Did my hair grow while I was sleeping?

Wow!! Hard to believe she was nearly bald 8 months ago.

What a bargain!!!!

Sometimes you get lucky and find a bargain. Sometimes you search and search and don't find one. Today was definetly bargain Saturday for us. I have been searching garage sale after garage sale for a kitchen for Annabel. I even had one saved in a shopping cart on the Walmart website. But I just wasn't going to spend hundreds of dollars for a play kitchen. Especially when we live in a town that has major garage sales this time of year. Well today I just happened to stop by the thrift store. I have not been there in months. As I walked up to the door my eyes about bugged out of my head. The EXACT kitchen I had saved on my shopping cart was there. And guess how much they wanted for it???? $14.99 Yes I said only $14.99 Oh my goodness. They might as well have been giving it away at that price. It is brand new, in excellent condition and even came with two big bags of accessories. I didn't even stop to check it all out as there was a woman coming up behind me from the parking lot and I could see she had her eye on it as well. I went straight up to the counter and said "I will take the kitchen" and pulled out my debit card. Don't worry, I wasn't rude or anything. I didn't run or knock anyone down or anything like that. That wouldn't be very nice. Annabel is having the time of her life playing with it. Last week I found a play baby doll station with bed, swing, carseat, bath and highchair all in one for just $10 at a garage sale. Annabels play area is now complete. I guess in a few months we will have to look at some more masculine toys. Otherwise Jacob will become a very domesticated young man. haha I prayed God would find me a kitchen and He did. Thank you Lord for answering even the most smallest of our prayers.

Prayers for the Chapman family

Please keep Steven Curtis Chapman and his family in your prayers during this terribly painful time. They lost their 5 year old daughter Maria tonight. She was struck by a car in her driveway while playing outside. Such a tragic accident. I pray Gods peace fills their home. I must have looked at Maria's photo a thousand times while waiting for our referral for Annabel. I can't tell you how many Sundays I carried a photo with her and her two sisters, also from China to Church with me. During praise and worship I kept looking at their faces and trying to imagine what our daughter would look like. For those of you who may not know who he is, he is a Christian artist who advocates for adoption and has been used by God to influence thousands of families to open their homes to orphans. It was at his 2005 Christmas concert that God spoke to both Mark and I about adoption. My heart aches for their loss. I pray their family strength and complete faith in God will carry them through. Below are the words to a song he previously recorded. I am sure they never thought it would be about their youngest daughter. A website has been set up where you can view a sweet video clip of Maria and her dad as well as leave your prayers and blessings for the family. http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

With Hope

By Steven Curtis Chapman
1 Thess. 4:13-14 / Heb. 6:9, 10:23

This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
(There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

Jacob's own website

I finally made Jacob his own website. You can follow along at www.journeytoourjacob.blogspot.com There is a short video clip on there of him in China. He is so sweet.

Updated Photo of Jacob

I awoke to the most fabulous email today. It was not only an updated photo of Jacob but also a VIDEO CLIP. He actually moves and speaks!!! He isn't just a one dimensional photo. haha I have watched his video at least 20 times today. Annabel gets so excited to see him and waves and tells him "hi". He is such a doll. Now I really can't wait to meet him. Mike and his wife ZhuZhu are going to video tape him again later when they deliver the care package I sent him. It should arrive this week. I can't wait to see him look at our photos for the first time. They are wonderful people to do this for me. They work at the foster home he is from. And the great thing is that Mike is American so he can translate for me. Yea!!! God is so good. Oh yes I almost forgot I also got an email from our adoption agency letting us know that our Dossier was sent to China last Friday. So hopefully we will have a Log In Date very very soon.

Pray for our World

My heart aches for the Chinese and Myanmar people and all the families hurting right now. Please pray that they feel Gods presence. There are now thousands of new orphaned children and thousands of parents who have lost what could possibly be their only child. Especially when it comes to Chine due to their one child policy. I cannot even imagine in my wildest dreams the emotional pain they are experiencing. Many have emailed to ask me about Jacob. We don't know exactly where Jacob lives because he lives with a foster family during nights and weekends, but we are guessing he is about 500 miles from the epicenter of the Chinese earthquake. I heard from our adoption agency that he is safe. I dont have any other details. I know he would have been at preschool when the earthquake struck and I know it registered as a 3.0 in his area according to another American family traveling at the time in his province. When I heard about the earthquake my heart sunk. My heart broke at the thought of never being able to hold my son. I am so grateful he is safe. I am so sad for all those who were not so fortunate. Below is a video of the aftermath in China that I ran across on U-Tube. I wish I could give credit to whoever made it. It is accompanied by a beautiful Chinese song and I am sure a lot of work and tears went into making it. It is very sad to watch but since I am keeping this blog as a documentation for Annabel and this is about her homeland, I felt it necessary to include for her to view one day when she is old enough to understand. Even though Annabel is now a US citizen I don't ever want her to lose touch with her heritage and Country. I pray she grows up feeling proud of who she is. And that includes where she came from. I want her to always remember God has a plan for her life and part of His plan was for her to begin her life in China.
You can scroll down to the bottom and hit the stop button on the music so you can hear the video.

