PURE entertainment! ENJOY!

Hiatus

Well, I am going to sign off for a bit but hope to be back and have time to blog in a very short time! I love all the e-mails! Enjoy your family and friends at this beautiful time of year!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy Birthday to my amazing and wonderful Mom!!! There is NO mom as great as MINE!!!
Those that know her love her and those that do not...well you are missing out on a super lady!
Not only is she a great mom but an even BETTER Grammy!! Boy does she spoil those grand kids!

Today is a milestone birthday! (A REAL BIG ONE MOM! WHEW!) But she sure looks great for that age!! :)

LOVE YOU MOM!!
We look forward to celebrating with you!!!

WARNING!

Our lives are pretty much consumed with packing...after the bigger kids headed out to scho0l this a.m I decided to tackle Emma's closet. NOT her clothes but all the OTHER items she stashes in her closet which seems HUMUNGOUS to me when I have to box/organize it all. I quickly pulled together the ONE THOUSAND Polly Pocket bits and pieces, (do not call me to task on exaggerating numbers here...I will ARGUE!) Barbie Boutique Ensembles, and many craft supplies. The other thing is how could an eight year old accumulate so many flip flops!?!?! I digress...so I gather it all up neatly, marking each container and then setting them neatly by the book shelf with plans to load them into the van and put them right in her new closet. I ran into the laundry room to switch the clean clothes to the dryer and let's estimate how long that took me shall we? Maybe 4.5 to 6 minutes and that includes pressing the "start" button right? Well, as I left the laundry room I glanced to see that Sam was NOT playing with his trains any longer and said, "Sam? What are you doing?" and he replied, "NOTHING!!!" THIS is the point where every mother of any three year old goes into high alert and begins the search to find this child...well, too late...he had entered Emma's room and had managed to dump out every container, scatter, mix and create utter havoc! This, from a child that cannot zip his coat yet!!!! So, I did what every woman in her right mind would do...I went to the kitchen and poured another cup of coffee!!

How can we help?

November was National Adoption Month and that is why I have had so many awesome videos. I had to add just one more. The statistics are mind boggling! We reach out at Christmas more than any other time of the year but the needs are there all through the year.

A blast from the past!! I love it! LOVE IT!

It just isn't Christmas without a song from our dear little friends!!!!

I NEED to videotape Mitchell and Sam singing this song...it is absolutely comical...Mitchell giggles until he cries hearing Sam say "Hool Ahh Hoop!!"

First snow at the Glen

Oh, the pleasure of waking up to a school delay and subsequent closing on Wednesday and then another delay today! We all welcomed the slower pace of the morning! Plenty of snow at the new house and the contractors made it out to work despite the roads...we are thankful for that!



Thanks to my Dad for taking this pretty picture AND doing a marathon jaunt of hanging blinds!!

***I had to add one of my favorite snow poems here...I used to read this over and over and wish that I could ride a horse through the snowy wood with its harness bells tinkling....WAIT...I still would love to do that!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening,

whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

he will not see me stopping here to watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer, to stop without a farmhouse near.

Between the woods and frozen lake

the darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

to ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

by Robert Frost

"When I speak of home, I speak of the place where-

in default of a better-

those I love are gathered together;

and if that place were a gypsy's tent, or a barn,

I should call it by the same good name notwithstanding."

~Charles Dickens

Little Town of Lights

A very cold night so we layered up Sam until he could hardly walk! He didn't seem to mind!
Santa and Mrs. Claus are always available and Emma told him what she would like for Christmas!
The night was festive as Meghan, Madeleine, Kate and Emma hammed it up! They had such a great time chumming around! Cookies, and peppermint sticks helped make the season bright too! The pharmacy had a chocolate fountain which was a big hit and I think most kids under seven had chocolate running down their winter coats! :)

Our Little Town of Lights is really an event we look forward to every year...it was suppose to rain and didn't and we enjoyed the night so much! After walking the streets, gathering goodies and seeing the live nativity we ended the evening with a wagon ride singing Christmas carols and a hot dog from the police station. It is always a great kick off to the Christmas season!

Your love makes me sing...

Amy just posted her other video! All the children in the videos are adopted...some domestically and some internationally. She wrote: "If we get just one more kid home it would be the greatest blessing!"

I love all the photos and if you have time to view it you will see some FAMILIAR faces in this one! The Kinney Kids are in it!

WARM-cold-WARM-cold-WARM!

