Christmas Happenings...

What a wonderful Christmas vacation we have had so far! We have been busy celebrating with our friends and family and have had such a good time.

The first weekend we went to my parent's house. My brother and his family and my sister and her family were also there. We had a good time! 

Karleigh Mei got a Kai Lan doll from Grandma. She loves her and has been sleeping with her every night.

On the 22nd of December, our good friends had a Christmas party at their house. Here, Aunt Stephanie is tell the story of the birth of Jesus.

They also made a birthday cake for Jesus! 

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and Karleigh Mei got to blow out the candle! She's excellent at blowing out candles. ;)

On the 23rd was Katie's 23rd birthday! She had to work, so Lexie and I went to be with her. My sister Sarah also met us there. We had a good time. Darn it if these were the only pictures I took! I wonder if Sarah  has any more?? Sarah??

Blowing out her candles. It was too bad Karleigh Mei wasn't here, she could have helped Katie out.

Christmas Eve, Karleigh Mei got a super, special package from her best friend from China. Shayna sent her a pretty new nightgown! Shayna must know Karleigh Mei really well, 'cause she loves this nightgown so very much! She begs to put this nightgown on way before it's time to go to bed.

Christmas Eve we also decorated some cookies for Santa.

Just a little lick. Santa won't mind.

Labor of Love going on in the garage on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, Karleigh Mei was delighted to find lots of wonderful things! This is her pretty doll she named Kishi ('cause she looks like a friend of Lexie's named, Kishi..of course!).

The ONLY thing Karleigh Mei was asking for for Christmas was a pretty heart necklace. Here she is showing off her necklace.

Modeling in front of her new kitchen!

How many times before we adopted Karleigh Mei, did I dream of this sleeping beauty in the back of my Suburban? Here's my darling girl on her way to MiMi and PawPaw's house for Christmas celebration.

Tonight we are going BACK to our friend's house for more celebrating! 


See you next year!!!!

$20,000 Challenge to Protect Girls from Sex Trafficking

URGENT! $20,000 Challenge to Protect Girls from Sex Trafficking

A generous ministry partner has awarded HopeChest a $20,000 grant to stop sex trafficking in Russia and challenged us to match it by midnight, 12/31. Your gift supports programs that have rescued many girls from forced prostitution. These programs saved Katya, and may have saved her best friend Nadya. When you give, you are helping stop sex trafficking in Russia before it starts.

To find out more about this and to donate, go to: http://www.hopechestpartners.org/russia.asp

Merry Christmas!!

Hallelujah (Light Has Come)

Hmmm my Baby

Heaven sent you to me
All the worlds been praying
Who will Save?
But who am I
That here tonight
I hold the one
Who’ll Bring us life

Hallelujah,
We’ve been found
A child is born
To save us now
Hallelujah light has come
A Savior who will set us free
A Promise for those who believe

Do you hear the Angels
Sing for you my baby
Men and kings have come to
Bow to you
But here in my arms

So close to me
The son of God
Now all can see

Hallelujah We’ve been found
A child is born to save us now
Jesus Halleluiah light has come
A savior set us free

So praise to God on high
He has heard our cry

Happy 23rd Birthday Katie!!

Today my Katie turns 23 years old. It seems like a lifetime ago, that on an early December morning, I went in to the hospital to have my baby. I was just a month shy of turing 17 years old...a baby myself. How she has changed my life and all that are touched by her. The Lord has had His hand on her. Such a gift she is to me!!

Sweet smiling Katie!

Katie at about 16 months old. I was 18 and about to graduate from high school. Wow.

And at 22 a beautiful bride.

I love this picture. Karl presenting our daughter and giving her away in marriage. What a beautiful day it was!

Happy Birthday Katie!!! I love you and am so super proud of you!! Your life takes my breath away sometimes. What a blessing and a gift you are. Praying that this next year is just as glorious as the last!! Can't wait to spend the day with you today!!


PIGGY-PIGGY!!!!! :)

A Year With Karleigh Mei

So I worked hard on putting this mosaic of the last year with Karleigh Mei. When I finally finished it I realized that the first picture of her cut her head off. sigh. I decided to just go ahead and post this picture. She has changed so much over the last year! Each picture was taken about the same time each month that she has been home. Our sweet girl.

The Choice You Made Was Me

I wanted to share this song that was written by my sister-in-law, Jennie Lee Riddle, and sung by JJ Heller (I'm a HUGE JJ Heller fan!). What totally rocks about this song...besides the message of Jesus and how much He loved us enough to come down as a sweet, innocent baby on Christmas...is that the proceeds to this song go to help support the lives of the unborn. And I took my music off of my blog so that you can easily listen to it! :) Be blessed!

