Happy, Happy Times!

I have so many things I am dying to write about here...
and pictures I'm eager to share...
But time never seems to allow me to do all I'd love to do here.

Maybe tomorrow...?

Sigh.

Well, it's been wonderfully busy around here. We were able to enjoy some precious times with some of our oldest, dearest friends who came to visit us over the weekend. I do hope to be back tomorrow to share more pictures of our times spent with them, but for now, I just had to share these few pictures...


For those of you who have been wondering how we're doing with Kelly as we've been working through her attachment issues (since I am so behind on updating you!)... well, here are some pictures
worth
a thousand words.

That last picture is my favorite.
As much delight as it brings me to see our darling Kelly with such a beautiful, authentic smile on her face
(Yes, it's true! She's finally really smiling!),
this last picture is absolutely amazing to me.

I find myself going back to it,
over and over again,
staring at it in complete awe.
So many words come to mind as I attempt to describe the look on her face...

peaceful, serene, content, secure...

yet none seem big enough
to truly express my amazement
at the miraculous transformation
that's taken place inside our precious little girl.

This picture is proof to me

that after so long,

our baby girl is finally finding that

her safe place
is
in my arms.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

My cup is full to overflowing with joy and thankfulness to God for all He has done.

One happy momma,

Nonnie

My mom (aka Nonnie) came to visit us this past weekend. What a treat it always is to have her come see us. It was especially wonderful for Camryn this time, because her Nonnie took her out on a pre-birthday shopping spree.

This particular shopping spree meant a lot to me, not just because my mom took Camryn shopping (which is every 12-year old girl's dream), but especially because of the motivation of my mom's heart that prompted the whole thing...

A few weeks back, my mom and I were talking on the phone, and she shared with me that Camryn had been on her mind. She said she sometimes wondered if things were harder for Camryn now, being thrust into the "middle child" position- no longer the baby- but sandwiched between her high-achieving big brother, who's always receiving some sort of academic accolade- and her adorably cute little sister, who gets all of the attention now. My mom wondered if Camryn sometimes felt lost. She said she wanted to do something to let Camryn know how special and loved she is.
Camryn is a pretty self-assured girl, but I do think she has had moments of feeling a bit invisible between her big brother and her little sister, so I really appreciated my mom's thoughtful perception. Just the fact that she was mindful of Camryn and considered how she might feel, and then to put that thought to action by doing something to bless Camryn the way she did- well, it just made my heart full.
What a sweet thing. And Camryn really appreciated it.
At first, Camryn had a hard time accepting her Nonnie's generosity, so she was timid about picking out things that might be considered expensive, or frivolous. But as her Nonnie reassured her that she wanted to get her whatever she wanted, that this day was about her, Camryn finally relaxed and had a really good time.

Here she is with her loot!

She said to me, "Mom, I never knew you really could shop 'til you drop, but today, I think we did!"

Nonnie had fun splurging on Camryn--
She loves her sweet Camryn,

~ not to forget her precious Kelly too!

(Sorry Mom, I guess I didn't get one of you with Caleb,

but we do know how much you love him too!)

Nonnie, we love you.
Thank you for coming to see us-
and thanks for all you do to show us
how much you love us and how much you care.
We are truly blessed!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Whenever Camryn has friends over, I am reminded that girls really do just wanna have fun... here are Shayli, Camryn, and Ashlyn, doing just that!

Eating strawberries and whip cream together...

Even this is fun when you're with your girlfriends!
Life is good when you've got friends!

A Beautiful Day at the Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day for many reasons.

For one, the weather was absolutely glorious. You just can't get much better for early Spring.

For another, we got to go play at the park! Kelly was one happy girl...

But the biggest reason it was a beautiful day yesterday was because we got to be with old friends... and new!

Several weeks back, we "bumped into" a family at the mall, and soon realized we had something in common- International adoption! Unfortunately, it's pretty rare in our area, so we were mutually delighted at our chance encounter. I think the friendship was pretty instantaneous, but we made it official with this play date at the park yesterday.
The darling little cutie you see in the polka dot top is Adyson- Kelly's newest friend. Adyson is 2 months younger than Kelly. She came home from Korea to her forever family in May 2008, and we brought Kelly home from China in June 2008, so we have lots in common.

Connie and Emily joined us, which made it even more special, not only because they are dear friends, but also because Emily and Adyson share in their Korean heritage. It was fun to watch our girls play together and enjoy getting to know one another.
They held hands, hugged, and seemed genuinely warm with one another. It was precious. Of course, the little ones had their "toddler moments," especially Miss Kelly, but they were few and far between, thankfully.

Enjoy the pictures! A big thank you to Kristi, Adyson's mommy, for taking them! (Somebody had a blonde moment and completely forgot her camera!)

Such a serious face!

