Mom’s Blog
January 3, 2007
Oh No…..
Brad has Pneumonia, and a few of the kids have fevers. There is sickness
abounding in our house. It is what I suspected was happening. Mom is busy being
a nurse and just praying that I won’t get sick. Mia and Nate seem to be staying
healthy. We will spend the next few days resting and nursing the sick back to
health. Mom has to take a little time to get the school assignments together
for the start of school next week. I hope that we can start on time…
January 1, 2007
Returning Home
We spent most of New Years Day traveling home. It was different for mom
this year as I didn’t prepare the traditional New Year meal. Each New Year we
have a family meal that includes pork roast, black eyed peas, and stewed okra.
Believe it or not, it is one of my kids’ favorite meals. I kind of missed cooking
the dinner. We got home, unloaded the van, found some food to snack on and
collapsed in front of the TV. We weren’t feeling up to doing much else. Brad
had begun to get a hacking cough and his sinus infection didn’t seem to be
getting any better. I hope this isn’t a sign of sickness.
December 30, 2007
Can you say…Wii?
Our nieces got a Wii for Christmas. The whole
family played, played, and played some more. I think I could go for a good long
while and never miss it. I have to admit
that I did have a good time playing several of the sports games. My favorite
was the bowling game with the tennis game coming in a close second. We had a
great time competing against my SIL and her hubby. The thing about it was that it was all that
anyone wanted to do. We would try to divert attention and shut the game off for
a while; however, two seconds later someone else was turning it back on. My
boys went into computer game overload.
Don’t
get me wrong, we had a great time at Uncle Rick and Aunt Tracey’s house. We got
there in time to celebrate all of Christmas Eve Day and stayed until New Year’s
Day. We opened presents on Christmas eve…exchanging
gifts from family members. There are 11 grandkids, grandma & grandpa,
Brad’s 2 sisters & spouses, and Brad & I in the family (Did you count
us….19people?). It is noisy, chaotic and tons of fun!!! All of the kids just
dug into their presents in spite of us trying to organize (thinking we might
enjoy seeing others open their presents, ha ha). I
think that it all was very overwhelming for Mandy. This was her first time to
meet all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. In addition, it was her very first
Christmas ever. She kept saying, ”nothing like this in
Brad’s
sister and hubby (from
Our
family was able to stay a few extra days. We got to enjoy spending time with
the “cousins”. We went out to eat a few times, played games, and talked lots.
We were able to play Wii games until we saw in the
New Year. Aunt Tracey had lots of fun snacks, and we were blessed to share the
turn of a new year with our family. God is so Good!
December 26, 2007
Happy Birthday, Nolan!!
Where has the 11 years gone! When he
was a baby, people would tell me, “Don’t blink. He will be grown before you
know it.” I tried not to “blink”, but somehow it just didn’t work. All of my babies are growing so much faster
than I care for them to. Nolan is growing into a very handsome young man. He is
maturing socially, emotionally, and spiritually. I love to watch the young man
he is becoming and to see God at work in his life. Nolan is a terrific Big
Brother. He is very understanding and compassionate toward his siblings. He is
very passionate about life and sometimes quick to anger. He has been working on
re-channeling this anger and using his passion for good. He spends lots of time
with his younger siblings and watches out for them. He is always ready to help
them and teach them new things. He is very active at church and enjoys
socializing with all of his friends. He encourages others and never hesitates
to tell others about Jesus. We have been given the privilege of parenting this
terrific young man. We pray that God will continue to work in his heart and
that He will help guide us in parenting as Nolan gets older.
Happy Birthday, my sweet Nolan!!!
December 8, 2007
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….
The Christmas season is well under way at our house. We got the trees up,
and after making a huge mess of the house we got both the
We have remained busy with many Christmas related activities in addition
to our homeschool. Our church puts on a dinner
theater every year at the beginning of December. Brad volunteered as the set
crew, and all of the kids and I have done little things to help. We were no
where near as busy as daddy, but we enjoyed helping out a bit to pass the time.
The Dinner theater is scheduled for this weekend, and Brad and the kids went to
“popcorn” night where the crew presents the play to our church (mom opted for a
little down time and some rest). Opening night was last night, and the play
continues tonight and Sunday as well. We pray that it was a success and that
the message of the play will touch many hearts.
We
were able to spend last Sunday with my sister and her family. Since we are
going to Brad’s family for Christmas, we wanted the kids to celebrate with
their cousins. We met for lunch and then
took the kids to a park. A cold front was blowing in, and the weather turned on
us. We all were much to cold to stay outdoors, so we went to Mcdonald’s playland. The kids
played, the grownups visited, we had a snack, and we exchanged gifts. Mandy has
embraced the idea of gift giving and “receiving”. She loved picking out the
presents for her cousins especially her 7 year cousin (and partner in crimeJ). It is so much fun to watch the way the girls have formed a fast
friendship and the joy they get from spending time with each other. As for Aunt
Kim, she is quite taken with all of her nieces and nephews. Children are such
blessings and bring such joy. Although it
was nothing fancy, we all enjoyed our time together.
December 6, 2007
Singing, Dancing, and Fans….
One
of the joys of home school is that we can school at any time. It always
astonishes me how God provides just the right thing to emphasize a lesson or to
coordinate with something we are studying. This year in our curriculum (I think
I might have mentioned in a previous post) we are studying about world history
and geography. Our study of
The Henan
Song and Dance Troupe performed. The troupe was established in 1957 and
originated in
I
felt as if I was at a tennis match… I couldn’t decide which I liked watching
more…the kids reactions or the performers. All of the kids loved it, and the
amazing thing is that our studies for Wed. and Thurs. were on the Arts in
I hope that in time some of her native
language will return to her after she has become more proficient in English. I
promised her that she could study Chinese… (we may
have to rely on Rosetta Stone studies)and then she can continue her studies in
college.
Mia
loved the dancers and was very enthralled with the costumes. Her favorite dance
was the “Fan Dance”. They danced with these beautiful silk fans. She kept
asking,” I want one momma…I want one”.
She had to ask her daddy, and of
course, he had to grant his princess her wish. She loved to carry it around and
still tries to dance with it. One thing I noticed is the way each of the girls
responded to the music.
They both seemed to gain a sense of
comfort from hearing the music. Mia doesn’t have much of a recollection of her
life in
We
had a terrific evening …
November 26, 2007
All the kiddos continue to grow and make me so proud. I continue to stand
in awe of the young men and women that God is creating.
I wanted to share some of the changes
that we have noticed in Mandy.
1) She is learning English at such a rapid rate. She loves to learn as
many vocabulary words as she can and loves to read. She picked her favorite TV
show the first time she watched American TV…Hannah Montana. A little bit of her
studies in English has to be credited to Hannah… aka
. Miley J.
2) She is beginning to fit in with her brothers and sister. She has
arguments and fights with the best of them. The older boys sometimes find it
challenging to deal with another “pesky” little sister. The kids are beginning
to play together and the fights are less frequent.
3) Her taste are definitely changing. She loves tacos, Noodles and sauce
(known by the rest of us as Spaghetti and meat sauce), eggs, most fruits, some
of the veggies, milk, yogurt, and pizza. Yes I said pizza (at least meat
lovers). She is beginning to like some kinds of cheese.
Miss Mia has decided to finally get serious about Potty training. She
finally became interested and has worked hard all week to “stay dry”. She is so
excited because she can start wearing “big girl” panties. Mommy is celebrating
and slightly sad at the same time. We have finally reached the end of buying
and changing diapers.
November 25, 2007
Happy
Thanksgiving
Just a few of the many things I am thankful for:
1) God’s love for me
2) My wonderful Husband of 13 years
3) Nolan, Garrett, Mandy, Nate, and Mia
4) Good health
5) Terrific friends
6) My family
7) A house to live in and food on my table
We spent a terrific week with my family. We
made a trip to
On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, we
got a special treat. My aunt has 3 great big picture windows in her kitchen
(like having 3 big screen TV’s). They look out into her backyard which is so
beautiful and looks as if you have stepped into a beautiful park. Her backyard
backs up to a creek and there are tons of trees and lots of nature. My aunt and
grandpa keep lots of bird feed, corn and feed for the many little critters
around (Keep in mind that they do live in a housing addition in the suburbs of
Most of the morning was devoted to cooking tons of food. We had the
traditional turkey and dressing, and many other favorite dishes. We ate and ate
and ate some more. .We did do other things that weekend besides eating
(although it didn’t seem like it). We had lots of fun family time and lots of
visiting with family. We made a trip to visit a fun place. It was a historical
site that showed pioneer history. The kids had fun exploring the cabins and
areas surrounding them. We saw blacksmith’s shops, pioneer toys, a gristmill,
and an old church. A gentlemen that lived in the area
(and was a volunteer) shared the history of toys and pioneer life with the
kids. In warmer weather, they have several artisans who share their skills with
the visitors. We enjoyed our time there but decided we would come back for a
better look sometime when it is warm. The kids had fun just playing outdoors,
and we all love our visits to see our Papa and Nana Mary.
October 23, 2007
The past few weeks have been extremely busy for our family. We continue
to make progress with school. I have chosen to slow our pace to help us adjust
our schedules. We are beginning to settle into a routine and are seeing some
successes. The boys are enjoying their curriculum and are learning about
several other world cultures. I am learning almost as much as the kids. Nate
and Mandy are learning all of the alphabet letters, lots of sight words, and
new math skills. Mandy is learning more and more English everyday. She has been
doing well, but we have had a few rough spots. We all seem to be settling in
and adjusting to each other, but this has required patience and a lot of hard
work on all of our parts. Our little girl continues to amaze me in the way that
she meets life’s challenges. She can be a bit over zealous at times and like
most seven year olds likes to be “bossy’. She is learning that there are many
differences between the
We
took time out to have a fun family weekend. We went camping with most of my family
on the second weekend of October. We had a good time and were able to relax a
little. It was fun sharing the weekend with family. Mandy loves to be with my
nieces. She and the girls played all weekend. All the kids stayed busy with
fishing, riding bikes and exploring. They had fun visiting with their aunts,
uncles, cousins, and most of all their Nana.
We had the added treat of a visit from grandma and Aunt “Nora” (as Mia
calls her). Brad’s mom and Aunt drove 2 hours from their home to visit with us,
and the kids enjoyed some playtime with their grandma. My terrific husband took over the set up of
our camp, and most of the camp duties for the entire weekend. He cooked most of
the meals and cleaned all the dishes. I got to just relax and visit with my mom
and sisters. I must admit that I like to camp but find it to be a lot of hard
work, and I don’t enjoy it enough to overcome the amount of work it takes. I
can’t claim that I had to work hard this weekend at all, and it felt like a
mini vacation for me.
My
mom came back with us to care for the boys and Mia while we took Mandy for a
doctor’s appointment. We had a 4 hour drive and Mandy slept most of the way.
