Memories - Old and New

Last night I worked in the nursery at church. It was a fairly easy time since most of the children seemed a bit mellower than usual and the normal nursery time was shortened by a baptismal service that was planned for 7:45.

I was enjoying the time chatting with my friend, Stephanie, and as we watched the kids play, Stephanie got up to get something and her precious son, Hudson, went running across the room after her. Watching his little feet patter across the floor transported me back 21 years. The way his feet hit the ground as he hurried across the room looked just like my oldest son, Jeremy, when he was that age. It's weird, how the years can just melt away with the funniest things carrying you to another time and place.

Jeremy, 2 years old

We have a new memory to add to the bank from last evening. Our youngest child, Kara, was baptized last night. It was a sweet time. Kara asked Jesus to be her Savior last summer. We have had several baptisms at church since that time but because it meant putting her face under the water, she was hesitant to "take the plunge". When our pastor announced that there would be a baptism service in January, Kara decided she was ready...no prodding from us.

As we prepared for last night, she never mentioned anything about putting her face in the water, so neither did I. She went into the whole thing with such an excitement and joy and I was equally excited for her. She had to read her testimony in front of the church beforehand and my heart could have burst as I listened to her and marveled over the change that God has wrought in this little one's life over the last 5 years.

For those of you that don't know Kara, or haven't known her since we brought her home 5 1/2 years ago, let me explain what she was like in those early months and even years. When she was placed in my arms in China on July 6th, 2005, she immediately went into an emotional shutdown . For the first few days, I was a little concerned about her blank stares and lack of any definable emotion. I knew that this was a normal reaction under the circumstances but it was still disconcerting to be watching it lived out right in front of me.

Slowly, very slowly, over that first week, I believe she began to understand, as well as an 8 month old can, that I was not a bad person and that she could "trust" me to take care of her needs. She began to show me brief glimpses of the little soul behind the blank and distant stares. Oh, the memories of those early days still tug at my heart. Those bittersweet moments of loving her so deeply and wondering desperately what I could do to convey that to her and let her know that she was now safe and would be ours forever...that she would never have to be alone again.

When I brought Kara home, she was afraid of a lot of things, one of the most apparent was men. And I brought her home to a house full of them. She formed a fairly quick attachment to me and if I was in the room she was usually attached to my hip. She could function without me, if she couldn't see me, but there was no comfort in that for her. She was markedly detached whenever she was held by Keith or one of the boys in those early days.

If anyone at church tried to talk to her, she would bury her head in my shoulder and act as if she were thinking "I'm not really here, please just ignore me". As the months passed and she got a little older, as soon as the worship service was over on Sunday morning, she would immediately pick up my stuff and hand it me and say "Can we go home now?" Home was her favorite place...her comfort zone. Everything else was a walk on the wild side to her and it was obvious that she wasn't very fond of the wild side.

Kara never seemed to enjoy the nursery at church. I usually ended up staying with her, or she came with me to Adult Sunday School and worship. Just before her 3rd birthday she moved out of the nursery and started going to a program called Patch the Pirate on Wednesday evenings at church. She could go in with Emma so there was some comfort in that for her. After the first week of Patch she was eager to go back. After a few weeks, she would go on her own without me having to walk her to class. I don't really understand what caused the changes we were about to see in her, but I am confident that it was a work of the Lord.

Slowly, over the next 6 months, we watched the butterfly emerge from her crysallis. She found her wings and began to fly. Actually, I'm not sure that even describes the transformation we witnessed. It was like watching a flower bloom, each petal unfolding...one at a time...manifesting a thing of beauty with the sweetest aroma.

The first time I saw her crawl up into Keith's lap voluntarily, and then saw the look on his face, I could have wept for absolute joy. She was learning to trust in our love and it was such a beautiful thing. When he picks her up now and she wraps her whole body around him with a big old bear hug...well, I don't even have words for the thankfulness that wells up in my heart.

God has done a work in her. She is an amazing creature...created by a God that loves her and loves us. And we are blessed to call her our own.

I share all of this so that you can understand my amazement, joy, and utter gratefulness to God as I stood there last night and witnessed her read her testimony aloud to the whole church, climb into the pool, and conquer her fear of the water covering her face. She did look a little nervous as she clung to our pastor's arm because she couldn't touch the bottom of the pool; but, oh, the smile of sheer delight when she came up out of that water... buried in the likeness of Christ's death...raised to new life in Him. It doesn't get any better than that!

My babies are growing up!

Kara lost her first tooth yesterday! She was so excited. She immediately went to the growth chart on our kitchen wall to see if she had gotten taller. Too cute!

My oldest baby, Jeremy, turns 23 today and my youngest is losing her teeth. The years are falling off the calendar at an amazing pace. I am so thankful for my family and all of the milestones that God has allowed me to witness.

Not to be outdone by her sister...

...today is Kara's 5th birthday!!! It really is fun to have the girls' birthdays so close together. It adds to the excitement of it all. Happy, Happy Birthday to my girly girl...the one that always has a song in her heart. We love you!!!

Petite Chef and Artiste Extraordinaire

For Christmas this year, we decided to encourage the girls' individual interests.

For months now, Kara has been enthralled with all things kitchen. She loves to be in the kitchen with me and pushes her little step stool right up next to me whenever I'm slicing, dicing, sauteing, boiling, mixing, baking or just making "peanut and jelly" sandwiches.

She loves the kitchen so much that at the tender age of 4 she requested a cookbook for her birthday. She wanted her very own cookbook and that is what she got...Paula Deen's My First Cookbook to be exact... and she was thrilled.

