When Delays become Disabilities--Part II

Our 7 gifts from God!!

I will say something up front--this has been a harder post to write-it has been on my heart for a LONG time, yet, to put it out there, for the world to see, is hard!

BUT, this last adoption has been hard from day one, and for those of you who read this blog, or correspond with me via email, or know me in real life, you already knew that, so, here goes...

Our last 2 additions to our family, Lili and Rose, came home at much older ages than our other children.

Even though we had done the parenting seminars, and read the books on attachment, and re-read the stuff on orphanage delays and scoured the web for blogs about older child adoptions, and "thought" we were ready, we were extremely humbled to find out, we were NOT ready for what was about to transpire in our home after returning in Jan, 2012 with an almost 7 yr old and a 14 yr old.

I suppose we went into it all with some pretty vague assumptions/hopes/dreams that they would be ready to be parented and become part of a large family.

After all, they had both been in foster homes, instead of orphanages, and we had been skyping and connecting with Rose for some time, so we HOPED there were some bonds being formed already.

Truth be told, I don't think either girl had a CLUE what being part of a family was really all about.

Lili was mainly an only child in her foster home, but the foster parents were more like grand parents, and seemed QUITE permissive, and of course she came home very sick with a months' old sinus infection, so I was not too sure she was even getting the best care she could have, being she was the only one in the home.

Rose was in a loving foster home, and for that we are thankful, but it was only for a couple of her years, not MOST of them, and where she spent most of her years is largely a mystery, although we do know it was MANY different places, and so, knowing how to give and receive love was not something that would come easily for her.

Lili did not like being in a large, noisy family.
She was a loner, liked her space, and wanted ALL the attention.

Rose was used to a quieter home, although there were many with more severe needs than we had in our home, yet we were there, IT WAS MUCH QUIETER than our little boys ever were.

Rose was scared, and although she put up a good front, the fear really came out when it was time for goodbyes. And who can blame her?

Just saying goodbye to our guide in China put her into a tail spin, and she had only know him for a week.

I learned very quickly that Rose hid lots of pain behind a false smile and though she was very eager to please, she also wanted lots of control, and soon became quite manipulative, pouty, and emotional.

We had bouts of both girls wetting the bed. We had kicking and clawing and refusing to do what they were told. I expected to see some of this with Lili, I was totally unprepared to see it in Rose.

We tried havimg them sleep together, but that was a disaster, because Lili would be the most impish little thing when my back was turned, or the lights went out, and that would IRK her sister to no end, causing a whole morning of bad behavior.

Then we put them in different beds, but the 3 girls were all in 1 bedroom-another mistake.

Rose seemed to want to bond with Nick-she had a couple foster brothers she was very close to. Nick had lots of compassion on her, yet soon became weary of the drama, tears, lack of cooperation, and feeble attempts to learn english. Since she had been with english speaking Americans for over 2 years, we hoped she had a better "basic" understanding of english, but we figured out that she would not respond to the english very well in the foster home, so then they would relay everything in Mandarin, and then she was happy.

We had been told Lili had speech delays, and since both boys had apraxia, I didn't think a speech issue was a big deal. But, as we got closer to travel, we got a rather scary video of her, that sent up huge red flags as to the extent of her delays, but what to do?? We were traveling soon, and I had read about parents leaving children behind after meeting them, and DID NOT want to be that parent ( no offense to those who did this, I TOTALLY GET IT), it was just my pride, you know!!!

We had been told Rose was "slow".

HOW I wish I had inquired more deeply into this.

I was prepared for being behind in school, for "slow" in school, yet I was NOT prepared for the social slowness, the actual physical slow moving, eating, talking, the emotional slowness, or the behavioral issues that came with the whole package.

Rose wanted BADLY to conform to our ways, and FIT IN!!

She put on a head covering without any hesitation, and I know she still has no idea why we wear one.

She wanted to dress like Kendell, and quickly shed her skirts and tops she came with.

It took me a couple months to see past the eagerness to conform into a heart that had NO parameters, and wanted NO boundaries put on her.

Even though she was in a fairly strict Christian home when we got her, she was compliant, went with the flow, and did what was expected of her, without any real "drive" to do better. She just did what she did, because that's what she always did!

Once she came into our home, lost her mandarin fairly quickly, failed to acquire english for a LONG time, and lost all desire to 'fit in' and became quite controlling, rebellious, and manipulative.

