As my young, sweet friend struggles with breast cancer, she says this second round of chemo has been very hard. Her precious words to us are, "Enjoy each and every day!"
So, my wonderful friends...enjoy your days...enjoy your health, enjoy your precious babies (even when they've just thrown a dozen eggs across the kitchen...and YES, that has happened before), enjoy the gift of your spouse, enjoy the sweet days that the Lord has given you here and use them for HIS glory!!
LOVE YA!!!! And please, please be praying for Sharon and her family...she has a wonderful husband and two beautiful girls (both adopted from Russia).
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Gotcha 1 year ago Baby!!
As I type this post, tears of so many feelings are flowing right now. What an UNBELIEVABLE journey it has been to our precious C and I am totally blown away that 1 year ago today, our amazing miracle baby was placed in our arms FOREVER!!!!!! I look at her sweet sleeping face and think 'why Lord...why did you choose us...why did you entrust her with us...we did not deserve her...we did not deserve all the beautiful favor you showed to us in moving the mountains to bring her home'. We are so overwhelmed by the gift of her and are so excited to be celebrating one year with her home.
Just for some fun reading, I posted part of our journal from that amazing day.
(Stacy) It's 5am in the morning and I can't sleep :) I was so tired last night; I thought I'd for sure sleep well. We are 4 hours away from meeting our precious daughter that we've waited so long for. That just totally blows my mind. I am very nervous, excited, and tearful (with joy) about what is about to transpire. Today will be a very long day of paperwork etc. but I believe we will be allowed a short quiet time back at our hotel room sometime today. I promise we will post pics. asap!!! Daddy keep your phone near by, we will be text messaging you once we have her and hopefully sending a picture via Paul's phone...I'm thinking sometime around 9:30/10. (6:30/7pm your time) THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME...our baby is miles away from us...oh, sweet C your mommy and daddy finally here!!!!!
(Paul) We have her! Everything went well, C is healthy and happy. We'll post more later. A lot more paperwork to do.
(Stacy) What an unbelievably amazing day!!! We left our hotel at 8:30am and headed to the Civil Affairs office...this is where we were to receive C . As we approached the gate we could hear a baby crying but had no idea if it was C . We saw two babies and we couldn't tell if either were C . Then another nanny was holding a crying baby and our guide was talking very fast to everyone in the room and then she kept say Pan Dan Feng and started tape recording this crying baby. The second we realized what was going on, I lost it...there was our precious baby. They immediately handed her to me and she cried for about a minute and then rested her head on my shoulder and was quiet. The nannies were so excited to see her rest quietly on my shoulder…they kept saying 'mama' (we found out later from our friends that C had been screaming non-stop from the moment she walked through the door). We spent about 10minutes holding her and then we had to move to another room to begin the paperwork. We were so, so excited to see that our friends (Lisa & Adam) were in the same room. At this point C was still doing well but was very, very nervous. She was holding a package of crackers and wouldn't even let us touch them. If I moved at all, she'd jump and fuss a bit. Paul started to fill out some of the paperwork while I tried to open her crackers. She would nervously fidget with the crackers, spinning them round and round in her hands. C ultimately started to eat them which helped a bit. I then gave her some little keys and handed her off to daddy…she’s a daddy’s girl. She did the same nervous fidget with the toy keys but wasn’t crying. Again, if we moved her at all she’d cry a bit. Ultimately daddy got her to sleep and that helped her relax a lot. She was not showing too much emotion but sat very quietly observing everything that was happening around her.
