Confirmation

Our consulate appointment has been confirmed for November 12. Our gotcha day should be on November 3rd. I'll post our itinerary as soon as all of our appointments, etc. are definite. We are trying to decide which day we should leave for Beijing. We are planning on visiting the Philip Hayden Foundation (LangFang Children's Village), but haven't decided how long we will be able to be there. We are so, so eager to meet our little girl! We'll be with you soon our little sweetheart!

The Glory of God

I was reading Matthew Henry's commentary on Psalm 146, and was so encouraged by these words...

"It ought not to pass without remark that the name of Jehovah is repeated here five times in five lines, to intimate that it is an almighty power (that of Jehovah) that is engaged and exerted for the relief of the oppressed, and that it is as much the glory of God to succour those that are in misery as it is to ride the heavens by His name. (see also Psalm 68)"

It is as much the glory of God to succour those that are in misery as it is to ride the heavens by His name! Isn't this amazing?! God's glory is shown in his compassion and mercy towards the needy, as much as it is when He "rides the heavens". We have such a compassionate and loving God. Glory be to the God of the heavens!

An update

It looks like we will be leaving for China on either October 28th or 29th. We will spend a couple of days at LangFang Children's village near Beijing, then it's off to Guizhou to meet our precious girl on November 3rd. We should know our definite plans on Monday and then can make flight arrangements, etc. We were hoping to be in China for Grace's 4th birthday, but are very grateful to have travel dates, none-the-less. We will definitely be sending her a cake through Red Thread China, because she is just so very tiny and needs to eat a bit!

Yesterday we got a very welcome surprise-an update on Grace! We think that she is beautiful, but we are a bit concerned because she looks very sad in her pictures. Up until this time, she has seemed very happy in her pictures. The last update that we received was from February and she had only been in the orphanage for a couple of months (she had been in foster care before that). Please pray for her spirit-that God would comfort her and give her joy during this time, until we can go to get her.

We also ask that you would pray for her health. She has not gained any weight since her last update, so we are not sure if this is a mistake or if it is really accurate. She is almost 4 years old and weighs just 26 pounds, according to the update. She also has some sort of bug bites or eczema on her legs. It looks very itchy and painful (maybe why she is not smiling!).

We know that God is with our sweet Grace and we know that these problems will probably clear up very quickly once she is home. But, it is difficult to not be able to help our precious girl, when we know that she needs our love right now. Thanks so much for your prayers.

Happy Birthday, David!

So, I think that I am being completely unbiased when I say that I married the best man ever!! :) David really is such a gift to me. I am so grateful to have married him. He is a servant of servants (modeled after Jesus!) and always has my (and others) best interest in mind. He is such a gentle and kind person. I cannot recall one time when he ever spoke angrily to me (I am sure that he has felt angry, just never acted on that feeling!).

He is also an incredible Father. He has ordered his life so that he has ample time to enjoy and teach our children. David loves the Lord with all of his heart and so desires for our children to love Him with that same passion. David spends regular time with each child, pastoring their hearts in practical ways so that they can grow and mature spiritually, physically and emotionally. He also loves to play with the kids. Even after an exhausting day, he joyfully plays soccer in the back yard or pretends he is a horse for the girls to ride on.

Happy Birthday, David. You are GREATLY loved!

TA!!!!

Our agency called to let us know that we got our Travel Approval today! Hooray! Our China facilitator is in China and is leaving for the airport in a few hours, so that may slow down our consulate request a bit (since he will be on an airplane). Please pray that our agency is able to get a hold of him before he leaves China, so that he can make our request to the consulate. It would be wonderful to know our travel dates before the weekend!

A question

I just read in the past couple of days (on two different blogs) about children with cleft lip and palate being teased/ostracized in China. Honestly, I hadn't given it a thought until I read these two blogs. I am a little concerned about Jadon in this regard (all of our children will be traveling with us to China). When we adopted Jadon, we did have some negative comments. But Jadon was only 23 months old and I don't think that he understood any of it. Now, he is 7 and although he doesn't understand Mandarin, I do think that he will be able to get the gist of what people are saying.

