Our Children's Personalities

It is always so fun to see how your children, although raised in the same home, have completely different outlooks on life. Here are a few examples:

Story #1

Jachin and Kimberlyn were with my parents while we were in Haiti picking up Bo. Kimberlyn was in a bad mood and Papa was trying to handle the situation. So he said the infamous words, Happiness is a choice. Well, Jachin responded that Jesus wants us to be happy. Then Papa said, “I choose to be happy.” Jachin said, “I choose to be happy.” Kimberlyn said, “I choose to be sad.” My dad was baffled. Then Jachin responded, “Well, then your going to Hell.”

Conclusion: Jachin is black and white. Kimberlyn is not affected by guilt.

Story #2

Bo is 2 years old. He has proved that many times the last 3 weeks. He has also become more comfortable with us. Well the typical situation has happened many times where we say No, Bo smiles, and he does it again. But the interesting thing is that you can change his mood with a simple tool.....a ball! If he is crying and in a bad mood, you can simply bring out a ball and he suddenly cheers up. I hope this continues his whole life!

Conclusion: Boys are easily distracted.

More stories to come I am sure!

Our adoption journey is complete!

I am so thankful that Bo is finally home! We have kept a detailed account of our adoption process on our adoption journal www.youbelong.net/mcdonald. Now I will have only one website to keep up with, which means I may start blogging more on here. I have enjoyed keeping a record of our lives and it has allowed me to express many feelings this past year. I just wanted to thank everyone of our friends and family for praying for us throughout this whole ordeal. We have a video for our friends that still have children waiting for them at GLA that is very touching. We also have a photo album of our trip. Enjoy!

The Party was a Success!

Jachin and Kimberlyn had a joint birthday party this past weekend. We did a cowboy theme, which they both were excited about. We rented two ponies which the kids could ride and brush. They had so much fun! We were a little worried that the party might be rained out, but the weather cooperated at the last minute. I don’t know what we would have done if there were no horses. They were the main attraction. We had hot chocolate and cupcakes. Yes, I made 40 cupcakes! But the main success of the party was the gift. It sounds strange, but we chose to have everyone bring donations for a pig instead of presents. World Vision is an amazing Christian humanitarian organization that fights poverty all over the world. You can get a Christmas catalog from them that lists things like a goat, a cow, a pig, or a fishing kit. They basically provide a needy family with this gift, that keeps on giving. With a simple barnyard animal, a family will have a way to feed and provide for themselves year round. We were hoping for around $50 to pay for a share of a pig. However, we received $173 from around 20 children. We were able to buy an entire pig from the party donations. So not only did we have a great time, but we were able to give to someone who is in need. And Jachin and Kimberlyn were great about the whole thing. It is truly amazing to see a 4 yr old and a almost 6 yr old say it is ok to not get presents. They had to work through the initial idea, but by the time the party came around, they were excited to be giving to someone that had nothing. I am so proud of them!

Bo's November Update

Our boy is so handsome! We are still waiting for his passport to be printed. If you would like to catch up on all the details, check out our adoption blog. We cannot wait until our family is complete....and together!

Keenon and Jesse

Keenon and Jesse have been home now for almost one week. Mom, Dad, and I drove down to see them in the NICU on their birthday. They are running the house already, Jenny tells me. We are so excited to spend time with them over Christmas. Hopefully Bo will be here, so that we can get all the cousins together.

Here I Am to Worship

Jachin is a pastor’s son. That means at some point in his life he will have to be called down for talking in church from the stage and that everyone always knows most of the embarrassing moments in his life!

It also means that he will be given a mic and required to sing at his father’s whim. A few months ago Jachin came to praise band practice and impromptu we sang “Here I Am To Worship” and the whole band joined in. Amy Nichols thought it was cute and took this picture.

Well, this Sunday I thought that it would be great if Jachin sang for the Satellite Service. He got all dressed up in his chord jacket and jeans (his father’s preferred Sunday attire!) and sang for all the kids at the Satellite Service. He did a great job!

Andy

Halloween 2007

This year Jachin was Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four. (Of course he was a superhero!) It was great because he already had the Fantastic Four costume thanks to Aunt Meredith last Christmas. So all we needed was boots and orange hair dye. Kimberlyn decided she wanted to be Super Girl. This surprised me. I expected a princess. But every Super Girl costume was pricey, so we went creative. We used Jachin’s Superman cape (with muscles and all). I did search Norman for a red skirt. The only skirt in Norman was $12, not bad. THEN....Kimberlyn decided the day of the Family Fun Fest at church that she wanted to be Cinderella again (like last year). This is just like a girl, changing her mind at the last minute. I did talk her into being Super Girl at church, as long as she could be Cinderella on Halloween. She was adorable. So on Wed. Jachin dressed up for his school party, and Kimberlyn (Cinderella) went to her Dance party and her school party. Jachin’s hair was out of control! He loved it, but me...not so much. We kept finding orange on things, even after washing his hair one million times. His pillow case was orange, the back of the car seat, etc. Keep in mind this happened twice--Sunday and Wed. Jachin’s hair was slightly orange for a few days. Needless to say, everything is back to it’s original color. We made it out this year for a reasonable amount of money. Now next year we have three CREATIVE costumes to come up with.