He is Risen!

As always, God conitunes to show us His faithfulness, His very presence in our lives.

This week Katie made bread while Jane Ellen and I attended a ladies' book study of Shopping for Time by Carolyn Mahaney and daughters. She did a wonderful job, the kitchen was spotless, and the house smelled so good when we walked in later that night.

But when we cut into the bread we noticed there was a great chasm inside! We joked together that this was like the "empty tomb."



Allow God to remind you this morning of His defeat of death...He lives! Praise God for His wonderful ways! I love the story of the Resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew:

28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he [1] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

He is risen, indeed!

An update: Emmy Xiang

Well, we've been a family of six for a little over three months now. Wow! It seems like Emmy's always been with us. What a joy she is!

I so wish that I would have written down or blogged all the fun little moments she's added to our lives. She definitely is a part of the crew...she laughs and smiles so much, she loves her sisters, is overall quite adjusted. We've had so few issues to deal with; to put it plainly - we've been blessed beyond measure.

Emmy Xiang gets up each morning from her little toddler bed (though every now and then we'll find she's wormed her way into one of the sister's beds!). She's not a morning person - she comes alive after she's prayed and had her morning egg, toast and "cop-pee"...she takes it with cream and sugar...or black...however you give it to her! She's REALLY a Brown!

Obediently (usually), she brushes her teeth and tongue (then comes to show you) and proceeds to distract everyone from what they are suppose to be doing. She receives countless hugs and kisses...and will firmly say, "no thank you!" when she's had enough. She loves yellow, Pooh and her Pooh books, to play with her stringing beads, play dough, foam puzzles, legos and to ride her tricycle and to color. She can often be found pointing at the magnetic letters and attempting to say the sounds..."a-A-ah!" or singing "Happy Birthday" or "Clean up, clean up!" (thanks to Gracie) or some of her Bible songs or hymns. In the afternoons she enjoys playing with Gracie in the playhouse. She keeps it swept clean! I realized not too long ago that I'd done little snuggling up and reading with her, so I'm making it a point to do that more. In fact, some mornings when I've gotten a "later" start, she'll come and sit with me while I'm having my quiet time. That is especially sweet (though I think she's just there for "cop-pee"!).

The evenings have become predictable, too. She loves to talk on the phone....and immediately after "bye" she'll push the buttons to end the call. She will ask Baba (whom she will ocassionally call "Daddy"), "Please may I hold you?" She'll give Hank water when his bowl is empty, will allow him to lick her hands or spoon when she's done eating (yuck!), but then proceed to scold him saying, "Hank, no ma'am!" She is the manners police at the dinner table, "small bites!" "cover your mouth" "use your napkin" "that's enough"...."PRAY!" If anyone takes any food anywhere in the house she reminds us (even mom and dad), "in the kitchen!" and we all know (thanks to EX) to brush our teeth "in the bathroom!" She still is great with a fork AND chopsticks...and loves ice cream and cookie dough. She enjoys a long bath still...no change there...playing with the cups and toys. She prefers lately to wash her own hair, but still likes being carried around the house wrapped in the towel to show everyone "the baby". We've been so blessed that she goes to sleep (after prayer) very well.

Here are a few pictures of her sweet face. Enjoy!

Surprise!

For my 12th birthday Mom and Dad chose to surprise me on Sunday with a victorian party! Sooo much fun!! Here's the story:
On Saturday, (the night before we would celebrate) I asked Mom if I could maybe have the Bee and Rudy over for cake and ice cream. She said that it would probably be okay, and I could ask MJ and Kitty if they would like to come as well! I was sooo excited! (This entire time, Mom was playing a trick on me!!) She had already planned with everyone to come over on Sunday afternoon! So, I called MJ and Kitty, and invited them, completetly clueless! Kitty answered the phone:
"Hello"
Hi "Kitty", this is "Ladybug".
"Oh, hi 'Ladybug"
" I know that Mr. J is out of town, so I was calling to give your Mom a heads up, (so she wouldn't be pressured on the day of) I was wondering if you and "MJ" would like to come over tomorrow and have cake and ice cream with us?"
"Well, I'll talk to my Mom, she isn't here right now, and I'll call you back!"
"Okay! Sounds good!"...

After about 1/2 hour or so, MJ calls back! I run up to answer the phone.
"Hello"
"Hi "Ladybug", it's MJ. I was returning your call about tomorrow afternoon."
"Okay, whats the deal?"
"My Mom has a meeting tomorrow afternoon, so we need to help babysit the little girls"
:( :( :( :( (Ladybug)
"Okay, well... I'll see you at church."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye"

A little background information:
All week the Elf had been saying to me "I want to play victorian this weekend! Would you like to play with me?"
My response was "If we have time, we have alot to do this weekend" (Again, completely clueless)
Also...
Our printer has been out of ink, so the B's would have to print my challenge! (The surprise would happen when they brought the challenge down)
Bee had said to me at church "I don't know if we can come today, because Mom said something about yardwork" This simply added to my depression!! I was very sad that the J's wouldn't be coming! :(

Back to the story!

At church I was very sad because the J's weren't coming. The Elf and I sat with them during the sermon. (Thanks Mr. D!) Mrs. Jammer and the boys had to leave kinda early, (the girlies were going home with the B's to surprise me when they brought the challenge down!) so they sat in the B's stifling hot car, all for me! Don't I feel special! When I got home, I kinda took my time, since "no one" was coming over! Haha! I had a great time when everyone got there, though! Thanks Girls! I love ya'll!



Note from mom: Check out the cake....Ladybug wanted a cookie cake (the kind that you might find in malls all across America...you know, with the gooey, way-to-sweet frosting on the inside). I am so glad that thing is gone! I ate WAY too much!

