In Order...

 For babies like this to be loved and taken care of while they wait for THIS day... the day they become the loved member of a family...

 In order for them to thrive and their needs be met while they wait...

They must be supported financially.

Rent is due at a place that is very dear to our hearts.  A place where babies with no families are loved, a place where medical needs are met, as well as basic needs.  A place where someone loved and took care of our daughter for the first 1 1/2 years of her life.  We will always be thankful to the families who supported our daughter financially while she waited for her family.  Please be prayerful about how you will support a child who is waiting for a family of their own.

Click HERE to read more about how you can help ChipIn on rent.

Barrett's Meet the Teacher

Barrett had his "Meet the Teacher" the other day for his speech class.  He has the same teacher as last year, so it was more like a "visit the teacher".  He got to see his room, see his teacher, and the little friends who will be in his class.  He was a little nervous at first, but warmed up quickly.

 His first day will be next week.  He is getting both nervous and excited about starting back to school.

We are looking forward to another great year with Ms. "R"!

Back to School

Our first day of school greeted us nice and early.  Blake was excited to wear the shirt he picked out and to carry his new camo lunch box to school for the first day.

We left Barrett in tears as we headed off to school.  He was so sad that Blake was going to school.  He said he was going to miss Blake because he likes him.

 We got to school in plenty of time to take pictures with Blake's new teacher and mommy. 

 He had a great first day with lots of stories about how fun first grade is!

After school we were invited for milk and cookies at his friend Chaney and Kinsley's house. 

 The mommies collapsed on the couch while the kids played and played.

 I didn't get a picture of everyone because I was collapsed on the couch, but here a few quick ones I snapped. 

  Our group of first graders... so hard to believe!

We have now conquered our first full week of school.  It was busy and we are tired!  We are officially back in the swing of things.  I am going to savor this year for two reasons.  Blake is in the grade I teach, which is fun for me.  I have some of his friends in my class and I get to see him all throughout the day.  It is a fun experience!  I also know that when this year ends, that means he is going on to 2nd grade... and that is something I am just not ready for yet!!  I am going to savor this special year!

What Do You Do...

When you have experienced 60 days of triple digit temperatures?

 1. Play outside under the shade of the porch in short increments.

 2. Drink lots and lots of cold water.

 3. Wear as thin and as few clothes as possible.

 4. Wait to go for a walk until the temperature drops below 100 degrees.

 Which is usually not until after 7 p.m.

We are looking forward to Fall!

New School Year

It is that time of the year... a new school year.  Blake is going into the first grade this year.  Our school had "Meet the Teacher" the other night.  It is a chance to come up to the school and look over the lists posted to see who your teacher is going to be.  Blake has been looking forward to this night all summer.  He couldn't wait to see who his teacher was going to be!  He was very happy when he found his name!

 He went into his room, checked out his desk, and of course had his picture taken with his new teacher. 

Daddy was sure to stop by my room after they visited Blake's room.

 At church this weekend was "promotion Sunday".  All the little ones moved up to their new classrooms for this year.

 They all did great with the transition! 

Please ignore the dead plant in the background.  I'm having a hard time keeping it alive in this heat!

It will be an adjustment for us all to be back in the swing of our school year schedule, but we are hopeful for a good week back!

What I've Recently Read

Recently I have read to following two books:  Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman and Messages from an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran.  Both were heavy topics.  Both were hard to read.  They weren't your "feel good" kind of books.  I read them because I wanted to be taught, I wanted to be stretched.  And I was.

