Angie's date

We started taking the girls on one on one dates. They can pick anywhere they want to go. Amy went to IHOP with Brent last week. Angie chose to go to "the big Pizza place". That's Incredible Pizza Company. I think it's the closest we have to an amusement park in Tulsa now and it always has amusement park crowds. I don't like crowds and with Angie's SID she kinda shuts down too so we got in and out as as fast as we could. I took her to the mall as well to get her picture taken. I made a Valentine's skirt that (sorry to brag) just turned out gorgeous and Angie just looks so good in it I had to get her picture taken in it. Everyone at the studio told Angie she was beautiful and they also said I could post her picture on my blog, but I can't get it to work for some reason right now so here's some snapshots of her in the skirt. We had a lot of fun.

Lucy the light bearer

Nothing too remarkable about this video, Lucy is walking now and my house is a mess. I posted it because Lucy loves walking around with this little lantern which strikes me every time I see her do it because of course, the name Lucy means "light bearer". :-)

much ado about nothing

For some reason couldn't stop laughing. In consequence, neither could we.

Suprise snow

Our ice storm fizzled out into a suprise snow fall after a day of sleet. We all went out today and played in the snow. There is a low "pond" or drainage ditch in our neighborhood with nice sloping hills all around it. We took our sleds and buckets and shovels and played there for a while this morning. Brent put video on his blog:
http://brentpeak.com/

Amy took a few sled trips down the hill and was content to stay in the wagon for the rest of the time.


Karianne and Angie both loved shoveling snow in their bucket and sledding down the hill.

Karianne loved eating snow!



Lucy did a little bit of sitting in the wagon and riding in the snow tube. After we had been out for a while I pulled Lucy in the tube to the top of the hill and saw that her eyes were closed. I figured the sun was in her eyes. I pushed her down the hill in the tube and cheered and clapped for her. Brent got her at the bottom and said, "she's asleep!"


Brent and Karianne walked around the pond a little and were throwing icicles on the pond. Karianne's mitten stuck to the frozen icicle and her mitten landed in the middle of the pond still stuck to the icicle. We all went home soon after that and Brent, Karianne and Angie went back out with a fishing pole and fished for the mitten. Sorry no pictures or video of that since I didn't go although I really wish I did have a picture of it!

Just for fun

I found this lady online that does amazing photo enhancements when you send your snapshots to her (www.JaniasPhotoEnhancements.com). I sent her pictures of the girls in their tutus and this is what she did. The girls love that they have wings. :-)

Chinese New Year

We went to a Chinese New Year dinner with our local FCC (Families with CHildren from CHina). Had a blast. Karianne always looks forward to being in the lion dance. She gets a little impatient for her turn but it was worth the wait because she got to be the head! Angie is still scared of the lion after 3 years and Lucy is siding with Angie. Amy didn't really seem to know what was going on and just laughed and followed the lion around so she had a good time.



This is Angie's sweet little friend that was a baby with her in the same orphanage. She was adopted weeks before Angie was and lo and behold she lives right here! It is so sweet to see them together every time we have an FCC function. Angie is so petite and her little friend is exactly the same size and build as Angie.



BTW, I couldn't find the little dresses that Angie and Karianne had as babies so I put Lucy in this little baby Apron thingy that I bought off a street vendor in China. I think it's supposed to be worn without a shirt. I joked that she looked like a little shopkeeper. She wore her cute little lion shoes too.

Peanut Butter

Karianne just realized we have PETER PAN peanut butter and she is very excited. Next time she would like to have Wendy's peanut butter though. :-)

beautiful

I've been making these sweet little tutu overalls for the girls. I made Karianne's and Lucy's yesterday, and Angie and Amy's today. I didn't get Angie's finished until later so she hasn't tried hers on yet, but Amy got to twirl a little in hers. She was so excited. "momma I put it on and you take my picture?"
Yes Baby.

New Years Eve Sweater and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

New Years Eve Sweater and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

I love the blouse on this giveaway!

A little unclear of the concept...

The other night I was reading Cinderella to the girls.
"...and Cinderella wore the most beautiful gown..."

Angie said, " I got a gown."
Amy chimed in, "Me too!"
Angie said, "It's a nightgown!"


