Concert and Art show

 

 

 

 

Brandon had an art show at school and a concert. It was his first concert where he performed in his little show choir. He did a great job and smiled a lot!

Nerf Gun Party

 

When you have a child (or 2) in April, you always hope for good weather for birthday parties. The weekend of Brandon's party, we were hoping to have everything outside. Not the case at all. It rained and was icky all weekend. He had 7 friends over for a Nerf Gun Party. The boys all had some wild fun, but I sure wish it hadn't rained. At least the house is still standing.

Piano Recital

 

 

Brandon has THE BEST piano teacher ever. She is the kids' choir director, too, at church. She is a phenomenal woman and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. Brandon did a fabulous and speedy job at his recital!

Chicago

Barry had his Annual Credit Union Convention in Chicago this past weekend. He has classes to go to during the day and at night we took his Board out for dinner, etc. We had a great time and it was fun getting to have time together.

Boys turn another year older!

 

 

Logan recently turned 14 and Brandon turned 11. Hard to believe that they are growing up so fast and changing daily!

Celebrating 5 years with Anna

Hard to believe that it has been 5 years since my Dad and Barry and I went to China to bring Anna home. She was a very petite and tiny little 13.5 month old who had the most precious eyes we had ever seen. She was about the size of a 8-9 month old and weighed about 17 pounds. What wonderful memories we have of meeting Anna on that special day in Nanning, China on April 4, 2005! The room was amazing. All 10 of the Lifelink families were "giving birth" all at the same time. It was very noisy! Lots of crying babies, but Anna was a quiet one who just wanted to lok around at us. She is now a very tall kindergartener with LONG legs, wears size 11.5 shoes and weighs 37 pounds. She is eating like a horse, though, so she is probably a pound or two heavier!

We all feel like she has always been with us. She has been such a blessing to this family and to others. Her brothers adore her and she adores them. She has thrived in every way possible and become such a wonderful young and caring lady. If you ever doubt that adoption may or may not be for your family, please talk to us. We are so very blessed to have been chosen to be Jin Yan Yi's forever family.

flowers

 

 

 

 

I got a new camera in March, so I have been having fun trying it out.

Egg Hunt with Justin

 

Justin was on Spring Break so he came a played for a while a couple of days. The kids had fun hunting for treats and treasures.

Easter Weekend

 

 

 

Fishing

This weekend

 

This weekend we went to another one of Logan's competitions. The group got second place and Logan did a great job on his solo.

Fun weekend!

 

 

 

Last weekend Anna and I headed to visit some of her China friends. Three of the girls were in her orhanage in Guiping City, Guangxi (Carly, Kailee and Claire) and Karli is a buddy whose family also used Lifelink (from Guizhou). The mom's had a blast and so did the girls. It was like the girls have known each other forever. We hadn't seen Claire for 1.5 years, but it didn't matter. The girls just picked up right where they left off. We do get to see Kailee, Carly and Karli more often. I go to Marco with their mom's.

Anyway....we hung out at the hotel, ordered Chinese food, swam and did crafts. Claire didn't sleep over and the girls missed her. The next day we went to the mall and the girls made Bunny's at Build a Bear.

All in all a wonderful weekend with friends.
Click on collage to make them bigger.

Brandon's 'Nature Men'

 

 

 

 

Brandon spent the night at my parents' house a couple weekends ago and the next day they all went outside and made these Nature Snowmen.

Logan's Show Choir

 

 

 

 

Logan is in full competition season now with his Show Choir. They got Grand Champion at one comp and second place at the next. He is doing a great job with his solo this year in "Boogie Shoes". It is fun to go and watch these things and remember when Barry and I were in it.....and my sister, too!

My parents went Saturday and Dad took some great pictures.

Birthday party

 

 

 

 

It was all about princesses and pink here on Saturday. Anna had some friends come over. All princesses and one prince...Justin, of course. We read the Princess and the Pea and the kids had to see if they could feel the pea under their mattress, too. (pillows and a tennis ball)We made lots of crafts, had a royal dessert and tons of fun! Boy was I tired after all that. That night my parents and Julie and her fam came over to celebrate Ash and Alijah's bday, too, and Anna's.

On Anna's birthday, I did Chinese New Year in her class. My mom helped, too. I did a craft rotation and we fisnished the day with a feast of Iveny and Ricky's yummy sweet and sour chicken. The kids LOVED it. I was so proud of the kids for trying something new and they loved it. It was fun!

A week of parties....OVER!