Sun Porch Chat

 My wonderful friend Tammy over at Country Girl at Home invited me to sit down with her on her amazing sun porch, have some cheesecake (yum) and coffee and just have a chat!

She is doing a really fun series called Sun Porch Chats and I was incredibly honored that she asked me to "chat" with her!

Would love for you to join us...

 here

Thank you sweet Tammy for allowing me to open up my heart in such a fun way.  I always love sharing about my family, adoption and our journey to the Lord!  Hopefully, one of these days we can sit and visit (that's what we call it down here - hehe), share our hearts and our fav desserts, face to face.  I am saving a rocker just for you:)

Provision - Post #5

So I saved the best for last.

You may remember this post, this post was all about the wonderful video that was sent to us by another family whose son is in the same room as our XM.

She sent me the video of a fruit party she had sent to her son, to just let me see a bit more of the hospital and wouldn't ya know it, our precious XM just happen to be in that video and in that video a lot!

The Mom who sent it had no idea that our sweet girl was in that video but - He - knew and He sent us that video just when we needed it!

The Lord knew I was worried about her size and I was concerned that her CP might be making it difficult for her to eat, so what did He do??

The Lord provided.

Through this wonderful Mom, He calmed this Momma's heart by sending video of our XM eating and eating well, feeding herself and doing it with ease!

So, when this wonderful Mom emailed me to let me know that she was going to send another fruit party and that she had requested for our precious XM to be at the party, I was thrilled!!!!

However, about a week later, this wonderful Mom emailed me back to let me know that her adorable son, our XM's roomie and friend, had been moved back to his orphanage.  

I was heartbroken for this child as he had been at this hospital for most of his life and I was heartbroken for XM as that was another friend that she had had to say good bye to and I was disappointed that my one connection to our daughter was gone and that we would not be getting any more video for a while - selfish - I know - but I was clinging to the hope of seeing her beautiful face again soon!

However, not long after this happened and in the midst of selfishly feeling sorry for myself, I received an email, totally out of the blue and from an unexpected source and guess what???

There was video - of our sweet girl!!!!!

The Lord provides...

even when I was beginning to slip,

He forgave and He provided.

Are you ready for more cuteness?

She looks so incredibly determined, even down to sticking that tongue out as she concentrates, just like someone else I know...

and while Lizzie keeps her tongue to herself, she is one determined little girl!

no

goal

on my

watch, buddy!

I think our precious XM will fit in nicely around here!

God is just so great and watching Him provide the way to bring our newest daughter home has been an amazing, faith-filled journey and while we are not there yet and while there are still unanswered prayers, through these struggles we are learning that He is always working for us, even when we don't see it, He is working.

So we worry less and trust more.

We learn to cling to our blessings instead of our fears and we make sure that we are "putty in His hands," opening our hearts up to His plan for our lives...

and...

we get out of His way cause that is when He is able to do His best work for us...

and while it might get bumpier before it gets smoother, we have buckled up and are trying our best to enjoy the ride!

Provision - Post #4

Sorry, it has taken me a while to finish up my Provision Posts.

I have been a little busy

trying to fit a little more of this in

and this

before this starts on Monday.

Bleh...

 

and of course, I am always busy doing this

 

Wonderful Waiting Kids 

If you haven't joined my advocacy site, ya gotta go look! 

 

I now have wonderful waiting kids from Poland, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan and of course, China!

 

Ronny/Harris

Minnie

Adrianne

Catherine

Hugh

Max

Molly

Olive

Tessa

 

Evie

 

Seriously, so many precious faces, just waiting for their forever families to find them!

 

So, enough excuses, let's get back to the Lord's provision

 

Some of you all may remember this post,  Ni Hao Y'all

Well, back in July, my sweet bloggy friends Cherie (With Grateful Hearts) and Stephanie (Ni Hao Y'all) decided that they were going to completely bless us by posting about our situation and our fund raising efforts.

They wrote the sweetest posts and just when I needed them!