She was a little nervous about all that was going on. She wouldn’t admit it;
however, we saw her become fidgety, clingy, and easily frustrated by simple
task. We could tell she wasn’t concentrating and had a hard time with even the
simplest English (she has picked up on several words already). I think she had
a hard time understanding that it was only a consultation that day. We learned
a lot of information and scheduled one of a series of surgeries she will have
to undergo. After some hand signs and pictures, we were able to show Mandy the
steps to her surgery. She still doesn’t understand it all and has no concept of
the time line, but she was able to relax a little more knowing what was going
on. Hopefully, the surgery won’t be to stressful for her. She didn’t have much
fun on the return trip and was whiny most of the way home. I think she decided
that long car trips aren’t nearly as much fun without her brothers and sisters
along. We showed her a clock and told
her when we would approximately be there. It helped when she was able to look
for the time on her own. I am so
thankful for my mom’s help these past few days. She watched the kids, did a ton
of laundry, and fixed dinner for us. I felt slightly guilty at first, but I
sure needed her help as I was on overload.
Even as old as I am, it is still nice to have your mom’s help once in a
while.
This
past weekend, we celebrated Nate’s sixth birthday. We took him to dinner on his
actual birthday. He got to pick the place. Believe it or not, he picked Red
Lobster. He loves crab legs, and eats them as fast as they are shelled. He ate
his fair share and then some. His birthday party was on Sunday. He requested a
Finding Nemo party. We turned our living room into an
ocean teaming with fish, sea horses, whales, and SHARKS! The kids had a great
time making fish, searching for sea shells, breaking a piñata, and eating
chocolate cake and ice cream. Nate loved having his friends there! We spent the
rest of the day cleaning up and enjoying family time.
Next
week brings more school, more doctor’s appointments, and lots of activities to
keep us busy. Our little town is showing the signs of Autumn. The leaves are
changing colors and the weather is turning cooler and crisper. Fall time
activities have been underway, and the kids are looking forward to “dress –up”
fun on Halloween. We are planning to visit a Fall Festival/Carnival, and we are
taking the kids to Boo at the Zoo. We are going to carve a pumpkin, eat some
pumpkin seeds, bake some pumpkin goodies, make some fall crafts, and enjoy the
fun times of this beautiful season. We look forward to sharing this fun time
with Mandy for the first time. She is excited, but she doesn’t quite understand
it all. I am truly blessed to be a
mother of five. My children bring so much joy to me everyday, and I wouldn’t
trade even one “hectic” moment for anything in the world.
Until next time……
October 19, 2007
Happy
Birthday, Nathaniel (aka. Hurricane Nate)!! I can hardly believe that my “baby” boy is six years old already. He is
growing taller by the day or so it seems. He started Kindergarten this year,
and he seems so “grown-up”. Nate is such a joy to be around. He is usually very
quiet except when he is hungry (then we have meltdowns) and when he wants to be
alone but is being pestered by his siblings (let’s just say he lets them know
he wants to be alone). Generally, he loves to play, and he doesn’t mind playing
with his sisters. He (of all the boys) has grown the closest to both girls. He
will play almost anything they desire from dress-up to tea parties to Animal
Safari. He does, however, like to have his alone time. He has never had any
trouble playing by himself and can stay entertained for hours playing with his
stuffed animals. Nate is still an animal
lover. His very favorite is dogs, dogs, dogs, and around our house we call him the
“dog whisperer”. I suspect that Nate will be a veterinarian when he grows up.
His love for animals only seems to be growing and expanding. He now has an
interest in all of the wild animals, and he loves for us to make frequent trips
to the zoo.
His
other nickname (Hurricane Nate) originated when he was 3…. He was into
everything and could make a mess faster than a hurricane. Praise the Lord he has grown out of that
stage for the most part. He is so very sweet and loving. He still loves to
cuddle and hug (of course Mom doesn’t mind this at all). He surprises me all
the time with his enthusiasm for learning, and he continues to excel in his
academic skills. He has a wonderful imagination and can tell some terrifically,
elaborate stories. We have so much fun with our sweet little boy. I am so proud
of the young man he is becoming.
September 24, 2007
What a month this has been! We have been working hard at school and just
enjoying the time we get to spend together. This month has been full of doctor’s
appointments, dentist appointments and all the busy details of life. We have been trying to stay on task and stay
on target for the school year. The older boys have a very intense curriculum
this year. It requires lots of time, and there are a lot of areas where mom is
needed for instruction. The little ones are trying to learn to read (Mandy is
trying to learn to read in English). Mandy is definitely a mathematician. She
loves working with numbers, and mom strives to keep up with her desire to learn.
I am trying to juggle all the schedules, so that each of the kids can have a
little one on one instruction time with mom.
I am still not comfortable with the scheduling, but it gets better each
week.
Sometimes
I get the feeling that Mandy is very “displeased” with her mother’s
housekeeping and teaching skills. She
tends to be a very orderly and organized child. I have always prided myself on
my organizational skills until I started home schooling. I love teaching, and
teaching my own children is icing on the cake; however, it requires a lot of my
time and energy. This is then reflected in my housekeeping skills. I manage to
keep food on the table, dishes done, laundry clean (but often not folded).
Mandy finds this very disturbing and much too chaotic for her
obsessive-compulsive personality. I suspect that some of her personality traits
come from cultural differences and a misunderstanding of the way things are
done in the two different countries. Last week this “frustration” was at an all
time high. It seems as if both Mandy and I went into overload. She wanted to do
school the way she was used to I guess and refused to do the assignments I had
planned for her. She is extremely happy if you give her workbooks to copy or
tons of worksheets (especially Math) to work. This is all she wants to do…just
sit and do copy work and worksheets. I am trained as a developmental early
childhood teacher. I want her to do lots of learning play and hands on
activities. In addition to this she has to learn English and how to read in
English. It requires some back tracking for her, but it is all necessary to
move forward. I don’t suspect that it will take her long, but in the meantime
she has to be cooperative. So, we had many struggles and test of wills last
week. I am trying to mix some of the ways that she is used to with all the
other activities. She is very fast at her school work, and this mom is having
difficulty keeping her occupied. Things will improve as she learns English and
as she learns to play. As far as the housekeeping is concerned, she will just
have to learn that mom will never be a “perfect” housekeeper. The house is
usually in tip top order over the summer, and then it falls apart.
September 11, 2007
It’s All Good!
Those words seem to be coming up a lot. They just about summarize life
in our household right now. I know that those words are a reference to a
positive state of mind as well. My goal for myself is to continue to look at
life as just that….It’s all good! It seems as if we have been busier than ever,
but we are seeing God’s hand on our lives and following His lead. There have
been so many things that have happened over the past few weeks that I don’t
know where to begin. I will try not to bore anyone with too many details but will
share several of the highlights.
On Labor Day weekend, we had the pleasure
of hosting a gathering for our 2006 Adoption Travel buddies. We were blessed
with a “surprise” visit from another adoptive family (that we have grown close
to over the past two years). It was a nice chance to visit with them and to
share in the camaraderie of all. We have sincerely formed a “family “(one of
the many blessings that God had in store for us when we followed His Call to
adopt). Along with the “adoption” clan,
we had the pleasure of a visit from my family. My sister, Mary and her husband
Michael along with the kids drove up to share the weekend with us. My mom and
oldest brother joined in the fun too! We
used this opportunity to “celebrate” Mia’s birthday. She turned 3 in August and
was really very excited about all the fun!
We had 23 kids and lots of adults (I started losing count of just how
many people that were really there) in attendance. I get such joy out of
watching all of the wonderful blessings that God has brought into all of our
lives over the past 2 years. We had such a great time all weekend, and we just
love having guests. I love cooking and hosting parties, so I enjoy having large
crowds and visitors. I think I maybe get a little of that from my mom. I
remember growing up that our house was always full of people and lots of kids.
I heard many stories of my great grandmother and her “hosting” skills with a
house open all the time to visitors and the hungry. I think a little of that
has rubbed off on me and …. Oh What Fun!!
Our
fun time turned a bit sad. We were notified of the death of a friend on Monday
morning. As my brothers, sisters, and I were growing up, my family was always surrounded by loving
people that held special places in our lives .
My mom’s best friend, her husband and daughters are just that to us. We
called them Aunt and Uncle, and we were all part of a big family. Uncle Curly
went home to be with the Lord on Sunday night. He was 76, and his death was a
shock. We ask prayers for his widow (Aunt Leta), his
daughters and their families. We will all miss his loving ways and kindness,
but we take comfort in knowing that we will see him again in heaven someday. We
traveled to
School
“officially” began yesterday. Mom was feeling a bit disorganized in spite of
all my careful planning and the delays in starting. It is our 5th
year of homeschooling, and I am still feeling a bit
discouraged with my time management skills. I am still working out the details
and kinks in our schedule. It will take several trials and errors before I
learn how to divide my time four ways. It was crazy, crazy, crazy in school
yesterday! I had 4 kids needing my help
all at once…. Can anyone help mom? ...Help!!!
We reworked a little of the schedule
and things seemed to flow smoother today. So, I anticipate that as we progress
and reorganize things will get much better.
I still love teaching and to teach my own children is such a blessing. I
get to see them grow, learn, and mature in their walk with the Lord. That is so
very rewarding to me! The kids seem to
take it all in stride, and once again they like the curriculum and the
challenges it gives them. This year we will be studying about some ancient
history and different people groups, countries, and cultures. The exciting
thins is that we will spend 6 weeks studying about
Update on Mandy:
I stand amazed at God’s work in this little girl. She is adjusting so
well. Boy, oh, boy were prayers ever
answered. She doesn’t just walk through this world. She takes it by STORM!! She
is more than willing to try out all things new. She has wanted to do everything
she can and then some. She is so easy going about things that it is hard to
believe that she hasn’t been doing these things all of her life. She loves
shopping and makes her way around a mall as if she had always shopped in this
way. Recently, at a mall the kids saw a carousel and wanted to ride. We allowed
them a ride, and Brad went with them in case Mandy needed help. She climbed up
on the horse and sat as if she had ridden a horse before. She beamed as the
carousel began to turn and the horse began to move. Each go around brought a
brilliant smile and a wave for momma. There was never any hesitation or fear.
She has been very restless and excited about
starting school. She cannot learn fast enough. She wants to know every English
word and to be reading like momma does to her.
Momma got a little “attitude’ today when I wouldn’t let her do just any
school work. She doesn’t like to have to slow down (and take a few steps back)
to learn to read and speak English better. I am having a hard time keeping up,
and she breezes through the work I give her. She is progressing so rapidly in
her English and we have a fun time teaching her…or maybe she is teaching us. I
must admit that I am not as good a student as she. Each evening she patiently
goes through labeling everything in Mandarin and then in English. She will say
and ask ….” In
More later….
