A Beautiful Girl with a Beautiful Heart

9-year-old girl’s clean water wish takes off after her death

 

Charity: Water

More Blessings!!!

A wonderful Baoji mother was in China recently adopting her beautiful daughter from Chongqing.  Before they met their daughter, they took their son back to Baoji to see his birthplace.  She tried very hard to get pictures of the waiting babies, but they wouldn't let her in the orphanage.  The orphanage had requested a new camera a few months before so several parents chipped in and bought them one.  When Branda delivered the camera the orphanage promised to take pictures of the babies she inquired about and email them to her.  Honestly, I wasn't hopeful that we'd ever see those pictures.  Imagine my joy when I opened my email today to see an email titled  'pictures of the Baoji babies'.  Check out my little one with 'weak legs'.  She's standing!  Thank you, Lord!  \o/

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!

On July 19, 2010 we received TA for Coralie.  If you had told us that exactly one year from that date we would receive LOA for another child, we would have told you that you were CRAZY!  Life is full of surprises, though, and here we are celebrating LOA for Little Miss Hui Lan!  God is SO GOOD to us.  Whenever I stop and think about the blessings He has given our family I always start to tear up because we don't deserve any blessings yet He continues to heap them on.

WE.ARE.SO.BLESSED.

Our God is Greater

It seems that with each adoption, God gives me a song for encouragement.  This adoption, it is 'Our God is Greater'.  When I first realized that was 'the' song, I didn't really know how much I would need to hear Romans 8:31 over and over during this process.   On July 8th, our agency received LOAs for our LID date.  Everyone's except ours.  We are reusing our dossier and that seems to be a Russian Roulette process.  Some sail through and some wait and wait.  When our LOA didn't come, I realized that we were probably going to be one of the families that waits...and waits.  There's a sense of hopelessness in that.  I've seen families who've waited over 100 days for LOA and families close to 100 days with no LOA in sight.  I've had to adjust my hope that she'd be home for Christmas (which I originally felt was highly likely) to preparing myself emotionally that we may not even meet her this year.  It's hard having a child across the world and not being able to go to them.  It's harder having a child in need of medical care and knowing they won't get it until they are home with you.  Fortunately for me, I have an Awesome God.  A God who is always in control.  And so I say...

If God is for us, who can be against us?  

I know that God has this all planned out in the way it should be.  Not my way, not China's way...HIS way.  And I wouldn't want it any other way.  

Potty Training

You'd think by # 7 it would be a bit easier to train a kid, but nope.  That's not happening with Miss Coralie.  She knows where the potty is, she knows what it is for and she even uses it on occasion but she much prefers to use her diaper.  She doesn't even like pull-ups.  A few weeks ago, I put her in panties and it was going great.  She stayed dry all morning and used the potty a few times (probably because I was asking every 2 minutes if she needed to go).  Naively, I let myself get a little bit excited.  I thought maybe I'd be getting a break from diapers for a few months until Cecilia comes home.  Not so fast, my friend.  Little Miss decided she'd had enough of that and put her panties in the dirty clothes and went and got a diaper.  She's not at all interested in training.  Not.At.All.

This morning Brandon was giving her a pep talk about it...

Brandon:  Coralie, don't you want to use the potty?  If you use the potty all the time, Mommy will get you a toy.
Coralie:  I already have one.

Ooookay.  This one might be a hard nut to crack.

Boys, Boys, Boys

I watched this video and it made me sad. I have 4 boys and they bring me so much happiness. I can't imagine why people wouldn't want a son. After watching this video, I don't know how people could see it and not start looking for their son immediately. Be still my heart!

Bring Our Children Home

When we cannot see you moving
When it seems the dark has won
May you find us still believing
That you want this more than us
You will finish what you started
And your plans for us are good
Help us cling to what you promised
You are faithful, You are sure

Um, I think I need a new blog header

Brady boy turned 6 yesterday. I know! 6!!! It's mind boggling to me how fast my babies are growing up even when I've vowed not to let it pass by as quickly as it did for the older boys. Kids grow up. Quickly. TOO quickly. (excuse me while I go get a tissue) Miss Coralie is 3 AND A HALF officially today. Only 6 months until she is 4. Ack! How does it all happen in a blink of an eye? Anyway, about the header. Look at Ryan. That one really cracks me up. Dude is now over 6 feet tall and he's an itty bitty guy in that group shot. Brady's not even in the group shot! Coralie isn't in the header at all. I really need to work on a new header. Maybe if I mention it here, I'll actually start doing something about it instead of filing it on my mile long 'to do someday' list.

