Garden City Beach Days - Part 1

Maryn enjoyed her first edition of the ice cream truck.....

 so thankful for Gran and her willingness to chase down the ice cream truck with the children!

 Our adoptions have allowed for us to meet some of the most fabulous families....we had the pleasure of spending a day on the beach with one such family, the Rankins.  Lily and Maddox were adopted in March of 2011 and our families have shared a great bond since.  

 Fourth beach trip is the charm!  Little miss Maryn is now a full blown beach baby!  She loves the water and jumping the waves and building sand castles!

 Our day with the Rankin family was fun for all involved!  Such a pleasure to have this time with them and to meet their newest baby girl, Mary Katherine.....she is a cutie!

 The bigs have given up on boogie boards and have decided body surfing is the way to go this year!  The have spent hours in the ocean catching the waves!

 Meanwhile, the onshore activities were a hit as well.....jump roping is the new game of choice!

 Colin has reveled in being able to ride his skim board again.....after his shoulder break two years ago, the fear set in.....good to see him back on the board in full comfort!

 Little Miss Maryn and the beach wagon.....all five of our children have taken their turns with the beach wagon!

 Maddox skipped out into the ocean with her boogie board in tow....she is such a free spirit and just goes to her own beat!  Love every bit of this little one!

 Surf fishing was attempted.....hoping for a shark, settled for a whiting.....

 And while the boys fished, the girls created a sand castle kingdom....

 Our mid-week goodbye photo.....Drew had to pack up and go home to work:(  So thankful for this time with her yet so sad to see her go!

Tidbits of our life.....

Maddox makes us laugh with her nonchalant observations....most recently she stated, "You know, if you have a motorcycle, you really shouldn't drive it through a carwash!"  True.

Maryn, after 11 months of being home, now goes to bed without tears.  In China, she made it especially clear to us on our first night together that her being in a crib was quite an insult and she had no intention of sleeping anywhere but in the bed with us.  So, being that she is our fifth child, and we were in China with two other children who needed their beauty rest, we obliged and Maryn slept with us.  And then we arrived at our temporary home (my parents' home) and she was once again clear on letting us know that she would be sleeping with us - no room for bargaining!  We put the crib mattress beside our bed and there she slept for the next two months....she would wake up and I would rub her hand to let her know all was well and we needed some rest stat!  Then we transitioned her to her bed in our new home in her own room....but, I have held her every night and she has fallen peacefully asleep on my shoulder.  And I would not have changed any part of that deal.  It has been the one time in the day that I have with just her and no interruptions.  I have gotten to just love on her and make her laugh and talk with her and then feel her drift off to sleep.  Pure heaven.  And now, she just chooses to stay awake mostly until Ryan takes her up for bed.....and she asks me every night, "Mommy, you be here in the morning?"  And I happily tell her I will absolutely be here in the morning!

We continue to do school.  We got a later start with this school year due to many factors and, honestly, we had a few days in there that we just pulled our feet slowly behind us.  I am so very thankful for this past year though it was by far the hardest year yet - adding a baby, moving, homeschooling five children in all grade levels (9th, 6th, 2nd, Pre K, and baby), well, it has been tough, but we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and we look forward to a few changes for the upcoming school year!

We got a new van, new car smell and all.  It wasn't in our immediate plans and we have had to make some adjustments but it was pretty much inevitable.  200,000 miles, 10 years old, and no AC in the southern heat....geez.  We have had it two weeks and it now has its first official ding....

Maddox is a fast little swimmer!  Cannot wait to see her in her first meet!  And MK is doing her first IM - she is so nervous yet we know she can do it well!  The boys are off this week with church serving in our community....such good growing experiences for them and I pray everyday that they touch others they meet.

Maryn Gentry

This baby girl warms my heart.....

 she is the epitome of sass....

 and yet the sweetest little bit there is!

 Her laugh does and will continue to carry her far....

 Pray big, dream big and reach for the stars, little one!

Tuesday evening these guys played a great game, neck to neck, against each other - they are the best of friends and it is good to see them having fun together even if they are on opposing teams!  

 The girls LOVE to teach Maryn and Maryn loves to try to do everything they do!  The big news for Maryn is that she was evaluated by our school district earlier in the month - I went for the results meeting and Maryn didn't qualify for any services!  It really wasn't a huge surprise to us but it was good to hear professionals confirm what we were suspecting.  They said, "We think you have one smart little girl and we do not see any evidence of a development delay."  Amen.  

 Ah, to be "home" again!  

Our former neighborhood graciously invited us to swim for them this summer and they have welcomed us with open arms!  

 We have four swimming this year - Maddox has joined the troops with full force and she is one strong swimmer!  We are so excited for her and we know that she will do well this season!  

