Party Time

Super easy party. 

Great Kentucky friends. 

Fun time. 

Wonderful memories! 

Life is good & Lily is four.

Precious Treasure Turns F.O.U.R.

Hard to believe ...

SHE IS FOUR!!!!!

Lily woke up this morning & measured herself ....
to see if she was bigger. 

And, of course, I helped her measure so that she measured "bigger". 

She is bigger ... Right?? 

My girl is 4.

My girl that brings the joy, the crazy, the fun, the sweetness, the tenderness, the empathy,
the laughter & all the wonderful things that she is. 

She has my heart in every way.

She is the most persistent child I have ever met. 
She is beyond determined & has a the mind of an engineer at an early age. 

Hannah & I joke saying, "Lily, NASA called & they want you to come give a lecture to the team in Houston."
This girl figures it all out in no time & wants to understand how all things work.

The Lord gifted us with each other &
I am forever thankful that God chose this path to China for sweet precious Lily!  

Her life is such a gift .. to me, to her sister, to our family & to so many.  

God always gives good gifts
& He does more than I ever think or imagine ... 

Lily is far beyond what I ever thought or imagined for daughter #2.  


Happy Birthday, Miss Lily Sha Hope!!! 
You are a treasure &
I will never stop thanking the Lord for YOU!

Gone Redneck ... & Corporate

Life has been busy as all get out ... but we are loving it all!!!

My sister was here last week for 2 nights & I went totally Redneck.

   

After a night on the town 

(read: dinner at Texas Roadhouse & hours at Hobby Lobby)

I was driving her mini-van (the twin to my mini-van) & 

decided to give her "door to door" service (read: Redneck parking).

I parked her van right up on my lawn. 

We have never laughed so hard & 

I could have cared less what the neighbors thought ... 

Her van sat parked here for over 24 hours.  

 Life here in the South is just a lot of good ole' fun!!

The girls & I are totally adjusted to the new routine of me working full time.

Hannah says "I really like our new schedule."  

Lily is SO happy with the new full time pre-school schedule.  

She has adjusted so well & loves that each day is a school day.  

The routine of it all has been so good for her!!

I am so thankful that we have all transitioned so well to me working full time. 

I waited a long time, purposely, for me to go back to work full time.  

There is a time for everything & this is certainly the right time for me to be working.  

Mostly, I am just thankful for how well the girls are doing.  

They are all that matter to me.  

If it wasn't right for me to be working now, we'd live on welfare & beans & rice.  

I am not kidding.  

I will do whatever I have to do for my girls but I will not 

sacrafice their emotional well being for a paycheck.  

Thankfully, they are doing great with me working ...

So get out the frying pan, I love my job ... 

Momma is going to bring home the bacon!!!

So while I might park on the front lawn at times, 

Monday to Friday I am in heels with my hair brushed & make-up on. 

A New Day for this girl .. 

Life is good & 

I am forever so thankful for the good gifts that the Lord always gives!!!

All God's best from HOME,

Health & Freedom

A dream came true this summer.  

I rode on the tube with both of my girls at the same time.

This has been a dream since before Lily even came home from China.  

Hannah's health issues delayed this experience for two summers.  

What a gift. 

And what a gift to live in this country and to have so many freedoms!

Hannah's long time babysitter, Jenn, (from California) has a brave brother, 

Justin, that has been serving with the US Marines.  

This past week has been a nightmare for Justin & his family.  

Justin was hit by an IED ...and has extensive injuries.  

This is a dear, sweet, caring family.  

Please pray for Justin & his family: Jenn, his sister & parents Maureen & Cliff.  

They were all reunited today in Maryland for the very long road of healing & recovery.  

It will not be easy and life will never be the same.

Justin, thank you for your incredible service & sacrifice. 

 Our prayers are with you for your healing & 

for your entire family to sense the peace of God in the midst of this difficult road.  

Life is so short.  

Treasure the moments.  

Never taking my health or freedom for granted ... 

All God's best from HOME,

Plain & Simple ...

Last week was a great week.

I took a job.  Haven't started yet but I am gearing up & ready to go!  

Back to doing outside sales in the corporate world.   

I know it will be a lot of fun.  

I really can't believe they are going to pay me to talk to people & make friends all the live long day.  

Don't they know I'd do this for free? 

Hannah, Blair & I went to the Lady Antebellum concert on Thursday night.  

They were incredible but the BEST part was watching Hannah sing along & dance in the row.  

She is so alive ...so full of life ... and I am so thankful!!!

Friday was Open House at Lily's Pre-school.  Super fun.  

Lily was given about 20 tatoos which she put ALL over her body as soon as we got home.  

Just finally got them all off tonight (4 days later!)

While at the Open House, a friend told Hannah about a karaoke 

competition for kids at the KY State Fair.    

So off we went to the fair ... for Hannah to sing her heart out. 

