Idaho or Bust!

Here are some of our many, many pictures from the trip to Boise. It was a wonderful visit with people who love us, and whom we love, too! I tried to put the photos in some sort of order; mostly, though, they are mixed up. I hope you enjoy them!
Tori, Luci and Suzi A long, long road in Wyoming. This is on the way to Boise. On the way home, the boys recognized this particular stretch of road. I have hopes that someday, they will take their own kids on a long road trip and experience all the fun I had with them on this journey! ha ha. Really, the kids did extremely well. At least I didn't have to force them to drink KFC gravy.
Cow Creek fire in Idaho, just across the Utah line. It was very close to the interstate. After the two fires that were close to our home and then one in Colorado that affected our driving on Wednesday, this made a huge impression on Bryan and JT.
Bryan tried out new headgear. I don't tolerate the word "boredom" on a car trip, so the boys kept themselves amused in odd ways. That is a pillow tied on his head.
Luci makes an appearance as Popeye. What a good (?) brother.
Mom and Dad with Janet's girls, Katie and Laura.
My birthday dinner. Luci had a napkin tied on as a head scarf.

Telling stories. When the family gets together, you never know what they are going to say. It can get wild!
Newlyweds Tori and Caleb.
Charlie and Quinet (I couldn't find the right accent mark in this font, sorry Q!)
Mom and Dad having fun out on the town.
JT, Luci, Bryan and Katie throwing the frisbee for Tippy the dog. This is the park behind Charlie and Q's house. Pretty nice, huh?
Pretty Laura.
This puzzle party got out of hand and the house flipped! Luci, Nana and Aunt Janet
JT doing some styling on the ginormous trike at Mom and Dad's.
Luci learned to ride a tricycle on June 23rd!
The thing to do when kids are playing out front at Nana and Papa's: sit in lawn chairs at the front of the garage and wave at passers-by. It's a pretty neat set-up. When the kids are done playing, just wheel the bikes back inside and close the garage door.
Helping Papa put air in a bike tire. Little does Luci know that she is following a tradition: I used to be Dad's helper but Luci is much sweeter about it ("Dad, do I have to help you change spark plugs??!!")
JT built a tower out of little chairs. It is quite a challenge, and Luci was always eager to knock them over!
This photo just looked funny. Uncle Charlie picks Aunt Janet's nose as cousin Chad finishes his meal.
The kids made a movie while we were there. Dad let the kids take over his computer room, and even tape a sign to the door. This is the Editing Room.
Final photo of the cast and crew of Mystery. JT, Katie, Bryan, Suzi and Laura.
Happy girl! I think I posted this one earlier, but I like it so much it deserves another showing.


When we were getting ready to leave on Thursday for the long trip home, we were taking photos out in front of Mom and Dad's house. I couldn't find Luci....after a few seconds of panic, we found her in the van, buckling herself in. She was ready to go home!

4th of July; Bonding

Some rambling thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head for the last 22 months:

I am so thankful for being born a U.S. citizen. (I guess I was, it happened overseas...to U.S. parents...on a military base...anyways...) Today, Independence Day, I was again filled with gratitude to our Maker that Luci also gets to take part in the blessings all U.S. citizens are allowed. I don't know if other adoptive parents of foreign-born children think this way, but I am so grateful to China for letting Luci go. I am so grateful for our government approving all of our paperwork. I am so grateful for Luci getting to be here, in the U.S.A. I am so grateful for God allowing us the incredible blessing of being born into this country. Do you know just how lucky (blessed, really, but "lucky" is the feeling I have) we all are, just being here? If you've ever traveled to another country that is poor or not open to free thinking and gotten away from the tour guides and scheduled stops, really spent time with the people, in their homes, or in contact with lots of "locals," you've come away feeling blessed and thankful for being a citizen of the U.S.A.

