Oh My! Has it really been a month since I last posted

I cannot believe it has been that long. I have tried several times to sit down and catch up, but it is just plain crazy around here! I have missed posting about several important occassions...3 more birthdays, the end of school, and just some fun activities. The girls are finished with dance class for the year on Saturday when they have their big recitals. We will be "dancing" nearly all day because each of the girls will be in separate recitals. Oh, and... I cannot forget the numerous baseball games that are now underway until the end of June. I will try to find some time in the next fews days to do some catch up posts and a post and some pictures of our beautiful girls' dance recital.
Hopefully, since we are finished with school for the summer, I can keep posting regularly. Would you please leave a comment if you are sticking with me and still reading my blog? Please! I would love to hear from you!

Another Teen

We are now parents of not one but two teenagers in our family. I am trepidaciously looking forward to the teenage years. Both my teens are growing into amazing young men who want to serve the Lord and who love helping others. They show respect and obedience to us and to everyone they meet. Dare I say it...They seem "easy" at this point (Of course, G has only been a teen for a day, but he did survive those hideous preteen years and for that matter we did too.).

Garrett at 2yrs old

Garrett at 13 years old

This weekend Garrett ...aka.G-man (since he won't let me call him G-baby anymore)... celebrated his exciting milestone by playing paintball with a bunch of the guys. The gloomy, rainy day broke away to some sunshine, and the guys were able to play some rousing games which were made all the better by the added mud! Then it was home to eat tacos,burritos and birthday cake. I had a houseful of preteen and teenage boys...and yes, I am so glad that I learned a long time ago how to cook for large crowds. They consumed some large amounts of food!
Today, the official day of Garrett's birth. We celebrated with church this morning, sharing lunch with church friends and then he selected his choice of restaurant for dinner tonight. We topped it off with a visit to the frozen yogurt place which was his dessert of choice. It was a perfect way to celebrate with G-man his special day.
Happy Birthday to our Garrett! You came into this world in an amazingly rushed way (born 2 1/2 mths early). You were a fighter and grew strong against all odds. Funny, you remain a fighter... a fighter for what you see is fair and just, a fighter for the weak and needy, a fighter for Jesus. I am in awe of the young man that God is molding you to be... a man sure of his steps, a man with great ambition, and a man with a wonderful, caring, tender heart. Your dad and I love you and look forward to watching you continue to grow in your life journey. We know that God is going to use you for amazing things!
Happy 13th Birthday!!

Remembering 6 years ago...

Our First Full Day with Mia, April 2006

Brother Love...these two share an amazing bond , April 2006

Easter Sunday (our first day back home), April 2006

Daddy and His Princess, 2012

Smiley Girl, 2012

Wow, Has it really been 6 years?! I remember so vividly the massive amounts of paperwork and the extremely painful WAIT for our precious baby girl. Words cannot express how hard of a wait that it is really, but I equate it to something like this...                                                                                                   Imagine that you have been pregnant for not 9mths, but in most cases for a year or longer, then you give birth (in the adoption world we get a referrral that includes a picture of your precious child). Now, wait...you cannot have your child that you birthed , not yet...you have to wait (this time having seen your child's face). You have to wait at least another 3 months (in some cases longer) before you can bring your precious treasure home. The minute you see that beautiful child's picture, the Wait, no matter how short or long, becomes excrutiatingly painful!! Your heart yearns for this child!
... and then the day arrives! The day that your child will join your family, the day that you can touch, hold and love that treasure is upon you. Your emotions are like a roller coaster of feeelings. You are filled with joy, excitement and love... actually you can't describe what it is really like. I can only say that it is the closest I have ever come to knowing intensely, deeply, and without question the love that Jesus has for us! My precious Mia was placed in my arms, and the world around us ceased to exist. We were thrilled to have our precious little girl in our family. I was overwhelmed with emotion, and she and I spent the next few hours crying, she because of grief and fear at our "strangeness", and I because of love and thankfulness... A Baby Girl!
And now we are HERE...
... fast forward, 6 YEARS... Mia's Chinese name is "Le" (Le le as she was called). "Le" means joy and happiness. We can tell you that she was appropriately named. She has filled this house with JOY. Not that our boys didn't and don't bring us joy,but Mia brought an amazing new JOY. She brought giggles, girly things and amazing smiles. She brought lots of sillness and a lot of princess attitude.She was and is one of the happiest children I have ever known. She loves life and loves her family!
Wow! God blessed us with a precious treasure, and we could only have imagined the journey that He would have in store for us over these past 6 years!
Mia started it all...
Happy Forever Family Day, our Precious Mia!

