Prayer request for a friend

All prayer warriors........I know you already are praying for multiple people and needs....BUT could you please squeeze in one more for some very dear friends in the adoption process.  They've just got news from their agency that their 2yr. old boy has a skin disease called Vitiligo.  The rest of this post is in the family's own words. 

"We loved Lukai yesterday, when he didn't have vitiligo, and we love Lukai today, even with Vitiligo."

So what do we need?  Prayer.  Prayer for us, prayer for Lukai, and prayer for all the directors, social workers, and government officials involved not to panic and try to stop the adoption.  What does Lukai need?  Part of me wants to scream "US!  He needs a home!  Someone to take care of him.", but he has a foster family, and hopefully he is being well cared for.  God knows what he needs - and God will meet those needs, either through us, or through someone else.

All we can do, is hold on, and push through to bring Lukai home... with or without Vitiligo.

Don't Adopt

Yeah, the title got my attention, too.  He has some words of wisdom to impart to us though! http://www.russellmoore.com/2011/10/12/dont-adopt/

Pre-Approval!

We finally got PA (pre approval) for our 2nd little girl:)  YEAH!!!  So now I can officially introduce Iley Xiaokui (pronounced Sha ow Quay) She is 4 years old also.  She has been at the same orphanage as Wren Da Yu until the last month.  She is now in foster care in China.  (Not sure how I feel about this, but as there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.....I will just pray)

Here she is:)  We think she's pretty cute!

This next picture was our first glimpse of her.  She is in the pink bib (behind Wren pointing, both are in pink) So here are both of our girls in the same picture.  We didn't know they were going to be sisters at this point.  We just wondered who the forlorn little face in the background was, and hoped she would have a momma soon.

The next glimpse of her came in a picture and video of her at the table.  I don't know what it was about her that just captivated me.  She really wasn't doing much but eating and looking at the little girl beside her.  She did show a little personality in this picture though:) At this point, although I was smitten with her, we were still thinking one was our limit.

The next glimpse of her was in a video sent to us by a friend who was showing us her little girl.  I was totally not expecting to see her!  We had just received a video of Wren Da Yu, and she was nowhere to be seen.  When we watched the video, I felt again that this was my child. After much discussion and even more prayer about whether we were supposed to adopt two at once,  we decided to try to find out who she was, and if she was even available, or if she already had a family.  We emailed a picture of her to our agency along with another little boy's picture, who we had all been in love with for a while.  We prayed that if either of them were NOT meant to be ours that they would already be placed with a family. I also prayed that if they were ours, that something in their file would stand out or be specific to our family.  The little boy is being adopted by a family in China (we mourned his loss to our family, and pray that he will be happy and know Christ in his new family)  He reminded us so much of our Shermie.....I still say I have 3 children in China!), BUT..... the little girl was named Xiaokui, she is 4 yrs. old, Her Birthday is April 14th,(our anniversary) of  2007 She has CHD(congenital heart disease).  Her file was in the process of being prepared for adoption. She wasn't on any list yet! If our paper work and her file, got done at the right timing....we would be first to be able to review her file.  If hers got done first, then she would go on a shared list, and a family with their paperwork farther along would have first chance to adopt her.  So we waited........and prayed that our paperwork would HURRY!  We had already fallen in love with her, and considered her ours in our hearts.  Our agency received her file 1 week before our paperwork was ready!  But they said it was close enough, and they would let us review her file.  This is what we received.

After we said yes we want her!  We were able to send some questions to the orphanage and find out more about her.  This is what we know:

She is cooperative

Easy going

Clever

Outgoing

Active

Affectionate

Gets along well with each child

Yes she knows Da yu and gets along well with her

Happy

A leader

Likes to play with dolls, blocks, balls and cars

Likes out door activities

Loves clolorful objects

Is Tiny

Can't do heavy physical activities

Beautiful smile

Confident

Lovely

We laughed at the Happy beautiful smile description!  If we hadn't seen the video of her, we would have wondered if she ever smiles.

