Melbourne Beach for the Holiday

Ready For The Beach!

Ignore the laundry basket on the couch. That's what I should have been doing instead of taking pictures...We are going to the beach for the holiday and I sae this suit for Katie. It's almost too small in the front and a little too big in the back but oh well! It will work for the time being! Enjoy the holiday everyone!

Super Girls!

Ahhh, Big Sisters....
Taylor decided she and Katie needed capes. Taylor took her baby blanket from when she was little (that she still uses :) ) and tucked it in her shirt sleeves and made a cape. Well, Katie had to have one too. She has a little bear snuggly blankie and Taylor thought that would work great. She tucked it in just like hers and I walk in to find Katie scooting around on her bottom all over the place with her "cape" on.

And by the way, Taylor does NOT get her fashion sense from her mother. She gets that from her Papaw in my opinion. I personally would not wear a baby blue shirt with red and navy shorts and black halloween socks with doggie slippers...but she sure is cute!

Taylor and Casey Sittin in a Tree...

Ok, this is my daughter's writing journal from first grade that was just sent home. Of all the important things you could write about in your journal, she has a page dedicated to her classmate Casey. In case you can't read it, it says:

"Casy is a cutepie. Casy, Casy, Casy! Casy is hansom. I adore Casy! One day I want to marry Casy! Casy make my day exlent!"

I think we are in for a run for our money when she is a teenager. Lord help us!

Mother's Day Musings

I had a wonderful Mother's Day today. What a blessing to have 3 healthy, happy loving children! Katie's birth mother has been on my mind today. I can not comprehend the anguish she must have felt to leave her baby at the gates of an orphanage, not knowing what would happen to her. I personally feel she must have loved her deeply to leave her in a place where she knew someone would find her quickly. Today I pray that God will bless this mother and her family for giving the ultimate sacrifice - her flesh and blood - to a complete and total stranger. May she have peace and know that her baby is loved and cared for more than she could ever know. I found this poem online and thought it was so appropriate.

A poem of thanks to a birth mother.

Once strangers, not knowing of each other,
God brought us together
To share a special bond of love
With a sweet little girl named Katie.

You may never understand the pain
Or know the tears I cried.
My heart's desire was for a child
To nurture, love, and guide.

I may never understand the pain
Or know the tears you cried.
You said good-bye to this precious child,
Entrusting me to nurture, love, and guide.

I see your face in her pretty smile,
And love in her sparkling eyes.
She's the answer to countless prayers,
A blessing to many lives.

No longer strangers,
We share a special bond of love
With a very precious gift
From our God above.

© Copyright Karen Ledbetter

SeaWorld Part II

A hot and sweaty but fun day at SeaWorld!

 

 

 

Mother's Day at SeaWorld

 

 

 

 

Julie's Outfit

Thanks Grandma Rop!

 

 

 

 

Sneaky

New Section of Great Wall Discovered

These are my pics from our trip. See article below slides.

Section of China's Great Wall discovered Wed May 9, 11:30 AM ET



Chinese archaeologists have discovered a section of the Great Wall straddling the Mongolian border that is the northernmost remnant of the landmark yet found, state media reported Wednesday.

The remnants of the wall, found in the Bayannur district of China's Inner Mongolia region, measures 2.3 metres (7.5 feet) wide and about 1.15 metres high, the Beijing News reported.

Built 2,100 years ago during the Han dynasty, the section also would likely be one of the oldest sections of the wall, which was begun in the reign of the emperor Qin Shi Huang, which began in 221 B.C.

The wall, constructed of stones, was found by a joint team headed by the People's University's School of History, the paper said. No other details were provided.

Built and rebuilt over the centuries, the Great Wall was intended as a defence against northern barbarians.

Less than 2,500 kilometres (1,600 miles) remain of the original 6,300-kilometre structure, one of China's top tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.

Crawling, I Think???

Just Plain Cute

Check Out These Clouds!

These are called Mammatus clouds and they were over our subdivision earlier this evening. We had some bad weather north of us and these clouds sometimes appear after thunderstorms. We had never seen anything like it before - pretty cool! In the last pictures it is almost dusk and you can still see the bottoms of the little bubbles but they had all bunched in together.

Fork It Over!

All Dressed Up...

Going to church for the first time. She was happy here but when we took her to the nursery she screamed bloody murder so that lasted about 5 minutes. She was introduced to the congregation today by the pastor as well. We met 4 families in our church today that have adopted from China or Vietnam. We had no idea there were so many families in our church with children from China!

What a GREAT Day!

The cake was yummy and I had a great 1st birthday!

Katie's actual birthday was March 20th. Since our Gotcha Day was March 27th, we decided to celebrate when we got home and she got settled.

My Favorite Gifts!

My FAVORITE gift was the fork and spoon! I just couldn't put it down! That is until I found the instructions for my Glo Worm, then that was the favorite!