HOME for CHRISTMAS!

ALL these precious one's are home for their first Christmas! Sit back and enjoy reading these stories of how the Lord has brought each of them home. I know there are a lot more of you out there...leave me your blog address in my comments and I'll add your little miracle, too. Congratulations to each of you!!

Benjamin
Christian
Diezel and Xia AND Christiana (what an amazing story of love!)
Emma Faith
Elsy
Lucy Joy & Amy
Macey
Mylee
Naomi Tao Xuan
Silas
Susanna (talk about a miracle story..we met this beauty in Kunming..we were told she would never be adopted because of her severe heart condition...I am here to say GOD IS SO GOOD! You HAVE to read her miracle story)
Shepherd
Isabel
Sebastian
Grace
Sophie Mei

"It's Christmastime again and now your home...
you're family is here so you will NEVER be alone!"

Is this your baby's first Christmas home?

I LOVE this song. Once again, hearing it causes me to bawl...always does. The words so beautifully express the waiting parents heart. I listened and cried through this song as we waited and now I cry at the beauty that "It's Christmas time again and NOW you're home...your family is here so you will NEVER be alone..."

You see, I will never forget the Christmas of 2006...we were certain she was going to be home! As the realization that she wasn't going to be home sunk in, the harder it was to remain hopeful that she was ever coming home. But our God is faithful and she is home indeed!!

*Is this your little one's first Christmas home? If so, leave me a comment. My next post will be a blog list of families that are home and together for their first Christmas.

I will start the new post on Wednesday...don't worry, as long as you are giving me your blog addresses, I'll keep adding them.

I can't wait to see all that our Lord has done this year in bringing your children home!!!

13 Years Baby!!

Today my Prince Charming and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! It's so crazy to think we've been together for over 16 years. How awesome is that?!?!?!

What a beautiful, precious gift our marriage is...Lord, once again I am so blown away with how undeserving of your amazing blessings I am. You have given me more than I have ever dreamed of!!!!!!

Our wedding was sooo much fun...that is one day I'd do over and over again! We had a beautiful Christmas wedding...christmas trees, carolers, and all!

Kind of funny to think we got married before digital camera's (ahhhh, we're getting old)...my scanner is busted so here's pictures of pictures ;)

Oh no he didn't.......

Oh YES he DID!!!That silly man of mine....okay, here's the story...we were the last of our friends to get married and somehow their wives-to-be convinced their husbands-to-be NOT to smash the wedding cake into their face...I have a feeling it was more like honeymoon threats if they did such a terrible thing to them on their wedding day....well, the idle threats obviously didn't work for me....I knew I was in BIG TROUBLE when my wonderful, amazing, perfect prince held up the frosting drenched cake...giggled...mind you the BOYS cheering him on...without any hesitation smooshed that cake all over my face...oooohhhh was his mama mad at him :) It was actually really funny...and remember...he's my perfect prince...how could I be mad at him?

I love you, baby...I can't wait to see what the Lord has for our next 13 years...I hear the best is yet to come...I can't imagine it any better!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving...Arizona...Yuckies...

We had a really fun Thanksgiving at my in-laws :) GREAT dinner Nana...thank you!!

"S" lovin' on her papa!

~ Beautiful Cousins~
My beautiful boys...I can call them beautiful cause I'm their mama!! :)
Nana...what exactly did you put in that turkey?

ARIZONA:

We left Friday for our family reunion in Arizona. The journey began at 6am...everyone was wide-eyed and ready for a ROAD TRIP! My parents were in one car, my baby sister and her family were in their car, and then us....all geared up for lllloooonnnngggg drive. It took us 10 hours to get there and everyone did GREAT!

Saturday was the reunion. The first reunion since my grandma passed away. I sure missed hearing her barking orders from the kitchen {hehehe}. She was such a crack up. She loved having everyone over for Thanksgiving! It was always important to her that we all stayed connected one way or another. I miss her!!!

For the "YUCKIES" part...our poor little "I" ended us with the flu all day Saturday :(

Sunday....uuugggghhh....BACK in the car for the llllooooonnnngggg drive home. Just as we hit the holiday traffic, I heard a terrible sound in the back seat............it was our little "S" hurling all over herself, her carseat, & the car! Of course, we were MILES away from the next off ramp and of course, we were completely STOPPED in traffic. After a little hair-raising driving (by all car in our caravan), we made it to an off-ramp...got the baby all cleaned up and jumped back on the road. 14...yes....F-O-U-R-T-E-E-N HOURS later we made it home ;0)

View from my Gpa's backyard

WHAT THIS TRIP WAS ALL ABOUT!!
THANK YOU GRANDPA for having our crazy brood! We had a blast and we LOVE you so much!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my precious friends. We have so much to be thankful for...do we not?!?! I am most thankful that MY GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!!!

We are off to visit family in Arizona. It will be a super fast trip but I'll post pictures when we get back! HUGS to each of you!!