C'mon, Kelly, won't you give us a smile?

I think I see a slight one there...
Oops, spoke too soon...

Emily wanted to go to the other park for bigger kids, but she was a trooper and stuck it out with the littler ones.

Adyson is such a doll!

Oh, won't you give us a smile, pretty little mei mei?

Adyson's a lucky girl- she's got some wave in her hair!
Kelly loved playing with the wood chips- she got them all over herself right after this picture was taken!

Big girls like Emily know how to smile pretty for the camera!

The little ones, not so much! Still, they are undeniably adorable.


Kristi said Adyson has just started looking away whenever she wants to take her picture. Oh, how I know the feeling! It's only because Kristi took these pictures that we got so many of Kelly actually looking at the camera! She rarely does that for me...

Kelly protesting that I took her juice cup away... Emily's doing her best to help, and Adyson looks genuinely concerned...

So cute together... and looky there... I think that's actually a smile on Kelly's face!

Adyson riding the horsey- quite a challenge with her cup in her hand!

Oh, how this picture shows-- the girl has a zest for life!

Playing at the park made us all hungry, so we went to lunch afterwards at one of our favorite spots.

What a fun day we had!

Can't wait 'til next time!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Okay, I just had to include this picture.

True to his German heritage, Clint enjoys a good beer.

This is his way of celebrating Saint Patrick's Day!
This weekend, we planted a garden!

Here's Kelly helping me tend to it today...

Grow little vegetables, grow!
Kelly says "It's too bright out, Mommy!"

I guess I'm going to have to get her to start wearing sunglasses!
Camryn was in the spirit today before school,
besides, who wants to get pinched, right?

She's so cute with her green bow!

Science Olympiad

This weekend, Caleb competed in the Regional

"Science Olympiad" Competition.

Here he is with his partner, Zack, before their first event. They have been working after school three days a week + some weekends on this... we were rooting for them to do their best!
Discussing their first event, "The Scrambler," right before it began...
Setting it up...

Watching from the sidelines with high hopes that it does what it's supposed to do...
There were a few kinks, but "The Scrambler" did well!

A "thumb's up" from their science teacher, Mr. Carmean.

He's always so positive and encouraging.

There were two other events that we were not allowed to watch, so I don't have pictures of those.

Caleb's main event that was his strength was Astronomy.

Here they are at the Awards Ceremony awaiting their fate... if they place high enough, they go on to State...

Ah, wouldn't you know it?! They got First Place for Astronomy!

Here's Caleb with the rest of the teams from his school.

Caleb and his partner will go on to State competition now!

Good job, Caleb!

We're so proud of you!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

If you notice changes to the blog and they don't make sense, it's because it's under construction! Stay tuned as my wonderful blog designer, Ashton, perfects it!

Lovey Update

Kelly after her nap- sporting the cutest bedhead you ever did see!

I forgot to say in my previous post, but Kelly's been doing wonderfully without Lovey. She has a harder time settling down to sleep without it to suck on, but Thursday night was the first night she slept through the night since we said goodbye, so I was extremely happy and oh-so-grateful!

I felt a little silly about my emotional "Lovey post" and had to laugh at myself a couple of days later, but it really was hard for me to see Kelly have to say goodbye, so even though I feel a little silly about it in hindsight, I think one day Kelly might read this and, because I posted about it, she'll know how much I honored her cherished Lovey.

Thanks for all the sweet comments you all left- they made me feel better about posting about it. =)

Random Pictures

Whew! What a weekend we've had! That's another post entirely, but I wanted to share some random pictures from the past week.

Caleb giving Kelly horsey rides!

She loves it!

We had some beautiful weather this week. The ice cream man came down our street one warm afternoon, so here are Caleb and Kelly enjoying an ice cream with the neighborhood kids.

It was Kelly's first ice cream from the ice cream man. I wonder if she's going to know to get excited now (like all the other kids) the next time she hears that musical truck strolling down the street?
Now that Kelly's hair is finally long enough to do some fun things with, I ordered some bows for her from Katelyn & Co.

My friend Natalie always has her girls looking so cute with bows in their hair, so naturally, I HAD to have some too!

Here are some pictures of Kelly with her new bows in her hair.

Out lunching at Red Robin- looking as cute as button!

Did I mention Kelly LOVES french fries?

Since the candy store was right by Red Robin,

I had to get lollipops for my lollipop girls!

Some more with Kelly and her new hair bows... you probably can't see them, but they're cute little yellow ones with white polka dots. (That's Clint in the background- he was stretching after a run... and that's Chloe, our cat, napping after a nap... lol)

Lastly, here's Kelly being silly with her bucket on her head! She thought of this all on her own and she cracked herself (and me) up, so I had to get a picture. (Can you tell, Kaya doesn't get what's so funny?)