A precious vacation

We just got home from a wonderful vacation to San Diego. We had an absolute blast with my sister and her family!! Truly a beautiful time together as a family.

This vacation was extra sweet for me. FLASHBACK to May 2007:: You see in the middle of May last year we went to the same resort for a vacation. We had that vacation planned long before we knew what the future held for our precious C's referral. With extremely sad and heavy hearts, we packed our 4 kiddos in the car and headed to San Diego with the hopes of receiving good news regarding our baby girl. On May 1st, we had received the joyous news that we had been matched with our precious C. On May 15th, we received the devastating news that CCAA had requested her file back because her VSD had apparantly healed and she was no longer considered a sn's child. They wanted her file back so they could refer us a different sn's child. I will share more about this in a few weeks!!!!

FLASHFORWARD:: Words can't even explain the joy I had when (just about one year later) I watched our little miracle step foot on that beach...the very beach that I prayed and wept at over her.

My precious Lord, I am in awe of all you have done for our family! I am so undeserving of your priceless gifts!!

MORE PICTURES TO COME IN A FEW DAYS :)

The BEST Big Sissy!!

Our precious Tr. is the best big sissy ever! She absolutely loves her siblings. She is second in line and is the most zealous, adventurous, athletic, and most full-of-life out of this household. Her love for life has taught us to view things in ways never imaginable. She brings so much joy to our lives. She has such a beautiful heart. I am constantly learning knew things from her!!

Our little princess

Our little princess...daddy named her and it means 'princess'...she is indeed a sweet princess!! This little one was the most beautiful surprise ever and we love her soooo deeply (yes, surprise adoptions do happen :) She has the best sense of humor. She is the most easy going of the bunch...she's 5th in line. Our little S is soooo much fun. She loves to dance and has recently taken up singing...all the time...soooo priceless (I'll post video soon)!

Our Little Man

I just love this little man so much!! Our little man is 3rd in line in this crazy household of kiddos. He will be 5 in July. He is a wonderful big brother who loves being the youngest boy!! His name means laughter and no name could suit him better. He has the best sense of humor and the best laugh ever!!!! We are so honored to be entrusted with this little man. He is an absolute joy!

Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the page...this is hilarious! My silly boys!!

Room for one more?!?!?

I couldn't resist...see there's room for one more....shhhh...don't tell Daddy I said that....hehehehe!!!!

Pictures of our kiddos

I have been asked to post more pictures of the kids by a few people...soooooo, I thought it would be fun to post pictures of each of the kiddos one by one over the next couple of weeks. My first post will be within 2 days :) Who will be first...any requests???

Bringing Hope home

We were very blessed to meet a very special family that will be traveling in just a few short weeks to bring their precious daughter, Hope, home from China. You have to check out their blog and read about how the Lord brought this amazing little girl to their family. Hope is in an orphanage in Beijing for blind children. The orphanage founders story is also absolutely amazing! http://www.tmphillips.com/adoption/hope/

Kim (mama) is sewing the dresses below to help raise funds for their family to travel together to get their new sissy. Of course my girls NEEDED these sweet dresses :) I am so excited that they live close to us...we can't wait to meet Hope!!

Amazing Fingerprints & Portrait Jewelry

Have you ever seen a bracelet that was made with your child's fingerprints....or a charm where two of your kiddos fingerprints form a heart...how about a pendant where your babies faces are etched with raised detail?

Guess what...I have and they are WONDERFUL!!! So wonderful that I'm going to have a party so that you guys can all see these beautiful pieces and have a chance to buy them yourself. The beauty of this party is that 15% of all sales go directly to helping Christian's orphanage.

**Here's the pictures and I'll give the details of the party at the end of the pictures**

Imagine your sweet babies fingerprints on the links of this bracelet...It's BEAUTIFUL!!

The hearts are made of two fingerprint's together. Could be Daddy & Mommy's then the siblings...the possibilities are endless.

Peas in a Pod...How cute is that?!?!?!

Cheryl's beautiful children forever etched in this adorable charm.

Little Lauren's footprint and actual signature shrunk down to fit on this charm.

Okay, now that you've seen a small part of Cheryl's collection. Here's the scoop....Cheryl with CC Creations, in Murrieta, will be coming to my house on April 8 at 11:00am-??? We are doing the party in an open house style so come when you can and bring your kiddos. She will be able to take their fingerprints, etc. that day. These pieces are sterling silver...gold is available, too.

Be thinking MOTHER'S DAY...what Grandma wouldn't want her grandbabies itty-bitty fingerprints on a bracelet or pendant (Paul's buying me a fingerprint bracelet for Mother's Day...hehehe)!!! And FATHER'S DAY....how perfect would a key chain with Daddy's or Papa's kids etched in it.

But the best part is 15% of all sales from the party go straight to supplies for Christian's orphanage. Don & Michelle will be leaving very, very soon to bring him home and they will be able to buy items needed for his orphanage while in China. Cheryl has so generously offered to help and I am so blessed by her precious heart.

My Kids....Please Pray ~ part 2

I have to share a sweet story. As I was reading about the update on these kiddos (BELOW), my 2 older ones were in the room and they saw my tears and asked what was wrong. I told them and then I said, "Hey, you guys want a 6yr. old brother?" (you see, this little guy so deeply touched my heart when I first learned about him and to see he still needed his family just tore my heart...of course the 10yr. is an absolute doll but I know we could never adopt older than T). Anyways, both of them yelled, "YES!!!" And this is how the rest of the conversation went:

T: I get to go to China this time!
Tr: HEEEYYY, I get to go, too!!!
T: Nope, just me,
Tr: That's not fair, I'm going!
Mom: Wait a minute....(they would not let me get a word)
T: Wait, I bet he only speaks Chinese
Tr: Ooohh, we better hurry up and learn Chinese
Mom: Whoa...no one is going to China!!!
T: That's not fair that only you and daddy get to go
Mom: NO ONE is going to China....we need to pray for these children and ask the Lord to bring their families. but we are not going to China.

They both looked at me so disappointed. My heart was soooooo blessed that they didn't even hesitate about bringing this little one home....they were already on the plane to go get him!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Just had to share!! PLEASE READ THE BELOW POST AND PRAY FOR THESE CHILDREN & PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THEM!!!!

PLEASE PRAY!!!!

A few months ago I was privileged to help spread the word about some precious children that needed their forever families. I was sooo excited when I heard the news that their families had found them.

Well, I just received the very sad news that 2 of the families did not meet China's qualifications and were just told they could not adopt these precious children (mind you these families had been waiting and dreaming about 'their' child for a couple months as they waited for Pre-Approval from China). I bawled as I read this news. I am asking that you guys please pray for these sweet babies and please, please pass this information to anyone that might be interested in these kiddos.

The agency that has their files believe they don't have much time to place these children. My biggest fear is that this is their last chance. A child's file is only sent 'out' so many times before they are considered un-adoptable. I can't even imagine that....oh, it just breaks my heart!

Here is some information about these sweet kids...a 10 yr. old girl and a 6 yr. old boy. I have pictures of these sweeties for those who are interested.

Girl : was abandoned on December 1997. She was born with a cleft palate and cleft lip, but she had a surgical repair for her cleft palate and lip and seems to have recovered well.

Boy : was admitted on May 2001. His DOB was estimated to be April 2001. He was diagnosed with albinism.

I have pictures of these beautful, beautiful children and more detailed information regarding them that I can share.

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5