Chapman, wife to singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, tells the story of her life and loss in this tender memoir. Chapman discloses how unsuited she is to be the public figure spouse to a charismatic and outgoing husband. Marrying him totally upset her orderly mental image of a quiet life in the suburbs with a 9 to 5 working husband. Instead, she discovered that God gave her a life she didn't expect that has taken her places she didn't want to go. As Chapman tells it, fame, travel, and adoption of children took this quiet woman out of her comfort zone more times than she cares to remember. In 2008, the tragic death of their five-year-old daughter, Maria, led to still more inner heartache. The Chapmans' story is harrowing and deeply sorrowful, yet the author finds a way to communicate their hope, faith, and love for a faithful God in every moment by grace-infused moment.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Xinran (Good Women of China) collects the heartbreaking stories of Chinese women forced to give up their baby girls because of the one-child-only policy or feudal traditions that prefer boys, in an oral history written for those abandoned daughters. Speaking with midwives, students, businesswomen, adoption workers, peasants, and "extra-birth guerrilla troops" (people who live on the lam eluding the system so they can have more than one baby), Xinran is compassionate and remarkably adept at getting her interviewees to open up about their most painful memories: how some mothers were forced to put their babies up for adoption or abandon them at hospitals, orphanages, or on the street, and how they've seen newborns drowned or smothered at birth. She shows how outdated traditions, modern policies, and punishing poverty spur the abandonment of so many female infants, and an abnormally high suicide rate for women of childbearing age. This is a brutally honest book written for those relinquished children, so that they will know how much their birth mothers loved them and how--in the words of one mother who gave up her daughter--"they paid for that love with an endless stream of bitter tears." (Mar.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

We Didn't Break It

The record for the most consecutive days of triple digit temps that is.

 This weekend we would have broken the 1980 record for consecutive days of triple digit temps.

 After 40 long, hot days... today we fell just below 100 degrees.

 No records broken, but hours of outside playtime instead!

We have been trapped inside due to our 100+ temps.

 Not today!

 There were a lot of people hoping we would break the record this weekend... not me!  I'm not into breaking records that involve over 40 days of temps reaching as high as 111 degrees!

 Here is the face of a boy who has played in the backyard for hours... 

 Let me turn the flash on so that you can see it better,

There you go... proof that we celebrated the "cool" temps today!

S.O.L.D.

It is with great emotion that I type this post.  We knew the day would come that we would sell our house and move closer to our church, jobs, and school, but it doesn't make it easier now that it is here.  After 8 years of living on C Street... we closed on our house today and will be moving on with the next chapter in our lives.

We have developed very close, sincere relationships with the wonderful families on our little street.

 We have loved living just a hop, skip, and jump away from our family.

 We brought all 3 of our babies home to this house.

 We moved into this house as a husband and wife, and are moving out as a family of 5.

We had one last photo shoot on the fireplace, backdrop to many pictures over the years.

We have been living in our rental house for a week now while we wait for our new house to be ready.  The kids have adjusted wonderfully... their mama, not so much.  It has been very hard to say goodbye to a home that holds so many wonderful memories...

Goodbye home on C Street.

The Greatest Show On Earth

We surprised the kids with our first trip ever to the circus.  We bought the tickets during the pre-sale when they were offering good deals on them.  The tickets have been hidden away for a few months waiting for the big night.  We gave the kids little hints along the way about what their surprise was.

Clue #1: We have never been there before

Clue #2: You will see animals

Clue #3: People will do tricks

 Blake guessed it after clue #3... but I told him he had to wait and see if he was right.

 They were excited to find their seats and see what the circus was all about.

 They were in awe of it all!

 Brynn clapped, yelled, bounced in her seat (my lap)... she had a blast!

 Barrett was entertained by it all.  He liked the little motorcycles best he told us.

 All three boys loved this act.  The dirt bikes riding in this ball.

 As you can see by these pictures, Blake was loving the circus (and his first taste of cotton candy)! 

 I took lots of pictures of us sitting, because that is all we did.  But I love the expression of excitement and awe on the kids' faces.

Brynn was nervous about standing on the ground so high up, Blake was being a good sport and smiling for Mom, Barrett was being stubborn and doing anything he could to not look at the camera... pretty much sums up this picture. 

 Before we knew it, it was already over and time to head back home. 

The McIntire's first trip to the circus was a success!