Our miracle girl & the fight to bring her home!

Today will always be a day in our family history that catches my breath. A day that we will never forget...

5 years ago it was the day we were DTC (docs to China)..waiting to be matched with our girl AND 4 years ago when received a phone call from our agency stating that the CCAA had told us we had to return our daughter's file and we could no longer adopt her....Some of you have read our miracle girl's story and some of you have not.

May 1, 2007 
we received the referral of our beautiful Cana...

May 12 
while we were preparing to travel, she turned 1...we celebrated...

May 15
the day our lives were forever changed
the fight of our lives began...directed by God!
read her story HERE
God continues to use our miracle girl's story in ways we could have never imagined.

She's 5 Today...

How can it be?  How can she...

Be FIVE today?

Oh, our beautiful, miracle girl. You are a gift that we could have never dreamed possible! There are no words to describe how much we love you...just know baby girl, you are a part of who daddy and I are...you make us better...we love you sweet one!

 

Finally...

Hmmmm, I don't even know where to start...it's been far too long and I miss you guys terribly!

We are all doing fantastic!  The kiddos are all doing great. Solomon continues to amaze me with how ready he was for a forever family. God moved mightily to prepare him for our family.  He is doing WONDERFUL and we are so in awe of this little miracle.

We were blessed to take our annual family vacation. My parents, sisters & their families were all there...talk about a much NEEDED time to get away & just focus on our family!!! There were so many fabulous firsts for Solomon.  As he ran freely on the beach, I was blown away with the thoughts of what his life was like before he was home.  Watching him was so precious and honestly, it was really hard for me to process...seeing him experience the sheer joy of freedom to run...freedom to play...freedom to scream with glee...freedom to get dirty ...simple freedom's we take for granted every day...freedom's he has NEVER experienced until that glorious day he became ours. Oh, what a wonderful new beginning!!

 First steps in the sand!

 My sweet nephews

 My Bella girl...my neice

 And they are off!!!

 My sweet nephew

 My sissy taking the girls sea shell hunting

 Doing the beach Grammy style

  Papa and Grammy and ALL the grand kids!! Does it get more beautiful than that?

 MY GIRLS!!!!!

MY BOYS!!

 My cup overfloweth!!!
(even if it's virtually impossible to get a picture with everyone looking, smiling, and eyes open :)

 Such a daddy's boy...everything he does, he says "just like my daddy!"  

  Freedom to play and get dirty

 Dirty face and all ;)

 Freedom to live, to be loved, to have joy!

 He LOOOVVEESSS his silly goggles...like, he wouldn't sleep without them!

Thank you for this life, Lord!!!

Caption needed & Giveaway!

WINNER UPDATE: Oh, you guys make me laugh!!!!

We LOVED every single one...a few got us extra giggly...

Oh and uh Amy...HOW I WISH!!!!!

THE WINNER IS......

2kidmommy (Courtney) with iSleep...

you had us laughing every time we read that!

Congratulations and thank you all for playing along...we are going to have to do this more often :)

Okay...so I am wwwaaayyyy behind on posting and even more way behind on reading my sweet friends blogs. I am soooo sorry!  These little 'triplets' are not allowing me to have a whole lot of computer time these days. I miss you guys so much!

Just had to post a quick picture because it's hilarious and because it desperately needs a caption AND because I wanna give away a Solomon Beads bracelet. So, caption away!!!

Remember precious Meadow??

Do you guys remember this precious bugga-boo??

Sweet Meadow's family is paperchasing like crazy to bring her home but our baby girl is sick...very sick and needs to have surgery ASAP!!!!!!!  I received this update from her foster mama:

Meadow went to the doctor again this week (I think we're going to have to start paying rent at the hospital). They were able to do the GI test that we've been waiting for, and discovered a blockage where her stomach and intestine meet. They want to do surgery to fix the problem, and will “schedule” it (I use that term loosely) sometime the week of May 9th. We're looking at a 10 day hospital stay.  It's first come, first serve, so we'll have to check her into the hospital then they'll put her on a waiting list for the surgery, which could take up to 3 days. Once our name is called, she'll have surgery, then stay for another 7 days or so. This will be a difficult time for us as a family, since hospitals here are very different from hospitals in the States.  The families of the patient are responsible for everything.  We will have to provide: food/formula for Meadow, diapers and wipes, bathing accessories (tub, washcloth and soap), etc.  Pretty much, anything she needs, we will have to provide (not to mention, our own needs: meals, water, toilet paper, etc).  One of us will be required to be with her at all times. There aren't any bathrooms in the rooms, so it makes leaving to go to the bathroom difficult.  (We are not allowed to leave her side). Although we are anticipating a difficult season, we're beyond thrilled that our little Meadow is finally getting the help she needs. The estimated cost for her surgery is 20,000rmb (approx. $3,000.00US), plus various other expenses (IV's, tests, blood work, special soy formula, etc) .  As you can see, this is a very large expense for us, and we are trusting the Lord to provide for Meadow's medical care.  In order to receive care at the hospital, we have to pay upfront (it's not a “treatment now, pay later” system).  Would you pray and see if the Lord wants to use you to help cover some of her expenses?  Please commit to pray for her before and during her operation.  Also pray for extra grace for our children, since one of us will be gone from home for at least 10 days.  We have lots of friends here who are going to pitch in and help us.  We're so blessed to be surrounded by such a generous community of believers.