August 16, 2007
We are home!! It is so good to be
home and loving our kids. We arrived home after a very long day in the air…somewhere
around 25 hours and 3 flights. The first flight was uneventful as well as the
second (except that it was one long flight and I never sleep much on the
plane). When we landed in
We
were so exhausted, but we were still on China Time. We were awake for awhile
longer and spent the time showing Mandy her new home, her new room, and all of
her things. It was so fun to watch her explore. She had to ask again about her
brothers. After a fairly restful night’s sleep, she and Mia were up early
asking about “brothers?” again. We gave up on getting them back to bed and
decided to go for breakfast at IHOP instead. Not many people are up for
breakfast at 4AM. We managed to put in a few more hours of sleep on Saturday
morning before the long awaited arrival of the “brothers”. It is a toss up as
to who was more excited Mandy, Mia, or the boys. All of the kids were fast
friends before the hour was over. Mandy had fun getting to know grandma and
grandpa. She wants to meet all of her family…nana, her aunts and uncles and all
the cousins. We look at pictures everyday, and she is trying to learn names and
family placement. It can be a bit confusing!
We
are settling in and slowly getting over jet lag. The girls and Brad seem to be
recovering a bit faster than mom. Mandy is doing so well, and she continues to
amaze us at how quickly she is picking up on things. She has already added
several more words to her vocabulary since we have arrived home. She is going
to be a very quick student and quite a challenge for mom to teach. I have been
working on unpacking the suitcases, laundry, and ordering our curriculum for
the school year. School started today for our local school district. It looks
as if we will drag behind a bit with our start date being September 4th.
A portion of the curriculum arrived today. It is so exciting to go through the
packages… a bit like Christmas!
The
next week or so I will be busy doing the preparation for the school year and
reorganizing (and of course recovering from the trip). We are looking forward
to celebrating Mia’s birthday and having a reunion with our “extended family” (aka. our 2006 travel buddies). Stay tuned for the exciting
life (or maybe not so exciting…. But never a dull moment) of our terrific
family of 7…..
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
July 25, 2007
We are busy little beavers around our house. Final preparations are being
made and we are packing like crazy. Tomorrow, we will take the boys and meet up
with their aunt. They will be staying with her (with some help from Grandma and
Grandpa) while we are in
Thank you all for your prayers and
support. We ask for your continued prayers for many things:
1) For ease and safety of travel
2) For Mia, that she will not have a hard time while we travel and while she
is missing her “budders”
3) For Mandy and all the changes that will transpire in her life over the
next week.
4) For our strong, courageous boys that we must leave in the states and for
their caretakers
5) And that we can glorify God throughout this journey to get our daughter
Next post
will be from
July 19, 2007
We received word today that our CA appointment is August 7th.
We will leave the states on Friday July 27th and return home on
Friday August10th. We are thrilled to know that we are that much closer to
bringing our Mandy home. We would love to have you follow our journey …check
out the travel section of this website
July 18, 2007
What a
difference a day can make! We received word today
that our travel approval (TA) is here. Sing Praise! Sing Praise!
We are awaiting CA (consulate appointment)
and then will have all the travel details. We had an added surprise today. We
received an email from the coordinator of Foster Care of the Guilin Social Welfare Institiute. She had pictures of Mandy. These were the
first updated pictures we have gotten of our girl. She is just beautiful! We
are thrilled to receive these and are thankful for the programs that allow her
to stay in Foster Care. We know that she is being taken care of well.
Please join us in prayer as we pray for
Mandy and the transitions that she will have to make, pray for our travel
arrangements and safety as we travel.
Stay tuned….
July 17, 2007
Another week down and we still have no TA. We aren’t sure what is holding
it up, but we are relying on God’s timing.
We know that He knows all the details and knows the right timing for us.
That said, it doesn’t get any easier!
Each day we awaken to check our email and pray that “the call” will come
from our agency to tell us we can finally go to get our daughter. I have tried not to keep a countdown until
now. I went back and calculated from the beginning of this adoption journey and
here are the numbers: We started with this adoption at the end of November
2006. We saw Mandy’s picture at the first of January. We knew that we had been
selected as her family on Feb. 1, 2007. That means that we have been in the
adoption process for 8 months. We saw Mandy’s picture the first time a little
over 7 months ago. We were DTC on March 26, 2007. It was 75 days from that DTC
date until we received the Letter Seeking Confirmation/Acceptance (known as the
LOA). Our LOA arrived on June 8, 2007.
That makes it 39 days from LOA until
now. I type all of this just to explain that it is a journey of waiting and
trusting in the Lord. Adoption is
not for the faint of heart, and I cannot imagine what it would be like if I
didn’t have the Lord in my life. I turn
to him each day to sustain me and give me the strength I need to face each task
that He puts before me.
In the meantime as we wait we fill
our days with as many activities and diversions as possible. My birthday is in
July and my sisters both have birthdays in July as well. So last Friday we made
a trip to meet with family. We traveled half way and they traveled half way. We
enjoyed lunch together and took the kids to a nearby park to enjoy family time
together. It was kind of a crazy thing to travel 3 hours each direction, but it
was great fun! We loved the time that we got to spend with family! I loved
watching my kids and my nieces and nephews playing together. All the kids are
growing so quickly. Sometimes I wish they could stay little forever. Upon
returning home that evening, we went to a friend’s house for a birthday party
there. The kids got to swim, and we had fun chatting with old friends.
Saturday
we celebrated my birthday again but low key this time. We grilled hamburgers
and hot dogs. Then we had cake and ice cream (something I requested but
probably could and should have done without).
It was very yummy! The kids played
in the kiddie pool and sprinkler. It was a very
relaxed and fun day.
We
have made great progress on cleaning and organizing the house. There are still
several things to keep us busy but nothing urgent that has to be accomplished
before we can travel. Since we live in an “antique” house, there will always be
many projects, repairs, and general upkeep. At this point, that is something to
be thankful for because it keeps our hands and mind busy as we wait.
Today
the kids and I went with friends to the zoo. We so enjoyed being outside and
the zoo is one of our favorite places to visit. We started with a picnic lunch
and a little time on the playground. From the playground we made our way into
the zoo. We were all set for a fun filled day.
We fed the giraffes (such a neat experience) and saw the three new
babies that were born this past year. This week the zoo was celebrating the 1st
birthday of a baby elephant. Each day this week they have events that center
around the elephants. Today they had a fruit smash. It was so cool to watch.
Each elephant got a cantaloupe, some other melon (I didn’t recognize what
kind), and a watermelon. They swallowed the cantaloupes whole, and the other
melon quickly followed. Then the watermelons came next. I think that the elephants
liked watermelon the best. The baby was even given one, but preferred to sample
from the ones the big elephants smashed or squeezed whole with their trunks.
Fun! Fun! Fun! We saw many other animals, rode the train, and played in the
water. It was a perfect way to fill our
day.
Well,
please continue to pray for us as we endure this wait. Please pray for Mandy,
her health, her foster family, and for the changes about to occur in her life.
Most of all pray that God is glorified in all the steps we take throughout our
adoption journey.
Stay tuned….
July 7, 2007
Will this be the
week we get our TA?
Well as you have probably guessed by
the title, we are still waiting for our travel approval so that we may go get
Mandy. We were so excited and thought
that we would be traveling soon, but our plans were not God’s plans. Our
adoption agency contacted the CCAA (
Last week brought us some good news as
well. We belong to the internet group established for parents who adopt or have
adopted from the Social Welfare Institute where Mandy originally lived (she is
in foster care at this time). As we were browsing through the post, we came across
one that said “translated letter”. Apparently another mom had received a letter
from her child after sending a care package to the orphanage. When she had this
letter translated it told of the girl’s excitement at finding out she had a
forever family. She exclaimed, “You mean I get a family like Dan Na!” This
mother was inquiring about Dan Na’s family on the forum. Apparently Dan Na is
very good friends with this little girl. We are thrilled to know that the girls
can now stay in contact when they both join their families, and now we know
that our daughter is excited and sharing that she has a forever family with her
friends and class mates. It just makes our hearts leap for joy to know that she
is excited to have a family! That is
such good news, but it makes it that much harder to wait. We want our daughter
home with us soon!
In addition to learning of Mandy’s
excitement, another mom (from the same group) sent us some photos. Her daughter
had pointed out Dan Na in the photos. They weren’t updated photos but they are
treasured all the same. We do not have very many photos of our Mandy and even a
few will help us in putting together a life book for her. It is amazing to get
even just little glimpses into your child’s life.
God is good, and His timing is perfect.
Please join us in prayer as we continue to wait. We are praying that Mandy’s
heart is being prepared for us and for all the changes that will soon occur in
her life. We are praying for our family that we will continue to be at peace
and rely on God. We know that He is in control and taking care of every detail
(even the littlest one).
Please join us as we pray for our
friends/travel group (2 of the 3 families) who are in
Nolan takes off for church camp this
week. We pray for his safety and that he has a good time. The other kiddos and
I are planning a few fun things and a few not so fun. We have to continue
packing and preparing for travel. Since we do not have a specific date, I am
trying to do a few things each day and then enjoy fun times with my hubby and
kids. Summer isn’t slowing down any more than the school year. Imagine that!
July 4, 2007
Happy 4th
of July! Let me see if I can put into words what
it means to me to be a citizen of the
We had a good time today as we celebrated. We went shopping. Brad and
the kiddos bought mommy some new outfits as an early birthday present. After
shopping, they treated mommy to an early dinner at The Olive Garden (one of my
favorite restaurants). We had an early birthday celebration as we don’t have
specific travel dates and are unsure about when we will leave for
The city fireworks show was late in
getting started and the kids were tired. We enjoyed seeing the show, but we
were ready to go home. We had a bedtime snack of homemade ice cream (the kids
were almost too tired to eat it). Then it was off to bed … The only thing that
could have made it better would have been to have shared it with family and
friends!
June 24, 2007
This month has gone by very quickly.
We have been working on the house, and it is actually taking shape. Don’t get
me wrong there is still a ton of stuff to do, but we can actually see light at
the end of the tunnel. We have successfully moved the school room and Brad’s
office (we actually traded spaces) and we are organizing and cleaning up the
areas now. We will be ready to start school on time in August. We have been
dividing our time amongst many things. The house has been a top priority and
then baseball. We finish our last game tomorrow night…Hip, hip, hooray
!!!! Mom (for one) is glad we are done.
It has been a very challenging season with 3 boys playing and with Brad being a
manager and a member of the Little League board. This whole season has been plagued with rain
(we are practically floating here), and that has made the season seem longer
than it was in reality. We have been
preparing and gathering and beginning to pack for travel to get Mandy. The kids
are getting excited about her coming home. I hadn’t realized how excited and
how much they were looking forward to her homecoming until I overheard
conversations between them. Nate is truly surprising me. He asks me from time
to time if it is time for her to come home. One night a few weeks ago, we were
leaving at the end of the ball games and traveling to
It will be a mad dash to get CA
appointment (with the
Please pray that:
1) That we get TA this week, preferably tomorrow (Monday)
2) Mandy and all of us here remain healthy.
3) That Mandy continues to be receptive to adoption (Did I tell you that our
friends took her a gift and checked on a care package we had sent? They were able
to talk with a director of the orphanage. He said that she had gotten the
package, and that she knew she was getting a family. She just didn’t know when
.)
