Help free Pastor Bike

From Voice of the Martys:

On August 6, just two days before the Olympics began, Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan was arrested, along with his wife and a coworker. In response to these arrests, The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association have launched a petition drive to free these three Christians and to let the Chinese government know that the world is aware that these Christians are being detained.

Pastor Bike, as he is affectionately known, is considered to be one of the most outspoken evangelists in China. He is a bold believer willing to cross borders, hand out Christian literature and Bibles, share Christ with those under age 18 and lead thousands to Christ. All these actions are considered "illegal," in communist China. Earlier this year, Pastor Bike pleaded with VOM staff and China Aid Association to create the China Prayer Bands so that Christians in the free world could know more about persecution of Christians in China.

"Pastor Bike is willing to do everything that the state church won't do," says Tom White, executive director of The Voice of the Martyrs. "The love of Christ is evident in his outreach and his passion for souls. He stands for everything we believe in and has been mercilessly persecuted by the Chinese government."

Go to this link to find out more & sign the petition: http://www.freepastorbike.com/

Happy, Happy Birthday

Okay...so I'm going to try to catch up on what's been happin' over here :) August 6th...my baby girl turned 7. Is that possible...how can that be?!?!?

It seems like just yesterday we received the call that a precious birthmother wanted to meet us. Talk about an amazing meeting. There was no doubt the Lord had already welded our families together. 7 beautiful weeks later, a precious, beautiful, amazing, STRONG young lady gave birth to our first daughter and placed her in our arms forever. I will never, ever forget that day....the moments of the entire day and days to follow are still soooooo clear. I am so thankful that God perfectly placed our sweet "Tr" in our lives and ever so thankful for the amazing relationship we have with "R". She is so deeply a part of our family and we love her so much.

Our sweet little miss "Tr" is an amazing young girl. Her zeal and love of life is absoutely amazing!! If I could bottle even just an ounce of her joy.....have you ever just wanted to scream with excitement....I mean scream and dance around with all your might because you can't contain your happiness? Well, this is how she lives her life everday!! Ever since she was itty-bitty, she would squeal with great delight over the simple things in life. She is my social butterfly..."Where are we going, who are we seeing, what are we doing" roll off her tongue a zillion times a day (no joke). She loves being with her family, friends, and LOVES shopping with her mama. She doesn't help my shopping addiction one bit :) She loves fashion and has a crazy style all her own...it totally suits her. She is absolutely wonderful with her siblings and loves helping with them. One night I heard "S" fussing and then I heard "Tr" right next to her comforting her...tucking her in, giving her her binkie, and singing her back to sleep....talk about PRECIOUS!!!

"Tr" is crazy and wild! She has taught me to see life through her eyes and it's unbelievable!! Oh, to live life like my little girl....God has BIG, HUGE plans for this peanut!!! Happy Birthday lovie...we love you so much!!

The first time we held her!

Getting read to go home
Mommy having fun taking pictures of our precious gift! Our crazy girl :)

YES...she's barely 3 and she stacked 2 chairs and climbed on up.

Craziness and twin update

Ooohhh, I have lots to share but no time right now...my baby girl turned 7...great news for CA homeschooling families...getting ready to go camping....my oldest is turning into a young man, he'll be 11 in a week....will have to post a little bit later but wanted share another update on the twins:

Hi All,I just received a phone call from "J" (guide) with the great news. BiBi (theolder sister) has been discharged from the hospital today. She isdoing well. Mei Mei is still in the hospital, transferred to the regular ward. She is not in critical condition. "M"/"B"/and "B" mother might becoming home this Sunday with the twins ....Please continue to pray for the children's health and their safe return. ~S

Twin Update

Not too much to update but here's an email from "B" (aka, mama):

Hello Everyone, And, "J", Thank- you!! I think this is maybe your friend, "A", came by this morning with antibacterial liquid soap and and handwipes and protein bars! It is exactly what we needed! After having been violently ill myself I just didn't have the energy to go shopping. ANd who knows if they even sell such things in GZ??? But now we are stocked. As for Judy...I know why we all call her THE AMAZING JUDY!!! We have almost run her into the ground and I hope she survives our stay in China. She is awesome! We also had an American doctor come by early this morning offering to help. He has just adopted a precious little girl over here. He went with us to the PICU "to help us prepare for the trip home and to see how we will care for and feed the girls on the flight as well as advise us on long term care." He was satisfied with the PICU and care they were being given for now. He was of great help. We did try to explain his presence of advising for the flight home and long term care as to not step on the toes of the doctors here. We are comfortable with their care for now but we still need to hire a pediatric doctor for the flight home.Thanks for any advice and all well wishes and prayers. ~"B"

Please continue to pray!!