Well, DUH, you may be saying, she was 14, that's what happens with 14 yr old adoptees, MUCH of the time.

Yes, DUH, How could I have been so ignorant, thinking it wouldn't happen to us?

They came from HARD places.

It's called trauma parenting.

I had read about it, but I hadn't LIVED it, and once you live it, it's called SURVIVAL!!!

Soon, blogs like ONE THANKFUL MOM and Urban Servant and Emppowered to Connect became my lifeline to moms who had been there, done that!!!

Another HUGE lifeline for me was an email group of adoptive mamas of children from hard places who homeschool. Talk about a MAJOR bonus for me!!! I could connect with many other moms almost instantly after sending out an SOS email-it was HUGE when we were in crisis!

And it was incredibly helpful to have those other moms in that email group that had so many of the same issues, and could give me instant support, help, and prayer.

There is nothing like someone who is walking the same walk, to be able to come along side you and lend a shoulder, or an ear, or a prayer, suggest a website, a book, or a possible professional to seek help from.

This is getting long enough, so I will have to continue this into Pts III and IV.

I will get into the actual delays/disabilites of our girls next time, and then, in the final post, I will discuss what we are doing now, and what our plan of attack is to make life work with our 4 special ones!!

Until next time

Be Blessed

Chris

A bit of a scare...

Tuesday night, I was sure I was the worst mother that ever walked through a bone graft surgery with their child!!!

Rose told me she had pain in her front gum, and when I looked, I about had a stroke!!! I saw LOTS of white, and after last week's Dr's visit, when he said most of the sutures were dissolving and would be gone soon, I never expected to see any at almost 3 weeks post-op!

I was sure the tissues were separating over the bone, and she was running her tongue over it alot, because it hurt, but, still not something you want to do.

After a very sleepless night for me, I called the clinic right away the next morning. The surgeon got us in that afternoon at 1:30, and....

He was thrilled to report that the tissue was looking FINE, it was simply some badly deteriorating sutures that should be gone, or almost gone by now, that were mushy, and getting infected. There was even a little pocket of pus above the sutures that he opened up. He then proceeded to remove all the remaining mushy stiches, and Rose feels like a new girl now:)

And I am one happy MAMA---She is on antibiotics, and we will go back to softer foods for another week, which she is NOT happy about, she is dying for a tortilla chip!!!

We are all smiles, as we see God's protective hand in this, as I really was sure she was going to need new stiches, or something, to pull the tissues together again over that bone-ya know, sometimes, our minds are our WORST enemies!!!

Rose has been doing SO well, and with limited activity, still able to be a part of our farming operation, even if it only involves watching the little boys, but she is outside, walking around, picking rocks in our new garden, and today, she wants to help plant the potatoes.

Her hip has healed so nicely, she is walking completely normally now, and even picking up the pace from her original protective shuffle:)

She is all smiles, and I am feeling blessed.

Have a great day friends!

Blessings

Chris for all 9 of us

Coming up for some air...and some pics

We are one week post-op, and things couldn't be going better!

Praise the Lord, Rose has had,so far, a model recovery.

She is happy, loving all the attention, not complaining ONE BIT about the pain, or the food, or the 'no chores', and other than speaking very softly, has better articulation already:)

We had some yucky hours between Friday at 4pm and Saturday night, just the usual upset tummy from all the meds, anesthesia, and no food, but by Sunday morning, she was MUCH better, the swelling in her cheeks was going down, and she was definitely over the "hump" of bad days.

We travel today to the Dr, our 1 week post-op, and I can't wait to hear what he has to say.

I finally am taking a minute to post a few pictures of our surgery day, and day 1 recovery, and will be back soon with our Mother's Day.

There is so much to process after something like this, and life has been hectic without our big girl's help in the house and outside, but we are surviving, and if we make it through this long weekend, we are definitely on the downhill side of rough days:)

ok, on with the pics

thanks for all your prayers, kind emails, and even gifts, we are truly blessed, and I know Rose feels blessed!!!

she was ALL smiles, until the needles came, and then she maintained her smiles, just not quite so sunny and bright

EVERY nurse commented on her smile, even in the midst of post-OR recovery time

Starting to feel a little droopy, but still smiling!!!

Once I got the call she was out of surgery, I expected a call any minute saying she needed me to come to recovery, which they say happens sometimes, but not often...

BUT, I got the call saying she was headed up to her room, and I was thrilled it was going so well for Rosalyn.