Today everyone was in the car and Karianne was telling us she wanted to be an animal Dr when she grew up. Angie said, "Can I be a Dockor too?"
Brent said, "you can be ANYTHING you want to be"
For the rest of the trip home we heard Angie in the back rattling off all the possibilities she could be when she grew up: " The sun, the moon, a bike, water, a horse, a car, a chair..."

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

Saw this on one of my favorite giveaway blogs

Chinese New Year Doll giveaway!

I'm doing another doll giveaway on Mommas Darlins. Leave a comment for a chance to win a Soft Sculptured Asian Doll.

http://mommasdarlinsclothes.blogspot.com/2009/01/chinese-new-year-doll-giveaway.html

Happy Heavenly Birthday to our baby Richard

Our sweet baby Richard Thomas Peak would have been two today. Happy Birthday darling.

Happy Birthday Lucy

We took the girls to Incredible Pizza Company today, they're favorite! It was not only Incredible Pizza, it was Incredibly busy and Incredibly Corwded so we ate, played a few games and left. The girls were wiped out and slept in the car. We got home around 5pm and I made a cake and we ate again! Lucy dove into her cake like a pro. I think her favorite part was her shower. She was so messy we gave her a shower instead of a bath.



We gave Lucy Baby Dreams for her birthday. It was my first doll when I was a baby. No she didn't get my old doll, although I do still have it. But I have acquired a few over the years and I gave her a nice clean "minty" Baby Dreams doll. She loves the sleep eyes.

Happy 1st Birthday to Lucy!!

Ah Lucy, my precious little miracle. She was born a year ago today at 34 weeks. She survived her twin and up to the point that she was born I really didn't know if she was going to make it. She stayed in NICU for 2 weeks and I didn't even get to hold her until she was 5 days old. Look at her now! She is a precious gift from our God to this family. Happy Birthday baby! I'll post pictures of her day this evening.

Who doesn't like a sleeping baby?

Anton and His Friends Have Two Days to Find a Family...

Please take a look at these dear children that are about to be returned to Russia without finding their families! If you see the child here in the US and decide to adopt them, the required time to stay in Russia to complete the adoption is cut in half!

BrentPeak.com: Anton and His Friends Have Two Days to Find a Family...

Lucy and Pixie

So we named the little dog Pixie. I had pretty much decided she was going to be Miss Moppet until I heard Amy say her name. It sounded just like how Amy says "Stop-it!" I decided I didn't need to hear that all day long so I quickly changed my mind and named her Pixie. They named her Prissie at the pound and the girls were already kinda calling her that so it was kinda a similar sound.



Anyway, Lucy and Pixie are good friends already.



Lucy cracks me up!



Here it looks like the dog is a little frightened that she might get body slammed by a 20 pounder!

Cruella D'Ville

I made this little skirt and had Karianne put it on for a picture. She was more interested in the denim Jacket with the fur collar. When I was done with the little photo shoot, Karianne wanted to keep the cuffs and the jacket on. She was going out with her daddy and she went and got her sunglasses. She thought she looked pretty good. I said, "wow, you look like Barbie or something!" She said, "No momma, I look like the bad girl on 101 Damations, She wears fur like this."
Oh.

Cinderella

We brought home a little dog today from the animal shelter. I looked at a lot of little dogs online and in shelters before we found this little baby. I was so unaware of the subculture of mixed breeds that used to be just- excuse me, no flaming please- mutts are now there own special breed. A Pug and a Beagle mix is a Puggle. A Lab and a Poodle is a Labradoodle. A Chihuahua and a Daschund is a Chiweenie- seriously! There's more, Scottie Poo (ewww),Yorkie Poo, Goldennoodle, PomChi... and they are worth money! I wanted a Chiweenie just so I could say I had one. :-) Someone was trying to sell their lab-pekinese-oops pups for $100! It looked like a Pekinese head stuck on a lab body. Very strange.
A shelter in Claremore had a little Skye Terrier dog. They called her a Skye Terrier, when I went to look at her I thought she looked more like a Lhaso Terrier Mix. The paperwork from the vet had Shi Tzu crossed out with Schnoodle on it. Yeah one of those exotic mixes! Her hair is cut very close so I really won't be able to tell what she is until it grows out. She is adorable and we brought her home. She had surgery today, like all shelters require before you can bring a dog home so she has been very low key since we brought her home. Nala our big old blind dog that we have had for 13 years is feeling unloved and hiding in corners. She is rarely the only dog in the house so I am not sure why she has her feelings hurt.

