Just after graduation, I had the complete joy of having my neice and nephew with us for 9 days. I only get to see them once or twice a year. My brother and sister-in-law make every effort possible to get all the cousins together. It is precious! WE had hoped to make a trip to Florida, but we just couldn't work the details out with all the many schedules around here.

It has been over a month now since Erin graduated from High School. My life was so full that I just never got around to posting any pictures. We are very proud of Erin. She was in the top 5% of her class, she was class president, STudent Council president, National Honor Society Vice President, tri-captain of her soccer team, a senior mentor, a D.A.R.E. Ambassador, a S.A.L.T. leader in her youth group and honestly.. I am not sure what else. She was recipient of 2 scholarships and reacruited to play soccer for an excellent soccer team / college. She has truly grown up so much this past year. It has been such a joy to watch her. She leaves, officially, August 15th. She has to work soccer camp the last week of July and the first week of August (we will miss her 18th birthday; that makes me sad). So, as I sit here and type this, I am realizing that I only have about 2 more weeks with my girl. And I will only have one week with Emily before she goes back to school. And in 5 weeks (maybe 6), my littlest ones will be starting kindergarten and Jacob will be starting high school... and Sam will only have 2 years left of school and he will be leaving me too. It is a very sad day for me.


Because Erin was the class president, she had the privlidge of leading the entire class in.

One of her official duties was to present the class gift to the superintendent of the schools.

She has officially graduated!!
Again, because of being the class president, she had the honor of leading the class in transfering their tassels from one side to the other.










Uncle Paul
Mamaw and Papaw
Aunt Susan and Uncle Ed
The graduation cake for her party.

A day in the life of Emily... or maybe a week.... I just don't know. I do know that Emily is loving every minute at Skyview. Every week she shares with me all that God is doing! It is amazing. Every week, while she is praying for the girls at camp and seeing what God has planned, she has me praying for each of her girls here at home. This week, I have started training for a triatholon... the running part - oh how I hate running!!!!..... anyway - this week, I have committed to praying for Emily and her girls while I run. It has been so exciting to do! Here are a few pics of Em during her training weeks at Skyview.

Continuing our trip to California.... The Masyrs took us all to Disneyland. What an amazing day that was! Elizabeth and Ri are still talking about it. They loved every second of it. It was fun to see Disney through the eyes of 5 year olds... especially when it was their first time ever to Disneyland! I asked them what their favorite thing was about Disney and both piped in with "meeting the characters" and Space Mountain. They were big enough to ride Space Mountain... whicb is a very, very fast rollar coaster. And it is very dark most of the ride (with stars, of course... but no planets - as Ri is constantly reminding me). I sat with Elizabeth and Sam sat with Ri. EVerytime I put my hand on Elizabeth (to make sure she was still in her seat and hadn't flown out somewhere along the way), she would push my hand away. She wanted to ride it all by herself and insisted that she did not need her mommy holding onto her! The smiles on their faces when we finished the ride were priceless. This is one day that will forever be written in the memory of my kids!

It has been over 3 years since the three of us have had a chance to be together. The Masyrs and the Lennards all met us at the airport when we flew into LAX on our way home from adopting Ri. It was precious! Since then, the Masyrs and us have gotten together, but I haven't been able to see Tamara. They adopted Cheyanne at the same time we adopted Elizabeth and the Masyrs adopted Faith. All three of us became very close. The Lennards brougth Cassie home 2 years ago and I have never been able to meet her in person. We discovered that TAmara was at a conference in Anaheim; we were only 30 miles from there! So we made a few changes in plans and were able to meet up with them for dinner (at 10:00 at night!


Staying true to her spirit, Elizabeth shut down when she met the Lennards. We tried hard to get a picture of all our little ones that God so miraculously brougt into our lives through adoption.... but she was not very cooperative!



But... thanks to Noah... she warmed up. He was attacked by all the kids (who absolutely adored him!). He was a real trooper through it all.

Wow - what a whirlwind of a month! It has been so much fun and so exciting. We had graduation, graduation party, VBS, my niece and nephew for 11 days, and a thrilling and somewhat unexpected trip to California! Elizabeth, Ri and I just got back from California a few days ago. Things have been so crazy that I have not had time or energy to post.

