Just the Sweetest Thing!

Though I don't get sick often, I happened to be sick over the weekend. Guess I had a flu bug and woke up feelin' pretty poorly. If I wasn't in bed, I was snoozing on the couch.

Jenna did the sweetest thing--oh how I wish I'd had a picture of it!! Knowing I was feeling bad lying there on the couch, she wanted to help but didn't know what to do I imagine. After hearing a noise, I opened my eyes to see she'd fetched a short stool and sat down directly in front of me and just looked at me. She took me by the hand and just sat there.

I wish I knew what was going through her mind, one can only imagine, but I know she was feeling helpless at the sight of me lying on the couch and feeling bad. Such compassion she had on her face--it was soooo sweet!! It's something I can never forget. Though she didn't know what to do, she did the only thing she could think of--sat next to me and held my hand.

Though I didn't want her to catch what I had, I allowed her to sit just a few minutes and then sent her off to play. She'd come back from time to time just to look in on me.

Such a beautiful thing she did for me--what a beautiful heart of compassion she has! She will surely be missed by us when her forever family comes for her. What a blessing she will be to them and I'm sure they to her!! Aren't families wonderful?!!!

China Love Monthly Newsletters

This message is for all of you who are on our monthly newsletters mailing list:

In the past month or more, our computer in the US crashed and, while all the information was recovered and transferred to our new one, we regret to say they missed a few things in the transfer. One of them was the program containing our mailing list for our monthly newsletters. This is the reason one has not gone out in the past couple of months. We are currently working on the problem and hope to be able to recover our most current newsletter list. Hopefully in a week or two we will be able to have the most recent monthly newsletter(s)out to you again. We are sorry for this inconvenience. So spread the word to those who may not have heard and do not use the internet much. Thanks so much for your patience!

More Video's

Skating Videos

Rollin', Rollin'

Serena gives the roller blades a try. She can now stand on them well and soon will be gliding her way around the square.



Hannah gives her older foster sister a push on the ripstick.



Serena's discovered a safer and easier way to ride the ripstick. Though, as she soon discovered, this leaves your hands quite dirty.




Elizabeth watches as Serena tries to ride the ripstick around. Elizabeth wonders if it's fun riding it that way.



Ooopps! There's a smile on her face so we know she's not hurt! Jenna thinks this is great fun--even the falling!

Rollin', Rollin' Cont.

We're having fun now, right Jenna?!!



I kinda think Jenna rather enjoys this roller blading! What do you think?!



Elizabeth is now just beginning to get the hang of roller blades. She stands well on them and is beginning to learn to glide on them a bit.




Notice the two different shoes on Hannah?! It's no mistake, she did this on purpose. We have two different pairs of shoes that have rollers on the bottom. One pair only has one on the back called a heely, the other pair has two, one on the front and one on the back like a pair of roller skates. Hannah thought it too difficult to walk in the one that was more like regular roller skates. Soooo, next thing I know, she puts one of each on. At first I was like, "uhh Hannah those are two different shoes girl!" Then I realized she must have done that on purpose. It helped her keep her balance easier while learning. Pretty smart Hannah!!



Elizabeth is enjoying learning to ride the ripstick. Though she has a ways to go, she seems to be catching on. It takes awhile to learn that thing!

It's Raining, It's Pouring!!

Though this area is usually pretty dry and rains are few and far between, these last few rains have been drenchers! It has come down hard and fast and the drains here, which aren't equipped to handle that kind of volume, has been overwhelmed. As a result, we've had a bit of flooding going on. I know in some areas of the states the flooding has been devastating. We are quite thankful that ours is mild and temporary.




This rain came down in about 30 minutes time and just flooded the whole apartment complex and surrounding areas all over the village.

Outside Fun

The girls like nothing better than to be outside! We do our best to get them outside for awhile each day even in this heat. We often go out later in the evenings when it's a bit cooler.



Hannah says "Hey, did I say you could take my picture?!"



Serena loves to ride her bike. She wonders aloud if she'll have a bicycle when she gets to America. So many things to think about. She's having a blast wondering about what her new home in America will be like. She asks many questions and we do our best to help explain and help her understand. She's so excited, but has a while to wait.



Jenna also loves to ride her bike. She couldn't be cuter ridin' her bike in her little sundress!



Dad helps the girls so much. He often helps them learn to ride their bikes or roller blades, and today...the rip stick. After giving all the girls a whirl on the rip stick, Serena decided it was dad's turn to give it a try. She insisted dad take a turn and she was proud to help him on and balance. What a thoughtful girl you are, Serena!!

