We spent Labor Day celebrating the 4th anniversary of Sydney's adoption. The 4th anniversary of Gotcha Day was truly on 9/1, but we met 6 of the families that traveled to Hubei with us on Labor Day weekend in Minneapolis. These "Red Couch" photos get easier each year.

I really need to try to do a better job of keeping the blog updated. The kids spent last week in VBS at a new church and they loved it. So this morning, we are headed to a new church to try it out. Also got the fair worked into the schedule yesterday. This was the first year that they really enjoyed it I think. Now for a few photos!

We are finishing the 7th day of my 10 day vacation! Today we went to Iowa City to have lunch with Hannah. We ate at the Olive Garden and then we got ice cream at the mall. Then Hannah left and we went to the Children's Museum. Tonight, we are having a Cousins' Sleepover. Abby, Beka, Shaun and Sydney are all going to enjoy the night.

Below is Abby's first digital layout ever.

So Abby pointed out that I haven't posted any layouts of her for some time. As with all requests from my sweet nieces and nephew, I dropped everything to get over here and get one posted. Just like last night when I dropped everything to drive Sarah and her friend to a movie. Love all of you guys more than you will ever know.

Wow! Have the first 6 weeks of 2009 just about sucked the life from me or what? But here I am...we had lots of snow but it was accompanied by lots of bright sunshine. And I feel better! LOL

Here's a couple of layouts that I did yesterday. Woo hoo!

I've been tagged by Maya ( http://madigirlscraps.blogspot.com )and I'm supposed to list 6 (un)interesting facts about myself. Then I need to tag 5 others.

1) I became a mother at age 47. I'm 51 now. My son is 6 and my daughter will be 5 in February. You figure it out!
2) I have lived most of my life without the internet...but I can't imagine how.
3) I have been to Europe four times...and three of those times were for business.
4) I love basketball! Some might call me a fanatic!
5) I have lived my entire life in the USA but I've never been to Washington, D.C.
6) I am happiest when I'm surrounded by my family...my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my nieces, my nephew, my husband and my children! I enjoy every minute of the chaos.

I need to tag some others. But first I need to go find some blogs.

A couple of layouts from this weekend.

I think that I've caught the cold that has been hanging around our house for the holidays. I'm tired and I'm cranky and I'm anxious to get some sense of routine back. I'm not a really big routine type of gal...but I think that I need a little bit.

I'm doing a "Healthy-O" challenge with some friends at Oscraps. I'm hoping that the support over there will help me get on track. And I'm doing a Project 365 challenge where I'm taking a photo each day to document my life. I've got a blog devoted to that as well.

It's a beautiful morning here in Iowa. The sun is shining brightly and it's 27 degrees. I went to the hot tub early this morning. I left the jets off. The steam was rising from the water. The sky was blue. There was no noise. It was so peaceful. As I sat in the hot tub and prayed...a verse came to my mind that I am claiming for 2009.

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I think that I shall study that verse in January. I'm not sure why, but that is where the Lord is leading. And I feel that I must follow.

It's 7:30 am on New Year's Day! We didn't make it to 2009. Sydney fell asleep on the sofa while I was finishing my last layout of 2008. But alas, the best laid plans...she woke up vomiting! Nice way to end 2008. So I took her to bed and crawled in beside her. I did wake up at 12:03 a.m. with another trip to the bathroom...but she hasn't been sick since so I'm hoping that's behind us today!

Shaun surprised me so when Sydney was sick. I saw a side of him that I'd never seen before. He became this very mature little guy. He ran (on his own) to get Sydney a different pajama top. He went to get a towel for me. Then, when I took Sydney to her room, he started straightening out the bed, telling me that we would need more blankets. Wow! Amazing!

Nine years ago at this time, we knew that Y2K was a non-event! For someone who was in IT, that was huge.

And on Tuesday, Verna asked me if I remembered what we were getting ready to do 10 years ago. We spent the first week of 1999 in Amsterdam at ING headquarters. We were taking CMM training. Was that really 10 years ago?

My layout is a photo from 18 years ago. It was the weekend before leaving Texas. We went to the beach in Galveston since we didn't know when we would get that chance again.