Ice packs on her cheeks, ice on her hip, and lots of pain meds helped us navigate through those first 24 hours!

And a stuffed puppy, courtesy of her Aunt and Grandma that visited with us after surgery:)

I was super thankful we were on the pediatric ward of the new hospital-talk about roll out the red carpet for her...we had the BEST nursing care, and such love and attention they showered on Rose-I was sooo blessed.

And I was also super thankful for a DVD player, as it helped pass the time and kept her focused on something else besides uncomfortable pain and feeling cruddy!!!

There is a time and place for children's movies, in my opinion:)

On the morning following surgery, we had a visitor-a 4 legged one--there are 14 different dogs that visit the hospital throughout the week, and we were blessed to see 3 of them-Kado was a super friendly Alaskan husky cross, and her owner was a wonderful visitor, smiley, happy, sharing lots about her dogs, and helping us to pass the long wait to being discharged---another story:)

 After we got home Thursday afternoon, Rose rested, alot, but didn't spend much time outside her room the first 24 hours. The next day, she was blessed to see a huge box of gifts from our church

we call it a Sunshine Box, and was she ever happy to have a little something to open each day

and now, we are blessed with lots of artsy/crafty materials including colored pencils, markers, crayons, construction paper, drawing paper, playdoh, workbooks, puzzles, lots of hands on, thinking projects, etc...

She is in heaven, and it takes her longer to decide what to do than she has time to do her projects:)

 On Sunday, she really felt good, and was out of her room all day, interacting with all of us, and loving having 2 grandmas around for the day and 1 grandpa too!!!

Isaac has never shown much interest in stuffed animals, but ever since Rose got home with puppy, he has become enamored with HIS puppy, and it has added a word to his vocabulary---Puppy, and he says it SOOOO clearly...

Tyler has been so sweet to want to include Rose in most anything he is doing, and always makes time during the day to play with her-they all had colored pictures and a welcome home sign on her door-bad mama that I am, I neglected pics of that-

But...

More to come late!

We are blessed

Chris for all  9 of us:)

Bone graft surgery is OVER.

And so far, all is well.

After getting to the hospital at 7am, we were all ready for the 9:00 surgery to begin, and had to wait, and wait, and wait.

Finally,around 10:30, Rose was taken in, and I was very impressed with how quiet and compliant she was throughout.

it is very nice to get updated phone calls every hour from the OR, it made the wait seem MUCH more bearable..that, and having 3 sweet friends come and sit with me until 3 when she went to her room.

Šo far, pain os not over the top, and she is happy to be snuggling the teddy her aunt and Grandma brought her.

The reality of no food has not set in yet, but I am confident God will go before us and keep her calm and content with her juice and broth.

If I can get a picture uploaded, I will, bit me and iPads, not so good:)

Blessings,

And thanks for praying

 Chris 

ONE YEAR HOME AS A FAMILY OF 9

Where does the time go?

I can't believe we have reached the mark of our first anniversary HOME with our family of 9!!

Today, when we should be in church, and 5 of us have a flu bug, maybe the dreaded influenza, but it gives me time to ponder a bit and remember what was going on 1 year ago.

All month, I have been remembering where we were 1 year ago, what we were thinking, how we were feeling while in China, and now that we are HOME for 1 year, I think it is time for a NEW beginning.

Rose and Lili have been thru SO much in the last year.

EVERYONE has been thru a lot. And it hasn't all been sweet or fun.

There have been so many days of despairing, of disagreements, of disappointments.... YET, thru it all, we have seen how sweet it can be when we are all clicking and things are going well.

There HAVE been good days, in fact good weeks. There have been lots of smiles, giggles, sharing, learning, loving, and bonding.

There have been moments when we see, AHA, it WILL work out some day.

What I need to keep in mind, is that what I expected, and what is reality, do not mesh, and I NEED TO ADJUST my expectations.

Reality is not THAT horrible.
It is not unliveable.

It is not unbearable.

It is just hard, BUT whoever promised me a simple life?

Who ever said parenting 7 children would be easy?

Who said parenting 7 children, 4 with special needs, would be a storybook fantasy?

I have been doing some real soul-searching lately, and while I still lose patience, and want things easier, I am trying to have a better attitude, and realize, its really not about me, or the family we were 2 years ago. Its about who we are now, and what Jesus is trying to do thru us and with us and for us.

