Pictures of my new son to be!

Introducing...Levi Michael Mingdong! He is 5 years old and waiting for us in China. I want to get a "Journey to Levi" website started soon. I will post the info here when I get it going. I started with a most recent picture taken in July. He looks like he is working on his karate moves:-) We are working hard on our paperwork and hope to be able to bring him home next summer. Please pray for everything to go smoothly and quickly!

July 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2007

Our New Home...interior pics!

We are absolutely LOVING the new house and are so thankful to be here. We have been here a little over 2 weeks now! I wanted to share a few pictures of the inside, like I promised:-) We still have a few boxes laying around to unpack but we have gotten so much done already. We are SO blessed!

Living Room

Dining Room
Kitchen
Master Bathroom

Thank you Heavenly Father...

Princess Lorelle is 7yrs. old!

On August 10th, Lorelle turned 7 years old. She wanted to be the first to celebrate her birthday in our new home so we postponed our celebration for a couple weeks. On August 22nd we officially celebrated our Princesses special day with a party with family and friends. We had tacos, homemade guacamole, salsa and a Hannah Montana cake.

Lorelle told us that she wanted either an electric scooter or a hot tub:-) We got her the scooter and she LOVES it! She is on it in the morning before school and first thing after school each day. She had a GREAT Birthday!!! We love you Princess!

School is back in session!

The kids started school on Monday! Here are some pictures I took on their first day. Landan is in 6th grade and this will be his last year in elementary school:-( Leytan is a 4th grader this year and the triplets are 1st graders. I did go ahead and separate them again this year. I think it is best until homework gets to crazy for me to handle. They need and enjoy their time apart. I am praying for them all to have a GREAT year and to learn a lot.

The boys walking slowly into the school, even in the rain...

And the triplets running in...:-)

The kids are LOVING it here!

We will be at our new home for a week tomorrow. We have been really busy unpacking and organizing. We still have a few boxes laying around but I think we are doing pretty good for only being here a week. All the kids just love our neighborhood. We are right on a pond. The kids have been fishing, swimming and feeding the ducks. I would love to get them a paddle boat sometime. I think Chip will also enjoy his large back yard but at the moment is getting trained with our new underground dog fence. He is doing well and we are hoping to be able to let him run free in a couple more days.
The kids have made friends and are having a blast playing each day after school. Our neighbors have been really welcoming to us. We have gotten lots of goodies brought over:-) The girls even got their first Birthday Party invite. We have been blessed with a great group of families around us. We are also a pretty diverse group including families from the United Kingdom, Russia, and 2 others families with ties to China. Two of these families also have adopted kiddos so it will be great for them to have that in common as they grow up together. We are so happy that God lead us here. It is BEAUTIFUL here and totally feels like we are home at last. God is GOOD!

Disney World Adventure...August 2009

Our journey began driving to Indianapolis with the gang...our youngest 5 and Landan's friend Tommy. We arrived at Disney in the early evening and just swam at the hotel pool and ordered room service for dinner. We stayed at the new Bay Lake Towers connected to Disney's Contemporary Resort. It was their Grand Opening and we were the first guests to stay in our room. I was VERY nice! It had plenty of room for us and made our stay very comfortable. The next morning, our first full day, we headed out to the Magic Kingdom. The triplet's all got to do their favorite rides and Lorelle got to use her "England voice" to impress Alice. I am not sure who was having more fun...Lance and I or the kids!
The week continued with visits to Hollywood Studios, where Landan got to ride his favorite ride...The Rockin Roller Coaster. Then to Epcot for my favorite ride, Soarin. Then to Typhoon Lagoon for some water park fun and lastly to Animal Kingdom where Leytan discovered his new favorite ride Expedition Everest. Lorelle rode it too and LOVED it. The triplets also really enjoyed the parade at Animal Kingdom. I have some video clips I need to share:-) Too cute!

A couple nights I snuck away with the older 3 boys to do some late night stuff. We did Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom one night and then another night we went over to Downtown Disney to shop, video games at Disney Quest and to see a movie. It was nice to have special time with them without the little ones.

It was a HOT time to go but all and all we had a GREAT time!

What's been happening!

On July 26th we dropped Landan off at his first official, overnight, away from home for 5 nights, church camp. It was a little hard for me to let him go but he had an AMAZING time! He came home seeming just a little more grown up and even though it is a normal, important part of life...it still makes me a little sad. He is such a great son and a wonderful big brother to all of his siblings. He has such a HUGE loving heart! Here is a picture of him next to his cabin on the first day of camp. He shared it with 13 other boys.

On July 28th we celebrated Lance's 43rd Birthday! The girls made him lovely necklaces that he is proudly wearing in this photo:-) We grilled out and had his parents over for dinner. He is an amazing, loving father and husband. He works so hard and takes such good care of all of us. I am truly blessed to have him as my best friend. Thank you God!!!

On July 31th, we went to a wedding reception of friends...whose daughter recently got married. They are a wonderful family and we cherish their friendship. The bride is BEAUTIFUL inside and out! We love you all! Here is a picture of Lorelle with the bride. Congrats again McDaniel Family!!!

Then finally, yesterday on August 1st, the triplet and I...along

with my dad, stepmom and little sister, traveled down to southern Indiana to spend some time with my Granny. We grilled out, played in the slip-n-slide, got tractor rides from Great Grandpa Don, Grandpa Chuck and Uncle Tim and just hung out together. Granny made individual caked for all of us so we could celebrate all the summer b-days together. It was a FUN day!

Lilyan and Liam sitting on their Aunt Maddy.