Anyway, we have yet to come up with a name for her. The girls are pretty set on naming her Cinderella. I am leaning towards Miss Moppet. I'll let you know.

Little Baby Secret desparately needs his family

I am passing this on with the permission of the dear people at The Shepherd's Crook:

What price tag can be placed on a life? A helpless orphan in desperate need of unconditional love, medical care, arms to hold him, someone to proclaim to the world that he lived and mattered, someone to pray over him as he takes his last breath and see that he has a proper burial and then cry tears because he is gone and missed. Is a child like this worth $1,000? $5,000? $15,000? or $20,000? Is he worth a wound to a willing parent's heart---a wound that will leave a permanent scar behind, testifying to the truth that this child belonged to someone and was loved as a son? We are begging God to send a family who believes that a child like this is worth whatever it costs to bring him home for whatever amount of time he has left on this earth. Might you be that family?

We are asking that each person on this list pray fervently that God will move the heart of someone to step forward and move quickly to bring little Secret home from Liberia. This will need to be a person/couple/family who understands that the medical information coming from Secret's orphanage may not be accurate, that they really won't be able to determine ahead of time just how critically ill he is but must be ready to face the worst possible scenario---while also hoping for something much better. This person/couple/family must be willing to accept that baby Secret may not live long at all once he comes home, and that he may not even survive long enough to have his adoption completed. There was a TSC family pursuing Secret's adoption, but after many weeks of prayer and examination, they now feel that they are not Secret's family after all, and they will not be continuing the adoption process. The initial information given about Secret's medical situation has turned out to be inaccurate, and it appears that he is probably a very, very sick little boy who will require considerable care his entire life, and that his life will almost certainly not be very long.

Little Secret is approximately a year old. He was found abandoned in a banana orchard and has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus. The Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is working closely with the agency to expedite Secret’s adoption. Time is of the essence for Secret. The agency tells us that there is a grant available toward the fees for Secret’s adoption.

We are asking for prayer for Secret's protection while he waits, as well as prayer for a family who is willing to drop everything in their lives and focus all of their energy on rescuing this child as quickly as possible. This is not the kind of adoption mission that we typically ask a family to embark on, but it is a mission that is very dear to our heavenly Father's heart. This child was created by God, is precious to Him, and Secret's sweet name is engraved on the palms of our Savior's hands.

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..." Isaiah 49:16

Does anyone feel led to obey God's call to save this needy child from an empty, pain-filled existence and a lonely, silent death?

We do know what we are asking here, and we know the courage it will take to accept such a call. We also know the feeling of fear and the lack of such courage when faced with being led to step out in faith to obey our Master's call. We personally wrestled with a similar dilemma in 2004, when we became convinced that God was asking us to attempt to adopt a three-month baby girl from Guatemala who had been born with severe brain damage and had no real hope of ever even being able to show that she knew she was being loved. We are attaching here Kathy's story of this child who did eventually become our treasured daughter, Kathryn Felicity. Many of you have already read Kathryn's adoption story, including Kathy's fear and struggles over obeying what she knew God was asking of us. But others may not have read this story, and so we would ask that you read it prayerfully---and ask God to give you the strength to obey Him if He should ask you to commit to Secret, regardless of what such a call would mean.

For more information about Secret, please write to our Liberia Family Coordinator (liberia@theshepherdscrook.org).

Consider Adoption

Our adoption journey began in January 4 years ago. January is sanctity of Life month and I hear the adoption testimony of the Steven Curtis Chapman family on the radio. A few days later some dear friends of ours invited us to adopt from China and long story short- we did, twice!

There is a wonderful Adoption agency that loves children and works hard to find homes for them. They have a special program called "Promise Child" where a donor has covered almost all of the adoption expenses in effort to find families for these children. You have to write and ask for a password. I just looked at the children there are quite a few promised children currently from Africa, Asia and the US. The current children seem to range from toddler to teenagers. They also have children that are not on the Promise Child program but WACAP provides no interest loans to help with adoption costs.

http://www.wacap.org/FamilyFinders.asp

Music short

Brent made this sweet little video this evening. He's so talented.

