I love these little insights...

...into Merrilee's head.  She really is who she says she is.  She loves the outdoors, and loves the Lord.

Today the two older kids had to get up early and get going for their first day of summer camp at the Flint RiverQuarium.  The theme of the camp is The Wonders of Nature.  Our schedule didn't work out for some of their first choices of camp this summer, but I really think they'll enjoy this one.  Merrilee loves nature, and  her "Exploring Backpack" is filled and ready at all times.  She keeps the backpack hanging in the garage, and I figured it had typical kid exploring junk in it, so I never really paid attention to it's contents.

The backpack itself is a very pretty quilted backpack/purse she received on her 5th birthday from Aunt Paige.  Today, Merrilee had planned to use the backpack to carry her lunch, hat, and a pencil to camp, so she dumped all the bag's contents (including the grass, dirt, and debris) onto the kitchen table, leaving the mess for me.  Since she was supposed to have her name written on the bag, she changed her mind at the last minute and left the bag in place and took her lunch in a paper bag.  When I came home from dropping the kids off, I curiously started to look through what she keeps in the bag.  I loved what I found!

Courtesy of her father's old military stuff, she has an official USMC issue first aid kit, complete with camouflage gauze bandages, Band-Aids, eye patches, and a card explaining how to perform artificial respiration.  She has also added a pencil and Nemo note pad, binoculars, gardening gloves, a bag of camellia seeds probably taken from Grandma's garden, and a treasure map.  Seems like a pretty good collection of junk for an eight-year old's exploring backpack.

But here's the part I liked the best:  her treasure map.

I think this is the only map any of us need.  So easy, even a child can draw it.  And this map always leads to the treasure.

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."  Matthew 13:44

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:21

Good News!

We started our latest adoption paperwork back in September last year, had a three month delay due to fingerprint issues, and finally got the dossier logged in to China at the end of April.  That had to be the longest it has ever taken me to get a dossier complete, through no fault of my own.  Now, after waiting 76 days, we have gotten our approvals to adopt Joshua Fu Ning and Sarah Irene Xiao Jie!  Love that I can share photos with you!

Here are three photos of them taken together in May 2011, three photos of Joshua, and three photos of Sarah Irene. We hope to travel in October to bring them home.

Surprise Visit!

For about a month, I had a big secret to keep from Merrilee.  It wasn't easy, since this child manages to pick up on every clue and usually discovers secrets whether she wants to or not.  I had to do my best not to give it away, and a couple of times I thought I might have lost the fight, but secrecy did prevail, and Merrilee had the surprise of her life!

Last year we had planned to have our friends from Maryland, Katie and her three children Walt, Libby, and Annalee, come and visit, but things fell through and we were all so disappointed.  This year I decided to keep it a secret from Merrilee, and Katie and I plotted and planned to make it happen.  We even planned it down to how we were going to take photos when Merrilee answered the door.

The big day came two weeks ago, and sure enough, Merrilee was thunderstruck!  I was afraid she had figured it out because the day before she asked me if Katie and I had made plans for them to visit this summer.  But it was just an innocent question and she never knew.

Merrilee and Annalee were dear friends before we moved, and it was priceless to see them enjoy their time together again.  Merrilee has really missed having such a close friend.

Katie and the kids only stayed for two nights, but we packed in as much as we could.  We took the kids to the aquarium and the zoo, played in the pool for hours, and Merrilee and Libby even attempted piano/harp duets.

Jacob and Walt got to share bunk beds and Jacob really enjoyed having another boy in the house.

Libby also seemed taken with Katie Mei, and even remarked how much she loved feeling like a big sister.

Katie, we already miss all of you all over again, and hope we can do this once again next year.  Thanks for taking the time to come down here and stay with us!