Merry Christmas! Day 33 waiting for LOA... but who's counting!

We went to Stone Mountain for our main Christmas gift to the kids this year. It was super cold (for Georgia) but we had a great time. As you can see they all sat on Santa's lap (even Joshie wanted to). He just didn't understand why after enduring the event why Santa didn't give him a toy! Santa gave him a candy cane instead and that was good enough. We had a great time relaxing and seeing fun things as a family!

Grace, Faith, and Isaac were in a Christmas play at church. Isaac was obviously a sheep, a really cute one I might add. Grace and Faith both sang solos and did a fantastic job! We are so grateful for our new church family and to be in a church that is focused on God's work around the world and invests into our children's lives and hearts. Joshua wasn't too fond of Kid's choir but after seeing Isaac up there as a sheep I think he might be more inclined to try it in January. We'll see... he likes singing Jesus Loves Me!

Joshua has healed nicely from the surgery, emotionally and physically. His speech is a little better since the VPI closure seems better. We are probably going to be seeking another surgeon at some point this year. We are looking for someone that craniofacial disorders is all they work with and right now are communicating with a doctor in D.C. So anyone with any recommendations for anywhere other than GA please let us know who you use and why.

On the adoption front we are hoping to receive our LOA in January and then travel in March but we rest in the fact that God knows the timing. After Christmas we'll start trying to check off our list of things to get done before Joy comes home. For now we are trying to get as much information as possible on older child adoptions and attachment. I'm so grateful for yahoo groups and others that have gone before us and their willingness to share their lives and experiences.

Well, better go enjoy the kids while we have a relaxing Christmas break planned!! I have a feeling the new year will bring lots of busyness and excitement (traveling to China, possibly D.C. with Joshua to see a new surgeon, and Disney in December with my parents).
WOW! God's provisions and strength to press on are truely amazing!

Merry Christmas and God's blessings in 2010!

Another favorite adoption song (We are LID as of Nov. 19... the countdown begins!!)

Great song and speaks so much truth as an adoptive parent! Please pray for children without the joy of having families this Christmas and do what you can to support and love on them. I commited about a month ago to fast and pray to the Lord on Wednesday's for Joy and it has turned into praying for orphans everywhere. There are so many places you can help (Lifesong for Orphans, Hopegivers, Show Hope, Grace and Hope Foster Care- Joy is in a foster home through this organization) just to name a few. A few weeks ago we changed rooms around so that the 3 girls can share the largest bedroom and Isaac was having a hard time accepting the change. I put him on my lap and told him that mommy and daddy feel like God wants Joy in our family just like we know that God wants him in our family. I asked him if he was in China would he want us to go to China to bring him into our family. He of course said yes and now says that he loves he and Joshie's new room. I do not want to discount the sacrifice that our kids make to add to our family but the truth of matter is that this song is true that we have plenty of room, food, and love. And I have noticed that our kids seem to have an extra measure of compassion for the hurting and I believe it is because they have seen first hand what it is like for one of their siblings to be in need. I guess it just hits close to home for them and they all talk about when they get older adopting like its just something everybody does which is such a blessing to us.

On a personal note to update on our family. Joshua is doing well from his surgery to modify the pharyngealplasty (should help with his speech for those of you without cleft affected children). As you can see from our title for this post we have a log in date with China so we are counting down now to the next step. We should receive LOA in January or February and travel hopefully in March or April. So things are starting to move along. The girls and I were having a good time setting the table for Thanksgiving when I got this feeling of it not being fair that Joy couldn't be here with us for the holidays. So I said to myself, "It's just not fair" which was too funny because "not fair" is one of Joshua's favorite things to say. (He picked it up from Isaac who is 5). Not the most godly response to not getting my way I know but I'm just being honest. I do know that we will see God's hand at work and His perfect timing. He will use this time to shape Joy into the woman He desires her to be along with teaching us things along the journey. Namely trust in Him and patience!!

God is the Invisible Red Thread in Our Lives!

Thankfulness sometimes seems to flow out of us and other times it is a choice. I am thankful to experience the Biblical implications of this picture, which is probably my favorite. Though the future is unknown to us we trust that God is in charge of the timing of everything we will experience as we bring Joy into our family. I am thankful for the opportunity to parent all of my children as they grow up. As we prepare for them to be spread out between both sets of grandparents I'm grateful for helpful and generous parents that can care for them when Joshua has surgery Monday. I am thankful that I live in country where my child can go get surgery he needs. I am thankful that no matter how hard the surgeries are on us we always look back and can see God working in our lives. I often wish that I could have Joshua as my child without the seemingly endless speech and doctor appointments and without him having to undergo all these surgeries. But then I remember that without those things we wouldn't have met some of the most amazing families I am priveledged to know. For those of you that have climbed the Great Wall you know that it is not the easiest set of stairs to climb. What some don't see in the above picture is that it took that little girl work to get there. It reminds me that our lives and our children's lives are at times messy and hard but in the end God can redeem any life and though the road may be hard it is always worth it. I am so thankful for the hard times and good times. They have made me so much closer to the Lord and in the end nothing else matters except our relationship with Him!

