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Verse of The Day
“ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” ( Psalm 1:1-2)
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Wow, how time flies when you're having fun! |
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Written by Julie
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Wednesday, 20 August 2008 |
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Hello from our hot and beautiful area of the country! We have been thoroughly enjoying the summer with the kids. The boys are getting soooooo big! I've enjoyed having them home all summer but I haven't gotten much done around the house. I know it will be there when I get time to get to it!
Zachary is getting to be such a big boy. He just turned 5 and amazes us with his smarts (and his sarcasms, wonder where he got that?). He is big into super heroes right now, Spiderman being the favorite. He has a very nurturing soul and is a very good big brother. He talks alot about getting his little sister. He asked me the other day, "Mom, why is it taking so long?" It's hard sometimes to try to explain... I just told him that we were on God's time and that He would bring her home when He was ready. In His time, not ours. And that's ok with us. It's a hard wait, but we understand that there is a reason that we don't have her yet (not that we know what that is, of course).
Grayson is growing quickly as well and just turned 3. I need to get new pictures of them on the site but as I mentioned, we've been oh so busy this summer swimming, hopping from playground to playground, and picnicing (is that a word?). The boys go back to preschool part time in 2 weeks so I should be able to get back to working on the web site. We have so much we need to get done that I hate to even make a list. It will just depress me! We want to get several home projects complete and obviously finish the nursery before our little girl gets here. That way we can just concentrate on bonding and spending a lot of time together as a family instead of painting, stripping wallpaper, etc.
So, in a nutshell, summer has been a little crazy. I've enjoyed the time with the boys but I'm glad to get them back to school. A little sad too...
We had a conference call last week with our agency and several other waiting families about the adoption and things that are going on in China. Not really much new information. The Olympics have sort of stymied everything up for a few months. It looks like it may be another year before we get our referral. Again, we just have to remember, it's in His perfect time, not ours. As Steve and I wait we spend our time praying and working on being the best parents we can be to our sweet little boys. We know that the Lord has a plan for our family, and are very excited to see when He reveals that to us. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 20 August 2008 )
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Written by Julie
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
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Ok, so you can see that my weekly blog idea didn't get so far... Oh well, I had good intentions! We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. We enjoy the boys so much. We visited both extended families for Thanksgiving and the boys were really good. Although I thought I was well prepared in early December, Christmas kinda snuck up on me. This seems to happen every year - there's one point where I sit and think, "Hey, I'm doing pretty good. I've got most of my shopping done." And then it hits me - I realize there are four more people that I have yet to shop for, nothing is wrapped, school is about to end and I have NOTHING prepared for Zach's teachers, etc., etc. Maybe this coming Christmas I'll have it all together (HA!)
Anyhoo, we had such a blessed Christmas. The boys' excitement about Christmas and Santa is contagious. I don't look at the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, or Jesus' birthday the way I did before kids.
Zachary sang with his 4 and 5 year old buddies in Choir for the Church. They named them The Little Treble Makers. Too funny! He did really well, kept grabbing the microphone and singing louder than the other kids. Being his Mom, I thought it was slightly obnoxious, but terribly cute! He played Joseph in his school play a week later, but apparently all of the hooplah of Christmas got to him by that point. He was supposed to sing "Away in a Manger" with the little girl who played Mary, but he got really scared and started crying. I had to get him off the stage ;-( Poor boy!
Christmas was a blast, we took as many opportunities as we could to talk with the boys about the true meaning of Christmas and that we should be focused on Jesus instead of Santa and the presents. Zach gets it, Grayson? Not so much. "Santa Claus" called the boys two weeks before Christmas and it thrilled them to death to talk with him on the phone. He was a good Santa and got the boys the backpacks that roll on the ground that they were dying for. They love them. We have WAY too many toys and I had to buy more toy bins.
All in all we had a wonderful time in November and December. The Lord continues to bless us in our fundraising efforts. When we least expect it He places a small amount of money in our laps, ever increasing our faith that He will provide every dime we need to bring our little girl home. We thought of her a lot during the holidays. I wanted so much to buy something for her for Christmas, but resisted the urge because I felt it would hurt to see it continually. Besides, what do you buy for your daughter when you're not sure how old she is or will be when you meet her? ;-)
Over the last few weeks we have been fighting strep throat (Daddy), an ear infection (Zach) and strep butt (Grayson - don't ask). God has been good to Mommy and has kept her safe and healthy ;-) They are all slowly getting better and are about to finish the antibiotics, so hopefully we'll get back to good health.
I have time for a quick shower while the boys are down for their nap so I'd better seize the opportunity. I'll try to write again before February ;-) |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 January 2008 )
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Our China adoption fundraisers continue ... |
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Written by Julie
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Friday, 16 November 2007 |
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Oh my gosh how did it get to be the middle of November? I can't believe it - I'm going to try to do better about blogging at least once a week, if not more.
God has been so good to us. We finally had our huge garage sale on October 6th and we made approximately $1,600! Only about 10% of these items were our own - the rest was donated from loving family and friends to help us with our fundraising. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful (although HOT!) day, some really hard workers, and a local pizza place even donated pizzas to feed us - we even had a customer stay and help work! We enjoyed meeting a lot of new people and sharing our story. Most everyone was interested in the adoption and was very supportive. By the end of the day we were sunburnt and absolutely exhausted, but God blessed us in so many ways that Saturday - as He ALWAYS does.
Also, Eric and Lindsey Cuddy (our contemporary worship leader and his beautiful wife) gave us some good news. Our contemporary praise and worship band at Fellowship Chapel held a concert back in the spring. They had CDs cut from it and were going to ask for donations for the CDs to benefit the church. Eric and Lindsey have a heart for Chinese orphans and decided to donate the money from the CDs to us for the adoption. We have already received $979! God is so good to us.
When we started this journey about a year ago we didn't know how we'd come up with the money, but we put our trust in the Lord and asked Him to provide for us - and He is doing just that. Our crosses are selling well and we know that He will continue to provide for every penny we need.
Now we just need to get things in order around the house (ha ha ha) so that we are ready for her. Our hearts are ready, but the house sure isn't!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 November 2007 )
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Written by Steve
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Friday, 02 November 2007 |
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We received this poem in an e-mail from our adoption agency today - I thought I would share it
LEGACY OF AN ADOPTED CHILD
Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.
One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.
One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.
And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.
~ Author Unknown |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 November 2007 )
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Written by Steve
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Friday, 03 August 2007 |
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Hi all -
I added a Google Adsense module to the site, but so far it is picking up links related to animal adoption...
Let's hope that after a day or two of Google crawling around on our site the ads for Chinese adoption and related sites will start popping up.
God bless!
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