Happy Birthday Hannah!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!

I can't believe that my baby is 5 today!

I will post pictures of singing and cake after dinner!

I am so thankful to God for bringing this little wonder into my life. She has taught me so much, and I am humbled by the miracle that God chose us for one another.

Every year on her birthday, I find my heart heavy and my mind wandering to her birthmother in China. Is she thinking today about the baby she gave life to, and wondering where this mystery girl is today? Does she wonder what she looks like now, and whether she is happy and safe? I can't even imagine the sense of loss she might be feeling, and the unanswered questions that must always plague her mind. I pray that God will give her peace, and that somehow she will know that Hannah is cherished beyond her wildest dreams.

Hannah, my beautiful, wonderful daughter . . . I love you with all of my heart. I am so thankful that God gave you to me, and gave me the gift of watching you grow.

My Crazy Girl . . .

Today is our sweet Hannah's birthday, but I had to detour for a moment and post these pictures of Emma. Most people don't realize what a completely zany comedian we have in Emma. Like her Daddy, she doesn't show that side of herself outside our family circle.

When she isn't really comfortable around someone, she can even appear shy and withdrawn. Her true personality couldn't be more polar opposite!

I caught her in one of her daily crazy dance routines, and even got permission to film it! I am going to omit the crazy dance scenes so as not to mortify her (they are being retained for blackmail purposes in her teenage years), but I will post some pictures, and a video of Emma and Joel playing "You Can't Make Me Laugh".

Emma has never, ever won against Joel - actually neither have I, come to think of it!

He's good.

If sunshine made a sound, I think it would sound just like Emma laughing.

Appeasing My Critic . . .

Look at our emerging "Dead Eye" aka "Short Shoot"!

Joel emailed me the picture below, with a caption asking whether I approved of his teaching style - personally I think he looks very tender and encouraging:

Well, it appears as though my blog has a critic! This makes me feel very important and puffed up, even if it is "just" my brother in law. My husband received the following email from his brother while I was posting away in California about all we were doing there:

"Better get that wife to post your pics of what "real men do" (and a few young women too) pictures on that web page..and they better not be on a PINK background!!!!"

Zane, I hear and obey . . . I even posted your comments in blue so as not to offend your masculinity. The one condition I just can't comply with is changing my pink background to accomodate the above posted pictures. I'm not sure why my blog is pink these past few months, but until I cease to "feel" pink, it has to stay pink. Besides, your brother said that I should tell you that real men aren't afraid of pink. I'm not sure what that means, but in any case these pictures are so incredibly manly that the pink blog will hardly be noticeable, I promise.

So, now you know - this is what the two homebound guys were up to while the rest of us were busy soaking up the California sun!

Love,

Jen

My Beach Babies . . .

We had a great time at the beach yesterday!

It was Hannah and Eli's first time seeing the ocean, and it was like Emma's first time because she was too young to remember her actual first time!

The weather forecast indicated that it would be cold and windy, so we bundled up and even took an extra bin of warm clothing. When we arrived and I could see people frolicking around in bikinis, I thought to myself "Crazy Californians . . . "! But we stepped out of the car into the very warm calm of a perfect beach day - in midsummer. Oops! We took a quick detour into a tourist shop and bought some tshirts. Not money we were planning to spend, but I really wanted the kids to enjoy this experience without the memorable addition of suffering a heat stroke. Tshirts on, brand new buckets courtesy of Auntie slung over our arms, and we were a go for the beach.

The kids spent the next several hours digging for shells, building sand mounds, and of course doing the 'get soaked in the water, get positively caked in sand, repeat' routine. It was such a beautiful, fun day. I hope the kids will always remember it, I know that I will!

Tomorrow we head home - we are all very sad about that. Emma burst into tears when I told her this morning that today would be our last day. Jen and I are trying our best to enjoy each other, but I think we are both starting to feel that "last day" depression sink in. We see each other so rarely, the time flew by in a blink. I am so thankful for the time we did have, I just wish it could be longer . . . like forever, LOL!

On the way home, we plan on cutting our drive in two parts to save ourselves the agony of another straight 18 hour drive. We'll stop at my friend Eric's mom's place in Albuquerque, and then head to Colorado Springs Sunday morning. That will give us a 12 hour day and a 6 hour day - that sounds like heaven compared to our marathon on the way here.

