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Merry Christmas...Happy Birthday!

Well today was an awesome day! One, to see my children's eyes light up on Christmas is just so memorable and precious. Our day was filled with time with friends and family, and I can say it was wonderful! This Christmas BG is much older and she was so fascinated by all the wonder of Christmas. Together with our kids, we laughed together, prayed together, and celebrated another Christmas Eve filled with memories and joy. I feel so blessed, so honored to be able to love these kids, to raise them, to be a part of their special lives. God has truly been good to me. I know that!

On a sadder note though my heart ached for our precious LK who celebrated her second birthday today! I found my thoughts wander toward her often today and said prayers for her. I will tell her one day that when we seemed worlds apart we prayed for her...loved her...and longed for her. Happy Birthday sweet girl! We hope to hold you real soon!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! May God who holds the very world in his hands keep watch over my babies tonight!

Someone's birthday is coming....

Sent our care package today!

Well our adoption agency said we could send a care package to our baby girl so off I went...shopping for just the right things...and once I got what I thought I wanted I wondered if she would like them. I have always heard that all kids love stacking cups and links and every baby needs a stuffed animal for sleepytime. I found this cozy little blanket and filled her "who loves baby" album with pictures of her soon new family. I almost hit the floor when I saw what it costs to ship to China...but oh, it is all worth it for her. I hope she gets her things and loves them all. I hope she senses we already love her and are thinking about her...every minute...every day. So much so that it is hard to get anything else done. Seriously, it's bad!

Her birthday is coming up on Christmas Eve and the lady at the Fedex place said it should arrive there in just a few days...in enough time to make it there for her big 2nd birthday! :) Waiting on that LOA is worse than waiting on the call for a match. One thing is for sure though...in just a few months we will be holding our little one.

BG saw her picture today and she said, "there's LK". I said, "yeah and soon she will be here and you can be friends, and play, and she can sleep in your room with you...". BG said, "yeah and we can play drums and sing too!" I thought that was funny. She is already getting the idea!

We have our pre-approval!

Well we got some more good news this morning. We sent our LOI on November 22 and this morning, Lifeline called and said that we have our pre-approval from China. Now we wait on our LOA, that is our Letter of Acceptance to adopt LK. We should receive that within the next 60-90 days. Good news... I just love good news! :)

We spent our Thanksgiving with JT's family. We had such a great time. During our trip we attended a family reunion and this picture was taken at the farm house. When I was looking at the picture I thought..."there's a spot right between AE and BG for LK". :) She will be with us soon!

Thanks to all of you that have been sending sweet notes through the blog. Many of you I have not formally met, but are already such an incredible encouragement to me. I have spent much time reading your blogs and it helps so much to have someone to follow that has gone before...and are going through alongside me....

From our family to yours...we wish you a Merry Christmas and will continue to keep you posted! Luvs!

It's a princess!

I just had to share this because it was so sweet. You never know how your children are going to respond to things...

Yesterday I walked BG to the refrigerator where I showed her LK's picture. I said to her, "Do you know who that is?" She said, "I not know who that is." I said, "it's LK, your new sister. Like Sissy's your sister and A is your sister, this is your sister." She started smiling and looked at me and said, "It's a princess". The rest of the day and into the night she would see the pic of LK on my phone and she would say, "It's LK. It's a princess." Now whenever she sees her picture she recognizes her. I think the two of them will be awesome together, don't you? :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Waiting Child: An Adoption Poem

I was visiting a friend's blog when I came across this poem. I hope that she didn't mind that I put it on mine. It moved me deeply and I wanted to share it! Happy Thanksgiving to you!

The Waiting Child: An Adoption Poem
By Debbie Bodie

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with him
I played pretend you'd chosen me.

I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no-one want a child of three?"

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet!

I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.

Can this be true? I'm almost six!
And there are infants here, you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me.
Copyright 1997

How do we stand the wait?

For those of you that are reading this that has already been through the adoption process, you know exactly what I mean when I say, "How do we stand the wait?" Now that we know who she is, it is harder than ever before to wait. The good news is though, that it will be shorter and certain! That is the good part. We know we should travel within the next few months and that is awesome but....why the wait? Everything is done electronically and it still takes an eternity to get there. Oh well...my social worker said, "just shop and prepare" and that's what I intend on doing. We are going to put up her bed and get her things all washed up and ready for her after Thanksgiving so no matter when she comes home, we'll be ready for her.

Friday is such a blur. Gettting that call that I have waited on for so long was surreal. I had a lot of irons in the fire trying to get ready for HT's surprise 13th birthday party and I was having the hardest time focusing on the task at hand. I think I talked my mom into a trance that day! God love her! I was so excited I could barely stand myself! She could probably barely stand me either! :) Both her and my Aunt L were here helping out with the party and I don't know what I would have done without them. They were a heaven send that day!

Haley's birthday bash was a success and she was so blessed by all of her friends that came. She is so grown up and at 13, such a wonderful blessing to her daddy and me. I am including a picture of that night for you to see...

So far we have been so blessed by everyone around us. Thank you all for your love and support as we journey through this process of bringing little LK home.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! I know we will. We have alot to be thankful for this year!

