Few Days to Move..

I'll be back in a few days. We have to get this crazy move done and out of the way before I can think of blogging any more. We have to wait for internet hook up, settle a bit and blah, blah, blah. You heard all of this mumbo-jumbo three months ago from me! We are overjoyed to be moving into this awesome house and new neighborhood, but as of right now we still have tons to do at the old place...YUCK! Have a great weekend and I'll be back soon!

Happy 38th Birthday My LOVE!

Thank you for being the amazing man of my dreams! I LOVE that you are 38 today and that I have been around to celebrate 16 of those years! Though things are crazy right now with this move I hope you have a wonderful day full of JOY! I love you infinity X 2!

Perfect Pillow

Is there something you HAVE to do to sleep? My best friend HAS to sleep with one foot OUT of the covers. I have to have the closet doors shut or else I can't sleep. You know...the Boogie Man lives in there. LOL! The other thing I HAVE to have is something to hold. Not for security sake, but for pure comfort. If I travel and forget my "little pillow" then I will roll up a towel or something to hold in-between my arms on my chest.

For years I have used a "little pillow" like the one on left of the pic. Every now and then I sneak in and get this PERFECTLY FITTING bear from PandaGirl's room. It is the PERFECT size, texture and my hands fits just oh-so right around his neck. The problem? If anyone ever saw a 36 year old sleeping with a fluffy teddy bear they might think she was suffering from psychological problems and needed a shrink!

Now, thanks to that discount store Ross, I am in love with my new wonderful, fluffy, soft velvety, squishy pillow which is far better than my old "little pillow" and not as damaging to my psyche as teddy and it was only $5. I LOVE IT!.....I Got it a ROSS! (for those of you who have never heard of "Ross" stores...that is their tag line for the commercials).

Hiatus Highlights & My 1 Year Blogaversary!

Before I get into my last two weeks of my hiatus I just HAVE to post the pics from yesterday's playgroup time. Since we moved three months ago I haven't been able to make it to any playgroup dates and I have missed them all so terribly! Today PandaGirl and I made the one hour drive to be with everyone for Mama Darling and Deshing Darling's baby shower for her mei mei (little sister), Hope, whom they are going to go get in China in a couple of weeks. This AMAZING cake was made by Team Mom (from Panther Pride) who says she isn't creative! HA! We gathered at Ski Instructor's (from The Warming Hut) house and we all had the best time! I love this group more than words can express!!!!!!!





Now for the last two weeks...

Saga #1: Drum rolllllll, please......guess what we are doing this week?

M-O-V-I-N-G.

Yes, you read correctly. After putting away the last of the boxes from our move here on May 1st, we are moving! This will make my 13th move in 15 years. And to think that I was born and raised in my same house until I got married. Hmmmm. PLEASE let this be my last move for awhile! Wanna know why? You know we moved into an apartment signing a YEAR lease in order to get to know the area before we buy a house here in our new city. Well, the ceiling above our master bedroom has the most annoying, irritating, mind-numbing SQUEAKING you have EVER heard! I have to wear earplugs (YUCK!) just to get some semblance of rest. The tenants stomp all over that place and continually drop bowling balls or elephants and then add that to the horrid squeaking sound that occurs everytime they go to the dining room or the bedroom and bathroom and I am going NUTS!! I mustn't leave out the BEST part---the hours they keep are not normal. The stay up anywhere from midnight til 2 or 3 in the morning and then get up EVERYDAY at 6:00AM. I am so fatigued that I am not functioning well at all. I am tired all the time and can't escape the noises they make. We told the management the day we moved in that something had to be done and now here we sit....three months later and us moving out. Several letters went back and forth to no avail. I told them they owed me compensation for the loss of sleep. They didn't agree. We are paying out the wahzoo for this place, the least I expect is to SLEEP! It was a total GOD-THING that they are releasing us from our lease agreement. That just doesn't happen. The sad thing is that we have a GREAT rapport with the office staff and will miss them. Within 30 minutes of us hitting the pavement last Wednesday night to find a rent house God plopped one down in our lap. I will give more details later on that wonderful miracle. I am totally THANKFUL for the squeak now! So many awesome things are happening as a result of us moving into this new house! You gotta wait for the post about all of it! He is so GOOD! For now, know that I am excited to move, but tired of moving!