I think it is time to put the screens in the window! Mitchell BEGGED for me to take this photo!
The weather has been so crazy this fall we have had plenty of time to play in the woods. Sam loves to cross that plank but for him it is TRULY "walking the plank" as we always hold our breath as he insists on going over it by himself!! That is a long way to fall for such a little dude!
Madeleine HATES bugs of any kind but has realized that she likes furry, litte wooly worms. She finds them around the new house and then puts them somewhere safe so the "worker guys" don't "tromp them" with their big boots! Good for you Miss Madda!

Our gorgeous girl!!!

BEFORE
DURING
AFTER!

Emma recently got braces. She has been such a brave girl! It has been a painful process for her as she has to have a rooftop appliance which really hinders her eating but she is adapting well.

She is an amazing kid! We adore that beautiful smile!

All I really want for Christmas...

I belong to a wonderful group called Loving China's Children and Amy, a fellow adoptive mom, made this video. On her blog she wrote, "Kids are our greatest treasures...open your heart to adoption."

What a wonderful way to start the Christmas season! ENJOY!!

Best wishes for a...

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.

He hastens and chastens His will to make known.

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own."

Read this one...it is a good one...

I do not know the author of this but it is profound!


THE STRANGER
A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem tomind. Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace andquiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.) Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time aftertime, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave. More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents's den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name?...............See below:

We just call him, "TV."


* *Note: This should be required reading for everyhousehold in America !

**P. S. He has a wife now....We call her "Computer."

Another birthday...

Yep! Nate is fourteen years old!

Did I mention that Nate turned FOURTEEN? Doesn't this seem incredible? I also feel as if I just wrote about his 13th birthday a month ago!! Nate is finishing up his last year of Junior High and when we asked him what he would like for his birthday he was very simply interested in some new music and a video game. Oh, and a RipStik...will get to that in a minute. Nate is highly motivated to be outside and he is constantly in motion (always has been) but he works so hard. Just yesterday he cleared the entire yard of leaves and mowed and truly enjoys it...he also has such a love of our pups and when he is outside Camden is always nearby...if it is possible (AND it is...) Camden just grins ear to ear when she sees her Nate! He still skates almost every day and asked for a RipStik for his birthday...this is a two wheeled contraption that defies your ability to stand on your own two feet. Nate had observed some University guys ride them in our local homecoming parade and became fascinated with them. Nate opened his RipStik took it outside and immediately had the thing flying down the street! Bob already took him to the Skate park to give it a whirl on the rails!

Happy Birthday Nate! We know God has BIG things planned for you!

Looking forward...with melancholia??

melancholia
Pronunciation: \ˌme-lən-ˈkō-lē-ə\
Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin, from Late Latin, melancholy
Date: 1607:
a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions
— mel·an·cho·li·ac \-lē-ˌak\ noun


Hmmmmm, THIS is the word of the day...no, the word of the week....WAIT, no the word of the MONTH for me...Bob and I have officially starting packing....(big, huge painful breath drawn in HERE!) You did it too didn't you?

Ya know, I am not one to embrace changes. (Dad, I think I get that from you and Grandad. -- leave well enough alone!) So, preparing to leave our current home has definately been an emotional process/stretch for me. I LOVE this house! This home is where we brought home each of our children for the first time. The nursery was planned with hours of thought and work for Nate to grace it with his curly blonde head for the first time. The living room is where Nate busted open his forehead on the corner of the coffee table. (He really likes that scar.) This is the place where Mitchell painstakingly finger painted the entire changing table with Vaseline and threw up peanut butter sandwich all over the carpet and then exclaimed happily to Bob, "I feel better!" Emma took a Sharpie marker to my BRAND new sofa in our new addition and ate powdered formula right out of the can "Pooh Bear with a honey pot" style! These four walls will always hold the priceless memory for Bob and I of Nate, Mitchell and Emma accepting Christ as their personal savior praying for Christ's forgiveness with such sincerity and conviction. Madeleine rolled ALL over the first floor in her baby walker gleefully SCREAMING happily while we all tried to smile at her joy despite the volume! I do feel sad that Sam will most likely never remember this house (lots of photos though)and how thrilled he was to come home from China to four older siblings who ADORE him. The sounds of Sam's running footsteps on our wood floors is still often unbelievable to me. He is such a funny kid! At night, when they are all sleeping, I marvel at each one of them being HERE - with us! Finding ALL FIVE kids in ONE of their beds reading a book, playing a game or singing a Toby Mac song are moments that cancel out the bickering or mess they make. This house is also full of the memories of Bonzai and Nixon our beloved cats that lived and died here along with MacDugal our black lab who will always have a special place in Bob and my hearts as our "first (furry) child."



