Simple Living - Simplify Your Wardrobe

It's Saturday again and time to link up with Linny at

A Place Called Simplicity

to share our favorite ways to simplify our lives. Go check out her great ideas this week on how to simplify your children's birthdays and make them feel super special.


We're going to implement the "take them out for lunch with just mom and dad on their special day"!! Torie's turning 20 this Thursday, so I guess she'll be the 1st one to try out this new birthday tradition. Thanks Linny for the great idea!!


One of my long-standing simplify ideas is "Simplify My Wardrobe". Now I'm warning you...this one is going to be really, REALLY boring to some of you. But it works and if you ever try it you will be hooked!


Limit your base color to 2 or 3...Let me explain:


I only buy black or denim pants/capris/skirts (and I splurged a few years ago and bought the white capris pictured above). What this translates to is I only need a few pair of shoes - they only need to match black and denim. When I shop for shirts, I can totally dismiss whole racks of shirts because I only need to match black or denim. My earrings and necklaces need to match - black and denim....you get the picture.

I can't tell you how much time, energy and money this saves me!

For those of you old enough...remember "Color Me Beautiful." Phil spent hard-earned money to have "my colors done" not long after we were married.

Every time I went shopping I faithfully carried around my wallet of "allowed colors". It seemed like 100 colors...probably really about 36. I faithfully held them up to each rack of clothes.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with picking colors that look best against your skin tone, but I can't tell you how I agonized over this. And I'm ashamed to say how many times I went over our meager budget. At the time we were living in a single-wide mobile home, so I could stay-home full time with our 1st daughter and live on Phil's teaching salary at a private Christian school.

Finally I had an "aha" moment and realized I could put colors near my face that looked good next to my skin and the base color really didn't matter. Voila...black and denim.

Now I don't need to own a plethora of pants and capris. They are black and denim. And who really knows if I am wearing the same pair day in and day out. I own a few classic pairs. I wear them until they wear out and then I replace them. EASY!!

The same goes for Phil. He wears khaki pants to work - denim at home on the farm. His suits are navy and khaki. The end.

It's simple and sweet.

Okay...maybe a little boring for some but it works for our family and simplifies our closets, our budget, our time and our wardrobe!

I just have to tell you how my family was laughing with me (o.k. I think it was at me) when I was hanging my pants on the old homestead chimney to take the photo for the blog. I dropped the white capris in the dirt and we were all trying to decide if that was part of simplifying your life...you know coming back in the house, washing the capris, drying the capris, ironing the capris...oh the irony of it all...I just had to share:)

The Summer of Specialists & Surgeries

This spring & summer will always be remembered as the year of specialists and surgeries.

Michaela, AnnaGrace, SarahMei, Torie and myself have seen the "typical" pediatrician, internist and gynecologist this year, but we've also seen the following specialists this spring/summer:
neurologist
pediatric cardiologist
hematologist
urologist
asthma & allergy specialist
pediatric neurologist
physical therapist
speech therapist
and we still have a visit to the geneticist scheduled in a few weeks

We've made three trips to the ER for....

stitches for Torie's hand after a deep laceration with a box cutter
kidney infection for Michaela
bump to the head causing the need for a platelet check due to her ITP for Sarah Mei

We've had a plethora of procedures and tests performed including:

upper GI to check for malrotation of the bowel - Isabelle
heart cath - Isabelle
CT scan for my ovarian cyst to rule-out ovarian cancer
MRI for my seizures
EEG for my seizures
multiple EKG's for both Sarah Mei & Isabelle - routine for heart patients
WinRho treatment for low-platelets - Sarah Mei
weekly blood draws to check platelet counts - Sarah Mei

And finally we had the following surgeries performed:

laprascopic removal of an ovarian cyst - Elaine
open-heart surgery - Isabelle
and still on the agenda for the summer...another urinary surgery for Michaela in a few weeks.

These visits are along with all the routine dentists appointments, annual physicals, eye exams, etc.

We were in the ER two nights ago to check Sarah Mei's platelet count after she bumped her head. Thankfully she was fine, but I had to laugh when the nurse asked for her medical history. Not only is her history a mile long, but worse than that, I honestly had to sit for 2 or 3 minutes to sort out in my brain which medical history I needed to catalog for the nurse????

Do you think I could earn some honorary nursing degree for carrying all this medical knowledge in my head??

