Easter in St. Louis

This year we spent Easter with Ken's family in St. Louis. We attended a very interesting Easter eve service. The church was narrowly missed the night before by the same tornado that hit the St. Louis airport, and the power was out. They had several generators running minimal lights and sound equipment. It was very humid inside, but there were still many families there to celebrate our risen savior. I actually missed most of the service, because Eliza was running around, getting overheated, and eventually puking all over the carpet in a dimly lit hallway. (Every bit as much fun as it sounds).

Easter morning, we had yummies from the local Korean bakery, followed by smiling children eating WAY too much candy. Then we were off to spend the day at Grandma Bev's family's winery. The kids had a blast exploring the 60 acre farm, feeding horses, egg hunting, and eating lots of yummy food. It was so much fun!

Eliza Warrior Princess

Part girly-girl, part battle-ready warrior. Her favorite color is pink, and her toy of choice today is a sword and shield. This is what happens when you put one little girl in a house full of rowdy boys.

She's 6 today

Happy Birthday to my sweet Vishakha. Even though she's half a world away, we celebrate her, because we are her family, and that's what families do. Since Ken is working tonight, we actually celebrated last night (which was today in India, so it totally counts). We had chocolate cake and the boys all wished for V to come home soon before blowing out all the candles. Then we watched videos of V that my friend took at BSSK this week (she was there picking up her son, yay). The only thing missing was the birthday girl.

Eliza's "Adopted" photo

For those of you who don't know, Third Day (just about the most awesome band ever) is promoting adoption. You can read about it on their website. They are also compiling photos of adopted kids/families in order to make a slideshow to play during their concerts. So here is Miss Eliza's "Adopted" photo submission. So who wants to go see a Third Day concert?

A special Diwali celebration

My bloggy friend just sent me a link to a hotel blog from Pune, India. They had a Diwali celebration for all the kids at institution where Vishakha lives. Click HERE to read their blog post about the celebration & see pictures.

PS: our sweet girl is in the 2nd photo. She's in the front row wearing the red and white outfit.

8396 Miles Away

8396 miles away...there is a precious 5 year old little girl living in an orphanage.



8396 miles away...her 2 best friends found out this week that they will soon have a family, and they will be leaving to come to the USA.



8396 miles away...she knows nothing of the mommy and daddy that love her, and cannot wait to meet her, hold her, and call her mulgi (daughter).



8396 miles away...God is with this precious child. He also loves her. He also calls her mulgi.

One Step Closer

Today, finally, our dossier and acceptance paperwork is on it's way to India! YIPPPEEE!

There is still much more to be done before we get to bring our sweet girl home. Our docs must now be processed, scrutinized and reviewed by the gov't and courts in India, but today I celebrate progress and the fact that we are one step closer to bringing Vishakha home.

A quick update on Vishakha: Her recent progress reports are good. She is still very small (she's almost 6 but closer to the size of a 4 year old), but she's growing and healthy, and continues to make good progress with her speech and physical therapies. She is going to English school, and getting good grades. I have even been able to find a few of the US families who are adopting her good friends at the orphanage, so maybe they can be penpals once they all get to the US. How awesome is that!

Snow Day

Recently we had a perfect day of snowy fun. Lots of snow, and not too cold. It has since then gotten WAY too cold, but we had one great day of winter wonderland fun. Notice there is no sled at the end of the video. Phillip actually popped the sled trying to jump it off the concrete wall. Thankfully he wasn't hurt. After that they decided they didn't need a sled anyway. They could just dive down the hill on their bellies.

Some words to live by

I so admire the beautiful life lived by Mother Teresa. I know we can all learn many lessons from her life of faith, love and service to the poor. I came across this quote from her and thought it was worthy of sharing.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway

---Mother Teresa

The Spirit of the Season

When I think about the Christmas season, I think, of course, about God's greatest gift to the world, His son, Jesus. I also think about how easy it is to get caught up in the world's commercialization and greed of the season. Every year we hear about someone being trampled during the Black Friday frenzy. For what? To save a few bucks on a stupid TV? Is this really why God sent his Son to the earth? So we could have hi-def at a low cost? I think God intended Christmas to be so much more.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

As my passion lies with serving the orphaned and poverty stricken children of the world, I have decided to post about the importance of Child Sponsorship. Consider the cost of caring for a healthy child (orphanage staff or foster parents, clothing, medical checkups, immunizations, school supplies, diapers, formula, food...etc). Now consider the cost of the many not so healthy children. This would include my daughters (Eliza was 10 weeks premature and spent 2 months in the NICU. Vishakha has been in care for 5 years and has cerebral palsy).

Holt strives to insure that the children in their care receive excellent medical care, for which I am very grateful, but that medical care is expensive. Please consider all God has blessed you with this holiday season, and consider being a blessing to a child in need.

Watch the video below, and then click HERE to sign up to sponsor a child.