Monday, May 25, 2009

Theo's Kindergarten Graduation















Today we celebrated Theo's completion of Kindergarten! Our little homeschool group and our families came together in fellowship to celebrate the achievements of our little 6-year old boys. We had a short ceremony, ate lots of yummy Mexican food and graduation cupcakes and then went swimming. What a special and fun day we had! One of the dads, "Mr. Bill" was the Master of Ceremonies. He did a fantastic job and made the ceremony very memorable and truly special! We are blessed beyond measure with these friends that God has sent into our lives!

Here is the poem that Mr. Bill read as part of his "Commencement Speech". :) It truly sums up our feelings today as we continue upon this journey of raising, educating, and unconditionally loving our precious children--gifts from God!

When You Dream Tonight
Remember when I was just a thought, a dream so far away.
You hoped and prayed that a miracle would bring me to you one day.

After my birth, time you'd spend waiting, no longer mattered at all.
In your arms, my gaze fixed on you, full of love from my eyes so small.

When you dream tonight, dream of me, a newborn babe so sweet.
I was a gift from God, knit just for you, who made your dreams complete.

Time marches on and I've grown since then. Look at me here today.
Completing another, step in my life; I'm changing day by day.

Reading and writing, science and math are things that I learned this year.
You taught me so much, I'm different now; but change isn't something to fear.

When you dream tonight, dream of me, your little child growing up fast.
I'm a gift from God, knit just for you. Remember today won't last.

In the blink of an eye, I'll be a teenager; everything will seem to have changed.
Dreams of my own, will take hold of my heart, and my life will seem misarranged.

But I'll hold fast to your love, and your steady support, as I grapple with my own heart.
And I'll emerge from it all, ready for life, because you obediently played your part.

When you dream tonight, dream of me, your teenager who's leaving home.
Your prayers and support have prepared me well, to face this life on my own.

Soon after today, God may bring, one who will hold my heart dear.
One to whom, I will bind myself, and with whom I'll pass the years.

And should we be blessed with babies of our own, we'll honor you every day.
For your God-given love will flow through us, to our children in every way.

So when you dream tonight, dream of me, and know that my love is true.
And rest assured, when I dream tonight, that I'll be dreaming of you.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

BUTTERFLIES!!!










All ten of our butterflies hatched!! Yea!! Their wings have dried, and they are flying around the tent excitedly. Butterflies are so beautiful and fun to watch!

Theo, Ruthie, and Levi REALLY enjoy getting into the tent and holding the butterflies. Theo even got a "butterfly kiss" on his cheek. It is precious to hear him giggle as the butterflies brush his face, land on his shoulder and in his little hand. The butterflies let all the children hold them, which of course is absolutely captivating to them all.

Theo was so appreciative that we bought the butterflies for him, and he's already asking when we can order them again. I guess this will be a yearly project. :) I have to admit that it is truly amazing to watch these little creatures on their journey to become such beautiful and sweet insects.

Theo placed orange slices and a pink carnation with sugar-water in a bowl for the butterflies to eat. He then carefully placed each butterfly on the flower and watched them uncurl their proboscis to suck up the sweet water (nectar). Theo was absolutely mezmorized! This is all he has talked about all day. What a fun learning experience for the whole family!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Race Cars, Ponies, Butterflies, OH MY!!




I just wanted to share some of the fun activities we have been up to lately. We are really excited that it is Springtime and almost Summer! The children just love playing outside in God's beautiful creation.

For Mother's Day weekend, we took the kids to a race car park. I thought Levi would be scared of the fast cars, but he wasn't at all. He had an absolute blast riding next to his Daddy. I told Rich not to go too fast with Levi, but he said that Levi wanted to go faster and faster. He didn't even look scared. He is beginning to trust us and allow himself to have some fun. It was great to see him so happy. The kids asked to ride over and over again. Then, we all rode in bumper boats. Ruthie and I were in one boat and the boys in the other. We bumped into and squirted each other with water. We were all soaked, but we were laughing and having so much fun! It was a great Mother's Day seeing my children so happy and bonded as a family. After our racing adventure, Rich and the children took me out to eat on Saturday evening. What a nice relaxing time it was to spend with my best friend and my three sweet children.

Ruthie was invited to a pony birthday party for her two little friends, Olivia and Isabella. They both were adopted from China. In fact, Isabella has a brachial plexus injury just like Levi. We just love their family. They are so sweet and supportive! God has blessed us with wonderful friends. Ruthie had so much fun riding the ponies. In fact, one pony got scared and almost threw Ruthie. I was a little concerned, but Ruthie thought it was great. She thought she was a cowgirl riding a bronco! ha! She just smiled the entire time. She's our adventurous little girl!! :)

It is nice being outside these days. It has been very cool in the mornings this week. Theo and I got out and mowed the lawn today. On the weekends, Levi likes to help Daddy with yardwork. Theo mows and Levi rakes and scoops leaves. They are quite the team! Levi is such the little helper. Whenever there is a job to be done, he is the first to volunteer. If Mommy drops something on the floor, he is right there to pick it up for me without my even asking. He has such a servant's heart at such a young age. (Now if the other two will just pick up this trait too....ha!)

I just had to include a picture of little Levi sleeping. I caught this picture one day when he was napping. I have so many sleeping baby pictures of Theo and Ruthie that I just had to have some of little Levi. Isn't he absolutely adorable? So peaceful. He just loves his "Shumah Panda"! We sent this panda to him before we arrived in China. He sleeps with it every night.

After we came in from mowing, Theo came running up to me screaming, "They hatched!" Two of our butterflies came out of their chrysalises this morning. We are anxiously awaiting this afternoon when their wings will be dry and they can fly. There are still 7 more that need to hatch. It should be an exciting next few days around here! The butterflies are in a large tent so that when they all hatch, the children can go sit inside the tent one at a time and have the butterflies fly all around them and land on them. It should be fun. I will just have to supervise so that we don't have butterfly escapees around the house. ha! At least it is butterflies and not reptiles. I can handle sweet little butterflies! :)

This is Theo's last week of school for kindergarten. The hatching butterflies were the grand finale--the triumphant ending to a wonderful year! We finished our first official year of homeschooling! Yippee! It was such a successful and fun year with my sweet Theo! I just so enjoy watching him skip around and get genuinely excited about learning new things. He particularly enjoys science experiments and nature walks! We are going to have a small kindergarten graduation ceremony next week with our homeschool group to recognize the accomplishments of our children and to celebrate the first year! I will post pictures of Theo in his cap and gown. I can't wait. He will be so cute!! We are so proud of him! Congrats Theo! Buddy, you have one year down...16 more to go! ha! :)