In between the Dr.'s appointment we're enjoying the weather and our farm. I love the simplicity of times caputured in the photos below. No expensive toys, no entertainment necessary by the media - i.e. I-Pods, or X-Boxes, or Wiis's, etc. just a good old fasion garden hose...ah the Charm of Simple Things.

(The play time began with a bath for our Australian Shepherd, Zoe. She wasn't that impressed with the entire day, but she sure did smell better after the bath!)

Simple Living & My Favorite Blog - A Place Called Simplicity

One of my favorite (and one of the few blogs I follow) is A Place Called Simplicity. It's a blog that mirrors my heart for the Lord, adoption and living simply.

Linny and her husband are...ahem...mature like Phil and I. They also are adopting toddlers even though everyone thinks they are crazy. She's transparent and real and on-fire for the Lord. I love reading her blog!!! It's always an encouragement to me!!

Last week she started a new weekly edition on Saturdays called, "Striving For Simplicity." I decided to jump on-board and begin posting my tips for simple living each Saturday too. I look forward to learning from each other.

I read my best organizational tip of the year in The Duggars book, "20 and Counting". Having a family with 5 daughters I find my laundry and closet organization is a challenge and is a major time waster.

After reading how the Duggars handled their laundry, for a family with 18 children (at the time of the book writing) I decided to give it a try. This is what the Duggars say, "We would no longer use bedroom closets for clothing....No more carrying clean clothes all the way to the bedrooms and putting them away in drawers and closets. Now they're sorted and put away right in the laundry room..."

I decided this was a brilliant concept and gave it a try. My husband - handyman extraordinaire - installed a hanging rod in our laundry room.



Now we hang all the clothes directly in the laundry room. This one organizational tip saves me countless minutes each day. No more carrying laundry up to each bedroom, putting it away in closets and dresser drawers, or worse, sending the children up with the clothes only to find the clothes half-hanging on hangers or sticking out of drawers later in the day. And best of all...no more cranky mommy telling the children to clean up the clothes in their room. Now the clothes are all neatly contained in the laundry room.

When we are getting ready in the mornings, the clothes are within fingertip reach. It makes the entire laundry chore easier, and the girls bedrooms stay much neater. Since our girls share bedrooms, it also leaves more room for them to store their toys and belongings in our small bedroom closets.

In addition to putting up a hanging rod, we also installed a shelf above it. It is a great place to store our out of season clothes and hand-me downs. I use free copy paper boxes and just label them with the sizes/seasons. This saves both time and money as I don't overbuy for a season.


I love simplifying...anything to give me another minute to sip a cup of coffee and rock on the front porch while I watch the girls ride their ponies in the arena and enjoy our farm life.

Three Years Ago Today Our Lives Changed Forever

as they placed Sarah Mei in my arms in China. Phil was home with Michaela and AnnaGrace, and Torie was in Changsha, CHINA with me to witness the miracle of adoption one more time. I wish I had adequate words to express the awe and excitement I felt that day.


Sarah Mei - After just being placed in my Arms by her Ayi

The overwhelming joy I felt that day and every time the Lord blesses us with another child just leaves me speechless. Lest you think I always felt that way...just ask my mom. She will quickly remind you that I was the daughter who said I never wanted to get married, and if I did get married, I NEVER wanted children. Look at me now...five children later...and wishing that I had more.

I love serving the Lord who is in the miracle business....

My love for motherhood is definitely a miracle!! Adoption is a miracle!! Sarah Mei surviving her heart condition until she came home from China is a miracle!! After two open-heart surgeries in 2007 & 2008 and many check-ups, Sarah Mei gets a clean bill of health (cardiac-speaking) from the pediatric cardiologist this week and now only needs annual check-ups. That is a miracle!!




Sarah Mei - home three years - that is a miracle!!

Thank you Jesus for blessing us again!! Words can never express our gratitude.
Thank you for being in the miracle business!!

...A funny side note. Most families celebrate their Chinese daughters' Gotcha Days by going to a Chinese restaurant. That makes sense.

Our family, being a bit unconventional (o.k. some may just call us strange), goes somewhere a little different for our girls Gotcha Days...the local Mexican restaurant, Mazatalan.

Picture this...sweet Chinese girls, with deep Southern accents, celebrating their homecomings from China by practicing their Spanish at a Mexican restaurant:) Nothing "ordinary" about our family!!

Happy Birthday Isabelle - Our Littlest Chinese Princess

We're waiting to celebrate Izzy's birthday until Phil gets back from his annual mission's trip to Peru. But I couldn't let this day pass with out saying...



