Where is That Button?

"I sick, I want candy" says Caleb. Umm...I don't know where that relation came about especially at 9 am but it didn't materialize even though he is under the weather right now. This ensued in 30 minutes of moaning and crying and the battle of wills began yet again. PS - I won. Didn't I just not too long ago post so proudly how sweet and cute my little boy is? Boy, they can turn on a dime. And just as quickly as it started, it completely stopped and he informed me he can't find his train (apparently the other 15 won't do.)

This leads me to ask the quesiton "Where is that magic on/off button that kids have?" Why haven't I found it somewhere on their body after 6 1/2 years of parenting? How do they get to it without us seeing them? Does it have a dimmer switch? That would really be cool. God has hidden it so well, it's part of His "sense of humor." But, I implore you, mothers of the world unite! We must find this button. Search your children now and get back to me so I can power down my son for a while so he (and I) can rest.

15 months

It's been 15 months since our Log in to China...Still waiting and hoping!

Happy Birthday

Happy 30th Birthday to my "little" sister Katy! (Have I mentioned she just had twins this week and named her little girl after me??) You can see their adorable picture below! She's awesome - love you!

Bon Voyage!

Today one of our best set of family friends Maggie and Alan have taken to the skies to fetch their little 2 1/2 year old son, Garrett, from China to bring him home to their house full of little girls. You can follow their adventures in China on their blog HERE. While you are there leave them a word of encouragement! I can't wait for Caleb's new best friend to come home to us all!!

Introducing...

My sister's twins arrived early this morning!! I have the honor and PRIDE of introducing (sniff, sniff) my namesake Eva Christine...

and her "big" brother by 2 minutes Ethan Robert.
We are so happy to have these little rascals out of the womb (thanks to the full moon)where they were torturing mama by flip flopping in all sorts of positions. They have both been breech for the past week - in Dutch it means "naughty!" But they came out fine and look like sweet angels to me. Eva weighed in at 6.5 and her brother was a healthy size at 6.11 Welcome to our world little ones God has blessed you with a GREAT family and - we love you!

Potty Troubles

Let me ask WHO told my 2 year old son it was a good idea to practice standing up to go tee-tee without turning on the light?

Senerio: I was undressing Caleb for bed when he announced he had to go potty. I let him run out the door to the bathroom as I lingered in his room. When I caught up with him in the dark bathroom, he proudly announced "I stand up..go tee-tee!" Yep, you guessed it, when I turned on the light I had to go for the Scrubbing Bubbles!

Happy Chinese

New Year!

It's the year of the Rat.

This is a very significant holiday time in China where people travel far to visit with family. Please continue to keep this country in your prayers as they are dibilitated by the winter storms that are still hammering much of the country. Pray for the safety and protection of all the children that are dwelling with no heat and running short on warm clothes, diapers and food.

China's Storms

Military dispatched to crush ice on major roads in China

My heart has been touched the past few days. As some of you may have heard China has been experiencing wide spread snow/ice storms that has literally debilitated much of the country. Both ground and air transportation has struggled with this disater. The heart break of it all is that electricity for heaters is cut and those that depend on coal are not able to receive the shipments because of the conditions. There is no heat in the homes and orphanages with small weak babies. Other goods and food supplies are being cut off or at least the demand is causing local prices to sky rocket. Children need such basic materials as warm quilts, food, diapers and heat. Half the Sky is one charity which is collesting and dispensing money to the orphanges to help them with their critical needs. For many of us, our children are already there, lying in the frozen air. Please consider a donation to this charity they have dubbed "Little Mouse Emergency Fund" in recognition of their New Year of the Rat which begins this week.

Click HERE to give

Caleb Part 2

Get out bed! Drink your milk. Eat time! Put on coat - it's cold. Tori, bad doggie. Do you hear me??

No, I did not mistype my words that my children hear from me everyday. These are words that Caleb spouts off to his 6 year old sister at various parts of the day. My two favorites are "Sissy, get up - it's bright!" Meaning there is a peap of dawn on the horizon and it's time for the whole house to be alive.
The other is "Do you hear me?" This is spoken to any of us for any given request that is not met within the expected time frame of a two year old. It's better used on the dog when she's lagging outside "Tori, here. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Here he is in his doggie towel from Mimi and Papa Jacques- cute huh? Caleb still doesn't let us forget Papa Jacques in our prayers as he continues to battle his cancer. So, he's cute and sweet. Today he hugged and kissed all the other children in Sunday School goodbye as he left - good thing he was the only boy in a class full of girls!