7
Jun

A moment I don’t ever want to forget

 

{Psalm 31:22}

I had said in my alarm,

“I am cut off from Your sight.”

But You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cried to You for help.

21
Feb

Protected: The Last Week…

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19
Feb

Absolutely spoiled

That’s us, I mean.  We keep wanting to pinch ourselves.  Obviously more later. 

Thanks for praying – today is such a big day for each of the members of our family. 

Today our little man leaves all he remembers and my heart is a mixture of sadness and nervous excitement.  Praying for his heart today.  And thanking God for the internet and all it means for his ability to connect again one day. 

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to my oldest and dearest friend, Kristie and her husband Patrick.  We are beyond thrilled for you and wish only for a glimpse of that sweet face.  Can’t wait to meet the newest family member!

Off to stuff a suitcase and head to the airport and Changsha…

P.S. Spike is ready for photos.  Once we get to Hunan he’s going to jump out of James’ pack adn you’ll have to pay attention to find him!

15
Feb

Off We Gooooooooooo……

 

T

This is our luggage.

(With the exception of Matey, the cat.)

 Plus a backpack for each of us.

The biggest hockey bag is donations for ND and so will be ejected off our quota once we hit Beijing.

 And may I just say, it was all packed last night

Family and close friends will understand the sheer miracle in those words. 

 Travel mates will be in awe of the lack of volume. 

It’s one of those had to be there things.

(As in, you had to be there while we lugged 32 pieces of luggage through the Beijing airport.)

And if this makes it appear as though we have it all together?  Have no fear. 

The butterflies have multiplied, I started a round of Cold FX this a.m. and Steve is currently trying to figure out how to install a car seat for the first time in a decade. 

Yeah.  We’re calm like that.

And so, it is at this particular moment that I would like to remind those of you who pray, to take a moment to check out our Prayer Guide under the Adoption heading on the Home Page. 

Sing with me now…

“If ever I needed the Lord before, I sure do need Him now….”

(Sung in your best Mahalia Jackson voice.)

P.S. Baby Autumn, Auntie would love to take you along on this trip!  Unfortunately, I don’t think your new pigtails will allow you to fit into the strict carry-on requirements.  Next time?

P.S.S.  Lane, Martine, Anthony, Max, D, Joel, Ella, Matthew & Justin:  We found a friend to join us on our travels.  He’s riding in James’ backpack.  Keep an eye out for “Spike” in our photos.  

Much Love,

13
Feb

We are getting so close!

One more ring left on the paper chain in our dining room.  2 more empty days waiting for Cars stickers on our Samuel’s calendar in Beijing.  Everybody’s doin’ the countdown. 

Bags appear to be packed, but I’m sure some more shuffling is inevitable tomorrow.  Last minute errands and a final tutoring session for one of the kids. 

Housesitter has come for her pre-trip visit and gone again.

Final e-mails are coming in from China.  “Why are you only staying for “x” number of days?  Please come visit my home!”, they say. 

Lots of questions from the kids.  Lots of “Don’t forget to pack such and such!”, from the adults. 

Absolutely tickled over this post on the New Day blog tonight.  I love the absolute trust and innocence.  Oh Lord, Jesus, that all people would be so gentle as that young lady!

Overflowing with thankfulness for our church family’s support and prayer.  Unmerited outpouring of support from the virtual adoption world.  A surprise gift from a beloved great-grandma, not to mention a box of cookies, devoured by my children (okay, and me!). 

Reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  How is it that what He spoke to her a few years ago, is exactly what I need to hear today?

(Oh and btw, it comes in a hard copy too.)

Pondering the question: How did I get to be so blessed to be living this life, in this moment?  And oh, am I thankful He picked me!

 

6
Feb

Prayer Guide for the Big Family China Adventure 2011

For any and all of you who are willing to pray for us during our trip, I’ve posted a guide under the “Adoption” tab at the top of this page.  Click on it to join us!

