40 new kids!

Our great God, the One who is the Father to the fatherless and who cares for the neediest ones, is doing great things in India! Please stop by http://sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com. Pray for Sarah, the 40 (!) new kids who will be joining her, and all of the staff and workers at Sarah's Covenant Homes. May God be greatly glorified!!

Wordless Wenesday (having fun with Nai Nai)

Having fun with Mandarin

Lily and Grace have been taking a wonderful Mandarin class on Sunday afternoons. The teacher is very good and also very patient. I'm so glad that we started doing this (thank you, Linda, for encouraging us along!). Grace seems to remember most things, and Lily is really enjoying learning her native language. Here they are practicing on the website at home.

Lily is doing a great job learning to recognize and write the characters, as well.

"The balloon flew away."

Zai Chien!

What fun!!

We got the absolute sweetest box of surprises in the mail today! Jennifer, over at http://ourchinastarfish.blogspot.com/ sent us a bunch of incredible treasures.

The box was filled with beading supplies, a really neat puzzle, beanie babies (which Jadon was so excited about!), a Chinese jump rope (which Lily and Adam loved), cookie cutters and fall sprinkles for the cookies, Wendy's frosty gift certificates, a book of Bible word searches, a sweet letter from Jennifer's daughter Morgan to Yana (Yana was thrilled and started to write a letter back to Morgan), and I'm sure something else that I missed. It was amazing how much fit into that box!!

But for Grace, the sweetest surprise of all was five packs of gum! All of the kids had a piece, and Grace kept saying, "Aren't I nice for sharing my gum?" We just smiled and humored her.

By the way, I DID NOT dress Grace today. The outfit was her choice. lol!

We spent the evening by the fire, working on the puzzle.
Thanks so much, Jennifer! We are so blessed by your thoughtfulness!

My virtual twins

When we brought Jadon home from China, he was 23 months old. Lily was 29 months old. To say that things were sometimes rocky between the two of them might be a bit of an understatement. On the other hand, they had some serious moments of bonding while unrolling multiple rolls of toilet paper, and emptying out all of our cupboards. And after a few months, when Jade had learned who was in charge (er...that would be Lily), they truly began to become the best of friends. They loved to play together.

And they learned to bond through all sorts of girly activities (I told you that Lily was in charge of this relationship!).
I will spare Jadon the embarassment of posting the picture of him in the green tutu that he loved to wear around the house.



As time went on, and Yana joined our family, things have become a bit more gender separated. The girls like to play with their animals and dress up (Jadon no longer joins in with his tutu!), and the boys are seriously into legos and street hockey.

Still, my two little virtual twins have a special relationship.

And now sometimes, Lily...

even follows...

Jadon.

May Your Kingdom come...

Psalm 72: The Reign of the Righteous King

May He judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thine afflicted with justice...May He vindicate the afflicted of the people, save the children of the needy...May He come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth...let all kings bow down before Him, all nations serve Him. For He will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy He will save. He will rescue their life from oppression and violence; and their blood will be precious in His sight...Let them bless Him all day long...May His name endure forever; may His name increase as long as the sun shines; and let men bless themselves by him; let all nations call Him blessed...And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

I dream of a day when God's Kingdom will break forth on the earth. I dream of a day when the Righteous King will be blessed on the earth, day and night. I dream of a day when the whole earth will be filled with His glory. I dream of a day when our beautiful, merciful King will hold all the precious, afflicted ones in His arms, and their will be no more mourning and no more tears. I dream of a day when our King's justice and His compassion will come crashing down upon this earth. I dream of a day when all nations will bow down before our Righteous King and give Him all honor and glory.

I see our Righteous, Glorious, Merciful King continually before my gaze and I beg of Him, "May Your Kingdom come quickly, Lord Jesus. May Your Kingdom come!"

Happy Birthday, wonderful friend!!

You've just got to meet Meredith! She is such an incredible woman of God, she is a true friend and she is so much fun!! She's also got two of the cutest little guys that you're ever going to see (and I am not biased at all, even if one of them is my godson). If you get a chance, go visit her blog and say "Happy Birthday!" It's on my sidebar (The Crosland Capers). For some reason, I can't cut and paste the link.

I'm looking forward to a fun day tomorrow, Meredith! Happy Birthday, my friend!!