I'm giving away a blog design in exchange for your donations to the Elison Project, a non-profit organization that helps finds families for the hardest-to-place special needs children.  For each $10 you donate to Elison, I will give 1 entry into my giveaway for a free blog design.  For more information and details, click here.

taking the blog private

I've decided to take my blog private next week, meaning it won't be available for public view. I won't be adding readers because I don't plan on posting here any more. It's been a wonderful 2 years chronicling our adoption journey and our family events and memories on beloved, but I am finding that I do not have the time or energy to do it any more. There is also the issue of our privacy, especially the privacy of my children in this big "internet world" that seems to feel a little less comfortable to me all the time. At some point in the future, I may blog again on a new site (probably private) - but for now I am certain that this is the best thing for my family and my kids.

I have mixed feelings about exiting blog world. I am thankful for how God used my blog to encourage others, to touch people, even to help bring orphaned children and families together. That is a privilege I did not seek, but God brought. It makes me unspeakably happy when someone drops me an email to say, "Hey, remember that little boy you posted about on your blog 10 months ago? Well, he's in our arms now." Or when someone tells me that God used Owen's story to open their hearts to adoption, or adopting a boy, or a child with special needs. That both humbles and blesses me tremendously. I hope that, like in the parable of the talents, I used my time & opportunities wisely to affect lives in a positive way and to help build God's kingdom and honor Him. I hope my blog - my words, my photos - have reflected Him. (Not perfectly... but in some small way.)

I also want all of my "blog friends" to know that I have so enjoyed following along on your journeys... each story, each family has touched me in profound ways and I will never forget you. I don't know if I will still visit blogs on a regular basis, but I will try and check in now and then. Thank you for how you've uplifted me during our "adoption wait", for how you cheered us on and gave me such encouragement when I needed it. God knew what He was doing when He crossed our paths!

Thanks to everyone for the huge support of the Elison Project fundraiser, too - I will be drawing for a winner on Friday! I will probably take the blog down sometime early next week. My photoblog, Rebecca Lily, will stay open - so you're welcome to bookmark me there. I will post photos of my kids once in awhile and also the photography projects I'm working on.

Lots of love and hugs to everyone!
Rebecca


2 more weeks for these little guys...

Marci from ASIA contacted me today to let me know that these little boys on their waiting list DESPERATELY need to find families. There are only a couple of weeks left before their files will be sent back to China. If you or anyone you know is looking to adopt a little boy - please, please pass this information along.

Wendel - 3 year old HEALTHY boy (thought originally to have weak sight - turns out he is fine)

Perry - albimism, age 4-1/2

Sherman - 5 year old with repaired CHD (congenital heart disease)

Flynn - 5 year old with corrected cleft lip & palate


Contact information:

http://www.asiadopt.org
Marci Siegel-Kittrel: marcisk@asiadopt.org
(503) 224-1860



a post for the playgroup mamas

Hey girls... sorry it took me so long to post these, it's been a mile a minute around here! Hope you all enjoy the pics. :)

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Beautiful Ava

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Millie flies high!

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Hey Tara... looks like he's chillin' with his PEEPS. :)

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Owen and all the beautiful ladies. (Don't be fooled by the stoic face. He loved it.) Left to right: Millie, O, Mylee, Elsa, and Ava.

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Millie pledging her lifelong love...

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Ava thinks he's kinda cute too. :)

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Millie: BACK OFF sista! (Sorry girls I can't help it, these pics are BEGGING for it! Look at Ava's face!!!)

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Mandi (our hostess for the day) let the girls (and boy) pick the flowers from her landscaping. How's that for a laid-back mama?

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Mandi's daughter Mylee...

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Beautiful little Elsa

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Millie playing kitchen

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sunwashed

We attended a playgroup for China-adoptive families on Friday, and given that most of us in the group are hopeless mamarazzis, we chased the kids around with cameras quite a bit.  :)  I have a bunch of pictures to share over the next couple of days - mostly for the other mamas in the group! - but I wanted to give a sneak peek of one of my favorites from the day.  This is my friend Tara's daughter (thanks Tara for permission to blog this!)  :)  Isn't she beautiful?  I think what makes it so special is that I don't think she was aware that I was taking her picture.  


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I post processed this in Lightroom using my free Happy Little Retro World preset, which gave it some really lively yet dreamy colors!

a fundraiser for ELISON!

