The toothless wonder and the ballerina...

That sounds like some REALLY odd romance novel, doesn't it???
It's been a fun-filled and action packed week...

Austin lost TWO teeth last week! One on Wednesday and the other on Saturday! Not only did Austin's diet just get a WHOLE lot more limited, but he also "figured" out the Tooth Fairy... oh boy! I am just hoping we can keep the Santa "facade" up for at least this Christmas, so that Amy can "believe" with Austin's example...
(I really don't want to "get into" why we should or should not "lie" to our kids about Santa right now...)
Amy discovered sparkly and "froofy" dancing clothes. This is the same outfit my Mom bought Ashleigh for her 3rd birthday. Amy will certainly still be able to wear it 5 years from now!
Today was Ashleigh's first dance class! Here is Amy mimicing Ashleigh in First Position...

Honestly, I am a bit shocked that I finally "caved into" Ashleigh's desire to dance. I mean, for heaven's sake, I have held out for over 5 years of begging! As it goes, she is the oldest (by quite a bit) in her ballet/tap class. She isn't real excited about being so much older, but we are hoping (and praying) that she will be more motivated to excel and move up quickly!

I'm a dance mom! Arghhhhhh!

:)

On a rather EXCITING note... we are expecting Brad, Kim, the boys and Mia this weekend! You might remember that we traveled with them (and ALan and Wendy) to China almost 5 months ago. We are sad that we couldn't get the whole group together, but if we must, we will "piece" together mini-reunions with both families. I can't wait to post pics of Mia and Amy playing together again! 

Did you hear the massive *sigh* ???

If you did, it's because my oldest two kids started school today!

I don't want to be mis-understood. I was SO happy to have all three kids home for the summer, BUT there is something to be said about routine. We are a LAZY family during the summer. We don't have a lot of routine and this summer of transition was certainly no different. Actually, it probably required more flexability than before.

We had a pretty good morning as we took Ashleigh and Austinto the bus stop and then proceeded to follow the bus to school. Once there we follwed the kids to class and took the required pictures.

Amy didn't REALLY know what all was going on, but hey, if there's a camera, then she is there with her "cheesey" smile ready!

The necessary school bus "boarding" picture

"I'm not going to school, but I will pose for the 1st day of school 'front door' picture!"

 

I LOVE these kids!

We just had the most awesome weekend with 28 junior high kids! Our youth group went on an extended weekend trip to Oklahoma City Friday through Sunday.

We drove down on Friday morning and did a service project at the Food Bank Warehouse near the airport. We had a blast! And I was SO proud of our kids. They worked so hard and didn't complain. We helped with the weekend packback food program for kids and also sorted canned goods.

Saturday we "enjoyed" a day at Frontier City. I use the term "enjoyed" loosely because it was SO STINKIN' HOT! We went to Frontier City to enjoy a concert in the evening, but didn't make it that long :) We ended up leaving the part early and going to the hotel to swim and relax. A side note about my Frontier City experience: I rode all three roller coasters!!! And, I took our youth intern Jodie with me on all of them; she had never ridden a coaster before. It's funny how I was more adventurous when I was younger, then I hit a "scared" stage and wouldn't do anything that was risky. Now I am doing all kinds of things that push me out of my comfort zone!

The biggest reason I posted this picture and wanted to write about our weekend is because I wanted to share about these kids. I love them all so much. We brought Amy with us to OKC (although my dad and step-mom came to OKC to help with all the kids). My junior high "kids" love my kids and that makes mixing all my kids so much easier. The junior high kids prayed with us as we waited for Amy; and they were at the airport to welcome us home from China. They have all been so understanding as we have helped Amy transition at home. I have not been giving them 100% since we have been home and yet, they are so understanding.

Here's a picture of my "kids". They are awesome!

 

Well - isn't this fun???

And the answer is???
Yes!
Last week my brother Adam and his wife Laura came to visit with their three kiddos. There were a LOT of kids, but also a lot of laughter and a lot of memories.
In all, we had a 9 year old (Ashleigh), a 7 year old (Austin), two 2 year olds (Amy and Joshua), two 1 year olds (Abigail and Grayson) and a 2 month old (Esther). That's a lot of diapers!
As if that wasn't crazy enough, we decided to take a family picture since we had everyone together (except Grayson's baby brother, who won't be here until September!).

family

All the grandkids - Joshua, Austin, Abigail, Grayson, Ashleigh, Esther and Amy

one of my favorite shots

Four months ALREADY!?

I cannot believe that it has already been four months since our family "grew" from 4 to 5! Four months ago a very timid and scared two year old orphan walked into our hotel room and changed our lives forever. In that moment she became a daughter, sister, grand-daughter, cousin, neice and more. She stepped into a family. She had no idea what was about to change for her. And we had no idea what was about to change for us.

How can you love a child you don't even know? I will never be able to explain it, but at that moment, I would have given my life for her. To know Amy is to love her.

I can't even believe the transformation...

Amy and her Daddy (at a Families With Children From China - FCC - picnic last weekend)
Amy - moments after she walked into our lives four months ago

Amazing.

I remember telling Chris about a month ago "I just want her to know I love her and for her to love me back." He said "Isn't that like God? He just wants us to know He loves us and for us to love Him back?" So true. And it's glimpses into the heart of God - like that - that have been the biggest lessons we have learned in the last four months.

And - I think Amy DOES know she's loved and she loves us back...