The Forever Home's Newest Pet

The girls have been wanting a bunny for some time now and you know, we don't have enough pets at the Forever Home:) We only had a dog, 2 birds, and many fish--but no bunnies!! Though we agreed to get a bunny or two, it was on the condition that the older girls take care of these animals. They readily agreed--like kids always do in the beginning! You know, they never seem to hear the part where you tell them they're a lot of work and you need to do this and that to keep them healthy, clean their cages often to keep mom and dad happy so that their room doesn't stink:) They always readily agree--then realize later that they are more work than they thought or it just gets old doing these unpleasant tasks. Nonetheless, we got 2 cute little bunnies.




Just look at how adorable they are and how much fun they are to hold! Serena's lovin' this!



Hannah thinks the bunnies are pretty neat too.



What could be sweeter than a little girl and a cute bunny?!



Elise thinks the bunnies are great too, at least the first few days:) Jenna is pretty curious about them and thinks the white one cool.



Serena seems pretty content with that bunny on her lap.

The Forever Home's Newest Pet Cont.

Jenna checks out the brown one.



Elizabeth absolutely adores the bunnies! She can't seem to get enough of them. Then again, she does the same thing with all the animals. She really LOVES animals!



Shawna also was one of the biggest fans of bunnies. She has been faithful to take care of them and really enjoys them.



Shawna came and got me one day and said you gotta take a picture of this!




And here she is eating her vegetables. All you kids take note of that! She eats her vegetables!! She'll be a healthy bunny! I just wish we could say that about the white one. Sadly enough, he died just a couple of days after we got him. I think he was a bit sick when we got him, only we didn't know it, perhaps they didn't either. He didn't eat much like the other one, nor did he move around much. It soon became evident that he was not well and died shortly there after. We were all sad, but HEY, we still have the brown one and he's one lucky bunny!!

Elise decided the white bunny was hers (that was after he died). She'd changed her mind about wanting a bunny and now hers was dead and she didn't have to take care of it anymore. That suited Shawna and Elizabeth just fine as they were more than happy to have the brown one and take care of it. It all worked out nicely in the end--for everyone!

It's Make-over Time

What happens when you have a bunch of girls?!! Well....you gotta do some make-over's once in awhile!! The older girls, Shawna and Elise, LOVE to give the younger girls a make-over AND the younger ones LOVE to oblige--it makes them feel sooo special and girly!!



Elise gives Serena a magical make-over.



Shawna transforms Hannah's hair into something beautiful!



Elise puts the finishing touches on Jenna by giving her face a nice powder.



Wow, Hannah!! What beautiful hair you have! Shawna, maybe you should be a beautician!



Serena feels extra special with a "bit" of makeup.

Giggly Girls

Our home is rarely without much giggling and laughter. If you can imagine that with 6 girls in our home--though it NEVER gets old!! We love to hear the girls laugh--just not at bedtime, which can often be the case. We thought you'd enjoy a few pictures of them at their giggly best:)

Jenna Turns 7!!

We've all been looking forward to celebrating Jenna's birthday for awhile now. We've had no birthdays in our house for 2 months now! That's just too long for the girls to wait to celebrate:)

The night before,after Jenna went to bed,her older sisters decorated the dining room with lots of balloons and crepe paper. When she got up and went into the dining room this morning, imagine her surprise to see all the festive birthday decorations--just for her!!

After breakfast, she got to open all her presents. Each foster sister, and us of course, gave her something special and she had a great time opening all her gifts. She played with these for awhile then it was time to go off to school. Only, she didn't want to go to school today! She shook her head no and wanted to stay behind to play with her new toys. I told her they had something special planned for her at school today too, and she really must go to school. I really don't know what the special thing was, just that her teacher said they'd plan something special for her. Anyway, she then went off to school for the day.



We got her a computerized learning tool that has English and Chinese speaking. She's been wanting a "computer" for some time now and we kept telling her she needed to wait until her birthday and perhaps then she might get one if she promised to take good care of it.



Shawna and Elise, the two oldest, got Jenna an electronic train (trains are one of her favorites) that blows bubbles too. She LOVED it!



Jenna got to play with her new toys for awhile before going off to school. However, later that evening, she insisted she come and sit at the desk to use her new computer like mom and dad do:) She's such a big girl now! Just look at that smile on her face!




It's traditional here in China for the birthday person to cut the cake and serve it to everyone. Jenna was sure to let us know she wanted to do that herself--after all, she's 7 now and can do it all by herself. I did help her dish it out though so it didn't end up on the floor instead of in the bowl.

Jenna Turns 7 Cont.

As you can see, Jenna was a bit leery of her birthday candle. She didn't want to get too close. The birthday candles do have a big flame here and can look a bit intimidating, especially to a little one:) Though, when it burned down a bit, she was okay coming and blowing out her candles.

More Dance Video's