Jasmine...A Little Starfish on Her Gotcha Day!!

Amanda sent me this darling photo of little Jasmine on her gotcha day. She is wearing one of the new outfits that was sent, so I wanted to post it. I know that if I saw that one of the Starfishes wore an outfit I sent on their gotcha day, it would mean the world to me. I am trying to look through my donation photos so that I can see which family donated it. If you recognize this little outfit as one that you sent, I hope that this photo blesses you.

Good Morning Everyone and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!

Good Morning Everyone and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group! Happy Memorial Weekend!

CONGRATULATIONS!! We have some new babies coming!

to Gail from 'Aging With Grace' for the referral of a new son who will be named Will.

to Paulette from 'Love You Forever' for the referral of a new daughter who will be named Annaliese.

A Little Evening Fishing...

Memorial Day

I am taking Friday off from work, so I am kicking my Memorial Day Weekend off early. I have to say that the families of the fallen soldiers from this war we are still in are filling my thoughts today. I saw the photo that is in my header and I just couldn't escape the magnitude of it. There are over 5,000 mothers who will mourn their sons and daughters this weekend, their children who have passed away in this war. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents all who will spend this weekend in painful tears over their loss. My heart goes out to them and to the families who have lost loved ones in previous wars. God Bless Them.

For Linda...A Look Around the House...

This is a quick look around our downstairs. I didn't photograph our 3 seasons room, which where you come into the house, but this is where we spend most of our time. It is a very open floor plan.

You can't see Tim's desk very well, but it is on the right. What you can see is Eli's little TV area. We have been really challenged by television and games. There are things our 15 year old can watch and play that our 12 year old can't. And things our 12 year old can watch that our 3 year old can't. So, Eli has his little area where he can watch his Disney videos and play.

Below is our living room. It's kind of dark because the ceiling is a stained wood. So, while the ceiling is white in our dining room, it is brown in the living room and kitchen which makes lighting a challenge. But I love the warmth it provides.

This is our kitchen. I kept all of the flowers that Tim has given me since we met and dried them and they are above the cupboards in my kitchen. You can see some of them. I also have all different knobs on my cupboard doors. I have some from Disney World and all different places.


I like a clean home, but I'm not a stickler about a tidy home. I need clean bathrooms and clean floors, but everything doesn't necessarily have a specified place and I don't sweat the small stuff. We definitely have some clutter around here, but I can live with it.
Our home has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. If I could change one thing about it, it would definitely be to add more storage. And I have always wanted a HUGE bathtub, maybe someday...

I LOVE THIS ONE!

I love this time of year...

There is a golf course behind our house that we drive through in order to get home. At the main entrance, the road has about 20 very large lilac bushes on each side. They are at least 20 feet tall. For only about two weeks each year, the bushes bloom and it smells so wonderful. I always bring home a vase full so that we can enjoy that wonderful smell. Eli likes to get his nose right into them!

Home to Me...

I have lived here almost half of my life. I am at perfect peace here. It's like my soul finds comfort from the water.


I have the same type of relationship with my house. I love my house. I can never imagine living anywhere else.

I couldn't even tell you how many hours I have spent on this porch next to a fire in our firepot. It is our family place on summer evenings. We roast marshmallows, talk and stay warm. I love fires. I never grow tired of sitting by one and watching the sun go down.

This is the view from my front porch.

This is our dock. I love to sit on the bench at the end with Tim and enjoy a cup of coffee on weekend mornings. I hit tennis balls as hard as I can off of the end of it and our black lab Cooper runs all the way down the dock and jumps off into the water to get bring them back. We also catch a lot of fish off of it!

All of my children were born and raised on this lake. They have known each neighbor since they were small children. They are as tied to it as I am. I cannot wait to wrap Sophia in a blanket and hold her close to me on my porch next to a warm fire. I cannot wait for her to become as much of a part of this place as we are.

Happy Birthday Heather!

Happy Birthday Heather! I heard from Lisa that it is your special day, so I hope that it has been wonderful! Heather's blog is 'Our Little Ladybugs'.

Please Send a Hug to Robin...

Please join me in sending a hug to our dear friend Robin from RedThreadStitches. Her personal blog is 'Dreaming of Tea for Two'. She has been sick for the past couple of days and sewing around the clock to get her orders completed. Thank you to everyone who has placed orders. It has been amazing to see how successful her fundraiser has been. And also, thank you for your patience while she is working to complete close to 500 orders. I know that despite the success of her sewing campaign, they still do not have the total funds owed to their agency this month. So please, if anyone can make a donation to her cause, now is the time. She also has the IPOD raffle going on.
I know that uplifting comments would mean the world to her right now, so if you could please visit her blog, that would be wonderful. She is one of the gentlest souls I know here in blogland. If you are a praying person, please pray for their adoption journey.

Sunday...

3 Word Sunday...Win A wii

Win A wii


Please support the Waala family. They are selling raffle tickets for $5 each and the winner gets a new wii! This is a joint effort between two sibling families who each is adopting an older child from China, so they need to raise twice the funds. www.waalahouseoffun.blogspot.com