She's never been more beautiful

Lily has always been a beautiful child both inside and out, but this week, I saw her inner beauty in a way I never had before.  As I mentioned earlier in the week our family pastor had been battling terminal Alzheimers and had been declining rapidly.  She had wanted to say goodbye to him, but when she saw the videos and images of him she didn't think she could handle it.  Fast forward to a few days later, when we received notice that Pastor Mark was no longer able to get out of bed or sit in a chair and was being moved to Hospice at the Kline hospice house in Mt. Airy.  I told Lily if she wanted to say goodbye this was the time.  She said, "Mommy he came to me in the hospital when I needed him (sledding accident), I want to be there for him".  And so we went.  She was amazing, a true picture of beauty!  I felt like he knew we were there, as he grabbed our hands and held them.  A treasured memory.  Rest in Peace Pastor Mark Vandeermeer, our family is grateful for your ministry!

Hard Stuff

Age 12 has been chock full of real-life hard stuff!  School has gotten more challenging and more demanding, Lily is having to learn a lot of grown-up things such as time management, electing to engage even when she doesn't want to, and advocating for herself!  These have been tough lessons to learn and sometimes I feel like we cattle prod her too much sometimes, but if she can master these we know she will be very successful in her life! On a more difficult note, last night we shared with Lily that her beloved Pastor Mark, is even more sick than we had expected.  They have called in Hospice and they are not sure if he will even make it to Christmas.  When we told her she cried and cried and cried.  It was heartbreaking, not being able to fix it for her.  Originally she had wanted to visit him as he has been living in an assisted living place specializing in full-time care for Alzheimer's patients.  However, when we showed her pictures of his gaunt appearance and videos of his weakness and repetitive behaviors, she decided that perhaps she wasn't quite ready for that.  Sometimes life is really tough.

Bragging

Not to brag or anything but we have hit the stage where I can make Lily angry or annoyed simply by breathing!  I was so hoping we wouldn't have this stage, but no such luck!

Halloween Fun

Lily missed the pumpkin patch this year, so we brought her back a small pumpkin to carve.

Carving Pumpkins

Carving

Kitty, the finished product

 This year was the first year, Lily didn't really "plan" a costume.  She mentioned she wanted to be a wolf, so I bought her some ears and a tail, which declared were for a "toddler" and she threw something together 10 minutes before we walked out the door.

Grey Wolf and Steve from Minecraft

Trick or Treating with the boys

I had asked Lily if she wanted to go trick or treating this year with her friends or maybe her "boyfriend" Kobi, but she wanted to go to Pop-Pop's neighborhood.  So as usual she had a little boy Posse with Garrett, Keagan, Micheal, and Ashton

This young lady is truly exceptional!

I've got to give kudos to Lily!  She really is growing into an exceptional young lady!  This week her middle school class (45 students)  took an overnight tenting/camping trip to Little Bennett Park.  At night 30 students snuck out to the bathrooms and played spin the bottle and 7 minutes in heaven.  Lily was the only one in her tent group that remained in her tent.  Doing the right thing when everyone else is doing the wrong thing is tough even for an adult, but Lily blew us away with her maturity in what I suspect was a difficult situation.  I pray that she continues to have a good head on her shoulders and continues to make good decisions.  Like her Daddy said, "We trusted you before, but now we trust you even more".  I'll tell you, she is truly a good egg!!!!  We are super blessed!

A first time for everything

Well "we" bit the bullet and bought Lily an electric razor.  I had tried to convince her to wait as long as possible, but she wanted to do it.  So last night we had a crash course in shaving her legs.  Armpits will be next.  My baby girl is growing up so fast!!!!

This girl is on fire!

Watch out world!  7th grade!!!!!

This girl is amazing!  Today was her first day of 7th grade!  She reported she had a good day although she felt a little overwhelmed!  She reported that many of her friends had moved on to other schools, but was happy to be reunited with her other friends.  Kobi (her "boyfriend" and her are still sitting at the same table!

Her Daddy and I could not be more proud of her!  She is really coming into her own!  She is super kind to others, making them feel loved and special (except her annoying little brother...although sometimes she will try!).  She shows a maturity beyond her years!  This past weekend we went camping and we had another little girl from Lily's school Emery, also adopted from Guatemala join us.  She and her friends welcomed Emery in with open arms and did everything in their power to make her feel comfortable in the group.

Lily is also beginning to take ownership of her health and fitness.  She seems to be taking an interest in being more healthy.  I am so proud of her.  She has even taken a little interest in weightlifting!  Today she had her swim evaluation and the coaches said she did a great job!  She gets to move up to the next level.  They even think once she gets back into shape she can move up to the level after that as well!  Go Lily!  She seems motivated, so we will see!  It's nice to see her setting goals and going after them! 

Beautiful Guate girl gang!

One tall Rudy with 3 lovely Guate girls!

All the kiddos!