moments in time

Happy Chinese New Year Baby Leia....
Chinese New Year has begun...which puts a halt on everything. That has been very difficult for us this week. People on the other side of the world are enjoying a week or more off of work with friends and family. And we sit and wait to hear of anything about a court date. The wait is becoming very difficult. Some days I want to pack my bags, run to the airport, buy a ticket, and arrive in Taiwan with a mission to hold my baby girl. People tell me, "be patient," "it will happen," but they have no idea how hard the wait has become. Until you have been in these shoes you have no idea. We have been waiting almost as long as a pregnant elephant waits to see her baby. Yeah...it is a long time. And the ironic thing is, we still don't know how long it could be. We pray every day, every prayer, asking God to watch over our precious children and to protect them and care for them. I know she is fine, but she is not with me, and I can say as a mommy, that is not fine. Please, Please pray for us as we wait more. Leslie said it so well today that we hurry up and wait to only wait some more. Please pray for Lance and Leslie as well as they are in the same waiting game as we are. When you begin the process to adopt all you do is wait. It is surreal the amount of waiting that goes on. Please, also, if you have any items to donate we are planning another fundraiser yard sale for sometime in March. Airline tickets have gone up :( Thanks to everyone who has helped so much. I have started collecting items to take when we travel, so if you would like for us to take anything or would like to donate money for us to buy items for His Hands when we travel please contact me. As I wait and wonder when will she arrive, I try to remind myself that Today is, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice in it" Psalms 118:23.



Tonight I introduced the potty to Carson...with no luck. I am by no means beginning potty training him. I have no desire whatsoever to potty train him twice. We will be waiting til after Leia is home and we are adjusted. After dinner, he started acting like he was going to take care of things, so I ran him to the potty. We sat in there for about 20 minutes with books, with no luck. But we are going to start talking about it more. He is no where near ready.

Valentine's Day Celebrations
David and I went out Friday night. We went to Cantina Laredo, my absolute favorite restaurant, then to a movie. I think the best part was sleeping in til 10:45 Saturday morning and not wondering if the house was about to fall down from kids running everywhere. The kids went to Mammaw and Pappaw's house. They had a bunkin party in the living room. The watched movies and baked cookies. Saturday I cooked dinner, pulled out the china, decorated really quick, and had a very nice dinner. Mom and Dad came over, ran around the house playing hide and seek with the kids, ate dinner, and watched a movie. Overall, it was a wonderfully relaxing weekend.


Olivia thinks it is hilarious to dress her brother up. I think I will save these photos for future reference. Carson thinks he needs to be prettied up as well running around the house with Olivia's hairbrush. Oh the memories!





Mammaw has officially told the kids that they can quit praying for "big snow." We have had several dustings this year and an ice storm. Last Monday I awoke to my kids screaming that it was time to get up because it was snowing "huge" outside. I sat straight up in that bed like someone had poured cold water on me. Snow??? The weathermen had said nothing of the sort. I had no idea. And hospitals don't care if it is snowing outside. I felt horrible, was still recovering from a horrible sinus infection but bundled my kids up and we went trekking through our 6" snow. They thought it was incredible. And I will have to say it was beautiful. The snowflakes were larger than cotton balls. It was a wet snow, perfect for playing. The kids loved running around with their umbrellas and singing in the snow. They had the time of their life sliding down their playhouse in the snow. They had quite the packed landing down below the slide. I wished I had more pictures but it was snowing so hard I didn't want to ruin my camera. We headed in, warmed up, and I began packing to drive into work. I attempted to take a nap up there before I had to work Monday night. That was an absolute joke!! No nap, and I still had to work. I mean a room, brighter than normal daylight even with the lights out. So, I headed home Tuesday morning even though I knew I had to drive back in for Tuesday night. I slept like I have never slept before. David had a snow day at home Monday afternoon and Tuesday with the kids. They just stayed in and played. Roads were okay other than our street. Thankfully we have one vehicle that is 4WD. Because, Thursday I attempted to get out of my driveway and got stuck. Had to call Ben Gerrald to the rescue. Crazy morning! Olivia had school, and she was a basketcase. I mean, come on, it was her Valentine's Day party. So, with the help of Sarah coming to stay with the boys, Mammaw to drive us to the party (better a little late than never), and Ben to pull us out, we made and continued on with our day.
Thursday was a day filled with 4 kids in the car and lots of stops. Sarah and I headed out with the kids and made all of our stops to all the businesses participating in our Shoes for Orphans Souls shoe drive. Please pray for our shoe drive that it may be successful and bring tons of shoes for many orphans. The kids were actually pretty good, considering they were stuck in the car all day.
Last Wednesday night, Jonah, Sarah and Jeremy's little boy gave Olivia a kiss and told her he loved her. She in return hugged him and told him Happy Valentine's day. After church Wednesday night we came home and Olivia and I made her Valentine's for her party and put together her goody bags. And of coarse, she had to make some for her brothers, Jonah, and Daddy got the biggest goody bag of all complete with his favorite Candy of M&Ms.