good things come in long posts : )

ALL APRIL PICTURES (and there are A Lot!)
We had a family birthday party for the kiddos on the 18th. I had fun trying my hand at making a big cupcake, it was cute and tasted good too.
I now have a three year old (4-23) and almost one year old (5-18). Happy Birthday sweetpeas.
Here is our family. Back row, Adams side: Aunt Debby, Great Aunt Lucy, Grandma Mary-lou and Grand-dad Richard. My step dad Chet, Emily, Nehemiah, NanNa Angela, Avi Joy and Adam's parents Richard and Cleo. (Adam's bro, Bryan, Melissa and kids George and Annabelle were out sick.)
On Avi Joy's birthday she was able to experience Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the first time. She picked out a chocolate sprinkle with chocolate milk. What a fun splurge.
Watching the Hot Now's being made.
Then we drove to hang-out in St. Louis. Pun intended : )
My dad's whole side lives in St. Louis and since my dad's birthday is 4-21, we celebrated with a triple birthday party. (It was a Read-To-Me themed birthday party, all about books!)
We went to a sushi and karaoke restaurant. She is our next Vietnamese-American Idol.
Starting with the grandchildren (Natasha, John III, Kathryn, Knowlton) we all had handprints made in concrete that are now step stones in the yard. When we had the first great-grandkids we made their babyprints too. We did Avi Joy's 2 years ago while in St. Louis.
Here is his precious step stone.
My dad, who we call Granpa Ken, along with his only two grandchildren.
The whole family (minus one... my cousins wife is a Dr. and was out delivering a baby). Ken, Avi Joy, Chris, John, Kathryn, Robert, Debbie, Jim, Amy, Sue, John, Nehemiah, Natasha, Adam, Knowlton, Dan and Nancy. What a sweet and big family.
The McHale's are crazy Cardinals fans and their Granpa Ken got them their first Cardinals outfits. THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR BIRTHDAY A GRAND SLAM!
We visited with Pastor Le from our local Vietnamese church this week. Unfortunately he will not be able to make Vietnam Family Weekend for he is officiating a wedding in Dallas but we had a beyond blessed time with him. We talked about Vietnam, its people, the church here/there, mission opportunities and language school.
One of the sweetest gifts was when Pastor Le prayed for our children. Blessings, protection, and the most touching moment was when he said "May Nehemiah live up to his namesake, just as Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem may Nehemiah rebuild the walls of Vietnam." OH the tears! WE LOVE YOU!

I am thinking about starting a blog. A non-family type. My thoughts (like would someone really like to read those?!), what I am learning about the Lord, stories, dreams, etc. Not sure if I am ready for the upkeep, its just a thought at the moment, but I have a lot going on in this head of mine and maybe its time...

This was a great encouragement to me this week:
"(May God) equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:21

Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

ESP

Sometimes in your marriage you just 'know' when it is time to spend time away from your children. You love them, you would die for them, but there comes a point when you need a little quality time just the two of you. If you are one of those people who can spend 100% of your time with your kiddo- power2ya, but alas we are not that kind- and really enjoy time by ourselves every once in a while.
We must give a big THANK YOU to RoRo and NanNa for being the sitters for our little secret excursions. You are a blessing to our family!

Here is how it unfolded... I secretly planned a date night for us on Sunday and he had secretly planned one for me on Tuesday. We were having some serious marriage ESP. Needless to say, we had a great time on both dates.
My date for him: Barnes and Noble's followed by dinner/games at Dave and Busters (we love B & N's to read/get inspired and he had never been to DB's.)
His date for me: Lunch at Keo, chocolates at KoKoa, then Philbrook Museum to look at art. Umm yeah, his date RULED! I loved every second. Literally every single moment. And the day was perfect outside. Enjoy some non-kid pics of our day out at Philbrook.




WARNING: If you have never seen this "side" of me before, take a good look! HA! My silly-artsy side calls this "VaVaVoom."

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:1-2

A and N

here is my google reader...

We wrapped up Easter at Adam's parents house. The kids enjoyed dinner and getting their Easter baskets.
I am also totally into buying teen tank tops size XS or kids tops size 4-5 and wearing them as dresses. This teen tank top was beautiful... we just added an undershirt and leggings- so cute!