Happy Birthday Isabelle!!

Celebrating the Homecoming of 2 Summer of Hope Children from Ethiopia

Some of you may remember, last summer, our church and surrounding families hosted 18 Ethiopian children for a month long stay. We called it Summer of Hope - Ethiopia. Our prayer was to show the children the love of Christ, have their medical needs met and possibly find them loving, adoptive homes.

While in the states, five families from our church and two other local families stepped up and asked to pursue adoption of eight of the Summer of Hope children. Of course, legally, all the children had to return to Ethiopia and then the formal adoption proceedings could officially begin.

Unfortunately, since that time, almost 11 months ago, MANY mishaps have ensued...some related to the agency's lack of due diligence before the children traveled to the states, some due to the normal course of changes in international adoption, and some due to changes in Ethiopian adoptions specifically, but all of which have caused delays to these sweet children joining their forever families.

It's been a long 11 months for everyone involved. It's not over yet, but it's with GREAT celebration that I announce TWO of the children have now joined their forever families.

Zelelam came home in April to his family, who was also his host family last summer. I love seeing his smiling face at church each Sunday!!
This is a photo of him swimming last summer!



Meskerem, who we hosted last summer, joined her forever family this weekend. I can't tell you how excited we are to get to see her smiling face again!! Her family doesn't go to our church but lives within a 30 minute drive. We're planning on seeing her in the next week or two..yippee!!

This photo is of AnnaGrace and Meskerem swimming last summer. Meskerem was TERRIFIED of the water at first but soon fell in love with swimming!



This is Meskerem's First Time Riding a Horse



This is a photo of AnnaGrace, Meskerem and Meskerem's "new" sister, last summer, (before Meskerem knew the Edwards were adopting her)...how sweet is this!



Praise God, with us, that two of these children are finally home!! And pray with us that all of the details will be ironed-out to get the other children home.

Especially pray for Nesro...the next one anticipated to "come home."

It's been along road for everyone!!

Medical Prayers Please!

Our family is really in need of prayers for our health right now!!

We spent Sunday evening in the ER for a suspected kidney infection for Michaela. She has had an ongoing urinary reflux issue which occasionally results in kidney infections. (Some of you may remember that we kicked off 2009 in the hospital with Michaela fighting a kidney infection...not a fun way to spend New Year's Day!!!)

Michaela had two out-patient surgeries in 2009 to correct the issue but both "failed." Now it looks like we be scheduling another surgery in June or July to correct this ongoing problem.

Before our trek to the ER with Michaela, Sarah Mei and I made a trip to our pediatrician on Friday morning. Over the last weeks I've noticed that Sarah Mei was bruising more than usual. We are an active family and Sarah Mei is constantly running, skipping, jumping, tripping, falling, somersaulting, etc. However, despite all this activity, it still seemed like Sarah Mei was bruising more than average. The pediatrician drew some bloodwork but didn't expect to find anything.

Let me digress for a minute...

Friday afternoon (after the trip to the pediatrician and the blood draw) all 5 girls and I made a trek to the local tack store (for those of you "unhorsey" readers...a tack store is to horse lovers what Barnes and Nobles is to a book lover...need I say more!) We went to purchase a few items for Torie and Michaela for a weekend show, but while there we decided to purchase Sarah Mei's 1st set of riding breeches and 1/2chaps. (Half-chaps are worn over your riding breeches and are used to both protect your legs and offer a little more grip for the rider.) Sarah Mei was absolutely over the moon and was counting the minutes until we got home, so she could go out and ride her pony, Popcorn.

Upon arriving home, the phone was ringing and the nurse on the other end said they already had the blood results back for Sarah Mei. It's NEVER a good thing when you get blood results back quickly. They told us her platelets counts were very low, and we needed to have them checked again on Saturday morning. Of course not only did that negate our plans of a family weekend away at the horse show (Phil, Torie, Michaela and AnnaGrace went to the show near Asheville, NC while Sarah Mei, Isabelle and I stayed home), but it also left me googling low-platelets on the internet...I know...dumb idea...and wondering what I'd find out on Saturday.

Saturday we did another blood draw with the news that the platelets were even lower and to come back Monday for another draw. Monday we were referred to a hematologist and received the diagnosis of ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura). We were relieved that Sarah Mei didn't have leukemia! But now we begin the learning curving of what it means to live with ITP.

