Black and White Wednesday

Today for B&W Wednesday, I present one of my absolute FAVORITE pictures.


This picture makes me smile and brings tears to my eyes as it represents such pure joy, serenity, and love. I snapped it on one of our last days in China and I seriously could stare at it all day and would wallpaper the house with it, if I could. :-)

In her referral, Lindy was described as a "moderate sleeper." Beware for those waiting for referrals--that is code for fairly light sleeper. Lindy is an active and alert child and doesn't like to miss much. This is one of the handful of times she's actually fallen asleep in our arms. Don, on the other hand, has no problem falling asleep. I've often wondered if he has narcolepsy.

To see them both asleep on a noisy city bus was pure bliss. It was one of those moments when I knew that EVERY single doubt, fear, tear, meltdown, sleepless night, nervous stomach had been worth getting to this point. At last our arms were no longer empty and our hearts were beyond full.

I am off to check out the other entries at Lisa's blog. Before you do the same, check out the post before this one and enter my Random Acts of Kindness giveaway!

Better late than never--GIVEAWAY!!!

"What is desirable in a person is kindness..."
Proverbs 19:22

I just realized yesterday--after seeing it on a school billboard--that this is Random Acts of Kindness Week. For the past two years, I have had a giveaway during the week. Obviously, I'm a bit late.

This year, I (or my lovely assistant, Lindy) will RANDOMLY choose THREE winners to receive a gift. Last year I asked people to talk about what they do to be kind and the previous year I asked people to describe acts of kindness they've received. As I recall, people were much more comfortable writing about kindness they'd received.

To mix it up this year, you can share one random fact about yourself. Yep. That's all. I'm not going to make you follow my blog or Tweet about this or blog about it or become my Facebook friend. Just leave me one teensy, eensy, random fact and you're entered.

I'll close the entries on February 28th and then draw three winners.

Have fun and be kind--all the time!

xoxo~
L

Black and White Wednesday

I can't believe it is Wednesday again and how quickly the days go by (except for the baby we look forward to bringing home).

This week I decided to give you a break and deviate from my main subject (Miss Lindy) and look for another photo to convert to black and white. During our trip to visit family in California for Christmas, we took a little jaunt to the Santa Monica pier. It was a gorgeous December day and the pier was hopping. I snapped a quick picture of the infamous ferris wheel and loved seeing the colors of the wheel against the beautiful backdrop of a crystal blue sky.

I got to thinking that there is something kind of old-fashioned about ferris wheels and decided to change this photo to black and white. If it weren't for the condos, you might even think it is a picture from long ago.


I look forward to seeing all the other entries at Lisa's this week for Black and White Wednesday!

Black and White Wednesday

I missed Black and White Wednesday at Lisa's last week but wanted to add something this week. My poor camera hasn't been seeing much action since Christmas. Unfortunately, that is pretty much the way things go EVERY year around here. Anyway, was only playing around yesterday and I snapped one or two of Lindy as she was looking kind of festive for Valentine's Day.

It sure could use A LOT more editing but I don't know how to do what I need to do and I'm pretty sure I don't have the tools to do it. I wanted to add a pop of color so I tried keeping the color in her bow using one of the editing options in Picasa (see, I told you I'm a complete novice).

Happy Black and White Wednesday and Valentine's Day~
Lisa

Just like riding a bike--yeah, right...

As we wait for mei mei, there are days I find myself COMPLETELY freaked out at the prospect of having a really little one in the house again. Overall, Lindy was (and is) so easy, so I know I probably take many things for granted with her and the whole motherhood thing.

This past Saturday we had the PRIVILEGE and HONOR to babysit our friends' baby while they went to our church's Sweetheart Dinner. We decided to sit out the annual event for more than one reason but I will admit peach cobbler being the only dessert offering (HERESY in my book) pretty much clinched the decision for us. If you know me very well, you probably know I gag a little just typing that. Neither Don and I like peaches and I'm just downright phobic and neurotic about them. Even if there had been another choice, I would have been "worrying" all evening that the cobbler spoon would touch the other dessert, thus rendering it tainted. I'm TOTALLY serious.

Anyway, I digress. We were so excited to babysit this little angel and we thought it was ironic that last week she was EXACTLY the age Lindy was when we got her (just five days shy of 11 months).


As the hours turned to minutes, I kept wondering if I would remember what to do and how to take care of a baby baby. Let me tell you, I don't remember Lindy being that small or helpless. I really don't. Our special guest was great fun and she was a total dream. She was a complete doll. However, I am here to confess that I am REALLY out of practice and it wasn't totally like riding a bike. When it came to changing a messy--and I do mean MESSY--diaper (still WAY better than peach cobbler), it took me about 10 minutes and 23 wipes. I made just about every rookie mistake. Then when it came to putting her into her pajamas, which was a one piece thing with about 1000 snaps, that took about another 10 minutes. My oh my...I am rusty and I am so glad Candid Camera wasn't there to film me.