By the way---all of this mess means we have to postpone our Disney trip to February instead of October. At least then it will be celebrating PandaGirl's Gotcha Day.

PandaGirl successfully finished her first year of swimming lessons and picked out this swirly sucker as her treat. We are so proud of her!

Another staff wife at church is getting me started on coupon shopping. She introduced me to The Grocery Game. However, I saved $80.00 last week on all these things and haven't even joined the game site yet! Yes, we use all of these items. PandaPop told me I couldn't get into using coupons if I saved $20.00 buying a 40lb bag of dog food if I don't even have a dog. He has a point.

Saga #2: Beautiful, new, red LazBoy couch...OUT. Functional, royal purple, canvas lawn chairs...IN. One month after getting our new couch, PP sat down as usual and...POP...it broke. It was actually a blessing in diguise because it ended up not being very comfortable at all and we wanted a refund. After being told I couldn't get a refund---even though my LaZboy paperwork said I COULD get one---I started down a long journey with Worker Girl-A in office not communicating with Worker Girl-B in store causing ME to come completely unglued at their lack of effort to get our refund back to us in a retarded game of "she said, she said". After a long and drawn out mess we finally got our check two DAYS ago. I should have had it two MONTHS ago! So now, we are sitting in our darling little red-neck chairs with a TV table in-between until we go and find a new couch that we like. Oh the joy.

Aren't these two just the CUTEST?!

VBS was such a BLAST! We had 450+ kids in attendance in grades K-6th!!! For PandaPop and I...THAT WAS HUGE! We had so much fun getting to know the kids better as well as the adult volunteers. Everyone wore name tags making my life MUCH easier. I worked in the Crafts room and was able to have all the kids come through allowing me to better learn their names.

Pudding and Princesses!

PG has gotten into being the "teacher" for all of her animals. Here they have had a lovely tea party and are now enjoying reading time.

PandaGirl and SpicyGirl having the time of their lives with shaving cream and the mirror!!! What a HUGE blessing to have our friends, The Spicy Family come up for dinner and a visit. The daddies went to the movies and the girls and mommies went for ice cream and lots of chatting and playing back at our home. WE LOVE YOU!!! They left at 10:30 PM...


PG upside down at 10:40 PM. I think she had fun and was completely out of gas!


Of course, there was lots more on our plate, but for your sake I am stopping here. Sunday night we celebrated the birthday of another friend from China complete with everything "Little Mermaid" and our pastor so totally ROCKED on Sunday morning. I'll post about that later, too. For now, I have to get back to packing boxes and swiping that paintbrush around a time or two.

Happy One Year Blogaversary to ME!

Back to Bloggy Land & the Jesus Meme!

HELLO EVERYONE!!! I've missed you! ; ) Let me say that it has been a crazy-busy two weeks! All good, just time consuming. I picked a good time for a blog hiatus because I wouldn't have had time to post anything anyway! While I was out of the bloggy-loop Ashley tagged me for a wonderful meme...The "Five Things I Love About JESUS" Meme. How fun is that?! I wanted my new blog year to start off with the whole reason I live...Jesus. Tomorrow will be my one year anniversary of starting this blog and I must say, though it DOES take up time, it has been a HUGE blessing in my life. I have come across many people who have made me better for just reading about their life. Cool how that works through cyber-space, huh? I can't wait to meet up with some blogging moms who live 20 minutes from me and who also have daughters from China. I love keeping up with friends and family all over the place and I really enjoy seeing how other families DO things. We are all so different and yet so alike, too.

This darling pic of my PandaGirl with Judy the Elf from the movie "The Santa Clause" is just a smidgen of the time consumed during the past two weeks. We love watching Christmas movies in the summer-time to ooo & aahh over the fun things awaiting us come Christmas-time. Ever since we had PG, PandaPop and I thought her little round face and full cheeks look just like "Judy" from this movie. One of PG's friends had this princess cap with the flowing sheer fabric and WAHLAH!---she looks like PG the Elf! Thought you'd get a kick out of it, too. Maybe you don't see it, but we do and well....that's all that matters now doesn't it? LOL! ; )

There has been some drama happen over this summer and it culminated this past week causing us to...well, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow's post to get the scoop. For now, here are just a few (there are supposed to be only FIVE I can list!) of the reasons I love my MAIN man, JESUS:

1. Jehovah-Jireh: This is one of the names of God which means "my Provider". Oh, how He has provided for me over and over again in my life. From little details in my personal being to huge things affecting me and others around me....He has always provided me with exactly what I need...even if I don't fully understand it all.