Many of you are familiar with the Elison Project, a non-profit organization that places grants for the adoption of special needs children.  Theirs is a cause I wholeheartedly believe in, not only because I understand the mission that drives them, but because I know on a personal basis the men and women who are the heartbeat of Elison.  They are tireless, generous, passionate servants, who love Jesus and love the orphan with every fiber of their being!

As I've asked myself lately, "How can I use my gifts to help expand God's kingdom?" He gave me an answer in the form of fundraising for the Elison Project!  

Right now there is a $3,000 grant available through Elison, placed towards the adoption of a specific waiting child.  Min Junsheng is a 6 year old boy who is blind.  He is on the waiting list of Bethany Christian Services International.  For more information, visit The Elison Project's website and click "available grants".

I would like to help the Elison Project continue to raise funds to assist families in adopting these harder-to-place children.  So, I am going to start a project of my own: charity blog design!
  
Here's how it's going to work.  Elison has set up a ChipIn that goes directly into their Paypal account.  I am going to host the ChipIn here on my blog, and for the next 3 weeks the Elison Project is going to accept $10 donations which will be treated (by me) as "entries" to win a blog design.  For every $10 you donate to Elison, I will give you 1 entry to win my blog design giveaway.  After 3 weeks, I will draw for a winner, and the winner will receive a complete blog makeover from me with absolutely no cost to them!  (Or, you can donate your blog design to someone else if you don't need one).  But the best part is that if we each give a little, we can make a big difference for a child who needs a family.

The ChipIn opens today, so please give what you can, and if you'd like to help spread the word you can grab this button:

enter to win a charity blog design to benefit the Elison Project



Thanks for helping to make a difference!!  To learn more about the Elison Project's ministry and mission, click here.


saturday morning pancakes, M family style

We have a Saturday morning tradition of making these wonderful pancakes... the kids just gobble these up, they are soooooo delish!  And I feel like a good mommy making these, because besides being yummy, they are HEALTHY!  Thought I would share the recipe with all of my bloggy friends so you can enjoy them too.  :)  


M Family Saturday Morning Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat baking flour 
2/3 cup quick oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sour cream
2 lightly beaten eggs
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

Directions:

1.  Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium heat.

2.  In a bowl, mix dry ingredients, then stir in remaining ingredients and mix until even.  (The batter will be pretty thick, but don't let that scare you.)

3.  Cook on prepared griddle until golden brown on both sides.

4.  Serve with real butter and pure maple syrup.  :)


This recipe makes just the right amount for my hubby and I and our 5 growing kids, so adjust to your family size accordingly.  Enjoy!!

wordy, random, thrifty thursday & stuff

Thought I would post an update on the M family for those who still stop by now and then.  :)  

On being different
The girls finished up school on June 2; Claire got student of the month for May and Loren and Emily each received some academic awards.  I am so proud of them!  It's hard to believe that Loren is now a 6th grader.  I remember 6th grade like it was yesterday... how it felt to have all the "little kids" looking up to you, liking a boy who liked someone else, wishing I were popular like some of the other girls, crying when I got an A minus instead of an A on the test... thankfully my daughter is less of a perfectionist than I was (am) and I have more confidence in her ability to stand on her own than I did.  

When I was growing up, we were "health food nuts" - before health food was a little more mainstream like it is now - I remember in 6th grade, sitting at the lunch table and all the kids going "EEEEWWWWW! GROSS!!!!" at the food I was eating.  It bothered me so much that I stopped eating lunch at school - I would eat it while I walked home.  I feel sad for that little girl now, because she was so worried about what everyone else thought that she couldn't enjoy just being herself.  

Now as a mom, I am making the same choice for my kids - feeding them organic foods, restricting sugar, giving them sandwiches with 12 grain bread, etc.  It was amazing how making that choice brought out all those old feelings of not "belonging" and being weird, because I really struggled with asking my girls not to eat the candy or sugary snacks at school, or sending them with Rice Dream instead of chocolate milk.  I didn't want them to feel different.  But imagine my wonder and surprise when my girls completely embraced this way of life and made it their own.  They brought their candy, cookies, and cupcakes home every day instead of eating them.  And when the kids at school would ask them why they weren't eating it, they would actually tell them WHY... "Sugar isn't good for my body."  4 of Loren's classmates were so inspired by her resolve that they quit eating sugar too!  

My girls are better than I was at their age.  They are willing to be different and even glad to be different, and because of that, they are leaders.  