Coming from a Communist country, into a home where not only is the Lord served but into a family where we want to homeschool to instill those values the way we see fit, molding the children's education to what we see as important in the grand scheme of eternity and opening their eyes to what God has done for them.... it is such the opposite of everything that Luci was born to be. It amazes me whenever I think about it. I don't use this word often, but it is truly awesome! Luci has every door opened to her and can become anything she wishes, except President. Anything. WOW.

Bonding:

When we got home from out transcontinental journey, it was apparent to both John and me that Luci is really, really bonded to us and she knows exactly where and what (or, rather, who) her home is. It is here, in our corner of Alabama, with BOTH parents, BOTH brothers and all of her STUFF. She has not stopped saying, "MY house. MY daddy. MY doll. MY pictures. MY (fill in the blank)." The happiest part of going shopping used to be getting the sticker from the greeter at Walmart. Now, the best part of shopping is pulling into the driveway and seeing HER house. (She will correct you if you say it is also yours! "MINE!")

P.S. I've always been patriotic, so I hope you were patient through all of that above. Even my name has USA in the middle of it! s-USA-n (pretty neat, Mom and Dad! Thanks for giving me that name.) My signature line on all of my emails has this quote by Thomas Paine: "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day that my child might have peace." ~1780 That says quite a bit right there, doesn't it?

Traveling

for 4 days with three kids and no other adults....and then repeat for the trip home! 4,250 miles in all.



First of all, I am not nuts. I love to drive, and am not happy flying. If the car wrecks, I can walk home. If the ship sinks, I can swim. If the plane quits working, well, I can't fly!



The kids did amazingly well on the way to Idaho. Luci was a real dream as a traveler. The boys were cooperative, which is a minor miracle considering they can't get along for the 15 miles to town. I think it was the anticipation of seeing everyone in Idaho. On the way home it was quite different, since leaving is always hard. No names will be used, but the redhead was the agitator.



Day 1: Got lost one hour out, on back roads in Tennessee.



Day 2: Terrible rainstorm, found out we were in a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm in Kansas. Had to call John to ask him to make reservations for us at a closer hotel than we had planned. Kansas is LONG!!



Day 3: Drove through thick smoke, like dense fog, from a range fire in Colorado.



Day 4: Kids voluntarily get dressed and in van by 6 a.m. Got to Boise by 1:30 p.m., a new record.





Return trip, Day 1: Mom actually pulls the van over for the first time since leaving home eleven days before.



Day 2: Good weather, really good weather. No problems, except for redhead who wanted to play with cousins instead of being cooped up with immediate family for another 500 miles.



Day 3: 8 hour trip through Kansas and Missouri, 4 hours of which were spent in terrible rain. Saw some flooding, and 4 cars and one semi that had been in wrecks.



Day 4: JT asks an incredibly good question: "Do we always go to the town that is on the bottom of the mileage sign?"

Answer: "Yes, son. It is a family tradition."

Luci says for the 5,634th time, "I want my Little Daddy!"

Arrive at Cracker Barrel at 4:30 p.m., and have supper with The Best Husband in the World. Made it to church for the evening worship service. Since I had to make a grocery run, I took John's truck and the kids rode home with John in the van. I got to drive the last 15 miles home by myself.

People We Love in Idaho

It takes Luci time to warm up to new folks...family is no exception. When she does finally let you close enough to hold her, well, that is special. Here is Luci with some of her favorite people from Idaho. Nana and Luci

Audrey Vivian with Luci Vivian
Papa and Luci

Luci figured out that Papa did, indeed, have hair...

"He have eyebrows and moustache!"

and eventually found the hair on the back of Papa's head.

Aunt Janet felt pretty special. So did Luci.

Janet could get Luci to belly laugh. That was really fun to watch!

Of course I had to go see the church where John and I were married. Luci wanted to go inside to "see the kissy-kissy" take place and was really disappointed when I put her back in the van instead.

There will be more photos of the favorite Bryan cousins...who live in Idaho. There are favorite cousins in Massachusetts and Washington that we didn't get to see. And, don't forget all of the Willingham cousins, who are too numerous to count! :)

More photos later when I have time to post.

Addiction . . .

