My Little Mermaid

Kamryn loves The Little Mermaid. The DVD was in her Christmas stocking, and she's totally enthralled with watching it now. It's great that she can actually sit still to watch the entire movie even though she has seen it a million times. We can all probably recite lines from every single scene and sing the songs from it too. The Easter bunny brought her some mermaid figurines and a bathing suit with Ariel on it. She loves to wear the swimsuit around the house. One night while playing with Ariel and the Prince (Eric), she put them together as if they were kissing! I was so shocked! They do kiss at the end of the movie though, but I am still surprised at how she picked up on that. Oh, I am constantly amazed at the differences between boys and girls. Even at age 2, she gets excited about clothes and dressing up and Princes in movies.

Please pray for Brea and her family

I heard about this family's situation about a month ago and am so relieved that this little girl has a new heart. She was "hit" with a virus in her heart which caused her heart to stop working. Thankfully, she did receive a new heart.

Brea's Story

Many people in the China adoption network know about Brea since she is a girl who recently came home from China. She's only 6 months younger than Kamryn. My heart breaks to think about what this family has gone through and their upcoming challenges as their daughter recovers and they try to fund the monthly prescription bill of $3,000. Read their story; it could be any of our children . . . miracles do happen . . . it's a true inspiration.

Happy Easter!

We went to my sister's house today for an Easter brunch. Kamryn and Gavin enjoyed their little egg hunt and mostly enjoyed the treasures inside the eggs. Kamryn has definitely had too much sugar this weekend since she also enjoyed a FCC (Families With Chinese Children) playgroup egg hunt yesterday too. After finding only 3 eggs and realizing they contained chocolate, she planted herself to start eating. The funniest part of it all today is that she started shaking the eggs to hear what was inside. She picks up even the littlest of actions from her brothers! This morning they were shaking the eggs to try to decipher whether it was candy or money inside. Wouldn't they have been surprised if it was pebbles or rocks.

At church this weekend, the sermon was about Expectations. It was an awesome reminder of how strongly our expectations determine our happiness. They gave this equation: What we expect minus what we get equals how happy we are. Think about it. It's so true. If we expect a lot and get a little, we're disappointed. If we don't expect a lot and get a lot, we are really happy. Then of course they talked about what we expect from God; good health, protection, good financial situations, and the list goes on, and when things don't go according to our plan, we are disappointed in Him. We've all been at that spot I'm sure, especially when bad things happen to good people. Anyway, I won't ramble, but it was very enlightening, and they tied it all with the Easter message of hope in a way that I will always remember. We've visited this church three times now during our "church shopping" spree, and I really love it because I always get their message, I learn a lot and it relates to everyday life.

When the boys expected dimes in their eggs and got jellybeans, they were disappointed. I think I need to talk to them about what we learned at church since they were in the kids program and learned a different lesson.

Spring Break Wonders

Last week the boys were on Spring Break. We got together with some new friends at a really neat park by our house. It has a great toddler area and for the boys, it has a skate bowl. When we go there, everyone is happy and that makes me happy. It's also neat that Matt's new friend has a brother the same age as Brendan and the boys all got along really well. Their mom and I get along really well too, so we're all glad to have made a new friend!

We drove down to Indiana for the last few days of break. It was great to get together with as many friends as we could while we were there. Indy's break is actually this week, but lots of people always leave early for vacation so we did miss some friends:( Maybe next time. Thanks Delilah and Carol for letting us crash at your house. It was fun!

The boys were so funny because they thought they were living it up since we went to CiCi's for dinner with friends one night, went to the mall the next day for our favorite Chicken Teriyaki, and then they got Dairy Queen too with the money that my friend Debbie generously gave them as a reward for watching Kamryn while she and I finished lunch and talked. I'm so glad they are still so easy to please:)

We were able to see all of Kamryn's playgroup buddies, and I am just amazed at how each of them are talking so much. It's so wonderful to hear their thoughts. Anna Li ran a lap around the tables at CiCi's and stopped by us and said, "I'm running fast!" I bet Kamryn would think that too, but wouldn't be able to express it in a sentence yet. People say I shouldn't wish for her to talk because someday she won't stop, but I really can't wait to have an actual conversation with her.

Kamryn went to her first movie at the theater last Friday. We went with Sue, Julia and Sarah to see The Robinson's. I didn't know how Kamryn would do since she is always moving, but to my surprise, she sat on my lap the entire time! I guess the popcorn and twizzlers and the big screen were enough to settle her down for an hour and a half! I didn't realize that the movie was about an orphan and there were some tough parts to watch as this boy desperately wants to belong to a family and find his birthmother. Oh how I hugged Kamryn a little harder while she sat on my lap and thought how lucky we both are to have each other and to be a part of a bigger wonderful family. Then I thought how lucky I was that she probably doesn't understand the movie and can't talk and ask me those bigger questions that I know she will ask someday about her adoption;)

Three days of no nap starting showing through after the movie when we met Delilah and Mark at Bub's for a quick bite to eat before the ride home. Unfortunately, Delilah had to witness the tiresome whining of a two year old. I told her maybe if she's lucky, her and Brad will get a referral for a three year old! I so wish referrals from China would speed up so they can get there and get back with their daughter.

While we were at Carol's house, Kamryn loved playing with all of Lindsey's fun toys. She really enjoyed the play vanity table and goodies that were on it. Kami has a vanity table but nothing for it, so today I gave her a Barbie bag with pretend lipstick, eyeshadow, nail polish, perfume and a battery operated blow dryer. All day today she has been painting my nails and her nails and drying her hair. It's so cute to see her play like this. I totally got my girly-girl, and I'm loving every minute of it. The boys are special boys, and she is our special girl. Our family really is complete.

As the one song in The Robinson's by Rob Thomas goes (Sue you were right) . . . "All lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate, time falls away but these small hours, these little wonders still remain." I am still in awe at how perfectly God had planned our family to have two boys and one girl from a land far away and matched all of our hearts. I am constantly reminded of His wonder even as she plays make believe.