So now, I look forward to life at our new home that God has so graciously placed in our future. I will look forward to:


5 precious children who will laugh, bicker, drag toys across the floor, spill juice, cereal and WHO knows WHAT else on the NEW kitchen floor.

5 LOUD voices will sing praises to the Lord Jesus Christ in every room.


50 wiggling toes will run the hallways, splash bath bubbles, take showers and track in MUD!

10 eyes will squint in the sun as they run and play and explore The Glen.


5 treasured children will be cuddled and kissed when scratches or scrapes need (or more often don't need) a bandaid.



5 hearts will be nurtured for the Kingdom in this home.


5 kids will grow to adulthood learning to drive, getting first "paid" jobs, first dates, graduate highschool, go off to college and we hope come home from time to time for family dinner at our house like Gram and Gramps do for us!


I trust we will honor God in the use of this building we will soon call home and that the family that moves into our first home together that we have loved so well will be as happy there as we have been.

To MELANCHOLY moments....days, months...sent by God....they stretch where we need to be stretched and teach us much!!

"Tuckee" weekend

Cool dude cousins on the farm. Connor, Nate, Mitchell, Caleb and Trae. Nate, Trae and Connor made the climb up to Eagle Rock with Clint and Uncle Gary. Thanks for taking the time guys! There is no greater view (in my eyes) than looking out over the mountains from Eagle Rock!
Here are some of the cousins who participated in the black light show. The theme this year was "HE LIVES!" and they did a super show to Nicole C. Mullins, "I Know My Redeemer Lives!" The kids worked hard and it truly was a blessing to each of us. Thanks to Howie and Cindie for being the creative minds behind this event. The kids learn so much!

Look closely...I may be little but I am MIGHTY!!! Ping Pong anyone??
Cousin time in the hot tub!! Those kids had a blast!

The bluegrass state will never be the same!! The LeMaster clan descended on the great state of Kentucky once again and took it by STORM!! We have a loose schedule but mostly we are there to chat, eat and catch up on family time without the pressures of work, school church and all the commitments that come with that. The Tailgate party and game are fun too although we sadly watched OSU lose their first game! The screams, yells and hoots from the game room surely were heard all over Kentucky! The Kinney Kids like it second ONLY to Christmas! When we put Emma to bed Sunday night she cried as she said she missed Kentucky so much AND cousin Lauren!! The cousins have a BLAST together and it is so great to see them have such wild and lively FUN!!

Hey, by the way...does anyone have any good photos of the black light songs?

CHAOTIC!!

Chaos can be beautiful....

did I say that??!!?

In Jill's perfect and idyllic world, chaos is NOT welcome on any level. I joke on a regular basis that with a household of seven people, two dogs, a cat and various other living things...currently Nate's Praying Mantis (those things give me the creeps) we live a life of CONTROLLED chaos!

All that said, I have not gotten my Halloween photos, Kentucky photos, Emma's new braces and Mitchell's Science Fair project photos downloaded!! I have not wrapped up the packing of our house, nor have I finished helping the kids complete their make up work from having been gone for a long weekend. This drives me nuts! I absolutely must do things in an orderly fashion! So, now that I have admitted my complete neurosis I feel so much better don't you??

God reminds me on a DAILY basis that HE is in CONTROL and that I can take that and REST in his good plan....OH, am I grateful for that...he sends me uplifting reminders, little glimpses that reassure me that I need to listen to his whisper in my chaos.

Do we HAVE to call it chaos?

laugh

laugh uncontrollably. it helps clear the mind.

Countdown continues...

The news on the street is that we only have SIX days until

Kentucky Days!!!!

Killeny Glen...getting on the GREEN!!!

We have had plenty of rain and sunshine...we came home from Pennsylvania to find this beautiful green carpet!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Bob got some tickets to the OSU/Penn State football game last night and we decided to take off for Happy Valley and watch cousin Ben play some ball!! What a treat! Although Bob had hoped the Nittany Lions would give the Buckeyes a run for their money the BUCKS came out on top BIG TIME....37-17!! We had a BLAST! We got to eat lunch at CHAMPS Sports Grill too and loved our 36 hour whirlwind trip!

A couple DIVIDED! Bob joined the State "white out" despite sitting in the BUCKS section.
I love the marching band.
After the game the guys all came over to celebrate with song!

The photo is not clear enough to see Ben but he is in the far left toward the back.
Check out that FINAL score!

**** VERSUS****



Thanks to Gram, Gramps and Ericka for making the weekend so much fun for the kids!

Partying at school...

Halloween School Parties!

