Little Girl Alone

Five years ago this month there was a little 3 year old girl found alone. She was wearing green clothes, a pair of jeans, and a pair of red leather shoes. She also had on a backpack with 3 changes of clothing.

Today this little girl is not alone and never will be again. She has a mom, dad, and 2 sisters. She is no longer and orphan. This Sunday is set aside as Orphan Sunday. Is there something you can do to help the over 140 million orphans out there?  Feel free to contact me for more info about our adoption or how you can help.



Our Adoption Journey to Rae from Donna Dear on Vimeo.

"I've Got to Get it in My Head"

It's that time of year where the girls are learning parts for their various Christmas productions. Hannah is playing the part of Elizabeth in the homeschool Christmas production. Rae is learning song in the children's choir at church. Emily, I think, will be reading in the adult Christmas production. So,it will be a little busy. Rae got a CD to learn her part. She loves listening to the songs, but she didn't think she could sing on stage with her friends and do a solo. Natalie really wants her to do one, and she wanted to find one she can sing and work with her on. Rae kept thinking she just couldn't do it. This week she has learned her solo part. We have to work a little more on the pronunciation, but it is so sweet to hear.

Party Time!

Last weekend we celebrated Rae's birthday. She had some of her friends over and had a Dollie and Me Tea Party. Hannah set up a blanket with a places for the girl's dolls where they played with their dolls. There was a food fight between the dolls, but thankfully it is was with fake food.

 After all the girls arrived, the girls made fascinators to wear during the party. It was a lot of fun creating their own little hats. I was thankful to have help from the older siblings. The girls looked so cute in their fascinators. Rae was excited to open all of her presents, and she got more Legos and some clothing for her AG dolls. She was very thankful for all her gifts but could not wait to eat cake and ice cream. But before that - they decorated sugar cookies.  It is one of her favorite things, and they were for the girls to take home. 

Her cake this year was strawberry with strawberry cream cheese frosting.  She also designed it.  She wanted to draw butterflies on it, but it was going to be to difficult for her, so we came up with another option.  I had her draw butterflies on paper and I melted white chocolate and traced them on wax paper.  She added them all over her cake.  It was very cute and delicious and topped off with her favorite ice cream - mint chocolate chip. 

Rae had a wonderful birthday, but I think she was a little sad it was over.  It was a great 3 days celebrating her.  I am not sure if her favorite was her party or getting to stay up late on Friday watching movies with her sisters having a "sister sleep-over"

Doll Tea Party

The lovely ladies in their fascinators

Birthday Girl!

the cake

playing on the swing set

Thank you to all the girls who helped Rae celebrate her birthday.  She had a wonderful time, and we hope you did too.

The Love has Ended

This past week was the end of the girls 2013 tennis season. Emily was to have a game on Friday but was called on the count of rain. Both girls had 2 matches each though. Hubby and I had to split up to be able to see each girl play, so it made for a crazy week. Rae having a doctor appointment thru a little hiccup in the plans as well.

Monday, Hannah was hoping the varsity team would win to tie the school record for most wins, but they came up short in one match. Hannah had a great first year as a high school player. She got to play singles and doubles and is the top freshman on her team. She has worked hard to show her coaches she is willing to take on any challenge. She had some tough losses, but she finished with a great win against Lancaster JV 3rd singles player by winning 8-0. She was happy Pastor Troy was there to see her win. The JV team did a great job on the last match of the season with winning most of the matches. Her goal in the off-season is to learn to spin the ball, improve her serves, and make varsity next year. The past couple of spring seasons she has been able to play on the middle school boy's team, but this year she will not. We will looking at different options for her to better her game. Her ultimate goal is to beat her dad. She is not too far from it.

Emily had a great season as well. She had wins and losses as well in singles and doubles. Her game has really improved especially her serving. She will be the only 8th grader next year on the middle school team, so she is planning to work hard in the off-season to improve. She will hopefully get to play on the boy's middle school team this spring. Playing with the boys has really helped their games.

We are happy for life to have slowed for a little, and we can get ready for a little vacation coming up.  We will be able to eat more dinner at home together now. Rae is happy because she will be able to start playing tennis again.

getting ready to finish off the match

Asian Pear Time

Having a child from another country you learn about all kinds of new things. Frequently Rae has asked for me to buy pears, but usually they have not been in season or I would forget. I was recently with a friend who works for a local orchard and she informed me about Asian pears. I actually had never heard of them, but I did find them in the store and bought a couple of them for the little one. She loves them.

 The friend that works for the orchard told me that she always gets calls to when the Asian pears are ready to pick. So, I looked up on their website to see when they are ready and marked it on the calendar. This past Friday was the day. I heard they would go fast, so we headed out early to pick. Rae was so excited for just the two of us to go pick. We arrived with our bags, and she was determined to find the biggest pears she could find and reach.  It was little funny for myself to be in the minority there.  There were many there with large bags and wagons filled with these pears.  I was relieved to have gotten there early so we did not have to wait in the long line that had formed by the time we were finished.

It was fun picking the pears with Rae, and we have already decided to pick again next year.  I really liked the pears and trying to find some fun things to make with them.

looking for the right pear

Happy Birthday Little One!

Today we celebrate Rae's 8th birthday. She has come a long way and has been counting down the days till her birthday. Tuesday we had our family birthday meal which included going to see the Meatball movie as she calls it.  She had trouble deciding if she wanted spicy wings or spicy noodles.  Noodles won - PF Changs.

We will celebrate with some of her friends Saturday with a Dollie and Me Tea Party.  It is exciting to see her so happy about celebrating something that she has only been doing for now her second time.  I think last year she was still figuring it all out.  This morning she asked for heart shaped waffles, and we opened one of her presents.  This will be a 3 day celebration with tomorrow night the girls will have what they call "Sister Sleepover" when they sleep downstairs and watch movies and eat popcorn and snacks.  Different presents will be opened over these 3 days as well.

It is fun seeing her so excited.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRETTY GIRL!!!