i got you day.

Since K was away for week last week and returned only last night, we decided to celebrate Gotcha Day with Daddy today.  This morning began with a trip to a park for kites and rockets.  

We started a little competition to see who could jump the highest before landing on the launcher.  Here are the best action shots...

Sweet P could hardly get herself off the ground... most times she wouldn't even land on the red circle but she made up for the lack of height with enthusiasm!

Not to be left out of the fun, I gave it my best try.  

We finished off the celebration with lunch at a local Thai place.  Sweet P was like a little Thai celebrity.  The servers kept a watchful eye on us the entire meal and the hostess came over to hug her repeatedly and ask lots of questions.  It was only fitting that we finished the meal with mango and sweet sticky rice.  ...and thankfully it tasted exactly like in Thailand one year ago.     

Sweet P kept saying "I got you day!" 
Well said.  
Blessings, angela

one (blessed, amazing, joyous) year.

ONE leap year.

366 days.

The number of days we have this preciousness home with us.

I have kissed her millions of times more than 366.  I have held and hugged her hundreds of hours.  I have prayed for her repeatedly and been amazed at how beautifully she is adjusting to life in our family.

I have loved watching her personality unfold.  It has been remarkable to hear her put American words to her thoughts.  I have treasured mommy moments of washing clothes and realizing there's another little person creating laundry for me.  It's been no big stretch to make one more plate of food for each meal.  

The bottom line:  This little girl needed a family.  

And you know what?  

I think we needed her even more.  

A place to call home.  

A mom and a dad to love her.  

A FAMILY.

And the most amazing part of all... our family.

I thank the Lord all the time for allowing us the grace to welcome her home.  

Some days I cannot stop smiling when a little 

black-headed, 

dark brown-eyed, 

cocoa-skinned girl 

calls me Mommy.  

Unbelievable.

I'm abundantly blessed.

I celebrate this day by praising the Lord for His goodness to our family
and remembering the original Gotcha Day.  

Blessings, angela

new year. late posting.

Yep, folks.  Back again after falling off into the abyss.  I have emerged with no promises of further postings...  I have three kids now and I underestimated the amount of time I would spend in doctors' offices or at home with snotty noses and coughs this winter.  Guess that should mean more time here, but nope.  I truly have no excuse.  

So on one of those aforementioned doctor's visits, Sweet P is browsing a magazine in the lobby.  She gets to this page and hollers to me, "Mama, Thailand!"  For a non-reader, I was surprised, but that was followed by unwarranted pride that I'm keeping her culture in the forefront of her little mind.  Glad she can recognize the golden buildings from our coffee table Thailand photo book.  I haven't looked at it with her for many months.

...and on a side note, she has taken to answering as follows, when asked "How are you?"... "I'm Sweet P + last name.  Thailand!  'Merica!"

I have no idea.

Nice transition into this picture, from Peanut:

It was taped on her door one day when I went upstairs.  The sad part is the realization that it only prohibits Buddy from her room, who she is endeared to deeply.

See below?  Isn't he charming?  This day it was cool and I told him I needed to grab a jacket before we left the house.  His reply?  "Mom, you don't need a jacket.  I'll keep you warm."

Melt my heart, little man.

Sweet P talks about kangaroos and their pouches for the joey pretty much every day.  She has started carrying her baby dolls in this manner to follow suit:

I am friends with an incredible family in Illinois who is adopting another little girl whose face we saw on the initial waiting child DVD.  It warms my heart to know she will have a family soon!  Her family took part in a fundraiser and sent us t-shirts.  "THAILAND 1.4 million minus 1"... the number of orphans, but it's minus one because their sweet S will soon be home with her forever family!

Guess who turned four?

At Buddy's birthday, Sweet P got to hold her first ever live baby.  She loved it, to say the least.  When asked afterward about holding baby T, she kept saying, "Hold the baby.  Heh-bee."  Meaning, heavy.

As tradition goes, Buddy had a private breakfast date with Daddy on his actual big day.  I promise you, he ate every bite except a few pieces of fruit and jello from those plates.  I am not sure I can financially feed him in ten years!

Until I get back here to finish.  Blessings, angela

a letter of thanks.

A surprise showed up in our mailbox a couple days ago... 

...a Christmas card from Sweet P's orphanage!  We never dreamed we would hear from them personally at any point, so this was a wonderful surprise.  It was sent to our previous address and then forwarded here.  That likely explains the late arrival.

I have wanted to be sure the nannies who cared for Shiloh know of our great thanksgiving for their care, but I also wanted to give them a medical update.  Below is a somewhat edited version of what I wrote in a return letter, along with pictures in the envelope.

