Relief

Thankfully all the damage to our house was cosmetic. Our insurance responded quickly. Our new landscaping survived (yea!), and the old did too (oh well). We huddled in the basement hallway with blankets, pillows and our portable DVD player. We have ordered a emergency weather/cell phone charger/flashlight/NOAA radio since we found out that WIFI is gone along with the power. The kids slept, Jeff monitored the storm on his cell phone, and I tried to calm down a dog who needed a Benadryl. We are very grateful.

Civic Duty

Back at the beginning of the year, you may remember we had a water line issue. The water was leaking in the snow for about 3 weeks and we found ourselves thankful for all the "Little House on the Prairie" books I had read as a child. The KUB crew took approximately 90 minutes to move our line once our name came up on the schedule. We've been living with a hole in the landscaping (check above picture) since then.

Well, Jeff took off work all of last week and set about the landscape as one of his task lists. Here are a few of the happys that are now gracing our yard.

Snowmound- a darling little plant with touchable qualities (per my request for our munchkins)


"Otto Luyken" an English Laurel- ubiquitous, but a good evergreen to sit under our windows and not take them over



Cherokee Chief flowering dogwood in Madeline's favorite color- pink!

This is the civic duty part; we are one street off the dogwood trail and nary a dogwood tree in our yard. Scandalous! Knoxville is the home of the Dogwood Arts festival after all! Don't worry, I am thoroughly ashamed each time I drive down the road.

I am on the lookout for a bench to go next to it, so I can watch the girls walk home from school in the future. And maybe a little table to go next to it, just to hold my iced tea and book.

I'm hoping that in the distant future; like 20 years, this will help block the view of my neighbor's roof line.





Manhattan spreading Euonymus

For some unknown reason, the previous owners were one plant short on finishing off the hedge to hide our iron retaining walls. The birds like to spread their art here. We prefer to cover it up.






Isn't this a glorious view??? We enjoy this each time we sit at our kitchen table (up one level ). It is depressing to look into your neighbor's lattice and dog house and feel like you have to wave at them when they come out to feed the dogs. Blech. And, exactly 3 days after we planted these arborvitae's, they started an addition. The current back porch is the new footprint for the addition and they will be adding a porch onto the back of that. Yippee!!! These arborvitae's are supposed to grow up to 60 feet and about 12-20 feet wide. They can grow 3 feet a year, so Madeline and I have begun to sing to them and give them hugs.

The tree on the far right is a Blue Spruce we planted on our wedding anniversary our first year in this house. I love them, but they just don't grow fast enough to kill that view.

It's funny for me to look at the front of our house. You don't have to be a "Where's Waldo" expert to spot the line where our landscape budget ran out. Ah, well; the fall is a better time to plant anyway.

He is Risen!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your voice and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ has burst the gates of hell, Allelua!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died, our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where they victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven! Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the Resurrection, thou! Alleluia!


Our family's Easter anticipation was greatly heightened by our church. Redeemer will be releasing it's first album, Rise O Buried Lord, in the near future. Rich, full, and inescapable in it's poignancy, please visit!

Four Year Anniversary

Yep, today's the day! We've been officially waiting for our baby China for four years now. It seems sort of odd to say that you've been waiting for a baby who isn't likely born yet, but we have the accordion file to prove it. I'm often asked several questions about our adoption, so if you'll indulge me a few minutes of reading, I'll try and field them here. THANK YOU, for asking!!

1) Why is it taking so long?
We don't really know. One theory we have been given is that of "illegal adoptions". If you remember the earthquakes that hit China a few years ago, many families lost their one and only child in those tragedies. So some of the abandoned babies are being picked up by these families and not being reported through proper channels. There are lot of other theories out there, but explaining the wait doesn't expedite the wait. I try to choose not to speculate... but I often pray "Set the captives free"!

2) Do you hear anything from your agency?
We (along with 1500+ other families) get regular updates on Wednesday via our agency's website. Sometimes the report is that there is nothing to report, and other times it is the happy news of matches! It seems as if there are matches every four weeks or so. Our agency has always responded very quickly to any question we have had, and I have absolutely every faith in them.

3)What about some other countries? Wouldn't it be faster?
Apparently so! But, our baby is in China. Whenever we consider another avenue, we get a clear "burning bush" to stay the course.

The families who have recently received their matches had log in dates of June 15, 2006. A log in date is basically your place in line. Imagine taking a number at a bakery. Until your number comes up, you just wait. No matter how many more people come in, that's your number and you will be taken care of duly. So, the current wait time (based on the new matches) is about five years. Our log in date is April 13, 2007. I could easily see it taking three or more years. Yuck. I hate even typing that. But, it's not pessimism, it's just history. In the meantime, would you also say your prayers to set the captives free?

Yea Spring!

An excellent tree for climbing...















our "lips" as Madeline calls them...














the original Gutter Guard.....

... and a crazy cute baby.

March's Book in Review

The Four Loves by CS Lewis

First, let me state that I did a lot - emphasize A LOT- of pleasure reading this month. Five books to be exact. This little Lewis book is just that; a hundred and forty-one pages, and so deceived me with the time that I would need to give to it. I consequently found myself reading the last 60 pages the night of March 31st in order to meet my self-imposed deadline. Don't do that to Lewis.

His style is that which reveals his vocation of college professor. When you read his books, it's very conversational and you find yourself wanting to take notes and let your mind escape alongside of his musings. For days.

He covers the four loves as:

1) Affection- " a warm comfortableness, this satisfaction in being together, the least discriminating of all loves" " Affection at it's best practises a courtesy which is incomparably more subtle, sensitive, and deep than the public kind. In public a ritual would do......Affection at its best can say whatever Affection wishes to say, regardless of the rules that govern public courtesy; for Affection at it's best wishes neither to wound nor to humilate nor to domineer. "

2) Friendship - " in a sense.. the least natural of all loves; the least instinctive, organic, biological, gregarious and necessary. In Eros love, we are begotten, in Affection we are reared, but we can live and breed without Friendship. But in Friendship we seek those who answer the question "Do you see the same truth?" in the way that we do ourselves"

3) Eros- " the state which we call being in love- the question of What do you want? is answered in the simple form of to go on thinking of my beloved. One of the first things that Eros does is to obliterate the distinction between giving and receiving"

4) Charity- " that which requires forbearance, tolerance, and forgiveness. The necessity of practising these virtues first sets us, forces us, upon the attempt to turn -more strictly, let God turn- our love into Charity"

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness......The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

This is definitely a book worthy of your shelf- I was humbled by the great gift of love that has been given to me by God with my friendships and my dear husband.