My Mom

When the phone rings in the wee hours of the morning at our house something is usually wrong.  Riiiiiiiiiinnnnggg.....   My heart jumped as Marty answered the phone.  "Here I'll let you talk to mom...."

It was Josh and my mom was having a heart attack. 

She is fine now and she is home.   Praise God! 

Greetings From China

We were so thrilled to receive a Christmas greeting from the Guilin SWI where our girls lived until we brought them home.  :)
 

Polar Express Pajama Day

 
BinBin was soooooo excited to wear her cute pink Christmas kitty pajamas to school today!  All of the children in her class are wearing their pj's and their teacher Ms. Smith is going to read The Polar Express to them.  They are having hot cocoa and cookies for their snack and this afternoon they will be watching The Polar Express movie.  Fun, fun, fun!!! 
I almost forgot to get a photo of her and snapped this one at the last minute with my phone.

It's Santa!

Brinley and Bailey had appointments at the Medical University today.  We left the building at about 4:30 and were enjoying our walk back to the parking garage. The girls were being very silly and I'd just said, "Girls, you need to behave."  I looked up and saw Santa walking toward us and said, "I see Santa!".  The girls were too busy being silly to hear me so in a much louder voice I said, "I SEE SANTA!".  They looked up and saw him, too.  By this time he was very close. He waved to them like he was seeing a friend he hadn't seen in many years and knelt down on the sidewalk. They both went running to him, grinning from ear to ear.  He asked them if they were being good and told them he'd be seeing them soon. I quickly took some photos and Santa was gone again in an instant.  What a treat to see Santa right there on the street in Charleston! A wonderful memory was made for all of us in those few minutes.

It's A Girl!!!

For my friend "E", that is! I am so excited I can't stand it!!! This family has been waiting, hoping, dreaming about adding another little one to their family and doors have opened and closed and hearts have been broken and healed along the way. NOW the perfect tiny little girl is going to be loved and snuggled and spoiled rotten by a mama who will love her to the moon and back, a daddy who will read her bedtime stories and a big sister who will adore her and teach her all about tea parties and playing dress up! Praise God for blessing my friends with this precious child.  :)
They leave on the 9th to bring Sweet Pea home!

HOOOOORAY!!!

Quilt-n-Mama Giveaway

In honor of Abigayl's 5th birthday there is a giveaway on Quilt-n-Mama's blog!  Abigayl has chosen a Deluxe Edition (including cd's) of The Jesus Storybook Bible.  Jump over and check it out!
 

Sunday Snapshot: Keith

Keith is our 16 year old. I didn't give birth to him so some may argue that he is not mine. He is. He and his dad came as a package deal when we were married in May, 2003. Yes, he has a great mom. I'm not his mom but he is still one of my kids. He calls me "YaYa". He has grown up so much since the day he was his daddy's best man and carried my ring so carefully.
I am so proud of Keith. He never complained when his little sisters took up the majority of our time and he probably didn't get as much attention as he should have. He's always happy to help out around the house and even though he is almost 5 years older than Brice, they have an amazing friendship. He and his sister Kristen have a similar sense of humor and he will often come in and ask "When will Kristen be here? I have to tell her something."  "Something" is usually a joke!  You can't help laughing at his jokes and silliness.  Keith plays a mean bass guitar and you can always count on him to eat any cake batter remaining in the bottom of the mixing bowl.  :)   He is considerate and kind and I am so glad that he is his daddy's son.....our son.

 

 

"Dirt Surfing"

 

 

Not too cool for Chuck E. Cheese with his little sisters!

Not the best quality photos by any means but I really loved sitting here going through our old photos and remembering these great times with Keith.

Read more about Sunday Snapshot on Stefani's blog.

Thanksgiving

 

So much to be thankful for....loved having our family here with us!

An Orphan's Wish Fundraiser!

Please check out my friend Stefanie's blog. Ni Hao Y'all!  She has all of the news about a fab fundraiser for An Orphan's Wish. I am so excited about this!  I am going to donate some of Brinley and Bailey's outfits that I was going to save. I have beautiful photos of them wearing these dresses that I can look at any time.  Letting them go will clear out some space here and the money raised will go to a wonderful cause!   Please consider donating and bidding! 

Yep. :)

I think Brinley's balloon pretty much sums it up.  Life is good! Not perfect, not always what we want or what we pray for....but it is good. Living, breathing, loving, enjoying the world that God has blessed us all with and making it a better place for others.

  Life Is Good.

~*~*~S W E E T N E S S~*~*~

Brinley's Prayers

Last night Brinley was saying her prayers and she said, "Thank you for my mommy and daddy and my 'fambly' (family). Thank you for my teachers. HEY, I LOVE BOOKS!!! I LEARNED TO READ TODAY!!!" I thought it was awesome that she was sharing her big news with God. I learn so much from my children.

Daisy Scouts

Brinley and Bailey are big girls now!  Back in September they joined Daisy Scouts!  Both of them are so excited about this new adventure!

 

Trick or Treat!!!

I didn't take my camera to the church for the Harvest Festival this year so I don't have photos of that.  We did have a lot of fun and Danielle was sooooo funny as "Granny"!

For Trick or Treat the girls were invited to Ms. Michele's neighborhood.  They had a lot of fun and saw lots of their friends.  Bailey was a pink Power Ranger and Brinley had her red Power Ranger costume but at the last minute decided that she didn't want to dress up.

Marty and Keith ended up wearing the masks.  They still didn't get any candy!

We let Bailey go Trick or Treating and she got a lot of candy.  Of course, this was with the understanding that she could not eat it.  When we got home she 'sold' her candy to us for $3.  She was a happy, happy girl!  Brinley decided to sell hers to us too.  Brice & Keith took the candy to church Sunday and brought very little back home.  YAY!!!

Weekend At The Pond

We spent the weekend at the pond.  The sky was overcast and the temperature was cool. We had some rain for a little while but it didn't stop us from having a great time!  The girls and Brice were up early Saturday morning running around with their flashlights.  We cooked "Beaufort Stew" one night and Kristen and Eric joined us for supper.  Brice loves being over there at the pond.  He says he wants to live there someday.