Finally, some photos of our new church...

I've been terrible at taking photos of our church planting adventure. I'm always so busy talking to people and doing things that I can't remember to photograph the process. I SO don't want to forget all that God is doing in our lives at this time! Well, one of the churches (Oak Mountain) that is helping us start the new church (there are two churches helping us) did a highlights video for their congregation about our new church, Christ Community. The people in the video were people who that church sent to help us get started. At the end of the video there are some outtakes that are hillarious (funnier if you know the people, but still fun).
So here's the video...

If you live in town, you have to come visit!

We are homeschooling.

Never really thought this is what I'd be doing right now, but it has been a great choice for us. Since we moved to the outskirts of town, our sweet little school where Lily and Kate have been going and where we planned for them to graduate high school from is now 1 hour away in the mornings. Ugh! We have a sweet public school right here, but the girls still struggle with social anxiety a good bit and I didn't think they were ready to go to school all day everyday just yet. Also, we don't get to see Phil as much as we used to since he is putting in 70 hour weeks nowadays getting the new church started and being at home allows us to see him during lunch sometimes and in the mornings before he goes to work. The girls and I are all fairly introverted, so being at home gives us strength to do all the fun social events of church planting without burning us out.

Here is a picture of my homeschool room. I was hoping to get a picture of it when it was clean so that I could look like one of those really neat and crafty homeschool moms who never loses patience with their children and have succesful times of family worship....but, in reality, the room is NEVER clean. And the patience and family worship are a work in progress. Maybe one day...

I love to teach, but have been scared of the daunting task of being the only one responsible for their learning. Also, I LOVE my job and wanted to continue if at all possible. Thankfully, Birmingham has so many options for homeschoolers and we found a great fit for us. We've ended up with a hybrid of homeschooling and traditional schooling. We do a co-op that meets 2 days a week. So for those 2 days, the girls are in a regular classroom all day for literature, science, math and history and their teacher gives them assignments to do on the other 3 days with me at home. I get to do Bible and reading on my own, which I love! Here is their sweet little class...

The wonderful thing about their class is that over half of them were adopted or have siblings that were adopted. It is a great environment for them as they enter into a new phase of development where they are understanding adoption on a deeper level.

One of the things that Kate loves about homeschooling is that she doesn't have to sit still. She is always squirming around in her chair in odd positions. This the third table I've tried since she squirms so much that the other tables slid around all over the place.

Lily sits very still. Funny that we noticed this difference in the two of them within an hour after their adoption. Kate liked to kick her legs a lot. In those early days when it was hard to tell them apart, I alway knew if I was holding the one kicking her legs, it was Kate. We used to call her Kickin' Kate. She is a bear to sleep with since she squirms even in her sleep.

I like putting the girls to work for me and calling it homeschool. Here they are baking bread for Phil's birthday dinner.

Recently, I found my first grey hair. So homeschool became beauty school....

On the days we are home, we do school in the mornings and something fun in the afternoons. One of the things we do in the afternoon is violin practice. The girls do NOT think it is fun, but I'm still calling it fun hoping the positive attitude will catch on. Being home allows us to have a lot of friends over from homeschool, church or our neighborhood. We bought the house in the middle of the community right next to the playground and pool so there are always kids around.

Here's a rare photo of Kate painting toenails with her homeschool girl friends. Before homeschool, she would have never been caught dead doing something so girly! She is exploring new parts of her little self all the time.

Homeschooling has also given me amazing opportunities to disciple my girls while, at the same time, giving me plenty of material for repentance!

The Tooth Fairy pulls double duty tonight!