*If you would like to donate to help cover the cost of Meadow's medical care, you can click on “send gift” on the homepage of our website: peterjennifer.chproject.net    IF YOU NEED A TAX RECEIPT, your donation can be sent to our organization.  Make checks payable to Youth With A Mission.  Make sure our name is NOT anywhere on the check.  Include a separate note that states the money is for Peter and Jennifer Peissner (Meadow).  Mail to:
Peter and Jennifer Peissner
c/o Youth With A Mission
PO BOX 790237
Paia, HI  96779


Meadow's foster mama said that several people have already contacted her about fundraising so the greatest need is to pray for this precious girl.  If you do feel led to give, please do but Jennifer's biggest request is for prayer!

Spring Frenzy

It's TIME...time to spread some Spring Frenzy...

Spring Frenzy is for EVERYONE!!!

You will fit in one of two categories....

1. Fundraising family

OR

2. Supporting family :)

Okay...here's how it works. All of us LOVE to give gifts EVEN when times are financially tough. Having just finished the fundraising journey, I keep thinking how can we help other families?!?! Soooo, here's my idea.

FUNDRAISING FAMILIES:

~You must be in the process of adopting a child that is NOT already home...you don't have to be matched yet, though. You must be using the funds from your items to directly fund your adoption costs.
~You are selling an item to help raise funds to bring your child home. (no raffles, please...it's okay if you are currently running a raffle BUT you MUST be selling fundraising items too, like shirts, etc...that is what you need to be linking to)~If someone is giving your family part of the proceeds for items, like Scentsy, jewelry, THAT WORKS, TOO :)

~You need to post on your blog and/or facebook about our Spring Frenzy and link back to my blog. This is CRUCIAL...the more awareness we raise the more supporting families we will have.

~Please make sure you create a NEW blog post regarding the Spring Frenzy...don't link to an old post. BUT don't forget to highlight what YOU are SELLING in that post :)
~I would love for you to become a follower of my blog...just cause I wanna know who my friends are :)
~Add your blog LINK to the BELOW Linky tool (at the bottom of this post)
~Fun idea for fundraising families...you guys can swap items and then have some fabulous items to do a raffle.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES:

~Make your gift lists and try to support as many families as you can by purchasing their fundraising items as gift. (click on the below links to see the families)

~Please help spread the word for these families!!! Blog, facebook, tweet, and link back to my blog!!!

~We are talking MOTHER'S DAY...FATHER'S DAY...BIRTHDAYS...JUST BECAUSE...

For questions, you can email me at wearechinabound@gmail.com

Fundraising families and Supporting families unite to help bring orphans home! I LOVE IT!!! All for the glory of our Lord!

Feel free to grab the Spring Frenzy button on my sidebar and help spread the word!

Please pray...

Pray for this family ... go read their story ... pray for their baby boy ... the baby boy they were suppose to bring home but because of one judge, they've been denied his adoption ... read their story ... pray for God's perfect will ... this sweet boy will not survive if he stays institutionalized, they can't possibly meet his needs ... he needs to be with his forever family!

I DID IT...26.2 miles...

After months of training, months of raising financial support for sweet baby Heather, I can now say that I am a 'marathoner'...sounds so cool...LOL!!! What an experience!!!! The race started wonderful...the rain was looming but was only a light drizzle...the winds were like ice, though. I was feeling the strongest I had ever felt and knew it was going to be a great race UNTIL mile 4 when my stomach went haywire. As I was standing in line to the porta potty for over 20 mins. the rain began to POUR down! The rest of the race was drenching rain, freezing cold winds, a bout of hail, floods, & mud.  Woohoo...fasten your seat belts because this here ride is gonna to be the wildest ride in the west ;P

Paul and my family met me at mile 17...what a wonderful sight they were...it was all I could do to not bawl my eyes out. Not so much of what I was having to endure but I was just so excited that I was actually running my first marathon...I was just overwhelmed with so much emotion.

At that point, I literally could not feel my fingers and I was starting to see white spots. My mom gave me a rain poncho which help to warm me up a bit but helped my hands immensely. I was back on the road again...minus my tummy issues and the cold, I truly was having an awesome time! I just wished I had felt better...I ultimately had to have Paul meet me at mile 21 with some tummy medicine and all was great after that.

All in all it was a very crazy situation but I can't wait for next year. The course is GREAT!!!

But here is the COOLEST PART EVER...the part that made it ALL WORTH IT...I was on an amazing team...together, the 7 of us raised over $16,000 for the orphan babes in China...Team Love Without Boundaries...YOU ROCK!!! 

MY TEAM!

We were sooo blessed to have a hospitality suite in the DODGER STADIUM before the race. Did you hear me??? DODGER STADIUM...I was beside myself...LOVE the Dodgers...dates all the way back to when I was a little girl...that's what my daddy and I shared...our Dodgers!!

Thanking God for His amazing strength and protection! It's only by His strength that we succeeded!

Here are some crazy news clips:

Thousands of runners at the Los Angeles Marathon have been evaluated for hypothermia and 25 have been transported to local hospitals, according to Santa Monica fire Capt. Judah Mitchell.

The runners battled torrential rains and shin-deep puddles.

By noon, MTA buses with police escorts were stationed near the finish line to pick up runners and drive them to parking areas or medical facilities. "They've brought in a dozen blue Santa Monica city buses with heaters for runners to sit in and get dry," race press officer Rich Perelman said.

A 21-year-old man went into cardiac arrest around mile 18 and was taken unconscious to UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. An update on his condition was not immediately available. (I talked with this guy right before he went down .. so sad!)

About 1 p.m. at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, hundreds of runners sat in the hallways wrapped in towels, shivering.

Reports from other cities have indicated that buses have been picking up runners along the marathon route, to help them get warm.

"First, I want to thank God," Korir said. "I crossed the finish line and thought it was the end of my life. It's the roughest race I've ever run in the rain. I was dying out there, I was really struggling, but people were telling me, 'I love you. I love you.' At mile 21, my legs just gave out."