The Lord provided for me that day, a renewed sense of just knowing that He is always working...

ALWAYS

So fast forward about a month...

The wait was getting a bit harder as the days went by with no job, but the Lord's timing is just always so perfect.

He knew what we needed and He knew when we needed it.

You see, we did not know for sure just how much had been raised from those 2 beautiful posts, until...

we needed to know.

A month after those 2 beautiful posts, just when we needed it, we finally knew just how much had been raised and when we found out, we understood just how much the Lord wanted us to know that He would bring our sweet girl home!

Y'all, there was just about half of what we needed in that account!

HALF!

In a little less than a month, from those 2 beautiful posts, we had almost half of what we needed to bring our precious child home!

The Lord provides!

 

Three amazing families donated a large amount of money and while I have thanked 2 of those families, I do not know who the 3rd family is, so...

 

if your last name starts with an "S" and you donated a very generous amount of money to help bring our sweet daughter home and you are comfortable letting me know who you are, please email me!!!  I would LOVE to be able to thank you personally.

I needed to see that and I needed to see it, that day.

The Lord provides!

I keep going back to Matthew6:26

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

 

We are hanging on to this as we wait for the Lord to provide a job for hubby.

 

He has provided a beautiful summer for us, despite hubby's job loss.

 

He has provided for our daily needs and...

 

He is definitely providing the way to bring our precious XM home! 

We know that He will provide that job, in His time and we are determined to stay 

peaceful

joyful

and faithful

 

while we wait

After all, we are waiting for her too and

 

 

 It looks like she is ready, wouldn't ya say!

I imagine I will get a lot of those looks in the years to come and 

I am ready!!!!

One more Provision Post to go and ya don't want to miss it!

Provisions - Post #3

Family

There is some family that you live close to, see and talk to regularly

There is some family that you live no where near, don't talk to or see very often and..

like it that way.

Not me, of course!!!!

I love ALL my family!

Really!

Hehe

There is some family that you live no where near, don't talk to or see very often and wish that you really did live closer to, talked to and saw more often.

Dear Stephanie is one of those whom I wish we lived closer to.  

Stephanie is hubby's first cousin and while we have not seen her in a long while, I know that she and I share the same heart about a few things.

Animals being one

and now our sweet XM, another!

The Lord has moved sweet Stephanie's heart for our precious waiting child and she, much like I am imagining our XM to be, is very determined!

Through sweet Stephanie...

The Lord provides!

Not only has Stephanie devoted almost her entire FB page to our/her fund raising efforts, but she has created a separate fund raising site, Bring Xiaomeng Home, complete with videos, pics, stories of our family and facts and myths about cerebral palsy and China adoption!!!!

WOW!

Her ultimate goal is to raise $10,000 for our precious child!!!!

So far, in less than 3 weeks, she has raised $1,307!!!

WOW!

The Lord provides!

Now, if that wasn't enough, Stephanie decided to take it one step further!

Y'all, sweet Stephanie has designed and is selling these amazing bags

on a totally different, brand newfund raising site...

Until Every Child Comes Home 

WOW!

The Lord provides!

Not only is He providing for our sweet XM, through our wonderful cousin, Stephanie, but He is also providing a renewed relationship with a part of our family that we don't get to connect with very often.

The Lord provides!

Through the Lord's perfect plan, this tiny child who is a world away, has opened many eyes to the need, the need of all waiting children.

Thank you sweet Stephanie, thank you for having such a heart and thank you for allowing the Lord to provide - through YOU!

Pause - Eliza!!!

I interrupt the regularly scheduled "Provisions Post" to bring you Eliza!

 

This child has touched my heart and the minute I saw her video, I knew I had to try all that I could to find this precious child's forever family.

 

Beautiful Eliza waits and she waits at our Lizzie's orphanage and her time is running out!

 

Beautiful Eliza is deaf and will age out in MARCH!

 

To read her file and to watch her video is inspiring!  All that this wonderful child has had to overcome!  It is incredible to watch her face, beaming as she dances for the interviewers.  Dancing and signing so beautifully and proudly.