Both Kate and Lily have eager permanent teeth. Their permanent want to come in before the baby teeth are out. I've seen their dental xrays and they are so identical! Well, both have been working on the same tooth in each girl for the last month and we have an appt to get them pulled in 1-2 weeks if we have no success at pulling them ourselves. Today Phil called from work and told the girls that he was running a special..."All Teeth Pulled Today Will Be Worth $5 and an Ice Cream Outing After Dinner." I had no sooner hung up with him and turned around to see Kate was sitting in disbelief with a bloody mouth and tooth in hand. She had yanked hers out! I was shocked. She said, "It hurt, but I didn't even cry. I want $5 and ice cream." I was jumping up and down an laughing and calling Phil back on our new I Phone 4 with video calling. (We just got them and they are SO fun!) So Phil answered his phone to see Kate smiling at him toothless. I could see the dejection on Lily's face. She knew she wasn't that brave to do the same and, thus, would not be getting the Day's Special. Well, of course, I suggested all the old-fashioned ways to pull it - the string and door, eat corn on the cob.... She would go for none of it. She was just in a bad mood all day. That afternoon, I proposed that she let me hold the tooth between my fingers and then she would hit my arm hard. She went for it. We both screamed (or, actually, I think I just screamed loud enough for both of us.) The tooth was out! To say she was pleased would be an understatement. So, we video-called Daddy and he answered to see her toothless grin. LOVED it! Then we called several our friends to tell them our tale and then went out for ice cream when Daddy got home. I love being a twin mom!!

Kate with her tooth...

Lily with her tooth...

Look how idential these teeth are!

Happiness shared is happiness doubled!

Christ Community launches tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day! Tomorrow is our public launch of Christ Community Church (CCC)! Check out our newly updated website: http://www.cccbham.org/

We have no idea who is coming or what to expect tomorrow, but I'm so ready for it to come. The last 2 years have been amazing. I would have never guessed this turn in the road that God has taken us on. I really thought we would be preparing for life overseas right now. Instead, God has taken over and given us new purpose, new friends, new experiences, and a new view of Himself.

I wanted to write down our timeline so I won't forget and for you guys who are wondering what in the world we have been doing instead of being timely, coming to visit, blogging and interacting in our usual worlds:

Sept 2008 - went to Assessment Center to figure out if our denomination thought we should church plant (that was an intense and amazing experience!)
Fall 2008 - prayed a lot
Jan 2009 - made decision to plant a church out of Altadena and Oak Mtn. PCA
Summer 2009 - so many dinners with friends to bounce ideas off of them and drives through all of Helena and Pelham neighborhoods (I wonder how many naps my kids took in the car that summer?)
July 2009 - first interest meeting for CCC
Sept 2009 - first meetings of CCC at OMPC and Altadena
Dec 2009 - we moved to a new home in Helena big enough to be command central for the church (this thing is a bear to clean and I stink at setting up house). But I love it and it is a BUSY home.
Jan 2010 - CCC began meeting in our home and the clubhouse behind our house
Easter 2010 - CCC started Sunday morning worship services so CCC members officially stopped going to their previous churches (Yikes! that was scary)
- first community event - Easter Egg hunt
May 2010 - outgrew our house (one day we had 35 children in our home for Sunday School!) and moved services to Helena Elementary School
Summer 2010 - first women's socials of CCC; first men's Bible study; first visitor's dinners
August 2010 - seven Community Groups established in homes
- hired Scott Ivey as worship leader and Karen Dover as children's director
Sept 12, 2010 - public launch

I realize I have very few pictures to post of the church. I'll try to fix that! I think there are some on our CCC Facebook, though.
I'll try to take some photos tomorrow!

China Reunion

We recently went to our agency's China reunion. Yeah Lifeline for putting on a great time! The kids had a blast. Here are all the kids on our cul-de-sac and the two women who helped to bring them home. Aren't they all so precious?! We feel so blessed that the kids will grow up living next door to each other. Especially since there are two sets of twins. I love seeing them run back and forth between the houses, riding in the cul-de-sac together, squealing with excitement when the other kids get home, sharing meals, toys and clothes, parenting together and loving on each other's kids. I can't imagine how much comfort this will bring the kids and us in the years to come.












I had to add this second picture since it has our little friend LJ in it. These girls all came home within 3 months of each other and have been playing together for 4 years. Here they are with their token boy!

Identical twin shoe resolutions

There are many ways that having twins makes my mothering different from having siblings of different ages. One that I finally got a picture of is the girls resolving their shoe disputes...you know the "I want to wear these shoes." "No, I'M wearing them!" With twins, you can say, "no problem...each of you gets to wear one and we'll pick another pair of shoes to wear on the other foot." We do this pretty often. Here they are happy to each get to wear the coveted pink shoes. (Note how blurry the picture is from the humidy outside!) A downside to twin shoe wearing is in addition to getting our shoes on the wrong feet like a lot of preschoolers...if we have two identical pairs of shoes, we often end up with one girl wearing 2 right foot shoes and the other wearing 2 left foot shoes. Sad thing is, I just pretend I don't notice most of the time.

