And so the journey begins......

WE'RE GOING TO CHINA!!!!

So (my favorite word as you know) I have been told I needed to update my blog... I won't mention any names Jenny Hord.... so here is a quick update!!  We are going to China!!! NEXT WEEK!!! But it won't be the same without you Jenny Hord!!  I/We will of course keep you updated while we are away and I am hoping to get in another update before we leave.  For now I am off to finish cleaning and packing!!  Abbie we are coming for real!!! ~Lord willing.

Gotcha day - 1 year later...

My sweet princess Linnea,

It is 1:55pm March 19, 2013.  Last year this day at this time the minutes could not go by fast enough!!  I was eagerly awaiting the very moment we were to meet you for the first time.  I will never forget the moment you and your tiny body with your skinny little legs walked toward me and I scooped you up into my arms.  In just one moment our lives were both forever changed.  I look at you and I am in awe. In awe of the trust that you have for your daddy and I.  A year ago we were complete strangers - and not just strangers but strangers that didn't even look like you.  Today I am no longer a stranger - I am your mama.  While your communication is clearly underdeveloped and you are severely delayed in your speech - you say mama so clearly it makes my heart leap thinking about it.  You also say daddy, nay nay (Nathan), nu nee (Luke) eee (Ethan) and Ab bee (Abbie) - you know your family.

Oh my sweet girl as I sit here and watch you play the transformations that have taken place in your little life are amazing.  I cannot adequately express the emotions I am feeling today so I won't begin to even try.  What I want you to know more than anything else is this ~ it is my prayer that regardless of what challenges lie ahead - you will know that you were created by a Holy and Perfect Father who loves you far more than I ever could.  I pray that you come to understand just how much He loves you and that He is sovereign in ALL things.  I pray you love Him with your whole heart.  He CAN do the unimaginable!!  I have seen it - I have seen evidences of His faithfulness time and time again and I pray you too will be able to one day see.  

You have changed me.  Changed me in ways I could have never imagined - ways I didn't even know needed changing.  God has used you to remind me of my own transformation and my utter and total dependence upon Him.  I am so thankful He chose me to be your mommy.  You are a gift.

I love you so much,
~mommy

Goodbye 2012 Hello 2013

Just like God has made the dance of the planets around the sun - turning, spinning, circling, wheeling, revolving, orbiting around and around so he also has made our lives.  I don't know about yours but my life dances - turning, spinning, circling, wheeling, revolving and orbiting around and around and around again - just like that 2012 is gone.  There are so many things that happened last year I just cannot stop and recap them all and I am so thankful that God in His sweet kindness allows us the gift of memory.  Our family had so many memorable moments it was impossible to journal them all but God has been gracious and allowed me to treasure them up in my heart.  I remind myself often even if our blog is all printed out by year in cute little photo books (which its not) I couldn't take those to heaven so I really am thankful for the gift of memories.

Our family is well and looking forward to this new year.  DP is still plugging along loving his job at CFA.  Nathan and Luke are doing well in school and the littles: Ethan and Linnea are enjoying being home with mommy. Sweet Abbie is still waiting on  us in China - we have some dear friends from our church going to get their girls next week and they will take Abbie a package for us so hopefully we will get some new pictures soon.  We anticipate bringing her home late spring/early summer - Lord willing.  We are currently waiting on our LOA and once we receive that we should travel in 2-3 months. This mama is ready for Abbie to be home.  Linnea had some surgery in December and will have a follow up surgery in February.  She really is a trooper and doesn't let much knock her down. In a few days we will celebrate Linnea being with us for 10 months - that is the longest she has ever been in one place so this marks a really big milestone for her - I am hoping to post about this big event in her life.  Speaking of hope - I have set some goals for myself this year - I am not so much a fan of the word resolution I like goals much better. So here are a few in no particular order:

read two books a month : one serious, one fun (I LOVE to read so this should be fun)

run 500 miles 

exercise more

eat clean more often

do a half marathon (hoping for the Silver Comet)

less computer time

finish memorizing Ephesians even if my Pastor finishes preaching through it before I finish memorizing

memorize James

see my sin as more as an offense against a Holy God instead of personal defeat

love God more

REST

I have read and heard of so many people choosing a word for their year and yep I caved and did it too - it really is a novel idea if you ask me.  So my word is rest.  Sounds kind of funny when I think about it - I mean seriously I have a full time/overtime job - work weekends, pull all nighters, never off - so this really was the perfect word for me.  I want to rest in HIS arms - I want to be more aware of my insufficiency and HIS sufficiency - I want HIS glory to be known - I want to rest in HIM.  In the fall of last year I had set a goal to get up earlier and just spend time with the Lord and while I am not always 100% spot there - the times I am are so precious and I want more of HIM so rest it is. 

and last but not least........

