Just can't seem to shake this......

Ok friends and prayer warriors....I can't seem to shake an email from my brain, so I have to post the essence of it here. We have been very blessed to be able to maintain contact with the mission organization that took care of A' for a few months prior to our arrival in China. We are so thankful to them for caring for her, taking the time to make sure she ate, providing her with therapy, etc. BUT, the sad part is that there are MANY children who still yearn for a family (obviously, intl' and domestically). There are many disabled children who because of their limitations will never be adopted, and if it wasn't for organizations like ICC they would face an uncertain future. ICC provides these children and young adults a family to be apart of and spends countless hours advocating for them.

They have many children in their care, but due to limited resources they are not able to fill the tremendous need. They only have so many spaces available. It breaks my heart to know that children wait to have their basic needs fulfilled.

Please consider praying for them. I am going to put a package together to send to one of their project homes (they have several), and if you know me outside the bloggy world and would like to contribute something (craft items, books, music cd's, coloring books, small developmental toys (w/lights, buttons, etc.), stickers, candy, etc.) let me know via email, call, etc. They can not accept cash in the package, but if you'd like to contribute in that manner, please consider sponsoring one of their children. You can find them at http://www.chinaconcern.org/.

The knot has been tied.....

Daddy, Miss A', and Princess L' at the reception.
My sisters and I. From left to right....Darce (mother of the bride), Amanda, and myself (w/L')

Mr. and Mrs. VK! He looks rather dapper in his dress blues. And, my niece was absolutely beautiful....glowing!

Great G'ma w/5 of her over 1oo grandkids and great-grandkids.

4 of my 5 w/their adorable cousin, C'.

Here are a few pictures from my nieces wedding this past weekend. Everything turned out beautifully, and the bride and groom are now enjoying a few days away on their honeymoon. I, on the other hand am enjoying the silence.....well, as silent as you can get w/5 kids. Saturday was rather hectic (in a good way), but fun. Thank you, Bri and Dan for sharing your day w/us. Congratulations again to both of you!

We're fixin' to have a wedding 'round here....

Now

Then

Who could of ever predicted this? Yup....these two darling little kiddos pictured above are getting married in 3 days! They were flower girl and ring bearer in J', Sr. and my wedding 14 years ago. My darling flower girl lived about 8 hours away from her handsome ring bearer. I don't think that they saw each after our wedding until last year. They hit it off and now will walk down the aisle a second time....almost 14 years to the day on Saturday.

Congratulations Briana and Dan. May the Lord bless you with many, many years of happiness!

Happy birthday and happy gotcha day to our sweet girl...

Happy Birthday, A'!
A' feeding the chickens.

"Gotcha day!"...Miss A' along w/mom, baba, her orphanage director and official.

One year ago today, we were on an airplane from Shanghai to Changsha, Hunan province. We didn't know what to expect. We were scared that sweet A wouldn't accept us and that she would be afraid of us. Would she bond with us? We weren't sure what her physical limitations would be either, due to her diagnosis in China. I don't think that anything can prepare you for meeting your child for the first time.....biological, or adopted (and I've done both :).
When we arrived in her province, we were greeted in the hotel lobby by another family

who anxiously awaited meeting there darling son, too. We piled into a cramped van and ventured through the extremely congested city. Traffic was TERRIBLE. Horns honked, cars merged into one another, but our driver confidently swerved in and out of oncoming cars, buses, and bicycles. The smoggy air made our lungs burn. There was construction everywhere, and workers forged out ditches next to the roads with shovels and pick axes. We chatted back and forth with the Geddes Family (HI, btw if you are reading this.....email me!) but, we you could tell that we were equally as nervous to meet our newest members of the family.

As we drove into the parking lot of the civil affairs office, I was overcome with fear again. I kept repeating Psalm 23 in my head to calm myself. I silently said a prayer before we walked into the building, and then off we went. We were led into a large room with several babies waiting.....plump little babies. Our guide quickly led the Geddes family over to meet their beautiful son for the first time. She then walked toward us and said, "your baby isn't here." I said, "yes, that is her!" She replied, "no....that baby is much to small and skinny to be your baby." My heart sank. I thought the same thing, but couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. She kept shaking her head and saying "no...not your baby," and whisked out of the room to find an official. I knew. J' knew. She was ours, and it didn't matter to us if she was "too skinny" in the eyes of the guide. She was our beautiful daughter that we had prayed for for over 15 months.