Float or Sink activity. This is a great (and easy) activity to do with your kiddos. Go around the house collecting things and have them guess first if they think it will float or sink. Then try it out in a bowl of water. Record your answers. Give them a grade: she got an A +

My little heros. Nehemiah loves his bib-cape and Avi Joy is a ballerina. Both hero's came complete with gold stars on their foreheads, compliments of Miss Joy.

You know I am talking about something too much when Avi Joy starts to talk about it a lot too. Here she got out her "google reader" and asked me to write Nehemiah, Avi Joy and Heather Homan into it : ) p.s. I finally set-up google reader, what a time saver, I ADORE it.

Reminder that I now have a boy in the house. I walk into his room after nap and he was in his crib, under his curtains that he had ripped off the wall. Praise God he was ok. The little guy is super strong.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE her curls. Here she was resting on my bed and her curls were just perfect. I hope they stay forever. That little front curl just melted my heart.

Avi Joy has the honor of being pictured on a website... check out jwoodsjewelry!

I encourage you to read Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. If I was a "time" right now, I would say verse 6, "there is a time to search and a time to give up."

The Perryman Family

crunch face

"You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here." Mark 16:6

We did two Easter projects this weekend. The first thing we made was "Risen Rolls," I stole these off Ashley's very cool blog.

1. Flatten the rolls (symbolizing the tomb)
2. Place marshmallow inside (Jesus placed in the tomb)
3. Bake (his death for 3 days)
4. Cut the Risen Roll in half (the roll is empty, Jesus has risen overcoming death)
5. Eat and Enjoy (accepting Christ and eternal life in heaven)
Then we dyed eggs together.
We chose the tie-dyed egg kit. They turned out beautiful.
We also went on an Egg Grab, obviously not a hunt, but still fun.
This is my happy daughter asking for Ramen noodles for lunch. She knows if I say "yes" (which I do about once a week, but she could have them everyday) that I will hand her the bag to crunch it up a little bit. Her crunch face is just the funniest of all faces!!!
THE CRUNCH FACE
Recently we had a few playdates...
Havin' so much fun with Zoe.
Hanging out at the Butter's home. (Nehemiah, Joshua, Avi Joy, Caleb and Abby)
We went to the mall with the Homans.
Here Avi Joy was playing dress-up in my closet. Don't all mom's love this!
Nehemiah with his first beater, yum yum.
Here are some pictures for Dillon's Vietnam Family Camp. This year we are having it at Green Country Event Center in Tulsa, OK, June 12-13, 2009. Please join us for a wonderful camp for children born in Vietnam (this includes families from all agencies).
A large meeting area.
Many classrooms for children, several nursery and parent meeting rooms.
Banquet hall.

"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name." John 20:31

Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

When we traveled to Vietnam in September 2006 (for Avi Joy's adoption) we bought beautiful artwork for our home. Here is our artwork from the past trip...
Oil painting in our livingroom.

Acrylic set of 5, woman dressed in Ao Doi.

Set of three oil paintings for Avi Joy's room.

We traveled again to Vietnam in January 2009 (for Nehemiah's adoption) and we just got our artwork back from being framed. I LOVE it!!!

Set of three oil paintings for Nehemiah's room.

Large cityscape oil painting in our office. (Hanoi, by the cathedral)

Pen and ink drawing of a Sapa villager on rice paper.

We had two friends have babies this week...

Welcome to the world little Maggie Elizabeth, we love you so much!

New handsome lifegroup memeber Jonathan Troy, you are so very loved!

My main-man is all over the place! He is zooming across the house and will come when I call him from the other room. Starting at the beginning of April he pulled up and is now pulling himself up to the couch, Avi Joy's bed, up your leg, all the chairs, and boy is he strong.

Avi Joy is almost three and she looks it. She is growing up and in this outfit she looked like such a big girl.
I caught the kids playing back-to-back today. She was playing with the sing with me Elmo and he was reading a dinosaur book.

I also caught them holding hands in the car. I hope and pray they hold one another's hands all the days of their lives! My heart swells with love for my two kiddos.

Have a great weekend.
This is what I made to enjoy for the next four days since my hubby is out to a conference! Yummy. Yes, just the cookie dough batter, eggs in all.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

Many prayers for you sweet Erin,
The Perryman's