28
Jan

Catching up

So I think I am over my general feeling of malaise.  Now I am onto Full Speed Ahead.  Haha 

Thank you to everyone who commented and e-mailed to check in on me.  I really REALLY appreciate every word.  It’s so good to know I’m not the only one…

In the meantime, we made a quick trip to Grace’s specialist at the closest Children’s Hospital.  She’s doing really fantastic and somehow those words always put me at ease.  We visit that particular specialist twice per year and it’s easy to forget that there is even a need for the visit until just beforehand and then suddenly I get to wondering how things are beneath the surface.  As usual, those thoughts were for nothing.  And for that I am truly thankful!

We also celebrated a really big milestone birthday as James turned 15 this week.  Everbody says this about their kids, but How On Earth did He Get this BIG?  And how come every year we enjoy him more and more?  We are really thrilled with our young man and we had an absolute hoot the other night on our birthday date with him.  Accoring to a certain arcade game, we are Ace shots at killing giant spiders and leeches, but are not really all that compatible as mates.  Uh ,yeauuuuh?!  Lame plot line, but too funny laughing with our teenager.  🙂

I’ve been polling friends for tips on which size diapers or pull ups to bring with us.  Samuel is trained duirng the day, but we expect a regression (you know, hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that…).  He’s about 20 lb.s and will be 3 (!) next Tuesday.  factoring in his limb difference, but knowing he’s a little guy has made me go a bit crazy.  Input welcome.  🙂

The realization also dawned that while we way over pack every time we travel, we also like to bring a lot of donate-able items.  But, on this trip, we will be flying into Beijing and then taking a bunch of domestic flights followed by an international departure via Hong Kong.  That means less than half our usual luggage allowance.  Not sure if our arrival into each city will allow enough time to shop for items to bring to each orphanage.  We’ll have to see…  Any tips (Americans!) on what you do when you fly into Beijing and exit via GZ or HK? 

We received our last monthly update on Samuel (which I will post separately) and it said something that made us curious.  Guess we’ll understand more once we meet him. 

We were able to Skype last Sunday night.  He is a total monkey boy (and we LOVE monkeys in this house).  He loves to climb all over the desk, point the web cam around, show us his belly button, flex his muscles, play peek-a-boo (his favourite), and accost the pig shaped light on the desk. hehe  We notice that his rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is getting clearer and clearer each week.  His new haircut is often styled by his nanny into a very manly swoop across his forehead and he is often dressed to chat with us in a sharp little sweater.  Very adorable handsome.  🙂  We have played with him this way for so many months now.  What a tremendous blessing – one we never dreamed of. 

I am ignoring the second half of my Chinese New Year cleaning by writing this post.  We are beginning CNY early this year as our church group is coming over tonight and treating us to some very yummy sounding homemade Chinese food.  Our contribution will be a little more western in that it will need to be picked up from our local restaurant shortly before the party.  🙂  Grace has told me that my version is just not quite right and so we jokingly order what we call Fake-Chinese food and don’t even try and pretend its the real thing.  I’m even serving Chocolate dipped fortune cookies from this site.  She has amazing ideas – totally worth the look!

I think I have just about come to the end of my catching up, but before I go finish catching dust bunnies (Hey, it’s the Year of the Rabbit – aren’t I clever?!), I want to make a quick mention about a very special little girl by the name of Sharaya.  Our friends the Berzenji Family is raising funds in order to bring their newest child home.  We travelled with them on our journey to Miss Grace and their daughter Jade Ping is Grace’s orphanage sister. 

Anway, back to Sharaya (don’t you just love her name?  Brings back memories of a certain Amy Grant song – and yes, I am that old.)  Sharaya is a young friend of the Berzenji family.  She has decided to raise money for their adoption fund and the Canadian Cancer Society by cutting off her beautiful, long tresses and not only donating the hair to make a wig to bless a person fighting their cancer, but is also taking pledges in order to give financially to this special family trying to bring home their child from China.  Who says kids don’t have great big hearts?  In addition, both she and Adrian (Baba Berzenji) are taking part in a Congee fast right now!  You can read all about it and all of these fantastic people on their blogs: Sharaya & Adrian’s.  And please, do more than read.  Won’t you encourage them with a donation? 

Off to herd up those bunnies….

And don’t forget to weigh in on the great diaper debate & luggage fiasco of 2011.  I could really use the advice.  😉