2. My Shelter: I have always thought of God as my refuge, shelter, hiding place. When those emotional attacks come from the enemy, life seems too complicated or someone hurts me badly, He is who I run to. It is unexplainable. Only HE can protect me and give the true comfort needed in times of distress or fear. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song called "Hiding Place" a long time ago, but it remains one of my very favorite songs because it is so powerful and true. Many times in my life I have found myself resting in the peace this song gives via Jesus.

Hiding Place lyrics:

In the distance I can see the storm clouds coming my way,
And I need to find a shelter
Before it starts to rain,
So I turn and run to you Lord;
You're the only place to go,
Where unfailing love surrounds me
When I need it most.

CHORUS
You're my hiding place;
Safe in your embrace,
I'm protected from the storm that rages
When the waters rise,
And I run to hide;
Lord, in You I find my hiding place.

I'm not asking You to take away
My troubles, Lord,
'Cause it's through the stormy weather
I learn to trust You more.
And I thank You for Your promise;
I have come to know
Your unfailing love surrounds me
When I need it most.

(chorus)

So let Your people seek You
While You may be found,
'Cause You're our only refuge
When the rain comes pouring down.

3. Top Six Riches: When I went through the "Believing God" Bible study by Beth Moore last summer I learned something that has changed my daily life. In Ephesians 1:3-8 there six aspects of life in which we as Christians can boast because of the LOVE of Jesus becoming the sacrifice in our place to bridge the gap between us and God caused by our sinful nature. I repeat these to myself daily as a reminder of WHO I am in Christ.
~Blessed
~Chosen
~Adopted
~Accepted
~Redeemed
~Forgiven
All these are in LOVE. I can claim these truths as WHO I am! Just imprinting these on my heart has put into perspective how insignificant I would be without Jesus as my Savior. Petty things that used to bother me seem so ridiculous now as compared to the riches I have in Christ.

4. My Perfectly Timed Prince: Throughout Scripture we are told that Jesus WILL return for His own someday. After studying His Word there is no doubt this will come to pass. It is so exciting just thinking about it!! In light of His perfect timing LATER, He has such perfect timing NOW! For example, things like meeting someone at JUST the right time. Being at exactly the right place at the right time. Waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for something that I think is so LATE and yet when it happens it is so perfectly timed to work just like He planned. I just LOVE how He orchestrates so many details just to bless me. He sees the big picture. His timing is best no matter if I choose not to trust him and fall into a pity party thinking He has everything wrong or not. He is perfect and needs no watch. Just when I least expect it...someday my Prince will come.

5. Revelation 4:8--"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."

Forgive me if some of these seem to ramble. I am completely fatigued and my brain is blonder that usual....more details as to WHY I am so tired on tomorrow's post! Glad to be back with you!!! ; )

Two Week Hiatus

I am taking a two week break from The Blogosphere. Lots of activities going on as well as just needing a break from this thing that has overtaken my daily life. I will miss you, but will be back on July 23. July 24th will be my one year anniversary of starting this blog. ONE YEAR of checking the computer multiple times a day? Something seems kinda wrong about it when I see that in writing. Do I spend too much time on this silly thing? I have come to "meet" so many awesome people through blogging, but it seriously takes up so much of my time. I will be working part time this fall, being more involved in the ministries at our church and hopefully starting the process for international adoption again; not to forget that I really desire to study God's Word in a deeper fashion than I have done in the past. It's time to step it up notch. Blogging is fun, but I really must find a balance with it. Maybe some of you find yourself a bit too addicted as well. What say you? ; ) I'll check the answers and then come back ready to blog in a couple of weeks. Until then, be a blessing!

