Military Honors

Thursday night we had a wonderful dinner held in honor of Mark's
retirement from the NC Army National Guard. During the evening
several of his buddies talked about Mark's leadership, friendship
and influence in their lives. He also received several awards.
The greatest honor was the presentation of the "de Fleury" medal.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Our annual gingerbread house!

Helping mommy make peanut butter kiss cookies.
She really enjoys helping with these because she gets to
sneak a little chocolate along the way!

Making cookie jars for Olivia's Sunday School,
Mission Friends and Cherub Choir teachers.

Playing her fiddle for Ms. Mabel at the nursing home.

Tori and Olivia in Sunday School.

Pastor Kevin used "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
for an object lesson during his sermon.
Olivia and Tori were interested in hearing more.

Cherub Choir singing "My Favorite Day".

Friends!

Enjoying a few moments of warm weather with
new friends Felix and Isaac.

Kara and Olivia at the Christmas parade.

Olivia loves, loves, loves her Tori!

Hanging out at the mall with cousin Dayton Lee.

Enjoying a basketball game with Titus.

Olivia absolutely adores our pastor's son Andrew!

The Greenbrier

Mark and I were blessed to attend a conference with Samaritan's Purse at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. It was like a second honeymoon for us! What a beautiful place, with an interesting history, delicious food and peaceful serenity!

Our first evening began with a birthday celebration for Billy Graham's 90th birthday. Each day we heard a challenging message from Dr. Joseph Stowell and great worship music led by the Tommy Coomes Band. We saw presentations of all God is doing around the world through Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Association.

Olivia stayed with her nana and papa in Asheville. It was our first time being away for each other and everyone did well. I was a little nervous the first day but after talking to her on the phone and hearing her say "mommy I don't want to call you later tonight,"
I realized all was well.

Fall Festival

Our Little Princess

Olivia had a great time tonight at the fall festival!

We enjoyed the hayride with our friends Andy, Angela and Tori.

Fall is Here!

Olivia had her face painted at the Apple Festival.

Apple Festival petting zoo.

Olivia playing with some of her cousins
at our annual fall get-together.

On the dock with daddy.

Our sweet precious Olivia!

Sweet Ms. Mabel

The Lord has placed within Olivia a love for the elderly. To give her an opportunity to share that love we adopted Ms. Mabel. She lives in a nursing home and has no family. We are enjoying our weekly visit as you can see below.

Olivia and Ms. Mabel

Olivia enjoys brushing her hair.

Today we gave her a pedicure.

Just a Wonderful Wednesday

It's days like this that remind me how blessed I am to be a
stay-at-home-mom. I cherish these moments with my daughter!

Outside painting enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

Flying my Kite!

Putting out apples for the deer.

My First Day on the Fiddle

Olivia was so excited to get her fiddle and start lessons today.
Here she is with her teacher Mr. Larry and then below playing her first notes.

Happy Grandparent's Day 2008

Samaritan's Purse had their annual picnic at Grandfather Mountain.
This is Olivia and her daddy on the swinging Bridge.

Daddy found me another turtle.
I like to paint red nail polish on their shell,
set them free and hope we'll meet again.

I love my Uncle Micah!

Savoring the last of summer with friends!

Olivia shaving daddy's head!
It was for a good cause...to support a friend with cancer.

We "officially" began our home school journey this year.
Here she is working on her writing.
She is doing a great job and we are so proud of her.

Every Tuesday we attend our "Classical Conversations"
home school meeting in Yadkinville. We love it!
Today we learned about the pilgrims signing the Mayflower compact.

We started a new soccer season last weekend.
You can see Olivia at the far left doing her favorite thing...socializing!

COUPONS!

COUPONS!

My latest craze is couponing and it really works. It takes a little time to get organized and do the research but the payoff is huge!
Today's finds...$30.20 worth of goodies for $5.25...WOOHOO!

FCC Outing

We had our annual FCC (Families with Children from China) outing at our house over the weekend. What fun! One of the highlights was Zenmei teaching the girls mandarin with speaking charts her husband brought home from China. We are so blessed to have a wonderful group of families, including many Chinese American friends.

China Reunion

It was a wonderful weekend in Asheville! This was our third reunion and the girls are growing up so fast. They had a wonderful time together. Olivia loves her China sisters! We can hardly wait until next year!

Our babies are growing up!

Trying to get 7 squirmy 4 year old girls

to look at the camera at the same time!

Olivia and Piper in deep conversation.

Fun at the pool!

Olivia and Piper playing chicken.

Sweet!