"I'm still thinking about it!"

On the way home from Tulsa today, Karianne said out of the blue, "I'm thinking about when I grow up."
What are you going to be?
"I'm still thinkin' about it."

The Quiet Game

We went to IHOP today for Lunch. Coincidentally, Karianne just discovered there is a restuarant out there that serves pancakes all day long! Who knew!
Anyway, the girls were loving their chocolate chip pancake and were having a grand time. Brent said "Let's play the quiet game!" They had never heard of that before and were intrigued. Angie is great at the quiet game, Amy is awful at it, and Karianne is somewhere in between. We recently just taught rock paper scissors to them as well so Amy was a little confused. Brent would say, "one two three, ok be quiet" and Amy would hold out her hand for "paper". Karianne and Angie would sit really quiet and Amy would pepper us with questions. Karianne thought it really didn't count to whisper to us on how she was doing periodically. She laughed behind her hand and whispered to us, "I love playing the quiet game!"
Yeah...

I took the girls to church tonight and Karianne said, "ok guys, lets play the quiet game, 1,2,3 go!"
Amy said, "right be quiet."
Karianne said, "Amy, you're out"
Amy was quiet for a moment and said, "Kay-ahn you talked!"
Karianne said, "I have to talk because I get to tell you what to do."
Angie chimed in and the game didn't last much longer after that.

But hopefully the will think it is fun for a long time to come. :-)

Please Help Love without Boundaries

Love without Boundaries as you know, assisted in Amy's Surgery while in China.

Love Without Boundaries has a chance to win $35,000 to help even more
orphaned children in China, and we need your help! Casting your vote
for LWB is an easy way to change the lives of children in need.

Simply visit http://www.cookiema g.com/magazine/ sweeps/smart_
cookie_finalists 09/entry/ long/

Click on the circle next to the video about LWB. It is the first one,
next to Amy Eldridge's photo.

Fill out the rest of the information needed and click submit. You do
not need to fill out the "about you" section if you do not wish, and
you can opt out of receiving any information in the future from
Cookie Magazine by checking "no" on the boxes asking which
information you desire.

Each person over the age of 18 is allowed one vote. This contest is
open to people in the US only, unfortunately. If you live in another
country, you are not able to vote. Voting takes place from January
6th to February 10th.

Happy 13th Anniversary to us

Brent and I have been married for 13 years today. A lot of sad times and a lot of happy times, but there is no one in the world I'd rather share them with. I love you sweetie, Happy Anniversary.

Padonkadonk butt

Brent and I laughed so hard when we heard this on the radio today. It's actually better on the radio but this is all I could find on the web.


Subway Commercial Greasy Fast Food - The best video clips are here

Dance Dance Baby

I got Brent a Dance Dance Revolution for Christmas. I think it is high on the all time favorites for Christmas presents from me to him. We play it every night. The girls love it too, Karianne jumps all over it. Angie tries. Amy stands in the middle and keeps the beat with her body. Lucy crawls right to the middle wear she sees us stand and hits the different buttons with her hands. We have to put Lucy in a walker when we get it out because she is all over Brent's new DDR. :-)

Amy and Lucy

Lucy seems drawn to Amy lately. She wants to play with whatever Amy is playing with, she cries for a bite of whatever Amy is eating. One of Amy's Christmas presents is Lucy's favorite Christmas present. Today Amy was just standing in the living room and Lucy crawled over to her and pulled herself up on Amy and just hung on to her. Amy is a pretty good sport about it. Generally she prefers to play with someone her own age but she does pretty good humoring Lucy.

Wings

Ya know, when I was younger my little brother used to try to catch flies so he could pull one wing off. His theory was that it would fly in tight circles if it only had one wing. I don't remember if he succeeded or not, maybe I don't want to remember.
Anyway. When you pull one wing off of Barbie Mariposa, she does not fly in circles. 'nuf said.

Hello?

Can you hear me now? Good.

Can you hear me now? Good.