Josh and Joel - get those home fires burning, get your socks off the couch, change your clothes and brush your teeth - basically, bachelor week and all your fun is at an end - here we come!

Love,

Jen

Storyland And Playland

Our plans for Sequoia Park fell through, so Jen searched out something closer to home that would be fun to do. We settled on Storyland and Playland, where you can buy a day pass and go to both parks. Storyland was so cute, obviously it's a park themed by classic children's stories, and Playland is a small amusement park. The kids had an AWESOME time! They are really forging bonds with their cousins and Auntie and Uncle Clint.

Speaking of Uncle Clint, yesterday he had his final test and became certified as a private pilot! GO Uncle Clint! We went out for dinner at a local wings/pizza place to celebrate. It was really fun, the kids enjoyed some arcade video games and Camryn and I tried our hand at the pool table. Yikes . . . Camryn's Auntie has gotten very rusty at the pool table. But it was still fun!

The only sad note to each day is that I'm really missing Joshua. I wish I'd brought him with us, I keep thinking how much fun he would have doing all of this with us. I love you, sweet boy!
Enjoy the pictures!

Love, Jen

CaLiFoRnIa!!

Hey all you snowbound Coloradoans!

We are here in California with my sister, and an awesome time is being had by all. It's wonderful to see the kids playing out in the warm sunshine, and I'm enjoying the infusion of vitamin D quite a bit too!

Praise God, our trip was relatively easy. We had to take a slightly longer route to avoid bad weather around Vail Pass, so we went through New Mexico and Arizona. Except for one small episode somewhere in Arizona, everything went without a hitch. Sweet Emma was feeling carsick at lunch time, so I decided we'd go into a Denny's off the interstate to have an actual "real food" meal. I thought we'd get some quality time outside the car and we'd all feel ready to tackle the road again. We no sooner walked into the lobby of the restaurant and Emma started throwing up! Poor Emma . . . poor staff of Denny's! We got her cleaned up, set her in the front seat with a Sprite, and prayed she'd get better. She did, and we arrived at my sister's house around 8:30. This made our trip about 18 hours, in total.

Tomorrow we're heading to the Sequoia National Park, and the day after that we'll go to the coast. Other than that, we've just been hanging out and enjoying each other!

Here are some pictures of the past couple of days!

Love,

Jen

Watch out Auntie, the circus is coming to town!

Yippee! We are heading to California to see my sister over Spring Break!

Josh and Joel will stay home and hold down the fort and care for the pets while Emma, Hannah, Eli, and I conquer the open road. Joel and Joshua cooked up the scheme that Joel would take the week off and they would have a Guy's Week. Joel lured my innocent son with promises of late nights playing video games, riding go carts, and all sorts of other diabolical temptations. Josh was comparatively unmoved by my feeble promises of giant Sequoia trees, the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and all of the Fritos he could eat along the way.

Thus, I lost one of my travel companions. Because I'm a fast learner, I quickly circled the wagons and informed the other three that they were road warriors, like it or not! We are packed and loaded up with snacks, drinks, two brand new DVD's, and several books on tape for Mommy.

This will be Eli's first time meeting his Auntie, Uncle, and two cousins, and he seems really excited. I confess I'm dying to see my sister! We leave early Saturday morning and will be home the following Saturday night. Hopefully I'll be able to update the blog with pictures! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it - tomorrow is going to pass so slowly!

I have a funny (at least to me) story to share, which will explain the title of my post. Yesterday I hauled the crew to Costco to stock up on snacks for the trip. I had my four children, plus Havila. As we were crossing the parking lot, I heard someone shout "HEY, LOOK!!"

Being a good American, I immediately looked in the direction of the shouter - he may not have been talking to me, but I wasn't going to miss out on whatever he was showing. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was US! A somewhat large group of Chinese people were standing in stock still in the middle of the parking lot, apparently in awe of us. Shouter was among them, obviously the youngest of the bunch. They drank us in ever so slowly, and then began chattering excitedly in unmistakable Mandarin. The occasion is worth marking, because we haven't stopped traffic so dramatically since we've been back from China. I hope I didn't disappoint!

Next Post From The West Coast . . .

Love,

Jen