~Wordless Wednesday~

One Year Ago Today!

Today we are celebrating the day that Karleigh Mei was placed in our arms forever. What a day it was a year ago! Karl and I were both nervous about how Karleigh Mei would accept us and Karleigh Mei was a very scared, but very brave little girl. We will never forget how she came stomping in the Civil Affairs office, with her red boots on and an air of confidence! Looking back, I'm sure it was the classic, "Fake it till you make it" stance. Sweet girl. Sweet, sweet girl.

When we made it back to the hotel room, she was making it very clear to us that she would rather not stay with us. She would put all of her cheerios that we gave her in her coat pockets and hold on tight to the few bribes toys we had given to her. And then she'd stand by the door. Ready to go. Oh how it broke  my heart! At one point, it was just me and her in the room, while Karl had left to get us some lunch. She would cry and I would cry. In the below picture, she was ready to go, but she also wouldn't look at me. She would only look at me through the mirror that was hanging on the closet door. Oh how I longed to take her in my arms and her not be afraid. To tell her how much I loved her and how long I had waited for her. To tell her that everything was going to be ok. That in turn, some day, she would love us too.

What a beautiful and hard day it was for all of us. And I wouldn't want to change a thing.

The door hanger says exactly what she was thinking. :)

Today, we thank God for our darling girl, Karleigh Mei. Such a blessing she is in our lives and to so many others as well. We love you Karleigh Mei and can't imagine our lives without you!!

The Big SNOW!

Yesterday was the day that it was forecasted that we were to get SNOW! We were all counting down the days for it to get here and were praying that we'd get even MORE snow than what was forecasted.

Karleigh Mei was on the hunt all day looking for the snow.

Where's the snow!?

Did I see one!?

No. That's silly!

Oh wait! Maybe there is snow!

Yes! She found the snow! Can you see the little flurry flying past her left ear?

I think I found another one! Could it be??

No. It's not melting. Not snow.

It's cold Mama. Let's go back inside!!

Group Thanksgiving Picture

I LOVE this group picture of mine and Karl's whole family on the beach at Thanksgiving! Love it, Love it, Love it!!!

Advent Conspiracy

Be sure to quiet my music before you start 

these videos!!

This was last year's video:

This is this year's:

For years we have thought about how awful it is that we spend so much money on gifts for Christmas that we don't even need. With the 

adoption of Karleigh Mei last year and our 

knowledge of how many people suffer across the world, we were spurred in to a bit more 

action last Christmas. We gave donations to 

help children with vision issues as gifts to our 

family through Samaritan's Purse. You can 

buy all sorts of really neat things to help 

people in need through Samaritan's Purse. 

From giving a family a dairy cow, to buying lifesaving mosquito nets. Go check it out!

World Vision also has a gift catalog full of 

things to give to others in need.

You can also check out Charity Water and 

help give life saving water.

There are OODLES of ways that you can give to others. And let me tell you, it feels so much better to have less under that tree, knowing 

that your gifts have made a small impact in 

the lives of someone else.

I'd love to hear how YOU have changed the 

way you give at Christmas time!!

**The text on this new edit version is making me crazy. It's either too large or too small. And it chops my words at the end of the line. What a pain. And I don't know how to fix it 'cause it doesn't look like this while I'm editing it. Sheesh!!!!!

~Wordless Wednesday~

{Can't help it....not so wordless...this poor guy must have gotten tangled up in someone's hammock or net of some sort!}

Thanksgiving At The Beach

A couple of years ago we started the tradition of going to the beach for Thanksgiving. My sister had just gotten married that year the weekend before, and to lessen the stress of it all...we all packed up and went to the beach. It was so much fun, this is our fourth time to do it!

And we always try to get a family picture in. This year we added Katie's husband, Blake and Karleigh Mei! Yay! This time last year we were preparing for our trip to go and bring her  home.

Not only was this Karleigh Mei's first Thanksgiving with us, it was also the first time she had ever been to the beach. We spent weeks talking about it before hand and so she knew JUST what to do once we got there. Build sand castles of course!!

We also talked about flying kites. She was an excellent kite flyer!

And of course, she played in the water!

And ran from her Daddy! :)

The big kids played football on the beach.

And sand volleyball.

It was the perfect time to play with cousins and reflect on how good the Lord has been to us all over the year.