Mandarin Doll Pajamas

I came across these Mandarin Doll Pajamas at Emily Rose. Aren't they adorable? I just thought I'd share them with you.

Rent My Timeshare for Really Cheap in 2011

I own a timeshare in Hawaii that we won't be able to use this year. It's actually on a points system through Diamond Resorts International, so it can be used at many places. Unfortunately for us, we won't be taking a vacation anytime soon as we own two homes. So until we sell one, it's stay cations for us. (We will be taking one long weekend family reunion trip to Disneyland courtesy of Grandma). So excited about that as it was a Christmas present.

If you are considering a vacation, I am selling weeks for really cheap. I have a boatload of points and therefore could sell several weeks at different locations or muliple units.

Some of the destinations include:

Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, California, Colorado, Branson, Las Vegas, South Carolina, Washington DC. There are also many International Destinations in Europe, Mexico, Caribbean, Mexico and the UK.

Just email me at Krista@TallClothingMall.com with the destination you are looking for and the approximate date and I will email you back the price. I just have to check the date and see if it's available and rentals are for 7 days at a time. This is a great way to save some money this year on your vacation.

World Kindness Day

Today is "World Kindness Day". Everyone is encouraged to do a random act of kindness. How fitting that yesterday I received an anonymous gift card in the mail. :)
It's been a tough financial year for our family and this gift is really appreciated.
So today, I decided to pay it forward. My business made a small donation to Operation Smile, an organization that performs free surgeries on children worldwide who have facial deformities. They are often performed on orphans. Consider making a donation to this wonderful organization, or do some other random act of kindess today!

Together Forever!

On August 28, 2010 we are able to take Lacey to the Salt Lake temple to be sealed to our family forever! It was the perfect day and I feel inadequate at trying to write the words that explain how I feel about that day. My heart took several pictures and I hope I can retain them forever.

Gerry and I were married in the Salt Lake temple and that means that all children I physically bear, are automatically sealed into our family. Because Lacey was adopted she had to be sealed into our family in order to enjoy the same blessings. The boys had the privilege of being able to watch and we let them choose the temple. I love the Salt Lake temple and the rich history that goes with it, so I was delighted that they chose it. When I was choosing a white dress to wear, i couldn't believe the temple had a Mandarin style dress, so of course I had to wear that one.

When the temple workers brought the children into the sealing rooms they looked like angels and we just cried as they looked so beautiful. We had waited for this day for such a long time. As Lacey was set on the alter, she focused her gaze on the officiator and never took her eyes off of him. Her spiritual side seemed to sense the importance of the ceremony. After the ceremony, I had hired a photographer (another adoptive parent) to try and capture the happiness of the day. I think he did a great job! I'm thankful for our friends and family that were able to attend the sealing with us.

As a side note, there was another family there that day that sealed their 8 year old Chinese daughter to them. Made it extra special to visit a bit with them. :)

What are We Teaching Our Children?

Yesterday I heard something so disturbing to me, that it has stirred the very fibers of my soul. I can't stop thinking about it.
I was at my son's soccer game and some boys (about age 9) and a few girls were playing behind me. One of the boys said, "Let's pretend that we love each other and that we aren't married, but we are living together."
What? Are you kidding me? Whatever happened to kids playing make believe mommy and daddy that are married? Has our society deteriorated to the point that kids have no examples of righteous loving families who make covenants to God to love each other within the bonds of marriage?
I know the majority of the world believes this is perfectly fine and that God's commandments are old fashioned and don't apply to them. But, I want to speak up today and be counted as a woman who still believes in old fashioned values. I want my children to make believe play that they are a mommy and daddy who love each other and have made vows to each other to protect the institution of marriage!
Whew, I feel much better with getting that off my chest! Thanks for listening.

Miracles Happen... Even Today!

Today I was asked to help out in Primary and give a brief testimony of how God is a God of miracles and how miracles are still brought about today when we have great faith. Wow!