70%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I saw this "how addicted are you" quiz on another blog (Thanks, Hodge Family!) and can't believe it came up with 70%! Yikes.

And Yes, I thought I needed to blog about it.

Bonnie and Clyde and Clyde

Uncle Charlie, my brother, introduced Bryan and JT to pranking, Boise-style. (thanks, Charlie) He took the boys and Suzi out late one night while we were in town, and they put two toilets on two friends' (??) lawns. One of them was kind enough to return the potty to Charlie's front yard. This was the sight on Thursday morning, as we left town. Can't read the sign? It says, "Clean fill. No Dumping." Such class. Now, here is my version. Here we are, otherwise known as Bonnie and Clyde and Clyde. Gotcha, Uncle Charlie!! We're not telling who took the picture!
And here is the innocent one. Sound asleep while the shenanigans went on.

Father's Day!!

This was a great day to celebrate John and our Fathers. We have great Dads, Charles and Olen, who taught us well. Bryan, JT and Luci have a great example of what a good, Christian man is in their Daddy.


Audrey is in town with her two girls, Maggie (2) and Haley (7 months). We had a great afternoon with all of them. Here are the pictures of our day:



Aunt Luci trying to hold Haley, who is nearly as big as Luci!

My favorite picture from today! Niece Maggie is only 2 months older than Luci, but what a difference those two months make.

The girls had a blast playing dress up and jumping on the mattress in Luci's room.

Princess Maggie.

Pretty Haley

Pucker up!

John is getting Haley ready for the next Huntsville Stars game.

I think we have a gymnast on our hands! Luci.

John loves taking the kids to the creek, and taking Maggie was no exception. JT always has fun, too. Maggie said the rocks made big splashes.

The whole gang--JT, Luci, John, Haley, Audrey, Maggie and Bryan.

This was just too fun to leave out. Trying to get 3 kids under 3 to look in the right direction is difficult!

Audrey and Maggie.

Bathing Beauties.

Bryan watching (?) the girls while Daddy cooks on the grill.

PICTURES!!!!

Here are the photos I couldn't publish before. I included the text from the previous post to explain them. Enjoy!

Here are our local heroes, saving property on Wednesday, June 13. If you had really good eyes and I had taken a better picture, you could see the burned place goes on and on back there--snakes through the woods to pretty close to the neighbor's house. Yipes!


John took Luci and Bryan for a ride. Luci will tell you that she loves riding, and that she hates it--it depends on whether or not she remembers how NOISY riding the tractor is! The tractor wasn't needed when we lived in the apartment while the house was built. John's gone a whole year without his little tractor! This was a very good day.

Aubie Update: Aubie is not here with us anymore. Apparently we were just boarding him for a few weeks for a neighbor. We still have not figured out which neighbor...but Aubie appears every once in a while, neatly brushed and still well-fed. He answers to Aubie, so we hope that his real family are not Bama fans.

Luci is learning to wash dishes...or, as we say around here, Luci helps us mop the floor. She applies the water and Mommy mops it up. (John says, "what do you mean, 'Mommy mops it up?!' I do the dishes after supper around here!" Yes, you do, and I appreciate it very much. Mommy mops up after breakfast and lunch.)

JT was invited to Tyler's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. I took Bryan and Luci, too, and bought tokens for them. Everyone had a blast. Luci loved counting out her tokens. Luci was scared of the climbing equipment until Bryan went up with her. Now she loves it!

Vacation Bible School was this week. Ours is a three-day program. We would have a longer program, but as Jeannie, one of our VBS leaders says, "Three days is all the fun we can stand." The face painting booth on our last day (we had a county fair going on, really fun!) was outside the nursery window. Luci talked the nursery ladies into taking her outside to get her face painted. I think she'll be in politics someday! She can talk people into doing all sorts of things.

