Orphan Sunday - belated post

Trying to play a little catch up...

December - Orphan Sunday

The first was a super special day - Orphan Sunday at Fishhawk Fellowship Church.  This took place back in December.  What a gift to have Jodi Allion join us.  Jodi is the medical director for LWB and has known and loved our sweet Meisi before we did. :)

This day was beautiful - the slide shows, the testimonies, the prayer time for each family who had or was adopting/fostering, the message...

Another special gift was my sweet friend Katie coming to help serve as the Show Hope Advocate. :) Let me just say that having a slumber party is just as much fun as an adult as it was as a kid!  Katie and her sweet girls spent the night with us and we had fun....very tired the next day, but lots of fun! :) 

A couple months before this event I served in another like it and there was an elderly lady who walked by me crying a the end of the service.  I asked her if she was ok.  She said, "No. This was amazing.  Eye opening.  I want to do something; yet I know as soon as I walk out these doors I will carry on with my busy life and forget all I've seen and heard here today."  Tears streaming down her beautiful face.  What honesty.  What painful truth each of us face.... I pray for you, just as I did with her, that you don't walk away from hard truths, that you don't forget.  Don't walk away from the desires God has given you.  Go or Give or Adopt - do whatever it is God has called you to do.

But DO something.
Don't forget and Do Nothing.

Don't know where to start - here, let me help!
I can't say enough good about Love Without Boundaries and Show Hope.
These are two of many ways to support orphan care and preserve families (LWB unity fund).
I know there are many, many more.
However,  with these two I wholeheartedly will say that the money you send - makes a difference in the life of a child, children and families.

Remember, DO SOMETHING!!

More birthday celebrations. :)

This is a bit delayed but finally downloaded these pics and wanted to get them on here. :)

Grandma came to help us celebrate Meisi's third birthday (she was with us in China for the second birthday too). :)

As many times as we've been to Disney.. we had never stopped with the kids to see Mickey Mouse.  News flash- Mickey Mouse actually TALKS now - WITH a moving mouth!  It was so very cool!

 Our girl LOVES Micke Mouse. I wish I could've caught the excitement leading up to this....

 At the end of every disney attraction is a...STORE! lol  Ian was being the entertainer here.

 So happy to love on a life sized Minnie doll. :)

A couple days later we had another little birthday party with Grandma.  We made homemade cupcakes and icing which turned out better than I expected. :)

I think she is almost tired of getting pictures taken, what do you think??
Sassy...

 Sweet..

 Silly Meisi.

 Aili, enjoying our creation...she was pleased with the outcome. :)

 Pin the eye on Muno... So.Much.Fun... watching Meisi jump up and down, laughing, cheering... Priceless!

 She was very proud to show Daddy how well he did!

 Waiting patently for her packages...

 :)

 Such a little copycat - she adores her Jie Jie. Can you tell??

Blessings..over and over again!  

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Sweetness...

She certainly has made so much progress since this time last year.

Our hotel and sweet guide in Anhui made arrangements for us to have a cake (Chinese version) and Hello Kitty plates and balloons in our room when we returned from Civil Affairs on her birthday...

Such a special day it was - her 2nd Birthday and the day she legally became our daughter...God's timing is always perfect. :)

She wasn't completely happy about the birthday song, or the candle or the hat... She did like the cake though. :)

This year - totally different!  She loved it ALL...

She is such a ham too.  As we sang, "Happy Birthday dear Meisi."  She says, "I'm right here."  :)

Happy Birthday baby girl! :)

One year ago today...

I remember clearly checking and rechecking the bag before leaving the hotel to Civil Affairs.  We could not wait to hold our baby girl.  I fully expected to have time to set down our bags, get out the camera and wait for them to bring her in...

Nope...she was there waiting for us.  

 When her daddy scooped her up - immediate smile. :) Thank you Jesus for grafting her into our family.

 Our first family photo as a family of 5. :)

One year later...

Riding four wheelers ;)

 Shooting up all the bad guys because she IS a super hero (or so she says). :)

 Fighting hard with the Monkey King...

 Umm...not sure what she is doing here aside from being part of a very silly family..

 Enjoying magical moments with her favorite characters - Mickey and Minnie...

I still stand amazed.  All the fears and anxieties leading up to a year ago have been filled with beautiful truths and love.  This year our family has grown by more than just one person... we've grown in love, we've grown in Christ and we've grown in trust.  

Our little princess - she is the bravest, strongest person I know.  We do not forget the tragedy and heartbreak that led to her being ours.  Yet, I can't praise my Lord enough for calling us to adopt, for helping us be obedient - overcoming all the reasons/doubts, for choosing us for her and her for us and for making beauty out of ashes.  

It has been a truly happy, joy filled year for our family - and this is just the beginning! :)

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Chinese New Year!

I am seriously behind on blogs and someday I may catch up...

but instead of thinking on what I haven't done, I will focus on today. 

Happy Chinese New Year! This is just a quick snapshot of our eve.  Do you do anything to celebrate CNY?  As followers of Christ, we don't celebrate most of the Chinese traditions.  However, our family enjoys learning about the culture and traditions, implementing what we can.  

This year we received over 30 Christmas cards from friends in our Chinese adoption community.  I have kept them up to pray over these precious families through CNY.  You can get a glimpse of some behind our sweet girls. :)

The kids put on their silks and colored some fun pictures 

Time for some fireworks!  Meisi likes the lights but not a fan of the noise. :) She kept saying, "It is LOUD!!"

And well...doing a few at a time was taking too long...so ready or not...

Of course, it wouldn't be Florida without a little rain.
Her sweet smile melts my heart.  :)

Haha...still not a fan of "loud" though!

 Dinner time!  Nothing fancy, just some rice, dumplings and steamed buns.

In my mind I thought we'd end the night doing our version of a dragon dance - haha - I'm such a dreamer!  The kids wore their masks for about 3 seconds, I snapped a picture and masks were off. :)

Aww...just realized Meisi and Ian holding hands. :)  

I sure do love these kiddos and feel so blessed and grateful to be their Mama. :)

Hoping you have a blessed New Year full of joy and unending love!