Labor Day

Scott and Cade got home late Saturday night and we were all happy about that. So we didn't have any plans for Labor Day and just decided to grill out some sea bass Scott caught and do some fireworks to celebrate. The kid's big excitment was spinning each other in the deck chairs followed by popsciles ( oh when life was simple!). Lila was helping us with the prep work and I just love this pic of them. So overall we had a very relaxing day.

Ready for Church

Well this weekend has been boring for Jake, Lila and I. Scott took Cade to Charleston to trade out trucks with my dad so he could haul around the Royal Restrooms trailers ( new side business). I just couldn't stomach the thought of the 10 hr drive with the kids and the dogs by myself( Scott would be driving the huge truck) for 2 days at Gigi & Pop-pops so we stayed home. Jake was going to go when at the last minute he changes his mind because I was staying home with Lila and the dogs. A few hrs past when he started asking "When are Dad and Cade going to be home?" They are not coming home Jake you could have gone with them but you chose to stay! so Friday evening comes and he asks " When is Cade coming home? He has to come home for Halloween!" Once again I tell him he could have gone but chose to stay. Well bed time approaches and now the tears are flowing heavily " I need Cade to come home right now. I'm going to Gigi & Pop-pops tomorrow and it will only take 1 hr!! He cried for about 20 mins and fell asleep. They have never been separated that I can remember so it was an adjustment for Jake. I have to admit it hurt my heart to see him miss his brother so much. Maybe next time he won't stay home! This morning Lila came down with her Cowgirl hat, heart necklace and " Lila" bag ( gift from Aunt Libby) and was ready for church!! I am pretty sure I will be changing her clothes before we go. I hope everyone has a great Labor day !!!!

First Day of School!!!

Well the day has finally come when Jake and Cade board the big yellow bus together ! They were so excited that we were at the bus stop about 20 min early. Everyone was happy and until the bus came and Lila realized she was not going to get on that bus with her big brothers and the tears started to roll!
Last night I made them a chocolate pie to celebrate the upcoming school bus milestone and they all dug in. I think they liked the whipped cream more than the chocolate. I am so proud of my boys and hope they really like school this year ....oh time goes to fast!

The Starfish Thrower

I love this story. I read it the blog for Starfish Foster Care run by an amazing South African women in Xian Province, China(Lila's home province). This sums up her philosophy and check out the foster care's blog: http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/ the all do incredible work for these deserving kids!

The Starfish Thrower

Once upon a time there was a man
who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking on the beach
before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think of someone
who would dance to the day.So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was an older man and the man wasn't dancing.
Instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something
and very gently throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The older man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish into the ocean."
The man noticed that there were hundreds of starfish
all washed up on the beach from a storm the night before.
He watched as the man carefully continued to pick up the starfish
one by one."I guess I should have asked, ‘Why are you throwing
starfish in the ocean?’"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
If I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"
The older man listened politely.He bent down, picked up another starfish
He looked at the starfish as he prepared to throw it into the ocean,
past the breaking waves and said –
"I will make a difference to this one!"

Copy Cat

Cade is getting so excited about school and proceeded to put on his new self chosen Rain Forest backpack (embellished with tree frog patch) on and his camo baseball cap and was ready to go collect bugs. Well Lila saw his attire and wanted a backpack and hat so I went and found Jake's backpack from when he was 3 and Cade's Superman Cap and she was happy. Of course Mable had to get in to picture with Lila! I have to say that even though Lila will have only been home 6 weeks tomorrow I can not remember her not being here! She has exceeded our expectations.We( I was) were expecting for her to be shy and a bit behind for her age, but that is so very far from reality. Lila is just an easy going kid that rolls with the punches and is smart to boot!! I must say I feel like we won the jackpot when we were matched with her. She was meant to be our daugher and we could not be more blessed to be her parents!!

3's a Crowd ....

...when you are trying to exercise!! So in my wisdom I set up the ball tent to try and get on the treadmill without any interruptions!! Yeah Right!! I usually wait until Lila is napping and the boys are usually no trouble. Lila loved all the balls and then they decided to start throwing them at each other and in about 5 mins the first victim, Jake, was in tears from a ball to the eye (lets keep in mind these are plastic hollow balls very light weight so no real damage was done).So needless to say I will no longer try to exercise with three kids around! When school starts things will be much easier and I will have no excuses not to get on that torture machine!

It's Offical.... Lila is a US Citizen!!!!!

Well today we received Lila Ailing Stark's official Certificate of Citizenship and a nice note from President Bush! This was a great document to see; we have finally made it through this process and it has been worth all the ups and downs! We also went to the SS office and applied for her card and it should be here in 2 weeks.