A Special Blessing

For Cherish’s ½ birthday Pappy and Nanny gave Cherish this book:

The ABC Bible Verse Book

After having the book for only 2 weeks, Cherish knew about half the book by heart. What’s special is: the beginning letter of a Bible verse correlates with the ABCs. For examples:
A: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
C: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1
H: “Honor your father and your mother.” Exodus 20:12
I: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
J: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8


I am so surprised that the verses have been so easily and quickly memorized by Cherish. The pictures connect so well with the verses, and the pages are so brightly colored and interesting.


I heard Cherish telling the baby we care for, “Fear not, for I am with thee.” She was telling him this the first time he entered the playpen at our house. Cherish climbed in with him and stroked his back several times repeating the verse over and over again. I explained to her that what she was doing for the baby, God does for her. He is always watching and caring…. He wants her to trust Him to take care of her, too.


Also, Cherish likes reading the references, because she really wants to learn her numbers. It’s a win-win situation!


Now, three weeks since we received the book, Cherish can “read” the book all by herself—save 2-3 verses. What a blessing this book has been! We are so thankful for the gift of Scripture!

Happy Father's Day

Today we had a great day celebrating Derek. He is truly a WONDERFUL dad!

The day was filled with so many surprises, some of which I will have to share at another time.

Cherish's gifts for her dad included this shirt...

and lots of swimming pool gifts. So, part of the day included swimming and having water gun fights in the pool, followed by dinner out (which Cherish completely slept through). Oh, well.... She got worn out in the pool. However, she was up and energized for the rest of the evening. Actually, she was still awake in her bed quietly talking to her dolls when Derek and I drifted off to sleep that night.

If you like these family-affirming shirts, you can order them--and other clothing--from: http://www.union28.net/. I have ordered about five shirts now, and Derek really likes each and every one. ☺ Check them out.

Here's a close-up:
It says, "daddy rocks (mommy's right!)".

By the way, though the shirts say "pre-shrunk" they will still shrink a bit--since they are made of 100% cotton. I wash them in cold water and dry on delicate, and still they each shrunk slightly after the first washing. So, if you're thinking of buying, my advice is to buy slightly larger than you think you need (at least with the children's and juniors' sizes).

FCC Monthly Dinner

We are members of a group of families who have all adopted or are in the process of adopting children from China. The group has many activities throughout the month to give the children opportunities to bond with one another. (It's a great time for the parents to talk and learn from each other as well.)


Tonight was FCC's monthly dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. There are so many of us, that from the noise level, any onlooker would have immediately known that the children and adults were all having a fabulous time!

Since I only post pictures of people who have given me permission to do so, I only took a pictures of Cherish before leaving for the dinner. She wanted to wear one of her Chinese outfits, so she dressed up.

She was SO excited to go!

I love her dimples!

On a different note: Yeah for booster seats!!! Cherish is now out of her car seat and into a booster seat! She can even buckle herself in! Also, with the dresses and full skirts Cherish wears, it is SO much easier to use a lap belt rather than with the five-point harness of a car seat! Yahoo!

It Never Happened Before...

Asleep during story time:

Cherish loves to have books read to her, and this week we began reading "The American Girls Collection" series of books at Cherish's request. Well, begging actually. Our days have been so full, and at the opportunity to sit and cuddle (and with the fact that the books hardly have any pictures--which hasn't deterred her a bit from wanting to hear the stories), she fell into a deep sleep. I got her pillow, propped her up, and let her sleep. Sweet dreams, little one....

I Love Watching Little Ones Play...

HIDE-AND-SEEK:

Here she is under the piano (or "pee-an-ee-o" as Cherish calls it). So long as she covers her eyes, she's invisible ☺.

So Now You Know...

what I look like when I talk on my cell phone:

I put the person I am speaking with on "speaker". According to documentation, it is safer not to hold the cell phone up to the brain (tumors can form over time). I don't want to take any chances....

Derek's Birthday

Derek's birthday was celebrated on two days (lucky duck!). We began celebrating on Saturday by going to Fernandina for the day with his parents. We went to Fort Clinch and watched the re-enactment of the soldiers, went out to eat, and then went on a boat ride.

The boat ride was great, up until a bad storm came upon us. We had been out on the boat for about an hour and a half when we were overtaken by the rain and waves. The captain's assistant came over and stayed with me during the worst of the event, because I was holding Cherish. Derek felt as if the boat has going to split in half. (Flat bottom boat smacking hard over the waves....) The worst part was that I could see fear in the captain and his assistant. I could hear it in the voice of the assistant as she kept repeating instructions to the people as to what to do if we flipped. NOT what I was wanting to hear.... However, we arrived safety back at port--to the VERY LOUD cheering of the passengers.

Here are some pictures. There is an absence of pictures of the storm, as I was clinging onto Cherish and to a pole--so as to remain upright.

Fort Clinch:

These poor guys were in wool!

Nanny singing along:

The entertainer on the boat:

Um...at the time I didn't notice those clouds rolling in:

Here I was thinking,

"Oh, look at the clouds! How beautiful!":

The captain's assistant said (long before we knew we would be in the storm): "And if anything happens to this boat, do not swim to Snake Island! This island has the greatest population of rattlesnakes of anywhere else in the United States." !!!! I was thinking of this when the assistant was giving out instructions during the storm!

"Should I be worried?"

Camera went away and came back out when all was safe.

Here we are back at Pappy and Nanny's house celebrating Derek's birthday:

Then, on Monday (he's real birthday) we went out to eat before celebrating again. Derek liked the shirt I wore for him, so he kept taking pictures. (Excuse my face--I was embarrassed, and people were looking at us and laughing!)

Back at home, Cherish excitedly gave her daddy some of her most prized possessions (like the gifts she had gotten for her half-birthday just a few days prior). Love is wanting to give someone else what you REALLY, REALLY LIKE without giving it a second thought! ☺

Cherish's ½ Birthday

Derek's parents began a tradition with their children that they would celebrate half birthdays. So, we went to Pappy and Nanny's house to celebrate Cherish's 3½ birthday.

Nanny makes ½ cakes:

Notice there are 3 candles at full size and 1 that is half-way into the cake. Thus, 3½.

Nanny says half birthdays are for giving gifts that you would normally give the child anyway—like summer/winter/Easter clothes, shoes in their new size, seasonal sports equipment like swimming items, sleds, etc.

Here she is so excited about getting a hula-hoop—though she thought she would be unable to learn, since she doesn't have "hippos" yet ☺.

Time out from opening presents to put on her new lip gloss.

After opening gifts and eating cake,

we all went to the pool to swim.

Memorial Day

We began our day at the Veterans Memorial Wall paying our respects to the men and women who gave their lives to enrich ours. We know freedom is not free, and we are so grateful to our heroes. Thank you for fighting for our freedoms!

Then, we went swimming at Nanny and Pappy's

community pool:

A surprise dunk by daddy:

The day ended with a cookout and family time together. What a great day!

Family Time

This weekend was time to get together and enjoy family:

Aunt Jen and Cherish

Cherish received a new skirt from Grandma.

(Cherish-fashion)

Love ♥

Sweet cousin love ♥

Cousins: Ryan, Cherish, and Carolyn

Cousins: Brandon and Kevin

What I love about Derek:

he's always comfortable being himself ☺.