7 Year Referral Day Anniversary!!

7 years ago today (Aug 21)  I received a call from Deborah at my agency and my life was forever changed in the most amazing, wonderful, awesome way!  I was a Mom and sweet Hannah XiaoFen (just 5 1/2 months at referral!!) was waiting for me in Hunan, China!

While parts of the day are a blur, some of it I remember like it was yesterday!!  LOL – could be because of the number of times I’ve watched these life-changing videos!!

Referral Video – Part 1

Referral Video – Part 2

Some other pictures from today’s photo shoot.

And a walk down referral day memory lane…

2015 – 6.5yo

2014 – 5.5yo

2013 – 4.5yo

2012 – 3.5yo

2011 – 2.5yo

2010 – 17 months

‘The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.’

Psalm 118:23

Cottage Time 2016–Part 2

Summer and time at the cottage offers us time to relax and enjoy things our day to day life just doesn’t normally offer.  Hannah enjoyed feeding the ducks when they would come by for a visit (and snack!) each day.

Snack time for Hannah too.  Seriously, can you beat that view looking out the cottage windows??

Enjoying a ride in ‘Bampa’s Boat.’

Thanks for driving Uncle Dave – aka ‘Captain!’

Any good ride in the boat has only one destination in mind….ice cream!!

Enjoying a refreshing swim after our boat ride.

We also tried something new called Goose Chase which is a glorified scavenger hunt using our phones and posting pics to win points.  We had so much fun!  Love all the time our family was able to spend together!!

It was also a treat to have family who live a distance from us visit for a day!  Uncle Tim and Aunt Chris.

Their son, my cousin Sean and his kiddos.

Another great year at MBC!

We’ll be back…..

Cottage Time 2016–Part 1

Mom and Dad rented a cottage at the beginning of the summer which along with school ending signifies summer has officially begun!  My brother and SIL rented a trailer in the same location so there was lots and lots of family time!  (We laughed when we arrived at Kid’s Ministry to see that the girls were wearing matching outfits – especially since Trish and I hadn’t even bought these together!)

Later in the day we began playing Goose Chase and the girls enjoyed doing this to meet one of the challenges.

Campfires are always a special part of cottage time.  Sometimes we enjoy Campfire Cones

and other times Smores!

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying time with their grandkids.

Vacation Bible School 2016

One of the highlights of the summer comes the very first week after school ends when Hannah and many of her friends attend Vacation Bible School! 

This year’s theme was Deep Sea Discovery and as always the church went all out decorating for this great week for the kids!

There were over 500 kids in attendance and almost 200 volunteers!  I love this pic as it’s some of the Grades 6-8 kids who attended.  Such an important age group to still have involved!

The kids raised money all week by bringing in coins to help support and orphanage.  They met one of the goals so one of the leaders spent Friday sporting this blonde wig which the kids loved!

Friday morning parents were invited to attend a performance by their kiddos.   I love seeing my little girl praising the Lord!!

What a perfect way for Hannah to start her summer!

Strawberry Picking

Hannah and I always enjoy strawberry picking and this year we were able to go the very first evening that the fields opened!  We went with friends Payton and Gage which made it extra special!

The section we started in had us working hard for each and every tiny berry. 

That didn’t stop us from tasting them though!

Hannah’s version of ‘Where’s Waldo’

On Hannah’s travels she found a new patch with HUGE berries in it!  Way to go Hannah!!

After working hard to fill our small containers, we filled her princess bucket in short order when the new berries were found!

This picture makes me giggle!  Where people weren’t picking the fields were full of seagulls.  Sometimes they’d take to flight and you had to be careful they didn’t drop ‘something’ on you!  In this movie the gulls had a little encouragement to take off but it’s a good representation of what would take place every few minutes and we could hear drop, drop, drop around us!

It was a successful evening of strawberry picking with friends!  Tammy and I work in the same building and met last year when her family won a trip to Disney and someone put us in contact to help with planning.  A great friendship was formed between us and now our kids are wonderful friends too!

Another year of strawberry picking is in the books!    Love our annual traditions!!