4) That Mandy will have an adventurous spirit and that she will make
transitions with her new family
5) That God will fill her heart with peace and love and joy
6) That we will have all the funds necessary to make the appropriate travel
arrangements
7) That God will grant us safe travel
8) That the boys will be well cared for and have a great time with Nana
9) That Nana isn’t worn out by three very rowdy boys
10)
For Mandy’s Foster parents and sister
Where oh
where is that TA? ....
June 10, 2007
Well the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and excitement
at our house. Let’s see…where to begin…
We spent Friday June 1st and
Saturday June 2nd preparing for and hosting a benefit Pancake
Breakfast for our travel funds for our Trip to pick up Mandy. The kids got into
helping and set up tables, worked on decorations and had a great time. Saturday
morning they all awakened cheerfully (much to our surprise) to help with the
Pancake breakfast. We had youth volunteers, friends and family all helping.
Garrett was such a helper. He worked very hard that day. All the kids were a
great help, but I saw Garrett shine as a helper and leader. He organized all
the younger kids, and they all worked well together cleaning off tables,
cleaning dishes, keeping the dishwasher going, filling empty trays, and
generally keeping things running. Nolan and Nate enjoyed helping with the decorations,
and they helped the youth advertise. They contributed some to helping with any
and all chores. My children continue to amaze me with their loving and caring
hearts. For the past several months, I have watched them prepare for Mandy’s
arrival. They have taken great joy in helping us gather funds for bringing her
home. Each Sunday after they receive their allowance, I watch as they divide
their monies. They give a portion to the church, put a portion in their savings
and always save a portion to add to the Mandy fund. Our church has set up a
small table with Mandy’s picture and a donation jar. Every Sunday, I stand
watching as they unselfishly add to that jar from their money. All I can say is
wow… I am a very blessed momma! The
breakfast was a lot of work, but it was successful. We are so grateful to a
family at our church for donating biscuits, sausage, and gravy. We had a great
selection of food and with their donations our costs were minimal. All the
proceeds will go to travel expenses.
More
than just giving money, the children
pray for Mandy everyday. We are all very aware that she is not home yet, and we
all pray for her daily. I have to share a wonderful story. Last week as we were
returning from the boys baseball games, Mia really touched my heart. Brad and
the boys were driving separately, and Mia and I were returning home in our van.
As we are driving, I hear from the back seat….”Momma, PRAY!! Momma, PRAY!! Momma, PRAY NOW!!! “yes, Mia “, “MOMMA, PRAY NOW MANDY!!! She was very urgently asking me to pray for
Mandy. So we prayed for the remainder of our trip home. She seemed happy with
this and went about her business. Then again at bedtime….”PRAY MOMMA, PRAY
MANDY, PRAY MANDY NOW!!!” We prayed for Mandy together. Needless to say, this momma
prayed before her own bedtime. I still don’t know what God put on Mia’s heart
or why she had the urgency to pray, but I prayed all the same that Mandy
remains well, that God is preparing her heart, and that we will go to get her soon.It has assured me that God is working on the sister
bond between our sweet girls.
As
of last week, we have a new addition to our growing family. The boys were all
outside playing, and Brad had gone outside to check on them. He came into the
house specifically to tell me not to go outside…”whatever you do, DO NOT come
outside.” Of course with that statement, I had to go outside. I look out in our
backyard near the alley and what do I see… 3 little boys (4 if you count my
hubby), 1 little girl, and the most adorable puppy you can imagine. Why, oh why, did it have to be a golden Lab?
Brad and I both love Labs, and we have always wanted a Golden. He has the sweetest temperament. We wouldn’t
let the boys name him for a week. We contacted the vets office, ask around the
neighborhood, and ask at the ballpark. No one claimed him. Some neighbors
claimed that they had found (what they thought to be) the momma dog. She had
been killed by a car on the busy street near our house. He was wandering the
neighborhood. So… We have a new puppy. He has been very good. We still have a
few issues with “potty” training, but he is picking up on it. He barks very
little except when he is hungry and then you know it! He plays well with Cleo,
and with the kids. Cleo is so happy to have a playmate, and it is such fun to
look out in the backyard and see all the kiddos and the dogs having a great
time playing together. Nate is in canine bliss…. (everyone know how much he
LOVES dogs). I will have to try to get
pictures of a boy and his dog(s). It is like a Norman Rockwell painting when he
has his “buddies” with him.
I
am now the proud driver of a “BUS”. We
didn’t set out to buy a new (or used as the case is here) car. It was our plan
to drive the wheels off of “ol’ Bessie” (our name for
the minivan). One day we were killing some time and decided to check out large
size vans. We were just checking out statistics, prices, and dreaming of a
future time. We pulled up into a Chevy dealership and saw a large size van
sitting on the used lot. It was already priced to move (and it was a good
deal). We drove off that day without the van, but it kept coming back in our
conversations. We decided to drive it to
see if it was something I would like to drive. Surprisingly, it drove well. The
kids loved it, and there is lots of room. We left without purchasing it, but it
was weighing on our mind. We discussed options and the fact that the minivan
was older with lots of mileage. We discussed that our family would be crowded
in the mini van. We discussed the cost… you know the routine. When a deal was
made that was impossible to pass up, we felt we were better off getting the van
now. We pray that it was a wise choice.
It is a blessing to have all that room. I just have to get used to
driving a “huge” van.
Finally,
we ended this week with terrific news! Our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) came in
Friday morning. This doesn’t mean we are traveling just yet, but we are very
close. This letter is to reconfirm that we want and accept this child. It
requires that we check the yes box (never any question about it) and sign the
paper. In addition, we have to include a cover letter that explains our desire
to adopt and our promise to care for the child. Once signed, we will drive the
letter in to our agency tomorrow, and it will be on its way back to
May 28, 2007
Here we are at the end of May, and I am still trying to figure out where
the past 5 months have disappeared. Is
it possible that time is speeding up or is it just that I am getting
older? I have heard many times that as
your children grow time moves at lightning speed. I am finding that to be a
true statement. Whatever the case, we are having the time of our lives. Our children keep us young at heart, and we
love spending time with them. I am feeling more relaxed now that the school
year is complete. I have several goals to accomplish before our trip to
This week we are making final
preparations for a benefit Pancake Breakfast. The proceeds will go to the Mandy
fund that our church is helping us with. We will be serving breakfast early
Saturday morning. Please join us in praying that it will be successful. We have
several volunteers who have graciously volunteered their time to help. The
youth group at our church will lend a helping hand as well. It should be a fun time if nothing else. I
have to spend the week making final details, organizing the workers, making a
few decorations and preparing any food that can be prepared in advance. I won’t
find myself being idle this week.
Next week and the remaining
weeks of the summer will be dedicated to finishing the simple changes being
made to the girls room, organizing and having a huge garage sale to clean out
our messy, cluttered house. De-cluttering this house is a very major goal. The kiddos and I are planning some fun
activities and field trips for the summer. The kids are anxiously waiting for
the rain to finally quit for awhile so that they can spend their days with lots
of water fun. We hope to take a trip or maybe two to the Zoo. We will probably
plan a few picnics and outings with friends as well.
We are trying to get our baseball games
in and played. Rain outs have been hindering our play time. It may be July
before we can get all the games made up. It is no bother really except that we
need to be done before our trip to
May 18, 2007
Our days are filled with school and baseball this month. We are finishing
up the last of our school year and preparing for summer. The boys have worked
so very hard this year, and we are all ready for a break. There are a few
things that have to carry over into the summer.
Nolan has 2 reports that he “never got around to” and that he has to
complete before the summer is over. We are going to do a study on the ocean and
ocean life this summer as extra work. It
is a just for fun unit of study.
We have been filling our days and weekends with as many activities as we
can and just enjoying lots of family time together. On May 5th we
had the pleasure of visiting with fellow adoptive families. We were invited to
the house of friends to share in a cookout. Several adoptive families were in
attendance and there were kids, kids, kids everywhere. Our kiddos had a
terrific time and enjoyed playing with old friends and meeting new ones. It is
such a blessing to have a group of friends that share similar circumstances and
that understand the ups and downs, and the incredible joy of the adoption
process. All the families at the cook out were somewhere in the process of
adopting again. For some of the families this is their third adoption and with
multiple children of varying ages in their families. Adoption just touches your
heart in a most unbelievable way. The next weekend (May 10-13th) we
took a road trip. We had been wanting to get up to
We arrived home in time to start
preparing for several future events, several baseball games and everyday chores
and family fun. The month promises to pass by just as quickly as the months
before it. We are grateful for the activities and “busy”ness
to make our waiting time go by. I don’t want to wish for time to move more
quickly as my children are growing much too quickly on their own. I am trying
to just cherish each day as it comes. I can’t say that I wouldn’t like to have
my sweet Mandy home right now, but I am concentrating on the fun that my other
children are at present. I pray that God will reveal His timing soon and that
we can bring our daughter home to join her family. I continue to pray for the
peace that He has granted me so far and that if we must wait several months
more (praying hard that this won’t be the case) that He will continue to give
me the peace and strength to just keep taking each day as it comes.
May 2, 2007
Happy Birthday Mandy! Our daughter turns 7 years old today. The only problem
is that she is in
Dear Heavenly Father,
I bow before you today totally in awe of your power and glory. I am so
grateful that you are in my life and that I know the love you have for me. I
lift our sweet Mandy up to you this day. We celebrate the day of her birth and
are so very grateful that her birth mother loved her enough to choose life for
this precious little one of yours. We
offer up a prayer for Mandy’s birth mother. I cannot even begin to imagine the
pain that she experiences each anniversary of her daughters birth. We will
never know the circumstances in this woman’s life that led to the decisions she
had to make, but we are grateful and know that she had to love this child in
order to give her a chance at life. Please Father God, be with her, give her
peace and help her know that her child is loved and that she is loved by you.
May she know you and your son Jesus Christ. We pray for our Mandy that you
bless her this day and every day for the rest of her life. Please protect her,
give her good health, and prepare her heart for joining our family. We pray
that you will make known to her the strength that only you can give and with
that strength help her to face the changes that will take place in her life
soon. Thank You Father for this child,
our beautiful daughter, and thank you
for the gift of your son Jesus that through him, we can all be adopted children of yours.
April 25, 2007
Well time seems to be flying as fast as usual. We are trying our best to
stay busy and keep our minds off the waiting that must now take place before we
can go get Mandy. We are excited to know that our paper work is all in
We are anxiously waiting for the
time when we can go to get Mandy (Wei Da Na) and the day that she will join her forever
family. We miss her already! It is very hard to describe this wait unless
you have been there before. I can only describe it in the following way.
Imagine that you have carried your child for 9 months of pregnancy (our
paper-chasing), and then you give birth (our referral pictures). After the baby
is born (referral pictures), the doctor says, ”Ha, ha, just kidding! You don’t
get to hold your baby or see him/her for several more months (our wait for
travel approval). Now remember many adoptive parents have already had to wait
more than 12 months to complete paperwork and an additional 1-2 years to
receive any information about their child. That scenario can only give you a
small glimpse of the feelings adoptive parents must go through as we wait to
receive approval to come get our children. When choosing a child from the
waiting children’s list, you get a glimpse of your child earlier than most;
however, your wait on the other side (after seeing that child) becomes almost
torturous. This child of your heart is
no less your child, and you feel as if a part of you is missing. We know that
it is all in God’s control, and we are trying our best to leave it up to Him.
