11 months

I opened my blog today to read a couple of comments that my wonderful friends left me, thanks Sharon and Leslie and Christie who e-mailed, and realized today is Oct. 5th. See the ticker at the top of my blog, it says that Sha Sha has been with her forever family for 11 months TODAY!! I can't belive that in one short month she will have been home for an entire year, it just doesn't feel possible. And wow, how she has changed. I will be doing a series of posts then and now, as special days come up this month. But for now here is a pic of our girl then and now.....

This picture was on the camera we sent to orphanage in Charlotte's Care Package.

Our Beautiful Girl

Thanks to all my friends for your encouragement, I am feeling much better about everything and really getting excited!! Oh and by the way, I added the Blog Followers application to my sidebar. If you follow me will you please add yourself, right now I have zero followers :(

Making Room for Mei Mei

So everytime I watch that video in the previous post, I just think about how grateful I am to be the mommy to 2 amazing children. And prayerfully one more in the near future. I am excited to be starting the chase again, but for some reason it seems harder this time to get going. Don't get me wrong, I know there is another little one out there for our family. I am just not looking forward to the paperwork. But I will get it done, just have to tread through it. We have been called to bring her home and we are committed to doing that, but it is so interesting the reactions this time. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Me: Hey, you are not going to believe this but we are going back to
China!

Friend: You are, for what??

Me: To bring home another baby!

Friend: Really???

Me: Yes, we are, I know everyone thinks we are crazy.

Friend: Are you sure, 3 little ones?

Me: There are so many children out there that need a mommy and daddy
and love, and we have it give. So we have to go back.

Friend: Okay, well (big pause) congratulations.

Now any of my friends out there reading, please know this is a whole bunch of conversations put together, but I have had many of these and it is so okay. But, I guess the first time, so many family and friends knew that we had done everything to have another baby and going to China was the answer to that. This time though, why?? It is so much harder to convince people that we just feel called to bring home another little girl. Jay and I knew and even talked about the fact that we would be back in China in the future. I think that is why we were not sad about leaving. We already knew we would be back. I guess I am just looking for some encouragement, that we are doing the right thing. It makes me wonder if I seem completely stressed out or something with having 2 and one more would just be too much??

I am not writing this post to make anyone feel bad, just to help explain. Yes, we feel completely blessed with all we have, and financially we are leaning on God for the adoption expenses, but we can take on another little one. And since we can we should. Watching the amazing story of little Susannah has really just confirmed it for me all the more. There is another sweet little girl that needs her mommy, daddy, Big Brother and Big Sis and we are going to make room for our Mei Mei. It will be a while before we see her face or hold her but we know it will happen, we have so much Faith in that. And while we are moving through the process we hope you will pray for us and maybe even ask yourself, can I make room for a Mei Mei? You might be surprised by the answer God gives. After all it is pretty hard to look and the sweet little girl in the video below and not have it pull at your heart just a little.

For your viewing pleasure...

First Charlotte Talking.....

You may want to pause the music, it is in the sidebar.

And Video from Ethan's Demonstration on Saturday...

Please remember to pray for Susannah today. Her open heart surgery is happening right now. The surgery will probably take 12 hours, so pray for her mommy and daddy as well. You can click on the button in the upper left corner to get updates from her blog.

Tae-Kwon-Do Demonstration

Ethan had a demonstration this morning at a local school for Tae-Kwon-Do. He did awesome. The first picture is of him breaking a board with his flying sidekick. You can see he had to jump over someone. The third picture is him doing a hammer fist to break the board. He did them both on the first try! Even Sha Sha got to break a board, with a little help from Master Jung. I have video too, I will try to upload it soon.

Thankful Thursday

It has been a while since I have done a Thankful Thursday post so it is past due. I am thankful for so many things in my life, here is my list for today.

1. So thankful that little Susannah is home and can now get the medical care her heart needs.

2. Thankful to yy friend Cheri over at Loving Lia, for nominating me for the Super Commentor Award. She wrote some really nice stuff about me on her blog and she is such a super sweet friend. I have made so many incredible friends through this journey of adoption, many I have never met in person, but I know I could call any of them at a time of need and they would do all they could to help me. Cheri I will do my post soon about the award.

3. Next I am so very thankful for my wonderful, amazing, awesome, loving, incredible husband. I love him so very much. He is so supportive of me in every way possible, I could not be happier in my marriage and feel so blessed that God brought us together 12 years ago. He is my soul mate, and knows me better than anyone else. He is just the best!

