Four months into forever...

Yesterday marked the four month anniversary of sweet Grace joining our family. Here are a few highlights of the past month.

Spending the morning dressed up as queen (compliments of the jie jie's). This included being carried around the house in this chair and being waited on by all four of her servants (uh, I mean siblings).

Grace's first time swimming. She was a little bit afraid, at first. But, eventually, she LOVED it. Good thing, because we do a lot of swimming in the summer.
Having fun with Uncle Morgan. We met with Morgan and one of Grace's orphanage buddies last week. They were finalizing their adoption in our town. I'm not posting a picture of Grace's sweet and adorable friend, because I haven't had a chance to ask their permission yet. But, I knew that Uncle Morgan wouldn't mind! Grace wouldn't even look at Morgan in China, but now she will run up to him and give him a great big hug.

Blowing bubbles is always fun!

This is Grace's newest friend, Rosie. She does all of the things that the other Rosie does. Here, she is waiting to go outside.

Waiting to come in.

And, of course, there was lots of snuggling with the original Rosie (as well as all of the other members of the family. But I'll save those pictures for another day).

We are so grateful for these four months with this precious girl!

It's amazing what you can do with some fabric, a couple of towels, a blanket, a tree, and a lot of imagination!

This has been the four big kids favorite passtime for the past few days. They've been ninjas, chiefs, queens, servants, and probably anything else that you could imagine. I just love that my kiddos enjoy playing with one another. By the way, they are all still sleeping in sleeping bags in the boy's room. Thank you, Jesus, that they are such great friends!

A Journey

The past year-and-a-half has been a journey into the realization of God's deep, abiding love and care for me. It has been a long and difficult road, because for the previous five (or so) years, I had become steeped in fear, and the desire to be approved by others. I tried to conform to other people's thoughts (or what I thought were other people's thoughts) and desires. I let go of God's heart and replaced it with the altar of self-concern and approval from others. As a result, I lost the belief that God truly cared for me. I felt abandoned and alone, when, in reality, it was I who had abandoned God.

But, this amazing God continued to love and pursue me, even when I had turned my back on Him. He offered His full heart, without restraint, because He loves to give, and give, and give, and give.

I have to tell you that this time has been one of the loneliest times of my life. God removed many of my friends from my life during this time. The road to our Lord is not always easy. Sometimes it can be very painful. But God has not left me completely to my self. In fact, it was actually due to the care of my incredible husband that I have been able to receive the love that God so desperately wanted to pour out upon me. Because of David's loving care and full-hearted trust in me, my heart was softened. David's care opened me up to the Father's care.

And though I have not shared any of this up until now, God has used each of you (my blogger friends) to ease the pain of loneliness during this season of my life. I know that God has had me very much alone during this time for a definite reason, but He has also been gracious to give me all of your encouragement and kindness over the past year.

And now, I have to tell you, that I am no longer experiencing the pain of loneliness. God is so very near, so very close. Last night, as I was praying, I felt that He was right in my bones...the very marrow!! Everything that He does is a whisper to me of His amazing kindness and care. He pours out His blessings...pours them out. They are not a trickle...but a flood. And to borrow a term from Heidi Baker, I am "wrecked" by one look from His eyes.

My circumstances have not changed. In many ways, I am still very alone...but I am not alone at all! Jesus is with me. He is with me. And He is with you. He cares for you so deeply. I pray that each of you would know His care..would know His love...would truly experience His kindness...and would be "wrecked" by one look from His eyes.

Sleepover

The four big kids (and Rosie) all wanted to sleep together in the boy's room the past couple of nights. They actually all shared a room up until about a year ago, but we decided that Adam and Yana were getting a bit old to share a room. They all miss being together, though, so they've been asking to have a "sleepover" for awhile. It went so well last night, that we let them have another sleepover tonight!

Sweet Surprise

The doorbell rang during our homeschooling this morning, and I got a sweet surprise from my thoughtful husband...

Aren't they beautiful?! I love lilies (thus, the name of our first daugher :) ). And I love this man!!! Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father, David!!

Thankful Thursday

I walked outside this afternoon and encountered these two beautiful girls, snuggling and talking together on the big swing. I am so grateful, today, for their sisterly love for one another...

Grace notes

Our little girl continues to amaze us with her sweet spirit and contagious joy! Just wanted to fill you in on some of her latest antics and activities...

One incredible thing about Grace is that she doesn't seem to get frustrated by communication. If someone doesn't understand her, she just keeps on talking until that person gets it!! She has some cute little phrases that make the rest of the family laugh. For example...

1) "Could you help you?"

2) She is convinced that the word "pink" means "the same," so she goes around showing everyone things that are "pink," even if they're both green!

3) We sometimes call Jadon, Jadey-boo. It's so cute to hear Grace call him "Jae-boo."

4) She says that "erybody pretty ones," except Baba, Jadon and Adam. They're "hasome."

5) David has a habit of giving everyone unusual nicknames. So, now Grace is "whooper." She, in turn, calls David "BaBa whooper," and tonight her doll was "MeiMei whooper."

Grace loves to bless everyone before they go to sleep. She's blessing Adam in the picture above. After blessing him, she told him that he should "Go bed now...no fussy or talky."

A couple of days ago during our family prayer time we were thanking God for things that He has given to us. She named everyone in the family "Ada, Jada, Nini (Lily), Yana, BaBa, MaMa, and Rosie." We all cheered in thankfulness that we now all belong to Grace and she belongs to us! Thank you Jesus!

The picture above, and the one below, have Grace's fave new book in them. It's a color book (and CD). She loves it and I think that she has most of the colors down now. I do think that the library will want it back some day, so I guess that I can hope that she tires of it soon.

Grace also had her first haircut. The picture below shows her cut fairly well. They didn't cut much off, but I think that it looks pretty cute!

One of the reasons that Grace needed to have her hair cut, is that she LOVES to take out her ponytails. Here she is post-pigtail. LOL!

Here's our little sweetie, praising Jesus in her sleep!

Praising Jesus, along with Grace! He is good and He continues to bless us with this incredible little girl!