That was then, this is now . . .

 

 

Carlie is only 5 months old, but has already grown so much! Who does she look like?

That was then, this is now . . .

 

Ethan in May of 2005, a couple of days old.

 

Ethan Winter of 2007 fixing his own cereal on a Saturday morning (I guess I didn't get up out of bed soon enough!) Notice his pajamas - he did that too..

That was then, this is now . . .

 

Nicci Spring of 2003

 

Nicci Christmas 2007

That was then, this is Now . . .

 

Conner in 2002

 

Conner summer of 2007

My BEAUTIFUL Nieces!

 

Breanna at Christmas

 

McKenna at one of Nicci's birthday parties.

 

Reagan, Breanna, and Nicci at Papa and Leslie's in the chicken coop.

 

McKenna at Aunt Gi Gi and Uncle Seany's house.

I'm kind of enjoying being in the habit of blogging everyday, but I know me and it probably won't happen EVERY day. These are my very beautiful nieces. Most of these were taken several years ago. Breanna, McKenna, and Reagan are just such neat girls and we love them a lot. We wish we all lived closer so the girls could all play together more. Enjoy!

Watch This!

This is a video of Conner explaining Everquest when he was about 7 years old. He's so cute! He has a lot more hair now.

Some Older Pictures

 

 

 

 

These are some pictures from Spring of 2003 at Galveston Beach. We had a lot of fun with the Lagunas's's's that week. It's so cute to see how the kids have grown up - such cuties!

Happy St. Patrick's Day - A Little Early, I Know

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and the fact that McMurphy's are Irish we are taking small steps to GO GREEN! Here is our first step:

I go to Target about twice a week (sometimes more, sometimes less - I know, make a list and you won't have to go as often!), and each time I go I get about this many plastic bags. We save them to line our small trash cans and use them for yucky diapers, but still have them stashed in two places in our house waiting to be reused. Even though we reuse them they will still take about 20 years to decompose in the land fills. So, if I get about 8 bags twice a week, that's 416 bags a year!

Here is our solution to our contribution to the plastic bags in landfills. We have two types of reusable grocery bags. The ones on the top fold up into these neat little pouches that I can just throw into my purse and grab really easily. The ones on the bottom are kind of like paper sacks made of reusable material for larger grocery purchases. So far, I have had great success with them and the people at the check-out counter seem to like them, too!

Adoption - the MOUND of Paperwork

This is the line up of the stacks of paperwork we have had to read through, fill out, copy, file, and notarize.
I have about three pouches of paperwork that are all together in their own section which just emphasizes the stacks of paperwork.

All of it put in one huge overflowing binder along with my trusty hole punch and my beautiful label maker. (If it's not nailed down it's got a label on it!)

Can you imagine the smell in this room? There were about twenty 10-12 year old boys in this room that had been playing really hard for a couple of hours. The lovely birthday boy loves to jump in front of the camera. Ah, the life of an 11 year old boy!

These were taken at Conner's 11 birthday party at JumpU!

New Pictures of Carlie

Here is the precious Carlie. These are taken in February. She is now 5 months old, she can roll over (front to back only then gets frustrated and someone has to roll her back over), she can giggle, she eats some cereal, and she sleeps all night! She is a very good baby!

A Brief Update on What is Going on in Our Adoption

Last month Rebecca came to do a homestudy update so we could be on track with immigration. We also sent a letter to the China Center for Adoption Affairs to have our dossier reinstated. We had been on hold for a while waiting for Carlie to be born. We have not heard about our new "Log In Date", but another family in a similar situation had their dossier returned with their original travel group. This is good news! We may not be any further behind! God is so good! It will still be about 2 years (or more) before we have her. Carlie will be 2 by then and that will be a good age to bring a new baby sister home.
China is doing very good right now. Domestic adoptions are on the rise. Of course, the ideal situation would be for these girls to remain in their home country, but that does mean that the international adoptions are fewer. God is in charge, we are not worried, OK most of the time we are not worried.

A New Chinese Lesson with an Audio Link!

I read the following information from http://www.goodcharacters.com/:

Merry Christmas is Sheng Dan Kuai Le or Ye Dan Kuai Le in Chinese.

Ye is short for Ye Su, which is the transliterated name for Jesus.

The character ye (pronounced in the first tone as in the transliteration of Jesus) does not have a special meaning. It is a character used to imitate a sound, often used for transliteration of foreign names. In old Chinese literature, ye (pronounced in the second tone) is the same as father or used to indicate a question (old Chinese writing has no punctuation marks).
Su means to revive, to come to, or to rise again. (Isn't that cool!)

Just like people speak English with different accents in different parts of America, most Chinese don’t speak 100% Beijing Mandarin. Their speech has a hint of their particular accent. Many Chinese pronounce Ye1 Su1 as Ye2 Su1. In that pronunciation, the name Ye Su not only sounds close to the Latin pronunciation of Jesus, but also has a great meaning: Father who has risen again.



From the same website I found how to write in English and pronounce Happy New Year:

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Some Updated Pictures

Carlile was sleeping so peacefully in her carseat this afternoon so I took a few pictures. I don't know why, but I'm really into my kids's hands. It just amazes me how different they are and what they say about their personality. Ethan saw me taking pictures of Carlie and he wanted "Ethan pictures." He styled his own hair today with lotion, it normally doesn't look this way!