So, if you are in the local area and you read this blog and you are about to have a baby or have one in the house, this washed up mommy is in need of some more practice!

Black and White Wednesday

Welcome to my second installment of Black and White Wednesday sponsored by Lisa at The Long Road to China. This past weekend, I snapped a few pictures of Lindy running around in the yard before we went out for dinner. I got a few I liked but I thought this one was a really lovely shot of her because I caught her being still (which is rare for her) and just enjoying looking around in a really natural, unposed way.

I find it challenging to get natural shots of the Lindy I see and love because when the camera comes out she either hams it up or looks like a candidate from America's Most Wanted--not an uncommon challenge and frustration for those photographing kids.

Happy B&W day~
Lisa

Black and White Wednesday

Lisa at The Long Road to China started a neat project last Wednesday called Black and White Wednesday. She is an amazing photographer and is on a quest to fill her walls with black and white shots. She asked her blog buddies to join in and post black and whites on their blog "walls" each Wednesday. I, too, have been looking for some black and whites to put in frames, so I thought this would be a good motivator to get that project started and finished.

I will admit I was kind of hesitant to join along today because:

1. I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography. I have very few fundamentals and am sure I break more rules than I follow.

2. For as little as I know about photography, I know even less about editing. I haven't ventured into the world of Lightroom or Photoshop, yet.

3. I'm easily intimidated and totally hard on myself.

However, I really DO want to learn and I'm not going to be able to do that until I put myself out there and start observing and being observed. One of the first things I noticed when I was looking for a photo to convert to b&w was that a lot of the pictures I've taken in the past are filled with background junk. This one wasn't.

I took this picture of Lindy on May 31, 2009 before church as I caught her twirling in the front yard. I am sure we were late and it was a complete run back in the house and get the camera moment, so I was glad to catch anything decent. It was just with my little Canon POS (circa 2005) and I cleaned it up in Picasa. I was psyched to see the catch light in her eyes, although, I'm not sure you can tell with the size that'll show up on blogger (note to self--figure out how to post bigger-sized pix).

Happy Wednesday!!!

Holiday highlights

Happy new year!

It seems I'm a bit slow getting myself into gear for the new year. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that 2010 is off to a good start for you.

We had a very nice but exhausting Christmas and New Year's.

For Christmas, we traveled to southern California for a week. Some of the highlights included:

A quick jaunt to the famous Santa Monica Pier. For those of you in the throes of winter, here's some California sun for you...





A fun day at Knott's Berry Farm. Sure they don't have the mouse or princesses but they have the cute beagle we all love and a world famous fried chicken dinner.





The FIRST time for Lindy to sit on Santa's lap...


LOTS of bonding time with the family. We were so fortunate to see my grandparents, parents, brother's family, aunts and uncles, and cousins.





Christmas morning at Matt & Erin's, Christmas day and evening at Uncle Steve & Aunt Pauline's, and a late celebration at home. Christmas morning included "a white Christmas" thanks to "Uncle" Kyle's HUGE box of styrofoam peanuts.











An educational visit to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and a tour of a retired Air Force One plane.

Time at my grandparents (which somehow went undocumented in photos)...

After we returned home and had our quiet Christmas, we turned around and headed to Houston for quick family trip.

The focus of the trip was to watch Navy play Missouri in the Texas Bowl and to have some quality time as a threesome. We did a lot of driving around, a little bit of shopping, some yummy eating, and some exploring in downtown Houston.

The game was GREAT and our seats were AWESOME! We were in the 4th row on the 40 yard line right behind Navy's bench. Navy trounced Missouri which was both surprising and exciting. We got to see the elder President Bush (as we figured we would) toss the coin. If you look REALLY closely, you can see him in the pictures. He's the one with the ball cap and blue blazer.








Just composing this post has made me kind of tired, so now I know why I felt so exhausted after our trips!

We closed out our year in a wonderful way and we started the new one with many hopes, dreams, and good intentions. We don't know what the new year holds but we pray it will be one of good health, happiness, and many blessings.

Merry Christmas

We are heading to California in the morning and I still have much to do before we walk out the door. No matter how early I start, there is always that crunch at the end and the struggle to get it all done.

I couldn't forget to wish you a very merry Christmas filled with lots of love, laughter, and happiness.

Looking forward to keeping up with you in 2010.

With love~

The Osborn Family

Don~Lisa~Lindy

What are your favorite things?