We
are enjoying our time together as we wait and try to fill our time with many
things. We learned through Mia’s adoption that the wait goes faster if you keep
yourselves as busy as possible. We have baseball that will keep our schedule
full for the next six weeks. The boys all play their first games on Monday. We
continue to do some work on the house (but limited funds make that a slow
process). We are planning a trip to
Stay tuned….
April 15, 2007
I have to reminisce a little today. Eight years ago today a small but very beautiful
baby made his appearance in this world, and there has been no stopping him
since. Garrett Matthew decided early on that he wanted to take the world by
storm. You see, he was not supposed to arrive until June 10th. He
had different plans and wanted to be born! I started having complications about
4 days before his birth and was hospitalized. The doctors and nursing staff
were insistent that he would remain where he was for at least 3 more weeks;
however, Garrett was having none of that. He was born on a Thursday evening and
came ready to play basketball. Our
greatest concern was that his lungs would operate and that he could breathe on
his own. He let us know first thing that
he had lung capacity. Garrett would
remain in the NICU unit for 10 more (long and tedious) days. He seemed to need
assistance learning to eat and a small amount of time developing to please the
doctors. I remember praying over him and knowing that he was going to be all
right. He has been very brave and strong ever since.
As
a baby, Garrett was always a snuggler, and I loved to
just sit and hold him for hours. Then, He grew into a toddler and has proven
true to his strong desire to make things
happen ever since. He is a very curious
young man and wants to know about everything and how everything works. I stand
amazed at all the things he knows and befuddled sometimes at all the questions
he can ask (I tell him that I think he will make a great lawyer someday. He can
ask questions and argue almost any point.).
He is full of life and accomplishes almost anything he sets his mind to
do. Better yet, He has a heart as big as the state of
Father God,
I thank you for the beautiful gift of
this child. Every step he takes and every time he breathes it is from you.
We are so very thankful that you were
right there beside him from the moment of his birth.
The
strength you gave to him and the healing touch kept him healthy and growing.
We
praise you for your love and protection.
My
Mother’s prayer is that you will continue to protect him and guide his life to
serve you.
He
has chosen to follow you and your son Jesus and that brings such joy to my
heart.
I
pray that he will serve you in a mighty way and that his loving heart will
continue to grow.
Thank
you Father for my son and most of all for your son Jesus Christ who loves us
beyond any love we have ever known.
Happy Birthday my beautiful baby boy (I
know …you are 8… but you will always be my baby boy)! I love you to the moon
and stars and back again!!!
April 9, 2007
We Have our PA!!!
April 8, 2007
What a glorious day! We awakened
this morning to a beautiful blue sky and brilliant sunshine. The temperature
started out a bit cool but turned warmer as the day progressed. The day was
glorious; however, it was NOT glorious because of the weather. It was a
glorious day because we got to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ! It was a day that
we (as Christians) set aside to remember the loving sacrifice that our Lord
gave his life so that we could live with him forever. It never ceases to amaze
me the unconditional love that I have been given… that I am loved in spite of
how truly unworthy I am.
We celebrated this Easter in
We
were blessed to be able to turn our Easter weekend visit into a whole week in
As you can see there is hardly a dull
moment.
April 4, 2007
Well I have started this blog many times and
have been having difficulty. How do you put into words all these feelings and
emotions?!
Today is a very special day! It is a day
that will always hold a special place in our hearts. At 3:27 pm on the 4th of April
2006 in the Civil Affairs Office in
We are very thankful for this very
special gift. Mia has brightened our lives and her love shines bright to all
who know her. I have treasured all our moments this past year. It has been
filled with both good times and many challenging ones. Mia is a ray of sunshine
and is happy most of the time. She has adjusted to life in a houseful of boys
and fits perfectly as the baby sister. Her older brothers are head-over-heels
in love with her (watch out boyfriends… You will have to make it through the
scrutiny of 3 BIG, very protective brothers and a loving daddy). The
adjustments that she has made have been wonders to see. She has gone from being
a scared, grieving, and confused little girl to a happy, content, and very
loving child. During the first few days
Mia was with us, she showed us glimpses of her beautiful, light hearted, happy
personality. She has blossomed and brings so much joy to all those around her.
She hasn’t held back on her strong-willed personality either. We have been
celebrating the joys of having a two year old once again. I think the best way
to describe our Mia is that she is passionate. She is definitely her momma’s
girl! Sometimes she can have a very
confusing personality (maybe that is because she is 2) but, to know her is to
love her! We look forward to everyday that we have to spend with her watching
her grow into the princess God intended for her to be.
As we start the next year with Mia,
we are looking forward to bringing home her older sister. She is looking
forward to having someone to play dolls, dress-up and “titchen”
kitchen /play house with her. Her brothers don’t mind this task occasionally,
but they prefer to add boy things to the mix… like attack of the killer frogs
or cowboy and Indian raids. So a sister will be a welcome addition. She will
happily blow kisses to Mandy’s picture and when ask will tell you that we have
to go get Mandy in “Hina”
It is my prayer that we will
continue to live our lives serving God and proclaiming His love to others. I
pray that God will give me the guidance and wisdom to teach my children how to
live their lives for Him.
May we always live our lives as
examples to others so that they may know the love of God and our Savior the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I am praising God for this day!!!
April 2, 2007
We had a great end to our week. Our I-171H (the immigration paper that
says we are approved to bring an orphan into the country) arrived in record
time. We were thinking that it would take several more weeks. Most people were
averaging about a 7-8 week wait. We had to return to the USCIS office due to
Brad having torn up fingerprints that they were unable to be read. So, Brad had
to go in and make a sworn statement. The agent was very nice and it took all of
five minutes to complete… something wrong with driving 3 ½ hours one way and
only needing 5 minutes to complete the appointment. The lady told Brad that had this occurred in
2005 (when we were applying for Mia’s adoption) that it would have required an
additional 6 months to process. As we gather the paperwork for Mandy’s
adoption, God reveals more of his hand in the adoption process. We had several
delays in the I-171 H process for Mia’s paperwork. All of these delays served
to lengthen the time we had before the expiration of that I-171H. The expiration date was such that we could
complete paperwork and get it sent to
We were expecting the updated I-171H to
take a while longer because of the delay that required us to return to
USCIS. We were very pleasantly surprised
when our new I-171H arrived in our mailbox Friday morning.
Our
Friday only got better when a friend we had been praying for called to tell us
that they had finally made the decision to adopt. We are so excited for them! We
continue to pray that their adoption journey will go as smoothly as possible
and that they will be as blessed as we have been. God is truly amazing, and we
continue to stand in awe of His mighty hand in placing children with the
families that He has planned for them. We find it hard at times to describe the
incredible journey and many blessings bestowed upon us. God is in control and
He has great plans for all of our lives.
Mia’s passport arrived in Saturday’s mail. It was accompanied by her citizenship
papers which we had to entrust to the passport agent. It was definitely cause
for a sigh of relief when we saw the papers inside the mail envelope! In
addition, it served as a reminder that our citizenship and freedom is a
blessing. It is something that we should never take for granted. It is a
privilege which was earned by men and women who sacrificed their lives for us.
We should be forever grateful and respect the privilege that has been given to
us. Most of all we should remember the true freedom that Jesus gave by
sacrificing His life on the cross for us. We had fun turning the pages of Mia’s
passport. It is really a beautiful thing… both emotionally and the actual
(physical) passport. The pages inside the book are covered with pictures of historical
and patriotic pictures depicting our American History. Wow…one more step
accomplished, and now Princess Mia can accompany us on our next trip to China
(as an American Citizen) to pick up her big sister, Princess Mandy. Stay tuned
….
We
have been following the journeys of several of the adoptive families from our
agency. There are several families in
March 21, 2007
What a difference a day can make! WE ARE
DTC!!!! Our paperwork left for
We thank you all for your prayers
and support up to this point. We ask that you continue to pray for:
1) God’s provisions for our family….finances for the adoption, strength and
stamina in this wait.
2) For Mandy… that she will remain healthy and well, that she will learn of
her new family and be excited to know that she will have a forever home in the
US, that her foster family will support her adoption and help prepare her for
the transitions, that God will continue to open her heart and help ease her
fears and concerns, and that her transitions will go smoothly when she is with
our family forever.
3) For Her Foster Family…that we will be able to communicate our
appreciation to them for caring and loving our daughter, that we can stay in
touch with them and that they can see her progress, that they won’t have to
grieve and hurt to much as Mandy separates from their family.
4) For the Governments…. That all the necessary paperwork and processing of
the adoption will continue to move quickly so that we can bring her home
quickly.
March 20, 2007
Well here we are with the end of March quickly approaching. Our progress
on the adoption front is going well. We have spent a great deal of time
gathering papers, sending or taking documents for appropriate certifications,
getting a passport for Mia, and getting the necessary documents and
fingerprints for the USCIS. We are praying diligently that our “Dossier”
(document package) will be on its way to
We continue to work our way through this school year. We have been
having so much fun that we can hardly believe we are entering the final weeks
(the home stretch) of school. Spring keeps trying to make its appearance;
however, winter occasionally puts in its two cents. We are finally past the
ice/snow storms (we hope); however, we still have cold spells. In addition to the
bouncing temperatures, we are now experiencing lots of rainy days. We take
advantage of the dry and sunny days by playing outdoors and taking walks to the
park. The boys are all preparing for their upcoming baseball season. They spend
lots of time practicing and playing catch. Mia even tried to get in on the
action but…. Oops! She got a baseball injury. We had to pay a visit to the ER,
and she had to have 4 stitches to close a cut in her forehead. She only had the
stitches for 5 days and has healed rapidly. It looks as if the scar will be
minimal (if she has one at all). The boys have promised to be more careful when
Mia is outside with them, and mom is more cautious about letting her outside
when the boys are playing.
Brad (as coach) and Nolan have baseball “try-outs” this weekend.
Practice begins in April for all the boys. Mia and I look forward to the warmer
weather so we can have comfortable accommodations for the many games we will
watch over the next few months. We have come to enjoy the outdoors and cheering
our boys to victory. Mia took to baseball like a fish takes to water. She loved
to cheer, clap and pep up the crowd. It may be hard this year to keep her from
wanting to be on the field with the players.
Mia is making amazing progress in all adjustment areas. She has become a
daddy’s girl. It is so wonderful to see her grow and attach to us. She is
talking up a storm, and her speech therapy is going well. She has really made
great strides in forming her words and speaking clearly. She loves her
appointments every Wed. with Ms Maura. I think she especially likes to go
because daddy takes her, and this is their date together every week. They
usually follow the appointment with breakfast (“k-kakes”,
pancakes) at McDonalds. We can hardly believe that our “princess” has been home
almost a year. Our wait a year ago seemed as if it would be forever. God truly
worked miracles throughout our adoption process, and we had our precious baby
in 9 months (start to finish). We know that it isn’t/wasn’t the norm for this
process, and we know that God blessed us beyond measure throughout Mia’s
adoption. This year has had its highs and lows but what a wonderful year it has
been! Where does the time go when you are having fun?
