Flashback Friday!

I haven't done a flashback Friday in a long time and today I was looking at pictures and found these!

The following pics were taken of Karleigh Mei just three months after she came home, almost exactly two years ago.  Such a little doll!  She had just recently had her first eyelid surgery. 

Wow...it feels like just yesterday that we were in the backyard watching her ride her trike!

And these pictures were just taken a couple of days ago!

My how my beautiful girl has grown!! And she FINALLY has the beautiful long hair she dreamed about having for so long!!

This picture is a little blurry, but I just love it! 

And I love my girl!

Ho Hum--when will summer come?

We just finished up our spring break and I'm soooooooo ready for summer! Not much longer! And today we made our reservations for our summer beach trip. I can't wait! I'm ready for some lazy summer days!

Our little Annie is learning new things everyday! Can you believe she can STAND by herself?! This little stinker has some seriously strong legs! She's a rolling pro and can get anywhere she has her mind set on getting to. She's trying to get herself up in a sitting position. That's hard work! 

She loves to walk around if someone is holding on to her. And lucky little girl, she's almost always got someone willing to help her out!

I just love those little curls around her ears. Love. 

And those chubby toes. Oh my. 

And those arms. Oh wow. If you could see her precious little face! She just makes me smile all the time! And today I finally saw a teeny, tiny tooth popping through! Yippee!!

Karleigh Mei is doing really great too and finishing up her pre-kindergarten year.  She loves school! 

Garrison is super proud of his little sisters! And why wouldn't he? Look how cute they are!

 I still need to do a post on Karleigh Mei's nose. She had her surgery back in November. I'm still amazed at how it looks now. I'll have to do a before and after pics. We go tomorrow for a checkup with the surgeon. He's Chinese and thinks she's just the cutest. And why wouldn't he?! :)

Book Review for "Here Burns My Candle" by Liz Curtis Higgs

It has been several years since I last read a Liz Curtis Higgs book and I was delighted to see she had, at last, written another one. I had loved her previous biblical fiction books, and I was not disappointed in this one! Oh maybe I was a bit disappointed...disappointed I read it so quickly and it ended! From the first page of "Here Burns My Candle", all the way to the last one, I was swept away to a different time and place. The characters were rich with detail, as was the setting. I felt as if I was right there in the room with them and knew them! Even after putting the book down, I still found myself thinking about them. The book was both biblical and historical fiction. Both of which I love, love, love!! And to my delight, I found out that the sequel has just recently been released! Yippie!! I can't wait to be swept away again!

Thank you to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for sending this book to me, free of charge, for this review!

If you blog and love to read, ask me how you too can get free books from WaterBrook Multnomah! 

We Are Still Here! :)

I've been such a slacker blogger. No new pics. No new stories. No new news.  Life is crazy with three teenagers, a 5 year old and a baby, and two old and tired parents in the house.

Last week Karleigh Mei's school had Grandparent's day and both my parents and Karl's parents were able to come and be with her. She was beside herself she was so excited! They had a fun morning with her!

Here she is doing her precious "nervous hair flip" as she is pulling her "vacation float". Do you know how much I love this girl!? A whooooooole lot!

Annie is now 8 months old. I can hardly believe it, time goes by so quickly! She is a doll baby and we are so in love with her! It is still looking very good that we will be able to adopt her. Praying everything will be done by the end of the summer. I'm always praying for her birth mother and father. I thank her mother for giving her life and for loving her. It breaks my heart that she is such a broken woman that she can't take care of herself so that she can keep her children. If you think of her, please lift her in prayer. 

Lexie will be leaving our nest and going off to college come August. WEEP!!!!! It's bittersweet because I'm so excited for her, but OH! I'm going to miss my baby girl!! 

Even though we've already had one (Katie) leave the nest, it doesn't make it any easier to see the others off. At least we'll have our Karleigh Mei and Annie girl for a while! 

Blogging for Books- "Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes", By Robin Jones Gunn

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes is my first Robin Jones Gunn book to read. I have two daughters who read all of her Christy Miller books, and they were life changing for the both of them--in the positive! So I was happy to read my first Sisterchicks book!

From the very beginning I felt like I could relate to the main character, Summer. She felt like a real friend to me.  I understood her and her reasoning to just jump up and visit a pen pal she's never met in real life, in Holland. And along with her, I also was moved by the things she was experiencing in Holland and with her lifelong friend and pen-pal, Noelle. If you are looking for a fun book about friendship and spiritual growth, I recommend this book! 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.