The Joy of Diggin' in the Dirt

Well since this is what the backyard looks like now.....if you are wondering why...read the previous post!

We decided to start working on the front....and work our way to the back!

Lily and Lily Wen fill their pots with dirt!

Graeme discovers the JOY of digging in the dirt. I had to keep him from digging up the plants we were planting!

Lily Wen also decided to cut her hair. She told our stylist, Sheila, that she wanted it short and curly like Fancy Nancy. It is short and we can make it curly every now and then. So SASSY!

Graeme has also discovered the art of over smiling! He is still too cute!

How NOT to get rid of a Hornet's Nest!!!!!

So....I had a HUGE hornet's nest in my backyard. It was first discovered in the fall when we had some dead trees cut down on the large hill behind our house. I knew that I needed to get rid of it but did not quite know how to get rid of it. Yesterday evening, I was talking to a neighbor about the hornet's nest and my yard in general. He is a wonderful man and he offered to help me with the nest as well as other major issues with my yard. You see, I have lived in this house for three years and it was a house that needed some tender loving care. The downstairs has been remodeled and the front and side yards are in good shape but the backyard was a large hill with a steep slope that basically goes up to the top of the mountain. It was in complete disarray. I needed to have more trees cut down and lots of undergrowth removed. I am wishing now that I had a "before renovation" picture of the back hill.


My neighbor said he would take care of the nest on Monday. He decided to surprise me. He was worried that one of the kids would get stung so he came by today and burned the nest while I was at work. The nest dropped from it's position as it burned and the brush caught fire and the wind blew all at the same time. The fire flew up the hill behind my house. Since this was the first time he had worked up here, he did not know where my hose was located. They used a bucket and some water standing to try to put it out but it spread too quickly. They tried to contain it but the wind kept blowing it. The fire department arrived and took over trying to contain the fire. The department of forestry was called in and firemen from a neighboring county. They fought the fire all day and finally contained it late this evening. 30 acres of forest near my house burned. It burned within feet of my home and my other neighbor's home. It is still amazing to me that no structures or houses were burned. Thanks be to God!

I knew nothing about the fire during the day. I went to pick up Graeme from day care and the worker pointed out the smoke to me. I thought...hmmm, that looks like it is close to my house. Graeme and I drove up and saw all of the department of forestry trucks parked near our house and some firemen walking down the hill. I said, "Hey guys, what happened?" They replied, "Some guy was trying to burn a bees nest." That is when I knew that the fire had originated in my backyard. To say I was shocked is putting it mildly. I was asked in a silly e-mail today to answer with one word a series of questions and one was What is your biggest fear? to which I replied, Fire. I had no idea that the hill was on fire when I typed that earlier today. It has always been and will continue to be my biggest fear.

My neighbor feels horrible about what has happened and thought I would be mad at him. I am just so thankful that no one was hurt and that no ones house burned down as a result. I am thankful to God to have my house and even if it smells smokey...it's mine and all of our special momentos..pictures, items from China, etc are safe tonight. I am thankful for my neighbor who tried to do a good deed and for the fire fighters who contained the fire (they were just up here again as another little ridge ignited so I was able to thank some of them personally). We are so Blessed and may I never take that for granted!

Surgery for Antonia

This is our starfish Antonia that we are helping to sponsor while she is in foster care in China. This is her before lip surgery.

The other day she went for a visit with a surgeon in China. They kept her and performed her lip repair that night!! They did have to shave her head!

Please pray for little Antonia. I can't imagine her going through surgery without a Mom to care for her. It makes me think of when Graeme went through this same surgery in China and I was not there to care for him. Bless her little heart!

She sleeps. She will stay in the hospital for three days. I can't wait to see how her lip looks when they remove her bandages. For more information on how you can help the Starfish babies, click on Antonia's picture on my sidebar.

Now I lay me down to sleep...

More Easter Pics!

We really did have a wonderful Easter! Here are some of my favorite shots!

Graeme on his first Easter home!

Lily Wen with her basket

Lily Wen and Graeme ready for the Easter egg hunt at church

Graeme was so into the hunt! His basket is as big as he is:)

Mel and Brian, Graeme's Godparents. We love you guys!

Graeme loved his eggs!

Graeme and Lily Wen also got bikes for Easter! They really loved them!

After that, we took off for our friends' house for more Easter fun! They are really our family away from home! We had a big Easter egg hunt up at Cindy and Mike's.

I love this picture!

Graeme, Lily Wen, Carson, Adeline and Kyle check out their eggs.

Lily Wen

Graeme

Do I look at Mom for the picture or play with the eggs? Oh the internal conflict!

Just Me and My Wee Ones

Boone (the older kids were great with helping the wee ones hunt eggs)

Logan

Kyle and Graeme relaxing and Graeme is eating (of course!)

Lily Wen loved the trampoline

Graeme did too!

Hope the pics made you smile! They have cheered me up!

Today is a new day!

