Hello All! Yes, I am excited to introduce my new best friend. A Dell Studio 17 inch midnight blue laptop. I feel like I can finally see all the fine print as I surf the net. Does that mean I am losing my eyesight as I age? I sure hope not!

Hello All! I wanted to share my secret with the blogosphere tomorrow. After discussing sharing our secret with the "world", Kelly asked me again to hold my big announcement one more month. ARRRRGH!!!!! Let me just say this, I have been holding this secret since August of 2007. Yes, family and close friends do know what is going on so please if you know don't comment with ANY specifics. Tell me are you good at keeping a secret? I think after near two years of keeping this from the blogosphere world I deserve a medal for best confidence keeper. So please tell me your secrets ; ) I am as silent as the grave. In the meantime I will just have to sit and wait............................

Hello All! We just got back from a great visit to Kalamazoo. Uncle Rick and Aunt Kristin live there and we always have a blast visiting them!!!! Thanks again Rick and Kristin for your hospitality to all seven of us, you are both amazingly generous : )

This is what the "Big three" have been up to of late. We have many BIG trees in our backyard, most of which are large White Pine trees. Those are impossibly to climb, because the branches that are large enough are very high from the ground. The other day I cam outside to find a scene similar to this. This the backyard of our home. They all decided to climb our ancient television antenna. Faith is not afarid of heights at all. She likes to touch the roof , which makes me nervous. Grace likes to climb up and chat with me as I prepare dinner or do the dishes. She peeks through the kitchen windows to see me. Luke loves to pretend he is "Cliff hanger"from the PBS show Between The Lions.
Luke shows his strength by hanging by one hand : )
I am encouraged ti see that when I feel something is lacking, like a good climbing tree, they find another way to climb. I hope you are all having a wonderful summer! This week we are off to the other side of the state to see family, more fun photos to come of Independence Day celebrations. Blessings to you~

YIKES!  As I cleaned this morning look at what I uncovered. This HUGE Beetle with front pinchers the size of lobster claws.  It held on to the rug for dear life as I wrestled it into the jar.  Kelly tells me “Crystal, don’t pass on your fears to the children.”  I believe women have an innate response to large bugs that brush their hands while cleaning, TO SCREAM!  I did didn’t scream when I felt the pinchers brush my hand initially.  Then I quickly laid the rug down and let all the kids examine it, with their eyes only.  After that I grabbed a jar and wrestled it into it’s new home.  As I was trying to get it into the jar it used it lobster claw pinchers to protect itself. It would clamp them down on the rug and hold on with the power of a boa constrictor ready to devour it’s next meal.  The kids are enjoying peering in the jar at our “new friend”.  I have not passed on my fear, Kelly, don’t worry!  I wonder though isn’t this something that one should be fearful of having that close to your hand? 

Hello All! This is my helper boy, Luke. He is a super helper to his Mommy and this morning was no exception. The evenings have been getting warmer here in Michigan and Kelly and I enjoy having a cold beer after dinner watching the kids play in our yard. Sometimes I will tell the kids"Mommy needs to relax now, drink her beer with Daddy and take a moment".

This morning we awoke to a MESSY house after a weekend of fun outdoor activities, who wants to clean or be inside when the weather is perfect? I shared our plan with my team, we need to clean the kitchen and family rooms until they shine : ) For extra motivation I threw in that each child over 4 years old can have two dollars to spend at our local Mini-mart for a treat if you are a contributing member of the cleaning crew. It is amazing how that motivates them!! I was cleaning and vacuuming right along with them. At some point I must have said, "Whew, I'm tired" and sighed while picking up the hundredth toy. Grace said " Mom, you will need to take a moment later during our quite time" Next thing I know Luke is out in the garage refrigerator bringing something inside. He hands me a beer, "Here Mom this is for you". I laughed out loud and said " Luke I can't drink a beer at 9:00 o 'clock in the morning" It is good to know someone is looking our for me though, Luke I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you are having a great monday~

Hello All! I found my next calling in life. Painting children's faces. I bought a face painting book on EBAY. My friend recommended this book as she had really enjoyed it and even used it to paint faces in Faith's kindergarten class. I went along one day to help her and have been thoroughly enjoying this creative outlet ever since.

I am now going to be buying more paint, another book and offering my services for small birthday parties or school events. I also found a cool blog of a women in California who is an expert face painter. I can't wait to try out more designs on my kids. They love it and here they are pictured in our backyard the other day. The girls face design was taken from the book I mentioned before. The girls are sporting some of their favorite colors and Fairy designs. Luke is a super hero, we named him "Lightning Man". I have decided to perfect my craft this summer. More photos to come soon! Blessings to you~

Hello All! My friend, Pam at Pam's Perspective blog "tagged" me with a fun challenge : ) This is neat because it is a totally random tag game.

Basically the game is like this:
~Open your first photo folder
~Scroll down to the 10th photo
~Post that photo and story on your blog
~Tag five friends to do the same.


