Creative Roots 79/365

 "Hey mom, look what I made."

Why yes Hope, it looks like you put a bunch of leaves on a stick. It is very pretty.

Oh, or maybe it is a tree you are making.

Or I should have known, it's an umbrella.  How could I have not guessed it the first time?  

I hope this keeps the sun off of you my precious girl! I'm glad to see that you have not forgotten your roots.  Your creative umbrella is prettier than any of the ones we saw in China, because it was made by you.

Favorite Sign of Spring 78/365

This has to be my favorite sign of spring!  The same sweet momma bird has come for three years now to our front porch to build her nest.  Her babies hatched earlier this year than usual. However, they are all doing well.  I'm not as worried about them this year with our great weather as I have been in years past.  I'm also excited that we will be here this year as they learn to fly and leave the nest.  We are normally at the beach, but since she was early, we will get to watch all the fun.  They are already stuffed into this nest, so things should be interesting to watch.  I just love the amazing little things of nature that God gives us to marvel in.

Fun Fortunes 77/365

Every Friday, we try to do something fun for the kids for making it through the week.  All week, the girls had been asking me for Chinese food.  I was excited about it too, but we had to put it off until tonight.  We have had a full day of parties, but they were still ready to go get Chinese tonight.  So after our bellies were full, we got our fortune cookies.  Of course, I don't really believe in the fortunes, but they are always fun to crack open and read.  These were all pleasant fortunes, Noelle especially liked hers, Your dearest wish will come true within a month!  She quickly said, "Yes, I'm getting a penguin!"  We quickly informed her that it wasn't going to happen!

It was this fortune that had me giggling though.  This was LeeLee's fortune.  She is a pretty good reader most of the time for a six year old, but her misreading is what made it so funny.  She said, "A bald and dashing, oh momma, you have to break up with daddy, because he is gonna be mine."  Isn't it sweet that as soon as she thought her fortune had a bald and dashing guy in it that she immediately thought of her daddy?  This little LeeLee of mine sure can be a pack of trouble, but she sure keeps us all smiling!

Bella's Blessing 76/365

God has shown us his blessings on LeeLee again through a little hamster named Bella.  LeeLee hasn't had a hamster in a while, and Hope just got one a few weeks ago (I will post about that another time, because there is a cute story there too.)  So, we I decided it was time for LeeLee to have another one, so we got one that looks like my all time favorite hamster George.  This one is a teddy bear baby, so she will be much larger than Noelle and Hunter's hamsters.  When we returned with Bella, we got her cage ready and got her in there, but we heard Paul outside, so being the smart girl that she is, LeeLee grabbed the cage and ran downstairs with it so he wouldn't know there was another hamster in the house.  I guess in the haste of trying to hide the hamster from Daddy, LeeLee forgot to fill up the food bowl.  She of course thought she had, so she didn't check it.  It normally takes the hamsters about 2-3 weeks to empty the bowl.  So, as the kids were doing their nightly hamster check, they came running upstairs with Bella's lifeless body.  She was cold, and could not open her eyes.  All the signs pointed to an imminent death.  I can't stand it however, so I will do just about anything to try and save them.  I got water in a syringe, and started trying to see if I could get that in Bella.  She wasn't swallowing, so I would breathe in her face to get her to swallow.  Once I got a little water down her, I crushed up some food and got it in really warm water then started slowing feeding that to Bella in the syringe.  We put out a heating pad and put Bella on it....she was lifeless.  Then Hunter told LeeLee that she better start praying.  She did, over and over with tears streaming down her face.  Then, between sessions of trying to get food in Bella, I prayed with LeeLee for Bella.  When I was done praying, LeeLee wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "I feel like God just put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was going to be okay."  LeeLee's whole countenance had changed.  Oh how this worried me, because I thought to myself, it would take a miracle to save Bella.  But, what I could not do on my own, God could do.  He had comforted LeeLee and given her a promise.  A promise that he kept.  Bella bounced back within about 4 hours and you would never have known that anything had ever been wrong with her.

