Yummy!!!

These are "Scrapies" as our friend Joe's mom calls them.. they are all the scraps left from the pie crust I used on tonight's quiche. I sprinkled cinnamon & sugar all over them before baking... We actually ate them BEFORE dinner! We being Me, Daniel & Naomi. Shhhhh... Don't tell Glenn! He never saw them! We were waiting for him to get home to start eating dinner & we could not help ourselves! :) Sorry honey!

This was dinner & it was so good! I made a zucchini and goat cheese quiche. Of course, I had to make it fun for the kids to want to eat it... so I made stars out of pie crust and placed them on top!

I am in a food mood... There has been a whole lot of cooking going on around here... It's a good thing Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

A Dollar A Comment!!!!

There are some amazing things happening with Starfish Cleft Foster Home.... I have their site linked on my sidebar. Please stop by and see all the precious babies in China, with cleft palates that they are helping.

Amy, whose blog you can visit HERE... will donate $1.00 for every comment that anyone leaves on her blog, under her "Thanksgiving post." All you have to do is comment on what you are thankful for!

Will you take a few moments to help these sweet children?

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you, Amy!!!!!

Feeling thankful...

I saw this cute idea online...

(Click HERE to see the website)

...and decided to do something to get my kids in the right frame of mind for Thanksgiving. Our goal is to fill our jar with blessings and things we are thankful for by Thanksgiving!
The kids had fun helping me dye the noodles... and I am thinking it will be fun to let them make necklaces and some art projects with all the noodles while we are cooking Thanksgiving dinner! It will keep them busy for a few minutes anyway!

11/11/07... A day I will never forget!

Two years ago, we were blessed with our daughter Naomi. I can not begin to put into words how God has worked in the last couple years, other than to show you pictures of our beautiful girl. She is a light and a joy to us. We delight in her strong nature and will, her hearty giggle and very stubborn streak. Naomi has taught me so much in the last two years... Here is just a tiny glimpse at the beauty of our sweet girl!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trick or treats...

Mummies and bats!

I really don't see how you can go wrong with googly eyes and chocolate! At least not in my house!

Feeling "batty"

I have been home sick with some sort of flu for over a week... and I am going "batty." I was bored and began looking up fun ideas for kids crafts and holiday decorations! The kids loved this one!

All you do is cut out black bats and tape them on to the inside of the lightshade. When the light is off, you can't even tell they are there! :) It is very cute! The look I got from Glenn as I was sitting on the couch cutting out bats, while the kids were asleep was pure crazy... Oh well! It was a great surprise when they flipped on the light this morning!

Can you tell the difference?

Fake smiles... They are tired of Mommy taking "just one more picture!"

NOT fake smiles... They are laughing at Mommy who tripped on a pumpkin vine, and thinking "Yes! Now, maybe we will be done with all these pictures!"

Fall fun...

Hope...

Because it has been awhile...

We spent the afternoon at a local pumpkin farm. We enjoyed fresh pressed cider, lemon- walnut pie(I could have licked the plate clean!), peanut butter cookies, chocolate-pumpkin bread... Yummy!!!! Oh.. and a hayride ALL to ourselves! This pumpkin farm is one of my favorite places! I love it! Every year I try to go as many times as I can while they are open!

Teaching JOY in giving...

Click on the photo-link above to read an amazing journey of a young woman, named Katie, in Uganda. Her story is awesome. She is such a reflection of Jesus in all that she does. Her ministry focuses on orphans in Uganda... and as I read her story, I knew I needed to do something!

My kids recently counted out their piggy banks... They had a good amount of combined money and they talked about how they could help children in need. We came up with lots of ideas... but when we talked about Katie's needs in Uganda, the kids got really excited to go shopping for "supplies!" So today, we headed out and filled a box full of goodies that Katie mentions on her blog, that she is in need of!


The kids are pretty excited to mail off their box!

Next... they want to "buy" chickens for families in Uganda! :) They thought that would be "cool!"

What can YOU do???? They need anything from colored pencils and paper... to sponsoring a child and more. I am so blessed today to see my kids truly experienced JOY in giving!

His eyes...

Wordless Wednesday...

I wish I could tell them....

