Long hair!!

Grace is so proud of her "long hair". This is the first time I've tried anything other than barettes or clips and it turned out pretty cute! She is so happy to have long hair. The last few weeks she keeps touching the back and gets a big smile and says "long hair"! I'd say it is probably the longest it has ever been.

Grace's Baptism on March 14th

Grace and Tim Bahr, her translator (Ann Earl's brother)



Grace and her "church teachers"

Elder Slater and Elder VanBeck

It was a wonderful day and Grace had been looking forward to it for several weeks. The processing of learning about such new concepts as Jesus Christ and a Heavenly Father was much easier for Grace than I thought it would be. For someone who had no religious background or instruction, she quickly picked up on these new ideas. We are so grateful to have the help of the missionaries or "church teachers" as she called them. The Elders were happy to have such a willing investegator and Grace loved learning from them every Sunday afternoon. They are both from the Eastern United States and of course don't speak Chinese but they tried really hard to communicate with Grace on basic things and she just loved having them over.

Ann, Adam Earl's (our nephew) wife was the person who guided us to Tim. He was the perfect translator for Grace! Since he'd served a mission to Taiwan and has taught at the MTC (Missionary Training Center), he was quite experienced with teaching and the language. He took a lot of time to translate for the missionaries and write out the characters for Grace so she could really understand what was being taught. It was a real blessing to have such an amazingly spiritual person to help the missionaries with all the lessons. We asked Tim to perform the baptism for Grace so she could hear it in Mandarin and in English. It was truly a beautiful moment for her and she was very happy.

Grace loves going to church and learns the hymns and children's songs quickly. In fact, she sang a new song with me, Zachary, Olivia and Eliza for her baptism. She has been learning "A Family is of God" in Primary and I thought it would be a good song for us to sing at her baptism. The chorus says: "God gave us families, to help us become what he wants us to be, this is how he shares his love, for the family is of God." I feel like God gave Grace a family, even if it did take 10 years! It was a touching moment as we sang and the words and their meaning in Grace's life sunk in to those listening.

If you want to hear the song you can find it on this page (click on the link below and then find the song on the list at the bottom of the page):

http://www.lds.org/cm/display/0,17631,7206-1,00.html

Create...

This is an awesome message..."Create!" It's very short but inspiring.

To see the weekly Mormon Messages go to: http://www.youtube.com/mormontv

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRK!

Probably one of the biggest highlights of Kirk's year was winning the state Geography Bee and going to DC for the national competition. It was a real honor for him and he LOVED it! Our nation's capitol was one of the places he'd dreamed of going to and he won a free trip there himself!! It was one of those life changing experiences and I'm so glad he had the opportunity to use his knowledge and meet other young people with similar ideas.

In front of the White House

Kirk at the National Geaographic Bee in May
At Senator Bennett's Office

Lunch after the Great Wall in December
After his braces were off in October

Celebrating with cousins on Monday

Kirk loves his little sister, Eliza, and is a super big brother to all his siblings!

I can't believe he's 15 years old today!

We love you Kirk!

Back again!

I haven't posted in a while. Here are a few pictures of our last few weeks:

Olivia and Grandma Carol just before she drove back home. Grandma came out for a visit the last week of February. We had a great time visiting with Grandma and playing with the puppies.
Kirk playing around after his piano festival performance. He got a Superior rating which fantastic! He played beautifully and even smiled for the judges. Great job Kirk!

Eliza with her favorite buddy Voodoo! (He lets her pick him up and love him. He's the best cat ever!) She had fun running around with Grandma and mommy.

Olivia holding one of Grandma's puppies. She's our official "puppy trainer" but I did have to tell her not to try to take a puppy down the slide of her playhouse.

Grace has been adjusting fairly well. We had a few weeks in a row where she was getting impatient and angry at times. Usually she is really happy, but she has a temper that flares up especially when she is hungry or tired. You would never guess by seeing her most of the time. Of course, she had the most problems when Grandma was here. She really gets mad if Zach teases her so I'm trying to stop that when it happens. Eliza tries to tell Grace what to do, which also doesn't go over well. So far, no hitting, biting, etc. this week. Maybe she already learned those behaviors are not acceptable. Or maybe she doesn't do well with a visitor in the house. Who knows!