The faith of this child amazes me.  LeeLee is so carefree, yet she is so spiritual.  She sees and feels God in a tangible way.  It is a gift.  I am often jealous of her child like faith.  I think sometimes life robs us of having the faith of a child because we doubt what God can do.  We see friends dying of cancer, we lose parents, we see people struggle just to have a home and put food on the table.  I watch and read about precious orphans who have lost hope, and I just want to cry out to God, WHY?  But then, I watch something as simple as LeeLee hearing and claiming a promise from God, and I am reminded yet again of Isaiah 55:9....As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Sweet Dreams 75/365

Today Hopey looked at me and said, "Mommy, I dreamed last night that you had a baby."
I said, "Oh no, Hopey, you are my baby."
She said, "No, mommy, you said, there is a baby in my tummy, a baby in my tummy."
I said, "No, sweetheart, there are no babies in my tummy."
She said, "Aww, but mommy, I want you to have a baby."
I just gave her the look and said, "It's not gonna happen Hope."
She hung her little head down and walked away.

But the thing is, I don't dream of little babies.  I do however dream of kids.  Kids just like her who are waiting.  When I see pictures of waiting kids who have some similar feature to either Hope or LeeLee, my heart always skips a little beat.  I dream about all the little friends she left behind.  My heart breaks when I see files of kids who are labeled as developmentally delayed or mentally retarded.  I can't help but think of this precious girl who now sleeps peacefully in the room above mine, who has so embraced being a part of a family. I think about a ten year old boy who has been waiting on the list for over five years, I think about how he has begged a volunteer college student to help him find a family.  I think about a precious little girl in a wheel chair that we met this summer who thinks a family is coming for her.  They were coming, but then the husband changed his mind, so she sits everyday waiting for their arrival.  I think about my precious Diana with Downs from camp this summer.  I think about her spunk, and how much she would benefit from a family.  I think about ZhuZhu and how much she wanted to be a part of my family, and how she tried so hard to please me just hoping I would scoop her up and take her home. Oh how I dream of them....the forgotten ones.

My precious Hopey, as you sleep tonight I wish for you lots of sweet dreams.  Dreams that do fill your head with happy thoughts and put smiles on your face.  But for me my sweet girl, while you sleep soundly in your nice warm bed, I will be dreaming by my own dreams trying to figure out what I can do to change the life of the children that haunt my dreams.  And I will remember that you were once one of the children that haunted my dreams.  Then I will look towards the heavens and thank my father above that he helped the dream of you, my sweet girl, become a reality.  Sweet dreams my girl!  Sweet Dreams!

Tacky Day 74/365

Noelle's class earned a special day because of good behavior.  The class voted and they agreed that today would be tacky day.  Noelle and her bestie planned their outfits, and I think they looked pretty tacky.  When we pulled up to the school this morning, I looked at Noelle and said, "Sweetie, it looks like you are the only one that remembered."  She replied, "It's okay, I don't mind."  That's my girl!  She had no problem getting out of the car knowing that all eyes would be on her.  Her bestie did show up in tacky stuff too, so they were the tacky twins.  Now, we will take off some of the tackiness so we can head to church.

Paul's Other.....73/365

Interest....I should be jealous, but I'm not.  He wakes up early and heads out to this building because he is doing some major renovations to get it ready to be a car dealership.  It isn't going to just be any dealership, it is going to be his, so he is spending long hours each day trying to oversee it all.  In addition to the construction he is interviewing and hiring people to fill all the positions.  At the same time, he is trying to keep our current companies going.  I am often in awe of how hard of a worker my husband is.  I think people would be hard pressed to find to a harder worker.  We are so thankful for him and how much he does for our family.  He is an amazing father and a wonderful husband. I'll update again when the dealership opens so you can see the difference.