I wish I could tell Naomi's birth-parents that she is loved. That she is happy. I wish I could tell them how she loves playing in the dirt... and then loves her bath just as much. I wish I could tell them that she has a freckle on her left ankle... one that I love to kiss. I wish I could tell them that she has the most beautiful smile, and that it lights up our world. That she chases her brother around and he would do anything for her. I wish I could tell them how much we love her... she has a whole family that loves her.

As she is tucked in bed, all cozy and warm, just waiting to wake up and be a big "3 year old" I can't help but think of the family on the other side of the world, who gave her to us. I know they are wondering how this precious little girl is doing... I wish so badly that I could let them see her and see how happy she is! We will forever be grateful to this unknown family, just as I know they will forever be thinking of our family and our little girl! And as we celebrate Naomi's birthday tomorrow, we will also be remembering in our heart, a family that had to give up a child, and what that must have been like...

Birthday celebration... Round one!

Naomi's birthday is on Friday... she knows her birthday party is the same day as Daniel's, and we have been talking ALOT about this... so she had a hard time today, understanding that it was only Daniel's birthday and that her birthday was in a couple days. When we brought out a couple special things for Daniel, she got really sad. So, we decided to celebrate both of their birthdays today and on Friday! Noone is going to feel left out in this house!!!




Stay tuned for round two of birthday fun on Friday! Oh, and in case you are wondering... we did launch that awesome rocket about 8 times at the park! SUPER FUN!!!! It shoots about 100 feet in the air!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Daniel turned 5 today! He chose to eat a special breakfast of Coco Puff's... and his pick for his Birthday Lunch... McDonald's! Real healthy, I know... but, it is a special day!!!!

Catching up...

Wow... We are almost through July! The kids both have birthday this week! Daniel will turn 5 and Naomi is turning 3!!!!

We took the kids to Santa Cruz for their first camping experience! It was a blast! We definitely have a couple of campers in our family....




Every Monday this summer, Glenn is taking the kids on "adventures." So far, they have found an animal refuge... where Daniel held a HUGE snake and other creepy things, visited the Academy of Science Museum in San Francisco, made a second trip to San Francisco with the entire objective being to see how many different forms of public transportation they could ride (also a little creepy if you ask "mommy"), opened bank accounts, went to John's Incredible Pizza, ate lunch & rode a roller coaster!









Naomi did AMAZING with her lip revision surgery 2 weeks ago! She did not cry one time! This is incredible coming from her... given her past experiences! She is such as strong little girl and has taught me so much!


She was decorating Mommy & Daddy with stickers when she woke up after her surgery....



Sorry it has been so long for the update... we are having way too much fun this summer!!!!

Surgery Day!

Pray for me today. I am having surgery this morning. I have to be there at 745am. Mommy and Daddy are going to rock me, hold me, sing to me, give me little treats, feed me ice cream(after)...

Pray that It is quick and easy and I get to come home quickly... I don't really like hospitals much, so the sooner I can get out of there the better!

My mommy will keep you posted on how I am doing when she can... she will be pretty busy loving and snuggling me!

Love, Naomi

A little too comfortable...

As you can see, both kids are a little too comfortable in the doctor's office...

This time, it is Naomi's turn. She is going in for surgery this Thursday at UC Davis to have a lip revision and possibly have her tubes in her ears replaced if needed. I am doing my best to prepare her for what it will be like... Actually, Daniel's recent surgeries have been helpful in describing what will happen to her. She was so young for her first two surgeries, she does not remember...

Our last experience with Naomi and surgery was a VERY traumatic one. We had only been home from China with Naomi for several weeks, and really did not know each other well yet. We did not know yet how she liked to be comforted. Also, Naomi did not yet fully trust us as parents. So handing her over to have major surgery did not score us any major points in her book! Please pray that this week's surgery is much more peaceful and easier on Naomi. Pray that this experience will not bring up old hurts and that she sails through it! Pray that we will know exactly how to comfort her in her fears, especially if they are old traumatic feelings from the past.





An update on Daniel! He had his last post-op appointment and hearing exam... He can hear!!! He has only some mild high frequency hearing loss... no biggy says the doctor! No need for a hearing aid... no need for any kind of aid!! In fact, the surgeon said he will see Daniel back in ONE YEAR and then release him from his care for good! We see a dramatic improvement in his hearing! No more excuses when he is not listening to us!!! :)