Happy Father's Day!

I love to watch Phil with the girls! He can make the most mundane things exciting. He is so much funner than I am. Like most families...they want me to cuddle and watch over them, but Daddy is the playmate. I love to see their smiles when he is playing with them. It is amazing how children are just as happy with a rope and ring game as they are at Disney...the key factor is attention from us in making them feel happy, special and loved. I'm sure other adoptive parents have these same thoughts when they see moments of sheer glee on their children's faces..."What if we hadn't have adopted them? Who would make them laugh until they fell over? Who would look and smile every time they said, "Look at me, Daddy! Watch what I can do, Mommy!" It always amazes me how much they want and need our approval and our focused time. They so need an appreciative audience to develop self esteem and a true sense of who God has made them. I'm so glad they have a Daddy that can do that 10 times over what is needed. Here they are playing a game with Phil at the beach. I just love their unrestrained glee!

Lily and Kate's new BEDroom

...emphasis on BED because they are now, at 5 1/2, sleeping in their own beds in their own room! After 4 1/2 years of sleep anxiety, nightmares and nightterrors (our record is 20 nightterrors between the two of them in one night - can anyone top that?), 2 kids sleeping next to Phil and I, many expensive bribes, sleep clinics, purchasing and reading 5 sleep books, and a few other extreme measures...we are all sleeping.
Best things we did...melatonin, a family bed and prayer. I don't recommend the meds and family bed to everyone...only in certain situations. But it has saved us from so much frustration and lack of sleep. Once they felt safe enough and calm enough to learn to sleep through the night in our room...moving them to their own room has been so easy. It only took 2 weeks. Crazy. The first thing we did to make their room enticing was to let them build a "tent" in there and sleep in their sleeping bags in it for a couple of nights. Here they are sitting on their tent in a picture that Lily arranged (she loves to arrange photo shoots). In between them is a MagnaDoodle that they have written their names on to identify the owners of the tent, "Lilly and Kate." Lily has currently changed the spelling of her name...a very characteristic Lily thing to do.

Memorial Day

We had our first cul-de-sac cookout on Memorial Day. Here are all the cul-de-sac kids and their watermelon!

Lily and Kate decorate the house while I'm sleeping...oh, no!

Since we had no furniture in our living room in the new house, I was not in a hurry to decorate for Christmas so the boxes of trinkets sat in boxes in the living room, until....
the girls decided to surprise me one morning before I woke up and pulled out all the Christmas decorations/ornaments. They decorated the tree (with the ornaments that they didn't break). They also added a snow effect with artificial snow from our snow village. The snow effect was all over the living room. You can see it in this close-up of the busy little ladies topping the refrigerator box with snow.











Here is the bird's eye view of my "decorated" tree and living room. They were so excited to show me how they had helped! Oh, so much to clean.

Holiday festivities!

Here we are getting ready for Christmas in our new house with the annual gingerbread decorating. I was so tired this day. I think I recall asking Phil to take a photo so the kids could remember that I was a good mom even though I was blowing it left and right.

Sweet little Christmas party at Mother's Day Out.

Best friends...

...and more best friends! The invisible Mrs. Angel and Mrs. Dareitha...

Moving out

Oh, what a hard memory...We moved the week before Christmas.

This is the day we got the last things from my sweet little house where my husband had carried me over the threshold and my babies first came home. I didn't go by the house for weeks afterwards, I was so sad.











We said goodbye to our sweet neighbors who are our close friends.












And we weren't sure that my cat of 15 years was going to make it through the move.
















Once we moved, I felt like I was living some other woman's life for about 3 months. We moved to start the new church and knew God had clearly called us, but the unknowns of what that would look like were the hardest during this time.

Do I dare try to catch up on my blog?

A lot has happened since I stopped blogging abruptly.

We moved to the other side of town, started a new church and made lots of new friends all while trying to continue some structure for the kids. In the middle of this, my camera broke and my computer took forever to get set up in the new house. Ugh. But, I'd still like to chronical our lives so that I'll remember it all if you are up for following!

These pictures have nothing to do with this post, just a fond memory of our old house.