Luke and Mayah

Luke and his buddy Mayah sporting a hairbow I made.

Vacations must come to an end...

I'm so glad that we got to spend a week at the beach.  I love spending quality time with my family and it especially nice for me and the boys to have daddy the whole entire week!! We made some really great memories riding the waves, snorkeling finding crabs and seashells, playing in the sand, fishing, eating great seafood, meeting up with old friends, reading, watching shark week together, playing games, putting together a puzzle, we just had tons of fun!!! Our time together is priceless.

my three sons

Crab Trap night

E loves to play on daddy's ipad
I think he knows it better than we do!

"daddy buried me mommy-
take a picture"

one of our sand castles

seashells we found

our collection of shells and little crabs

had to boil the creatures out... fun science lesson

put together a shark puzzle

Fishermen

Daddy and the boys minus E went on a little fishing adventure during our trip to the beach.  The whole week the excitement was building as the trip wasn't until Thursday.  They had their little countdown on and the night before they were in the bed by 7:30ish as they had to awake super early to get going i.e 5 am.  They left about 5:30 and didn't get home until after lunch.  I wish you could hear their stories of the trip - the size of the fish changes every time :).  Here are some pictures to enjoy.  I should note that Luke caught the biggest fish - a 24 lb King Mackeral.  Funny how the smallest guy on the boat caught the biggest fish :)

they were not quite awake yet...

fun day with daddy

fishing wore Luke out :)

that's L's big fish.. he doesn't weigh much more
than the fish!

an afternoon nap was a must!!

fish - its whats for dinner 

The beach and books

It is no secret I love to read, I love a good bookstore and I LOVE the beach.  DP says if we ever move to the beach when we retire we will have to live far away from the bookstore or he would never see me because I love to read on the beach :).  And this vacation proved no less.  I read three books on vacation and not just little books you know the 400 page kind.  I am very thankful that my boys are content to play in the sand until their hearts are content while mommy sits and reads.  I love it.  And I am thankful for the kindle and amazon free books.  It is a great travel companion and I don't have to pack so many books to take with me. Road trips have made reading this summer a bit easier as I don't think I have read this many books since I was in school!  This summer I have read 8 books : Redeeming Love, A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, As Sure as the Dawn (all Francine Rivers); The Help (Kathryn Stockett); The Swan House, The Dwelling Place (Elizabeth Musser) and Courageous (Randy Alcorn)  All these books are fiction with the majority being Christian fiction the only exception was The Help.  I read an article the other day about reading fiction and I would like to quote it here: 

    "I read more fiction than I do non-fiction, if you exempt the Bible from consideration, and I consider it, most often, truer than anything in the world. Those without the imagination to read fiction usually lack the imagination to hear the rhythm and contours of Scripture, much less to peer into the mysteries of the human heart."

Happy reading...

School starts tomorrow

School starts tomorrow at our house!!

Ice Cream

It's whats for dinner - at least on vacation!!

good til the last drop - literally

my vanilla lovers

Birthday cake ice cream with brownie, sprinkles, and hot fudge - yummo!

Awwww...

That is what all three of our boys said today as we showed them our latest adoption email.  I am getting spoiled!!  We got some more new pictures of Linnea today.  We are so fortunate that Lifeline just sent a medical missions team to our orphanage in Maoming.  Dr. Chambers from the top notch International Childrens Clinic went along with the team.  This is so great!!  It is a bit expensive to take your kids to the IAC but we got a medical exam for free so to speak.  While the team was there they took some new pictures of the kids.  Linnea was brought from her foster home down to the orphanage to be checked out - we are awaiting the medical report but have no concerns really as she looks so good.  Here are the pics they sent us!  Is she not just too cute!!

This is one of our favorites :)

Love her!!!!

A little R and R

We have been enjoying some time on the beach this week for our family vacation.  It is hard to think next year this time family vacation will include 2 more children!!  We are really enjoying the time with the boys and they are having such a wonderful time.  Ethan still is unsure about this whole beach, water, sand thing I sure am hoping he grows out of it.  It has worked out well because when David gets tired of the sun and hot weather he and Ethan go up and E takes a nap and D chills out.  My other two boys are just like there mama and would stay out all day!! In fact yesterday was an all day in your bathing suit kind of day.  We took a quick break in the mid afternoon and then went right back outside and stayed til dark.  N and L were in having the time of their lives.  I was enjoying watching their fun and excitement and finishing up a good book.  It really was a fun day.  I haven't been as good about capturing pictures.  I kind of feel like there are only so many you can take of them playing in the sand.  The weather has been beautiful - HOT but the scenery is breathtaking.  The water has been so clear.  I am thankful for water and how it not only is beautiful to look at but refreshing from the heat.  It is magnificent.

