Blessed Thanksgiving

What a blessed Thanksgiving we had today! There were so many reasons to be thankful and grateful to the One who provides all! We started the day with brunch - outside because it was the perfect day - 78 and sunny! Our friends the Sanchez' and the Hoads joined us - 9 adults and 7 kids and 2 dogs! What a way to kick off our day!

After brunch, we moved into the dinner preparations for an entirely different group of people! Our neighbors Art & Linda joined us - and Art earned the official "Carver" title!

Brunch outside was such a hit that we decided to enjoy the sunshine & eat dinner out there as well! Our Lucky mommy friends the Bauer's were there (Karen, Bob & Kailee), Kris, LaShone and grandma of course!

After dinner, we then moved onto the dessert preparations. Becky was introduced to a timeless US tradition - licking the beaters!

One for each - such good sharing (very different from earlier in the day when the mere mention of Becky having to share reduced her to a puddle of tears!)

No sense moving inside now...just put the lights on & a log in the chiminea!

It would be so easy to look around today and be thankful for our families, our friends, our prosperity, our good health and all those things that make our lives better and make it "about us". It is not - it is about HIm - the One from whom all that we have and all that we are and that we will be come from.

What an amazing day we had - praising the God from whom all blessings flow!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy Birthday to Nana!

4 years ago, we moved my grandma from Florida to a retirement home about a mile from our house. It has been fun to have 4 generations together - and Becky loves her Nana! We celebrated her birthday on Sunday - next year we'll have a shared celebration with her & Katie as they are one day apart!

Pop-pop came down for Nana's birthday; he and Becky and becoming quite the buddies. He sat down for breakfast Monday morning, and she decided she needed to sit with him instead of in her high chair.

I love the family that the Lord provided for my daughter - a great-grandma and a grandpa who are very present in her life and whom she gets to see often and grow up with.

Giving Back

We are kicking off the holiday season right with the Lucky Mommy's! Today, we all got together for lunch (always an exciting event with 4 pre-schoolers!) - then we all went shopping together to fill our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. While I am not sure if Becky truly understands that we bought for someone else & not her, I think that starting this now and having it become part of our Christmas traditions will help her understand how truly blessed we are in our house.

We left the restaurant and went into the mall to walk over to Walmart - and guess who we ran into?? I was a little nervous about how Becky would react - last year he wasn't high on her hit list. Not to worry this year - they are already fast friends!

The first attempt at a group Christmas picture - hope the other ones are a bit better! Becky was much more interested in the candy cane than the picture opportunity!

Lined up and ready to shop away! The cart brigade began - and we were quite the sight winding our way through Walmart!

Shoeboxes packed and ready to go! This year we have the ability to track our packages so we can see where they go! Praying that somewhere, a child will be blessed this year by our humble effort.

Bittersweet Birthday

It's Saturday morning in Beijing right now. That means it's November 21st. That means it's Katie's 4th birthday. I pray that someone who is with her makes it a special day for her - makes her feel loved and wanted and cared about. I pray that today she feels the Father's love for her through those around her.

I am having a hard time right now. This day is not happy for me - I'd like to crawl into bed until it's over - but I can't. This is the bitter part of the "bittersweet" - not being with her, not being able to be her mom, not being able to control the US Government bureaucracy, just wanting this be over and to have my daughter home. Bitter is how it feels and sometimes how I am feeling.

The sweet part is that on the day that Katie was born, our Heavenly Father knew where she would be on her 4th birthday. He knew the plan to bring her to her forever family. He holds her in His very capable hands and He is with her today. There is a sweetness about how the Lord brings families together and how He lifts us up through our hard times. There is a sweetness to knowing that so many of my friends are praying for Katie - and for her mom - through this time. That I cried out to you (again) and you lift us up.There is a sweetness in His love for her and for me that shows itself daily through you. There is a sweetness to knowing that while I don't know the plan or the timeframe - He does. That must be good enough for me. And it is. Most of the time.

