A Little Update

We had an email this morning from Holly and Trena (the amazing women who run His Hands) stating that they sent our translated documents out in the mail in Monday. So we should receive them sometime next week. I am hoping early in the week. AS soon as we receive those I will have to take them to the Secretary of State's office and haev them all certified (and yes, there is a fee the government charges to do that). As soon as I leave their office I will then go to Fedex and have them overnighted to TECO in Houston; that is Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office. They certify the documents for Taiwan governement. I will also send them a return prepaid overnight Fedex envelope for them to send the documents back to me. As soon as I receive all of that I overnight (more like 2nd day air) it back to Taiwan. Once Holly and Trena receive that paperwork they can go file for our court date. Some families have had to wait a long time for their court dates, while others have had court dates assigned in less than two weeks. Please, please pray that everything in this process goes smoothly and very quickly, as the quicker this process moves the less money we will end up paying. The monthly fee for Leia's care has increased from what our paperwork said initially when we applied. The House of Hope has moved into a new house, they have grown and have had to hire new nannies therefore costs have had to increase. We were not prepared for that major jump and as of now do not know how we will come up with the money. If Leia is in their care for more than 2 months we will then have to use our money that we have set aside for all of our travel expenses. And she will be there more than 2 months, if not it would be a miracle sent from God. So,needless to say we are very short on funds. We originally thought we had enough saved from our own saving, donations, and fundraisers. Now back to square one of thinking of more fundraisers. Sigh....
Holly and Trena said they do not have any new pictures at this time as Leis is staying with a foster family right now and not at the House of Hope. She will be staying with the foster family until they find a place for her birth mom to live. She is very young and they cannot just send her away. Since it would be too difficult for her to be near Leia all the time Leia is with a foster family. Please pray for Leia's birth mom as Holly and Trena try to make the right decision of where to place Leia's birth mom. They are going to Taipei soon to look at a ministry for her to live. They are seeking God's guidance in this decision as they want to make the right decision and do not want her to be tempted to go back to living her previous lifestyle. So, maybe soon we will have new pictures. But none for now. The above picture is one that we received on referral day, but I have saved since I knew that we might have drought periods of new pictures...lol. I know Holly and Trena and everyone else at House of Hope is busy and can't be my personal photographers all day long. LOL. I will not post this picture to facebook but have asked for permission to post it on my blog for those who might wonder if it is okay. This is Leia's birthmom. I am assuming it was taking the day she made the call to us. We later learned from Holly and Trena that they had prayed about the referral for Sin Yue (Leia's middle name)and had decided that we were the family for her. Xaio Chi (Leia's birth mom) afterward asked (she didn't know they had already made a decision) if she could choose the family for Sin Yue. They decided to allow her this choice, as she had grown so much in the time she had lived at the House of Hope. They gave her three families to choose from, a little information about all of them and allowed her to choose. She chose us, such a God Thing! She then even suprised them more when she asked if she could be the one to make the call to tell us we ahd a referral for her baby girl that she was giving us. Amazing tears on both sides; tears of sadness for Xaio Chi and tears of happiness for us. That is the bittersweet part of adoption. That's all I have for this adoption update.

So, yesterday Logan starts playing with this pretend cell phone that Carson got for Christmas and he tells David that "Mater" called and needs to talk to him. For those of you who don't know, Mater is the "best backward driver" from the movie Cars. Logan told Mater that he would get daddy on the phone so he could talk to him. When Daddy was done he told Mater he would talk to him soon. It is hilarious when they start pretending. On Logan's birthday he saw a car on fire with Mammaw, so last night in his prayer he added for God "to please be with the cars out there."

Carson for the last couple of months has had this need that he has to be noticed. Yoc can't talk to any other the kids without him screaming Mamma. When he has your attention he says, "Love You." It doesn't matter what is going on if you are giving someone else attention he does this. I wonder what he will do when Leia gets home. We can only imagine....Him and Logan got a train table and all the accessories for it for Christmas and all Carson can do is remove the tracks and carry the trains around the house.

TODAY we are cleaning out toys. Packing them up for rainy day and packing some to go to Mammaw's and some to leave forever. The kids are sad about this but this makes Mamma very happy.