Luci is learning to do handstands all on her own, without any prodding from us! That bowl in front of Luci is holding a snack. It is not a doggy water bowl, no matter what it looks like. :)

Kalyn and her Mommy came over for play today. It was so fun! Kathy brought another outfit her mother, Millie, made--it is so cute. Luci's wearing the new outfit and bouncing as hard as she can. Kalyn is busy chatting on her cell phone.

Bryan was able to pick the first vegetable from our garden. He ate a tiny radish yesterday and proclaimed that it tasted just like a radish.



JT made bubble gum! Laura, Katie and Suzi-Q, JT's bringing some to share! We can have a bubble-blowing contest!

Fires

We are under critical drought warning. Extremely dry, the same conditions that Florida had when their big fire started on the Georgia border last month.

Yesterday there were fires in hay fields very close to us. If the trees had caught fire yesterday, well, I wouldn't be using this computer. It was waaaaay too close for comfort. Our neighbor, Tree, called and told me to look out the window. Black smoke. A combine had caught on fire. Her husband is a fire fighter in town but was called up to help the volunteer force out here. Tree (her nickname; her given name is Trinicia) said he'd call back if we were to evacuate. I panicked and called John, blubbering to him. Then I got the boys to get everything they thought was precious and put that stuff in the van. I got out boxes of things from China...Luci lost her home once, I am not going to let her lose her homeland twice. My stack of boxes was 4 feet tall and the boys had the XBox and various games in the van. Now I know what they think is precious! :) JT said that next he was going to get his t-shirts and pants. At least one of us would have clothes. (Luci would have something, also; I got several of her outfits and some socks and shoes, too.)

At this point of Susan's panic, Bryan came in from the backyard and said the smoke was all white. What a relief. We got in the van and drove to see the damage. It was an awesome, awful sight. I looked the area up on the Google maps. They have taken new photos of our area in the last couple of months. Our house is now on the satellite photo and the area that burned got as close as about 2,000 feet as the crow flies. All together, the field was a meandering 1/2 mile of dry hay (now ash).

THEN...Today I looked out the back window and saw smoke again! This was south of us. I called 9-1-1 and the lady there said that the fire department was already there. I asked her if the trees had caught yet, should I start packing? She put me on hold and when she came back in a few seconds, she told me that she didn't know, but the guys were already working on the fire. JT and I hopped into the van and headed out to see just where this conflagration was. It was just a bit further from yesterday's, and it was heading south, away from our house.

This is just too scary. One time, when I was about 7 years old, we were on a vacation to visit the relatives in Tennessee. I remember Grandmother saying she was praying for rain. I thought that was a stupid thing to pray for, didn't she realize we were on vacation? Mom probably thought, "oh, no, there are FIVE children and two adults in this station wagon, it had better not rain!" But now I understand, and I am the silly grandmother praying for rain.

Catching Up

I have a bunch of pictures to post, but I can't get that part to work right now. I'll just describe some of what has been going on and later post some pics.

Aubie Update: Aubie is not here with us anymore. Apparently we were just boarding him for a few weeks for a neighbor. We still have not figured out which neighbor...but Aubie appears every once in a while, neatly brushed and still well-fed. He answers to Aubie, so we hope that his real family are not Bama fans.

Luci is learning to wash dishes...or, as we say around here, Luci helps us mop the floor. She applies the water and Mommy mops it up.

JT was invited to Tyler's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. I took Bryan and Luci, too, and bought tokens for them. Everyone had a blast.

Vacation Bible School was this week. Ours is a three-day program. We would have a longer program, but as Jeannie, one of our VBS leaders says, "Three days is all the fun we can stand."

Luci is learning to do handstands all on her own, without any prodding from us! I can't wait to post that picture.

Kalyn and her Mommy came over for play today. It was so fun! Kathy brought another outfit her mother, Millie, made--it is so cute.

Bryan was able to pick the first vegetable from our garden. He ate a tiny radish yesterday and proclaimed that it tasted just like a radish.

JT made bubble gum!

You Know You Live in 2007 When....

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played Solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't#9 on this list AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.


(and I would add my reaction to this list as #16--You automatically think, "I'll post this on my blog!!")