Ski season!

We had a great ski season this year, enjoying plenty of snow on both our nordic and downhill gear and even in our snowshoes!  Ben and Sash had particularly good years as they participated in the Sundance Nordic Team. Not only was it a great outlet for their ample energy, but they even managed to have a good time doing it.

Here are the photo highlights of the 2013 ski season!

Girls day out at the Sundance Nordic Center (that's a workout!)

Sash and WanYing show off their Nordic skills

Sash patiently waits for Mom to catch up

WanYing is (unsurprisingly) more about the fun than covering distance

Boys skiing with friends

Ben enjoying some kicking and gliding with Grammy

The Sundance Nordic Team!

Ben's first Nordic race

And they're off!

Ben completed his first 1K in fine style

Sash warming up for her "race"

Sash reaches the end of the kids' obstacle course - and the treats at the finish line

A winner at heart!

Snowshoeing up...

...and back down again

The kids definitely enjoyed the down more than the up!

Spring skiing with friends

And spring skiing with my favorite 12-year-old

Almost as fun as a day at work :)

Fun snow, fun family and friends, fun winter 2013!

Sasha's Fourth Gotcha Day

Silly Sasha February 17, 2009

Silly Sasha February 17, 2013

She grows, she changes, but one thing stays the same - our girl is the same crazy, silly, zany creature we fell in love with in Kazakhstan 4 years ago!

And 4 Gotcha Days later, she still loves to celebrate with a family game of bowling :)

Happy Gotcha Day Sasha! We are so proud and grateful that you're our girl.

Ben's First Brulee

by Ben

When we went to The Grill at Sundance I ate a bit of creme brulee.  And I found that I really liked it.  So, when we got home, a couple weeks later my mom made creme and then I blowtorched it to make it bruleed.  But I didn't use a blowtorch, I used a pipe welder.  I mean a plumbing torch.

My brulee, everyone said they liked it and then I tried it and I thought it was a magnificent creme brulee.

What we're doing on our summer vacation

We are so (so!) excited - this summer Sam, Ben, and Jamie are headed to Colima, Mexico on a short term mission trip working for and with the children of the Hogar de Amor orphanages!

It all started this fall.  As y'all know, I'm terrible at sitting still and with the boys hitting ages where they are both useful(ish) and trustworthy(ish) I started considering the possibility of a family mission trip.   I knew I wanted to go international, I knew I wanted to do orphan service projects, and I knew that I wanted the boys to go, so I contacted some friends and online groups where I thought I might be able to get recommendations for groups that facilitate family trips.

Well, it turns out that one of my adoption heroes, Dawn Davenport, and her husband lead trips for their church every year to Mexico and this year they were hoping to extend the experience to another church.  So we chatted and they asked if I'd be interested in leading a group from our church.  How could I say no?!?

So that's how I ended up leading a group of 17 people, aged 9 to 65, to Colima, Mexico this summer.  Dawn and Peter will come along with us to help facilitate the logistics (hooray!) and I'll handle the organization from the CenterPoint side.  I am so, so excited about the group of people we have going from CenterPoint Church and can't wait to see what God is going to do in and through this team as we serve together.

Of course, I'm most excited about sharing this experience with the boys - to serve alongside them, watch them grow and stretch, and together recognize God's blessing in our lives and in the lives of those we serve.  The boys?  They're excited about using power tools.  Oh, and serving, of course, they're excited about the serving.

Oh, and did I mention that my mom and dad are coming, too?  Three generations working together - I can't wait!

How can you be involved?

1. Pray!  Please join us in prayer for our trip.  Pray for the team and for those we will serve, that we will each be transformed through God's work in us on this trip.
2. Follow our adventures!  Subscribe to http://centerpointmexico.blogspot.com for updates, prayer requests, photos, and stories as we travel to Mexico.
3. Be a part of our support team!  Each person traveling needs to raise about $600 on top of travel expenses (which we are paying ourselves).  If you would like to support our trip financially, we would sure love to have you!  Contact Jamie or leave a comment on this post and I'll give you the information for how to make your tax-deductible donation.

Hot Dogging

 by Sasha

I like my hot dog hair because they're kind of like the dinosaur horns.  People think my hair is funny and they like it.  My teachers Miss Teresa and Miss Shaila like it.  Next time I want five six ten hot dogs in my hair.

Editor's Notes:  In case you're wondering why this hairstyle is called "hot dogs" in our home, I finally figured it out a few weeks ago - I think that "buns" and "hot dogs" got a little confused in the space between Sasha's brain and mouth and buns have been been called hot dogs in our family ever since!

2 Years a Morningstar

It's mindblowing to think about the changes we've seen in our little one in the two years we've known each other.  WanYing has now been a Morningstar for half of her life!  And although we still see some negative vestiges of that early life, more and more we see a vibrant, tenacious, silly, tender, simply beautiful young lady shining through.

This year we celebrated Gotcha Day with a mac & cheese dinner outside on the patio (guess who chose the menu!) followed with the traditional Pi Day pie - because you can't have your Gotcha Day on 3.14 and not have pie for dessert!

WanYing now

Our first Gotcha Day - 3/14/2011.  Her love for zebra print has not faded!

WanYing and Mommy then

WanYing and Mommy now - our smiles and love just keep growing!

Happy Gotcha Day, YingYing - we are so proud and blessed to call you ours!

Bloggin Un-Pause

Sorry for the blogging pause for the last couple of months.  I'll try to catch up on all of the happenings of February and March (Sam's Birthday, WanYing's Gotcha Day, Sasha's Gotcha Day, International Woman's Day, Lunar New Year, and lots of skiing - shew! No wonder there hasn't been much time for blogging!).  Resume blogging!