She weighs 24.25lbs and is 33.7" tall.  She is a dink.  Dayu is 33lbs. and is 37.8" tall.  Not big for a four year old, but bigger than her little sis.

This is their bedroom at the orphanage.  Iley Xiaokui is along the wall in the orange shirt.

This is only one room like this of many.  There are 400 kids at this orphanage.  We are thankful there will be 2 less orphans soon:)

Another "unsmiley" picture. She's the third one back on the left.

Wren Da Yu update

Well at least new pictures!  And we LOVE new pictures.  These made me glad that she looked so well and happy....but sad that she is looking older with each one.....she is growing up away from us, and that makes me want to hop the next plane to China! 

The next picture is at a birthday party for one of the other kids. Wren is in the back on the left. The one with pigtails.

Too Funny

For those of you who don't follow Jen Hatmaker's blog.....she is a funny lady:)  I read this post and laughed my self silly.  She is the one that posted After the Airport.  But this one is just so true to any family with children....especially the male species.  I copied the picture and captions below from her post!  Not sure if that's legal???  But oh my....how many other negligent parents (like us) could have taken this picture in their own back yard???  How many of us dream of the Fake family...........go read!
http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/09/26/fake-family

Clearly, I'm not the hovering Mama I once was. As this picture demonstrates:

We add water to our Death Trap Trampoline to expedite the possibility of a broken femur.

Strange days indeed

I wonder if I would have sent these pictures to China in our Dossier, if they would approve us to adopt.  Or if our social worker would have seen this side of them, before she approved us....would her report have been different?

FREEZE!

and the unsuspecting victim is........He has a somewhat puzzled look would you say......

+

But not for long.

this outfit is just wrong on every level!

 

The boys wore this fire fighter coat when they were about 3-5!  Some people never grew up....in more ways than one:)

They interrupted a war that was already in progress.......

Please disregard the ugly messy basement....it's the battleground of many wars past and present, and it is seriously battle scarred.

Spiders should not come in sizes bigger than a mouse

Let me say for the record....I DO NOT LIKE SPIDERS!  I can step on one, or smack one with a shoe...if they are within normal size and don't jump, or come towards me.  If they get on me, I feel like I'm going to throw up...then get mad....then cry.  This is just for normal spiders.  When Thatcher brought this furry friend in the other night....It made my stomache lurch! and sent shivers down my spine.....and it was safely in a jar.   

He found it down south of Quinter on the farm where he works.  The cat was playing with it!!  Crazy cat!

He took it up to show Harrison and Sherman who were already in bed.  I gave him strict orders not to scare Harrison with it.....or Harrison would be downstairs sleeping with me.  Harrison used to have spider nightmares.  We would wake up to his hysterical screaming, race upstairs to see who was murdering him, and find him frantically dancing and darting back and forth in the hallway.....escaping the spiders....so his fear is real. 

Then he woke up poor Sherman, determined that he HAD to see this beauty.   Sherman groggily said whhaaatt..snort snuffle...rub eyes..."Sherman wake up....Look at this really big spider"  He sits up and says Whoa!  That's really big!  Then Clunk.....goes back to sleep.  The first thing he says to me in the morning was "Did Thatcher come over last night with a really big spider?  Or did I just dream that"  We didn't think he was very awake:)

I made him take it home with him.....I was not sleeping with that thing in my house!!! Harrison is totally with me on this!  WhenThatcher brought it over again last night so Sherman could take it to school today for show and tell, Harrison  refused to go to bed until it was clear out in the utility room, he would have MUCH preferred that it was OUTSIDE and wouldn't even go past it to get his clothes this morning in the laundry room.  Sherman had to take it outside!  I asked him how are you planning to get to school?  Sherman took it to school on the bus....  He was pumped up over this opportunity to be king of show and tell:)  and...it's always fun to make the girls scream.

I'm afraid that i can no longer convince myself that tarantulas don't live in this area.....kind of like people said when I moved here.....rattlesnakes never come south of the tracks.  BA.....LONE....Y!  I've had encounters with 3!  But if I encounter one of these on my walks......it may be the end of my exercise regime.....well it would be if I had one that is.