Home Makeover - Valentine's style!

We bought a Gingerbread House kit at Christmas and never completed it...we decided to "pimp that kit" and convert it from a Christmas Chalet to
CUPID'S COTTAGE!

The guys began construction and enjoyed it very much.

We hired the best and pickiest of decorators to come in to do the facade...

It took TWO decorators and MANY discussions about HOW Cupid would want his cottage decorated and the work went very well.

The finished product turned out cute! Cupid will love to lounge in his new digs!

With some snow days...time was plentiful and it was fun for everyone...especially eating the Valentine candies! The kids went back to school today...Sam and I are a little lonely without them!

Blog Rollin'!

Got an e-mail from dear Sharon asking me to add her blog to my Blog Roll.
I realized I have NOT updated my blog roll in a really long time. If you would like me to add you to my blog roll let me know and I will add you!!!

Snow Daze Part Deux!

What a GLORIOUS day!!!!! We truly enjoyed the wonder of God's beautiful artwork!
We woke up to a wonderland of BEAUTY!

Sam liked licking his snow covered icicle!

Emma had Clarice going down the hill on the sled!

Even Asher wanted to play in the snow.

Madeleine never landed quite right but always came up smiling!

Mitchell made a terrific snow angel.

Emma at TOP speed!

Everyone indulged Mom with a group photo.

Even Daddy got to stay home today and we all enjoyed our "free" day to play, play, PLAY! What a treat!

Aaaaaahhhh....I love Snow Days...

"There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules. And unlike illness, it is largely a corporate rather than individual experience. One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview. All those affected this way are united by a mutual excuse, and the heart is suddenly and unexpectedly a little giddy. There will be no apologies needed for not showing up to some commitment or other. Everyone understands and shares in this singular justification, and the sudden alleviation of the pressure to produce makes the heart merry."

THE SHACK, William P. Young
If you have NOT read this book it is WORTH your time! I HIGHLY recommend it.

Happy CHINESE New Year! Year of the OX!

TWO of the MANY reasons I love China!





Today is the first day of Chinese New Year! Madeleine and Sam love to share Chinese Red envelopes (with pretend money in them) a couple of stories about Chinese tradition, oranges and some TAME fireworks with their friends at school. Madeleine is keenly interested in her Chinese ancestry and we are pleased to see how proud she is to share it with her friends.

Today marks the first day of the fifteen day celebration and the year of the ox! This Chinese festival is the biggest celebration of the year in China much like our Christmas. Almost all Chinese festivals follow a lunar calendar not a solar calendar. The new year celebration or the Spring festival heralds the coming of spring and the reunion of family. Families clean their houses from top to bottom and cook up all kinds of lovely delicacies to eat. Children are given new clothing and red envelopes with money in them.

Photos by REUTER
If you haven't planned your dinner for tonight...why not have Chinese???

NOW Mommy is grumpy!

Alright!
Alright!
WHO put Silly Putty on the WII remote?!?!?!?
ACK!!


















Now, HOW to get it out of all the nooks and crannies!?!?!?!? COME ON GUYS!!!

Wanna laugh? Oh you will!!!!

This is JUST for KICKS & GIGGLES!


(Thanks, Brice, for making me laugh! You DA man!)

I got this e-mail today...imagine my surprise...

I believe that Bob has created a monster...at least a very HAPPY monster!! (smile)

Dear Mommy,
Mommy guess what! I got my very own E-MAIL ADDRESS !AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I can't believe it! I'm sooooooooooooooooo happy! Please tell ALL YOUR FRIENDS. And can you tell our family too please? THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!

Your Daughter,

Emma

I feel that smile is a bit smug don't you?

An EASY job for you!

I have gotten to "know" so many wonderful people through blogging. It has truly been a blessing! I am so fond of the Saunders family and Linn (the mom) has inspired me regularly with her love of Christ AND her family. The Saunders lost their home in a fire last week. The day after they lost their home one of their sons had to have emergency surgery and the next day their dog died (nothing to do with the fire.) The Saunders have 9 AMAZING and lovely kiddos.

Their church and family have sent in an application for Extreme Home Makeover. They set up a special blog for this and are trying to get as many people as possible to leave a comment to try to get EHM to come build a house for them. If you can take a couple minutes and do this to help this amazing adoptive family I have placed the link below:

Love Builds A Home You do not have to write anything profound...simply scroll down to the comment section and say "BUILD A HOUSE FOR THIS FAMILY!"

If you are interested in reading Linn's blog I promise you it will be a blessing.
A Place Called Simplicity

An intervention gone sour...

Madeleine HATES bugs. ANY BUG...even Lady Bugs which is kinda funny as Lady bugs are a sign of good luck in the Chinese adoption community. It is said that if you see ladybugs that referrals will happen soon! Madeleine walked into our half bath and began to scream...we all came running to discover a harmless Soy bean bug which looks very much like a Lady Bug. Mitchell decided it was "time" for Madeleine to "get over" her fear of bugs and the intervention began!
Emma holding the offending bug

Madeleine voicing one of her MANY shrieks!

Mitchell's attempts to get Madeleine to re-enter the bathroom!