He only likes the water if he is in this raft!

take my "piture"  mama

Nathan and Daddy riding the waves

playing til the sun goes down...

Luke shell hunting

this is my little fish!!

China Bound

The great thing about Jenny being in the US right now is that we were able to put together a package for our little girl and Jenny will take it back with her to China.  Our CFA friend Bonnie is going to visit Jenny so we sent our package with her just in case we don't get to connect with her while she is here.  I had to post pictures of the journey of this package.  I want to remember.  And yes I might I have gone a little overboard - remember this was the first time I got to buy for a girl!!   Thank you Bonnie for being a part of this journey!!

It's a MATCH

Today I got on the website of our adoption agency and our daughters picture was up on the site and next to it was the word MATCHED.  Do you know just how much joy that brings to us??  I can't even explain.  I wanted to share one more story and a few updated pictures.  These stories that have become crafted into our adoption journey have only one explanation - they were weaved by the ultimate Craftsman - God.  It is such a privilege for you to be able to share this journey with us.  I was telling a good friend that I am just overwhelmed by God's goodness to me - as we are all so undeserving of anything good.  She reminded me that while God does indeed shower me with His goodness and loving kindness because He loves me so - that is really just a bonus for me.  He is making Himself known to others through our stories and His glory is being revealed and that is His ultimate purpose - making Himself known!!!  So I hope you see Him all over this story and that you too will praise Him for He indeed is good and His love endures forever.

This story takes place the Saturday morning after we had been matched with Linnea.  Like probably a good number of people - I checked my email on Saturday morning and found an email from Andrea - stating that Linnea had been moved from the orphanage to a childrens home that was run by Americans and she gave me the email address of the director of the childrens home.  We believed that she was in foster care but were really not sure of all the logistics.  I should note here - this is huge!! There are not many childrens homes in China and this was so good on so many levels.  She would be getting excellent care and if she was in a foster home she was getting one on one care!!
So right away I email the director Jenny.  Knowing it was 9 am our time meant that it was 9pm Saturday night China time.  I at best was hoping Jenny might check her email before she went to bed but even if she did she wouldn't be at the childrens home so she likely wouldn't be able to answer my a zillion questions - but I emailed anyway.  I told her we would be adopting Zhong Sha (Linnea's chinese name) and we were so thrilled and excited. I asked a few questions about her you know how big was she, is she in a foster home, what is she like etc. etc.  I told her a little bit about ourselves and off the email went into cyber world.  While I was on the computer I checked out her childrens home True Childrens Home and searched for any pictures or updates I could find about our sweet little girl.  30 minutes later I got a response from Jenny.  She just wanted to acknowledge my email, told us Linnea was indeed in a foster home.  She would try and get some updated pictures for us and answer our questions soon.  She did ask us where we were from at the end of her email.  I right away responded and thanked her for getting back to me and I let her know we were from Fayetteville.  The funny thing about that is - I debated whether to write Atlanta or Fayetteville - I mean seriously how many people know where Fayetteville is - but I decided that all our paperwork said Fayetteville and that is how I was going to leave it - I didn't want to take any chances.  I didn't expect to hear back from her by this time it was late Saturday night in China and she had already emailed me so I just went on about my day.  I had been doing some laundry and had taken some folded clothes upstairs and I noticed on my cell phone I had an email from Jenny (today I was really thankful for technological advances) I'm holding my laundry and read the note off my phone it reads "LeighAnn I hope you are sitting down - I am in Peachtree City right now. - Jenny"  All of my folded laundry went to the floor.  I was in total shock and utter excitement.  There is a lady who has held my daughter literally 15 minutes from me!!! AHHHHHH.  I quick emailed her can you call me can we meet here are my phone numbers etc.  I called DP and Andrea who just could not believe this news.  I was talking on the phone with DP when I got the next email.  Jenny says she will call us later and explain why she was in the states.  She and her husband used to live in Georgia she worked for the Chick-fil-A corporate office.  In the words of my good friend Nat I said to David as I was reading this email aloud "Shut up....."  That was for you Nat! If you know me that is not a word I use ever - but now it is a joke btween us and the Grubbs our friends who are also adopting so it was kind of appropriate.  Anyway I digress.   So not only has Jenny held our baby but she used to work for CFA.  I wrote her back telling her DP worked at CFA and I was just so in awe of how all this was working out.  Only God could orchestrate events like this.  She shared with us that she had just had dinner the night before with some of DP's coworkers.  WOW was all we could say and we continue to say that today.  Even as I type this I am saying WOW!!