After about 1.5 hours at the Civil Affairs office we headed off to do more paperwork and ended up at our hotel for about a 2 hour break. The second we walked through our hotel door, our little shy peanut began to smile and giggle and play. She was a totally different child. We had such a precious time playing with her and helping her become somewhat comfortable with us. She LOVED calling the family via webcams and absolutely LOVES Paul’s computer. We have discovered that this quiet little girl is not so quiet, nor shy. She is EXTREMELY busy. I’m positive she has 20 arms. She is unbelievable fast at grabbing things and is very, very smart. She must know how things work. She is super curious about everything. She had her first bath and at first look cried as if to tell us ‘there is no way I’m getting in there’. So, I rolled up my shorts, climbed in the bath tub and stood her in it. She wouldn’t let me sit her down so we gave her a cup and showed her how to dump the water out. Because she is so curious, she grabbed the bowl out of my hands and bent over to get water and do the same thing I did. Needless to say, she ended up sitting in the tub and realized it wasn’t so bad after all.
We ate some lunch and headed of to do more paperwork. Woohoo…there were 3 other families that we’ve connected with through our province yahoo group there, too. So, we had a wonderful time with them. Their babies are so, so precious. We are so blessed to have them during this trip. It truly helps to have other families that understand what each other is going through. C has had 2 sad times today. Not so much a ton of crying but she’ll be playing and stop and get a sad look and cry a little bit. She is allowing both of us to comfort her and will reach for both of us. HUGE, HUGE blessing!!! C seems to like us….we’ll see in the morning when she realizes we are still here J We are still in awe of this little miracle sleeping in the crib right next to our bed. She’s here, she’s really here! Thank you Lord for this amazing privilege…for this precious, precious gift! We stand in complete awe of all that you have done for our family!!
Here is our 'gotcha video' and some pictures from that BEAUTIFUL day. (pause site music)
Just for some fun reading, I posted part of our journal from that amazing day.
(Stacy) It's 5am in the morning and I can't sleep :) I was so tired last night; I thought I'd for sure sleep well. We are 4 hours away from meeting our precious daughter that we've waited so long for. That just totally blows my mind. I am very nervous, excited, and tearful (with joy) about what is about to transpire. Today will be a very long day of paperwork etc. but I believe we will be allowed a short quiet time back at our hotel room sometime today. I promise we will post pics. asap!!! Daddy keep your phone near by, we will be text messaging you once we have her and hopefully sending a picture via Paul's phone...I'm thinking sometime around 9:30/10. (6:30/7pm your time) THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME...our baby is miles away from us...oh, sweet C your mommy and daddy finally here!!!!!
(Paul) We have her! Everything went well, C is healthy and happy. We'll post more later. A lot more paperwork to do.
(Stacy) What an unbelievably amazing day!!! We left our hotel at 8:30am and headed to the Civil Affairs office...this is where we were to receive C . As we approached the gate we could hear a baby crying but had no idea if it was C . We saw two babies and we couldn't tell if either were C . Then another nanny was holding a crying baby and our guide was talking very fast to everyone in the room and then she kept say Pan Dan Feng and started tape recording this crying baby. The second we realized what was going on, I lost it...there was our precious baby. They immediately handed her to me and she cried for about a minute and then rested her head on my shoulder and was quiet. The nannies were so excited to see her rest quietly on my shoulder…they kept saying 'mama' (we found out later from our friends that C had been screaming non-stop from the moment she walked through the door). We spent about 10minutes holding her and then we had to move to another room to begin the paperwork. We were so, so excited to see that our friends (Lisa & Adam) were in the same room. At this point C was still doing well but was very, very nervous. She was holding a package of crackers and wouldn't even let us touch them. If I moved at all, she'd jump and fuss a bit. Paul started to fill out some of the paperwork while I tried to open her crackers. She would nervously fidget with the crackers, spinning them round and round in her hands. C ultimately started to eat them which helped a bit. I then gave her some little keys and handed her off to daddy…she’s a daddy’s girl. She did the same nervous fidget with the toy keys but wasn’t crying. Again, if we moved her at all she’d cry a bit. Ultimately daddy got her to sleep and that helped her relax a lot. She was not showing too much emotion but sat very quietly observing everything that was happening around her.