Bi-Racial Hair Care

I was recently asked advice on how to care for bi-racial hair and below was my response. I thought a few of you might find it helpful. After $100's and $100's we finally found what works for "Tr's" hair. If you have any other tricks, let me know :) "Tr's" hair does require lots of care but it's worth it and we have a blast trying all kinds of new things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hair Products (in order of my favorites...we pretty much only use Paul Mitchell at this point):
1. Paul Mitchell Shampoo and Conditioner AND Leave-In Condition
2. Mixed Chicks shampoo and Conditioner http://www.mixedchicks.net/index.html
3. Pantene for women of color - shampoo and conditioner

Other products we use daily:
1. Just for Me spray detangler (Wal-Mart or Target)
2. V05 leave-in conditioning dressing (Wal-Mart..in tube or jar) This stuff is fabulous...only need a small amount

Hair tips for bi-racial children:
1. Only wash hair with shampoo 1x a week but use a conditioner at least 2x a week (let the conditioner sit for at least 5 minutes before rinsing) Also, use large tooth comb to comb conditioner through hair before rinsing
2. Have child sleep with satin cap
3. Have child sleep with a satin pillow case (cotton pulls the moisturizers out of the hair and satin does not)
4. Use a leave-in conditioner daily (only need a small amount)
5. Comb hair with large tooth comb and comb from the ends up towards the roots
6. YouTube has a ton of neat braiding videos...we have lots of fun with these :)
7. Never use rubber..rubber bands..use the cloth covered ones. Bi-racial is very fragile and can break easily. Treat it like you would a delicate silk blouse ;)

Our daily routine:
1. Wet hair with Just for Me spray detangler
2. Comb
3. Add Paul Mitchell leave-in condition (small amount)
4. Then add V05 leave-in conditioning dressing (small amount)
5. Comb again
6. Finish styling hair and we are good to go :)
(again, I shampoo once a week and use a rinse conditioner at least twice a week)

Another option is to use a gentle relaxer on her hair (if you are nervous about doing this yourself, I highly recommend having it done by a professional). I recently used the Just for Me relaxer on "Tr's" hair and it worked beautifully! She has long, loose, spiral curls right now and she loves it! It's very gentle on the hair and made for children & it's inexpensive (Wal_Mart or Target). If the directions are followed properly, the hair comes out great!

Hmmmm, I think that's about it. I hope this is helpful. Bi-Racial hair is tricky because it can have so many textures. The above works for "Tr's" hair because her hair is NOT coarse but dry and extremely curly. A lot will depend on your child's hair.

Adoption commercials

My friend, Debbie, posted some neat adoption commercials on her blog. This one really touched me...okay, I'll say it like it is...it definitely made me cry...
(oh yeah...pause the site music at the bottom)


"There are no unwanted children, just un-found parents"

Thanks for sharing these Debbie!

It's mine...muwahaha...all mine!!

I have successfully been able to pry my blog out of my hubby's hands. He had a little too much fun posting about my shoe quirk addiction collection. I have a sick feeling that he will be hijacking my blog sometime soon :) He thoroughly enjoyed your comments and has yet to let me live this down.

Prayer and spread the word!

Please be praying for this precious little girl and family AND pass this on!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blanket permission to post. Please pass the following information to your groups or if you think you maybe able to help this woman please contact me privately. lavonned@mail.com


My daughter Lydia was adopted from Guangdong Province China on July 5, 2004. In August 2008, she was diagnosed with AML, a very pernicious and deadly form of leukemia. With the help of her Chinese-born doctor, we were able to locate her birthparents and some of her siblings in China that her family kept. We know she had at least two sisters older than she (born somewhere between 1993 and 2002) who were also abandoned. The birthparents have refused to assist with her bone marrow transplant, even though two of her already found siblings were a match. We are now looking for these other potential siblings to see if they were adopted and might also be a match. Lydia is part of the Hakka ethnic group, and so a match from someone other than a relative is unlikely because of her unique, almost bi-racial typing. Lydia has classic Hakka features: "Brooke Shields" eyebrows, and rather full lips and a round face. I will have my husband post photos of Lydia and her birthfamily. I cannot do so at this time, because I am in the hospital with Lydia and the internet connection here is too slow and rather poor. Thank you for any assistance you may be able to lend.


Blessings,
Monica Miyashita
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lydialimeieikomiyashita or
http://www.caringbridge.org%20cut/
enter: lydialimeieikomiyashita
(photo's of family and Lydia are now posted on caringbridge)

UPDATE:
Hi All,Last night I posted regarding the little girl, Lydia, who is very ill and her mother is desparately trying to find her 2 sisters. Tonight a plea is being made in asking for your help. Lydia must find a donor. We urge you to please allow your child to be tested, cheek swab, for a possible donor match.Lydia is Hakka Chinese. The Hakka are concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Fujian, Hong Kong and Hunan. There are small numbers in Sichuan and Hunan Provninces. Source: Operation China 2000.Please, if you are interested in testing please contact me directly. Jl_rms@yahoo. comIf you are a member of Guangdong or Hunan sib find, just enter your information in the database section of the group.Thank you,Julie

Surrounded by 2 Huge fires

Please be praying for the fire fighters that are battling these HUGE fires that are burning out of control. We have 2 huge fires burning very close to us...we should be safe but there are so many of our friends who have been evacuated. There are over 100 homes that have already been destroyed. The winds are still blowing strong and hard. The smoke and ash is very thick.

These are pictures I took in our front yard!

UPDATE 9:00pm Saturday: Please continue to pray...the 2 major fires by our house are 0% contained and are 1/2mile away from combing into one HUGE fire. The winds are still blowing strong and typically kick up even more at night.

UPDATE 11:30pm Sunday: The winds have died down and the fire shifted north this morning. Thankfully many of our friends were recently allowed back into their homes. One of our friends came home to their backyard scorched but their house untouched...thank you, Jesus! Many are still evacuated and other cities are still in danger. If the winds pick up again, the fire could very easily shift back this way. Once those hot embers get in the air, they can nail houses miles away....this is what's been happening. Please continue to pray as this fire is massive and only 19% contained.

UPDATE Wednesday: Thank you guys for your prayers. We are all good and pretty much smoke free. The fires are fully contained and it appears that all of our friends houses were spared. What a crazy time. You can check one of our sweet friend's blog, Julee...she took these pictures as they were evacuating their house (this was hours before a mandatory evacuation was announced...can only imagine what it looked like then)