We did get to catch up with Jenny on the phone and she was in town to attend a wedding of the daughter of a CFA employee and visit with her family.  She will head back to China in August.  We are hoping to be able to meet up with her.  I cannot wait to hug the neck of a lady who has been instrumental in the care of our daughter.  This really is such a blessing on so many levels but more importantly it shows how God is intimately involved in all the details of our lives.  We recently got a few new pictures of Linnea from Jenny.  She looks so well taken care of.  Oh how I pray for her foster parents.  We long to meet them and talk to them face to face.  This will be bittersweet for them.  Here is our sweet girl!! We love her soo much!!

And then there were four... still waiting on five :)

This is probably going to be one of the longest blogposts ever!! However I have been wanting to write this post since Thursday July 14 because on this day we were introduced to our daughter - Linnea Hope. Her chinese name is Mao Zhong Sha.  We received her referral on July 14 and today we finally received our PA (pre-approval) and now we can share our wonderful news with you.  Believe me it has been a long two weeks!

Let me say that this referral came as a complete surprise... in many respects!!  First of all I was busy getting ready for a birthday party for Luke and so my mind was occupied - which was totally the way the Lord knew I needed it to be.  Secondly, we were not expecting a referral until we were logged in with China (LID) meaning all of our paperwork is in the Chinese govt's hands - and our paperwork is still in the hands of the US govt.  In fact we had just gotten our fingerprints done two days ago! What I learned on that Thursday was that when you adopt two children from China at the same time one child must be from the special focus list.  Let me explain the lists now.  China has 3 lists of special needs children that are available.  There is the agency specific list which means only families from a certain agency are eligible to adopt children from that list.  Then you have the shared list which means any family can adopt from this list but you have to be logged in with China unless the child has been on the shared list for more than 30 days,  if they have been on the list for more than 30 days then you do not have to be logged in with China.  And finally you have the special focus list generally these are children that might have more than one special need, older healthy children that are getting ready to age out, there really is no rhyme or reason to this list.  You do not have to be logged in to get a referral from the special focus list.  Linnea is from the special focus list - hence the reason we got to see her file.  Back to my story....
When I got the call from Andrea  (our adoption buddy - as she calls herself) Thursday morning I had actually just gotten back from Walmart and I was working on making icing for Luke's cupcakes we were having his birthday party (yes very late) that evening.  DP was out running errands and like I said I wasn't expecting this!! So when she had said she had a file - I was in shock.  My first question I think was "are you for real??  is she from Maoming???"  Our agency is working specifically with an orphanage in Maoming, China and DP and I have said from the beginning that we wanted both of our girls to come from the same orphanage.  In normal circumstances this really wouldn't be likely but since Lifeline is working with Maoming it is very likely that both girls will come from there.  Yes she was from Maoming and yes this was for real because she was on the special focus list.
If I write down every detail from that day - you will be reading forever - and don't worry I have journaled the whole day - detail by detail.  What I will tell you is that we could see God's hand all over.  When you get a referral you only have 48 hours to make a decision.  This means we don't have long to get the file to our pediatrician have her look over it, pray alot and make a decision.  Our pediatrician was out of the country.  But God in his goodness gave us two different pediatricians to look over her file and they both gave us the thumbs up.
I will share that sometime during the day on that Thursday I asked DP what he was thinking and he says to me "I think we should sleep on it."  Of course we should sleep on it I'm thinking.  I just wanted some kind of gut feeling but I moved on - remember I had a party to be getting on.  Late that night after we had heard from both pediatricians my ever sweet thoughtful husband comes home from "running an errand" with pink flowers and one of my favorite Starbucks coffees and says "I think we should go get her!"  I was so excited I couldn't even drink my coffee!! We woke up Andrea (not purposefully) to tell her to lock her file.  I could not even sleep that night.  I am so thankful for God's provision and our sweet daughter.   You won't believe the ways in which God has worked just in the few days after we received her referral.  I will post the rest of this incredible testimony to God's goodness and faithfulness soon so be sure to check back because I also have updated pictures!! Thanks for sharing this journey with us!!