A Visit With Friends

We knew we weren't officially taking a Spring Break, but we finished school early, and Brad was able to take a few days off. So, we took a quick road trip to visit with some dear friends.The kids spent all their waking hours running, playing and eating. The grownups put in many hours of sharing and talking. Oh, and did I mention the wonderful food... we ate and ate and ate some more.  It was a great trip, and  we greatly enjoyed the hospitality of our friends. We always leave their home with a little bit of sadness, but we always feel encouraged, revived and refreshed. God has so blessed us with dear friends to share the challenges of adoption and this journey of life.

Food, Food and More Food

Such cuties

How many kids can you fit on a trampoline?!

The Spy Brigade... cuteness at its utmost!

Uh! Oh! A dog... Toby is still a little frightened by large animals.

Girl friends

What did you find Mia?

Praising God for Beautiful Weather

Late February/ Early March
Enjoying the Beautiful Warm weather of the last few weeks...

Basketball

Another Baseball player

Learning from Big Brother

Swinging in the Sunshine

Another Rousing Game of Basketball

Not sure about these shorts...

Our Busy Life

Some Pictures of the "busy-ness" of our family over the past few months.                                        
January
Welcome Home Toby Party

 Just look at that Smile! Toby loved all the balloons and chased them around the room

Parachute Fun: One of the many games at the party

February
Father/Daughter Valentine's Day Dinenr Date

Beautiful Girls

Daddy and  Princess Mandy

Daddy and Princess Mia

February/ March
School Days

Even our cat likes to read

Study of the Heart, its chambers and valves

Guitar Practice

HE Chose Me...

...to be Momma to seven beautiful children, some by birth and some born in my heart
... to raise them to Love and Honor Him
... to meet the challenges that each day of this parenting journey brings
... to parent children with special needs, some physically present and some with scars from the past
... to parent children who struggle to feel loved and accepted
... to parent children who have never known what unconditional love is
... to make this a whole family in spite of its faults, struggles and weaknesses
Truth is He chose Me... He chose me because He believes in Me... He knows the plan ...

 For I know the plans* I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper* you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.*  Jeremiah 29:11

Truth is He chose me(us) because He knows that I (we) can make it ... in spite of the challenges and struggles. Truth is He wants to boast in Me (us).

"He permits and sometimes even dictates difficulty for those in whom He boasts so that they will prove what He already knows is true. The Lord does not put us to tests that He knows in advance we don't have the wherewithal to pass. He boasts in His faithful followers then lets them prove Him right. Sometimes the person most shocked by the proof is the human put to the test." Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs

Truth is He knows of my(our) struggles with these hurting children. Truth is He knows how it will all end. Truth is He loves me and He loves my children. He wants what is best for us all.

" God knows how everything will turn out. And, and for every single person who belongs to Him, it turns out well. We are not the exceptions. Neither our sins or our sufferings are big enough to offset the ordered outcome" Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs

It is now that I must choose to meet this challenge and these struggles because I know that God has placed them in my hands. The struggles and challenges are hard. This journey, the journey of adoption and parenting, is HARD. Parenting hurt children is the hardest parenting I (we) have ever done. It is not the same as parenting a child who you have raised from birth. A hurting child has never known the love of parents, never had stability and never know permanency. It is a constant battle to keep the hurting child on the right path and to build a "moral warehouse" in that child,. It is one struggle after another to keep that child from controling everything(because this is how they kept their lives from unraveling), to keep that child from domineering and taking over the family. It is difficult to comfort that child when they do not even know why they are hurting. Loving a child who has never know love and has no way of knowing how to accept love brings lots of hurts. It hurts them because they have only known rejecttion, and it hurts you because they can only reject your love over and over. Many times it is a struggle within yourself to love a child that just doesn't "seem to fit".   And, in spite of each and every one of these challenges, He Chose ME... He knows that I am worthy of this challenge... Me?, Me? Really God,Me???
I feel very unworthy of the Love and blessings that God lavishes on me. Often, I feel as if I have "messed this challenge up". There are many days that I have to force myself to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other. There are other days that I (we) celebrate a "good" day if we make it with only one argument. I know that with each day, month and year, I (we) will arrrive closer and closer to God's plan.
On this day, I am choosing to take up the challenge!  I am choosing to face the challenges in a positive way! I am choosing to do anything necessary for all of my children's lives! I am choosing to Trust in you Lord!  I am choosing to Honor You Lord! I am choosing to LOVE!