World Traveler

I have missed traveling the world. It has been over 11 years since I have left the country. I guess I have been a little busy or something. In that time we got married, moved across the country and added 4 kids. I am excited to add number 5 and travel the world again at the same time. I have never been to Asia, but sort of felt like I took a trip there for a long weekend in college. I travelled to Vancouver, BC with a bunch of Japanese students, stayed with more Japanese people and ate Japanese food. I have also been in and taken lots of photos with Japanese students giving the peace sign, which clearly happens in June's country, too, because she is doing that in one of my favorite photos. She is a smart one.
We can't wait to travel to her country. Even an11 hour flight (and several 4 hour ones) seems like a vacation when it's only you and your husband!

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It was a privilege to be asked to do this commission by my college roommate, Kim. You can all thank Kim for the fact that I am still painting. She encouraged me to keep at it and to invest my time in it when I was struggling through what it meant to be a Christian and an artist.

Care Package

We are really excited to know that our little girl will be getting her package next week that tells her she has a family coming. We used Red Thread China to receive some items we sent from the states and then she added some items in and forwarded it on to our girl's orphanage. 

Included in the package are: 

- a pillow with our family's photo

-lollypops for the nannies and kids

-a letter to our girl

-a letter to the nannies

-a board book I wrote and illustrated explaining the upcoming changes 

(I had it translated into Mandarin for her nannies to read to her)

- a zip drive to get any photos from the orphanage

 - a dress and jeggings

  -stickers for all

Her name means joy

We will be keeping our little girl's Chinese first and middle names because we loved the meaning of them. Joy and Elegant. I had actually had it on my heart to name her something meaning joy anyway. Can you guess why when you see the photo?

Also, we have the feeling she will be bringing a lot of cheer into the family. Sure there will be difficulty. But overall, we believe there is great joy to come.

Not too long now

We are getting excited to go to China and get our girl. Many people spend a few days beforehand in Beijing, do some touring, and get used to the time change before they start parenting their new child. We decided this would be a good idea. We also wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary (last December) somewhere fun. Since we didn't really have the funds for a separate adventure, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were flying to China. Here is the place we are staying. I can't wait to see the Karst mountains.

Welcome Home Little One

One of the best parts about adoption is seeing other families bringing sweeties home. Here is one of my very own Frozen Ladybugs with her precious new girl.

Loving winter.

Eli is enjoying the winter for the first time. Can you see it on his face and in his stride?