Owen
Owen has been doing really well with his language.  It's so funny - he talks just like Grant now.  :)  I am not worried at all about delays; he has almost caught up to his brother and he communicates constantly.  It's been delightful seeing his personality emerging more and more.  He is definitely very sensitive; one stern look, or even just gentle correction, and he gets somber and teary-eyed.  And yet I can see that he feels secure in his family now.  He has relaxed so much the last month.  He's a happy kid and very even-keeled, and while he does have a stubborn streak, most of the time he is more than happy to share, or let Grant take charge of their playtime.  He is very tenderhearted too.  Whenever one of the other kids gets hurt, he becomes very concerned and says, "Are you ok?  Are you ok?"  It's precious.

A couple of days ago Owen picked me my first bouquet.  He had watched the girls bring me dandelions or other wildflowers on occasion and always seemed very interested  in how I kept them in a vase.  For the first time, he picked a handful of clover blossoms and brought them to me.  I gave him a big hug and he was so proud of himself.  

The past month has also brought a very relaxed, wonderful feeling of normalcy.  I wish I could describe it with words adequately... life just didn't feel right since our trip to China.  There was tension in our house.  I could not get past the feeling of babysitting Owen, like he was just temporarily with us.  I found him very overwhelming at times, because he came to us with baggage - however mild, it was still baggage.  But as we've watched him blossom and unfold, like a flower, and see him become more secure and "part of us", it has begun to feel like he's truly always been with us.  I always wondered when I would feel that way, or IF I would ever feel that way.  It took 4 months for me - I know for some it is instantaneous, and for others it takes longer.  It's just such a blessing for me to feel the same compassion for Owen that I do for Loren, Emily, Claire and Grant... to enjoy him the same, to feel just as happy to see him after an absence.  That is a gift of God.

We also had another minor miracle yesterday.  I took the kids to Subway, and I was sitting across from Owen at our own table - the other kids were at a table next to us.  I could tell Owen enjoyed having me all to himself for lunch!!  He was in such a silly, happy mood eating his sandwich.  I don't know why, but it popped into my head to ask Owen about one of his closest friends and "big brother" from Datong.  We had asked him about Jacob (Chinese name pronounced Quay Quay, I'm spelling that wrong I'm sure) several times before but he never responded with even a flicker of recognition or emotion.  And I KNOW these two were close, because I have a lot of pictures of the two of them together.  I had even showed him a picture of Quay Quay several times before, and he had just looked away as if he had no clue who it was.

Anyways, at lunch I said, "Owen, do you remember Quay Quay?"  And it was AMAZING how he reacted.  His eyes sparkled with recognition, he smiled hugely, sat up, and said, "Yeah, QUAY QUAY!"  And then he proceeded to do this silly dance thing with his arms.  I laughed and said, "Was Quay Quay funny?"  And he said, "Yeah!  Quay Quay funny!  Do this..." and he did the dance thing again.  I was absolutely amazed and thought that was a very encouraging sign that he feels secure with us and is able to acknowledge those memories.  

I've also noticed that he seems less obsessed with Asian people.  He used to stare and stare if he saw an Asian person... now he seems to show no preference in who he looks at.  It's very interesting to me, and makes me wonder if he now feels more American than Chinese.  

Owen LOVES to eat... as does his brother... they are eating us out of house and home!!  He really loves chicken, breads, potatoes and any type of pasta; and he loves spaghetti!  He is an outdoorsy boy and loves being outside as much as possible.  His favorite things to do outside are ride bikes, dig in the dirt, and go to the park.  He LOVES slides but is not as fond of swings.  He is also a fantastic climber.

We've not had a lot of issues with Owen's special need, despite how visible it is.  I'm truly amazed.  I am sure we will deal with it more when he is in school... but then again, maybe it won't be as difficult as I am bracing myself for it to be.  We've only had maybe 4 instances of a child asking "What's wrong with his hand?" and they were very young, so it was all completely innocent.  We've had no problems with kids pointing, staring, laughing, etc, and we've had him in public with other children a LOT.  I think part of it is just that he is able to do everything the other kids can do, despite his "little hand".  He always manages to find a way to do even more difficult things.  I'm hoping this resilience carries him through his older years.

The other day I was asking Owen where all of his body parts were, and I said, "Where's your fingers?"  He held up his hand with fingers on it, smiled, and said, "Fingers!"  Then he looked at his little hand and got a bewildered look on his face (as if he had never noticed), held his little hand out to me and said, "Fingers??"  I touched his hand and said, "Owen has little fingers on this hand, see?  It's ok!"  I probably could have said something more profound, but that was the first thing that came to mind!  I just found it interesting that he seems to not notice most of the time.  Even Grant has never said a single thing about Owen's hand.  Never once.