California??? Yep.... totally unexpected. 5 years ago, we met a family who has since become some of our dearest friends. We spent 2 weeks in China, they came here for a week when we got home with Ri and then a week the next year and then this year.... Evan called me and shared with me that Christy was celebrating an important birthday. He had thought and thought of something special to get her but couldn't come up with just the right gift. Then he asked me if I would be willing to come out to California with Ri and Elizabeth. I was floored! To have a chance to visit the Masyrs was something i had not expected to be able to do for sometime. It isn't that I didn't want to go to California, I just knew that it would be a long time until we would be able to take a trip there. Once Evan found out my schedule, he booked flights for us to go. It was so much fun surprising Christy! The look on her face is something I will never forget. We didn't arrive until 11:30 California time. Her parents (who are incredible!) and Sam picked us up at the airport and drove us to their home. Christy had fallen asleep already. Evan had me knock on the door. He woke her up and told her she needed to answer the door; but she refused. She stood on the platform of their stairs and waited to find out who was knocking at her door at 11:30pm! Evan finally opened the door and I walked in. She was so surprised! After the initial shock wore off, we spent the next couple of hours visiting while the little ones played with Noah and Sam. It was incredible!! The next several days were filled with sight seeing and fellowshiping. How much fun we had! I miss them so much already.

Christy and Evan took us to Santa Barbara... in our home we know it as the home of the tv show, Psych. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I could not get over the mountains on one side of me and a beautiful ocean on the other. The weather could not have been more perfect! We enjoyed every moment. The first 3 pictures are priceless to me. Faith and Elizabeth really got along well. It gives me chillds to think that they started life together. For 10 1/2 months, they were "sisters" in the orphanage. And now, thanks to the Masyrs, they have been able to see each other every year. It is a treasured gift.






True to Elizabeth's personality, she spent many moments shut down and not willing to take pictures or even respond. Don't get me wrong, she had many, many moments when she played hard with all of the kids; but when we were out and about, it was difficult to get her to respond. (notice her face in this one?)

It may have been that she was exhausted, or it may have simply been that she was with people she didn't know all that well.... or it may just be that she is plain rude. Whatever the reason, Evan, CHristy and Sam tried their best to get her to smile. In this picture, Evan had just announced that he was buying ice cream. He then preceded with a game to get her to smile.



One thing that really brought her out of her shell was playing in the water at the beach. She absolutely loved the waves hitting her. The giggles coming from the three younger ones were priceless. Sam and Noah were absolutely incredible with all of them. Both of my kids fell in love with them!






I have much more to post, but I am heading to bed. Emily just tried to download 700 pictures from Skyview. She was so excited to finally get them onto her computer. Somehow, in the download process, she lost 500 of them. She is devastated. And I am just as devastated! I am terrified that the card reader I gave her lost them. Those 500 pictures held some very, very precious pictures/memories for Em. She is handling it very well, but I can tell her spirit is broken. Please pray we find those pictures! I know it seems impossible, but I know that God can do anything. It may be very silly to others, but those pictures meant the world to Em. This past week was an emotional week for her, this weekend has been very hard because her dad and I said no to something that was very important to her, and now somehow those pictures are lost. I just want to cry.

