Grassstains.net

Some Pics From Grandma

gchastain — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:09:24 +0000

Karen’s mom recently sent some pics she had in her camera. A couple are of Andy at the Gering Family reunion back near the New Year. The others are of Emily at her cousin’s, Zoee and Lily, birthday.

Pigtails & Pepper

gchastain — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:15:38 +0000

Emily has taken to running around in pigtails lately, and very much reminds us that there is a little girl in the home. Karen remembers her mom putting pigtails in her hair every day as she does the same for her girl. Andy reminds Emily that he is the typical big brother who could care less when she comes bouncing into the room to show him her pigtails by responding, “So . . .” as she shakes her pig tails trying to illicit a response of approval from the boy. And Gregg remembers to praise her for how beautiful she is (while being ever so thankful that he hasn’t yet had to figure out how to tie the things). Our little girl continues to be a delight, and we find it hard to believe that in another two weeks we will have had her in our lives and home for six months. Earlier this morning, as I walked down to the mailbox (accompanied by Emily) to drop off some letters, she prattled off in her broken English all the things she knew. She pointed at our house, and said, “Emily’s home,” and that was a great thing to hear on such a delightfully sunny day.

Emily’s Dedication

gchastain — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:10:26 +0000

This is a bit out of the timeline, but back in January we were happy to dedicate Emily to the Lord. The pics didn’t come out well in the dark theater, but in the end this moment marked the continuation of a process where this little girl has been prayed over lots. Our hope long before we even knew she would be ours to love and care for, is that she would come to know and follow the Lord for the rest of her life. Grandma and Grandpa Gering were able to come down from Vancouver, and spend the day with us. Emily adores them, and was very happy to get out of that dress and run and play.

Cousins From China

gchastain — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:30:42 +0000

On Friday, my cousin David came into town with his wife Amy and 5 kids – the boys, Josh, Nathan and Danny, and their two Chinese daughters Abby and Elisabeth. David and his clan live in North Bend, Oregon down on the coast near Coos Bay where he pastors a church. David and Amy were influential in our pursuit of a girl from China, as they were just heading to China to get Abby when we started our journey towards Emily. They returned in 2008 to get their second daughter Elisabeth. They were only able to visit for a few hours, but we enjoyed catching up with them, and introducing our daughter to her second cousins (we think that’s the official designation of the children of cousins – maybe it’s first cousins once removed).

A Little Paint

gchastain — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:19:17 +0000

So, some have been asking about the office project, and we are really in the home stretch. Two weekends ago, we got primer on the walls, and the hard wood floor in. Last weekend, we got the first coat of paint on, and the doors in. We also worked on some of the trim around the window and doors, and the electrical trim (installing outlets, switches and light fixtures). I did run into a little problem with a neutral wire breaking off where the line comes into the box on one of the plugs. I’m going to have to pull the box off the wall, and hopefully can fix the problem without ripping into the sheetrock. Mostly at this point we are waiting for the cabinets to be finished, and the trim to be finished. We’ll need to slap on another coat of paint, but we are close to final inspections and finally moving all the boxes and bookshelves out of the living room.

I particularly like the paint on the teeth – got to love the sprayer!

Covered the floors to paint – they look a bit like this . . .

Sheetrock!

gchastain — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:51:17 +0000

The Office Project moves steadily along . . .

Resolutions and Things

gchastain — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:37:33 +0000

I’ve been following various friends either on Facebook, their blogs, or in the course of daily conversations, as they set forth with resolutions for the new year. Like most, I too have considered various things that I have resolved to do in the past, should do for the future, or want to do simply because it will be good for myself and my family. But . . . I know me, and I know most of these resolutions will start out strong, and die a quiet death – like that resolution to read the bible in a year that finds itself suddenly confronted with the reality of Leviticus.

Anyway, I have found myself considering resolutions a bit differently after reading a recent entry in Don Miller’s blog. Don approaches the idea of resolutions from the perspective of living a good story, and I found his thoughts helpful. Maybe you’ll feel the same. Part one is here, and part two is here.

Shenzhen City

gchastain — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:30:59 +0000

Received some pictures from one of the families who journeyed to China at the same time as us. Like us, their daughter was from Shenzhen, and they sent some pictures of this city as we drove through it on our way to the Hong Kong airport and home. In some ways, that day seems like such a long time ago, even though it has only been about four months. While we feel Emily is quickly integrating herself into our hearts and home, the pictures of Shenzhen were a reminder of how far she has come.

I don’t know if she will remember the day we all drove this route together. I don’t know if she will remember throwing up on the bus minutes after these pictures were snapped. I don’t know if she will remember anything from China, but I know these will help a little. I hope she remembers much, and comes to praise God mightily for all He has done in her life.

It Won’t Convince Andy

gchastain — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:58:50 +0000

In our home, we have never emphasized Santa Claus much, as the birth of Christ is the thing that motivates our hearts in this season, but today I read a post about the real Saint Nicholas and recent attempts to forensically reconstruct his face from his skull. It was pretty cool, and it will be fun to share the story of this man with Andy and Emily. For what it’s worth, Andy was telling his friends at 5 that Santa Claus was a fake, even though to our knowledge he had never heard that from us. We just didn’t bring him up.

Genius

gchastain — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:14:08 +0000

I particularly like the ding . . .