Orphans No Longer!

This is what we did on Orphan Sunday...

At first I felt bad because I wasn't doing anything special for that day.

And when I began to put up the photos for this post I realized that 

we were doing something very special for this day.

Three more orphans came home this year!

And three more orphans were celebrating their first birthday with their forever family!

(They do not celebrate birthdays in China.)

This little girl has never had a pile of presents just for her!

And the same goes for this sweet girl!

And of course neither has this dear child...

Sam has adjusted to his new life... without a problem!

He doesn't miss a beat and tends to be the life of the party!

He is a hoot!

The big kids were admiring our photos from Disney!

We had the time of our life!

Since Hubby and Mark are leaving soon for China we decided to have a joint party before they left!

(one more attempt to streamline things during that time)

Thank you Mark for accompanying Dad to China!

You are a wonderful big brother and you have a heart of gold!

So happy Auntie Barbie could join us!

Let the fun begin!

Sometimes it is hard for the new children to know how to accept gifts.

In the past we have found that they gave their gifts away.

Sometimes it can be too much pressure and they get over stimulated- and they begin to hide and giggle.

We talked about it beforehand.

How to open, how to act and how to say thank you!

They are did such a great job and were very gracious.

They took turns opening and admiring the other persons gifts.

They said lots of thank you's!

And of course Sam likes to help out...

even when Luke may not want his help!

We don't like to overdue the gifts but these children needed "their time" to celebrate!

Auntie Barbie gave Mia a gift card to Claires!

Looks like pierced ears will be in her future!

 Johnny has been injured all soccer season. He has been cheering on his teammates (character building)... he can hardly wait until next year when he can be on the field too!

No way!

You got Molly!

And you got Saige!

WoooHoooo!

To heck with the personal space!

The crowd continues to get closer and closer!

YAY! It's just what you asked for big boy!

And we have Caroline!

Time to unpack the other children's American girl dolls!

Let's Play!

Her very first bike!

Now all the newbies have their own bikes!

We ready for next spring!

Oh wait... we still have the rest of Fall and Winter - Oh ugh!

With so many we have to divide up and eat at different spots!

Some were at the counter.

 The littles loved their table!

The rest of the family was at the large round table.

Madeline and Luke chose an ice cream cake!

Mia and Melissa chose chocolate cake!

Happy Birthday Mia, Melissa, Madeline and Luke!

They loved having the Happy Birthday song "sung to them"!

Now it's time for bed!

We are so very blessed to be their Mommy and Daddy!

To be able to tuck them in each night!

Sleep tight dear children!

There are so many children that need parents or a parent.

Someone to love them and to take care of them.

Someone to tuck them in bed at night.

Please consider adoption.

Put your trust in HIM!

(Sorry this post is soooo lonnnnggggg! I guess that's what happens when celebrating 4 birthdays at once!!)

Trick or Treating!

I know this evening is over with but I just wanted to get the pics on the blog!

The kids had a blast!

We go trick or treating over at our friend Karen's house!

She lives in a perfect neighbor filled with kids!

The weather was perfect- cool but not too cold!

Most of them ended up taking their jackets off!

Kelly (Billy's girlfriend) and her doggy Penny joined us!

They love running from house to house!

We traveled in a pack and kind of invaded one home after the other.

I love being outside with the kids!

I love the evening adventure!

I love seeing the children laughing and giggling!

But...

I don't love the massive amounts of candy!

It was my motherly duty to check out their candy and I was appropriately punished...

Need to get into the dentist for the filling that just came out...

Bummer!

We have already packed the candy away and placed it high on a shelf.

They have eaten a ton of it and had so much more still left.

Nothing Like Canceling Dinner at Our House And. . .

Forgetting to tell the people we invited!

Oops! 

We knew we were not organized enough and we were sooooo tired!

Some of the kids got the memo but not all of them!

As it turned out we needed to take a break and our guest were uplifting!

They also helped us to feel more at home in our own house!

It turned out to be a fun evening and good for everyone!

We are amazed at how well we fit here!

Things I thought would be a problem are not a problem!

God took care of everything!

And the drive "in" is beautiful!

Can I have Your Attention Please!

We have a very important announcement to make!

Look closely at the pictures!

Especially the one above!

I have known for awhile but was sworn to secrecy 

by the Mommy and Daddy to be...

I been dying to share this with you!

It was so hard to keep the secret... But it wasn't mine to share,
 so I had to wait for the okay!

Andrew and Katie are "expecting"!

We are so so so excited for the new addition of "Baby Burgess"! 

Katie is about 17 weeks along now!

The due date is April 8th!!

Okay... sorry this is sideways!
But the we all had fun naming the baby while in Orlando!
Andrew and Katie are leaning towards Snow White if it's a girl and Shrek for a boy!

Isn't he or she adorable!

The other children looked at it and said...

"it" looks like a peanut!

A cute peanut that is... a very, very cute peanut!

What's a good Grandma name?

I love Mimi but that is Jim's sister and our dog since we had to change her name from Mia to Mimi ;-)

Crazy... I know!!

May just wait and see what baby calls us? 

But I would love some ideas!!

There is more good news - no it's not twins!
BUT
 They will be moving back to the good ole' USA next summer!
In fact they will be in Colorado!
Not too far from Matt and Caitlin(1 hour)!!

WooooHooooo!
Praising HIM! 