I am also concerned about Grace. She, too, has a repaired cleft lip and will be 4 years old soon. She will certainly understand what people are saying about her. And although she has obviously been living in China, she will not have had such a high intensity of exposure to other people.

Has anyone had experience with older children in China with special needs? I would be grateful for any suggestions that you may be able to give to me. Jadon has just now become really aware that his lip looks different than other people's. It seems like a critical time for him as far as self-image is concerned. Thanks so much for any of your thoughts/advice.

Oh my sweet Lily-girl!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful 8-year-old (tomorrow)! I love, love, love this girl!

The end of August and September are busy birthday months for us. In fact, we have 5 of our birthdays and 1 adoption day within 27 days! Jadon always feels a bit left out, as his birthday is in March, but he's beginning to realize that having a birthday all to himself might not be so bad. Grace's birthday is October 15, so she's pretty close to the other 5, but at least we will have a bit of breathing room!

I cannot believe that Lily will be 8 years old. She is a treasure to me. She is definitely my feisty, bold child and sometimes that has made things challenging. But, as she matures, I am so glad for her boldness. We are constantly blessing her for her boldness, because God is going to use this gift mightily some day (it just needs a bit of refining at the moment).

Lily is my girly-girl. She loves to sing, dance, play her violin and draw. She does all of these things with a great amount of grace. She is also very passionate. She loves to make up psalms and songs to Jesus. She also loves to write in her journal. Here is one of her recent prayers:

"be Joyful for the Lord is comig oh sing to the Lord! com with frends sing to the God of gods! Oh com! Oh oh come to the Joyous song now! we wele be Joyful! Sing to God! We Love you God! We do we realy do Lord! you our so good Lord you our yes you our Oh Lord you our so nice! You our so good! so be happy! for you our so so so Loveig for you Love us! we wile Love you more avre day! Oh you our the Lord of Lords! Kig of Kins! God of Gods! You our Jesus! You our the Son of God oh I wile Love you! Lord I will"

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Happy Birthday to our precious gift from God! The little boy who inaugurated me into motherhood turns 10 years old tomorrow! I can hardly believe it. I am so incredibly grateful for Adam. He has been a source of constant joy. He is kind, thoughtful, and thinks deeply about things. He's always got something going on in his mind and I've always enjoyed wonderful conversations with Adam (the topics ranging from synchronized diving, which he was obsessed with from the time he was 2 1/2 years old until about 5 years old, to the impossibility of an actual infinite series of events, which tells us that there must be a Creator who is uncreated).

Adam is so much like David! It is fun to watch him grow up. I can honestly say that I think that it is in large part due to Adam's adaptability and kindness that we have been able to add three more (soon four!) wonderful children to our family. I love you so much, Adam. Happy Birthday!

waiting...to be a big brother

This little cutie is so ready to be a big brother. He has been practicing on Elijah, who is 4 years old and comes over every day for school. Jadon is so sweet with Elijah and loves to help him. I keep telling Jadon what a wonderful big brother he is going to be!

Still haven't heard anything, but I can tell you that God is good all the time! And this is certainly no exception!

no news yet...

We haven't heard anything yet, but there's one thing that I know for sure--God has not forgotten Grace. She is so very precious to Him, and I praise Him that He is working on her behalf. He truly is good.

It's time to praise!

A dear brother at our church, asked about where things are at with our journey to adopt Grace. After I gave him the update, he began to immediately pray for God to move in this situation. After praying for a few minutes, he looked up and said emphatically, "It's time to start praising!" He said that he had a strong sense that God was saying that it was time to stop asking, and time to start praising Him for what He is already doing and will continue to do.