It's just been a little over a week since I last blogged; yet it seems like a month. A lot has happened in that short amount of time. The kids have all finished school. The summer has arrived. Erin graduated on June 6th. We enjoyed a wonderful ceremony of which Erin was one of the speakers. Because she is lass president, she had to give a speech and present the class gift to the superintendent of the schools. She did an excellent job. She also was the first to recieve her diploma (since she was class president) and she got to lead everyone in transferring their tassels from right to left. We are very proud of her. We had our family and Jaoob over for dinner. After that, we headed to Rachels graduation party and spent the rest of the evening there. Sam and Erin started their lifeguard positions on Monday and have worked nearly every day since. Jacob began summer school (he is taking summer gym so that he can free up a period and take more courses during the school year). Mark and I spent the week preparing for the graduation party. My in-laws and my dad spent the day/evening helping set up tables and tents for the party. My sister in-law... the most amazing Aunt any kid could ever dream of having... came and spent the day cleaning and helping with the food. Uncle Paul, the most amazing Uncle a kid could have, came early loaded down with ice and pop and immediately pitched in. It was fun having everyone around to help. We were blessed with the weather. The rain held off until 9:00 pm (when most of the guest were levaing or had already left. Our last guest left at 1:00 am. A VERY dear, dear friend stayed until 11:00 cleaning up all the dishes and putting away the food. Saturday morning, Mark and I woke up and instantly began the huge clean up task. My parents came over and pitched in. We spent the entire morning trying to beat the rain while waiting for tents to dry from the downpour of rain the night before. It was a tricky thing, but we knew that we were suppose to have a lot of rain the next few days and we needed to return the tents we borrowed. We worked hard to get it all accomplished. The moment we folded the last tent and put it in its bag, it started to rain. We had every intention of attending a wedding that day, but by the time we were done, we would have had to leave immediately. Both Mark and I could barely think straight from exhausttion. Elizabeth had had enough of my lack of attention and she and Ri were so wiped out that it was not possible to even think of leaving them or even taking them somewhere. They had had a week worth of staying up until well past 10:00 (often 11:00). Friday night, Elizabeth fell asleep on my shoulders, crying because she was so tired yet I wasn't able to put her in bed at that moment. It was after 11:00 before she was able to be laid down. Needless to say, she is really having a rough time. So, we hated to miss the wedding, but felt we really had no option. Today, we began preparations for our church VBS and will be involved with that nearly all day, every day, until Friday. Erin, Sam, JAcob, Ri and Elizabeth went to the airport and picked up my neice and nephew. They will be with us for the next 11 days. We are very excited about having them. They live in Florida and we only get to see them once or twice a year. While they were at the airport, Mark and I visited Emily. Yay! It was incredible to see her. She looks and sounds great. It is amazing!! She is more on fire for God then I have ever seen her and I dare say... then I have ever dreamed for her. It is thrilling to see.

I can't wait to hear about her summer. We were only able to spend an hour with her, but we weren't complaining. It was a precious hour. She is so excited... and exhauted! The things she is doing is so far out of the norm and I dare say.. out of her comfort zone. It is very, very cool to listen to her.

They had a mock camp this weekend. There were a group of 100 campers who volunteers to come in for a training for the counselors. THey have their first "real" week of kids tomorrow. Emily is so excited for them to come. Anyway, Em shared with us that she led a little girl to Christ. It was the so exciting for her. It was a God thing in how it happened; which is the coolest way for it to happen! To listen to her share the story is incredible.

She also shared with us many of the adventures and fun they are having. She says that every counselor is their with a passion to serve Christ. They have sacrificed their summer and are truly on fire for the Lord. She says she has never been around people like this group. And the director of the camp, according to my daughter, is amazing and on fire for God as well. He has taught her so much about serving Christ.

a glance into Erin's room. It will be a sad day when I begin to paint over all that is written on her walls. They are filled with notes from friends.


Sam is officially done with school. Jacob may be done, though I am waiting to hear back form the school about his science. Erin is officially done with high school altogether! Elizabetha and Ri begin kindergarten camp on June 14th-18th. Jacob begins summer gym on June 10th. Graduation is Sunday. Graduation party is JUne 11th. My neice and nephew fly in to stay with us for 11 days on June 13th. VBS is June 14-18 (of which I am head of drama).... and so my life does not slow down... it just changes focus.

I took Emily some things she had forgotten yesterday. I ended up waking her up. I felt horrible about that. I just wanted to nudge her and tell her I had brought her stuff; hoping that if she didn't want it all, I could take it back for her. I found out that the counselors had been taken on an adventure the night before. Emily had been up 29 hours and was exhuasted. I told her to go right back to sleep. I thought I had succeeded, but 10 minutes later, I saw her walking towards us. I begged her to go back to sleep, but she really wanted to see Elizabeth and Ri and Jacob. So we kept our visit very short. She is loving every bit of the training. It is long and hard and she is exhaustd... but she is very, very happy. I am so thrilled! SHe was nervous. I think she still is a bit nervous, but at least I can see how happy she is being there. I believe God has some mighty plans! I am watching them on a webcam that the camp has set up. It is 10:54 at night and they ar still going at it. It looks like they are praying right now. I can't believe they are still at it. Em says that they get up at 7:00 and go full swing until 1:00am. After hearing her story of their adventure... I believe it!