She did move on to the semi-finals but didn't make it to the finals.  

She rocked the stage ... owned it & had a blast.   

She was so super excited when she came off stage -- 

honestly, you would have thought she had won based on her enthusiasm.  

Here are some pictures from our great week in KY: 

On our way to Lady A concert ... one of the best nights ever.  

Lily took this picture before we left. 

Yes, she's 3 but she can work the Canon DSLR.

At the State Fair for the karaoke contest.

Just had to get a picture with this sign.   Not often we see our last name spelled correctly.

This was a booth for "Eriksen Chiropractic" 

.. no relation to us. 

On stage ready for her first performance ... she calls this her "home."

 Being called back onto the stage to move on to the "semi-final" round.   

She was over the moon!!

 Lily (and "Baby") in the tricycle race at the Fair.  

Isn't she so adorbale?  

We have been having some sweet times together ... 

L.O.V.E. this girl!!

 Oops ... "Baby" got stuck under the back wheel. 

Hannah working the stage during the semi-finals.  

She had an absolute blast performing!!

Can't go to the fair without doing the rides.   

This picture is from before some crazy ride.  I should have taken a picture afterward ... oh my! 

Don't think I will be doing this ride again next year.  

I was scared out of my mind on this thing.  

When did I become such a wimp ... 

and why is my thumb double jointed?  

Yikes.

 

Life is good.  

 no matter what craziness is going on 

... and I know me a lot of crazy!

All God's best from HOME,

Back in the Swing of Things in KY

Well, I love Kentucky.   Just love it.  

Life here is relaxed .. 

less crowded... easier ... kinder.   

The South (even, here, just shy of the Mason-Dixon line) 

is a great place to live.  

I will never regret raising my girls in this beautiful place!!

We are in the swing of things for the Fall Season.  

School is awesome.  

Hannah's 4th grade teacher is a man.  First time she has ever had a male teacher.  

Wonderful for her to have a male role model at school each day.  

I asked her tonight how he does with the boys that are sometimes out of control.  

She said "Oh, he has magical powers over with those crazy boys."  

So glad for her teacher with the "magical powers"...

I am counting on him. 

Here are some pictures from this past week ... 

at the park:

And at Hannah's school today for lunch ...

Hannah is signed up for soccer 

& guess who is going to be a coach?  

Aaaaah ... yes, that would be (crazy) me.

This girl that never played a day of soccer in her life.  

So I will stand on the sidelines & cheer ... 

what more do they need at age 9 ...

Well, maybe more? 

Thankfully, I think another mom will coach with me.  

She knows more about soccer.  

Yippie for co-coaching!!

I am prepping the girls for me to go back to work full time in September.  

I know all of my discussions about how things are going to change will pay off.  

The girls are ready ...and so am I.  

I am so excited to get "back out there" striving for annual goals.  

It will be fun to be back in the field & doing what comes natural to me. 

Life is good.

We are three very blessed girls living up life in Kentucky ...

in a home filled with peace!

Thank you, Lord!!! 

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"The nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge."  Psalm 73:28

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."  Lamentations 3:25

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All God's best from HOME in KENTUCKY,

First Day of School & Three Years Since Referral

Today is three years.  

Three years since we drove to Sierra Madre to get the photos of Lily's referral pictures.  

This precious gem of a girl brings joy & laughter every day!!! 

Here she is today with her referral photos.  

She wasn't too interested in a "photo shoot" but I did the best that I could.  

I will never forget that day of seeing her happy face for the first time: 

8/11/08. 

Her smile brought much needed joy all the way from China!

I am so blessed to be her mom.  

There are no words for what her joy has brought 

in the midst of Roisin's passing, Hannah's illness & the loss of my marriage.  

The Lord always gives good gifts ... 

He knew I'd need her.  

Exactly HER.

I am so thankful for HIS PERFECT plan ..

even when I don't understand the details

that involve tremendous pain & waiting on Him. 

 God is good!

On a separate note, we hit the ground running this week: 

landed from Idaho, shopped for school supplies, packed the bag & lunch ... 

and got Hannah off to her first day of 4th grade! 

To see her riding the bus is a gift.  

My girl that lived on blood transfusions, 

lived life for over 160 days on a hospital unit is now entering 4th grade.  

Life is good  ... 

all of it, 

even my alarm at 6:30AM.

I wouldn't trade that alarm clock for an IV pole & hospital unit for anything! 

Here are pictures of Hannah's first day of school --

We had the greatest summer ever ... 

just the three of us & I am so thankful.  

Thankful for the peace we have had.  

Thankful for the memories we have made.  

It has been much needed time for us to be off schedule & just be together for summer travels & plans.   

I am one incredibly blessed Mom!!

No complaints from Kentucky.  

Ever.

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"I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."  Psalm 34:1

"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert .... 

to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart."  Deuteronomy 8:2