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!!!!