We Have Our Tickets!

The time has finally come and we have purchased our tickets. We fly out on August 4th, only 18 days!!! In just two days we'll be all packed up and heading to Texas for two weeks of final goodbyes with friends and family, a visit to the Chinese consulate, and then we're off!

That is unless something terrible happens like the dog eating my passport. Oh wait, that did happen. No joke. The delivery guy set the envelope with all our important documents within reach of the dogs. Such incompetence! Tut tut! Thankfully they weren't quite digested and were found scattered along my brother-in-law's driveway with nothing worse than a little dirt and a few teethmarks.

Right now our living room is crowded with six large suitcases, three rolling carry-on cases, and piles of stuff. There is some order to the madness. Some. But no worries, Mr. Adventure is a master packer. I'm not so good at it. I put like two things in a bag and wail, "It'll never fit!...". Yes, that actually happened this morning. Fifteen minutes later, exactly fifty pounds of luggage was neatly stuffed inside my little purple suitcase. Hmm, I love him...

Look Who's One Year Old!

 Happy Birthday Little Bear!

Yes, Little Bear is one year old now. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we brought him home. He has brought amazing joy and challenge to our lives. Was he really just this little?

Why Turning One Is Awesome:

You get to ride in the car facing forward!

You can eat honey without dying of botulism.

(there wasn't actually any honey in his cake, but isn't he cute? :) 

So What Has The One-Year-Old Been Up To?:

 

Exploring the world

Playing with toys

Playing with shoes

Going fishing

Reading books

Climbing stairs! 

Trying to be like daddy (he put it on himself!)

Playing outside

Those Who Stay Behind

You see us in Conferences with our colorful displays and presentations, and you think, "Wow, they are really doing something great. What a grand adventure!" But do you ever think of those who tell us goodbye? Grandparents, sisters, brothers, cousins, parents, friends. They let us go, not knowing when they will see us again or how often we will even be able to talk on the phone. They miss us, worry about us, and may even fear that we are endangering our lives. Do they want us to go? No. Do they want us to obey and serve the One Who left all for us? Yes. Do they think we may be a little bit crazy? Probably. But they love us, support us, hold the ropes, do their best to share our excitement, and ultimately trust us into our Father's hands.

Mr. Adventure is out in the wilderness teaching a survival course for the next two weeks so Little Bear and I are spending the time with my family. As the time approaches for us to fly out to China, I am so thankful for a few weeks to be together. We are cherishing every moment.

Happy times with Grandad

My dad was diagnosed with Lymphoma this past December, and is undergoing chemotherapy.  He is responding well to the treatments. We are trusting the Great Physician, and enjoying the time we have together.

Loving on Nana

Playing with cousins. 

I think they had more fun showing him how to play with their old baby toys than he did playing with them. :) Little Bear may not remember these times, but they certainly will. I am so privileged to have such a loving supportive family. Thank you for letting us go.

Have Baby Will Travel

Little Bear has spent the entirety of his little life traveling the States while we raise support to move overseas. He is an MK through and through. 

Little Bear loves people. And everybody loves a chubby baby! Everywhere we go, people stop and talk to him and he just eats it up. One black lady in Georgia even stopped her vehicle in the middle of the parking lot to roll down her window and sweet talk to the cute white baby.  He is a great conversation starter whether we are at a meeting, out shopping, or eating at a restaurant. Even though he is less than a year old, he has already added a whole new dimension to our ability to reach out to others.

Hugging a new friend in Tennessee.

I get asked all the time, "How well does he travel?" Well, he's a baby. That being said, I think he does pretty good in the car. Maybe I'll do another post sometime about traveling with a baby and share some tips that I've found make it easier.

We don't normally let him watch movies, but in the car Baby Einstein is a lifesaver!

We always have a stroller with us in the back of the van. Thankfully he loves strolling around because he is way too heavy to carry around very long! He may look fluffy, but those rolls are dense.

Cruising around, seeing new places.

We eat out a lot. It's an unhealthy but necessary part of our life. Our favorites: Chipotle and Chick-fil-a.