A couple Saturdays ago the three of us were eating lunch and the song "My Favorite Things" came on the radio. So, in an effort to encourage some discussion and family bonding, I proceeded to ask Don and Lindy what their favorite things are. And cue sound of crickets.

Yep, that's what I got crickets! A whole plague of them. Don kind of looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and I don't recall that he offered up one thing. Lindy didn't play either and she usually doesn't miss a moment to talk. I'm sure her answer would've been something like, "candy, chocolate, unicorns, and diamonds."

So, I'm hoping that maybe just one person will share their favorite things with me. It can be products, activities, people, places, etc. If I were a bit more tech savvy and less lazy, I'd add a Mr. Linky doo dad so you could add all your things on your blog and link right here to them. Sorry...

Hoping you'll share and that this time of remembering your favorite things will bring you great joy...

xoxo~
Lisa

PS-It wouldn't be fair to ask if I didn't play along, too. I'll work on compiling some ideas and share soon...

Breakfast with bloggy buds

A couple weeks ago I got an email in my Facebook inbox from, Jill, a friend I've "met" through blogging inviting me to get together with her and our mutual friend, Danielle. That was exciting mail! I gladly rearranged a couple of things on my calendar so I could join them. This morning I had the wonderful opportunity and pleasure to meet them for a lovely breakfast. It was a crisp, gorgeous morning here in south Texas and we went to Guenther House--one of my favorite places in town.

Jill and Danielle are absolutely precious and kind (and thin, and young, and talented). Our time together went by much too quickly. Here are a couple of pictures from our fun morning. Sorry they're so tiny...(Not sure what blogger is doing...)


I've been really fortunate to meet some great people through the blogosphere and am especially happy to have met these two young women today.

Happy Thanksgiving

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it." ~William Arthur Ward

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

May your day be filled with many blessings and much love~
Lisa

Introducing our Bamboo Baby

Lindy (2 months old) in her foster mother's arms July 2005

"...learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the cause of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

I will admit, I'm not a natural born fundraiser and I'm not really very good about asking for help. I'm typically not one to publicly advocate for things and I like to keep what I'm involved with kind of quiet. However, lately, I've been reconsidering things. After a lot of prayer, I believe I'm called to do things that aren't second-nature for me and to step out of my comfort zone. Thus, the reason for this post.

There are some who think the fact we adopted Lindy and are waiting to adopt again makes us special; we've even been called, "heroes." While we appreciate the kind words and sentiments we have received through the years, we don't feel like we're special or heroes because we adopted Lindy. We desperately wanted to become parents and we fulfilled our desires through the avenue of adoption. Truthfully, it is not something we had ever dreamed of doing and it was not really an easy road getting to that point.

Insert GIGANTIC however here! Adoption is now something we're completely convicted of and feel very strongly about. Our hearts have been pricked and verses that have been in the Bible for over two thousand years now leap off the pages and have greater meaning. It is heartbreaking for us to think about the millions of orphans in this world and Don and I both agree that adding children to our family to fulfill a desire and void isn't enough.

A couple months ago, a good friend of mine went to work for Pearl River Outreach. Up until about two weeks ago, I hadn't had the chance to check out the work they are doing. I was so excited and nearly jumped for joy when I found out they were helping children who are from the same orphanage Lindy was from in Changsha, Hunan. Their funds go to help the children in the orphanage, as well as those in foster care. Lindy was in foster care from two months old until we met her at just shy of 11 months. We are eternally grateful for all those who had generously donated funds to her foster program so she could receive such wonderful care and love.

We have decided to sponsor, "Lili," one of the children from Changsha. We loved the red thread connection we have with her--her birthday is one day (and three years) off of Lindy's (May 8, 2005) and May 9, 2005 was our log-in date for Lindy. It is our prayer that it won't be long until Lili meets her forever family. Until then, we hope she'll be taken care of extremely well, just like we know our sweet Lindy was.


Pearl River Outreach is still looking for some sponsors for their Bamboo Babies. If you're interested in helping, go to their blog or web.

On another exciting note, if you feel called to help but can't commit to a sponsorship, there is a fundraiser taking place right now for the orphanage in Changsha. The Meadows Family is trying to raise enough money to send 88 care packages to the children there. They are trying to raise $1000 by December 1st or they're requesting items such as socks, hats, mittens, toothpaste, and coloring books. If you'd like to know more about this special collection, please read about it here. What a wonderful teachable moment it would be to involve young children to help collect simple items for other children thousands of miles away.

I am excited about the special work being done in Changsha! I hope you'll join us in helping out these wonderful children. If you can't financially, they sure could use your prayers!

Thank you!

Many blessings~
Lisa