Time to let it go...again

Anyone who has followed my blog during one of our adoption waits knows what a hard time I have handing the adoption wait stress over to God. I trust Him completely when He plants the seed for another adoption in our hearts and I trust that He'll provide the funds we need for the adoption each time...but I always have a hard time trusting that His timeline is better than mine. How crazy is that?

I can look back at each adoption and think of things I thought would be better done my way and see how wrong I was. I have proof living under my roof of how wonderful God is. I have children that would not be mine had I not listened to God and followed His plan. How come I can't relax and let Him control this adoption? It's a struggle. I give it to Him and then wrestle it back. Repeatedly.

It all seems much more serious this time. Little Cece needs to be home. She needs medical care. Each day that she waits makes her chance of ever walking a bit less likely. And we are okay with that. But we want her to have every opportunity to walk, if possible. So time is our enemy. When we were reviewing her file, all the information we got was bad news. News that typically would have sent us fleeing. News that was far worse than issues in other files that we felt we couldn't handle. But it was different this time because she was our daughter. Honestly, it was one thing after another. As soon as we felt we could handle something another serious issue would come up with another doctor. Funny, but it got to the point that they were making me angry because this was my child they were saying these things about. I knew then and there that I would go to the ends of the earth for this little girl. That we would take her even if worst case would be her (and our) reality. And I'd be thankful for the honor and privilege of being her mama.

So these past few days of realizing how reusing our dossier may make our wait to go get our daughter even longer have really frustrated me. I am having a hard time focusing on the One who is in control. I am ashamed of that. I need to remember what I said here on this blog when waiting for Coralie. God loves Cecilia even more than we do. He created her just the way she is and He knows what's best for her. If He plans for her to walk, it doesn't matter if we get her next month or next year. Why am I questioning His timing??? He has never let me down. Ever. So this is my typical adoption process 'letting go' post.

It's yours, God. I don't want to carry the burden when You've already got it under control. I am tired of beating my head against the wall when all I need is to trust You.

Ahhhh...That feels so much better. :)

Little Miss Cheesy

Little Miss was watching Blue's Clues the other day. Apparently, I am missing something when I watch because she was laughing her cute little head off. I personally don't find Steve that funny (this was a pre-Joe DVD). After a few minutes I realized that I needed to get my camera to catch her in her cuteness. We all know how that works. Camera comes out. Laughing stops. Blank stare emerges. So I tell her to smile big for me and this is what I get...



Seriously? What a goober. Gracious, I love this kid. She's the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Literally. She starts screaming for me about 7:30 am. Every.stinkin'.day. And only mommy will do. Definitely mommy's girl which kills her daddy. Too bad, so sad bubba. She's MINE!

Check out Allie's new endeavor.Allie is daddy's girl. He's the one who takes her to her lessons each week. What a great dad. Although he did draw the line at letting her bring home one of the barn kittens. :)



So far she loves it. A lot.

Reason #8,509,222 that I love my husband

Jeff's company had a going away event tonight for someone who was leaving the company. When Jeff got home he told me that there was a guy there that he didn't know asking him a million questions like 'Why did you adopt from China?' and 'Why do you have so many kids?' I asked Jeff what he said to the guy and he told me that he said, 'I got to the point in my life where I realized what was really important.' Thank You God, for blessing me with a man who sees the world the way that I do. Love him!

A fellow Baoji Mom's Fundraiser

This beautiful family has a son from Baoji, where Cecilia is. He came home in 2007 and they are now in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl. When they travel to adopt her they will be visiting Baoji. Branda has offered to take pictures of babies who have been matched to families. I am so hoping that she's able to get us a picture of our sweet Cece! Check out her giveaway. She has some great things!

Days Made of Now: BIG giveaway!: "This has been fun, very fun . Initially this whole giveaway started out small, with just a couple of items, and I was good with that. But so..."

Formally Introducing...

We finally have a name...