Rose really enjoys days when life is predictable, and she knows what will be happening. When she can get up, dress, make the beds, and come down and help in the kitchen, without lots of rushing and being pushed because we are headed out the door for some unknown reason, she has a lot better day.

SCHEDULE is crucial for Rose.

She likes routine, and she likes doing things the same every day.

When we upset her routine, she does not do well.

SOOO, we need to work harder at having a better schedule, and FOLLOWING it.

WHICH, while we are moving, will be a challenge, but hopefully we can keep our eyes on the end result, a new farm, a new house, more space, and we can all work towards that, and keep our attitudes in check, even in the midst of the flu bug.

Lili is doing very well lately.

She ADORES her daddy, and needs a ceratin amount of time snuggling with  him, holding his hand while he was sick, sitting beside him by the parlor stove, anything.

She has been trying very hard to be a good sister to Isaiah and Isaac, and seems to really want to help with little chores with Isaac.

She loves being outside, but chores, especially egg chores, are not good for her unsupervised. We usualy end up with scrambled eggs when she is collecting eggs:)

Her speech is really not doing very well tho, and tho her comprehension seems pretty good most days, there are days, when I am sure she does not understand a thing we have said.

She has this horribly nasal speech, and many sounds are just about impossible for her to even try.

She loves the one on one time of speech therapy, and we have nick-named her little sarge, as she certainly likes to be in charge-even with the speech pathologist-who loves her anyway, and is always eager to praise her and tell me how hard she has worked during her session.

I often wonder what the next year will bring for the girls.

Moving must be unsettling to them, yet neither has the words to express what may be going on in their minds and hearts.

YET, we have such hope that more space, and more time working as a family for chores, and more school time will make a difference for everyone.

There have been times in the past year when I honestly felt like, "why did we do this!!"

YET, today, I have peace, and I know that I would have done it all over again, even knowing how hard some days are, how the emotional battles and behavioral battles can be sooo draining and frustrating, how the lack of communication skills for BOTH girls can hugely impact the family dynamics.

I really need to keep MY focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who put our feet on this path, and who WILL give us all the grace and strength and wisdom that we need to make this family a cohesive unit.

Satan is dead-set against adoption.

We know he hates it when the fatherless find forever homes.

SO, we know he has been having a lot of fun with our family in the past 6 months, as we have been wallowing in pain and pity and despair, instead of looking up and claiming VICTORY!!!

I will always be brutally honest about older child adoption-IT IS NOT EASY!!

BUT, I will always stand behind the decision we made to follow Jesus and do it-it's like marriage, thru thick and thin, good and bad, sickness and health, we will survive, and be the better for it someday down the road!!

We are hunkering down for the arctic blast that is headed our way tonight-windchills of -35 are expected for up to 3 days-sounds like some good nights for snuggling, reading, and loving on our children-can't even think of moving on days like this, its all we can do to stay warm, and do the simple chores we have around here right now, and pray no one else gets the BUG!!!

Blessings to each of you

Chris, for all 9 of us

one year ago on gotcha day!!

 

gathering to sing Happy Birthday to Daddy via the web

from the lobby in our first hotel in Guiyang

I think they have all grown up a bit since last year!!!

 

Blogger is not letting me upload any new pictures tonight, so these will have to suffice for a quick snapshot of where we were 1 year ago!!!

14 is a beautiful birthday

I never knew.

I never dreamed having a daughter turn 14 could evoke so many emotions in one day.

It was a hallowed day for us.

On Sunday, Rosalyn turned 14.

It was joyous

It was somber.

It was happy.

It was sad.

It was a day to rejoice our new beginnings.

It was a day to ponder her losses.

It was a day like no other. Not even all the goodbyes in China compared with the day

our daughter turned 14.

What if???

she hadn't been adopted?

she was still in China?

she didn't have a forever family?

we hadn't been blessed with such a sweet, loving daughtger?

we had missed out on adding an older daughter due to our fears?

we had not been willing to step out in faith, following where He leads us?

Oh My

My heart can't hardly fathom where we would all be without God's hand on our life in

the last 12 months.

I struggle with the losses Rosalyn has had to face in the last month.

I am blessed with the sense of adventure she has shown for all that has changed in 1 short month.

She has been home in Wisconsin for 2 weeks, and she has turned 14.

A milestone for sure in all our lives.

In her old life, it would have been a door closed forever.

I ponder all those that are aging out, without the hope of a forever family.