Healing Hearts Video

Scroll down to the bottom and push the stop button on the music so you can hear the video.

A gift from China

Scroll to the bottom and push the stop button on the music then return to the video and push play.

Happy Mother's Day to a woman I will never meet

Happy Mothers Day to all of you mothers and soon to be mothers. Today was a very special day in our home because not only was it Mother's Day but it was also Annabel's 2nd Birthday. As we drove to church today I became very emotional when I realized not only was it her birthday but it was the 2nd year anniversary of her being found and taken to her orphanage. Two years ago today in a remote village in China a woman gave birth to Annabel and for what ever reason chose not to raise her. It could have been due to the one child policy. It could have been because she was a girl. But I would like to believe she loved her so much and knew she would need special medical attention that she was not able to provide for her. In China you are not allowed to surrender your children as you are in the US. So women are left with no option but to abandon them with the hope that they would be discovered. Annabel's birth mother wrapped her in a red cloth, snuggled her into a small box and placed the box next to a bridge. A lot of people travel that bridge. I believe she chose that busy area so that she would be found right away. In my heart I believe she waited, hiding behind a bush, until someone came along and picked up this precious little infant. She was then taken to a local orphanage to be cared for for the next 13 months until Mark and I were blessed to have her placed in our care. I truly believe her mother loved her otherwise she would have left her somewhere remote where she may not have been found. Today during music I found myself thinking about Annabel's birth mother. Thinking about what an incredibly hard day that had to have been for her. I am certain she thinks about Annabel often. I just pray that God gives her peace and that she knows in her heart that Annabel is being cared for right now. I owe a lot to this woman. A woman I will never meet nor will I ever know her name. I am so blessed she cared enough about Annabel to leave her in a safe place. I am so grateful that God had it in His plan for this woman to give birth to Annabel in order for us to raise her. I could not imagine my life without her in it. Happy Mothers Day to a woman I will never know but yet has blessed me so much.