Dear Miss C and the Nannies at Pakkred Babies’ Home,
 Greetings to you!  We are the family of P.....  She now goes by the name of Sweet P, which means “gift,” because she is our gift from God.  She is such a blessing to our family and we are grateful for each day we have with her home.  Sweet P has made a very smooth transition into our family and is doing wonderfully!
 After we left Thailand and arrived home, she was seen by a pediatric neurologist and neurosurgeon and had a brain scan done.  Her brain no longer shows seizure activity, so we were able to wean her off both medicines.  Also, the neurosurgeon told us her shunt is no longer working and her body does not need its assistance.  We are thrilled to report she is medically considered a healthy child!  If her mom or dad someday inquires about her, please tell them so!  We often think her birth mom must wonder, since she knows of the shunt surgery and seizures.
 We are so grateful to each of you for the excellent care you gave to Sweet P during the two years she lived at Pakkred Babies’ Home.  She is thriving in our family much in part to the love and attention you gave to her.  Thank you.  She is such a gift to us and we cannot imagine life without her.
 Thank you for the Christmas card!  Enclosed are pictures of Sweet P and our family last year. 
 Blessings to you,
 K and Angela

Christmas cheer.

I remember all too well the intense longing I had at Christmas last year for Sweet P to be a part of the celebration.  It was with overwhelming joy that we shared in Jesus' birthday ... celebrating His birth to save creation from sin and adopting us into His eternal family.  How amazing to share in His birthday with our own adopted child!  The celebration was beyond wonderful!  


K's work has a fun little Christmas party for the children each year.  Once Santa arrived, Buddy grabbed his hand and escorted him into the building.  He wasn't letting go.

Sweet P had an agenda of her own with the big man.  She only wanted to show off her pink nails!  

Peanut felt the need to tell him several times she wanted roller skates but otherwise wasn't her smiley self.   She had a collision in the bouncy house with someone's head and her tooth took all the impact.  It has since turned darkish and hopefully will be loose and fall out shortly.  Such is life.

We always open gifts on Christmas Eve, and Sweet P caught on very quickly.  ...so quickly, in fact, that while others were opening theirs, she was sneaking another from under the tree and opening it.  Even if it wasn't hers.  Funny.

I said in the last post I failed to take a picture of the Jesse Tree, but I did!  I snapped one Christmas Eve as K read the Christmas story from Luke 2 to the kids.  

Then we spent Christmas Eve with our church family...  The children had practiced "What Child is This?" and memorized Bible verses to recite at the service.  It was precious.  

We still play the "game" of Santa at our house.  The kids thought it appropriate to leave him cookies and milk with carrots and an apple for Rudolph.  

Christmas could not have been more blessed with our Sweet P home!  Seeing everything through her eyes was a treasure... "Mit-muss lights!"  "Mit-muss tree!" "Baby Jee-dus!"  "Woo-doff!"  "Frah-tee da No-man!" (Missing that front tooth makes many consonants difficult!)  Thanks for sharing this special time by way of blog.  Blessings, angela

holly and jolly.

Leading up to the celebration of Jesus' birthday, this year our family did the Jesse Tree for the first time.  Sadly, I didn't take a picture of our little tree but you can read more about it here.  That link will take you to something very similar to what we did.  It honestly made Christmas a joyous anticipation... a beautiful awaiting of our Salvation in bodily form... the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ.  I am already excited to read through it again next year and hang leaves on our tree each day of December.  

Another first in our household was Peanut losing two teeth.  Whoa.  Talk about growing up overnight.  The big tooth was already pushing its way through, and then the second one came out a day or two later.  I'm not ready for her to look any older than she already does!  

The next two bath pictures are almost identical, yet taken a couple days apart, the first by me and the second by K.  He didn't know I had taken the first until he texted me his and I return texted mine back.  Funny.  

Our little Thai baby is picking up new things each day.  I didn't know she could count past five until she counted to ten one day!  Then on video here she counts past ten.  It is amazing how quickly she is becoming fluent in English, all the while inserting her silly humor.  

Since we already made my mom's sugar cookies, it was time to make K's family tradition:  Danish vanilla cookies.  These are super duper fun (insert sarcasm) because you get to sprinkle them twice.  Once with cinnamon and sugar.  A second round of colored sugar sprinkles.  This makes for gritty floors not only on baking day but every single day thereafter, and even a couple more past the point the cookie jar is empty.  Good times.  ...but full of tradition, right?

The only reason I add the next picture is because Buddy is rightly named so.  He asked - in true Buddy the Elf form - for syrup to dip his turkey and cheese.  Mind you, he's never seen the movie Elf so I am not sure where he got that idea.  

Kids Christmas party at K's work.

