when east meets south
Y’all. 18 is just so…. grown up. There are a lot of things you can do when you turn 18. Get a tattoo. Donate blood. Open a bank account. Buy fireworks. Enlist in the military. Play the lottery. Write a check. Buy cigarettes. Skydive. Oh my. Not on the list, but definitely worth mentioning… you can be the sweetest, kindest… Read More
The last of our spring birthdays. But most definitely not the least. Our sweet Clementine celebrated her fourth birthday last month, her third with us. And we’re pretty sure we’re the luckiest family on the planet to get to be the ones surrounding this girl on her special day – and every day. As I was collecting suggestions and shopping… Read More
The start of our day at the Animal Kingdom looked a little like this. Not quite ready for it… but getting there. (Except Clementine. Just look at her. The girl is pretty much always ready.) It didn’t take us long to get there, though. Just a few steps past the Tree of Life in the Animal Kingdom and we ran… Read More
Our second day at Disney World was all about Epcot. And this is where we met up with once-online-but-now-real-life friend and photographer, Sennu Maria Keith, who came armed with a very big camera and an even bigger dose of joy and enthusiasm… Ready to take pictures of our humongous family for the entire day. Last October, Sennu had reached out… Read More
Not too long ago, we were blessed by the dreamiest gift. Like a make-your-dreams-come-true gift. A gift I don’t even think I could have dreamed up if given the chance. We were given – our entire family, y’all – a one-week trip to Disney World. A fellow-adoptive mama, as she was planning her own family’s trip to Disney World last… Read More
In China, the Chinese New Year celebration begins seven days before Chinese New Year’s Eve, and ends on the 15th day of the lunar year. This year, Chinese New Year fell on January 28th and lasted until February 11th – a date also known as the Lantern Festival. Which means that, even though Chinese New Year was officially several weeks… Read More
Such a Christmas. We celebrated similarly to how we’ve done it the last few years. Pared down our giving (and asking) and were very intentional about how we spent our time together all December long. And the best part? This little one. Home and celebrating Christmas. Her very first. And despite a tentative beginning, she caught on pretty quickly. And… Read More
We are a family of 15. We don’t go all the places we used to. For the last few years we’ve been taking two cars most places because we outgrew the old Sprinter a few kiddos back. We began praying over a solution as a family, and I asked for prayer from my prayer partners as well, knowing God could… Read More
I have always loved Thanksgiving. Gathering family from near and far around the table to enjoy the yummiest food of the year. And celebrating all the good things while tracing them all back to His hand. This year we had some especially good stuff to celebrate. Six months home with Magnolia. In that short time we’ve witnessed her receiving and… Read More
We love tradition. And we especially love traditions around holidays as a way to kindle memory-making for our children, and to just plain make things fun. Halloween, however, is one holiday that has been challenging. I have great memories of Halloween as a kid – sooo, as much candy as I can carry, I just have to put on a… Read More