 The boys will have a few extra muscles after the summer - they call their practices "mini boot camps."  Our coach also coaches year round swimming and our high school team.  She has them crunching, running, sit-upping, treading water for 10 minutes with their hands above their heads....hard core but such a good workout for them!

 And what everyone loves about swim team - the social part.  The children have enjoyed seeing their friends and spending time with them each morning during and after practice.  

Seabrook

Oh, Seabrook, how we love thee!

 After the ups and downs of life this past year, a week at Seabrook was just what the doctor ordered to collect our thoughts and replenish our souls.

 It took Maryn a moment, but she soon realized that sand is not the worst thing to walk on.....she went to bed each night saying, "Mommy, mommy, we go to beach....sand....swim?" and as I assured her that we would do all of the above on the next day, she drifted off to sleep.  

 Our bigs enjoyed walks on the beach....

 and jelly fish catching???  

 A highlight was having our friends, the Butchers, with us for the week!  It was great fun to have some friends to enjoy our happy place with us!

 The children spent some time concocting their own "living room" complete with recliner chairs! 

 I am pretty sure this guy could have relaxed there all day had the tide not eventually come in!

 Maddox was the designated crab catcher....

 and Pryce taught our littlest bit all about the joys of catching minnows!

 So glad for this time with our family!  

 This baby girl.....she changes daily and is the sweetest little heart ever!  I love watching her grow....this image is the perfect shot....she is twirling her hair, something she does when she is tired or just relaxing!  

"Mommy, I don't want to be from China."

Tonight, as I came in late from a meeting, I was met at the door by a little girl who calmly asked, "Mommy, can I speak to you in your room?"  There was a toddler at my feet so excited to see me, two boys wanting my ears to tell me about the baseball game, one little girl who, at 9:00pm still had not eaten dinner, and one little girl who clearly needed me more at that moment than the other four combined.  We stepped away from the chaos and into my room we went.
Immediately, the tears flowed.  Feeling as though she needed this moment, I let her cry and then asked what was wrong.  She looked at me and through sobs she said, "Mommy, I don't want to be from China.  I don't want to talk about my lip."
And I sat dumbfounded. I wanted to scoop her up and protect her from everything and everyone who was to ever question her adoption and her cleft lip and palate.  I wanted to tell her over and over how beautiful she is but in that moment, I was speechless.  Here was my baby, crying real tears, sobs, because a little girl, a stranger, had asked, "what is WRONG with your lip?"
Instead, I let her cry and I held her as tight as I possibly could and I tried to come up with just the right words in my head to make it all better for her.  And I prayed that God would give me the right words to comfort her tender little heart.
I am so thankful she came to me, she needed me to hold her and love her in her sorrow.  She is so tender and so shy.  We recounted together the evening and the encounter with the child who asked about her lip.  I told her she did the right thing by walking away.  I assured her that walking away from someone who is making her uncomfortable is ALWAYS the right thing to do and she has our blessing in doing so.....we also talked about how, although being kind is always best, if someone asks a question regarding adoption, her story, her lip or anything of the sort, she can tell them politely that it is none of their business.
Most importantly, we talked about her - her beauty, both inside and out; her love for her sisters, her ability to lead, her gift at being able to do anything she tries well - she is a fabulous dancer, swimmer, and artist!  I told her that she must always hold her head high, knowing that her cleft is NOT at all what defines her but, instead, it is a mere part of who she is.
And then we looked at pictures of our beautiful girl, young and old.  And we researched cleft lip and palate so she knows exactly what she was born with and what has been repaired.
This girl has taught and continues to teach me so much.  Please join me in praying that my girls will always embrace their heritage, their stories, and their lives.  All three of them are precious in His sight!

Atlanta

We had the opportunity to spend a few day in Atlanta.....and the girls were all on board with riding on the luggage cart and indoor swimming!  The boys were all about having their own room - adjoined to ours, of course - and having unlimited TV and electronics for a weekend....as teens, this is their utmost thrill.

 All five kiddos have been begging to go to the World of Coke so we obliged....

 there was a little something for everyone....

 Colin thought the whole idea of a museum dedicated to Coke was awesome.....

 MK found this pic of China and immediately gave a huge smile.....

 Trips to Atlanta always consist of a meal at our favorite Cheesecake Factory....

 Maryn had no trouble buttering her bread....reminiscing on how things used to be, I would have never given Colin a butter knife and an entire thing of butter at the age of 2.  Five children later, I could not give it to her fast enough!  What better way to occupy her time while we waited on our food!

 The American Girl doll store is always a sight to see too.....thankfully, no one melted down when we said there would not be any purchases!

 This little miss got a new float for the pool and she was all ready to go swimming!  She loves the water!

 The unfortunate part of this trip was when we all piled in the van to go see the laser show at Stone Mountain - NO AC!  Eek!  Totally gone. 

So, we did as any other family of 7 would do, we made it an adventure, rolled down the windows and carried on with our trip!