♥ 3 Years Today! ♥

Three years ago today, we arrived home from China with our newest American citizen just in time for the 4th!

Asleep on the flight home....but don't let this fool you...he might have slept an hour out of 15 hours!

In some ways it doesn't seem possible that it's been 3 years and in other ways, it feels like he's always been with us because he belongs here.

Just home....4th of July 2010

Forever ours.  We are blessed.  We are thankful.  :)

Taken yesterday - July 2, 2013

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Handyman in Training ♥

Our Luke is definitely an outdoor kid.  He loves playing in the sandbox, digging in the dirt, hauling stuff, building stuff, riding bikes.....anything that has to do with outside.  And even when he's inside, he's still building constantly.

And he loves to help....always asking, "Can I help?"    So I figure we better train him well so one day he will be a handyman like his daddy.   His future wife will be most thankful I'm sure.  :)

Pop gave him water and a brush to practice his painting skills first.....

Then he helped me paint the deck some....... and he wasn't too bad at it either.

Learning to handle the tiller.....

He handles this mower like a pro....My daddy (Pop) taught him.  He's pretty proud of him I think.....of how fast he caught on...especially for the type of mower it is.  Pop set up cones for him to maneuver around and everything.  Lol!   I venture to say he could mow our lawn by the time he's 8!

And he loves to help water stuff....but what boy doesn't love handling a water hose?  :)

It takes more time to stop and allow him to help and show him how to do something, but it is so worth the smile of satisfaction on his face and knowing that we're training him for the future....hopefully a wonderful handyman one day  :)

Wild hair man....that's what hard work does!  :)  

Thanks for stopping by today!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Two Year Forever Family Day Anniversary

Sometimes our time in China seems like just yesterday and other times like another lifetime. Yet, today is the second anniversary of our Forever Family Day…….the day when Luke literally walked into our lives forever.

June 20, 2010 - Our Forever Family Day

These two were tight from the beginning.  And yes, we introduced him to McDonalds the very first day. 

Oh my, we were just remarking the other day at how far he’s come! He hardly seems like the same child that wouldn’t dare go into another room without us. He actually asks to go out in the backyard now and ride his bike on the sidewalk or play in the sand box without me…….. OR his Joy. (Gasp)! That really is a huge thing! I can be working in the kitchen and keep an eye on him through the bay windows and he’s fine with that. I notice him from time to time looking at me through there and I just wave or give him a thumbs-up.

His language skills have sky rocketed. Folks remark about how southern he sounds though. This weekend, my sister-in-law-, Missy was just saying that he cracks her up with his southern drawl. It just seemed funny to her coming from his little Chinese self. He sometimes gets carried away with something he’s heard but doesn’t quite get it right or is just so cute.  Here are a few examples:

Me:  Luke, Be careful…..you nearly knocked your sister over

Luke:  Well……I told Joy scuse me... but she didn’t scuse.

****************************************************************************************

Me:  Luke, you are in my personal space, son.

Luke:   But mama, I LOOOVE your personal space.

****************************************************************************************

Luke to Joy: You like them beautiful flies?

He was referring to butterflies.

****************************************************************************************

Luke at the supper table: I love this sally!

  He loved the salad.

****************************************************************************************

Luke to Joy: Joy, you angerted me up!

She made him mad.

****************************************************************************************

Luke to Joy:  Look Joy, I’m making a hench braid.

He was attempting a French braid on one of her dolls.

****************************************************************************************

Luke to me (just last night):   Mommy, could you fix me a healthy drink?

Me:  (Laughing along with Jason and Joy)…What’s a healthy drink, Luke?

Luke: Water

****************************************************************************************

And some of his words to try to impress:

I have an urgent job for you.

Are you positively?

Nice and steady, now.

I won’t let you down; you can rely on me.

That’s radical.

Are you prepared?

It’s kind of difficult.

****************************************************************************************

His word for lemonade: enomade

His word for computer: pacuter

It will be kind of sad to see those words go.  :(

****************************************************************************************

In his sandbox June 2011

June 2011

June 2011 - Coming back from the Drive-In Movies

Life around here is never dull; nor would I want it to be. He is full of life. He has the heartiest laugh that just makes you laugh just to hear it. And he’s a loving little guy. He’s also very sensitive too. He loves learning and is constantly asking me if we are “doing school”. (I hope this continues).

Some of his latest accomplishments are learning to say the Pledge Allegiance to the Flag and sing a song we taught him to go with it; memorizing his phone number, days of the week, his birthday; counting to 30; writing his name; and he goes around saying words and emphasizing their beginning sound and proclaiming what they begin with. He’s very good at puzzles. The thing that’s got me stumped is that he still hasn’t learned all his colors. That came easy to my other two so this is different for me. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s color blind! Lol!

