Sarah All Star Relays

Sarah's team went into today's meet seeded 7th for the medley relay. They came out of the race in 5th place! It was a great swim. Sarah completed her leg in 16 seconds! She has worked really hard this summer and we are so proud of her!

Summer Fun!

The end of June brought us friends from Texas. You know, those friends that you can go a year without seeing and after 5 minutes together its like we've never been apart? Yeah, those friends came to see us! : ) We had a great time visiting spots in DC that we haven't seen. The 5 days they were here passed much too quickly and we were all sad as they pulled out of our driveway! P. Family, we love and miss you guys!


Swim season then began in all its fury! Sarah and Emily both swim every day and have weekly meets. It is a fast and furious 6 week season. We love it!

Sarah is swimming butterfly a lot this year. She is a fast flier!

Sarah's relay team made All Stars this year. They are ranked 7th out of 102 teams in this league. They will swim in the All Star meet on Wednesday.

Anna Grace enjoys swim meets because it means she gets candy.(I have to do something to help her get through 2-3 meets a week!) On this particular morning it was HOT! So she found a bit of shade to enjoy her fruit snacks.


Emily is enjoying swimming the individual medley this summer. It is a 100m swim with butterfly, back, breast and freestyle. She had a great race last week!

Emily with her best friend, Jordan. This is who gets Emily through all those practices!

And the puppy.........

Emily is the proud mama to a 9 week old Cavachon named Amy. We got her on July 5 and she is spoiled rotten! She weighs 4 pounds right now and should get up to about 13.


Finally, did someone say that girls with Rett syndrome can't climb? Because Lauren didn't get that memo and she is now climbing over the gate at her bedroom door when she doesn't want to take a nap! LOVE IT! Yes, even though it makes our lives harder! We LOVE it when Lauren does something she's not "supposed" to do! She is our little superstar!

Avery will be in the next post. She didn't get a puppy and she isn't on the swim team....but she IS at a camp this week for teens adopted from China. I am certain we will have lots of pictures from her week to post next time! Until then......

Sometimes life just gets in the way

Easter--My five beautiful daughters



and the Easter egg hunt after church......

Lauren enjoyed this year's hunt more than any other in her life. She knew what she was there to do, she did it well, and with a smile on her face too!

Emily wasn't too cool to climb on the swing set for eggs! So thankful she will still play along!

Anna Grace remembered last year's hunt and was so excited! Such a sweet smile from my littlest one!

This sweet girl waited FAR too long to enjoy her first egg hunt....but enjoy she did!

And then there is Sarah--the competitive one! Everyone else came up the hill together. Not Sarah! She ran up the side to get ahead of everyone!

Mansfield Update:

Shawn is on terminal leave from the Marine Corps with an official retirement date of September 1st. It looks like our next job will keep us here in the area for a while longer.

Emily is finished with 7th grade, did an amazing amount of work this year and is anticipating the arrival of an early birthday present in 3 weeks---her very own puppy!

Avery finishes school next Tuesday and she is counting the days! She is looking forward to going to camp in July with her friend, Sarah H.

Sarah finished 5th grade -- the year she learned that there actually ARE books she ENJOYS! PTL! She started swim practice 2 weeks ago and is already a little brown bear. (Yes mom, she does wear sunscreen every day!)

Lauren had her annual visit with Susan and really showed off this year. She proved that she is able to read by silently reading words and then choosing the correct picture! She accurately read nine out of ten words! Woo Hoo Lauren!

Anna Grace is also finished with "school" although she still asks daily if she can do her homework. Oh, if only they were all that motivated!

ME? I'm just trying to keep up with everyone's schedules! Summer time....not really slower, just different! Swim season hits us in full swing next Wednesday. Look out for pool pictures next...or puppy pics!

TWO YEARS!

Two years ago today we met our precious Anna Grace Qiu! She was 16 months old and scared to death.



We knew we had been blessed on Feb. 22, 2009 but we didn't really grasp just how much! Adoption is an amazing thing. I can't even put into words how much I love this little girl who was born on the other side of the world to a mother I will never know. But today we thank God for giving her to us, we honor her birth parents who gave her the gift of life, and we pray that Anna Grace will always know how very much we love her.

Happy Family Day Precious One!

Adoption and unexpected emotions

Beautiful Jilliana

UPDATED: Here is Jilliana with her mama, daddy, and 4 of her 5 big sisters!!
Jilliana is the one in her mama's arms.