I ponder the hopes, dreams, fears, and despairs that all come with that 14th  birthday.

In our world, turning 14 is a great thing.

In her homeland,turning 14 without a mama and daddy is NOT a good thing.

I don't know why God has chosen us for this path.

I feel so inadequate, so unable to do all that He has called us to do.

Yet, "I come back to Jesus,

with tears on my face,

and cry out for mercy,

His love and His grace."

And Lord, I pray for Rosalyn,

"You open the window and pour out a blessing.

Shower your power upon us we pray.

Send such a blessing,

we can  not contain it.

Lord, open the windows of heaven today."

This prayer comes from one of my favorites hymns we sing at church, and at home

Open the Windows of Heaven.

Lord, you truly have opened the windows, and showered us with

your love and grace and peace. This adoption could not have gone smoother.

How we thank you for our girl.

Our special, 14 yr old.

Our lovely Rosalyn Hannah Waughtal!

Bless her Lord, heal her, strengthen her, sustain her through her sad times,

through her losses, through her times of grieving.

Hold her in your everlasting arms.

And Thank You for sharing her with us!!!

Love

Mommy and Daddy

what a smile-and what a crew helping her celebrate!!!

our Chinese noodle stir fry with pork that we had for lunch

I am really liking the experiments that I have created for stirfry, and the girls

seem to be enjoying it immensely as well.

Kendell decorating the cake

Isaac got to clean out the last of the frosting-think he liked it??

opening all the cards first

my favorite of her gifts

"Family, the greatest gift in the world"

thank you Adoption Bug t-shirts

everyone gathered around to inspect the cupcake decorating kit

a card making kit

after everyone got to inspect the gifts, we ended the night

with a few games, and a prayer of gratitude in my heart!!!



Ta Da!!!!!! TA!!!!!

We are thrilled!

We are humbled!

We are delighted with the news that our daughters are coming home to us

in January!!!

We have our official TA-Travel Approval from China!!!

OH MY, the list of things to do!!!

BUT, keeping it all in perspective,

the best news is

Rosalyn Hannah Waughtal

and Lilianna Grace Waughtal

ARE COMING HOME!!!!!!

Delighting in His goodness, Honored to be busy about His work, and

Thrilled to be meeting them in about 2 weeks.

Although nothing is concrete at this time.

We are waiting for our ConsulateAppointment, and the whole trip works back from that date, which looks to be around Jan17-18.

tears of  joy, lots of Halleluah's, and grinning from ear to ear!!!

Rejoice with us

Kendell, you have 2 sisters, and they will be sharing your room by Jan 22, 2012:)

In Him,

One happy Mama and Baba

Paper Pregnancy-I am ready to be mama again :)

We are approaching our 9th month of paper pregnancy.

Yes, this has been a f ast adoption

NO, I don't feel like it has been.

To me, it seems like each step of this paperwork that happens on the US side has taken an interminably long time

Has it really been that bad?

No, but still not as fast as others I have been watching.

I think the bad thing about internet is that you know how fast some people get their paperwork thru, and you know how slow some others go

and you are NEVER content with where you are at!!

I don't think there has been one time of any adoption paperwork successes that I have truly been able to say, THANK YOU LORD, without first complaining, sighing, questioning, or any other form of murmuring!

In short, I have been acting like a brat, and I don't like it.

Each step has been pretty fast, pretty effortless, and pretty well in line with others, yet, I am always looking for something better--SIGH!

When will I learn?

When will I be able to say-Thank You God for EVERYTHING you are doing with this adoption? Even if it isn't MY timeline?

It's called having a contented heart. It's called surrendering your plans and hopes and dreams, and letting God lead. I KNOW all of that, but my brain has been telling my heart things that aren't true, and my goodness, I have been a mess because of it.

I have loved Revive our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for 10 years-and this past week, she spoke to my heart, deeply, about contentment.

And I listened, and I GOT IT!!!

And I am surrendering ALL my plans to you Lord, and I WILL BE CONTENT, with your timing, with your plans, with your EVERYTHING involved in bringing these 2 girls home from Ch*na.

We received our USCIS provisional approval on Nov 17. 24 days after our LOA's came to our doorstep.