February 23, 2007
I
can’t believe that it is the end of February. Once again this year is flying
faster than I care for it to. Our
children bring such joy into our home, and along with that joy there comes a
lot of challenges, chaos, and a very busy household. We have been busy as beavers. The older boys
continue to make great strides in their school work. We are enjoying this
school year immensely. Nate has decided he wants to study and has been joining
our school year on a part time basis. He is beginning to learn his letters and
letter sounds. He is counting to 20 and recognizes his numbers. I do believe he
may have the blessing of his dad’s photographic memory. Sometimes Nate is so
quiet that I do not realize he is listening and learning. Then, he will
surprise me with things he can tell me and things he can do. Nolan is an avid reader and has discovered
the joys of research. He loves to learn and is very self motivated. Garrett is
more of my logical thinker. He loves math and to ask a million questions. He
can process so much in just a few seconds. He is more cautious than the others
because he wants to make sure everything is perfect. Mia is the typical two
year old and is enjoying life. She is happy most of the time, and she loves all
the attention her brothers bestow on her. She has begun to be interested in
school and will sit with us to listen to stories and she especially loves to be
a part of the crafts and writing time. So schooling a houseful of children
seems to get a bit easier as long as I keep the younger ones occupied with lots
of activities, as well. All the kids are very active, and the boys have
certainly enjoyed playing basketball. We are ending the basketball season
tomorrow. Next up, Baseball for three!
Well, February has brought exciting
news to our family. For the past several months, we had been feeling the call
to adopt again. It is very hard to explain to those outside the adoptive world;
however, if you know me you know the love I have for children. So, after many
hours, days, weeks, and months of prayer, we felt that God really wanted us to
answer this call to adopt again. In my
line of thinking we needed to follow the birth order of our children, and that
would mean adopting a child younger than Mia.
We knew that we would adopt a waiting child, and we knew that we were
returning to
Back
in December, this agency received a waiting child list with 10 children on the
list. Many “paper ready” families were
honored to be chosen as families for these beautiful children, but not all
these children were placed. When the agency released its list to families that
were starting the process, Brad and I felt drawn to this list. We requested
access to the website and anxiously looked at the information found there. Upon
immediately opening the site, the first child was a beautiful six year old.
Brad instantly knew that she was our daughter. I was a bit more reluctant (remember
the birth order, and of course who doesn’t love the cuddly babies). I insisted that we continue down the list,
and we came upon a 2 yr old (she had just turned 2 ….so she was several months
younger than Mia). I can’t say that I instantly knew she was ours, but we
submitted our application. A couple of days later, she was placed with another
family who was “paper ready”. I was a bit discouraged, and had to convince
myself that my “intuition “was wrong. We would become paper ready and then wait
for another list to come later in the year.
Apparently
Brad wasn’t convinced of this fact. He had been holding back on the instant
bond he had felt for the six year old. He felt that maybe it wasn’t right
because I wasn’t feeling it. God used the next 2 weeks to work His plan out in
my heart. I was “anxious” (…which I know not to be because God can handle it
all for us). My “line of thinking” is insignificant when God sees the big
picture. He knows the plan he has for us. My heart and mind were burdened with
the fact that my husband felt this calling so strongly (keep in mind that I am
the one who had to convince him our family wasn’t complete after our second and
third children….). Add to that fact that I am scared to death of how to fit an
older child into our family. Not only is it adding one more child, but it is
adding one more child to teach. There are so many things that go with adding an
older child. I worried about being able to communicate with her, and how would
she attach ( with Mia we held her, gave her bottles, fed her). I worried about
her fears, her grieving for the life she had always known, and her transition
to a new country with new sights, sounds, and taste. One Sunday (during church)
my burden was lifted… it was almost as if it had disintegrated right before my
eyes. I felt God was leading me to just TRUST Him on this one.
So
Brad (with much happiness) submitted our application to the agency. A few days
later, we contacted the agency to find out if they had a time frame for the
placement of this little girl. We were told that we would know something no
later than Tuesday Feb.6th. We were aware that we had many obstacles
that might weigh against being selected as her family. Things like another
family had expressed interest, adopting out of birth order (which our agency
tries to adhere to), and Mia’s been home for less than a year. So, we were
trusting in the Lord and in the agency to make the best decision for this
child. Brad (and even I at this point) was certain that she was ours. Many things
happened throughout the week to make it known (ie. an
insurance mix-up that turned out to benefit us should she become our daughter).
We were just settling into the wait when we received a surprise call from our
agency. It seems as if God made all the
obstacles melt away. On February 1, 2007, our agency said that they would like
to recommend us to CCAA as the family of Wei Dan Na
(** see Mandy’s story for more details ). We are so honored to be selected as
her family. We look forward to watching God work as He helps us through the
mounds of paperwork and financial hurdles that we shall face in the next few
months.
As you can see we have had plenty to keep us busy over the past few
weeks. We are frantically trying to get all of our side of the paperwork done
and finished by the first of March. It is our fervent prayer that we will be
able to then send the paperwork to
Please join us in prayer for
our precious Amanda “Mandy” Margaret. Some things that we would ask you to pray
about:
1) that all the paperwork will go smoothly, and that the governments of
2) that Mandy will remain healthy and
well
3) that God will prepare her heart for the huge transitions that she must
make
4) for her foster family that they will
lovingly prepare her for the changes
5) for her foster family and “foster” sibling that they will not hurt too much
and will find peace in knowing that she is going to be loved
6) that we can in some way remain in contact with her foster family(through
pictures, letters, via internet)
7)
for God’s provisions for our
family….that we remain well, that we can accomplish everything necessary to
bring her home, for monies necessary for travel, and for our strength and
stamina.
We thank you dear friends for your prayers and for following us on the
wonderful journey of adoption that God has placed us on.
January
14, 2007
Happy New Year everyone! We are
enjoying good health and the joys of parenthood. We are working (albeit slowly)
on some remodeling and organizational additions to our home. Brad began
building on the shelving unit for our home school office. We still need to sand
and pant it, but I am excited about the organization and space that it offers.
We have lots more building, painting and organizing to accomplish. So, they
will remain on the “to do” list. Maybe just maybe, we will accomplish them one
job at a time. It may be 2015 before completion, but we will do so someday. The
boys began school last week. They started back with a very positive attitude
and have been working very hard on all their school work. We have been
following our study of American History and immersing ourselves in some of the
greatest children’s literature. Mom is enjoying it as much as the kids!
This
year we have all three boys playing sports. They are playing basketball this
winter. We are juggling our schedules and our time. Practice is 2 days a week.
Nolan and Nate have practice at the same time and Garrett (Brad’s coaching his
team) has it another day. Then we have games most Saturday mornings. I don’t
even want to think about what baseball season will bring. It certainly keeps us
busy. Mia is such a trooper. She goes to every game and cheers her brothers on.
She is even learning to take her afternoon nap through all the noise. I think
that she wants to join them on the courts. She loved dancing and cheering along
with the cheer leaders; however, she seems to like playing ball more.
Nate
has decided that he wants to learn to read. So he and momma are working a
little everyday on his reading skills. He loves being read to, and I think that
he will pick up on reading very quickly. I just can’t believe that my “baby”
boy is ready for school. He is growing
into my little man.
We
reflect back on this past year and find that it brought many blessings our way.
We look forward to all that is in store for the year 2007. We hope you enjoy
the following year in review for our family:
January ’06- The beginning of this month brought
news of a little girl on a waiting child’s list at our agency (Dillon
International). We were honored to be selected as her family. Thus began our
wait for Travel Approval to go to
February ’06- We continue our wait and finish up
many classes required for our adoption. Basketball continues, and we work on
school preparing for 2 weeks off while we are in
March’06- We are still waiting for Travel Approval.
We were told by the agency that the Chinese government indicated that we would
have at least six more weeks to wait. We finished basketball the first weekend
of this month. We completed all adoption related readings and classes. We began
gathering stuff for our trip to
April ’06- We would spend the first two weeks in
May ’06- We worked super hard to catch up on missed
school time and complete all the school work needed for the year. Of course, we
had baseball practice and games to fill our time, as well. Memorial Day weekend
was spent enjoying time with our travel group families.
June ’06- We celebrated summer, finished school, and
enjoyed baseball games.
July’06- We celebrated July 4th at home
as a family. Then we made a trip to
Aug ’06- We celebrated our 12th
Anniversary and many birthdays this month, as well. We had fun celebrating
Mia’s birthday for the first time. Garrett was baptized by grandpa in a creek
near our house. Our school studies began at the end of this month. We took
several trips to the hospital thinking Mia would have her surgery. Each time we
would have to reschedule due to many colds and sinus infections.
Sep.’06- We traveled to
Oct.’06- We continued with School and celebrated
Nate’s 5th birthday. This month was ushered out with the birth of
our niece. We were able to travel to
Nov.’06- We spent several weekends in
Dec.’06- A snowstorm shut down our town for several
days. It was so very beautiful even if we did go a little stir crazy. We
decorated for Christmas and spent time with friends from church. It was so wonderful
to celebrate the birth of our Lord and savior. We traveled to
It is so hard to believe that another year has come
and gone. We have been so very blessed.
As I type this, we are confined indoors because of a
debilitating ice storm that has covered many states. We have a “little” cabin
fever, but are so grateful that we have had only a few hours without power.
Friends and family are all safe, but they have been without power for a couple
of days. It is quiet the adventure to keep 3 little boys entertained without
electricity. So the adventure continues…..
December
29, 2006
We
have been so blessed this Christmas season. It has been a joy to experience Christmas
through the eyes of our two year old. The squeals of excitement when the tree
is lit, the twinkle in her eyes when she opened presents that were all
hers(“mine”), and the sheer joy that she has shown make this a Christmas to
remember. We spent the beginning of this month confined to home as a result of
the snowstorm. It allowed us a lot of family time, and we spent lots of it
playing, decorating for Christmas and enjoying the tastes of Christmas.
We took lots of pictures and found just the right one
for our Christmas card. We had our family portraits done, finally. We had such
a great time dressing up. We laughed so hard at our “princess”. She got so
excited about wearing her Christmas dress. She twirled, danced and pranced
about for a while. Then, mom went to change, and Miss Mia decided to join the
pile up of her brothers wrestling. It was such a funny sight to see the”princess” all dressed like a lady but acting like a tom
boy (didn’t I tell you, she fits right in!).