Thanks for all your prayers for us as we've continued to adjust.  We're not totally there yet, but it's worlds different than it was 2 months ago.  I'm really enjoying having all the kids home the last couple of days.  I've had my moments for sure, but for the most part they are all getting along really well.  :)


Photography
I have been doing some praying & seeking the last month or so about doing photography as a "business".  I felt very settled in my mind about NOT, but I'm quickly realizing that we have a lot we have to do to our house this summer and not enough money to do it... and summers are expensive... I can't believe how much camps & classes cost when you do it times 3!  (Can't imagine times 5!!)  I'm getting worried about our house painting project too.  Andy has been transferred to sales & account management at his company, which means more hours and some weekend work... plus the kids need to be somewhere or doing something while we're painting... it just gets so complicated.  And I'm not relishing the thought of being 2 stories up on a rickety ladder with a paint bucket.  It really should be done with scaffolding or some type of lift, which we don't have.  

All that to say, I'm wondering if photography might help us pay to have it done - I think I'm just scared to get my feet wet is all.  It's a whole different ball game taking pictures of other people than it is my own kids, flowers and still life!  Maybe once I started doing it and got more comfortable, it would be ok.  It's just that initial jumping in that's hard.  I would appreciate prayers as I muddle through all this.  Right now I am half wishing it could just stay a creative outlet, but at the same time, the extra income would help and it's an ideal job where I could just work part time and set my own hours.  


Random...
Anybody noticed that band-aid boxes have braille on them??  Pretty cool.

I really love artichokes dipped in lemon butter.  Yum.

My canopy bed finally has a canopy... thanks to my mom who gave me a long sheer thingie that happens to fit PERFECT... as if it were MADE for my bed!  I will take a pic of it soon.  I love how it softened up my room!

I am off to take photos today of a pair of cowboy boots.  They are very willing subjects.

Have you laid in the grass, under a tree lately? and watched the leaves rustle against the sky?  I did the other day.  It reminded me of childhood.  I have been slowing my life down a lot lately.  This morning I sat on the deck with my coffee and read an old copy of Heidi.  Just 20 minutes of quiet, and I felt so refreshed.


Thrifty Thursday
Hit the thift shop on Tuesday with my membership card (50% off) and got a whole wardrobe of Vera Wang, Abercrombie, Forever 21, and Gap for about $50.  Cha-ching!  Also found a cream colored cotton quilt for my bed for $29 (normally $150) at Elder-Beerman yesterday.  

How have you been thrifty lately?



a child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal. (lyman abbott)

a child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal. ~ lyman abbott

(Also posted on my photoblog)

pomp and circumstance...

Here are some photos from kindergarten graduation last night.  Claire had such a ball!  I was so proud of her when she marched up there to get her diploma.  :)  

A funny story, 2 boys in her class asked her to marry them last night.  I asked her, "Why do you think the boys wanted to marry you?"  She said, "Because I have a pretty dress, and they were wearing ties."  :)

I got some more great pictures that I wish I could share here, but I can't because there are other children in them and I feel like I would need their parents' permission.  There's this one of about 5 kids all sitting in a row in their little caps and gowns, waiting for the graduation to start... it's so classic!  :)  

In the room before the ceremony...

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The 2 boys who asked Claire to marry them.  :)  I was so happy I got this shot, because I didn't know about the marriage proposals until after graduation!  :)  (I have others with their faces in it.  They are the cutest, funniest little boys!)

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The moment her teacher called her name to come up on stage!

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The diploma from her principal.

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Graduated!  :)

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I have a few photos of Claire in her pink kindergarten graduation dress on my photoblog, if you'd like to see them.

she graduates today...

... so Thrifty Thursday is on hold while I have myself a little cry.  My baby girl is graduating from kindergarten tonight!  A few months... FIRST GRADE!  (sniff sniff)

We have a new dress to wear, her cap and gown are ready, and she is so excited.  Hopefully I will get some good pics to share, if the lighting permits.

Here's a sneak peek from some pics we took yesterday.  :)

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24-70mm 2.8 lens at 70mm focal length, ISO 640, f/3.2, 1/200th with evening lighting.

Oh, here's a thrifty bit for you... we got that skirt at Children's Place 80% off! Does that count? :)

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