We have a referral!

I have always heard that the closer to time in getting a referral you will begin to see lots of ladybugs. We have had a influx of them in only one room of our house for 2 weeks now. Everywhere I turn, they are everywhere. I am a believer that God sends "breadcrumbs" and we've been getting them for weeks now.

I woke up at 4 am and just had a knowing inside that we were going to get some news...

Yesterday at 11 am I got a call on my cell phone from our agency. They said they had a baby girl who will be 2 on Christmas Eve. Of course we immediately fell in love. She has a mild heart condition that will have to be checked out when we return home. We quickly accepted the referral and now we just wait for approximately 3-4 months to get our letter of acceptance from China and we travel! Yeaaaa!

We desperately want to take our children with us so please pray that these details will get sorted out. They want to go and meet their new baby sister "Lili-Kate". We are so excited! She's a beauty! We already love her!

True Love Waits

Last night we gave HT her "True Love Waits" ring she asked for for her 13th birthday. It was really sweet. JT put it on her and we promised to help her walk upright before the Lord and to help her as she chooses purity. We are so proud of her! Happy 13th Birthday sweet girl!

Make me proud

These precious kids have made life wonderful for us. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I look at them. Each of them so unique and so perfect in their own way. What is our newest one going to add to this family?

When we were doing our homestudy the social worker asked the kids what they would think about having a new sister, her being from another country...and Jeremiah answered and said, "I hope she will like us". They truly are treasures...and they make our life full!

Our wait continues...

We haven't blogged since February of this year. But since then, we have moved to another city so alot has changed for our family. H has started the 7th grade. JJ is in the 5th and A is in the 3rd grade. BG had her second birthday in July and she keeps us hopping. But things have been quiet on the adoption. It has been a year and a half since we started our process but I am hopeful. We could get a call at any time with the news that we have been matched. Adopting is by far, way harder than having a natural birth. The natural birthing process is a sure thing...in approximately nine months, you will have yourself a baby. Adoption on the other hand, is frustrating and definitely burns patience into you. I have the comfort though, that God is good and He knows just the right time to bring that baby into our family. I trust Him with her. I will continue to blog as I hear something. But for now, we continue to wait...

Happy Anniversary baby...got you on my mind...

Today is our 14th anniversary! At 4 p.m. marks the time I said "I do" to the man that I love. Little did I know that my mind would not be able to wrap itself around 14 years later and the love I have for this man. What an incredible blessing he has been to me and our four children. Not only has Jeff been an incredible husband with the utmost character and integrity, he has also been a wonderful father! I feel honored that God blessed me with such a wonderful soulmate! Happy Anniversary baby! I didn't think it was possible at the time but I love you way more today than I did the day I married you!

Tagg I'm It!

I know this is not an adoption post and I usually don't do this stuff but this was fun so I decided to post it. Haley tagged me so here it is!

Since you've been 'tagged', you have to write a blog of 7 things you are passionate about, 7 things you say all the time, 7 things you want to do before you die and 3 things people may not know about you (it can be weird too). At the end choose your people to be tagged. Don't forget to leave them a comment to read your blog. You can't tag the person who tagged you, since you can't tag me back - let me know when you've posted your blog or sent your email so I can see your answers.

7 things I'm passionate about:
1) Jesus
2) Adoption
3) My family and it's a long list
4) College
5) Mexican Food
6) Knowing God's will
7) The beach

7 things I say all the time:
1)Blame
2)What the heck...(probably not the best choice of words)
3)Get out of my bathroom
4)Haley, where's my...(depends on what she had last)
5)Bella, get down!(she's my climber)
6)Turn down the tv
7)...this list could get long....

7 things I want to do before I die:
1) Get my college degree including my master's
2)Learn to paint and play drums
3)Live in Hawaii
4)Travel to France & Italy with Jeff
5)See my kids grow up
6)Meet my Grandkids
7)Do medical missions

3 things you may not know about me:
1) I only wanted one child when I was young (that changed!)
2) I was a mime
3)I hate to make coffee but love to drink it

My people to tag:
1) Pam
2)Tammy C.
3)Miranda
4)Mom
5)Tracy
6)Becky
7) Suzanne

Our Family

The wait for our newly adopted little one gets hard at times. When you are destined to adopt I believe that God puts into your heart a hole that can only be filled by that one little one so far away. I can't wait until Isabella has her sister here to play with and love. They will be close and even though they are miles apart-oceans apart-they are sisters at heart!

I got ready to go out shopping and when I was leaving Bella came around the corner. She was ready to go too! Here is a funny pic of that day. I will keep you posted on details as I recieve them. Since I am new to blogging it may take me a while to figure it all out.

Our dossier made it to China

Our dossier has officially arrived in China today! Unfortunately the special needs list is not coming out this month and so we expect to hear something again in April. We continue to wait...

Since some of you viewing this might be interested I am posting some other things going on with our family. Haley got on Homecoming Court for the sixth grade group at Meridianville Middle. She was voted on by her peers for this and we were very proud of her. Here is a picture of her on that night. She's seems so grown up and she's only 12!