Cool Quiz

I love these little quizzes, don't you? I am always like, "Gee how did they know! This is me exactly!" Then, sometimes I'll re-take the test and fiddle with the answers just to see what pops up. Usually though, the first one really is the most like me, but sometimes these things are just so ridiculous. Thes quiz seems pretty accurate. Except for the goof off thing. Goof off?! Moi?! Certainly not!

HT: KC

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Happy Spring!

It is feeling like spring here and we are loving this weather. Lots of nature adventures going on. Laine and I spotted this beautiful luna moth one night when we were taking Sparky out to so 'business'. The colors are amazing and it is really big, like 3 1/2 inches or so.


Today the kids (with some help from Mom) built a tee pee out of some branches. We are starting some seeds that will vine around and cover this hopefully, but in the mean time, trimmings from the shrubs add some nice privacy.

plenty of room!

Ryan is politely using the doorbell.


So dear blog readers (anyone out there?) how is the weather? Has Spring sprung in your backyard? Any special plans for the yard or garden?

PS. the licenses were just made on the computer. So Debbie, don't worry that Ian will get pulled over for biking w/o a license!

Finally Legal

Marriage Meme

Hoo boy, I do love a meme! I tagged myself with this one hee hee!

1. Where/How did you meet? In college, a friend introduced us.
2. How long have you known each other? 13 years
3. How long after you met did you start dating? about 3 months I think
4. How long did you date before you were engaged? 2 years, but we knew we were going to marry after dating only a couple of months
5. How long was your engagement? about a year
6. How long have you been married? almost 10 years
7. What is your anniversary? 06/14/97
8. How many people came to your wedding reception? 200 or so
9. What kind of cake did you serve? It was a very pretty cake with swiss dots on the iceing. Honestly, the grooms cake was tastier-chocolate with strawberries!
10. Where was your wedding? St. Patrick's Episcopal Church
11. What did you serve for your meal? There were h'ors devors (sp?)
12. How many people were in your wedding party? 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen
13. Are you still friends with them all? I am with the bridesmaids, but not Lee14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? No
15. Most special moment of your wedding day? Seeing him as I walked down the aisle
16. Any funny moments? Seeing Lee breakdancing
17. Any big disasters? no
18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Jamaica
19. How long were you gone? one week
20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? I would try to spend more time with the guests, especially the people who came from out of town
21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?: I sleep on the right side (when looking from the foot of the bed)
22. What size is your bed? a queen
23. Greatest strength as a couple? Our faith
24. Greatest challenge as a couple? taking it for granted
25. Who literally pays the bills? He does.
26. What is your song? it's a secret
27. What did you dance your first dance to? "At Last" Etta James28. Describe your wedding dress: white and big with lace and sparkles. It is totally out of style now, but I still love it!
29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? Lilies and roses in the bouquet, magnolias on the church pews
30. Are your wedding bands engraved? No
How old were you when you got married? 22.


OK, now I tag Suzanne and Marjorie!

Catch Up

So how are you?

I am doing ok. Spring has sprung it seems so we have been outside a lot. Daffodils are blooming. I just love daffodils. They are such a happy flower. We are planning a vegetable garden. Maybe they will eat more veggies if they have helped grow them. It's worth a try anyway.

I am loving daylight savings time. We are staying up too late though and waking up late too.

Poor MC has had some thumb troubles. She sucks her thumb and I guess there was an increase in sucking and it became cracked and raw. So, I put the bandaid on and she ripped it off. I tried gauze and medical tape. She ripped it off. The Dr. suggested ace bandage wrap. She ripped it off.

This morning I wrapped it again more tightly and she could not get it off. Nap time was rough.

This evening I took it off before dinner and I was totally alarmed to see it was more red and swollen than before. I feel horrible, I think I wrapped it too tight. I am really beating myself up over this.

She was so happy it was off though and is acting her normal, cheery self. I am keeping an eye on it and if it is not better tomorrow we are hitting the Dr's office again.

Stations of the Cross for Children

In an ongoing effort to make the season of Lent meaningful and real to our kids we have begun a new tradition. My first step was finding this photo frame divider at Goodwill (the same day as I found the piano!) and remembering these lovely 8x10 Stations of the Cross pictures I saw at the bookstore. These are beautiful pictures that are not gory, but are realistic and not cartoony. There are 14 Stations depicting the journey of Christ to Calvary and there were 15 slots in this picture frame! I am going to make a title on some pretty paper for the empty slot.


The second step was finding these tea light holders at IKEA. They each hold 7 tealights. I had read in Mary Reed Newland's "The Year and our Children" a description of something her family did that really appealed to me and I was wondering how to do it in our family. Her idea was to have a candelabra with 14 candles and to light them all and then to put out a light after each station. I thought this would be very meaningful for us, especially after using the Advent log to light candles counting up to Christ's birth. I love the symbolism of Christ's light coming to us at Christmas, getting brighter and brighter and the symbolism of the lights going out as we go through Lent and remember the Passion.

The kids are taking turns being the 'snuffer' and each night the 'snuffer' has the privilege of putting out the candle after we pray each station. As far as what we pray, we are using this great Children's Stations book that is simple, yet complete.

Into Lent

On Fat Tuesday AKA Shrove Tuesday AKA the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, I made a King Cake for the first time and we had a pancake feast for dinner.
The King Cake was a huge hit. It was not too hard to make with the aid of my bread machine and it really was delicious. Mary Clare was climbing out of her seat to get more!

One Year Ago (yesterday)

One year ago (yesterday) we received amazing news. It was information we had been waiting for for over a year.

The morning began as any other, we dressed Jake and Ryan and took them to school. Luke and Laine hung around the house doing the normal three year old stuff. Meanwhile Lee and I paced and puttered around waiting for The Call.
I checked various message boards, trying to gauge when people in other parts of the country were getting their Calls. I jumped every time the phone rang and my heart raced as I glanced at the caller id.

Finally, around 3 pm, the phone rang and this time it really was The Call. It was our adoption agency with some Very Big Information.

The Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs had sent them information and pictures of our new daughter. Lee turned on the video camera and we put the phone on speaker mode so we could both listen and ask questions. I am so glad we have that video because all I really remember is crying and laughing!

Her name was Lian, Xin Bi. She was born on July 17th, 2005 and she was waiting for us in Lianjiang, Guangdong Province, PRC. There was minimal information about her personality and abilities and later after talking to some other parents we realized how generic this information was. At the time, every little detail seemed like a precious jewel. She likes the sunshine! She likes music! She is a good sleeper! Very independent!

And then we held our breath as her picture was emailed to us. Oh the joy of modern technology! Our eyes were glued to the monitor as her sweet face materialized before our eyes.



Finally, We could connect a face to this precious soul we had been praying for so long. She was breathtaking.

After staring at her picture for what seemed like hours we went into hyper speed calling and emailing to share our joy. We thought we would have to wait until May to meet her in person, but God had other plans and little did we know we would be leaving for China in 4 weeks!