Logan Turns 3

Three years ago Logan made his grand entrance into our lives. He was 6 weeks early and had to stay in the NICU for 9 days. Everyday is a new day with that boy. One minute he is antagonizing his sister, the next minute he is consoling his brother who is in trouble. One minute he and Olivia are arguing and the next they are playing so sweetly. Here are a few milestones of Logan's:

First tooth at 6 months
First Word was Daddy
Crawling at 8 months- looked like a chimp moving around dragging his leg
Walking at 12 months
Big Brother at 14 months
Potty trained at 2 1/2 years
Big Brother again on December 25, almost 3
The Big 3 today.

His favorite foods are Totino's Pizza, Wendy's chicken nuggets, ice cream, pumpkin bread, grapes, strawberries, and soy milk.

His favorite movies are Toy Story and Lion King (He loves to yell, "Run Simba, Run." while watching the movie.

His favorite toy at present is Thomas the Train and his new motorcycle bike.

His first memory verse was Ephesians 6:1.

He would rather be outside.

He is our trophy little fish in the summer; he loves the water. He can go under and everything.

He loves to play Chase with Daddy. He loves to play Hide N Seek with Pappaw. he loves to go fishing with Papa and ride his mower.

he loves to wash dishes and fold laundry with Mammaw. He loves to bake cookies with Nana. He loves to wash the car with Mama.

Logan started his birthday by snuggling in bed with Mama this morning. We had a very lazy morning. We slept til 10, shh don't tell. Then we ate breakfast. He had bread and butter, his request with soy milk. While we were getting ready Nana and Papa stopped by the house to wish him Happy Birthday. Then Mammaw picked us up and we went to Wendy's, Logan's favorite. Then we ran around Little Rock for a bit and then back to Mammaw's. I made homemade pizza tonight and he asked for a chocolate cake with icing that he was too busy to even stop and eat. He opened his gifts that Uncle Aaron and Aunt Lisa sent him. He loved his talking Woody, although he says he isn't talking because his mouth doesn't move. We got him a motercycle bike that he was too involved in to even stop for a piece of cake. Pappaw, Mammaw, Papa, and Nana went together and bought all three of the kids a very large playhouse that they received in the fall. But we have had so much rain that they have hardly gotten to enjoy it. Soon though!
We plan on having his big party in mid January. Hard to do it now with everyone gone for the holidays. So, I will post pictures of his real party soon.

To Love You Is Easy

I awoke this morning not even wanting to check my email, which by the way is my morning routine. I had had a dream, you know the kind you have when you are half asleep because you almost wonder if you are awake. I had a dream that I had already checked my email this morning and there was nothing new from His Hands. So, I layed in bed a while this morning before I finally checked my email. Sure enough, there was nothing from His Hands when I checked my email this morning. I knew there wouldn't be, you no those feelings of intuition that we all have.
So, I sauntered to the living room to join the rest of my family for Christmas morning. I sat and watched everyone start eating our yummy gourmet breakfast, prepared by mom, just enjoying my family. I noticed my cell phone was blinking indicating that I had a message. It was from Admin, which means Holly and Trena. I think my heart stopped for at least 3 or 4 beats. I checked it and it read, "Are you available to talk?" My hands were shaking so hard, I was typing a response and screaming for David to come look all at the same time. Meanwhile our kids are wondering what the chaos is all about. All I can say is Leia!!! I responded back, "Yes!!!" It wasn't even 30 seconds later and we received a phone call. Not sure if it was Holly or Trena that I spoke with, but they asked if we had a skype account and if we could skype with them. We didn't have one, but I asked if we could set one up really quick. So, David being the computer genius he is had an ac cont setup in about 5 minutes. We connected and there I saw Holly (I think, she was wearing a Santa hat) and another young woman. My heart stopped and I think my face was frozen. We were all crying. Holly said this young woman had something that she wanted to tell us and she was going to translate for her. We both exchanged greetings of Merry Christmas. She then began telling us that she wanted to give us her baby girl. She was born 2 weeks ago and weighed 3034grams (6lbs, 7oz), December 11 at 8:55am. She wanted to tell us herself. I was speechless. There was nothing I could say to make the moment easier for her. I know all too well, from our experience with Carson's birth mom that she was doing something so courageous by telling us herself. David was speechless too, not that hard to do though...lol. All he could say was, "Thank you." Everyone echoed the same thing. I told her we already love her so much. And that is so true. We loved her even before we knew her. Just as you love a child that you have conceived. She has been in our thoughts and prayers for so long, forever it seems, and forever I hope it will be. Leia's birth mom is like so many other birth moms, she is a selfless woman who is thinking not of herself but of her child. We love her too, just as we love Molly, Carson's birth mom. They will both be a part of our family forever.
God has blessed us with 4 Christmas miracles. Olivia was born January 4, Logan December 29, and we learned of Carson on December 31. And God blessed us so richly on this beautiful Christmas day with the knowledge that Leia has been born into this world and has indeed taken her first breath of life, 2 weeks ago. All we can say is, "Thank you!" to God and to Leia's birth mom.