DTC!!!!

What an exciting time for sure! Here are some photos of the fun things we did in October!

As of November 4 we are officially DTC (Date to China). As I type our paperwork is in Hong Kong. It's too cool to watch it travel to Beijing hopefully to be logged in the the Center for China's Adoption Affairs soon.

Now I get to go into nesting phase. We have decided to play musical rooms yet again at our house so next week we will be moving all three girls into the big bedroom in our house. The boys were actually excited to get a "new room". Isaac's first question was, "Will Joshie be with me?" There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for those two brothers. Especially given the very rough 6 months they had "getting to know each other." It's funny to us that they rarely fight now and absolutely LOVE having a brother. Grace wrote a paragraph at school the other day that had to compare two things and their similarities and differences. It was so cute because their differences included their appearances but their similiarities were that they LOVE to run around the house shooting guns and yielding light sabors!! And how true that is!

I am in the process of gathering ideas to send to Joy for Christmas. One of my ideas is to send her more photos but this time of the pictures of her around our house and once we get the girls' room settled I will photo that too. I want her to start to realize that even though we don't know each other yet she is part of our family FOREVER!

In November Faith is celebrating her 8th birthday and Joshua will have surgery to revise his p-flap. I dread that but we hope it will help him close off his nasal passageway from his mouth to push more air out his mouth instead of his nose when he talks. Please pray for him and us! Surgeries tend to be hard on us all!

You know you're adopting when.....

1. You talk with you husband about a thousand dollars like it's pocket change!

2. You get an update on your soon to be child and the name is slightly different than you thought it was so you aren't sure what your child's real name is!

3. There are photos of a child you claim as and feel is yours all over your home but really you don't know them yet although your heart tells you differently!

4. There are PILES of paperwork in your kitchen (that only you know where everything is in the midst of it... most the time)!

5. Your daughter sees your emails and asks, "Who is Lola (LOA)?" You proceed to go over with her what the different acronyms mean and why others are so excited about them.

6. You get on the scale and realize you've gained a few pounds (ah... the paperwork pregnancy) something had to go in order to get all this done and it seems that exercise was it!

7. You feel like the mailman is Santa Claus and he always wonders why you or one of your kids is waiting in ambush for him at the mailbox!

8. Last but not least you remember all these things from your last adoption but are so grateful to have the opportunity to do them again!!! And you know that just like difficult pregnancies you forget the first time you meet your precious child!!

One More Thing Checked Off the List... Closer to China

We were able to get our USCIS fingerprints finished on October 8th. Somehow we feel like that step was big. I guess it's really the last thing we do before sending our dossier to China... except wait on that approval letter from USCIS that is! Anyway we made a day trip to Atlanta with the kids. My dad took us to the Spaghetti Factory and we toured the Federal Reserve Bank and the Secretary of State building since we also got some seals but on our paperwork. Grace got to miss school. I figure with missing 2 to 3 weeks in the spring to go to China she's not going to win any attendance awards this year anyway. You can tell I'm a homeschooler at heart... I like those life lessons and hands on field trips more than book work any day. Thankfully Grace's teacher agrees

We are also getting closer to the amount that we'll need to send our paperwork to China and are just amazed at God's provisions. When we felt God stirring in our hearts to adopt again this summer we said to each other, "Let's start saving and then maybe summer 2010 start the process with a little money." We started looking into domestic adoptions. Well God had other plans and He is definitely supplying everything we need. Friends that Clayton is doing carpentry work for have been generous when contributing to our adoption. Clayton has also been able to work some overtime and that is helping. We've had a yard sale that brought in about 3 times as much as my normal yard sales do and the kids got to sell lemonade and tell about their new sister. Friends that we home school with have set up a donation table at a co-op we participate in and people have been generous. Another friend even went with her kids and sold cookies door to door in her neighborhood to help with Joy's adoption. All of these things have also given us and those that know us opportunity to talk about adoption with others and we pray spark a desire in others' hearts as well.

One thing that we are becoming increasingly aware of is that God is in adoption. Our adoption into His family and His care for the fatherless on this earth. Joshua has started talking about China now that we talk about Joy being there. He'll look at his scrapbook that has the photos in it of his first two years of life in China. Before he would only want to look at the photos that included us in China and his life here now. He also put his hands up to his eyes the other day and was pretending to look through them like binoculars and saying Joy's name. I asked him if he was looking for Joy in China. He said yes and that when he was in China he'd look through his hand for mama. WOW!! I'm so grateful God provided someone that would talk to him about us and love on him there. Joshua obviously went to bed hungry a few too many nights and couldn't have consistent love and care like a forever family provides but God is using those hard experiences to shape him now too. We pray for Joy MenQian that way too. That she would sense God's Hand on her life and know that we love her. We pray that even now she'll start to understand what a forever family is and that God would put people in her life in China that love her.