The Medieval Feast

Enjoy the belated photos of our Unit Celebration: The Medieval Feast!

In late January, our co-op wrapped up our term studying the Middle Ages and we celebrated with a feast. The children enjoyed this term's reading and experiencing a bit of the times. They made costumes, built a village, dabbled in illumination and coat-of-arms making, went on a pilgrimage, cooked quite a bit and planned and prepared presentations for the medieval feast. Such fun!

Why the posts are so slim lately....

Okay, so posting on the blog has been on my "to do" list for weeks, yet it's never crossed off, just moved to tomorrow, or maybe even to next week. In the off chance that I acutally sit down and read a friend's blog (rare), I feel the burden, but don't know where to start, what to say. Another time, I'll take a brief minute to skim the emails and see a comment that a sweet friend, or even a sweet "cyber" friend- from a blog post of ours that's really old - oh, my! It creeps in...a hint of guilt. I must admit...I'm a blogging slacker. Here's the why behind it all:

B.E. (Before Emmy), I was a bit consumed and spent much time on the computer. Through it, I enjoyed emailing, reading about homeschooling, scheduling, researching questions about curriculum, history, etc. really any idea as it surfaced. I tried to be faithful to post updates and pictures on our blog. I even kept up with goings on in the adoptive world, with our agency, encouraged others along the way and waited for news...any news about our files, read about friends' journeys in China, or even the sweet times of news of Emmy herself. Then, in the midst of the holidays, we traveled to China. There, blogging and email was our only way to connect with home (oh-so-necessary), to receive cousel and encouragement and to share with others our journey to this precious one who would be our daughter. Then we came home, were reunited with family and friends, enjoyed the holidays and began to settle in to real life, back home.

At first, computer time, uploading pictures and blogging seemed doable. I knew I might not get to it daily, but surely, I thought, we could update pictures and tell a quick funny story along the way. Somehow, that's not what happened.

Instead, in that oft anticipated "new year" season, sweet conviction hit me. God, in His kindness, showed me through various means (one of which was, ironically, a blog post of a friend at church, about her own conviction in the same vein) that my priorities needed shifting. I needed to pray more...and live dependent upon grace "in the moment." I needed to read His Word more, relying more upon the illumination of the Spirit and less on "helps" or other books and commentaries. And I needed to memorize scripture to help me in the pursuit of holiness.

God also showed me that I must be committed to growing in the areas of serving my husband, caring for my home and the teaching and training of my daughters. These must be top priority, after all, it is what God has called me to as a wife and mother. And thankfully, by the grace of God, it is what I LOVE to do. So, lately, I've had to say no to some of the things I'd like to do (ie. get on the computer, update the blog, sew, read, or do the "chitty-chatty" as a friend's son says) and yes to more practical things such as preparing, trying and revamping school and chore schedules, peacemaking and disciplining when it's "most inconvenient", and getting enough sleep to rise before the children. I know that I must be committed to discipline myself, and I desperately need to be held accountable. I'm still grappling with the details of practical application in all of these areas, but I know that if I continually place my thoughts before the Lord, He will guide me. It's a start in the right direction.

So, seldom do I sit down at the computer (the nice new computer we were so excited to have). When I do, often it's to check the weather (no TV makes that necessary!) or to send a quick email - perhaps to buy a book or steal a minute to catch up and read a blog or homeschooling article. I don't get those daily digests from the adoptive groups I so enjoyed before, and it's probably a good thing, too; I'm sure I'd be consumed once again. As for the updates and pictures I'd like to post....somehow many of our pictures stored in the computer since we got home from China are lost (I probably hit a wrong button...yikes!) So I'm praying we might "find" them in the computer somehow. (Advice: don't erase pictures from your memory card until you've backed them up on a disc or other memory device. That's all I'll say. Don't want to dwell here. They're just pictures and in the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of the world.) I'll do what I can, when I can.

Until then: though I wish I was eloquent with words, I'm not. I wish I had some great insight or a few funny stories to tell; I don't. But I'll try not to let that stop me from taking a minute to write a little blurb.

There. My conscience is eased a bit. I've admitted to being blogging slacker. I'm on the road to recovery.

It's been forever....we know

Wow! It has been a lot longer than we wanted.

Here is a small update before dinner time!

The Elf and Ladybug are participating in Track and Field. Elf continues to throw the discus and Ladybug is still running forever. Yesterday she ran SEVEN miles!!!!! Pooch is cheerleading for Upward. She is a very good cheerleader and is REALLY enjoying it. Princess is, well, still acting like a princess. She is developing her English fast. During the girls school time she is often found listening to the Elf's new iPod. Her favorite song is Elijah, a parody of Elvira. She walks around singing it. Today she began to dance! We filmed it!

Mom and Dad are still doing well. Mom is getting more and more organized after China! It is very difficult to keep a 3 year old busybody and help three other girls on school! She is doing a great job at it though!

So that is our short update!

Oh!!!! Forgot this little thing! We are now a Mac family (Thanks Berrys)! We now own a Mac computer and 5 of the 6 people in our family own iPods. We are ALL enjoying our new "toys." (Elf especailly...now she doesn't use up 2 batteries in a day for a personal CD player!) It's a good thing we got that computer because our other one is, well, mostly dead. We need some help. None of us is what you might call "computer saavy." Oh, well. One day we'll have both up and running.

Pictures soon, we hope. We've got a few new ones of the Pooch cheering and our fun Unit Celebration with the co-op....the Medieval Feast. What fun...stay tuned.

~Elf

Post Script from Mom: The kids REALLY do use those new toys to keep focused on school...drowns out other noise, you know. Also, we've discovered www.librivox.org...FREE audio recordings of many favorite books. Check it out!

We're baaaccckkkkkk!

Here are some photos of the family since we've been home. Hope you enjoy them!