4. And lastly I can't leave out my precious Ethan and Charlotte. They just bless our lives everyday. I love them so very much.

Charlotte listening to some tunes

Yes, that is daddy's very expensive I-pod Touch. But she is contained in the High Chair:)

Amazing Things..

Well first let me say that Susannah, the little girl we have been praying for since last week, is in route to the US. Is that a miracle or what? What an awesome God we serve, He moved mountains for this little girl and it is truly a miracle. I will let you know when the blog is updated and they are safely back in the US.

Next, our Sha Sha is really making leaps and bounds with her eating. I think I already posted that she is eating yogurt, pudding, soups and stuff like that. Well since school has started she has also decided that she likes gold fish, gerber puffs and now CHEERIOS!!!!!! And let me tell you she absolutely throws a fit when the cheerios are gone, she is almost obsessed with them. One extreme to the other I guess. She has also eaten mashed potatoes and refried beans for me, which is great as well. So we are getting there, it has been a journey but well worth it. And for all the other adoptive moms out there that struggle with this, let me say follow your gut. I knew that I did not want to force Charlotte, that it needed to be on her terms and that as long as she was nourished it would all come in time. I am glad I followed my instincts and did not listen to my first OT. Eating is about so much for Charlotte, but most of all trust. She needed to trust us before she would willing accept all different kinds of food. She also needed to trust that her new mouth inside would keep the food from going into her nose. She has been through so much but she is a little trooper, and now you can barely tear her away from food. I am posting a video that Jay made of Charlotte eating. It is actually for our new OT, that I love, to take to an Occupational Therapy conference. They will view the video and hopefully come up with more ideas to encourage Charlotte to try new and different textures. It really is not the taste, she will eat egg drop soup, tomato soup, whatever as long as it has a nice smooth texture. I will post more cute video soon. But here is this for now.

PRAISE!!!

Our miracle is beginning. Little Susannah is out of the hospital, officially adopted in the eyes of the Chinese government and with her family in Guangzhou to finish the US side of the paperwork. That part is being expedited to get Susannah home early and on to Vanderbelt Children's Hospital in Tennessee. It is just amazing what our Lord has done in the life of this small girl, and how He is using her story to touch so many lives. There is a new post on her blog, click here, and I can't wait to follow the rest of her journey. What a beautiful little girl and what a beautiful beginning to an incredible story. A story of HIS glory, love and enduring faithfulness to us all.

Heavy Heart...

Update: Susannah's blog is back open. You can click on the button at the top of my sidebar to get to it. Keep praying Susannah is feeling better but they still needs lots to happen to get her home!

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for the family I posted about yesterday. Keep praying for them and little Susannah. They have decided to close their blog to private readers for now, but don't stop praying. I respect their need for some privacy in this situation. My heart feels so heavy though for their ordeal and mostly for Susannah. China is really a country with an opressed people. Pray for China today, pray for it's leaders for it's people. Pray that God would be able to soften hearts, that those hearts would truly grasp the value and life of every child. It is hard to believe that children in today's world still have so much to face just to LIVE! We were lucky enough to bring one of those precious children home and I am so grateful for that. So grateful that she will have a life here, will know Jesus and feel the love of a family forever. That is why we have to go back again. Why we have to bring another little one home. God has entrusted us with this specal mission and we are going to follow His call. We are going back to China, our application has already been approved and the paper chase is beginning. We are lucky enough to bring another precious child home and we can't wait.

Urgent Prayers Needed!

A family from our agency is in China now and needs our prayers. Their daughter Susannah is very sick and in the hospital. They are desperately trying to expedite everything and get her home to an adequate hospital in the US. Please pray for them today. You can visit their blog here, to see specific prayer requests.

1st day of Preschool

Charlotte had her first day of Preschool today. She did GREAT!!!! She did not cry when Jay dropped her off and when he went back to check on her later she was the only one playing, everyone else was crying. She sang, danced, played and everything. Her Papa picked her up and she went back to his house for lunch and a nap. When mommy got there this afternoon she ran right up and gave me a big hug. She is such a big girl and so proud of herself. We know this is going to be so great for Charlotte and are excited she is doing so well. Hopefully Friday will be just as much of a success.

Our Big School Girl

Our 2nd Grader

Ethan started 2nd grade today and Jay started his 4th year as the AP at Deep Creek Elementary. I am so proud of my two guys!!! They are so handsome.