I started typing this post yesterday but just could not stop crying to put any kind of positive spin on the day. Yesterday was just plain YUCKY (to use a preschooler term in case my kids ever read this blog). From the blog, you can tell that I typically share the fun of our week or the silly of our week but I struggle with the things that are deeply emotional for me. I struggle with those things anyway and am the type of person that keeps it in for the most part until I have one of those days where it all just surfaces...that day was yesterday.

I had the final deposition for my divorce. It just seems that 13 years of marriage can be disolved rather quickly and it almost seems too easy. Anyway, I had lots of conflicting feelings related to the deposition and the discussions with the attourney and my soon to be ex. Apparently the divorce will now happen in the next few weeks. I won't even be in court and at some point, I'll get a notice in the mail that my marriage is officially over. No showdown in court, no messiness...just no longer married. I can't even begin to process the feelings.

Then, I had to deal with taxes. Yes, we seperated in December and were filing jointly so we had to deal with that last night. I know that it is my civil obligation but I REALLY HATE TAXES!!!!! Then, we were not able to use all of the adoption tax credit so now we will have to deal with that again next year! UGH!

After all of that and the wee ones were in bed, I finally listened to the messages on my machine and found out that a dear friend from church who had battled cancer for a while had passed away yesterday. Bless her and her family! That news is what tipped me to the other side and I crumbled in a puddle of tears. The ironic thing is that my friend, Delilah, and her husband are the ones that completed the premarital counseling with Wes and I. I became close to Delilah during this time years ago and have prayed so much for her during this recent battle. Please keep her family in your prayers. Delilah was an AMAZING woman and she will be greatly missed.

The positive spin....Today is a new day!

Cracking Eggs

I have LOTS of Easter pictures!!! I will have to break them up in different posts! First, I can not ever remember a time where I had more fun dyeing Easter eggs. We were cracking up while we cracked many eggs. The kids laughed as a few eggs rolled off the counter onto the floor and cracked. Then, I put some on the table and the wee ones let them roll off and crack. We laughed the whole time.

Lily Wen with her fairy wings....got to be fancy to dye eggs

Graeme is so into each new thing we do with him. He is up for the adventure.

Who says my wee ones can't multi-task!

They love each other...they really LOVE each other

Have I ever told you how much my wee ones love to eat eggs?

They'll eat them in a box. They'll eat them with a fox.

They'll eat them in the rain and on a train.

You get the picture!

I hope you all had as much FUN as I did this weekend.

An Afternoon with the Pages

We went to Louisville on Friday to see Graeme's surgeon. We found out that he does need a second palate surgery to close the fistula. It is scheduled for this summer. After the appointment, we had FUN! We spent the afternoon with the Pages, who traveled to China at the same time we did. We got to catch up with Tamara, Andy and Wyatt and meet his siblings, Zackary, Savannah and Julia.

First stop was extreme bowling!

We bowled in the dark with blinking lights and the kids and Moms all had fun! I realized after I started that I wasn't going to do to well with the recent blogging injury and resulting Cortisone shot in my right arm. Okay, let's face it, my first 4 bowls were gutter balls! I improved gradually but remained in last place. I begged Zachary to help me improve my score so I could beat his Mom in the end. Even with his help, I was too far gone and still came in last place:) Lily Wen won for our lane!

Lily waiting for her ball to arrive!

This is cool Mom!

After Graeme's first ball got stuck in the lane, we found this launcher and then we were in business. Getting the first ball out of the lane was an adventure all it's own!

Wyatt was all about his score and kept checking the electronic score board!

Tamara and Wyatt checking out his score!

After bowling, the kids had some finger-licking good nachos.

Wyatt is still such a happy guy!

After bowling, we went to the Pages' house and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon! The kids played games and Tamara and I had a nice chat. Andy grilled a delicious dinner for us! Julia and Lily really hit it off and will both start Kindergarten in the Fall. Wyatt and Graeme raced around the house and just had fun being silly together. It was easy to see that they are both quite the characters. Wyatt even mentioned that he and Graeme had the same lips...pretty perceptive for one so small don't you think?

We took these pictures right before the Wee Ones and I headed home.

Savannah, Julia, Lily Wen and Graeme

Savannah, Julia, Lily Wen, Graeme, Wyatt and Zachary

Wyatt and Graeme - quite the pair!

Julia and Lily Wen - a new friendship!

Lots of giggles!

I know Graeme had a great time because when we were leaving to go home, he hugged each of the Pages. We are all looking forward to our next visit! For more pics of our day, visit the Pages' blog at Life With the Pages The pic of Andy on their blog cracks me up!

We're going to see Wyatt!!!!

Nine months ago we traveled to China to meet our son. We spent the trip with 2 other families. We were all adopting children from different orphanages but from the same province. One of the families, Wyatt's family, was also from Kentucky. What a small world to travel to China to meet people who live 3 1/2 hours away. We are going to see them tomorrow after Graeme's appointment with his doctor. I can't wait to meet the rest of the family and to see Tamara, Andy and Wyatt. It should be soon, stay tuned for pics of our reunion. In the meantime, here are some from China!

Lily Wen and Wyatt watching a video.

All the kids at the zoo!

What I remember most about Wyatt is that he was such a character!!! We have so been looking forward to this trip!