Luke has a great sense of direction. He is exceptionally quiet during drives to town paying close attention to where we are going and landmarks. He remembers and tells us where we are! He prefers to get on the interstate because he likes to 18-wheeler watch.

His favorite TV shows to watch right now are Little House on the Prairie, Dora, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Curious George.

June 2012 - In his sandbox

He’s a big boy, 43 1/4” tall – solid, but not really chunky – all 52 lbs of him!

He comes across as shy and acts a little silly when meeting someone new. That changes when he gets comfortable with that person. The real Luke emerges then.

June 2012

I can’t imagine life without Luke. We’re so grateful that God chose to bring him into our family. What a blessing he is!

If Luke's up to it (he's running a little fever), we’ll probably go out for ice cream tonight to celebrate two years! I think he would like that.

Taken today on his 2nd Forever Family Anniversary - June 20, 2012

Outside today on the iPad together - These two are still pretty tight.  June 20, 2012

Thanks for stopping by and for following our Journey to Luke! For anyone new tuning in, you can read more by clicking on the Journey to Luke button on my sidebar. And just for fun, you can read last year’s One Year Forever Family Anniversary Post here and see just how far he’s come in one year!

Thanks for stopping by and for following our Journey to Luke!  :)

Have You Ever Been This Tired?

Have you ever been SO tired you just wanted to fall over right then and there?

Well I believe that all three of my kids are experts at it. They could go to sleep anywhere anytime. (And I have the pictures to prove it). Forget the noise or anything else that was going on, they just stop and sleep. Except Colt did have this thing about not letting me sleep at night, but that’s another story.

Most of these pictures today are of Luke, but it’s only because I had all these pictures on my computer and the photos of Colt and Joy are in albums (that require scanning and my scanner isn’t working right now). But suffice it to say that I have pics of them standing up sleeping as well.

I also have the cutest video of Colt eating a lollipop and falling asleep (when he was a little under two). In his sleep, he remembers he must have been eating something and his tongue is constantly searching for his lollipop. I should have entered it in America’s Funniest Videos, because it is hilarious……and precious to me!

Luke goes and goes until he can’t go anymore. Then he just stops to sleep.

He hasn’t taken a planned nap in a few months now. That’s mostly because I just don’t enforce it anymore. He really just seemed to be requiring naps less and less during the day. I remember when Joy hit four years old, she was done with naps too (although she was my best sleeper at night..going to bed the same time and getting up the same time).  She slept all night the first night home from the hospital and unless she was sick, she always had that routine.   Colt took naps until he was older I believe, but it was probably because I laid down with him and took one too!  :)

However, when evening gets here, Luke just goes to sleep anywhere he wants if he doesn’t make it to the bed first, and in any position, I might add.

Usually he gets somewhere near one of us, whether that’s on the chair or couch......

 Or in this case, under the dining room table.

However, Luke can’t resist a nap in the car. Driving puts him to sleep usually while he’s absorbed in all the 18-wheelers on the interstate. Actually the drive from our house to town is just long enough to put all our kids out for a nap. There were many days after church (especially when Colt was little) that we’d pull up at the house and he was napping, so we would recline our seats and finish up a little nap because if we turned off the car, his eyes popped open. We grabbed our sleep whenever we could with that boy!

Luke sleeps like a rock all night long. Now mind you, arms and legs are all over the place owning the bed, but he sleeps well and all night long!

So……are you sleepy yet? :)

Squeezing in a Little Fun Time

Too many days or evenings have been spent in hospitals or funeral homes here lately. In between all of this, we’ve had some normal moments and just some fun times we’ve squeezed in just for the sake of giving the kids something to look forward to or something more uplifting.

One evening after visiting Jason’s dad at the hospital, we discovered it was the last night of the carnival in town and Joy had been asking to go. So it was late….really too late to have our 4 year old out, but we stopped in for about an hour and a half of fun for the kids. It was a nice distraction from all the sadness lately. And I had forgotten just how entertaining those carnival folks can be. :) Let’s just say that I am convinced that one of the requirements to work a carnival is that you have to be very unique. Joy has her theory but we won't talk about that here. :) We definitely got a few laughs and are still laughing when we recall those moments!

Joy is up there on the top. :)

Luke rode everything with Joy except the Moby Dick and the ferris wheel.

One day after a doctor’s appointment, we stopped in at the big city park. My niece, Laci, was here from Alabama for her spring break. Bless her heart, we didn’t get to do many fun things while she was here because of everything that has been going on, but we managed to do a little. They enjoyed a little bit of fun at the park followed by a trip of Baskin Robbins for ice cream.

