It beginning to look a lot like....

SUMMER!!! 

The pool is set up in the backyard, the swimming suits have been dusted off and we've even had our first beach trip with friends!!! 

We begun our vagabond pool patrol....frequenting the homes & hotels of friends that have pools in a shameless attempt to swim and enjoy the benefits of having a pool without having to actually have one! 

A Blessed Easter

It was a blessed Easter celebration for us. Many (many, many) years ago, I lived in Boston, and my bestest friend there was Pam. 25 years later, we are both married with two girls - hers are 8 & 12. We live on opposites sides of the country. We don't see each other often - or even stay in touch, but when we have the opportunity to get together, we relish it and we love it! They were in Newport Beach this week, so we got to spend a lot of time with them. One of the things we did together was the traditional dying of the easter eggs.

Becky was very intent on her dying..what a surprise of her color choice - 

On Saturday, we went to Ryan's Easter party - love those little faces! They were much less intent on the picture than they were to go get their eggs....might have been better to get the picture before we told them they were going to hunt eggs! 

Sweet girls - 

Getting their instructions on the egg race....

Katie was really not interested in the egg race - 

Easter Morning - Resurrection Sunday - He has Risen! 

The day above all other days. 

My girls represent so many things to me every day - but most of all, they are living & breathing grace from God. Unmerited, undeserved grace. 

Jesus hung on that cross to pay for my sins so that I could be the recipient of His grace! 

A gallery of grace on Easter morning - 

Easter morning - yet another egg hunt - 

Surveying the treasure! 

Later in the day, Pam and her family were back with us. The kids table toast the Resurrection! 

The grown up table -

I look at this gallery of photos, and reflect on how truly blessed I am ~ through nothing I have done, not because I deserve it, not from working for it - but because He died and rose again.

Thank you Jesus- 

Hosanna in the Highest! 

Sunday Snapshot

Some random sisterly cuteness from this week of spring break! 

Sneak preview....

...of what I hope our summer will look like! 

It got really warm here Friday - and since it was the last day of spring break, we did what any self respecting California girls would do and headed to the beach! Besides all the obvious reasons to love the beach - the warmth, the waves, the smell, the relaxation, I love the beach with my girls because it's like neutral territory - there is very little, if any, sibling controversy. Nice for the momma to be able to put aside her referee whistle for a few hours! Plus, the car naps on the way home aren't bad either! 

Becky asked me as we were having lunch "'if summer was here yet?" I had to reluctantly tell her "no, not yet...we are just practicing for when it does come!" Hopefully this year we will get lots and lots of practice - till we achieve the perfect summer day! 

Soccer Star!

Katie started soccer last weekend in the AYSO disability division....and we might have a star on our hands....except that what these pictures don't show is that she actually only lasted about the first five minutes - then spent the rest of the time horizontal and uncooperative! Oh well....next week is another week! 

She loves the uniform and the idea of playing soccer...and she looks pretty cute, so I think we'll keep at it! 

Special Needs

After spending last weekend with our travel group and some other families with special needs kids, I have been giving a lot of thought to what it means to be a "special needs" family. What it requires. Why people choose this path. As more and more people chose this route for their China adoption, there is more talk about it and more experiences to share. There are so many miracle stories in the blog world for these kids - and then the stories you don't hear about. 

I have a good friend whose wife is feeling called  to adopt again from China - and because of the current state of adoption there, it would have to be a special needs child. When I talked to him, he told me "it would have to be a mild special need". I told him "can't guarantee that & he needed to be prepared for it to be worse than they would be told".  Not the answer my friend would have wanted me to give him. 

I recently went onto one of the largest China adoption agency's website to register to see their waiting child list. I had to select what type of special need we would consider "mild, moderate or severe", but they didn't really define "mild" or "moderate" or "severe".  

A friend who nearly lost her adopted special needs child one night because his "easy" special need turned out not be so "easy" is frustrated reading the yahoo group because of the appearance that this need is "no big deal". Her child almost died shortly after they got home - not so easy. 