On Nov 25, we got an email from the National Visa Center saying our paperwork is in their system-we should be cabled-probably tomorrow-then we wait 2 weeks for Article 5 pickup, so that puts us about Dec 12. Then we get TA, which can take from 3 days to 3 weeks-and plan our travel-looks like it will be into January-unless Ch*na really does "fast track" our paperwork once we get it all back over there this week-but, God knows, and it is in His hands, and we will rest in that, and wait patiently-YES, patiently!!

We have lots of pictures of Rosalyn that I want to share, but there is one special shot that I will share for today, and leave you with this-pray for Daniel. He is Rose's foster brother, and he was one of the 3 that had to go back to the orphanage 2 weeks ago-the new, big building that the government officials needed to fill up with children, many of whom were in foster care.

pray for Rose-she misses him, yet trusts her heavenly Father to keep him safe.

Pray for our family as we prepare to head West and bring home 2 girls-soon !!!

Pray that we hear God speaking and that we have the courage to be obedient and follow where He leads.

In Him

Chris

There is 1 less orphan in the world!!

On Sunday, Nov. 6, a day when many churches in the US were celebrating Orphan Sunday, there was one less orphan in Ch*na.

Little Graice Havilah joined her family, and you can see their gotcha day pics over at her mommy's blog 

We are so excited to see them become a forever family.

I am sure she is missed by her foster family, but what greater joy, knowing they have kept here, protected her, nurtured her, and now handed her off  to her mama and baba FOREVER!!!

She is such a sweet little flower. I am sure her big sister, and virtual twin brother can't wait to have her home with them.

While Gracie's mom and dad were visiting with the foster family, they were able to hand off a package from us to our Rosalyn.

We were happy to send some pictures of us all, a few fun things, like a crazy World Dairy Expo t-shirt, some crazy socks, and a writing pad to help her with her English letters and words.

We are asking you all to join us in prayer for Rosalyn and her foster family!!

They have received some news concerning some of the children in their care, and we just pray our Father, who has all the details worked out, is holding them in the palm of His hand.

We pray His peace upon them, His wisdom and discernment be poured out on them, and His will be done!

May God Bless you as you Pray!

In Him

Chris and family

3 girls, 3 stories, 3 homes

HOW I love this picture!!

3 girls

3 adoptions nearing completion

2 will be cousins living within 15 minutes of each other

1 will join our family and live in Wisconsin-a LONG ways from her buddies, yet, anything is possible with our God.

Josie is in the middle. Her family's blog is here.

They have PA, and are in the early stages of their LOA wait.

Gracie, the little one on the right, is 2, and will be COMING HOME

in November to a wonderful family, cousins of Josie's parents. Watch her parents' blog for her gotcha day pics on Nov. 6, sure to be sweet, and probably bring a few tears.

The above picture was taken at a KFC near the girls' foster home.

Rosalyn decided to treat her friends to an ice cream cone-gotta love that generous spirit :)

Blessings

Chris

3 Lovely Letters

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

Friday, Oct 21, we received the most precious email in the world

our LOA had come from Ch@na

and we have been officially approved to be Rosalyn's family!!

Doin' the happy dance in WIS!!!

We await news of Lilianna's LOA, yet, rejoice in answers to prayer for our sweet Rose.

More mountains of paperwork to be done, more weeks of waiting ahead of us, but, TRAVEL is imminent!

We WILL be going to Ch$na to get our daughter sometime in the next couple months :)

stay tuned for more

Love and Blessings

Chris

count your blessings, count them 1 by 1

Oh the unspeakable joy of opening up emails to new pictures of our daughter.

Rosalyn, we just love your smile, your sunny outlook, your servant's heart.

How we thank God you will be coming home to us soon.

We are still awaiting our Letter of Acceptance.

STILL

We were supposed to get a faxed copy from Ch#na last week, still not here today!!

OK, I know, all in His timing, and it will all work out the way it is supposed to, when it is supposed to.

It is reassuring to hear it was being faxed-

we are preparing the remainder of our paperwork, so when we have our LOA, it is

off to the races with the final count-down to TA-travel approval.

We are one of 4 families whose paperwork is being "pushed" at our agency, due to 14th birthdays coming up-I feel confident, we are in good hands. We have time.

It's just SOOOO hard to sit back and watch the days tick off, and the ceaseless wondering, checking the computer for any emails, watching the caller ID for our agency's number.

But, oh, how sweet it will be, when finally we get on that plane, headed West.

All in His timing!!!

Blessings and Love

Chris

ps-

the picture is from Lori B, Rosalyn's foster mom-giving us a glimpse into our daughter's daily routine, before it becomes OUR daily routine!