We bounced from Isabel to Cecilia to Arabella but the kids kept calling her Cece so we went back to Cecilia. Faith is was an obvious choice because this adoption is a walk in faith. I love that we have 'by grace through faith' (Allie's middle name and Cecilia's middle name). We didn't plan it this way but the other three have middle names from the bible...Elizabeth, Daniel & Selah. I love that!

We received some updated measurements today from our agency. At 21 months, Cecilia is 22 pounds and just under 30 inches. She has 12 teeth. At 41 months, Coralie is about 22 pounds and 33.5 inches. They are very close in size. Cecilia may surpass Coralie before we get her home!

We also received our log in date this week-5/17 (Brady's adoption day!). It took longer than we'd hoped but at least we are logged in and have a date to start counting from. My agency is hopeful we'll get LOA in 4 weeks but I am thinking it will be more like 8 or 9. We know it's all in God's Hands and we know His timing is perfect. Please Lord, let me learn patience during this adoption because I really don't want to have to go through this again. I love adoption and I really love my blessings but I am so weary of the adoption process and all the angst that comes with it.

Depraved Indifference

This really spoke to me.

Care Package and New Pictures!

I ordered Hui Lan (who may never have a name...sigh) the same care package we sent Coralie. Coralie's orphanage gave us the items when we adopted her. She sleeps with the blanket every night. It will be nice if we get the items back for Hui Lan also but I really sent the package to get pictures. :)



So I ordered the package and waited...and waited...and waited. I told myself that it wasn't a big deal because we had pictures of Hui Lan from February and really, how much could she have changed in 2 months?!? Then we got the updated pictures and I guess the answer is 'a lot!' At first I wasn't sure it was the same child, but you can tell because of her teeny tiny nose and her very distinctive mouth. I am not sure what she'll look like when she's finally in my arms.



Holy Chunky Monkey! Hard to believe she's almost 20 months younger than Coralie!

Here's a comparison collage of pictures we've received of her...



I think her eyes are a little swollen from crying in the last pictures that we received. :(

Watch this and then meet our 'One Less'

We are blessed to announce that God has once again called us to open our hearts and expand our family. This is Hui Lan...





She is 20 months old and lives in Shaanxi province. Her special need is Spina Bifida (Lipomyelomeningocele). We are working hard to bring her home.

Brady's Surgery

Since I showed embarrassing pictures of Coralie before her procedure, it's only fair to show Brady after he had the Versed. :)



Brady had P flap surgery on the 5th. He was a sore little fella for several days but we are hopeful that this will help him with his speech issues.

Bring on the Versed!

Last month, Coralie had to have surgery to clip her tongue. I wasn't as concerned about the anesthesia as I was about her reaction to them taking her from me. She is VERY, VERY, VEEERRRYYY attached to mama. They gave her Versed before the procedure and it worked like a charm. They came and took her from me and she ddn't make a peep. Although she did have a funny look on her face. The nurse said she had a look of 'I feel like I should be upset about this but for some reason I am not'. Her recovery was fast. She was back to eating like a champ a few hours later. They gave her some Tylenol with Codeine for the pain and it is my greatest hope that she NEVER need that again. Can you say MONSTER BABY?!?! Aye yi yi! She was not pleasant while taking that. By the end of the week, I had my sweet (bossy, stubborn, rotten....) girl back.

Not sure what they just gave me, but I feel pretty good....


Life is good....



Um, Mom, why can't I sit up?

Third Day Rocks!

I've always loved Third Day and the fact that they have a heart for adoption makes it even sweeter. This video is so simple yet so powerful. The best part is that my littles (especially Brady) love to sing along.

'We are the saints

We are the children

We've been redeemed

We've been forgiven

We are the sons and daughters of our God'

Proud Mama :)

This is Brady with his special toy that he picked out as a reward for not getting his card pulled for the entire month of January. That may not seem like a big deal; but to Brady it is a HUGE deal. He was getting his card pulled at least twice a week. He was not listening (not ever, according to his teacher), not following directions, not controlling his impulses and not keeping his hands to himself. We know these things are a struggle for Brady. He was diagnosed with ADHD in the fall. He's now got a little help and he's trying extra hard to behave the way he should. He WANTS to behave. I am so proud of the effort that I have seen at home and his teacher has nothing but praise for him these days. Such a little trouper!