Meanwhile we are making plans for revamping Faith's room to make is Faith and Joy's room. We have pictures up of Joy and have made up her bed with some things that will be hers. Some Christmas gifts will be sitting on her bed for her. We are excited about getting our paperwork to China so that we can prepare for her arrival.

Trip to the Beach

We had a fun time at Top Sail Hill State Park camping at the beach. It rained two out of the four days but everyone liked the waves that the storms produced and one of those days it wasn't lightening so the kids got to swim in the rain. We ate at a very fun restuarant (all you can eat seafood) called Captain Kids. Holidays and vacations can be difficult when you're adopting because you always feel like you are missing someone, wishing they could be there, and wondering what they are doing. I've held it together so far and really just tried to pass by without too much staring at the picture of Joy on our refridgerator. Well on this vacation the emotions began. While we were eating and all the kids were talking and having a great time I began to feel the tears well up. Emotions come at the craziest times I know.

We have gotten our USCIS fingerprinting appointment, Oct. 20. Not as soon as we'd hoped but that's what it is nonetheless. So... it's still looking like spring... possibly even April/May instead of March. All we can do is trust and pray that it'll happen in God's perfect timing and know that He is caring for Joy and us along the way.

This is how I've been feeling... and then God sent a glimmer of hope!

ADOPTION PAPERWORK HAS ALMOST KILLED ME... OKAY AT LEAST MADE ME FEEL LIKE POOR JOSH DID ON THIS NIGHT AT DINNER. Today though I went downstairs to check my emails and received updated information and pictures for Joy. Made it all worthwhile...(I highly recommend using www.redthreadchina.com to send your child in China things. You get updates and it's much cheaper than sending a package from the US.)





Isn't she absolutely adorable? We are all so excited. She has grown 5 cm and gained 2pounds since her last update about 6 months ago. That's great!! We hope to hear something from her soon!

Summers Over

Clayton and the kids extracting honey! Yes, we have honey bees!

Grace the beekeeper!

Cute Faith!

Joshie sunbathing... as if he needs a tan!

Isaac is so proud of his trophies!


It's hard to believe summer is over! Usually I am ready for school to get started and feel refreshed. Not so this year. We had a lot of doctor appointments, then when God led us to adopt again the frantic paper chase began!! This was our first week of school and it went well though. Isaac and Joshua are enjoying "doing school" and Grace enjoys Trinity Day School. She had a few days of feeling overwhelmed but overall seems to enjoy it. Faith is liking all the girl time with mom although she does miss her sister's companionship.

Announcing Our Newest Blessing- It's a Girl!

Yes, we are adopting again! We are so excited, overwhelmed, and amazed!! Excited and amazed by God's handiwork in the lives of our children. Overwhelmed at the tremendous amount of paperwork involved! We are naming her Joy Menqian and she is 8years old and lives in southern China. Grace and Faith will be traveling with us this time.... so please pray for lots of things but for now just the preparation of paperwork and hearts in ALL of our lives. It will be difficult for Joshua and Isaac to be left out of the trip even though I know they'll have a memorable time here. Well, I'll be posting more soon I'm sure since it seems the only time I get into blogging is when we're adopting or their is a major holiday. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers for God's work to be done in our family's life!

If you would like to help with our adoption financially we would welcome and be grateful for the support. We look forward to seeing how God will provide and are reminded that with God all things are possible. We are looking for construction jobs that Clayton can do for a little extra income, selling things at yard sales, and mowing some yards in our neighborhood for our builder. If you know of anyone that needs something done feel free to give them our contact information. If you would like to support us and receive a tax deduction you can go to Kingdom Kids website and their link is in the sidebar.

We are set up with this non profit organization and can obtain the support designated to us at any time. Again, we are so grateful for you prayers and support. We can't wait to bring Joy Menqian home!

Wow! We've been home a year. It has been quite a few weeks... full of emotion! Joshua's first birthday home with us and then remembering our time in China! Here are a few photos....

Easter Morning

Joshua loves Thomas the Train

Joshie (as his siblings call him) at one of his

3 year birthday parties!

Photos like these mean so much to us. When God led us to Joshua we thought "Oh how wonderful... a brother for Isaac". Then they spent most of his first 6 months fighting with each other. But now they are best buds... Joshua idolizes Isaac and Isaac teaches Josh everything. As we have struggled with speech with Josh it is Isaac who is able to get him to mimic sounds the best. It has been determined that Joshua has muscle weakness in his mouth due to his cleft so the next 6 months to a year we will spend in intense speech therapy away from home 3 times a week. Then when we are at home we have strict instructions from the therapist that works on his muscle strengthening and the one that works on his articulation. Lord willing we will be well on track in a year so they predict anyway. We are thankful for God's leading us to these two therapists. Well... home a year and this is the new us!!! Finally thriving for sure!

Grace, Faith, and Isaac are playing softball and T-Ball so our nights are pretty booked. Thankfully that will end in May but they are all having a good time. Josh just wants to play too but not until next year! We are looking forward to doing a lot of camping this summer and Grace is going away to camp for the first time. She is very excited!! Blessings to you all!