Grace and Madeleine partying in Kindergarten!
Madeleine joined Mommy to help with Emma's third grade festivities!
Mitchell (he is a jazz musician-you can't see his saxophone) and some of his friends posing at the fifth grade party.

A perfect night for a BONFIRE!

The Kinney Klan enjoyed a lovely evening at the Price's the other night. Perfect night...just cool enough that when Howie got the fire going it felt perfect!

What a crazy crew! Emma, Dora, Trae, Madeleine and Ariel!
Sam LOVES this truck!! It is as big as he is!
The girls had such a blast playing in the yard! Hide and Seek was a hit!
Ummm, this is the beginning of the roasted marshmallows...it got WORSE!
YUMMY!!!!! Ahleya was enjoying her perfectly toasted treat! FINGER LICKING GOOD!

Dora had so much fun with the kids...see how BIG she is smiling?
We had a great feast before it got dark...the kids table was lively!
Mithell the cool dude!
A game of football broke out and Ariel proved to be quite a good tackle. Watch out Mitchell!

Photos

Bob just downloaded a bunch of photos and I thought I would just post a few miscellaneous shots of those Kinney Kids!

Emma dressed up as a Cowgirl for Spirit week at school.
Two of my C-ville Indians ready for school
Red and white day at school. Madeleine is funny...she likes to participate but on HER OWN level...she did NOT want to wear her C-ville t-shirt but still wanted her red, black and white!
Madeleine wanted me to post this photo. She LOVES Qian (pronounced "Kway") and Qian has on her Halloween costume and is winking at the camera!

Sam's fabulous smile!

Sam has a beautiful smile, his teeth are just so white and pretty. We suspected when we brought him home last year that despite how pretty his teeth are that they are not in the best condition. So, when Mitchell, Emma and Madeleine had their teeth checked, polished and flouride treated I took Sam along too. Our dentist, Dr. Jerry, is a saint in his own right, our children ADORE him. They actually LOVE to go to see him. No, he isn't a magician he is a REAL dentist!

Before the appointment I explained to the older kids that we were going to demonstrate to Sam that having Dr. Jerry examine his teeth is a cool thing despite his mask and visor type magnifying head gear! :) Each time a new kid sat in the exam chair we would place Sam in his or her lap and say, "YEAH, it is Emma's turn!" and so forth and so on. Sam was having a good time and enjoying the banter between Dr. Jerry and his older siblings. Well, Sam is JUST learning to talk in sentences and they are hard to understand. After Madeleine was finished I said, "Sam! It is your turn!" and he said VERY CLEARLY:

"No FANK YOU! I don't like it!!"

Can't say that I blame him!

Kinney Kid Kentucky Countdown

LeMaster Family? Ya want something to smile about???

Only 18 days until...

KENTUCKY DAYS!!!!!!

Loving and serving

Christ is present when the weak are loved and served.

Lately, I feel that I have been like one of those church bill boards that change their encouraging, yet trite sayings each week to reach those of us that drive by on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong...it sounds as if I do not like those billboards but quite honestly I do and have been provoked to deep thought by more than one of those "catchy" sayings.

Serving at our church that is poor and lacking in many things has been tough, a challenge at its very best. There have been SO MANY times that we wonder WHAT we are doing and WHY we are doing it. Yet, God has made it abundantly clear to Bob and I that we are where he wants us to be. When I think of all the things we do to serve our neighborhood friends...the meals, rides to work, a listening ear, childcare, etc. I realize that WE are the ones being served...it is our pleasure to serve these dear friends. As we spend a Saturday evening after church circling the same four block radius of a section of the city looking for "Andy" and hear one of the kids yell, "THERE HE IS!!" It is our privilege to bring him dinner and have a chat with Andy who is homeless yet has joy in his life that he generously shares with the seven of us.

Christ is present when the weak are loved and served.

A gift

Life is God's gift to you

The way you live your life is your gift to God

Make it a fantastic one

~Leo Buscaglia

Post Op Boy!

Here is that cute little dude, WeiLong....he is home from the hospital!

He continues to do well. We are praying he will avoid any infection and will heal completely!

Mom Mumblings...

I much prefer the more stylish streamlined shoe below don't you?

So, we are building a new house right? This involves a great deal of work, money, effort...etc. And, we are building a new house 'cause we have a big family and the Lord has blessed us with this awesome opportunity to have a bigger house with more bedrooms and BATHROOMS right? Well, why then, will you tell me are we building a bigger house when all my kids are asleep together in ONE ROOM!!!????? AAAAAACKK!!!