We both walked slowly over to the two men that were caring for her. I uttered her Chinese name to them, and one stood up and nodded his head and smiled. He offered her to me, and I swept her up and held her tightly. He rubbed her back and welled up with tears. He kept repeating something to her over and over. Our guide returned to the room with a forlorn look on her face and said, "yes, this is your baby." She seemed almost disappointed that her countries daughter was in the condition that she was. She was not able to walk, crawl, hold a cup, talk, utter sound, etc., but it didn't matter to us. She was ours, and we were hers. She and the two men exchanged words, and then we were able to have a quite moment alone with our sweet girl.

The other babies in the room cried....whaled really, but A' was silent. She stared into the distance.....not wishing to make eye contact. I offered her a bottle, but she didn't know what to do with it. My first instinct was to stuff her full of food. I had never seen a three year old so skinny. I could feel her spine thru her shirt, and her legs and arms were skin and bones.

We went back to our hotel room, and slowly she began to look at us. We propped her up on our bed and tried to play with her, but she had spent so much time deprived of toys that she didn't even know what to do with them. We found a musical toy, and that seemed to do the trick.

As we walked around the hotel, we were greeted by many families holding their chubby little cherubs. We would get looks of sympathy from them b/c our daughter didn't look, or act like their children.

The past year has been filled with ups and downs. We've had tears of joy, and tears of sadness. We've all been pushed beyond what we thought we could handle. Miss A' has been one courageous little lady and even though it hasn't been easy, she has grown so much. She has grown to trust us and accept us, even with all of our parental imperfections. The truth is that God knew that we needed A' just as much as A' needed us. We have been incredibly blessed this past year. So, happy 4th birthday (June 20) and happy Gotcha day (June 23). You are amazing, and we continually thank the Lord for you each and every day. -Love momma

Just a little modelin' for momma....

Just wanted to say "thank you" again to the L' family for making this ADORABLE shirt for Leah. And, "thank you" to Auntie C', Uncle J', and kids for the so cute shoes! We think she makes an darling little model, too. :) This is one of our favorite outfits for her to wear.

What makes me happy....(and J, Sr. of course, too)

I wish I could figure out how to move my pictures around on my blog because I intended them to be in order of age, but it didn't work out that way. :)

I finally got around to installing some picture software I've had for awhile, and decided to play around a bit. I am certainly not a professional, but these turned out A-OK for what I needed them to do. I haven't been able to drag myself into a photo studio (doesn't appeal to me much because my children do NOT cooperate in pictures, and I usually leave drenched in sweat from maneuvering them around, yelling at them for not sitting still (ahem....I mean gently persuading), and plus the studios are normally STIFLING hot. Almost always, none of the professional pictures turn out, and I walk away disappointed AND spend money because I feel guilty if I don't.

Anyhoo, here they are...

A total sensory experience....

As I've said in previous posts, Miss A' has some sensory issues. Her occupational therapist is always encouraging us to gently persuade her to run her hands thru all kinds of different textures. A' is usually pretty resistant....doesn't like to touch anything. A few weeks ago, Miss A' discovered how fun her puppy is. Chloe is always willing to share a rough tongue, a wet nose, soft fur, and lots of puppy kisses with A'.....total tactile sensory experience! Chloe is now her most favorite "activity." She will play with her for hours, and the best part is that Chloe doesn't mind it a bit.

2 months....

Snugglin' w/daddy.
Love those legs!

Smiling for mommy and daddy.

A close up of those cheeks....so squishy.

Yup....my little girl is 2 months old already. I'm not sure how much she weighs yet (2 month appt. tomorrow), but judging by those cheeks I'm certain that she is growing. :) Princess L' is such a sweet baby. She loves to snuggle, especially while laying tummy to tummy with mommy. She loves to watch everything around her. L' is also quite fond of riding in her Baby Bjorn, too. I'm told by all that she looks just like her brother, J', jr., which I agree with. BUT, she also looks like her big sister, too (in a fairer version). Life w/5 is certainly busy!