After about 1.5 hours at the Civil Affairs office we headed off to do more paperwork and ended up at our hotel for about a 2 hour break. The second we walked through our hotel door, our little shy peanut began to smile and giggle and play. She was a totally different child. We had such a precious time playing with her and helping her become somewhat comfortable with us. She LOVED calling the family via webcams and absolutely LOVES Paul’s computer. We have discovered that this quiet little girl is not so quiet, nor shy. She is EXTREMELY busy. I’m positive she has 20 arms. She is unbelievable fast at grabbing things and is very, very smart. She must know how things work. She is super curious about everything. She had her first bath and at first look cried as if to tell us ‘there is no way I’m getting in there’. So, I rolled up my shorts, climbed in the bath tub and stood her in it. She wouldn’t let me sit her down so we gave her a cup and showed her how to dump the water out. Because she is so curious, she grabbed the bowl out of my hands and bent over to get water and do the same thing I did. Needless to say, she ended up sitting in the tub and realized it wasn’t so bad after all.
We ate some lunch and headed of to do more paperwork. Woohoo…there were 3 other families that we’ve connected with through our province yahoo group there, too. So, we had a wonderful time with them. Their babies are so, so precious. We are so blessed to have them during this trip. It truly helps to have other families that understand what each other is going through. C has had 2 sad times today. Not so much a ton of crying but she’ll be playing and stop and get a sad look and cry a little bit. She is allowing both of us to comfort her and will reach for both of us. HUGE, HUGE blessing!!! C seems to like us….we’ll see in the morning when she realizes we are still here J We are still in awe of this little miracle sleeping in the crib right next to our bed. She’s here, she’s really here! Thank you Lord for this amazing privilege…for this precious, precious gift! We stand in complete awe of all that you have done for our family!!
Here is our 'gotcha video' and some pictures from that BEAUTIFUL day. (pause site music)
"Created for a place I've never known...
This is home, now I'm finally where I belong"
I have not listened to this song in a while and I was caught off guard by how emotional it made me. It brought back all the emotions of the wait, the trial, and the precious day she was finally placed in our arms. HOME TO STAY...YOU'LL NEVER BE ALONE!!
Monday, July 07, 2008
Summer adoption program
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/06/bolduan.more.summer.miracles.cnn
Sounds interesting but what happens to the one's that don't get adopted? Do these children know they are coming over for the purpose of a 'trail' period. On the other hand, it opens up awareness for families that may have never considered adopting before. It also opens up the possibility for harder to place kiddos to find a family...Hmmmmm....
Here is the link to the organization that has this program... http://www.kidsave.org/ ... I look forward to reading more on their website.
The more I read about this organization, the more I like it :) What an awesome opportunity! Oooohhh, maybe we can bring a group of kiddos to OC. Hmmmmmm... :)
Sounds interesting but what happens to the one's that don't get adopted? Do these children know they are coming over for the purpose of a 'trail' period. On the other hand, it opens up awareness for families that may have never considered adopting before. It also opens up the possibility for harder to place kiddos to find a family...Hmmmmm....
Here is the link to the organization that has this program... http://www.kidsave.org/ ... I look forward to reading more on their website.
The more I read about this organization, the more I like it :) What an awesome opportunity! Oooohhh, maybe we can bring a group of kiddos to OC. Hmmmmmm... :)
Give it all up?!?!?
"Wow"....all I can say is, "WOW!"
http://hannahslunchbox.com/HL_Site/Welcome.html
Here's the cnn article on this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/07/02/hunger.house/index.html
How is the Lord calling you to help...or 'give it all up?'
"Lord, what do you want to change in me...what do I need to give up?"
http://hannahslunchbox.com/HL_Site/Welcome.html
Here's the cnn article on this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/07/02/hunger.house/index.html
How is the Lord calling you to help...or 'give it all up?'
"Lord, what do you want to change in me...what do I need to give up?"
Friday, July 04, 2008
Blessed with Freedom
(PAUSE SITE MUSIC BELOW)
As we celebrate our Independence day, I can't help but reflect on the simple freedoms that we take for granted.
