Please feel free to visit our blog to follow our trip to China.

Here it is and now not passwod protected:
www.trektochinaforjoshua.blogspot.com


You'll have to copy and paste it because I don't know how to make a link on here!! Sorry!

Please feel free to leave comments on our blog. We would love to hear from any of you while we are away. We leave on the 13th and retun very late on the 30th. Please keep us in your prayers.

Sorry to be so short, but much is left to do!!

Finally! We have been in the process of adopting Joshua for about 9 months!! We are tentatively traveling to China on August 12th and will return home sometime around August 31st! We are sooooo excited!! I can't wait to bring our son home. He has been our son since Dec. 6th, 2006 but from afar!! It will be great to finally bring him home!! I just found out yesterday and realized that we leave in 10 days (9 now)!! I am in a daze, but also in a whirlwind!! Imagine packing for 6 people - how crazy is that!!

We do covet your prayers!! Please pray for our safe journey, Joshua's transition into our family, and for our health to be good while we are there.

Have a great day and help someone along the way!
Janice

We (our family reads the Harry Potter books aloud together) finished the book Wednesday right before bible study! The book was great!! I have loved reading the aloud. The kids like for me to read them, except when I get really excited I start reading so fast that nobody can understand what I am saying!! She is a gifted author and I am really sad that the books have come to an end!

Lawrence will be gone for two weeks. We will miss him. He is in a meeting in Longview this week and in Little Rock the next week. It seems like something out of the ordinary always happens when he is out of town. I wonder what it will be this time??

We will start some school this week. I know that seems early, but we will be leaving to go to China sometime in late August and we will be gone for 3 weeks. So, we need to get a head start on the school year.

I have enjoyed the summer! Family time, visits with people who have come from other places, cousins and sisters and other relatives visiting, games, sleeping in (till at least 6:30 or 7:00 - ha!), lecures @ Florence, taking the kids to camp, sleepovers, reading books, working in the garden, lots of heated games of Settlers & Cities & Knights, and just plain old having fun are just a few of the things we have done this summer.

Please pray for our family right now as we are preparing to adopt Joshua. Pray that Joshua will have a smooth transition into our family. He will have a lot of adjustments to make including food, language, difference in appearance and culture shock! We will be leaving for China in the next month or so. We don't have firm plans yet as we are waiting on the Chinese government to give us the OK to travel. Having a toddler around will definitely add a new dimension to our life and we are looking forward to getting him home. If you would like to follow our journey in China or just to see photos of Joshua, let me know and I will invite you to take a peek at our blog for Joshua. I will need your email address to invite you. For safety reasons our agency would like it done this way instead of just leaving it open for public view.

I hope you all have a great week! Take care and live for Him today!

I understand in writing this I may fall into considerable criticism by some, but I firmly believe the topic of immodest apparel needs to be addressed and our hearts need to be softened. I don't understand why we loose all sense of what to wear and not to wear when it comes to swimming pools! We would not wear our underwear to the grocery store or the mall. Why when you add water to a hole in the ground do people loose all sense of what is and is not appropriate. Why do some christians think because you are in a swimming pool it is ok to wear what we would normally consider underwear in front of people of the opposite sex?

I for one do not want to put my sons in a position purposely that could cause them to lust. I also don't want to put my daughter's body on for display for someone to lust after. Some seem to want their kids to have fun no matter what the cost. We should not sacrifice our values and morals for an afternoon of fun.

There are so many things we can do with our children that are much more valuable then swimming in a public place. I fear that we are so consumed with not wanting our kids to miss out on anything that they miss out on some of the most important things - like learning to stand for something.

We need to teach our children a sense of modesty and shame. One of the problems with the world today is there is no sense of shame. I see it everywhere I go. Women are dressed horribly just about everywhere you go (meaning breasts and thighs are exposed everywhere you turn). I know you can't shelter your children from all immodest women, but we don't have to immerse them with them. In our sex saturated culture we as christians need to examine ourselves and make sure that we have not been too influenced by the world around us.

I just want to remind us of a few passages from the Bible:
II Tim. 2:22 "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."

James 2:15-17 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

Matt. 5:28 - "but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

This is all a matter of where your heart is and who you are trying to please. Do we just want to be like the world and everyone in it or do we want to heed the scriptures and try to please God?

Our family is constantly going through changes it seems. We moved here to Bowling Green 5 years ago. Since then we have had Lawrence's Cousin - Sara Ledbetter Spears - live with us, Jeanie Wilsford Smith - live with us and the latest was Zach - Li Zhi Quiang. We enjoyed everyone of them and our kids enjoyed them as well. We miss Zach and look forward to seeing him again soon!

This year our family will add a permanent addition! Our 3 year old son will come to live with us probably in August!! We are all really excited about that! We have spent our time since last Thanksgiving preparing for this new addition!! We are so excited about his arrival! We have decided that the whole family will travel to China to receive him. We are all a little apprehensive about the flight to China and being in a country where we can't understand anyone, but are looking forward to going none the less!!

Our oldest son, Chase is 15. He has a mowing business right now. I am so proud that he has taken on this responsibility! He makes me proud a lot and I am grateful that God has blessed us with him!

Our only daughter, Olivia is 13! She just got her 2nd phase of braces yesterday and is suffering!! She is making me proud lately as well! She has accomplished some really cool things recently! She sewed a bluejean jacket and it really looks like one bought in a store! If I knew how to upload photos I would add it in! She is also training a horse for a horse show!! She is loving that and doing a great job with Grace (the beautiful Quarter Paint)!

Our third child, William, is 10 as of May 9th!! I can't believe his is so old already! I am very proud of him as well. He is playing baseball this year and training a young calf to show in 4-H. Sometimes I am not sure who is training who!! I looked over at him the other day and saw him laying on the ground in front of her and she had butted him down to the ground 3 times!! She has figured out he is only 55 pounds!!

Children are a blessing from God! I love mine and love to play with them, teach them about God and His world, and just spend time with them!! Time passes too fast so enjoy every minute you have with your children for soon they grow up and leave to make their own families!!

I hope everyone has a great summer with their children! Make this life with your children count for eternity!!