LIVE the Gospel 

I saw this most precious picture on my friend Dawn's blog - I just love her and her blog!! Anyway it was such a good reminder - because I am NOT practically perfect no matter how hard I try or I would like to be  it doesn't even matter!! No matter how good or bad of a mama I might be - He's sovereign.  

PRAISE BE TO HIM!!

Did you set any goals for this new year? If so what were they?  We hope you are having and continue to have and amazing 2013 - until the next post....

~LeighAnn

"charm"ing....

Jiayin Designs (http://www.jiayindesigns.com or on facebook is having a fantastic charm giveaway!  I just love Kelly and I am so thankful I was introduced to her.  I have recommended her to several friends and have bought gifts for other friends.  I asked her if I could do a post for my entry by way of video as I am a much better talker than blogger (hence my lack of blogging recently) so here goes..... I should make an editors note I said we began the adoption journey a year and a half ago - its actually been two years clearly I can't count....

my charm "Zhong Sha"

giving a charm to Linnea's foster mom

she was very emotional and stoic all at the same time

my sweet friend Nat - we are wearing our charms!! Hers says "Si Fang"

Love reconnecting these sweet girls and us mamas!!!

Princess Abbie

So not only we were DTC today - which is super huge news!!  I also got a little Christmas present from DP early!!  And no DP the vacuum does not count ;-)  This sweet husband of mine - contacted our friend Miko in China to see if he could get some professional pics of Abbie made - he was thinking like our Target or JC Penny studio - nothing to big or elaborate - Miko let him know that this kind of thing was available and very inexpensive as in 15-16 US dollars.  DP was just thinking that the pictures would be emailed to him and they were but then even to his surprise yesterday he got a phone call from Andrea who works with Lifeline saying that she had the package of pictures at her house - Miko sent them back with another family who had just gone to China to pick up their son!!  I cannot wait to hug this girls neck again!! I just love her so!!! Now I should explain our picture taking at Target or Penny's is not the same in China - they go all out!!  I am so glad for Abbie's sake as it looks like she got the royal treatment!!  What a sweet treat for all of us!!  So without further ado - here is our princess!!

Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Calendar...

I cannot take credit for this idea - I got it from here.  I have been wanting to do something with advent and the month of December - and really in all honesty I have been wanting to make a Jesse Tree like the one here that my friend in the computer Lauren made.  She is so super crafty- she even made me a tutorial but I have not quite had the gusto to tackle this project - mainly because art is not my forte!! So much so that in high school my art teacher begged me not to take art!! Anyway - I saw this idea and thought this might be a project I could tackle.  We already owned the Jesus Storybook Bible - it is one of my absolute favorites - if you have kids - this is a must have Bible!!  My SIL Melanie helped me figure out what the dimensions probably were for the actual calendar and then I got to work - it wasn't as hard to make as I thought it was going to be and I really enjoyed doing it and knowing that we will have it for years to do with the kids is a sweet treasure.  We have enjoyed each night looking to see what story comes next in God's redemptive plan and of course counting down the days to the long anticipated birth of our Rescuer!!  I love these special times with the kids and treasure them in my heart.  

DTC (Dossier to China)

So super thankful to see this package heading out!!  One step closer to Abigail!!! 

The Thankful Chain

So the colorful chain you see above is the chain we started working on before Thanksgiving.  We decided to add it to our little Christmas tree in our playroom for decoration.  The kids love to put that tree up during thanksgiving break - it actually was the first tree to go up.  (We have 3 up - so thankful we got married during the Christmas season and the two trees we bought for wedding decor have made it all these years!!) The thankful chain is now on the little tree in the family room.  This was the first year I had done this with the kids and it was such a fun experience.  These are the things that we put on the chain -

teachers

school

grandparents

alarms

sun 

neighbors

grace and mercy beach

animals

jie jie (big sister in Chinese)

singing 

freedom 

military

art and paint

vacations 

watching movies

Chick-fil-A

forgiveness

health

the world

house

friends

food

rain

family

God's word

the cross

Jesus rose again

heaters

clothes and shoes

books

Christmas

underwear

ge ge's (little brother in Chinese)

candy 

God

churches

praying

fireplaces

birds

missionaries

sports 

entertainment

songs

baby Robert

Abbie

family

my hubby :-)

I look forward to doing this again with the kids!!