Month of May's Musings......

We've had a funky spring that was late in arriving here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this year.   May brought a wide variety of  weather and temps throughout the month (including thunderstorms, a few days of high temps and humidity, lots of rain and wind, sunshine filled days and even a few 40 degree nights sprinkled throughout the month).  We've taken advantage of the sunny, warm days and have been thrilled to be able to spend time and pent up energy OUTDOORS.  Having over a month and a half of recovery behind her, Lucy's been loving riding her bike on our back deck, swinging often, jumping on the trampoline with the big brothers and eating outdoors when we can!           ------------click on any picture to enlarge-------

Last May,  as I hung wash,  I thought often about hanging little girl clothes
 on the wash line once again, it's a fun reality this year!

Thanks Aunt Rosene for letting us borrow the bike!

Swinging on the back deck

Everyone on the Z Ranch was "on the move" this month with many fun family activities scheduled.  We are so grateful that Lucy seems to enjoy going away together as a family.  Although Mommy has noted that resuming our regular routine after several outings is important as Lucy and some of her brothers do best with routine and home time.

Mother's Day weekend was a full weekend!  We all thoroughly enjoyed watching Emily on stage at her last spring concert in high school (she'll be finishing her high school days in June).

"Big Sis"on stage with lots of music and dance!!
Lucy girl LOVES music and dance too!

Sharing her gift of music and dance

Photo op with the show's star and her B.F.F. 

Between big sister's Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon performances,  Mommy and Daddy were given the honor of sharing God's story in bringing Lucy home to the Chinese Church in Lancaster on Mother's Day morning.

Sharing Lucy's story with the Chinese Church
in Lancaster with the aid of a fabulous interpreter!

Some slides we had in both English and Chinese
(KBS - yes I had to include this picture on a slide :)

It's the Chinese Church tradition to take a photo of all the
Mother's on Mother's Day!

This was my first Mother's Day with Lucy Kim and I asked Merle to snap a couple of photo's before she went to bed on this special day!

A few days after Mother's Day all of my children were home and made a delicious supper that we shared together on a beautiful evening outdoors.

This month we also had the opportunity to have a family photo shoot with a talented local photographer.  This sweet young lady is part of "Red Thread Sessions" (how cool is that name!) that lovingly photographs adoptive families at a reduced cost.  This is their wonderful way of showing their support of growing families through adoption.  Our photographer is currently in the midst of adopting their first child!

Daddy sweetly snapped this picture of us before the
"real" photography session began

Enjoying the slide after pictures

The "BFF's" and their coordinating dresses!

Memorial Day weekend was also a jammed packed weekend with two family picnics and a last day of Chinese school program (the school breaks over the summer months and will resume in September).  Lucy apparently still has her teacher wrapped around her finger.....

Lucy and some of her friends before the program started

The pre-schoolers sang a song about animals,
Lucy was given the "bird" hat to wear (yes it's Angry bird - LOL)

At one of our family picnics, we celebrated Emily's upcoming graduation with a special cake!

With the warm days, we've brought out the sandals.  Seeing Lucy's feet "exposed" in sandals really showed the difference in the sizes of her two feet.  It also appeared harder for her smaller foot to walk in a shoe that was too big.  I realized that her feet are now about two sizes different in shoe size.  I purchased two pair of sandals in two different sizes so that I could have one usable pair for LK's feet.  This would also make her foot size difference less obvious to others (although now that her Mama is broadcasting it publicly on a blog, I'll bet I'll see some of you checking out her footwear :)  For those of you who don't know me in "real time" you need to know I have a thing for shoes and also bags.  Being the Goodwill/Second Hand store shopper that I am, it'll be a rare day to find two of the same shoes in two difft. sizes!
Uh-Oh......this just maybe what it will take for Mommy to keep the shoe fettish in check.

Size 6 on the right foot with a size 8 on the left

A girl needs some variety, right?  This picture will equal three
pair of sandals for Lucy!

We ended the month with taking "big brother" to the Emergency Dept. where he had to get three stitches in his lip.  Of course this topic of conversation was brought up often and each time it was addressed, the little Miss needed to remind everyone that "she has a boo-boo on her back" and stitches too!  

Sporting 3 stitches in the top lip

Not too sure about brother getting all of this attention
over three stitches!

As you can see, Lucy's little life continues to be drastically different from a year ago where she spent ALL of her time behind orphanage walls.  Like spring time, she's blossoming and blooming..  We continue to give God the praise and glory for what He has done and continues to do in and through our family-through the "growing times" and the "blooming times."

We're excited to see how Lucy will enjoy her first visit to our community pool, our first family vacation with extended family and more!

Thanks for joining us in the journey!