Did NOT work! She was moving at HIGH speed and too fast for Mitchell!

Sam's play bugs used to show Madeleine they are fun! Intervention was a complete FAILURE!

Disclaimer: No children OR bugs were hurt in the making of this post.

The sad gummy bear

Madeleine and Sam were running errands with me and each chose a candy in the check out line. Madeleine picked Skittles and Sam picked gummy bears. They got in the van and Sam (very kindly I might add) asked Madeleine if she would like a gummy bear and Madeleine reciprocated. (Another important fact to share here is that Sam adores Skittles.) Madeleine and I started to laugh as Sam began to sort his gummy bears...NOT by color but he would say, "This gummy bear is happy! And, this one is playing, and this one is a VERY SAD gummy bear!" And he pretended it was crying. I said, "Sam, I don't think gummy bears CAN be sad!" He then replied that it is sad as it needs a SKITTLE! My clever, clever boy!


Can YOU tell which one is sad??

Oh Baby, it's cold outside...

We had school canceled Friday due to unusually, EXTREMELY cold temperatures! No complaints here about school being canceled although it is VERY STRANGE to have these temps that are minus 15 in the MIDWEST!! There will be no sledding or snowman building at The Glen this long weekend unless it warms up considerably! We are to get more snow tonight and it has warmed up quite a bit in the last few hours.

Keep praying for Abby will you? She is home from the hospital but struggling. Click on her link to the right to read her family blog and see some wonderful photos.

The creature cometh.......aaaaaaaahhhh!

In November our sweet kitten, Asher, was hit by a car. He has been convalescing in our basement which is a Kitty Cat's HEAVEN as far as Asher is concerned. Well, he is ALL better now after his 8 week stay in The Glen's best rehabilitation and therapy unit...wanna see?
HELLO????? Anyone UP there??

I want out of the basement! I want LOVE, attention, kitty treats, and OH, rub my belly will you?!

Oh, good, its you...you can hold me and wrap me in a baby blanket and hand feed me my food!!!


That cat is lucky we love him so much!

Praise you in this storm...

This week...TODAY, I am presented with the overwhelming need to be on my knees. I have been presented with so many areas of sadness and grief this week...and although these things are present in our world each and every day I am overwhelmed with the need to PRAY. Yes, pray without ceasing! Please pray for a child in need of healing from cancer, the wife who just lost her husband, the countless children WAITING and WAITING for a forever family, for a dear one with addiction, for a family saying goodbye to a beloved pet, those in your circles who are in pain yet cannot voice their needs, the complete stranger or cherished family member who suffers the weight of the world and does not know the hope that you have in God...


Thank you, Judy, for reminding me of this wonderful song.
Praying for Abby TODAY.

Will you join me?

We wanted you to know about Abby.

She was adopted from Guatemala. At three years old, she was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%.

We are praying for her and her family. Would you pray for them too?

You can find more about Abby here, on her family blog:
The Riggs Family

Do you HAVE to put up posters???!!

I know, I know, it is NOT a big deal but the kids want to put up posters on their beautifully painted, unmarked walls. I am a control freak and this BUGS me! No bad posters or even inappropriate posters for which I should be THRILLED. I just hate them! So, as I pondered this control issue,I realized that my mother allowed me to have posters. I was wildly loving my posters of the 70's! I had to search and see if I could find them out in cyber space and I did!!! So gaze upon my THREE favorite posters that graced my pink and blue room as a kid!


AAaaaaaaah, Tom was my favorite! I had THIS poster along with every magazine clipped photo of him cut out and displayed around THIS poster! I bet that took a lot of scotch tape!

I liked David Cassidy but Shaun was my first interest. Don't you just love the way his hair feathers sooooo beautifully and is sprayed stiff with hairspray? GOTTA love the 70's!

And, then The Bee Gees....aaaaahhh, I just might have to download some of their songs and if you are a fan, YOU SHOULD BE DANCIN' YEAH!


Alright! Alright! Put up the posters!

Winter has arrived at The Glen...

I love the snow and the peaceful feeling that comes with it...as the flurries fell I went out on the porch at dusk to enjoy its beauty. I decided to take a walk with my camera in hand to capture The Enchanted Forest with snow starting to settle so softly. The woods is SO QUIET and it was pure therapy for me to be ALONE in that beautiful setting.




As I walked back up toward the brightly lit house I saw faces at the window wondering what Mommy was doing...the girls wanted to know if I had caught sight of any sprites or fairies down at the bridge...no, I didn't see the sweet creatures, but I'm sure they are warming themselves by a brightly lit fire somewhere...

And they swarmed in...

Last evening our front door opened MANY times as teenage boys loped in the door...Nate's basketball team came for dinner. The Junior Varsity and Varsity teams eat pasta every Thursday night and we hosted them here at The Glen. It was great fun to see these young men interact and EAT! I know that growing teenage boys have big appetites but the amount of food these 20 guys ate was phenomenal! I wish I would have taken a photo of the food on the counter BEFORE and AFTER..we kept replenishing and they kept EATING! Those crazy boys laugh, tell stories and play cards and a couple of them even played the piano. They know how to have a good time. AND, can I say that overall they are such a nice group of guys...so polite and complimentary.
PASTA! PASTA! PASTA!