A little girl from Anna Grace's orphanage is meeting her family today. She is only 2 months younger than Anna. She has waited 3 LONG years for a mama and daddy and now in only 4 hours, she will have both a mama and daddy, as well as 5 sisters! I have been looking at the family's blog a lot this week. Because our girls were in the same orphanage and were so close in age, they have a lot of pictures of Jilliana with Anna Grace in them.

Jilliana is on the far left, Anna Grace is right in front of her with blue shoes.

When I look at pictures of Anna in the orphanage my heart literally aches...a true physical reaction. It hurts me to see her face, her expression, her sad, watery eyes. And I wonder, will this feeling ever go away? I mean, I do know that she spent 16 months without me. But I still feel a jolt when I look at those pictures. I look at my daughter, whose face I can read so easily, and I see a sad baby girl. And I want to make that go away. I want to somehow erase that painful past....but I can't. I cannot change the fact that Anna Grace was born to a family who could not keep her, that she spent 16 months in a Chinese orphanage. and while it was a good one as far as orphanages go, it WAS an orphanage. She did not have a mama to love her, to meet her needs, and to teach her what it means to trust. And then I wonder, how does that affect her each day? I know it does. I know it is the reason for why she reacts to things sometimes...and I miss it. I don't see it for what it really is...a hurt child reacting to something based on events she doesn't even consciously remember. Oh Lord, make me sensitive to the needs of my girls who spent so long without a mama and daddy. When I forget that both of them have endured more trauma than I will ever know, prick my heart and hold my tongue. Teach me how to love them. Show me how to teach them to fully trust. And may I never take for granted the precious gift that they are to our family.

My precious Anna Grace Qiu

Pray for sweet Jilliana's heart. She doesn't know how much her family already loves her. This is going to be a painful day for her. I will try to post a picture tomorrow of her with her family.

Praise the Lord!

That is what I have to say on nights like tonight when Lauren doesn't want to go to bed. One of the biggest disabilities that comes with Rett syndrome is impaired hand use. Lauren's hand use is definitely impaired but on nights like tonight we are reminded just how good it is. We have a "child proof" knob on her door so that she will stay in her room...or at least be slowed down as she comes out.

Tonight Lauren doesn't want to go to bed. She keeps dashing down the hallway and I look back at that open door and I have to say "praise the Lord!"

Thank you, Jesus, that Lauren has retained hand use. Thank you, Jesus, that she can open a door, pick up cups and spill them on the floor, drop entire bags of pretzels on the kitchen floor, dump bins of toys in her bedroom, and so much more. Thank you for giving my girl the ability to play...and make messes! Thank you that she loves us even when she is mad that we are putting her back in bed for the 5th time!

We are blessed with all five of our daughters and thankful that each of them is so fearfully and wonderfully made. A Christmas post is coming...I promise! Until then.......

Yes, Anna Grace is at the age where posing for pictures doesn't work for her!

Lauren is such a little love!

I thought it was time for a little Lauren update...plus I had really cute pictures!! Lauren is truly such a beautiful blessing to our family. Her sweet smile and sparkling eyes will pull us out of a bad mood so quickly. Watching her do everyday tasks that we take for granted helps us keep our lives in perspective. She really is a little love and is totally spoiled by everyone in the family.
Lauren also continues to do well in homeschool. Her most recent accomplishment is helping us spell rhyming words. Seriously! We can write the end of a word(-an), call out the complete word(pan) and then give her 2 letters to choose from to complete it(p, m). Do you know she gets it correct EVERY SINGLE TIME? EVERY TIME! And it doesn't matter who is asking. She did it for me, Daddy, Sarah and Dino today! I am going to try to get a video of her doing it to put on the blog. She is our little superstar and we are so proud of her. We are most thankful to Susan Norwell for showing us what our girl is capable of!
Enjoy the pictures. Then go hug your children and thank God for them.

Lauren swiped my cinnamon toast off the kitchen counter one morning. I returned to the kitchen to find an empty plate and no toast on the floor. I found her sitting on my bedroom floor, watching Dora....yep, with cinnamon all over her face....and not one crumb left!


Daddy was watching Carolina basketball one night in our bed. Lauren climbed up there beside him to watch. Clearly, she is a Tarheel fan too!


She isn't really that into decorating the Christmas tree. In an effort to keep her happy and entertained, I lined mini marshmallows up on the kitchen counter for her. She picked them up in order all the way down the line AND used a pincer grasp to do it! Woo Hoo! Yes, Lauren will work for food!



Sweet sister shots~ Lauren often will walk up to Avery and look into her eyes. It is so sweet!
We are blessed indeed!