This photo was taken in December 2006 by my husband in Monrovia, Liberia. He went on a mission trip with Stonegate Fellowship a church from Midland, TX. Read about the trip HERE (scroll down to the bottom of my Liberia Label). This photo is of the school children in uniform at The Greater Love school and orphanage in Monrovia. Kelly was very blessed by this trip and as always came home with a renewed perspective and love for the world. God is so good to show us his world and all his creation. He loves his creation so much and these beautiful children made in His image are the apple of his eye!!!! Thanks for tagging me, Pam : ) It was fun too think back to what was happening in our lives back when this photo was taken. If you are reading this and have a blog and want to play this tag game, I tag you. I don't have time to tag specific people, but please play tag with us : ) God's grace to you~

Hello All! I found this article recently in a magazine and wanted to share it with you all. I am so impressed by the breastfeeding women of Marquette, MI. Read the article about them and little baby Moses. I know some of you will be uncomfortable with this, but I am so glad to see these women band together for a child's life and his deceased mother's wishes.

Hope is eighteen months as I write this and she is still nursing regularly. She was exclusively breastfed for 6 months of life, meaning she did not eat any other solid food. Here is what the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends.


Exclusive breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. A recent review of evidence has shown that, on a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants. Thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.

To enable mothers to establish and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, WHO and UNICEF recommend:
Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life
Exclusive breastfeeding – that is the infant only receives breast milk without any additional food or drink, not even water
Breastfeeding on demand – that is as often as the child wants, day and night
No use of bottles, teats or pacifiers
*Taken from the WHO website at www.who.int

I am not one to be hard on other women who have chosen to feed their children another way. You will get no "Mommy Guilt" from me. In turn we should not be judgemental of this father providing for his infant son in the way he thinks is best. I applaud these women and their sacrifice for this little guy!!

Hello All! Yesterday we went to Lake Michigan and had our family photo taken by Amy Carroll. Amy is an amazing photographer from Grand Rapids, MI. I found her online as I searched the Celebrating Adoption website. Below is the description of a "Celebrating Adoption" photo session taken from there own website. What a blessing to us who have adopted, professional photography can be expensive (especially after commonly spending thousands upon thousands to adopt). I have always wanted a family photo taken on Lake Michigan with all "The Bunch". Yesterday my dream was realized, thank you Amy!!!!!!! Amy is gifted and her photography is absolutely amazing, swing by and check out more of her work on her blog. Sometime soon our Bunch's photos should appear on her blog. I will let you know when so I can brag about my cute kids : ) To all adoptive families out in the Blogosphere Celebrating Adoption is nationwide, so go by and check it out.

**** Update ~Here is the Permalink to Amy's blog post with our photos in it. She just posted it on her blog today. I love the photos : ) Yeah!!!!!! Thanks again, Amy!!

What is a Celebrating Adoption session?
If you are an adoptive family and have adopted your child within the last year, you qualify for a Celebrating Adoption session.
You will receive a complimentary "parent & child" portrait session (session fee is waived) and a small set of proofs. The size and quantity of proofs, as well as whether proofs will be loose or bound into a proof book, has been left to the discretion of each photographer. Each photographer sets his or her own policies. Travel fees and additional subject fees may still apply.
***Our volunteers give 100% of their time, talent and goods to do this work. Please do not abuse the organization by scheduling more than one photographer per child or adoption. Please due not abuse the generosity of CA photographers.
***Due to the requirement of the adoption having taken place within the past twelve months and the charitable contribution of the photographers, you may be asked to show proof of the adoption date.

Thanks again to Amy Carroll and may God bless you~

Hello All! We are so glad that the weather has changed here in Michigan. Recently we had to end of the year programs at the Lutheran school where Grace, Faith and Luke attend. Luke had a wonderful pre school program with singing and receiving a special photo memory book from his awesome teacher, Mrs. J. We love you so much Robin, Thanks for loving our Luke!!!!! Luke is pictured below with Mrs. J on the night of the program.

Faith had her kindergarten graduation as well, she did great!! She and her class sang, read scripture and acted out skits. I am amazed that our second daughter is getting so old, here comes first grade!!! Faith's teacher Mrs. S is also a gift from God, we love you Jean and we thank God for you and your strong Christian witness to our children!! Faith is pictured reciting her scripture and holding her flower after the performance.

Lastly, are things I have spotted up in our trees of late. "The Big Three" loved climbing this tree tonight out in our woods behind our home. They were having a great time in it. They pretended it was a fort, "tree-school" and a ship of some sort. They kept saying "don't you just love nature, Mom?!!" Tomorrow is all planned out already, they will come home from school and head back out to "tree-school" to play. What a blessing warm weather is!!!!

We also have a Cardinal's nest in a large shrub/tree on the side of our house. I was thrilled that Kelly found it!!!! Most of you already know I a huge bird lover and any chance to peek into their world just delights me. This is a picture from the nest this evening. Praise God for his creation, new life springs forth in his time.

Lastly, I have a SECRET : ) It will be revealed in about a month or so until than stick with me, it will be worth the wait!! Just to stop this rumor immediately, no I am NOT pregnant and we are not currently adopting again. Blessings to you all~