18 years ago I married the love of my life!!

Black and White Wednesday too!!!

Taken a few months ago

(by Jill) click on her name for her blog!

Wedding day April 25th, 1992

HAPPY 18 YEARS SWEETIE!! And 22 years of knowing each other!!

Black and White Wednesday

Taken 4 years ago this month on the North side of Maui, Hawaii. My husband earned a family trip with his work and we all headed to Hawaii for 3 weeks!!

It was a vacation of a life time and our boys still talk about it to this day, even my little man that was 2 1/2 at the time!!

This was late afternoon and the clouds were looking pretty crazy.

Our kids ask if we will ever go back again as a family?? Well if we ever win the lottery which would mean we would have to play the lottery! ha

Maybe if the economy picks back up and business is good again sometime in the future??

It was the most amazing time and I can see why the boys still talk about it like it was yesterday.

For more B&W's see Lisa's Blog.

Black and White Wednesday

This is a picture of a rock climber we came across while hiking last summer. My hubby took the picture and I think it came out great as a B&W photo!!

For more B&W go to Lisa's blog!!

Also see my jewelry post below!! Im making jewelry to raise funds for our travel expenses!! Thanks.

Making jewelry for travel costs!!

I have been making jewelry for over 20 years!! I have never sold a piece until this year!! I have done it as a hobby to make gifts for friends and family. I have finally decided to use my talents to make some pieces to sell for our travel expenses to China.

I have many designs that Im doing but here a some pictures of a few that I have made recently! I plan on attaching a jewelry blog to this blog soon but it takes time and money! ha So if you are interested just contact me here!

I going to focusing on "sterling silver" stamped custom jewelry and "pure silver" handmade designs! I specializing in adoptions necklaces from China, Africa and just "adoption" in general. Im also doing Any occasion jewelry too!!

Below are a few samples of recent orders. I have had some success on Facebook and have sold about 10 necklaces so far and just had a few more orders come in today!!

My prices start at $25 and go up from there, depending the amount of silver in the piece!

** Please note that these are all made by hand, no machines or cookie cutters so each piece will be totally different and unique!!!

All sterling silver and crystal $52

Africa necklace "pure silver" and hand patina $80

price goes down with different chain or leather cord. Can also add a hand stamped name tag of your child with birthdate or referral date!

Chinese Character for Love. Handmade "pure silver" $75. Can add a hand stamped tag with childs name and/or birthday

Long tag, hammered heart and birthstone $43

"Born in my heart" adoption necklace. $58 with birthstones and ladybug charm, $55 without.

$45-$55 depending what charm is hanging from it. Can be pearl or birthstone or name tag.

"pure silver" and hand patina.

Your kids names! $25 for chain and 1 tag, extra $10 for every additional tag added!!

"Lucky" $40, can add childs name too!

I have some more styles but I cant post them right now because they are gifts and people read the blog! :-)

Looking for something you dont see here?? Send your question my way and I would love to make a beautiful piece just for you or someone special!!

I will add more pictures when I can. Thanks so much for supporting our adoption!!

Gemma answered our questions!!!!!

Her answers are in blue. It only took a week for her to get back to us. We also finished our video and sent it off last week. It was about 40 minutes long. I wish we could get a video of her watching it. We will probably send more questions in a few weeks. If anyone has any other question ideas please let us know.

She also has a best friend/foster sister that was adopted back in Aug 2009. Her name is in the last question, if anyone has any ideas on how to find her please let us know!!! Thanks.

1. Has she had the same foster family since leaving the orphanage?

Yes, she has been in the same foster family.

2. Does she speak Mandarin or Cantonese?

She can speak Mandarin and Cantonese. She prefers Cantonese.

3. Current Height and Weight and foot size?

Weight: 24kg

Height: 129cm

Length of feet: 20cm

4. Will she be happy to have an English name?

She likes to have an English name.

5. Does she like dolls?

She likes Barbie dolls.

6. Does she have foster brothers or sisters and what age?

She has a foster younger brother who is about 18 months old. In addition, there are two biological elder brothers in this family who are 18 and 24 years old.

7. Does her foster family have email and computer?

The family has a computer but hasn’t emails.

8. Favorite food?

She is fond of chicken legs, hotdog and sausage that’s spicy

9. Does she like animals?

She likes cats and rabbits, and she dislikes dogs.

10. What things upset her and make her sad?

She feels upset if her peers sometimes are not willing to play games.

11. What things make her happy?

Talking to her is a good way to comfort her if she is not happy.

12. Is she scared of anything?

She is scared of darkness and black beetle.

13. Any English?

She is learning the English letters and she only knows few simple English words like “sun”.

14. Favorite color?

She likes red, pink, purple and blue.

15. Favorite Toy?

She likes stuffed toys. And she wants a stuffed panda if possible.

16. Daily schedule?

She usually gets up at 7:00 and sleeps at 21:00. She has breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12:30 and dinner at 18:30. She attends school from 7:45 to 12:00 in the morning and 13:30 to 16:05 in the afternoon. Back home from the school, she has dinner, does homework. She watches TV for some time before sleeping.

17. Who are her best friends? Are they being adopted too?

There used to be a younger foster sister called Zhang Ke Jie who was adopted by an American family on Aug. 11^th, 2009.

Black and White Wednesday

In honor of Old Man Winter still being here, I thought I would share this picture

of my son Soren hanging out of a snow cave he made.

Yes, we have a snow day today, which means NO SCHOOL!!! I had a ton on my

plate and now all 6 kiddos are home!!

Tomorrow is suppose to be back up to 70 degrees!!

I really hope this is Old Man Winter on his way out for good!!

For more B&W go too Lisa's blog.

Happy Easter 2010!!!!

Here is todays family shot!! Not the best because everyone was a hurry to dig into their candy!

I dont know if I have mentioned before that we have had a exchange student this school year? So now you know who the other boy is, Kacha. He is visiting from Thailand and we have enjoyed having him this year. This is the first male exchange student we have had. All the rest have been girls, so my boys are really enjoying having another guy in the house that they can challenge at video games. :-) He will be going back home the beginning of June. Kacha has also been a great help with things around the house. Lets just say I have not done dishes or swept the upstairs floors since he has come to live with us!! He also has done a great job of helping to keep Ava's play room clean every day!

If you have never had an exchange student before I highly recommend it!! Our last two girls were from China and Taiwan and were both amazing!!

Hope everyone had a beautiful Easter!! I think we will only be having salad tomorrow to detox our bodies! hehe

Happy Easter!!!!

This picture was taken last Easter 2009!! I can not believe how much the kids have grown especially Ava. I will post a new one tomorrow after we get home church!!