How I would love to know that she would one day be able to dance for her Mom and Dad, for her face to beam at them as theirs beam back at her, for them to tell her how proud they are of her!  Please consider this beautiful child before she looses that chance forever!

Eliza is said to be kindhearted, gentle and polite.  

Her file states that, she also gives money to beggars on streets and makes birthday cards for foster parents when they celebrate their birthdays. It is said that she once cooked dishes for younger brother and sister and when the foster mother was sick and in the hospital and when her foster mother came home, she had already washed dishes and cleaned the floor. She also helped the younger sister take a shower and change clothes. The foster mother was deeply touched by this.

Praying this child finds her forever family!! Please watch her amazing video and have your heart moved!

 

 

Email me at 5puppies@comcast.net to review her file and please help to spread the word about beautiful Eliza!

Provisions - Post #2

OK, so as I sit here thinking about all the Lord has done and is doing for us, I honestly had to write it all down.

If you missed yesterday's post, go here, the first of my "Provisions" post series and catch up a bit!

Post #2

As I look back over this summer, I can see the hand of God everywhere and yes, while He still has not provided a job for hubby - yet - He HAS provided and while I would so love for hubby to have a job, really I would (duh, as my kids would say), I don't know that we would have recognized these blessings, these provisions, had hubby been providing or that we would so clearly see just how fully He alone, is providing for this adoption.

The last time hubby was out of work, we learned to rely on Him and rely on Him daily, just as He provided manna in the desert, He provided our daily bread and in that time of struggle, provided our salvation!!

So, on to His provisions for our sweet XM!

BTW, praying that He will also provide a NAME for our sweet XM!

Sheesh!

Might have to ask for YOUR help!

Okay, so a while back, right after hubby lost his job, I realized that we were short a bed!

The girls were sleeping in my old queen size bed and that was fine for them as Lizzie liked being able to snuggle up with Em whenever she got scared....

Awwwww!!!

Anyway, while this worked well for Em and Lizzie, it really would not work out so well for Em, Lizzie and XM and having slept with Lizzie on many occasions, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that while the bed was technically big enough for Em and her two "little" sisters, it was no where near big enough for the tornado that is Lizzie when she sleeps.

That girl really should take gymnastics as she does gymnastics in - her - sleep!!!!!

So, I was trying to figure out what we could do.

We really had no money to go out a buy another bed and while we did have an extra twin bed, I couldn't figure out how to make it fit comfortably in that room - with the queen bed.

As I was pondering this dilemma one day, a thought occurred to me.

I belong to a really great homeschooling group that posts about everything from curriculum, to prayer requests, to (you guessed it) furniture for sale.

So, I posted that I needed a bunk bed at a really great price!  I figured I could easily get a bunk bed in that room with the twin that we had and still have room to move around!

Well, no sooner had I posted than a wonderful family answered and told me that they were selling all their furniture, selling their home, buying an RV and were taking their home schooling "on the road!"

Isn't that just so cool - for them!

Hehe!

When I think about 6 kiddos, 4 dogs and 2 ornery cats in an RV for longer than oh say about a minute or so...

Well, we just won't go there!  Heh!

Anyway, this family said that they had a bunk bed that they could sell me and...

get this...

It was a double bed on the bottom and a twin on top!!!!!

PERFECT!

Enough room for all 3 girls in ONE bed!

WOW!

The Lord provided and...

when this family heard why we needed the bed, they reduced the price even more and threw in the mattresses as well!!!

The Lord provided!!!!

When we got the bed it was red and in need of a little TLC but leave it to my handy hubby and the girls have a brand new....

PINK bed and it looks AWESOME!!!

My dear friend Sharon even donated the beautiful bed spread the last time hubby was out of work!

He is always working!!!!

ALWAYS!

So, in the midst of all of this, I happen to get an email from my amazing, wonderful friend, Stefanie over at Ni Hao Y'all telling me that an incredible family wanted to donate to us.