Bulk App Stats

As those of you who follow me on social media already know, I have been back in the US for a while, answering interviews, giving tours of my home, speaking at events, and filming with a French TV crew. There are only so many hours in a day and I am way overdue for a new post... I started writing one... but Scott put this one together before I could finish mine... So, here are a few stats about the app, in Scott's words:

___

Our ZeroWasteHome community has added over 1150 locations around the world. We have added over 900 locations in the US, and Bulk locations have been added in over 15 countries, including these top ten:

1. Canada: 96

2. France: 41
3. Australia: 40
4. Belgium: 15
5. Switzerland: 13
6. Spain: 10
7. Germany: 9
8. UK: 8
9. The Netherlands: 3
T-10. Austria: 2
T-10. Italy: 2
T-10. Czech Republic: 2

Within the US, Bulk locations have been added in every state, with the exception of Delaware, Mississippi and Nevada.  California is leading the list with over 250 locations added, but we have double digit locations in over 1/2 of the US states.  The top 10 states are:

1. California: 253

2. Washington:57

3. Oregon: 47

4. New York: 45

5. Texas: 45 -my mom lives in Texas, but I don't think she entered all of these;)

6. Massachusetts: 37

7. Illinois: 30

T-8. Minnesota: 24

T-8. Pennsylvania: 24

10. Georgia: 21

This summer, we went on a family camping trip through Oregon and for the first time, had no problem locating bulk while traveling: the Bulk app helped us find bulk foods throughout the state - from the People's Food Coop in Portland, and the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, to Ray's Food Place in Bandon. Thank you for sharing these locations!

Lastly - remember, this is a community-based effort, so the Bulk app tool is not perfect. We can only support a subset of devices (Apple and some of the many Android smartphones). And, because of the constant changes to Google and Apple's operating systems, there is a delay between the time that the location is added by the user, and when it appears on the map (in our Bulk location database)...we are trying to make some improvements, but since this is self-funded, it will take some time.

Keep adding locations and contact us if you (or someone you know) can provide pro-bono work to update the app! 

Pre Halloween Fun @ Boo Blast!

Whew! Last minute we were able to dig out the costumes and then run to the store for a few more!

Halloween is such an exciting time, the children all love it!

It's the first Halloween for our three newbies- Mia, Melissa and Madeline!

The wanted to be everything and changed their minds on costumes many times - until I said "no, we are sticking with this"!

Our community has a celebration on the Saturday before Halloween!

Every year we meet a couple families there who have also adopted from China and we enjoy the fun together!

How can it get any better than candy and costumes!

Sarah is scooby do, Ava is a witch, Ellie is a bumble bee, Mia is a cat, Emma is tweety bird, Anna is a beautiful purple fairy princess, Madeline is a beautiful yellow butterfly, Sam is the blue power ranger, Abby is a beautiful lady bug (and she was a cat), Luke is a dragon, and Melissa is a beautiful swan princess!

It was a nice cool sunny day! Perfect for running around in costumes (okay, and jackets)!

This is the whole crew we were with! 

When they all walked into a store they kind of invaded the place!

Madeline's eye is healing up nicely and she is so excited to be able to see better!

Praying that is will help her to improve her learning!

The cow in the middle is from our local Ben and Jerry's ice cream shoppe!

 It was just so much fun!
(Kinda takes the pressure off of Halloween! We will be having school and evening trick or treating!))

And then after that, we went home and ate some of the candy!!

Cavities?
Bring 'em on!

just kidding!
Just Kidding!!

Madeline- Happy Birthday and Eye Surgery

We seem to have quite a few birthdays in the fall ;-)

Madeline turned 7 today! 

(Or maybe 6 ;-)
After seeing Mia's bike she wanted one of her very own, too!
Melissa's Birthday is next and guess what she will be getting ;-)
Shhhhh-
Now, don't go telling her!

We went to the Children's Theatre and saw

"Charlotte's Web"!
It was a wonderful play!
The children enjoyed it but I am not sure if the newbies could really follow along.
Usually I read the book and we watch the dvd but with moving that wasn't possible.

 Sorry I did not get any pics!

In the evening we went out for a "Make Your Own" Pasta Night!

It was a good day but because I am her Mom - I was preoccupied with what was going to happen the following day.

The next morning Madeline had eye surgery.

Hubby took her to the Phillips Eye Institute while I stayed with the other children.

She had a very large dense cataract removed. 

The surgery went very well and they were home by 3:30.

She had a tough time in the early evening but calmed down when Daddy carried her and rocked her.

Chicken noodle soup and some pain meds helped too!

She slept with us and didn't even stir!
She really needed the love and reassurance of her parents-
my heart breaks for the children that do not have parents...
that have no one to comfort them and reassure them that everything will be okay.

The next morning we returned to the Dr- her eye looks great and they are very hopeful she will have some sight in that eye!
This is amazing news because we were told that there was a good chance she would be blind in her left eye due to the size, the density and the length of time the cataract had been growing- they estimated since she was 6 months old.
We have been diligently patching that eye (along with praying for her vision) and we are so thankful it is working!!

We are having a joint family birthday party soon for our October and November birthday children!
Just trying our hardest to get the celebration in before the China trip!

Madeline is letting me do all the eye drops 6 times a day! 
She is handling it like a champ!

Praising GOD!