Sunday Snapshot: Christmas gift aftermath

Just wanted to share a couple quick pictures of Eli.  I think I mentioned that Paul took him and Jack to spend their Toys R Us gift cards from Grammy, and both of them came home with Nerf guns and Legos.  

I tried so hard for so long to be a gun free house.  But with half a dozen boys, I'm seriously out-voted.  

My little Bubba is getting so big.  Even if he is still skinny enough to hide behind a little tree, this is the year he'll become a teenager.  Ouch.  

I adore him, and his piercing green eyes and his wild stories.  

And he's a good big brother, despite the fact that little brothers can sometimes be annoying.  Anybody who treats my Jack Jack well earns points with me.  

All this, and they mostly humor me when I want to snap pictures of them.  What more could a mama want?  

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Sunday Snapshot - Where's Luke?

A blog reader recently mentioned that Luke is missing from many of the pictures here on the blog.  I pondered that for several days, and while I came up with a few reasons, I think one of the biggies comes down to my many years of being a Large Family Mom.  

You see, in my mind, 

This is cute.

And this is not.

I've spent years trying to get decent pictures of my kids.  Given that one of the older boys almost never smiles for the camera, it's quite a challenge.  

But I decided, "She's right, I should try to get some pictures of The Littles all together."  Here's what happened.  

"Okay, Katie, look at Mommy!  Hannah, move your hand back a little, please."

Maybe not that far back.  

Oops.  

Let's try something different.  

Yeah, no.  That's not working, either.  Okay, how about just Lukey, by himself.  

Hmm.  Not so much.

Lukey!  Look at Mama!  ...or not.

Hey Sam, can you wipe his nose for me?  

(because you know everything becomes a group activity around here)

Personally, this is one of my favorites.  

Alrighty then.  Tummy was a no-go.  Sitting didn't work out so well.  How about we stand him up?  

Awesome.  

At the end of our photo session, with all my helpers offering suggestions, I was exhausted and frustrated.  So I asked the girls to sit in the big chair for one last picture.  

Now do you understand why there are more pictures of them than of Luke?  I mean, now that I'm conscious of it, I'll work on it, but after my particularly photogenic girls (all 4 of them) Luke is a challenge.  

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Sunday Snapshot - They humor me

Our afternoon plans fell through, so I pulled out the camera and coerced the children into letting me shoot them.  

I have some seriously cute kids.

And a fat, orange kitty that was yelling at us.  Methinks he was hungry.  (Don't worry; he's been fed now.)

Eli was being difficult, and out of at least a dozen shots, this was the best of the bunch.

But Brianna is good about letting me snap to my heart's content.

Even when I do something weird like say, "Put your elbows on the sidewalk!"

She doesn't know how pretty she is.  I'm afraid next time I blink, she'll be a grown woman.  

And this one?  He is hard to get a decent picture of, but he at least lets me try.  

As for Luke, he barely acknowledges me.  I took more pictures of him than any of the rest of the kids, and I still didn't come up with anything great.

Although it helps when little miss sunshine comes along to help.  

I think tomorrow I'll post all the hilarious out-takes from this impromptu session.

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Sunday Snapshot: I've been sewing

Autumn is in the air.  We had our first rain today.  Thunder and lightning, too, but it waited until after I'd gotten some pictures of my China babies.  

The girls' pants came from zulily.com and I made their pumpkin shirts.  It feels really good to get back into the sewing room.  I'm almost finished with Katie and Luke's bedroom sewing, too.

You may notice that Katie is still wearing slippers.  Don't get me started.  See, the length of her prosthetic foot is the same as the length of the brace on her other foot, but the brace is much wider.  So, all the cute shoes I saved from Hannah?  Yeah, not working out.  I'm going to have to take her somewhere cheap and get a pair of size 6 and a pair of size 7 in the same shoes.  I'm hoping we can eventually get her a wider prosthetic foot at a future visit so we can at least buy shoes in pairs from that point on.  

They're so cute.  Well...

...in carefully staged settings, they're cute.  The rest of the time, they look like this.

Downright scary.

Paul had the boys helping him tear up the yard this morning.

They created 1200# of debris that he and Eli hauled to the dump.  

Even Jack Jack was hauling rock.

Eli takes a break.

And this guy?  Not so much into manual labor, but he's gotten a lot more helpful inside the house since he's been homeschooling.  It's been nice having him around.

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Sunday Snapshot: In Memory

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Once upon a time...
                        ...there was a little girl, born in China.

She was born just 4 months before my Hannah.

And her family went to China to get her in 2010, just like we did for Hannah.

Little Teresa's was a special needs adoption, like Hannah's was.

Teresa had a "xiao arm" on one side, like Hannah does.  But in addition to her limb difference, Teresa had a very serious heart condition.  Her brave family brought her home knowing that there was a chance she wouldn't survive.

Teresa at Disneyland - used with permission

For 3 years, she thrived with the love of a family.  She sparkled and shined and captured the hearts of everyone who heard her story.  And last month, following her heart transplant, her bright light flickered and went out.  But the residual glow she leaves behind will be remembered for a long time to come.

When I saw that Minus 1 Project was doing fundraiser shirts for Teresa's family's medical expenses, I couldn't resist getting Hannah one.

And every time I see Hannah wear this shirt, I will remember little Teresa and ask myself what I can do to spread light like she did.  Can I sponsor a surgery for a waiting child?  Donate to an adopting family?  Go volunteer in an orphanage?  Help provide clean water to waiting children?  

When I see Hannah wear her "Teresa shirt," I will thank God that my girl is healthy and home.  And I will pray that He will comfort the hearts of her parents and siblings as they move forward without their beloved daughter & sister.


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