One day the kids asked for a clubhouse like Fancy Nancy and it got me thinking.  What better to do with a lot of unused space in the bottom of the girls' closet?  Great idea, kiddos.  Buddy helped me clear the area, and I got to sewing.

 Here's what we came up with:

These are similar views you'd have out our windows in Vegas... sand and more sand with a patch of grass.  Sometimes astroturf but in our case the old fashioned kind.  A palm tree or two and maybe a cloud.  It's generally clear skies, which makes for a beautiful view of airplanes from the Air Force base.  The sound of freedom!  

Look a little to the left and you'll see Mt Charleston, usually with a little or lot of snow, even in the summer.  Tack these "windows" to the wall and you've got a Vegas-style clubhouse.  Perfect for my three.

 A couple days before Christmas, we drove down to the Bellagio.  It was beautiful!

 The Grinch in the cake shop was made entirely of fondant!  It was probably four feet tall.

Time to stop here for tonight.  Merry (late) Christmas to all and to all a good night!  Blessings, angela

november in review.

We spent Veteran's Day weekend camping at Zion National Park in Utah.  The word majestic doesn't even begin to describe how gorgeous enormous rocks can be.  I could have spent hours examining the view!  I hope we get to go back at least one more time.  

One more note to add merely for memory's sake.  It was freezing.  I mean FAH-REEZING.  The kids didn't seem to mind much, as evidenced by the smiles (and silly faces) here.

They have much to learn about camping etiquette.  Peanut was allowed to pack her own backpack of fun things to bring.  She packed her pink cat Cupcake, a few books, and other expected items.  What I didn't notice in her pack before she pulled it out at 6:30am the next morning, was her tin whistle (see pictures way down below).  She is learning simple songs on it for school.  It is cute to parents to hear your five-year-old toot out "Mary had a Little Lamb" but it is not exactly the way an entire campground of sleepy people want to be awoken at that early hour.  We cut her off by "Little" with a loud shushing.   

It's funny now.

I think the moment after I post this, I'm off to hunt for ethnic colored crayons.  Peanut always draws herself and Buddy with orange skin and then Sweet P with dark brown.  Does she really see them that way?  I have no idea what color she would use if we adopted a little boy from Ghana!  :)  We need a lot more cultural diversity in our flesh-colored drawing instruments.  Makes me laugh.  

My parents were in town for a bit after a work trip to California.  I have no idea where all my pictures are from that time!  K and I took advantage of the babysitters and saw The Lion King at Mandalay Bay before the show closed on December 31.  It was spectacular!  If you have seen it, you know what I mean that the voices and costumes were captivating!

We all go to a once-a-week school day for homeschoolers called Classical Conversations.  The little two go to their own class too.

One quarter of the school year, the kids learn basic music skills by playing a tin whistle.  Peanut loves this part of class!  Maybe someday we will have someone to play the abandoned saxophone that's in our attic.  It is begging to be played again.  

As we prepared for Thanksgiving the following week, we made my mom's famous sugar cookies.

My parents flew out the Saturday before Thanksgiving at 3:00pm and then K's parents drove into Vegas a couple hours later about dinnertime.  Once again, we took full advantage of babysitters and saw another show.  It's been a long while since we had a date night, so we kind of overdid it...   Cirque de Soleil's Mystere at Treasure Island.  Fantastic show.

Then on Tuesday K's sister drove in with her family of seven.  It was a wonderfully noisy full house!  After almost ten years of living far from family, we treasure the times we have together.  

The girlies had too much fun with makeup.

Sweet P begged for more and more.

Thanksgiving dinner at the kids' table.

Pops and Buddy.  After we share dinner, it is our family's tradition to read Psalm 100 together (thank you to KTJ for sharing this tradition with us!) and then go around the table sharing one thing we are thankful for over the past year.  I especially love hearing what the little people have to say.  

The following morning as we were about to head out for a hike at Red Rock Canyon, we had a man down.  Buddy took a spill on the stairs while holding his plastic six shooter.  Unfortunately, it cut right into his face, so we were off to the ER for stitches.  He was a tough guy!      

Upon returning home he wanted to know where the guns were to get back to playing.


I love kids.

Instead, that day we went to the park to play and shoot rockets.  Then we resumed the hiking plan on Saturday morning.  Red Rock Canyon never disappoints.

One last night we took advantage of babysitters.  The oldest K and K girls are so responsible, so the parents went on a double date to Buca di Beppo and a short stroll on the Strip to see Christmas decorations.   

After all our guests left the next morning, our family decorated the house.  It is Sweet P's first Christmas at home,  so it was extra fun to decorate the tree!  She loved all the ornaments and hung a bunch in a big cluster.  

I'll share more of our Christmas as a family of five shortly.  Blessings, angela