does not work out-We are still going to LID with our agency in Birmingham. We are still going to try and identify a son or a daughter.

We LOVE LifeLine and are excited that they are going to be a part of this "craziness" with us.

2. We are still going to be the boys' sponsors until they do "go home", so I will be able to keep up with what they are doing and I will know when they have been adopted (if it is by someone else.)
So that's cool.

3. Mary has had WAY MORE time to be the baby than she would have had we adopted from Taiwan in December of 2007(time line we were originally quoted).
So that's good.

Everything will work out.

Stacy and I felt like we needed to write the letter and make the attempt to bring these boys home..If it doesn't work out, that's O.K.

We tried.

Really- that's all you can do.

Peace.

Prayer Request From LWB Bog

I have a ten-year-old daughter . . . she is so beautiful and full of life!

Ten is such a fun age--still a little girl, but also knowing that they are on the cusp of being “bigger.”

My daughter has told me that she no longer likes to watch animated movies or play with dolls. She has asked me some very interesting questions this summer.

I realize how much she is able to analyze life . . . so much more than a year ago.

Imagine being ten years old and left at the gate of the local Civil Affairs office because your heart defect is so very severe.

Jie is this child, and I can’t help but look at her photo and think of my own daughter.

I can only imagine how very frightened she must be.

Not only that, but she is SO weak from her diseased heart (she has a very serious TOF--Tetralogy of Fallot) that she can’t walk very fast and can’t climbs stairs.

The good news is that the heart surgeon has reviewed her echo done locally and believes that she has a very good chance to have a healed heart.

This defect should be repaired at one year old, and she has waited ten years.

I can only imagine the grief her parents felt as they left her, their child for 10 years, likely because they thought it was the only chance she had to be healthy.

How torn they must have felt.

My heart aches for them all.

Please keep this beautiful child in your thoughts and prayers.

The cardiologist, Dr. Li in Hangzhou, has said that because her movement is so limited due to her poor heart condition, she needs surgery as soon as possible.

We have her on our website to try to raise money for her surgery.

As my daughter thinks about all of the things a ten-year-old should think about, I will be thinking of Jie and hoping that she will have her dream of a healthy heart, so that she too can have a chance to think and dream of all of the things a ten-year-old should.

Karen Maunu

Think the girls have figured out a way to keep the Little Ones away from the puzzle?

Puzzles and the game of "LIFE".....

The 1000 piece puzzle AFTER the threat of "loss of life"
to anyone who took the pieces apart.....AGAIN!


It seems that Ben thought it would be funny to sneak in and
UN-DO all that the girls and Caleb had done.

Funny to Ben....Not so funny to the others.

THEN Mary decided that she was mad because the girls would
not let her"hold" the pictures...so she wondered in (under the radar)
and took the puzzle apart for the second time.

We'll see how far they get this time.


THIS is what they have enjoyed the most.

They played this game for 2 hours...that is not a typo....
2 hours on Wednesday, and then they got it out again, on Thursday.

They come running in to tell me that they have gotten married, or that they have twins,
or that "Hannah was a journalist but she got fired and then she got a job as a professional athlete making, like a Ga-Zillion dollars!....That is so unfair! I'm a teacher...I make ,like, NO money! "

They are counting money and trying to save for vacations.

Riley yells,"Aunt Andrea- I just got a Ranch! WOO-HOO!"
Caleb replies, "That's a Ranch-style House, Riley...not the same thing."
Riley -"Well.. whatever it is..It's mine and you don't have one!"

Hmmm...Sounds like they had this figured out before the game.


Peace.

You May Be A Redneck If.........

Your kids refer to the blow -up pool.......


in the back yard........


as the " Jacuzzi" !



Peace.

NO T.V. & NO VIDEO GAMES................

Makes a 1000 Piece Puzzle look REALLY, REALLY good.









PEACE.

Rachel & Bob

The girls were outside having ice-cream and Bob-The Wonder Dog-
stopped to hang out with Rachel.


She was so excited because Bob wanted HER to love on him
and not the other kids.


Sadly, It was the Fudge-cicle Bob was after.


So what did my little animal lover do?
She let him have it and got herself another.
She said,"Dogs get hot, too. "


Fun in the Sun.


Peace.

"Don't Forget To Floss"

3 of our 5 children had dentist appointments this week
at THE SMILE CENTER.


They love to go to Our Dentist because he just happens to be family.
He loves my kids like they are his own and they know it.


Once, when Caleb was loosing his first 2 teeth, we had to have
them extracted.
Mr. David refused to do it and sent us to another friend of ours.
He said, "There is no way I am going to pull these teeth and have
him scream and run every time he sees me! I'll let someone else do
it and he can run from them!"


Today Rachel was the "dentist" and Mary was the
"teeth cleaner".


All the dolls and stuffed animals got a good cleaning.
Only a few had cavities and Rachel even had time to
check out her brother, before lunch. She told him, " Your teeth look good.
You have no cavities, Just don't forget to floss! "

David is going to be so proud.

Peace.

Southern to the Core.................

Mary came into the kitchen and saw the watermelon
sitting on the counter.


After studying it for a few seconds
she said,


"Mama, will you open the Worlla-Mella so I can eat it with my face?"


How in the world do you say no to that?!


Neither could I.


Peace.