Thursday Sarah Mei received her first WinRho treatment. This will help boost her platelets. Friday we had her platelets checked and they were up to the 60's (normal is 150-450), and she's been in the low 20's. Platelets are the clotting mechanism for our blood and with the #'s so low internal bleeding is the big concern...especially cerebral hemorrhaging. I had to laugh when I read one of the educational pamphlets. It said when trying to decide which activities are safe for your ITP child, follow this rule of thumb...they may do anything where their feet don't leave the ground. Are they serious??? Are they parents of an active four year old?? This rules out jumping, biking, horse back riding, swinging, etc. They obviously haven't been to our house lately. That rules out about 90% of what we do...hmmm.

On a positive note...The pediatric hematologists practice we go to is amazing. It is complete with their own art staff, DVD collection, stocked kitchen with children's snacks, juice boxes, etc. to keep the children occupied while receiving their treatments. They even had a guitarist come by the room yesterday and play for Sarah Mei while she was having her treatment. The entire staff is SO child friendly. We've been there 5 days straight and Sarah Mei loves it!! I'm really thankful since we'll be there on a weekly or semi-weekly basis for a while as we learn how Sarah Mei's platelets "trend."

On another positive note... The Dr.'s are very sensitive to Sarah Mei's love of horseback riding, so after her good platelet reading on Thursday, they said she could come home and ride (just the one day - as platelet counts can vary dramatically form day to day) but one day was like a Christmas present.

Sarah Mei decided not to waste her one ride on her pony. So dressed in her new riding breeches and purple half chaps, she rode Torie's Thoroughbred instead. (Don't worry...Torie or Michaela were within arms reach at all times.)






Pray that her ITP is the acute type. Acute ITP will be a one time occurrence which will burn out in 6-9 months and will resolve on its own. (The other type is chronic and will flare up for years.)

And our final health prayer request is for me...I'm scheduled to have an ovary removed next week. They found a mass on one of my ovaries last year. In the preparations for travel to China, open-heart surgery, etc., I asked to postpone surgery. My physician is not concerned that the cyst is malignant, so she obliged my request, but now it's time to have it removed. Pray that the surgery will go smoothly. If all goes well it can be done laprascopically and will be done as an out-patient surgery.

We're tired of Dr.'s visits, the majority of which are in downtown Charlotte - a 40 minute drive - each way, from our home. All of these visits are in addition to Sarah Mei's regular weekly speech therapy appointments and Isabelle's regular weekly physical therapy appointments. And don't forget I can't drive (due to my recent seizures), so either Torie or Phil have to chauffeur me everywhere.

It's a crazy time in our lives when the Lord is shaping us and molding us more into the image of Christ. Pray for strength for each of us and that we will glorify Him in the process.

Taking a Moment Off My Hamster Wheel to Celebrate Mother's Day

The last few week I've been like a hamster on an exercise wheel. I keep running faster and faster, continuously going in circles, but not really getting anywhere. When I climb in bed at night I have a "To Do" list longer than the previous day and a sinking feeling that I haven't met all of the emotional (and sometimes physical) needs of my children and husband. I keep reminding myself that the Lord can meet the needs of those around me, and I am not called to meet all their needs. But I confess these feelings of inadequacy are SO hard as a mother. And then I'm reminded, "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

So, today on the Lord's Sabbath and Mother's Day, I'm going to step down from my Hamster Wheel and just be still and rest. And I'm going to celebrate.

I'm going to celebrate....

Isabelle giving me Eskimo kisses through hymn singing time in church today;

I'm going to celebrate...

Sarah Mei filling my life with smiles


I'm going to celebrate...

AnnaGrace embracing her role as a big sister, selling her pony this week and trying her hand at playing the piano...



I'm going to celebrate...

Kaela's eclectic interests, fencing (Kaela's on the left), and passion for helping others including collecting clothes for our planned mission's trip to Haiti this summer...



I'm going to celebrate...

Torie's work ethic as she works almost full-time at Tractor Supply while attending college full-time. We're also celebrating God's hand of protection on her. This week she cut her hand, at work, with a box cutter and had 9 stitches. Then this weekend, while competing, she took a nasty fall off her Thoroughbred. Thankfully she was scrapped up and is sore but was not seriously hurt.












I'm going to celebrate...

that I'm married to a wonderful, godly (really good-looking) man, and he is SO patient with me!!!



And I'm going to celebrate...

that I serve the Lord who has blessed me with the desires of my heart.

"It is good to praise the Lord and Make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night." Ps. 92:1,2