Those boys remind me of a big litter of puppies, with their huge feet and awkward mannerisms...trying to act grown up but not really very grown up at all...

Emma took this photo as she thought it was funny to see all the sneakers in our foyer.

The least of these...

The Rainbow Twins - Love Without Boundaries

YOU ARE GONNA LOVE THESE LITTLE BUNDLES OF LOVE!!!!



In late October these sweet girls prematurely entered the world alone and fragile. LWB quickly had them transferred to Shanghai Children's Medical Center where they were given skilled and tender care for several months. Each baby weighed just over one pound. They were given names that together mean "rainbow" and thus became known to everyone at LWB as the Rainbow Twins. Placing them in the hospital was a step of faith by our Medical team because we didn't have the funding for the long-term care we knew they would need. So many of you rallied around these girls and gave them the chance to grow. Finally they were finally big enough to be discharged from the hospital to our Heartbridge Center where they continue to get chubbier all the time. Thanks to you, these girls will crawl, walk, run, and hopefully someday run into the arms of their forever family.

Love Without Boundaries

I don't like it!

I am chatty and outgoing overall yet reserved in large groups I do not know well. I like to take things in and think on them for days and then draw conclusions. It drives hubby NUTS. Recently, we went to this party and had an awesome time. We decide to play games. I LOVE to play most games but have you ever played a game called IMAGINIFF? I had not and was ready to play. This game picks a particular person at the table and a card is read...the rest of the players are to assign one of the 1-5 answers to THAT person. Example:

If Jill were an item on the menu at McDonald's which one would she be?
1.) a Happy Meal
2.) the fish sandwich
3.) an apple pie
4.) the McRib
5.) a Quarter Pounder w/cheese


It quickly became apparent that the other 9 people I was playing with were taking it pretty seriously at how they assigned the number. Isn't it a game?
I was overwhelmingly called a Happy Meal although I did get a couple of apple pies assigned to me...so what is the deep meaning? I guess I should be glad I wasn't a Quarter Pounder with cheese huh???
I don't like it!
I was kinda thinking I was more of an apple pie!! Or, maybe I was wishing I was EATING the apple pie!

an ordinary trip to the grocery

Okay, so you are at the grocery and waiting in line. What do you do? Let's just SAY you do not have any kids with you begging for a bag of M & M's or for the pink lip gloss conveniently placed at their eye level. I typically scan the magazines and gossip rag covers. Laugh at the alien landing in Montana article, wonder if Angelina REALLY IS pregnant again and look at the contents of other people's carts as they wait in line.

So I say to you...what does the contents of YOUR grocery cart say about you?!?!? This week I was very proud of the contents of my cart...fresh veggies and fruit, a nice variety of chicken, fish and beef, healthy cereals, milk, eggs, cheese...nothing blatantly unhealthy or junky. "Joe", that is what I will call him, was in front of me in line and HE had about 15 frozen pot pies, 10 HUNGRY MAN meals, 4 boxes of pop tarts, a box of Captain Crunch, chocolate milk, Chips Ahoy cookies, ice cream, kettle chips, and Bagel Bites. Oh, and he also had paper plates. Well, at first I thought, "Hmmm, what a horrible diet this guy has...junk, processed foods, sweets..." Then the longer I stood there I got to thinking that I would like to consume just about EVERY THING in his cart AND serve it on paper plates to avoid another kitchen clean up!! Further, I wondered if he would like to trade carts with me so I could eat those Chips Ahoy cookies on the way home washing them down with that chocolate milk!!

Putting the CLEAN on The Glen!!!

The kids have been dumping their stuff and piling clean laundry in their rooms for days! I try to be sensitive to what they would declare to be "treasure" but let's get real...gum wrappers? Broken hair clips found in the parking lot at Target? EIGHTEEN drawings of the SAME horse? We declared that "the dormitory" would be cleaned!! AND, cleaned THOROUGHLY! Gram and Gramps got a GREAT gift for the WHOLE family but especially for the kids...a light weight, super powered vacuum. Now, ALL the kids can vacuum and we think that is SWELL!! We did NOT ask them their opinion!

I had to take some "after" photos. This is Mitchell's bedside table...notice how he has very carefully arranged his "creatures" and other stuff...and then his deoderant is displayed in the back?? He will most certainly SMELL good! As Mitchell says regularly, "Got to put the D-O on the B-O!!"


Madeleine has a little dog bed that she has proudly displayed her Webkinz...they are a huge part of her play world...they are dear friends.


This is Emma's corner...it NEVER looks this good! Emma is a lover of MANY THINGS...her bed area is usually layered with Barbie stuff, pieces of artwork, HIGHLIGHTS magazines, books, doll clothes...and LOTS MORE JUNK, oh, I mean treasure! Notice the jumble of books at the base of her nightstand...she is a TRUE reader and consumes books...she loves them like her Dad and Mom do...they give her great comfort.
I will TREASURE this PHOTO as I know that it will ONLY take her 10 minutes in that room this afternoon to reduce it to a disaster area again!