Sunday night, before Emily went to camp, she and a friend discovered a baby deer being attacked by Shu. Emily rescued the deer. We tried to get it to go away, but it followed the kids everywhere (this was at 1l:00 at night. Eventually, it walked away. But the next morning, it was back. This time, it guzzled down a bottle. It comes and goes and eats a bottle anytime we see it. Shu is playing with it, but in her play, she is ripping its neck and shoulders. We are having to try to keep Shu from attacking it. We have tried to pen it, but we get torn and think it is best to let it run free..... but then we worry about Shu. We have called the Division of Natural Wildlife but they have not responded to our call. So in the meantime, we are attempting to nurse the deer back to health.

We have had some crazy weather lately. Lots of rain. TOnight, there was a tornado warning. Evidentally the doppler picked up a funnel cloud in our county. The sirens were going off. But we saw nothing. Last night, though, on the way home from working out, Mark, Erin and I saw a very strange cloud. It was a very cool sight. I had my camera right beside me, so I took a few pictures. The cloud was not rotating... but it definitely had the appearance of a tornado.

Well, Emily is off to camp. What a joy it was to drop her off and listen to what is in store for her these next 2 weeks. The camp director shared with us that the kids (counselors) had 272 hours of training ahead of them... in just 14 days! OK... Jacob and I did the math. If that is completely true, then she is faced with 19.42 hours a day for the next 2 weeks. So I am guessing (or maybe more accuarately..hoping) that 272 hours isn't exactly right.

I am not sure what kind of training that other camps give their counselors... but I am confident that these counselors will be the best trained counselors I have ever come across! Having experienced the orientation for parents and counselors on Monday and listening to what is in store for Emily (training wise).... if I had a child who could go to camp this year; Skyview would be it! THe training is so packed that Emily can not even get off for Erin's graduation. That makes me very, very sad. But the day that ERin graduates is the day that she will be getting training in CPR. It is a shame becaues she has already been certified in CPR, only that was before we got Ri. I am confident she has to be recertified. :( It breaks my heart for both of the girls. Emily can't stand the thought of missing ERin's graduation. Emily didn't ask about being able to make it to Erin's graduation party, but she is pretty confident that she will not be able to go. After hearing all that is going on, I am pretty confident she won't be able to either. I can't wait to see what God has in store for Em!! I can't imagine a better training or experience to prepare Emily for serving the Lord or for helping her figure out what God's plan is for her.

One part of camp is a wilderness camp. It takes kids into Canada. Erin had signed up for it 2 years ago, but was unable to go. She had been so excited for it. Emily thought is sounded very cool and would love to be one of the counselors chosen for it. She grabbed her passport and was looking at it on the way to camp. It never dawned on me that it could have expired (forgot that she was a child when she had initially got her passport)! SHe noticed the expiration date. It is quite possible that Em will not be chosen for that camp (and she is fine with that), but if she is, then we have to have her passport ready to go. The camp is in 5 or 6 weeks which means that I am in CRUNCH time to get a passport. The problem is that she is unable to leave camp training and in order to submit an application, she has to be there with me. Oh well... God is in control. There is a good chance she won't go on the trip and if she does, God will work out all the details!

Please DO pray for the counselors! And pray for the campers who will be attending. I use to have a very tender heart towards Skyview, but after the experiences that Erin, Sam and Jacob had had, my heart had grown a little colder. BUT... in the past couple of years, I have seen it change.. and after Monday.. my heart has become very tender towards this camp again. God is working through the hands of the servants at Skyview!

As for Elizabeth, she had a good night last night. She is still miserable at times, but I think we are finally over the hump. I have no idea if the scab has come off. I think we are still in the "danger" zone for bleeding to occur - so I would love prayer for that as well.

Erin finished her high school career yesterday! We are so proud of her and whom she has become in the Lord. We are thankful for her accomplishments and her goals for her future. Sam has finals tomorrow and Friday and then he will be done. Jacob is finishing up; hopefully today.

Ri still has a very poor cough. He is amazingly tough though! This is definitely the only sickness that I have seen him really have to deal with. I have to say that this young man is tougher then anyone I know. Us adults are babies compared to him. He has the strength of a lion! (or at least the heart of one)