Singing as she hangs out the laundry

and or course, all smiles

PPS

we got updated info on Lili-that post will be coming soon-with new pictures of

our little princess

It's the Little Things in Adoption Life

Oh the simple joys of life.

oh, the simple joys of this adoption journey.

Oh, the blessed joys of hearing our daughter say

"Hi Mommy" and "Hi Daddy"

Be still my heart!!!

Our sweet Rosalyn, what a precious gem God is giving us in you.

We were able to skype with Rosalyn at her foster home tonight. What a thrill we had when her big "sis" emailed asking if we wanted to do that, and what a panic set in when we chose a time only a few hours away, on top of an action-packed day in which we had NO time to sit down and come up with some questions or really gather our thoughts on what we wanted to say-

but, the sweet joy of seeing our daughter's face, and hearing her lovely voice-I wish I had a good video of it, but we will work harder on that end of it next time.

Tonight, we sufficed to bring all the kiddos into the camera, and Nick even showed her one of our kitties.

Rosalyn apparently likes cats and dogs, so next time, we will introduce her to our boxer pal, Sadie. Daddy thought maybe we should show her a chicken, but I think she may see enough of those where she is at!! LOL

Kendell talked with her for a few minutes and asked a few questions so I could get some pictures.

W

We found out she likes the color blue-so does Kendell.

The only problem is, their room is Purple!!!

I think we may be doing some painting next spring!!

She likes to eat potatoes!

Good thing, we grow a lot of potatoes in the garden, and eat them in many different way, shapes and forms.

She likes her camera we sent her, and is using it a lot.

She is learning the names of her little brothers, but doesn't always remember Nick and Kendell.

We also got to visit with our dear friend, Lynnea's daughter. They were matched with Josie last week, and now await the official word from China that she is theirs. Shouldn't be long now.  Visit her blog above for some of the great pictures she received, and the awesome video they took the day they informed Josie that she was going to be a Hameloth.

We loved her smile, her joy, and her interest in all of us. These are for you Lynnea.

Love you!!

Josie was studying the screen so hard, and Hannah B and a couple of her little charges also made it into the picture. 2 precious little ones that she and her parent's joyfully and selflessly care for through their foster care program.

we need to do this skyping again-hopefully with a little better plan next time.

We loved our 1/2 hour chat, and  hope to do it again next week.

If that doesn't get you hungry for LOA, and TA, I don't know what does.

How bittersweet-yet how awesome we are able to do this.

Smiling ear to ear tonight-and praising a mighty God who orchestrated every little detail of this for us.

Praising Him!!!

Love

Chris

"In Process"

Don't you just love all the lingo with China adoptions?

Goodness, I don't think I will ever have it all figured out-

BUT, I do know our paperwork has been moved to a new status-that of

IN PROCESS-meaning we are in examination mode now, waiting for some very kind, smart, wonderful reviewer of adoption papers in Ch!na to APPROVE us for our 2 girls!!

Our Caseworker says things will go fast from here

I am praying so!

Some blog friends have been waiting over 100 days for their LOA's!

Some have received them in 38-40 days:)

Guess which I am hoping for?

We are going to get a care package together for Lilianna, and we have asked for an update from her orphanage. I so can't wait to see a new picture of her, and find out how she is doing-we feel like we don't even really have a clue about her, but trusting God to knit our hearts together before we even get there.

I am sorry for the lack of photos lately-my laptop has been in surgery-now it is awaiting me to retrieve it-so, we will upload a few pictures of Rosalyn

I haven't gotten any new pics of sweet Rose lately, but we will just keep digging through our collection we have gotten over the last few months-I think maybe one of her very early pics? We will see what I find!

Hopefully soon I will be able to do a big post on our end of summer activities, and you can see how much my 2 little boys are growing up and changing, right before our eyes!

Until then, May God Bless You ALL!

In Him

Chris

 

            Oh my sweet girl, we have missed out on so much of your life, 

but we sure hope to enjoy sharing our life with you very soon!

May God keep you safe until we bring you home--sigh!

                 

                                love all the smiles at their little table! Can you say HAPPY?

Some fun during a family singing! I can just hear the giggles and laughs going on, can't you?

Until next time....and I found a f ew more pictues in my "archives" I hadn't seen for awhile, so now I have something else to use if my laptop doesn't come home soon  :)