So...for Christmas this year she got an Easy Bake Oven along with her very own Chef outfit. When she opened the oven on Christmas Eve she shouted "MY OVEN!". She was so excited. It didn't take her long to figure out how to make chocolate cake in her own little stove. Here are a few pics of our personal chef and her new oven.

Emma's current interests are a bit different than her sister's. While she enjoys messing around in the kitchen as well, she has begun to excel in the art arena. She can color like it's nobody's business and can draw things that really look like what she's trying to draw. She obviously has not learned this talent from her mother.

So for Christmas we bought her an art set full of all the various implements that one needs to create. Daddy will have to teach her how to use them all because Momma is clueless. Along with her set of goodies, she received an art smock and an artist's beret.

The girls seemed really excited with their gifts and we are hoping that they will enjoy many hours of fun with them.

The day after Christmas, as Kara was busy watching her cake bake in it's oven, Tyler came rushing in the door from the football field to tell us that Austin had been injured while playing ball with some friends. I left Grandma Jan to finish the cake with Kara while I went to pick Austin up. We were a bit surprised by the nature of Austin's injury but you'll have to tune in next time to hear that story.

School Day Funnies

The girls and I had a fun day in school today.

At the end of each day, I read a book to Kara entitled Abadaba Alphabet by Sheila Moore. The book is a super fun way to teach the phonetic sounds of the letters if it doesn't drive mom crazy first.

Kara has caught on to most of the sounds and really has learned a lot by just sitting in on school with Emma and I and from listening to me read this book countless times (we've been reading it since May).

Today, as we read the book, Kara was eager to say most of the sounds on her own. She did quite well and I had a fleeting thought that maybe she was ready to start putting those sounds together into very small words.

I turned back in the book to the "d" page and found the word dog. I asked her what sound each letter made individually. With a little help, she got all three. So I said "Kara, If you put those three sounds together, what does "duh... ahh... guh say? She looked at me so enthusiastically like a light bulb had just gone on. She smiled hugely as she said "volcano?".

Okay, okay...so maybe my three year old isn't quite ready to read yet but I think she's brilliant anyway.

Along those same lines, I saw the following quote on our local home school support group's yahoo group and thought that it really summed up what our home schooling adventure is like these days.

"I compare what we do to a hike with puppies rather than a march with an army. We don't march steadily on with prescribed stops. We stroll along, sometimes running ahead, sometimes running behind, then stopping to chase a lizard, smell the flowers - or eat them!"

I'm not sure who the author is but it definitely describes school with Emma and Kara...and I'm happy to say that I'm loving every minute of it - still!

This is Commandment Five

On Wednesday nights during the summer, Emma and Kara attend Patch the Pirate Club at church. This is Kara's first experience with being in a real classroom situation instead of being in the nursery. She is loving it.

Our pastor's wife is teaching the youngest group of kids (the Plebes), and they are learning the Ten Commandments. Kara has been able to tell us each week which commandment they learned. I have been amazed at what she remembers.

Tonight, she was going through the house singing the song they learned last night. Keith thought we should video it...so I did. It is so precious I have to share it with the rest of you.

In case you aren't up on your commandments, the 5th commandment is found in Exodus 20 verse 12. It says "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

3 Years Ago Today...

...on a very hot afternoon...in the southern part of China...Kara joined our family.







She didn't have a clue what was going on and went into an emotional cocoon for those first few days. Her personality slowly emerged as we loved and cared for her.








This was her first meeting with Daddy. Kara had little interaction with men before joining our family so Daddy took a little getting used to, as did all of the boys in our house.



Kara is a precious gift from God and a delight to our souls. While still very shy, she has a smile that lights up a room and a giggle that just makes the rest of us grin.

She is a momma's girl and loves to snuggle. What more could I ask for?!

We are so blessed that God brought us together to be a family. Today we celebrate Kara's "Gotcha" day. It's a great reason to go out for some yummy Chinese food and spend some time just being together.

Happy "Gotcha" day Kara! We love you so much!!!!

Little Chef

21+ years ago, I spent 3 weeks in the hospital before my 1st son was born. It was a small hospital on a small Air Force base in Arizona. A lot of the time I was the only patient in the OB ward. Needless to say I got to know the nurses fairly well.

As you can imagine the hospital food was pretty bland. One night, one of the nurses brought dinner in for herself and the other staff. She was kind enough to sneak me some. Homemade Cashew Chicken...it was wonderful! A little spicy and tons of flavor. The next night, at my request, she brought me the recipe.

I have been making this recipe for 21 years now. I don't make it often because it requires a lot of prep time chopping chicken and vegetables but I've been in a bit of a cooking rut lately so out came the butcher knife.

For the last year or so, I have had a little sidekick in the kitchen. My youngest, Kara, is pretty much attached to me at the hip. She especially loves the kitchen and is always asking me if I will teach her how to make whatever I happen to making at the time when she gets older. I would love just about nothing more than to do just that.

Anyway, she has a little stool that she always pulls up next to me to watch or try to involve herself in whatever I'm doing. Today as I peeled the carrots over the trash can, she began to pick the peelings out of the trash. She asked for a plate and began to prepare her own dinner. Her dinner consisted of carrot peelings, green onion stalks, and the discarded ends of the celery.

She was so very proud of herself when her dinner was complete. I told her that it was too bad that we didn't have rabbits because they would love a dinner like that. She then decided that we should take the plate outside and leave it hoping that some little bunnies would happen along. We convinced her that her stuffed animals would enjoy it more.

Her future husband will be very blessed! I hope he likes rabbit food. :)