I gave Nicole the camera this week to take some photos of some of her favorite things. Her 14TH birthday is Saturday the 11TH. She took pictures of the garden, her dog Mickey, her family, her guitar, Star Wars, some of her art, and her manuscript (she has written 10 children's books). The writing is a song Nicole wrote late last year. It's about Jesus. She told me she wanted to include it so you would know God is important to her. If you click on the photo of the writing you can read part of the text(the spelling is half English/half German). A happy birthday to one of the greatest gifts God has ever blessed us with! I wonder how much this list will change in a year or two? If you want to hand the camera to one of your kids, and add the link to my Friday 5 we would love to have you play along! See the world from the perspective of your kids!!!

Chinese people love their money! This is something we noticed when we were in China. Some Chinese people value other things (our wonderful guide in Nanjing for example) but most love money. Sarah now has a money purse and she is collecting small change. Today she wanted to spend her own money. We went to the bakery and she bought soft pretzels for her and Philip (1,30€). She was pretty proud to join the whole free market economy. I didn't have my camera. Later today she was back to work hunting for the small change we leave here and there! She's a kick!!!

We finally got the two disposable cameras I gave to the SWI in Nanjing developed. I have very mixed feelings as I looked at the photos of Sarah waiting. I made a short slide show of 6 of the nicer photos. I left out the pictures of her crying. All Juergen and I can really say is we are so glad she is home! It's amazing she is home!

I'm so excited! I had a photo book made from some of my best photos of Sarah (the first 3 months). It's a gift for Juergens moms 70Th birthday. She has not met Sarah yet. The party is in 1 1/2 weeks. The book turned out really SUPER!!! I'm very happy with it. It cost about $30 so you probable don't want all your photos made into a book. This book is hard bound and has 45 pages, most with 2-5 pictures on a page. I had it done at Plus, that's a German store. You only need to look online to find a place to do it were you are. I plan on having a book made for my parents when I come to the states in September. I just love it!

Mary and John at Owlhaven have their girls. Mary is such a great writer. She wrote,"The fact that they had lived through the loss of their mother while old enough to be aware of what was happening made my heart hurt for them. And to be greeted, not with fear, but with a tearful embrace, touched my heart even more deeply. It felt more like a reunion than a first meeting." If you haven't looked at their blog you really should. It is a beautiful story unfolding in real time! They are adopting two older girls from Ethiopia. I am so moved by the grace and joy I see in this family.

Here is Sarah and her hat. The Photo of me is not my best...but not everyone looks good in a hat. We were having fun!

I finally booked my airline tickets to the USA. I fly (God willing) on September 28TH on a direct flight to Portland, Oregon. I return also on a direct flight (God willing) 9 days later on October 7Th. The flights are about 10 1/2 hours long. I am planning on taking Philip and Sarah. I think the whole thing will be easier on Sarah and me if Philip also comes. I also think it will be good for Philip who, as some of you know, is going to have to go to a school for learning disabled kids this fall. I thought a trip to the states might be good for his self worth. I also know the boys tend to fight over Juergen when I'm gone. If I take Philip with me, Thomas will have most of Papas attention. Jessica and Nicole don't compete for Papas attention; they are pretty cool in that way! Philip will have to miss a week of school, but that isn't such a big deal in the first and second grades (the kids don't get grades until the end of second grade). I'm sure I wouldn't get away with taking any of the other kids. I'm glad I finally got my tickets! I'll keep trying to help Sarah understand the whole thing. Perhaps it will not be so scary for her if Philip is also coming!

John and Mary are in Ethiopia with their 2 youngest kids (they have 10 kids).They are adopting two sisters so now they will have 12 children. Here is the link. Mary is a great writer. You will learn allot from her wisdom and grace. I'm guessing they get their girls tomorrow! It really is a week of miracles!

One more blog to watch. Rhianne is getting her brother tomorrow! They are in China. I followed Rhianne's adoption blog about a year ago. Now they are back for one more child. That was fast!

click on the cookie...it's a word for this tired mommy!

I have told Thomas his life story before, but I guess he never really understood it. We were sitting at lunch today. Philip had been playing in water, and didn’t have his shirt on. You could see the scares on his chest from his heart operation (he had ASD and VSD). He asked me about his scares and I told him how he was a sick baby in Thailand. I told him about the mommy and daddy who left him in a basket in a market place probably because he was sick, and they didn’t have the money for his operation. All of a sudden Thomas looks horrified. He said “but Philip was born in the orphanage”, “You told me he was in the orphanage with me”! I said “Philip was in the orphanage with you, but he was not born there. He had a mommy and daddy, and so did you”. Thomas really thought the kids in the orphanage were born there. The reality of a birth family hit him very hard. He began to cry. I held him and kept telling him how sick he was as a baby. He had Hirschsprung's disease also known as a megacolon and would have died without an operation. His parents were probably very sad to leave him, but he would have died without an operation. I have explained his life story to him before, but he never really got it! He cried for awhile, but now he is playing happily. I think it helps him to know Philip and Sarah also lost their birth families.

In just a few short hours Grant gets his new family, and Sheridan Colum-Youbai gets his new family, and Mary Audrey gets her family too! I took photos of all these kids in Nanjing. The big day is Monday...and it's already Monday in China!