So, it got me thinking about how many miracles have happened in our lives in the past year. How do you sum this up in 10 minutes - actually ended up only leaving me with 5 minutes. I've been pretty humbled just thinking about it.

Most of the miracles have involved Lacey's adoption and I know without a doubt that God planned for her to be our daughter. There's no other way to explain it. When I prayed with incredible faith, I saw doors open and things happen that could never have happened before. And because I am weak, I still had moments of doubt that the adoption might not work out.

I want to share a moment with you today. I've been a bit hesitant to share it because it was such a spiritual moment and I don't take these things lightly. But, today I feel like there are others out there waiting and wishing that they can have a bit of hope, that perhaps their adoption wishes might be fulfilled. I feel like today is the day to pass on the hope....

One day this winter, I believe it was in late February, I was so discouraged and worried that everything would fall through with the adoption. Gerry was working a seasonal job and if the court process didn't finish up soon, we may run the risk of not being able to adopt Lacey. Our paperwork had been in Taiwan since January and we hadn't heard anything. I was so fearful and stressed out.

I couldn't sleep at all. I tossed and turned. Finally I decided to get up and do something else. That something else turned to praying. I poured out my soul to my Father in Heaven. I pleaded and begged. Finally I picked up my scriptures. I opened it up and let the pages fall open. They fell open to Romans and a verse really stood out to me.

Romans 8:15

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

It was just what my soul needed. I had no idea there was a scripture about adoption. To me this scripture was telling me that God was saying "let go of your fear, I put the desire in your heart to adopt, and everything will all work out, have faith."

Everything did work out and we know have our sweet Lacey in our family. Today as I reminisced about all the miracles this last year, I am ever so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who loves his children - including me and wants us to be happy. And... I'm so thankful to have Lacey. :)

Our Staycation - Camp Hale

We love to visit Camp Hale - just over an hour's drive from our home. Camp Hale is an old WWII army base in the Colorado mountains on the way to Leadville. It was used for the 10th Mountain Division soldiers to train them in winter mountain conditions such as skiing and repelling. It was also a Japanese P.O.W. camp.

We just spend an extended weekend camping at Camp Hale with Gerry's parents. The great thing is that Gerry's mother lived there as a child. She actually lived in Pando - which was across the road from the army base. Her father was a government hired civilian worker that ran heavy equipment. The kids love to hear Grandma's stories of when she lived at Camp Hale. She was around 5 years old when she lived there. The prisoners were low risk and were able to somewhat roam around the camp. They used to make wooden toys for her. Once she walked into her home and a prisoner was asleep on the couch. He woke up and ran out the door. At one point Camp Hale had 14,000 army men there.

Camp Hale was demolished at the end of the war and to save money, they dug some holes and buried army vehicles. There are entire foundations of buildings all over the place and many of the roads still remain in place. The roads are still labeled. It's a virtual treasure hunt for the boys as they dig up pieces of metal and find nails, etc.

It's also a four-wheeler heaven! We love to ride there as there's miles of mountain trails. It rained most of the weekend, so our riding was limited. Luckily we camp here every year. We can also just park the Winnebago wherever we want = FREE! (Love that!) I forgot to take pictures of Camp Hale this time - bad, bad blogger!

Leadville

One day we drove up to Leadville - which has the highest elevation of an incorporated city in the United States. We toured the mining museum and spent a while driving through some of the old mining sites.

Donuts

We have a tradition of making homemade donuts from tube biscuit dough when we are camping. They are the easiest breakfast to make. We just roll out a piece into a ball and cut out the center with a pill bottle.

Next, we fry up the donuts or the donut holes in a dutch oven on our camp stove. Then we roll in cinnamon and sugar in a Ziplock. (Easy clean up.)

With our herd, the donuts are usally eaten in less than 5 minutes flat! Yummy!

Random

By the way, here's a cute pictue of Lacey. (obviously not wearing this dress camping) She was sleeping when we took the other pictures.