New blog!!

It's done! I had a new blog designed by a travelmate's daugher and it is up and ready! I am so excited to reveal it to everyone. Alexis is so talented and she is doing blog designs to raise money for future mission trips or to sponsor orphans. Wow, to have a heart for orphans at the age of 15. Check out her blog. After you check out her blog jump over to my new blog. Make sure you bookmark it or become a follower because this will be our new blog that I will be posting to. I am retiring For the love of Claire. Our journey to Claire is over but our adventure as a family is just beginning. Thank you for following our journey to Claire. I now invite you to share in our blessings as a family of 6 on our new blog.

African Children's Choir

On January 30, we had the awesome opportunity to have the African Children's Choir come to our church to perform. Oh my goodness, these kids are so impressive. They sing with such passion and joy. They were nonstop motion with the most infectious smiles! I could have listened to them all night. This particular group of kids were from Uganda. All of the kids are either orphans or are from very poor villages where their parents can't afford to take care of them. They range in ages 7 to 11. Thanks to the work of the African Children's Choir these kids are learning about Jesus and recieving an education that otherwise they would have no access to. These precious children now have a hope for their future. For more information about the choir check out their website. What an awesome night of worship it was!

 

See the girl on the end I could not take my eyes off of her. Her smile just didn't stop.

 

 

 

Friends, Claire and Teddi, shared a cookie after the performance!

One Word Wednesday!

JOY!!!

 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mario!!

Yesterday, we celebrated the 12th birthday of Mr. Mario. I can't believe that he is 12 already. Wow, almost a teenager! We are so proud of the young man that he is becoming. Mr. Mario our prayer for you is that you will continue to seek God and His will for your life. Let God lead you and continue to work hard in all you do. We love you!

Mr. Mario at 3 months old..He was such a beautiful baby..

 

Mr. Mario celebrating his first birthday..

 

Mr. Mario today. Yes, he dreams of having a hummer someday!

 

Mr. Mario happy with his new webkinz.

 

Mr. Mario showing his presents from his siblings..

Special visitors..

We have been blessed by a visit from our friends in Virginia. We became friends when we lived there from 2001-2004. We have been able to maintain that friendship despite the miles that separate us. It just does this mom's heart good to hear the kids together again laughing and sharing their lives once again. We just wish we could get together more often. This was the first time that they had met Claire. Claire enjoyed having extra people in the house to entertain! We taught Claire how to sign each of their names but for some reason the sign goodnight stuck to their mom. I think the first night Claire and her kept signing goodnight to each other so goodnight is the name she got. Claire still signs each of the kids and then goodnight and then signs bye-bye and airplane. So I think goodnight will be her name from now on (I kind of like it!). Here are some pictures from our visit.

Mr. Speedy and BD..



Miss NJ and CL..




Claire and Goodnight!



Claire, BD, and Goodnight!



Mr. Mario, Mr. Speedy, and BD



The kids,aren't they cute?



Best friends..


The boys..


The kids in front of a famous landmark; can you name it?

Claire is our "American Idol"

OK, it's true our family watches American Idol. We enjoy watching the auditions and seeing who is going to Hollywood. Well, it looks like Claire likes American Idol as well. The kids have a microphone for one of their Wii games and this weekend they had it out to play with. Well, Claire picked it up and started singing but she had to have a tag on her chest first, just like the contestants on American Idol. She sang with such passion and conviction. She then wanted a "magic" paper that the contestants get when they are told that they are going to Hollywood. We laughed and laughed. In fact, it did my heart good to see her singing. No it isn't singing with words we recognize but she is singing with her heart. Watch the video I did with my camera and then tell me how she knows that singing is different than talking. She is definitely singing. Remember she is profoundly deaf in both ears.


Sorry that it is turned sideways. I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

It is the year of the Ox!

 

 

Claire says "Happy Chinese New Year!" We celebrated yesterday with a trip to HuHot, yummy!