We
spent Christmas with our family and traveled to Brad’s sister’s house to share
in the festivities. The kids had a great time playing with all of their
cousins. We got to visit and just had a great time being together. We spent
Christmas Eve going to church and loved celebrating the birth of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. After church it was time for lunch with the family and then the count
down began. The kids could hardly wait until that evening to open presents. In
Brad’s family, the tradition is to open family gifts on Christmas Eve, and
Santa comes on Christmas morning with gifts for the kids and stockings. For the
first time this year the kids drew names. My kiddos found such happiness in
buying for their cousins, and they were equally excited to watch them open
their gifts. Santa brought the boys some very special gifts this year. The boys
are growing to enjoy music and are very talented. So they asked for musical
instruments. We saw benefits for home school music classes. Nolan got a guitar,
and Garrett got a drum set (ok, so we are crazy….). Nate got a power wheels
four wheeler. Mia got a ride on “zebra” pony, and a beautiful doll that was
almost as big as Mia. Now before anyone
thinks we spoil our kids (which we do!), these presents were the only request.
They have been pretty special kids this year, and Santa wanted to let them know
he had been watching. They were bouncing
off the walls and could hardly sleep on Christmas night. I love watching my kids on Christmas morning.
They were awake and ready to go by 7 am, but they had to endure waiting until 8
am for everyone to awaken. We got some pictures of all the fun.
We
will spend New Years at home and celebrate with the kids. We are working some
around the house as well. Brad is hopeful that he will finish some shelving
before he has to return to work next week. I hope so too! It will sure help
with my organization around this place. We begin the New Year looking forward
to what the good Lord has in store. Each day is a wonderful gift, and we pray
that we can use our time to honor the Lord and live our lives for Him. We wish
you a very happy and blessed New Year!
December 1, 2006
I just had to post…. What is it about
Snow (at least the first snow) that makes a person so happy? It all started yesterday with lots of ice and
thunder snow storms. The kids were
beside themselves with excitement and wanted out in the mess as soon as
possible. Unfortunately for them, they have a mean old mom for a teacher. They
(unlike the other kids) did not get a snow day. So they endured their lessons
and completed them in record time. Then it was off to pile on the coats, hats
and mittens. It was almost more than they could endure to have to take the few
minutes necessary to bundle up. …. And they were GONE!!! The boys played, played, and played some more
in the sleet and ice. They played ice hockey, went “shoe” ice skating, and
turned skateboards into snow (really ice) boards. They didn’t even mind that
they were being pelted with sleet. Then it was inside for hot cocoa and soup for
lunch. We all kept hoping to see snow, but it just kept icing. So in between
outside times and Laundry, we decorated the house some more. The kids helped decorate the trees, and mom
put out the
We
went to bed last night with it just beginning to snow. We didn’t expect the
surprise that awaited us this morning. Our neighborhood was covered with
beautiful, white snow. The kids were wake and dressed before 7:30 this morning.
They had a blast playing in the snow. This was Mia’s first snow (as far as we
know). We don’t believe that she would have ever experienced snow in her short
lifetime. We showed her the “pretty” snow this morning, and she excitedly
exclaimed,” Ice Cream”. We bundled her up and took her out for playtime. She
really didn’t know what to think. She stood looking around and trying to decide
what all the fun and excitement was about. We tried to play and make snow
angels…. Mia just sat and stared. She only protested when her bottom got cold.
She didn’t want to come inside though. She stayed out with the boys until she
was shivering, and momma brought her in to warm up.
Snow just brightens a person’s spirits. At least it
does mine. I love the beauty and joy it brings, and I get almost as excited as
the kids. I must confess that I have never seen snow like this, ever. Although
we saw small dustings of snow as I was growing up, we never got the joy of
large quantities of the beautiful stuff. This was an exciting treat for me and
for the kids.
It looks as if winter is coming in with a big BANG!
November
29, 2006
Well
time sure flies by when you are having fun. I cannot believe that nearly a
month has gone by since I wrote last. October went out with a bang and November
just kept running. Our new niece, Eva Marie, was born on Halloween morning. The
kids and I packed up and went to
The third weekend in November, I took a
long awaited and very much needed weekend for myself. A friend and I went to
We are so thankful for many things. Not
the least of which is sharing with Mia the celebration of her first
Thanksgiving. She was such fun, and really learned to work the crowd. We had to
laugh as we watched her enjoy her first “feast”. Her eyes just got huge at the
spread of food that was open for her choosing. After her plate was fixed, she
sat and attacked it with gusto! She loved turkey and mashed potatoes the best.
Her very favorite was the carrot cake and pumpkin pie for dessert. We are
thankful for our wonderful family and our very handsome little boys (who are
growing into handsome young men much too soon). They have shown their tender
loving hearts and their selflessness this entire year as we made the transitions necessary for Mia’s adjustment
and our adjustment to a family of six. Perhaps the hardest adjustment has been
to having a “girl” in the house. I was
just mom but now they have a “prissy” sister. They have done surprisingly well
and treat her like a princess (Mia just knows that she is the most special
princess in the world). She is pretty special at that!! She has brought frills,
giggles, and joy to our rather “rowdy” house. Do I sound like a proud momma or
what? My children are such wonderful gifts from God. I am very thankful for all
of them, for my husband’s unwavering devotion and love, and most of all for
God’s unchanging love for me!
We have begun the Christmas decorating
and look forward to the joys that this season brings. We are enjoying Mia’s
wide eyed discovery of all the beautiful decorations and lights. We are
enjoying the fun of family activities and accomplishments. We look forward to
all that December has to offer. Until next month…..
.
October
16, 2006
Don’t you just love this time of year?!
Can’t you smell the pumpkin pies baking and the fragrant odors of hot spiced
apple cider?! I love fall and winter so much. I love the beautiful colors of
fall and the cool, crisp weather. Fall is beginning to really transform our little
town. Autumns in this part of the country are something to behold. Although we
do not look for our autumn to be a very long one this year (our summer drought
was extremely hard on the trees), we are being treated to a beautiful display
of vibrant colorful leaves. It can just take your breathe away! The weather has been cool and crisp and
almost perfect. So, we spend our days enjoying as much of the beauty as we can.
We were able to spend a glorious day outside
this past Saturday. Beautiful weather, beautiful surroundings and terrific
friends all add up to make a spectacular day. We were so blessed to spend the
day with our
Time continues to move much faster than
I do these days. Looking at the calendar, I discovered that we are starting the
ninth week of school. Is it ever possible to figure out where time goes? The
boys continue to work diligently on their school work taking time to enjoy all
the fun activities that fall has in store.
We have picked out our pumpkins and decorated our front porch for
autumn. We have plans to carve a pumpkin
and toast pumpkin seeds next week. Who knows maybe mom will be courageous
enough to try making a pumpkin pie! Mia
and the boys enjoy when we take time out for nature walks. With so many things
to see, do, and collect (acorns and leaves make great art work) they stay
intrigued for hours. Nate is so excited about his fifth birthday on Thursday.
He tells us that now he is a “big” boy. Mommy (on the other hand) is having a
difficult time with her baby boy turning five. It is so true that childhood
passes in the blink of an eye. I am trying to worry less and enjoy my children
more.
Happy Autumn everyone! Take time out to
enjoy the beauty around you and the beauty of your children. God is Good!
October
5, 2006
Our week has been a productive one, and
the boys continue to excel at school. The curriculum seems to be a good fit.
The boys love to discover all that it has to offer. They are transported every
day into the historical past through wonderful literature that ties in with our
history studies. They are finding each new topic more and more interesting and
are motivated to stay on task. As a result, we are accomplishing a lot and
completing many school projects. The boys are enjoying science which allows
them to discover and do many activities and experiments. Nolan and Garrett are
working on multiplication and division. I have finally found the point at which
Math challenges Garrett. He is our Math Whiz. I have been having so much fun
watching Mia join in with us as we work on school. She has learned to sit and
listen when the stories are read. She loves to pretend to write and draw. She
loves to be read to, and she is beginning to pick up on lots of words. Her
speech seemed to digress in the first week after her surgery; however, she is
making improvements and talks all the time. A lot of what she has to say is 2
year old gibberish, but her words are becoming clearer and more recognizable.
We just Praise the Lord for her wonderful recovery and the success of her
surgery. Mia’s next step will be to be involved in speech therapy. The ENT
surgeon recommended someone who specializes in cleft palate children. This S.T.
is highly sought after and thus we are on a waiting list. We are practicing and
working with her on language development and speech during this wait.
Mia is definitely 2! She loves to show her
independence and her temper. We continue to work with her, and we continue to
be challenged by her independent nature. She has a hard time understanding that
there are some things she is not capable of doing just yet. I love her ambition
and drive to learn new things. She is a very determined little girl, and she
sticks with a task until she learns about it and/or accomplishes it. She picks
up on things so quickly! She seems determined to do all the things her older
brothers do. I would not claim her to be a shy child. She is actually the
furthest from it. She says “hi” to everyone and makes sure everyone knows that
we are her mommy and daddy. She loves to look at and touch little babies. It is
amazing to see how gentle, caring and concerned she can be with these
babies. She is so very loving, and she
delivers hugs and kisses with ease now. It is hard to describe the overwhelming
feeling I got when she first declared “I Love You Momma.” She has been
declaring her love for mommy, daddy and her brothers for a couple of weeks now.
What a huge change we are seeing in our little girl.
We
have had a few weekends of travel and family fun. On Sept.23 we went to
We look forward to many happenings in the
month of October. We have plans for a China Travel Group six month reunion. We
have a birthday celebration coming soon for our handsome Nate. We are never
without plans and things to do. Our lives for the next few months will be
filled with travel plans, activities with friends, celebrating birthdays and
new baby arrivals. We hope to make a lot of progress on repairs and small
renovations to our 100 yr old house ….and who knows what else the future might
hold. We are just trusting God to lead us on a path that will glorify Him.
October 4, 2006
Today
was a day of reflection. We can hardly believe it, but Mia has been in our arms
for 6 months today. As I look back over these past 6 months, I stand in awe of
our Almighty God and Father. We are privileged to be the family He chose for
our Mia and continue to be amazed at the way He orchestrated it all! Nine months ago we were preparing for a long
wait (
September 15, 2006
As
I type we are sitting in the hospital waiting for Mia’s Cleft palate repair
surgery to be done. It has been a long few months to reach this morning. She has
been scheduled for this surgery 3 other times and each time we have had to
postpone. She is finally healthy and is at this time in surgery. I will use
this time to reflect and write about these past months.
I can hardly believe that we have been
home with Mia for 5 months (today). She seems so much a part of our family now
that it is hard to believe that she hasn’t been ours forever. We are so
grateful to God for bringing us together. Mia is a beautiful blessing to us
all. She just blooms more each day. She is so full of sunshine that she lights
up any and every room that she enters. She is learning many new things. Her new
word is “NO”. She is talking more and understands everything. She is very
independent and stubborn (I am praying that this is just 2 but I suspect that
it is more her personality). Did I say that she is 2?!
Some of my favorite times are to watch
her interact with her brothers. She has learned quickly that they will do her
every bidding. She is the Princess, and they are her royal subjects. I have
watched them all fall in love and become the most wonderful friends. It fills
me with such joy that all my kiddos are forming a strong bond. My sisters and
brothers are my greatest friends and supporters. I want that for my children as
well.
The past few weeks have found us busy
with many things. We finished out a whirlwind summer that was filled with many
odds and ends. I am not sure where our summer really went just that it flew by.