Please, please continue to pray for the family I shared about earlier this week. They are still in China and twins are not getting better!! Here is an update from their mama:

After several miserable and scary nights in a "regular" hospital room with "E", which we were lucky to even get, "E"was moved up to the PICU. Although her health did decline, we feel more comfortable with the care given in the PICU rather than the care we were giving her in the "regular" room. So "M" and "E" are both in PICU. "M" is off the ventialtor but "E" may have to be put on it. This means that we only get to see the girls for a few minutes a day. Thank for all your concern and good thoughts!!! If anyone knows of a pediatric doctor to hire for the flight home, let me know...for when of if that happens.~"B"
PS. And today they said this a rare pneumonia. ???

We're all okay

I've received a couple of emails from out-of-state friends regarding the earthquake today. The epicenter was about five miles northeast of Yorba Linda...we live right next to YL. It was a 5.4 which is a really good, medium size quake....strong enough to cause things to fall off of shelves and walls.

For my youngest, this was their first earthquake. I was in Wal-Mart with all 5 kiddos when the ground started to roll and I started to pull the kids into me as I waited to see if the quake was going to get bigger or not. It definitely got bigger and people started screaming and running through the story...NOT a good idea! Things were flying off the shelves. We happened to be in the candle aisle...not the best place to be during an earthquake. There was glass breaking all around us. I kept looking around and tried to scoot us back into a safer spot. You just never know how long they will last or how strong they will get. Once everything settled down, a sweet lady came running down the aisle to check on us. She said she remembered passing us in the store earlier and all she could think of was finding us and making sure we were okay.

My precious 'I' was terrified. I couldn't get him to stop crying :( He cried the whole way home and hasn't left daddy's side since (praise the Lord daddy was working from home today). The girls didn't seem too bothered by it. I am soooo proud of my older 2. Everything happened so fast but big brother was on the ball. He grabbed 'I' and held him and kept asking if the babies were okay. Mommy was a little shaken but more out of fear of 'how am I going to keep all my babies safe'. I've lived in So. Cal. my whole life so I'm pretty use to earthquake's and have no problem staying calm. But the realization that I only had two arms and 5 kiddos worried me!! We had an awesome saftey talk when we got home so I think that has helped to calm everyone.

Love ya guys!!

We live within all the red dots :)

Please Pray!!

I'm calling on all prayer warriors. Please pray for one of our agency families. They are in China right now. B and M received their precious TWIN girls a week ago and they are very, very sick. Both babies are now in the hospital and one is in ICU. One has severe viral pneumonia and the other has viral bronchitis. Please pray for healing, saftey, and strength for the girls! Also, pray for strength and wisdom for mama and baba. They obviously can't come home until the girls are better so pray for this aspect, too.

Sweet Gotcha moment!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "I"

Today is my baby boy's 5th birthday. The big 5!!!! He informed us that NOW he was a big boy...before he was still a baby.

I'll never forget the day he came home. He was 11 precious weeks old. We drove down the street and saw his amazing birthmother, "N" holding him outside in the front yard. I lost it...I couldn't believe that was our baby boy waiting for us. "N" was sooooo brave and so strong as she placed him into our arms. She loves him so much!! We had a beautiful time with "N" and her family. As we all cried and hugged, we packed our little man up and gave lots of kisses 'good-bye'. Our hearts were so broken and so full of joy at the same time. Talk about a difficult time. We were so excited about our new son but so broken for the mama that wasn't able to parent him. We are so blessed to have "N' in our lives...we share letters and pictures but even more beautifully...we get to visit with her. God has grown our relationship in such an amazing way and we love her so much.

Our little...I mean BIG man is the absolute joy of our lives. His smile and laugh can light up the whole room. He is one of the most gentle, loving boys I know. He is so full of life and I love watching life through his eyes. We love you baby boy (you will ALWAYS be my baby)...we are so proud of who you are...we can't imagine our lives without you...you are one of the greatest blessings and gifts in our lives!

Summer Fun!!

It seems like forever since I've posted. We've been super bbbuusssyy! Here's a little bit of what we've been up to!

The girls in a fashion show at our agency summer reunion.

!!!Twice the fun!!!

Best buddies....T and K

T getting ready to race at Dromo One.

Yummy noodles in China Town.

Modeling our dresses made by mommy's friend Cheri.

"Open Up"

S's new silly face..."Hhhuuuu"

"Enjoy each and EVERY day"

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).