A family who thought an older child had no significant special need other than her age brought her home to discover there was a developmental need - and was so unprepared to handle that their marriage nearly fell apart and they disrupted the adoption. 

Here's the thing - special needs are very unpredictable. The internet blog world is filled with stories of parents going to China, being told "there child will never walk (or some other equally tragic diagnosis) only to get that child home and have him or her walk off the airplane. What you don't hear are the stories of a "mild" special need that turns out to be major. You don't hear about the emotional trauma that most of these kids bring off the plane with them. You don't see the anger or the fear or the rage or the anxiety. You can't see that the best friend they bring with them off the plane is  fear. 

Adoption agencies bear a huge responsibility;  in a rush to keep their doors open in the shrinking world of IA they need to tell their clients that the really is there is no such thing as a "mild" special need. Every single child on the list right now is special needs - by virtue of them being without parents. It is almost impossible to determine the true extent of the emotional and development need until they are home. And when they get home - it is hard. It can be devastating. It is lonely. It is not always filled with the visible miracles we read about every day. 

All that being said - these kids are precious. They are priceless. They are worthy. By the Grace of God, they have been redeemed. We are blessed and privileged to be a part of their redemption story. Every day - my special needs child makes me a better person. She is a miracle - though not the kind that is obvious. She helps me keep my eyes off of me and onto Him. I look into her eyes - and see hope. I feel her arms around me - and it's as close to touching Jesus in the flesh as I will ever get.  

It is worth it. 


But it is not a mild nor easy journey. 

I left my heart in Carolina

It has taken me far too long to do this post - mostly because I have been busy at home, but partly because it is hard for me to be apart from the people in these pictures. The final days of our trip back east were spent in Charlotte, NC. Our adoption agency is based in the south, and consequently we have made some amazing friends through that who live in "God's country." Whenever I am anywhere on the east coast, I try to get there. It's a great place - beautiful, easy living - but it is our CWA family that makes it feel like home. This visit was particularly wonderful as Katie's travel group as got together for the weekend - along with some very special other local friends (and not so local!) 

Friday night - our amazing friends the Henderson's hosted us at their church fellowship hall. It was the perfect venue for the 20 children to hang out in and play while the moms & dads all caught up. Some local BBQ brought in and some fresh baked goods (thanks Merrill!!!) made it a perfectly complete evening! 

Twenty kids - 18 with families because of the miracle of adoption....amazing!!! Picture proof of God's love for us 

These four children - all spent their early years together in a place no child should be - all redeemed by God! We are so blessed - and they are so awesome!! 

Leah and Katie share a very special bond; Leah was an amazing help to us in China with Katie, and Katie gave Leah purpose and focus as she processed her new life and new reality. They are forever a part of one another - and we are so thankful for that because we just love Leah's family! 

Becky and her other best friend "Annagrace" - it's convenient for her they are both Annagrace! Becky talked non stop all week about when we going to get to Charlotte so she could see Annagrace, her friends from China. 

then.....

and now....

The China kids - one year later.....4 families, 8 kids from China, one great big huge God who had the perfect plan - Praises! These kids have come SO far in 14 months - evidence that with God, all things are possible! 

all the kids from the weekend - too much love and fun in one place! 

If you followed my trip to get Katie, you know how difficult that trip was and you know how important our travel family was to us. It was God caring for my family in the most tangible way possible - giving me exactly the right people for exactly the right time. 

I love these people - all the families and their kids. When we are together, there is a connection that is palpable. It is a physical pain when I leave them - cried all the way to the airport. My girls are 100% comfortable with every one of them - and they love my girls to pieces.

I did leave a part of my heart in Carolina - in very good hands with some of the best people I know. I am a Carolina girl at heart - 

(ps - I have a very blessed life here in California with some amazing friends - this in no way discount any of that or any of those friends that on a day to day basis bless our family.)