There are 8 month old twin baby boys waiting on Children Home society's waiting list. They have ASD, that's a hole in the heart. One of the twins may have a short history of seizure-like movements. His development is much more delayed than the other. If anyone wants twins I would take a look. The ASD is easy to correct. The seizure thing may or may not be a risky thing. Most seizures can be controlled. They are beautiful boys!

Sarah waiting by the door for her Papa to come home.

Things are starting to shift, and Sarah is starting to need me to be there at bed time. She still wants Juergen in the mornings, but Juergen can not get her to sleep without me. In general I'm not so thrilled about this. Sarah gets a little ridiculous about her preferences. She has a way of suffocating a person, she depends so much on her chosen person. I am going to the USA at the end of September to finish Sarah's US citizenship process. For this reason I'm happy she is becoming Mommy's girl. I'm trying to prepare her for this visit to Grandmas house. Today she was playing the game memory. She found two cards for an airplane. I told her we would be taking an airplane soon to see Grandma. She got excited about it. I am going to keep trying to prepare her for this short trip. I'm afraid we will only have a week + one weekend.I hope she some how understands we are only visiting Grandma, and I'm not kidnapping her from her family. The smallest little change seems to upset her. I love my family in the USA, but I'm so afraid of taking Sarah anywhere yet!

Did you hear about the flooding in Asia? I just read about it. I'm wondering why something this large doesn't get much press? They say 100,000 have been killed and 20 million people have had to flee their homes. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal all hit by rising waters. These poor people!

I like all the ideas from the fun things to do in the summer contest. I can not decide on a "winner". I thought all the ideas were great. I'm going to send a care package to Fran, Beverly, and Kim because you took the time to post. Thank you for all your great comments too. Kim is in China this week adopting her son Sheridan from Nanjing. You can follow their blog Here. Frans grand daughters just came for a visit! Beverly is just hanging out trying to stay cool...but she is such a great encouraging person! You can read her blog Motherhood and other ramblings. You can read all those super summer fun ideas on my adoption forum located on the side bar.

Sarah took a self portrait, and a shot of me. Philip, Nicole, and Thomas went horseback riding today and Nicole took these other photos. If you would like to let your child take a few photos, your can add you blog link below!

Here is a picture of the car Thomas made after he cleaned his room, and a drawing Nicole made of that car. Sarah also built her own Lego car. Juergen finished a big mile stone on a project so he is in a good mood. He made pizza and rented a movie. I love a happy ending!I post the winner of the adoption forum "fun stuff to do in the summer vacation" question tomorrow. The adoption forum is on the side bar. The best post gets a German care package...think of the good chocolate and real fruit gummy bears!

It was just fine this morning with all the kids except Thomas. Thomas never has done well outside the "normal" structure. He wasn't adopted until he was almost 7 years old. He has gotten a little better over time, but he isn't behaving very well on this vacation. He has been grumpy and a little mean.
I made the boys clean up their room. I even helped them. They were down to the last small pile of Lego, small pieces of trash, and a little this and that. Philip and Thomas both just sat there like their hands were made of lead. I was sick of fighting them. I said "If you are going to act like you are too tired to finish this, you are going to take a nap"! So they got into bed. Well, Sarah didn't want to stop. She didn't want to leave the boys. She wasn't going to nap there, but she was going to keep the boys awake. I took her out of their bedroom. Then my defiant Angel started screaming (and I mean screaming). I brought her to her room. She was kicking and slapping me. I am sitting here typing and waiting for her to calm down and take her own nap. Sarah was pretty strong willed and defiant all by herself. Her big brother Thomas is only helping her bring it to a higher level! I am trying to calm down..and just breath! This vacation is not going to be any fun as long as these two keep acting like brats! I don't demand or expect perfection from my kids, but I will not allow them to treat me with so much disrespect either. Some times I get discouraged because it seems like everyone else in the blog world only has perfect children. They are so cute and so sweet, and always do the nicest things. My kids are not perfect. They are very messy, and in many ways "messed up". They came to us broken. I don't know if they will ever be totally fixed. If they do get repaired (mentally, emotionally, and physically) I know it will be the hand of Gods grace healing them...just like he must heal all of us. I remember running away from home because I didn't want to clean my bedroom. If my memory is correct, my room may have even looked worse then theirs. I remember being angry, and my Mom letting me "cry it out". I would fall asleep crying, and wake up some how OK. Some times I need to realize kids just get "uncontrollably" when they are tired. Sarah has fallen asleep as I write this. I am calm now. Thank you for letting me vent all this on you. She will probably be all cuddly this afternoon, and so will Thomas. Kids like their parents to be "in charge". If you put up the boundaries and stand firm kids feel safe. You can not be mean, but you must stand firm.

PS. The boys took a 2 hour nap and finished their room in 5 minutes (no kidding). Sarah is still sleeping.

PS. PS. Sarah called my name when she woke up. She looked very sweetly at me and gave me a big hug and kiss. We quickly cleaned up the paper she had angrily ripped up on the floor before her nap. Now she is playing well with the boys in their clean room. Thomas built a very cool space car with Lego. He is some how excited because he found some cool pieces he had lost in the mess. Juergen will come home to extreamly sweet children and probably wonder why his wife looks so tired. Perhaps someone can tell him...he hardly ever reads my blog!