~The freedom to boldly and openly serve our God
~to be able to worship and praise Him
~to be able to share about who He is and what He has done for us on the cross
~to be able to marry who ever I choose
~to be able to have as many children as the Lord gives
~to be able to raise my children knowing God
~to be able to homeschool them
~to have freedom of speech
~to have freedom of morals and values
~to have freedom of religion
~to have the freedom to choose my occupation
~to live in a country where our freedom's influence who we are
~to live in a country where we have faithful service men & women who sacrifice EVERYTHING so the we can have those freedoms...THANK YOU FOR GIVING YOUR VERY LIVES TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS...so my babies can be safe...with a gratitude that I can't even put into words....THANK YOU!!!!!
Lord, thank you for the blessing to live in such a country. I ask, Father, that this nation will bow their knees to you and surrender their lives. That we will finally truly become one nation of God! We need you, Lord!!!
What freedoms are you thankful for? Please leave me a comment...
**I AM VERY BLESSED & PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN**
Monday, June 30, 2008
Pray for China Bands
Check out these neat prayer bands. I will send one of these bracelets to the first person that will commit to praying for China and lists what they will specifically pray for in my comments section of this post :) CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS!! (okay, so Cheri beat you all to it...but please keep posting your commitment to pray)
From Voice of the Martyrs: China Olympic prayer bands are a great way to remind us to pray for Christians in China. Wear them during the Olympics and pray for your persecuted family.
From Voice of the Martyrs: China Olympic prayer bands are a great way to remind us to pray for Christians in China. Wear them during the Olympics and pray for your persecuted family.
https://www.vombooks.com/qry/qe_store.taf?_function=detail&_peid=1308&_id=A726364698&_code=P&_nc=9fb0c393813bd5a829bc86f5001c080b
I already ordered ours :) Thank you, Julee, for sharing these with me!
1 Thessalonians 5:17~...pray without ceasing.
I already ordered ours :) Thank you, Julee, for sharing these with me!1 Thessalonians 5:17~...pray without ceasing.
James 5:16b~The effective, FERVENT prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Friday, June 27, 2008
It took me several times to watch this video all the way through. The need is so great it can be overwhelming at times. I have to remind myself that it's one child at a time...I will do everything I can to help one peanut at a time and help spread awareness so that other's can help one baby at a time. I encourage you to watch this video and pray that the Lord will reveal how you can help. I know we cannot foster at this time in our lives but maybe the Lord has that for us when our babies are a little older. So, in the meantime, I will be faithful to pray and remind others to pray and spread the word about the needs of the over 143 million orphans in this world.
(Don't forget to pause my site music at the way bottom of the page)
Thank you Alida and Mashel for sharing this video with me :)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
We can't even comprehend...
We have SO much...I can't even imagine...I simply can't imagine!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/06/24/damon.indonesia.kids.cost.cnn
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/06/24/damon.indonesia.kids.cost.cnn
Monday, June 23, 2008
Please pray...
I am asking all you pray warriors to lift up an extrodinary woman. A precious woman that I have come to know via email and phone conversations. She is the sweet, sweet woman I have bought some of my custom adoption jewelry from.
A couple of months ago, her father passed away. I just learned that her mother is now in hospice and is expected to pass any day. My heart aches soooo deeply for her. Please be praying for peace and comfort that only our Lord can give. I can't even come close to understanding the grief of loosing both parents so quickly.
This is the link to her Etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5208670
A couple of months ago, her father passed away. I just learned that her mother is now in hospice and is expected to pass any day. My heart aches soooo deeply for her. Please be praying for peace and comfort that only our Lord can give. I can't even come close to understanding the grief of loosing both parents so quickly.
This is the link to her Etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5208670
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Line Up!!!
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When the kids hear daddy say, "Line-Up"...they'd better line-up :) He started this a few years ago and it works great! It's only needed when they are all being crazy and not listening...it's a great way to get them to settle down and give us their full attention. Well, it was time for bed and daddy called 'line-up' and they all came running. One by one, they found their spot...even the babies..LOL!!! No one has ever shown the babies what to do, they just fall into line.
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