This year we had: A fracture A wedding A Missions trip(s) to Haiti Embarked on Challenge A (middle school with Classical Conversations) Tutoring the Masters class (ages 10-12) (Classical Conversations) New Ballet Studio 'Expressions of Joy' Boys in Ballet Hope doing Pre Ballet and Modern dance A foreign exchange big brother (student in High school) Learning Mandarin and Chinese customs and culture Planning another wedding A new Community group with new friends New ministries

Why all of this quiet?

Well cause we have been busy and because we are HOSTING A CHINESE student from ZHENGZHOU! He is not an orphan, he has a wonderful family in Henan China and God has put it on our hearts to host him for his high school Senior year, here in America. And because I am a terrible blogger, I do not have a descent picture of him to post yet. I have been homeschooling, tutoring, and this is our eldest son Frederick's first year in Middle School, so the work load has increased! Hope has continued ballet but fractured her clavicle 6 weeks ago, and so that is when the boys were offered a dance scholarship at the new ballet studio. They enjoy ballet very much and Hope has healed well and is back in the studio dancing also. I am really enjoying this journey so far. Faith is not doing ballet yet, because she is not yet potty trained and does not follow directions well enough....I should know because she is now in my Sunday school class and that has been a hoot! We have not travelled this year, we have just been trying to get on a schedule that works for our family. I have been facilitating Trees of Hope and that has been a very beautiful experience as well. There has just been wonderful growth for our family in many ways, and we praise God for what He has done! I miss blogging and I need to start taking pictures of this growing family. I cannot even gather my thoughts enough to explain how much Faith has grown and transformed dramatically. The girls get along very well, and Faith doesn't stop talking. She is very bright and very loving and still resumes in a crib in our room. Comfort and familiarity is very important to her still, but she adores her grandmothers and uncles and she adores her big brother and our newest addition Jiaxuan. We still are practicing our Mandarin with Jiaxuan, but we have a long way to go. Hey you know what they say about humble beginnings.....well I don't know what they say but its good to be humble any way right? Blessings in His shalom!