Munchin' on nuggets and fries at Chick-fil-a, Yum!

I love it that he gets to play with all kinds of new toys all the time. Every nursery he visits has a whole new set!

Exploring a new toy bin. Literally. He is chewing on it.

Tips for Taking Passport Photos

We have our passports! I had to change to my married name, and Little Bear of course needed one. They came in the mail yesterday. Of course the first thing I did was flip mine open to see how my picture turned out. Don't tell me you don't do the same thing. My first driver's license picture turned out terrible. I had my hair back in a ponytail so all you could see was my weird little bangs, my glasses were tinted, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat because I had just passed my driving test, and for some reason the flash created shadows between all my teeth so I looked like I had just eaten a spinach salad with extra pepper.  I've learned a few things since then about picture taking for official documents.

Tips for taking passport photos (without looking like a zombie):

1. Wear your hair down. Have you ever thought you were looking at a picture of a bald guy, and then realized it was actually a woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail? I have. Don't let that be you.

2. Take off your jacket. I know your shoulders barely show in the picture. But inevitably your collar will be crooked, and the extra bulk will make you look like you have no neck.

3. If you have automatic tint glasses, make sure they are clear.

4. Don't ever get glasses that tint automatically in the sun. Your optometrist will try to convince you that they are very convenient and protect your eyes from the sun. Don't believe him. They take forever to go clear again when you walk inside. Everyone will look at you like, "Why is she wearing sunglasses inside?" Your friends might even start to call you Fanny Crosby. Trust me. I know this from experience.

Okay, I know number four doesn't really have anything to do with passport photos. But it's a really good tip anyway, and since I'm just full of practical wisdom, I'd thought I'd share it with you. Well, I'm full of it anyway, you can decide about the wisdom part. Haha

Stone Mountain

Monday our good friends, Eric and Marie Lee, took us on a tour of the great city of Atlanta including a visit to Stone Mountain, dinner at Chow Baby's, and put put golf. First we rode the cable car to the top of Stone Mountain. It sounds kind of redundant to me. Stone. Mountain. But I guess most mountains are made of dirt and rock. This one is just rock. It really is one giant granite stone. The biggest granite rock in the whole world actually. Hence the name...Stone Mountain.

The mountain and park surrounding it have an interesting history. The first tourist attraction, a wooden tower, was built on top of the mountain in 1838. But it blew over in a storm a few years later. Oops. In 1915, somebody got the bright idea to make it into a Confederate monument. So Mr. Borglum got to work carving the head of Robert E. Lee into the face of the mountain. But he made a big stink in the local newspaper about the working conditions and they fired him. So he moved out to South Dakota and carved Mount Rushmore instead. The second guy didn't like the way it looked so he blasted Mr. Borglum's work away and started over. Unfortunately it was hard to get ahead (get it, a HEAD. Never mind) and the carving was not completed until 1972. It really is much bigger than it looks. Legend has it that you could fit a school bus inside Robert E. Lee's ear, but I don't think anyone has ever tried it.

Over the years the park has added many tourist attractions for year round fun including the cable car which we rode to the top. Stone from the mountain has been quarried for buildings all over the world, including the Panama Canal, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, and the Lincoln Memorial. Pretty much every state has a building that was built using granite from Stone Mountain.

Now you know all about Stone Mountain. There will be a quiz at the end of this post.

Just kidding.

Yep, that's us. Even Little Bear gets in on the crazy!

View from the top

Miracle Baby

Bring out the party hats, my baby is nine months old!

Can it really be that just one year ago I was waddling around feeling excited to be finally in my third trimester of pregnancy? And then about four years later I finally went into labor. Haha. Not really, but that's sure what it felt like. After three years of marriage and a miscarriage, I felt like I had waited so long for a baby. We are so thankful for our sweet Little Bear. He truly is a miracle and a gift from our Father.

Little Bear: happy, laid back, observant, cautious

Favorites: anything outside, singing, people, bath time

I love how he's curling up his toes because of the tickly plants.

"My island!"

He is smiling and squealing just watching the water.

Loves his daddy!