But for today - right now - my daughter's 4th birthday - I just want her home now.

Wordless Wednesday

Priceless Moment

I know that I am very behind in posting - and to the grandparents in the audience, I truly apologize. I will get caught up this week, as I have some very cute pictures & stories to share.

However, this one could not wait. On Sunday, Becky had Preschool Sunday at the church where she goes to pre-school. The children were invited to come up & sing with Father Rob. Becky gave a very memorable performance that had to be shared....

Pay no attention to the mother & sister laughing hysterically in the background - Ashlee was videotaping this & I was taking still photos. Event the teacher had trouble containing herself! Poor thing took the rest of the song to compose herself!

The final Halloween report -

The final Halloween pictures - I promise! On Halloween, we attended the Harvest Festival that our church hosts. Becky & I dressed, and daddy was the official photographer!

The bounce house was the first stop - and Becky has gotten quite brave as far as these are concerned - much to the dismay of daddy, who is convinced she is going to get killed in one (or at the very least break an arm). She loves them though!

Inside at Harvest Festival are the booths and games. Becky was much more interested in just helping herself to the candy than she was playing the games.

When she did play the games, she figured out fairly quickly the easiest way to win - and everyone was so kind & let her have the advantage

This lollipop tree game was one that my dad made for us to use last year - we were really happy to see it used again this year and it was very popular with the little ones especially!

She also painted a pumpkin - which was not nearly as popular with her as the games as there was no candy involved. Interestingly enough, Becky was very enthralled with collecting he candy and didn't show much interest in eating it (she left that for mommy!)

They also had a petting zoo

We may finally bid a fond farewell to Halloween 2009!

Our Sonogram

It amazes me that throughout the adoption journey, we get so wrapped up in one little, tiny piece of paper. It has no soul, no personality, no thoughts - it's an inanimate object - yet when we hear it's coming, when we actually see it, it can reduce even the strongest of us to a bundle of tears. We track it on UPS and fedex, we lovingly protect it from the dog, cats and other children. We pray over it.

For those who build their families through adoption, the paperwork we do is our form of labor - and it last much longer than the 12 hours (or 24 hours!) that birthing a biological child does. In many cases, it last longer than a pregnancy - often two or three times long. We often can't see the process, and though we try - we can't really "push" it through.

The paperwork milestones become our sonograms - our markers of the growth process of our families. So without further ado - here is our latest "sonogram"!

This solitary piece of paperwork represents China approval that we can become Katie's parents. It is the critical document needed for the US government to approve us adopting a foreign born child. It is the next big step in Katie coming home to her forever family.

It reduced me to tears; it delighted my heart; it has me on my knees today at the foot of the Throne - thanking the One who makes this possible. Our God is an awesome God!

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween with Gymbo

It's going to take me a few days to post pictures of all the Halloween festivities (for someone who doesn't like Halloween - I sure did a lot of it this year!) Friday night, Becky went ot Gymboree for their party. She loves her Gymboree teacher , Miss Katie, and she really is participating in the program.

I have no idea who this adorable baby Tinkerbell is, but Becky was absolutely fascinated with her. She spent about 20 minutes on the floor with her

Planting pumpkin seeds - Gymboree has significantly improved Becky's "pretend" play

her mean eyes - not sure what the problem was!

As close as we get to "falling leaves" in southern California!

LOA!!

We got an email this morning from our case manager (aka - Mei the midwife!) telling us that she should have our LOA (letter of approval) from China by tomorrow at the latest! For all you adoption novices - this is a VERY big deal! We can now send our final approval request to the US government - wait for our consulate appointment and travel approval - then off to go get Katie & bring her HOME!!!! Estimating about 10-12 weeks to travel (with all our friends - yippee!!)

I would love to give Mei the credit for this - but the glory goes to God - in whose perfect timing we rest. He is so faithful and we bow our knee to Him this morning in praise and thanksgiving!