2009 Winter Photo Session

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Quotes of the Season

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. - Hamilton Wright Mabie
May everyone be surrounded by love this season and all year long.

The Prayers of Children

Night time is so funny around here. It is the cutest thing to listen to the requests that small children petition to God. Tonight Olivia asked God to please make it snow at Christmas. She told me earlier in the day she was going to do this because that was the only way she would get to play in any snow. Logan had is funny prayer moment last night when he was thanking God for everyone and said, "and thank you for somebody else."
David found out today that he has like two weeks of vacation, and he thought he olny had a week of vacation. He also thought he wasn't getting anymore until July. We are super excited about that.
Trying to plan David's birthday. Do I be nice and just do small family get together or go all out against his wishes? We shall see what is to come....

My Favorite Song

From our House to yours..

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And let the festivities begin...

The most wonderful time of year; family gatherings, sitting around the fire drinking your favorite hot drink, shopping for those you love, being in the shopping crowds with all the smiling faces of strangers, cooking candies and lots of others sweets, decking your halls, night drives looking at lights, and the list could never stop. So, our house is decked, inside and out. So excited, we have lights outside this year. We normally just do around the door, but we have expanded and it's so pretty. We have three trees this year, and hopefully will add one to the dining room next year. Such fun.....!
Shopping....sigh...shall we just say I am only half way done, but have big plans to finish Saturday. We have plans every weekend until after the first of the year. Always super busy. Right now busy is a semi-good thing; it keeps me from thinking about not having a referral as much, but makes me even more tired.
We are battling the never ending ear infection with Carson. We go to the doctor tomorrow and will make plans to have tubes placed, hopefully right after the first of the year. I don't think I can take too many more sleepless weeks, and I mean like 2hrs of completely interuppted sleep when i already only sleep very little. That makes for a grouchy momma. Carson is still not talking much, just a few words here and there.
Logan is still our little "Dennis the Mennace." He is always looking to stir somebody's pot, and it is usually his sister. He has his sweet moments too. He saw a picture of a baby the other day and started talking in this sweet, high-pitched voice saying,"Ah, sweet baby. Look at her...Ahhh." It was so quiet I almost didn't hear him. When he was saying his prayer last night he prayed for God to be with Mommy, Daddy, Logan, Olivia, Carson, and somebody else." He also told David and I, the other day on the way to church, that it was time to get baby Leia and where is she. He has been telling us he would like to have a Thomas the Train set for Christmas. We shall see what arrives under the tree......
Olivia is starting to ask about Leia everyday, which naturally only makes the wait harder for me. She is growing up way to fast. She has become very nosy too. When we are talking, she will ask, "Now what did you say?" I asked her if she wanted things to open for Christmas or if she wants to go shopping after Christmas with the girls. At first she told me she wanted to get presents, then the next morning she said she cahnged her mind and wanted to get money. So, I thinh she will be receiving both, because an almost 5 year old cannot not have anything to open on Christmas morning.
I will be posting our winter family pictures soon. I have edited all the ones that I have taken, but am waiting on the ones that Lisa has taken. They are perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better shoot with the kids, but they cooperated so well. And, they had a blast.
We spent Thanksgiving in Texas, at Kevin and Morgan's house. The drive down was miserable, due to not having any sleep from working all night. I felt like it took me 2 days to recover before I felt somewhat semi-normal again.
As far as adoption news...I have none. We wait, hoping everyday is the day. We tell ourselves everyday that maybe today is the day. I know it is in God's timing and constantly remind myself that he has Leia already chosen for us, and that she is perfectly made for us.