Some of the highlights: 1) On August the 4th we made a trip to
We returned home to continue with our school work and daily routines.
Mia managed to stay well and her surgery is taking place. We are working hard
at being content with life, and we thank God for all the many blessings he
continues to bestow upon us. Our prayer now is that God will direct us on the
path that he chooses for us, and that we will live our lives witnessing to
others through our actions, reactions and speech. We want to be a shining
example of His Love!
P.S. I forgot to include that we welcomed a new baby cousin into our
family. Baby Emily was born on Sept. 14th. She looks just like her
big sister. We received word from friends in
Wow,
it has been nearly 2 months since I have written in my journal. It still amazes
me how fast time goes by being the mommy to 4 children. Where to start?
Baseball finished at the end of June. Garrett’s team finished first in their
division and only lost 2 games. Nolan’s team didn’t fair as well; however, He
was selected and played on the 9 year old All Star game. He so enjoyed playing
this year and even tried his hand at pitching. Mom, Nate, and Mia followed
along as cheerleaders. Nate made a lot of friends (siblings of players) and
enjoyed playing outside. Nate is looking forward to his chance to play ball
next year. Mia became a baseball fan. She fell in love with baseball, nachos,
and HOT DOGS! It was great fun watching
her transform into a number one fan, cheering on her brothers.
We discovered that there is life after baseball (ok, mom is probably the
only one happy to be done with baseball). We have enjoyed working a little on
our house and having family time together. This summer has been filled with
many first for Mia. One of the most memorable first would be her First 4th
of July celebration. It took on an extra special meaning for me this year. I
realized more than ever what an honor and special privilege it is to be a
citizen of this land of the free. It is a
gift that we have been honored with such freedoms (A gift that God allowed many
of us at birth). I thank God for this
gift, and I thank the many men and women who fought for our freedom and
continue to fight for freedom for others. Our celebration wasn’t elaborate, but
we were together. We turned it into two days of family fun. The day before the
kids enjoyed lots of water play and then playing with sparklers in our
backyard. The fourth was spent with more water play and relaxing at home. We
did take a little time out to take the kids to a park for family pictures. Mia
got so excited about wearing her red, white, and blue dress. We called her our
“American” girl and from that point on she called her dress “mewica dress”. We enjoyed barbeque sandwiches and lots of
fireworks. At dark we took the kids to
the city fireworks display. Mia was enthralled with all the beautiful colors
and didn’t seem to be bothered by the loud booms. She did well until the very
end when fatigue took its toll. She alternated between putting her head on my
shoulder and looking up and “oohing and aawing”. She finally had enough and became fussy so we
departed a tiny bit early. She was asleep before we got home.
On July 6th, Mia became final again. We had our court date
for the refinalization of her adoption. Basically
this is a technicality so that the state recognizes her adoption and name
change. She has her American citizenship papers in her legal American name, but
in order to get a state birth certificate we had to finalize with the state.
She is now officially ours in
On July 8th, we left town on a family trip to
We returned home in time to prepare for Mia’s surgery, but Mia returned
with a sinus infection. As a result she developed a runny nose and cough. The
surgeon/ ENT doctor felt that it would be safer to wait until Mia was well. So
we wait until next month. We will spend the next few weeks enjoying our summer.
The kids will participate in our church VBS.
We will plan for school and order curriculum for the school year. Mia’s
birthday is coming soon. We keep on being busy!
I will try to write sooner this next
time. Until then …….
June 8, 2006
Princess
Mia is blossoming every day. She is such a happy little girl. It is so much fun
to watch her experience new things and to see her explore her surroundings. Her
favorite new foods are spaghetti, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and pudding. She
loves lots of fruits and vegetables. Her favorite fruits seem to be mandarin
oranges, bananas, and occasionally apples.
She has tried Oreos, ice cream, and ice cream sandwiches. These are all
favorites! She is beginning to exhibit some 2 year old eating behaviors. It
seems that she picks 1 thing that she likes and that is all she wants that
week. It might even change the next day. Mothers of toddlers know what I am
describing here. Even though she is eating well, she hasn’t gained any weight.
We are hoping to convince her to eat more things with protein and calories. I
think she will always be very petite and thin (not such a bad thing).
She has been enjoying playing baby dolls and with her doll house. We
love to watch her act out her family using the little people from her doll
house (We had to laugh one day when she had the mommy scolding the daddy for
something). She loves to help mommy
around the house. She loves to sweep the floor; although, everyone has to watch
out or she will sweep them up too! She is very good at keeping her brothers in
line, and she will scold them for not following mommy’s directions. We are truly amazed at her grasp of the
English language. She is following
directions extremely well, and wants to “parrot” everything she hears. She loves music and is already quite a
dancer. She isn’t picky about the type of music either. Mommy and daddy are
trying to convince her to love country music of course! Her favorite song to
sing right now is “pider...momma,pider”
(Itsy Bitsy Spider). She is an accomplished pianist too (just take a look at
the photos and you will see her concert performance)!
Mia is becoming a very good traveler.
In the 8 weeks (almost) that we have been home, she has made many trips.
There was the 15 hour trip back to the
After all of this travel we were more than ready to spend a little time
at home. So we opted to remain home for Memorial Day weekend. This weekend turned into a terrific,
fun-filled time. Our travel buddies came
to see us. One of the families drove
from
We continue to finish up the little school work that we have remaining.
We are spending many nights watching the boy’s baseball games. Mia loves being outside, and she is the
biggest cheerleader at her brother’s games.
The kids have been playing a lot outside and water play is a favorite of
all four. Mia has had many doctor’s
appointments. One of these was the
appointment for her cleft palate. We have a set time for her surgery this
month. When Mia has recovered we hope to
take a trip to
I will try my best to update my
journal every month….
We
have been home now for about 6 weeks. What a time this has been!
Mia became a citizen of the
Mia’s first day at home was already filled with plans (it was Garrett’s
birthday). We tried to celebrate Garrett’s birthday in a very quiet way. We let
Garrett open presents, and we had cake and ice cream. Since grandma and
grandpa, Aunt Le Nora, Aunt Leslie and Samantha, Aunt Tracey, Hayley, Alex, Ashlyn, and Cariann had brought the boys home, they were able to share
in Garrett’s birthday. We had cake first and then went to lunch at El Charro. The family
told us goodbye and left for home. We
spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Mia, (sleeping), doing a little
laundry, (sleeping), unpacking a little, (sleeping), and adjusting to being
home (did I mention that we slept a lot). Brad and Nolan went to a baseball
practice (they had already missed a few practices while on our trip to
Over the next few weeks we filled our days with chores, catching up with
our school work, and baseball, baseball, baseball. Mia has been adjusting to life
in our household very well. God has
definitely placed this beautiful little girl in our home and hearts. In many
ways it seems as if Mia has always been a part of our family; however, we have
to caution ourselves to remember Mia needs our special attention at this time.
It is so easy to just expect her to go with the flow of our very busy and very
crazy family. She loves to go, go, go! She has learned to make her own place
among all the boys. I believe her first
English words were “Stop It”. She plays lots and appears happy most of the
time. We experienced some difficulties
with sleeping; although, these problems were minor in comparison to “night
terrors”. Mia is so full of life and so inquisitive that she doesn’t want to
miss a second of what goes on around her.
So, she didn’t want to sleep much. (Sleep is a must for this 20 month
old toddler!) We worked on encouraging and comforting Mia so that “sleep” times
were less stressful. We tried many different ways to comfort her and went
through lots of trial and error. We were able to discover things that worked
for Mia. It was very important to keep everything low key before naps and bed
time. Many days we just prayed that she
could be relaxed enough to sleep. We can now happily report that after recovering
from jet lag and adjusting to her new surroundings, Mia is sleeping through the
night and finally taking naps!
We had prayed along with many others that Mia’s transition would be an
easy one. We feel that God has heard and
answered those prayers. She has been
adjusting beautifully (aside from the sleep issues and a few minor attachment
issues). There are many things that we
never had to purposefully concentrate on with our biological children. One of
these things is attachment. As you hold
your babies and care for their needs you are bonding and forming attachments
with that child. As adoptive parents
many times we miss out on these opportunities.
So as we continue with Mia’s adjustment, we are working with her on
attaching and bonding. She has many good days, but she still has a hard time
totally relaxing around us. She will
have great days when she reaches out to us, holds our hand, gives us kisses and
is very loving. We are beginning to see
a few difficulties with her making a healthy attachment. Some things that we
saw as adjusting well are proving to be things that she learned to do
independently in the orphanage, and they were her survival tactics. She doesn’t like to be held except for short
periods of time. A lot of this is part of her independent nature and
adventurous personality, but she was used to doing things for herself and by
herself, as well. She avoids looking us
in the eyes, has difficulty holding hands for more than a second, and doesn’t
like to be hugged or touched very much. She wants to be held one minute, and
then she wants you to leave her alone.
Some days she will have several “melt downs” in a short period of time.
Many of these tantrums are brought on simply by touching her. It hurts my heart to watch her cry because I
am holding her. We want to form a loving
bond with her, and we want her to learn to feel comfortable and relaxed with
her forever family. We want her to know
that she is loved forever! So we are
working hard to develop her attachment and to help her trust us. We are
accomplishing this slowly by “going backwards” and taking her through many
things that an infant experiences. We
hold her lots, cradle her, feed her, and do many of the things that she was used
to doing for herself. We spend lots of time holding Mia even if she screams and
cries. This “holding” therapy has helped her begin to relax. Her tantrums have
become less frequent and less intense. She is beginning to turn to us for
comfort when she is hurt, and she seeks us out to hug, play with and love. My
favorite time of the day is bedtime. Mia
and I have cuddle time. I wrap her tight in a blanket, hold her close, feed her
a bottle, sing to her, and rock her to sleep. It is such an awesome feeling to
feel her relax and snuggle close. We see
many encouraging signs and continue to do what we can to make her understand
that she will always have us and can rely on us to be there for her.
Yesterday and today, the boys have
been having fun playing with their friends outside. This has allowed some
wonderful mommy and Mia time. We have played doll house, tea party, baby dolls,
sang lots of songs and danced. Mia continues to amaze me. She is very astute
and picks up on anything quickly. She
has learned lots of sign language to assist us in communication. She can sign
please, thank you, I’m sorry, more, and all done. She loves to sing “the Itsy,
Bitsy Spider” and especially likes to do the hand signs. She plays patty cake,
and her favorite is to “mark it with and M for Mia and me”. She loves music and dancing (she must have
been exposed to lots of music). She loves to read and be read to. She loves to smile, laugh and play. Her
brothers are her “bestest” playmates. They think that
she is wonderful. I love to see them in their roles as older brothers. They
take this job very seriously and already protect her to the death. Her brothers
have even allowed themselves to play “tea party” with Mia. What a sight it was
to see her very tall, very big 9 year old brother sitting in these teeny weeny tea party chairs!
She is definitely the “princess” of our family, and she is growing into
the beautiful “princess” that God created her to be! We have been so very
blessed!
More later….