The man from our agency who will be traveling with us to China, is actually in China right now. On Tuesday he is going to the CCAA and he is going to request our Travel Approval at that time. If they give it to him, we will be able to make our consulate appointment and have our travel dates set. I am praising God, because I believe that He spoke to this dear brother and no matter what happens, God is worthy of praise! Our God has already done so much, and He is continuing to work on Grace's behalf. Praise be to God for His great love and mercy!!

Watch out!

Watch out! You never know what humiliation you might have to endure if you fall asleep in this house!

Progress

"Progress is the Law of Heaven. Higher, even higher, rise to Life and Beauty, Knowledge and Power. Higher and higher. Tomorrow be stronger, braver, more loving than you have been today." God Calling, p145

During each one of our adoption journeys, I have come to a greater understanding of significant things about myself and about God. During these past few months, I have come to realize that instead of giving up when I feel discouraged, that I can come to the King of Heaven (who is my Father!) and ask for more of His power and mercy.

Now, this may seem obvious, but I tend to be very introspective and sometimes struggle with self-doubt. When a discouraging moment comes, I often find myself tempted to despair (questioning what God has already told me or said to be true). Most of the time, this despair may only last for a day or even an evening. But, even this is not, in any way, helpful, nor is it faith. God has been so patient with me and has shown me that when I am weak, then He truly is strong. I can come to Him as my full supply and He really will meet me with His love and power.

This afternoon, I was reading in the same book that I quoted above (God Calling). Here the author (who is unknown) refers to God as "A generous Giver" and "A Kingly Giver." I love this! The King of the Universe is our supply. There is nothing that escapes His grasp or notice and He longs for us to ask for all of the things of His Kingdom. He loves to give. He loves to give. He loves to give. The King loves to give to us! He gives us His love. He gives us His power. He gives us His mercy. And He loves to do it! Oh, how grateful I am for such a King as this.

Loving our world

I am just loving this year's geography study. We started with a world overview (continents, oceans, etc.) and this week we are finishing up on the United States. We did an extensive U.S. study the year before last, so I would have just skipped this section, but we have the 3 other kids who are with us. Plus, a refresher is always good. We start on Mexico next week. I LOVE learning about different cultures. I am amazed by the creativity of our God, and simply stunned by the beauty of the people that He has created in His image.

The picture is of a border that the children made, of people from different nations. We do have a four year old who joins us each day, so some of the pink, and green children were colored by this little cutie.

Garden Produce

I love fresh garden produce. We had fun planting a garden this year. The kids planted a number of things indoors before the ground was ready outside. One of the things that they planted was sunflowers. They grew to be over 10 feet tall!

o.k., we're ready

So...we're ready to get Grace now. We got our LOA, David finished making her little bed, she's got a rocking chair, a basket of toys, a basket of books, a bunch of cute little clothes hanging in the closet (thanks to cousin Selah and little Elayne for most of these hand-me-downs) and six very enthusiastic family members waiting for her..what else could a little girl need?!

Hmmm...I guess that we do need TA and a consulate appointment. We've known for awhile that it is unlikely that we will be able to get a consulate appointment before November, but we also know that our God is all about working miracles on a regular basis. We'd love to have her by October 15th (Grace's 4th birthday).


Thank you so much to all of you who left messages after we received our LOA. I cannot tell you how encouraging it is to me that there are people who care about our little girl and who are praying for her. I have truly been blessed by your kind words!

Soon...very soon!

Our LOA came today!!!! It won't be long now until we can hold our precious little Grace in our arms. I tell you, there is a very excited crew of kids (and adults) at our house right now!

This is the first picture that we ever saw of Grace. It was on AAC's website. My mom was visiting us for Thanksgiving, at the time, and I showed her this picture. I jokingly said, "This could be your next grandchild."

Now, by the grace of God, this offhand comment is being realized! I am so grateful! Isn't she a doll?! I can't wait to kiss those sweet little cheeks.