Luke loves his preschool games on the iPad. It’s a wonderful tool to keep him busy (and happy) while we are getting very needed time to work on our school and he's getting a little school and doesn't even realize it!  :) He is quite a whiz at it now! Maybe better than me! :)

Before his very needed haircut by Amber.

When we went to Alabama for my Grandma’s funeral, Missy (my SIL) gathered all the grandkids and attempted to get a picture of them all together while we had them all in one place. It’s not that great of a picture and it was no easy task trying to get them all to cooperate at the same time. But it is what it is. At least they’re all there!

Luke loved his job of trying to keep Ellie still....can you tell?  :)   From the top left to right:  Trey & Colt,  next row Kemper & Joy.  Next row down Laci & Luke and Sydey & Ellie in the front. 

And I did get a couple of pictures of Joy and Luke on Easter before they came in from church and got comfortable out of their Easter clothes. Colt came out later for lunch and I never even pulled the camera out the rest of the afternoon. I wish that I had!

Obviously, I needed my glasses on when I took this picture. I cut Joy’s head off! I think that is payback because I used to tease my mom about doing that!

Okay, I did a little better here, but it’s on the blurry side. In my defense, I was using Joy's point and shoot camera (which I am not used to), not my camera because the battery on mine was dead.

I'm thankful that we were able to grab a few enjoyable family moments the past few weeks.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If I haven't been around to visit your blog lately, it's not because I don't want to. Don't give up on me! :)

Have a great day!

Spring Days

Spring is officially here, although we’ve actually had spring like days for quite awhile now! So much for our persimmon seed weather prediction of lots of snow for the winter, huh?

With weather so beautiful, Jason was able to (finally) finish Amber’s cabinet! He put the finishing touches on it Monday evening and the cabinet is now in its new home at the salon. I really like the way it turned out!  (I snapped a picture of it before it was loaded up and ready to go).

Notice the addition on the side? It is removable if Amber so desires. It holds her hair styling equipment……..hair dryer, curling irons, and flat irons….etc….

Nearly two weeks ago, on another beautiful weekend, we were blessed to attend my Grandma’s 94th birthday party. She is an amazing woman! She has done remarkably well for her age. However, we did receive word last night that she is in the hospital. She apparently had a light heart attack and has pneumonia on one side. I’d appreciate it if you remember Grandma in your prayers!

That same weekend of Grandma’s birthday party, we were blessed to meet a very sweet blogging friend, Betty of Through My Back Door! Betty made time to meet with us even though she had been cooking brunch for her granddaughter, Amanda, and her family (whom we have all been praying for). She is such a bubbly precious person! I felt like I have known her forever! Blogging friends are just awesome! Betty also works part time at The Speckled Hen, which is a wonderful primitive store! But as I told her, I’m not sure how she keeps from wanting everything in the store when she goes to work! I’m pretty sure I’d be in trouble if I worked there on a regular basis! Oh to have a store such as that near me! We have nothing of that sort near us. Sharon is the owner of The Speckled Hen and she is one talented lady! Her decorating skills are obvious by looking around her store!  It is such a charming place!

Sharon is a really sweet person too! She gave the kids a candle that they had been admiring (and smelling) the whole time we were there!  :) 

Thank you, Sharon, for opening your store to us, for the candle, and to you and Betty both for making us feel so welcome!

Here we are. That’s Betty next to Joy and Sharon next to Betty.  (Jason was there.....but he was the photographer).

This past weekend, while I was inside the house (all.weekend.long) nursing a migraine headache, and Jason was finishing up Amber’s cabinet, Joy worked with Luke on his baseball skills. The baseball set was a birthday gift from Uncle Richie and Aunt Missy. He loved it!

He had the stance down pretty well.

I don’t think he ever hit a ball though. But he never gave up trying!

I think he actually did more of this…….retrieving the ball.

Pitching was his favorite thing about baseball.  Can you tell by the grin on his face?

Along with spring comes the desire to give the house a good spring cleaning. That is definitely on my to-do list. (Bet you thought I was going to show you a nice clean house now didn’t you?) Not yet......remember I had a migraine all weekend!  We have a certain 4 year old around here that has somehow acquired quite a few toys that need to be organized and…….ahem….donated to kids that don’t have any toys.  :)  We haven’t taken a spring break (as such) from homeschooling, although we’ve had a little bit lighter load this week. I’m hoping to get a little of that spring cleaning done before this week is gone.

I hope you’re all enjoying this spring weather! Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day!  :)