For those who have ever considered adoption.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending ladies bible study. Something I haven't done in a few weeks because I was keeping Annabel home in order to keep her from getting sick right before surgery. Mark came home and watched her for a couple of hours and I cherished the fact I was able to go. We watched a video by Billy Grahams daughter. I am sure God spoke to everyone differently in that video and sometimes it isn't always so clear what He is trying to say to us. For me yesterday it was clear as day. So forgive me if you may have heard me talk about adoption once or twice (haha) but here I go again. The video was on heaven and that it is a real place and how we spend so much time here on earth worrying about earthly things that aren't going to mean anything once we pass on. It really made me stop and think about what I am doing here on earth that is going to have an eternal influence. I kept going back in my mind to adoption. Not that "adopting" will get you in heaven. Because the bible tells us we don't go to heaven on works, but through a personal relationship with God. But the entire process of adoption and the outcome is definitely going to have an eternal impact. I started thinking about what would have happened to Annabel had she not been adopted. She would probably never grow up having a relationship with God. But now she will and I pray her children will and her grandchildren will. What a small sacrifice for us to make in order for generations to come to have a relationship with Christ and spend eternity in Heaven. I then started thinking about all the people in my life who would make such great adoptive parents and foster parents. The last statistic I read said there were 140 million children in the world who need homes. These children don't have what our children have....parents, a home, a future. How many times have we found ourselves thinking about helping a child but then we come up with these words..... I don't have enough money, enough bedrooms, my kids are too young right now, my kids are too old right now, we need a more stable job, I am too old, too tired, too young....etc. I know because some of those are things Mark and I said when we first talked about adoption 10 or so years ago. It was a conversation in passing that went as quickly as we spoke it. It is amazing how God doesn't concern Himself with those things. He is in the miracle making business and He will provide a way for a willing heart. We just have to have the heart to want to love another child. And for those that think you can't love a child who doesn't have your blood. Let me tell you that is the best miracle of them all. The moment your child is placed in your arms none of that matters. They are YOURS!!! That love is developed through photographs before you even receive your child. Amazing how God works isn't it?? It's important to remember that God chose that child to be in your home long before you may have even considered it. The bible tells us to take care of the orphans. It is a biblical command. That alone stands on it's own. Is our life easy? No!! But who's is? We might be a little more tired from time to time and yes we are starting over with little ones. But I can tell you we are sooooo blessed. All this time I have been searching for my purpose in life. Like we all do. Well I found it. It is to advocate for these little ones who so desperately need us. I don't know if others think about this but I think about if something were to happen to Mark and I and all of a sudden our children were placed in an orphanage without a future, I would hope and pray that someone was willing to shake up their lives a bit in order to take care for them and give them a future. If you are looking for fulfillment in your life....this could be it for you. God has blessed us ten times more then we have blessed Annabel. And now Jacob is getting ready to join our family. Do I think about "how am I going to do this with two little ones?" Not really. I think about the joy he is going to bring into our home. I have told Mark for months now that I know Jacob will not be the last. I believe in my heart God has another little girl for our family. I really do. And I know whoever that is will bless us as well. So if there is any part of you that has ever thought of or considered adoption...please ask. Ask me or someone else you know who has adopted. It doesn't happen over night. It takes months and sometimes a year or two to finally meet your child. So if your life isn't quite ready for another child it is ok because God gives you the time you need to prepare. But part of that preparation is asking and getting started. Ok I am going to get off of my adoption soapbox. I just pray daily that another family would say yes. Say yes to helping a child have a future. Whether it be from the US or overseas. Every child deserves a home no matter where they were born. One of the best blessings we have gotten in all of this was when we were at Joey's school reading a story he wrote that was stapled on the wall in the hallway. He wrote that one day he wanted to get married and have several children with his wife. He also wrote he wanted to adopt several children. I am so happy that our kids are seeing at such a young age that blood relation doesn't matter. What matters is the love and you can love anyone that you allow yourself to love. I am not blood related to my husband but I love him. Many have step children and grandchildren that may not be blood related, but they are loved none the less. It is the same. My prayer right now is that if there is any part of your heart thinking about adoption or foster care that you act on that thought. God put it there for a reason and is just waiting for you to move on it. It will be the most incredible journey of your life. I read a statistic that said if 7% of Christians opened their home to a child that there would be no orphans. WOW!!!!! That is incredible. Could you be in that 7%?????? God Bless!!

6th grade camp

Last week Mark had the funnest opportunity. He was able to attend 6th grade camp with Joey as a parent helper. I have included a before and after picture of the two of them. I think the pictures say it all. Mark said it was a blast but that he was exhausted when he got home. It's not every day he gets to spend 5 days camping with his son. They both had a great time and have many memories to share.

A day to Celebrate

Today was definetely a day to celebrate. Our I-171H form came in!!!! For those of you in the adoption world you know how important of a day this is for us. For those who have no idea what that means it is the last piece of paper we were waiting for from Immigration in order to send in our Dossier to China for Jacobs adoption. We were so thrilled. A few other things happened today as well that made for an exciting day. First of all we got up at oh-dark thirty (military term) to head to Children's hospital to have Annabels stitches removed. That was a wonderful experience if you enjoy watching your child be wrapped up in a blanket, held down by four people and have her stitches removed. All the while crying her little heart out. They did an amazing job though. They love kids so much and it is so obvious in how they treat them. I love that hospital. Then to top that off we decided to stop at Arby's for lunch. Since Annabel needs all soft foods right now we knew we couldnt go through drive through and give her fries to snack on. We had to go in. Every woman in there looked at us as though we had beaten the tar out of this little girl. I finally put her sunglasses on her just to help cover up her black eye from surgery. It was quite funny. We just kindof chuckled inside. There was one time I told two older ladies she had surgery because they wouldn't stop staring at us and they were right next to us. I thought it would make our meal a bit easier if they didn't think we abused her. haha All in all she is doing wonderful. Her lip looks beautiful. She had a fall in the bathtub yesterday and the inside of her lip bled and bled. But the doctor said it was fine. So it looks like we are surgery free for Annabel for several years. Praise God. Thanks for your prayers.

New Picture of Jacob

I received a wonderful gift today. An updated photo of Jacob. He is so adorable.