Picnic at the Pool

It happened!! THE SUN CAME OUT!!!! As soon as we saw the beautiful rays of light and heard the weather forecast for the day we headed out to our pool. Of course, the rest of the week looks like it is going to be like my previous post....cloudy, overcast and rainy. We took advantage of the gorgeous sunny day and had a BLAST as a family! Yours truly has never been able to be exposed to sun rays for more than a few minutes because of my light freckled skin, but today I said, "To heck with it! I'm swimming!" I even got my hair wet and wore no make-up. That's a pretty big deal for me seeing as how my eyelashes are WHITE and they never see the light of day outside my home without mascara and my blonde hair NEVER touches chlorinated water because it will turn green. Lovely, I know. I also put on silly canary yellow goggles, went under water with my eyes opened and, again, HAD A BLAST! I did start to feel the sun burning through the sunscreen after a couple of hours, so I stayed in the shade. Oh--it felt like summer today and I loved it.




If I can't "lay-out" then my sweet little brown baby can! I only made her strike this pose for the pic. I have NEVER been able to do this "laying-out" thing so I am living vicariously through her melanine (the stuff in your skin that makes you tan of which I have NONE!). I certainly am NOT making her "tan". I am not THAT sick, ya know!




Freshly made egg-salad sandwiches, BBQ chips, grapes, oranges and green tea! YUM!



Hope you are making the most of summer with YOUR family! ; )

Is This Texas or Seattle, WA?

I'm not complaining. I am just observing. It has seriously rained here for, what, two? three? months straight. It is JULY and we aren't even close to the 100's in temps yet. Praise the Lord for that huge blessing! Only, we can't really swim or do anything that is "summer" like. Everyone just walks around with umbrellas. All the foliage is so green and lush and gorgeous I feel like we are living in Scotland or Ireland. I wonder what our fall will look like? Normally here in Texas the leaves are actually engulfed in flames by, say, mid August and fall off the trees leaving most of the autumn leaves that remained to cling to the branches a lovely gray-ish-taupe-wrinkly elephant legs color...pure eye candy. This year we might stay green clear to Christmas! Crazy stuff! This is all after two years of serious drought. I will be glad when Jesus returns and the new heaven and the new earth (all this is found in the book of Revelation) will be as it SHOULD be....perfect, balanced and whole. For now, we are off to our last day of swimming lessons at the in-door pool for PandaGirl, though I'm not exactly sure when she can put her new skills into practice...it's raining here, ya know.

Thursday Thirteen #23-Fun 4th!

Thirteen things from our 4th of July:
1. Papaw's 68th birthday dinner
2. Visiting with family (able to see both sets of PandaGirl's grandparents, aunt, a couple of great aunts and great-grandfather)
3. Eating yummy watermelon
4. Grandma's great cooking and decorating for the 4th
5. Papaw's awesome grilled steaks
6. My scrumdillyumptious dirt cake complete with worms
7. Driving safely to and from our party place (two hours one way)
8. Red, White and Blue
9. Americana
10. Fireworks
11. Sweet TEA!
12. Enjoying freedom in my country and in Christ
13. Lovely Texas mosquitos eating my PandaGirl alive and me not finding the OFF before we left....it must be still at camp! (The pics below show the back of her leg with nickle-size and quarter-size bites. Poor thing!)

Happy FREEDOM in the USA!!!

Thank God for our wonderfully FREE country!

Thank you, Lord for my Daddy's 68th birthday on the 4th of July!

Hooray for the CHINESE who invented awesome fireworks several thousand years ago!

Enjoy your family and celebrate!!!

Stackin' Up!

I have mentioned before how PandaGirl has this crazy stacking fetish when she sleeps. She always wants to be "smushed", in her own words. This is yet another great picture of her ability to stack things ever-so-accurately into a pyramid. She then sleeps this way without them falling. How she does this without knocking the whole thing down just blows my mind. Believe it or not, she usually does this while laying on her tummy. How? I don't know. I can't ever catch her doing it. I just see the funny results of some very hard, labor intensive...work. Silly girl!

Memory Lane Monday #14-2005

This is just a quick pic back from spring 2005. Got a lot to do today so no time for a great post! Have a great Monday! ; )