Melissa had read Stefanie's Birthday Post about us and decided that her family should donate to help us bring our sweet XM home.

Melissa wanted to donate the Ipad that they had won from another fund raising, adoptive family, only that adoptive family had been unable to ship the Ipad to this incredible family!  Melissa told Stefanie, that the adoptive family tried and tried to ship the Ipad to her but it would just never ship and..

now she knew why...

The adoptive family kindly offered to put $600 (the cost of the Ipad) into Melissa's paypal account but at that moment, Melissa knew that she was supposed to give that money to us and that this was why that Ipad was never able to be shipped!!

WOW!

The Lord provided!

Now, I was getting all this through sweet Stefanie and did not know at that time who the adoptive family was who had held the Ipad fund raiser in the first place...

but I was soon to find out!

Shortly after that email from Stefanie, I got an email from my amazing bloggy friend, Jennifer who told me that she was the family that had held the Ipad fund raiser and that she was going to put $600 in my paypal account because the Lord had moved Melissa's heart for us and Melissa wanted us to be able to have our own Ipad fund raiser...

The Lord provided!

Now, you might think this story ends here and it could because in and of itself, it is an amazing story of how He provides through those who keep Him in their hearts but...

there is more...

Sweet Jennifer, the adoptive family who had held the original Ipad fund raiser was raising money to bring two sweet babies home and...

one of those babies was beautiful Addyson who was being cared for at - the - same - rehabilitation hospital as our precious XM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melissa had no idea that Jennifer's daughter, Addyson, (the child that she was originally moved to help by participating in Jennifer's Ipad fundraiser) was being cared for at the same exact hospital as the second child that she felt called to help - our XM!!!

WOW!

The Lord provides and in such amazing ways!

Don't miss installment #3, tomorrow, I hope...

I don't have an RV but I do have 5 (soon to be 6) kids, 4 dogs and 2 ornery cats.

Just sayin...

Provisions - Post #1

Have you ever taken a leap of faith?

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had such a peace in your heart about it that you knew it would all be ok?

  

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had the Lord just confirm that leap at every giant step?

 

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had such joy that you just felt like you were flying?

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and just knew that the Lord would not let you come crashing down?

We took that leap...

the day the Lord laid XM on our hearts - we jumped...

and as we continue to trust in the Lord's safety net, we continue to see His blessings, His provision, His love for our family and our precious, waiting XM.

If you take a look at my side bar, you will see a brand new gadget...

a thermometer...

a fundraising thermometer to be exact!

Just take a gander at how the Lord is providing to bring our daughter home!

So far to date, a little over $15,000 has been raised and it is all because of the Lord and His call on so many hearts - YOUR hearts!

THANK YOU!

and while the Lord has confirmed for us over and over that our sweet girl is coming home, we are still waiting on Him to provide hubby with a job and that wait does get hard sometimes.

We really do trust, however, that He will provide and as part of that provision, we know that hubby will eventually get another job but we also know that the longer we wait, the longer our sweet, precious XM waits and...

that - is - hard

but every time, y'all,

every - single - time

that I have started to slip, to loose some joy or to worry...

My Heavenly Father has answered me and in such amazing ways!

All along this journey, there have been incredible families who have offered to help.

My sweet friend Tammy over at Quantum Silver has gone above and beyond to help us raise money.  More than once, she has opened up her beautiful jewelry line to us and donated ALL of the proceeds to our sweet girl!!!

Thank you Tammy!

There were 3 beautiful young friends whose hearts for China's children at such a young age is inspiring.  These young girls make crafts to sell for these precious kiddos and blog about their mission, here at Crafts for China's Orphans.  These beautiful girls decided that they would sell their crafts one Saturday and donate all of the proceeds to our sweet girl!

WOW!

There were my sweet neighbors who organized, paid for and ran a week long summer camp - just - for - us!!!!

 

They raised $1800 for our sweet girl and we had a blast!!!

Then there was precious "Darlin" who made such sweet Lemonade, that she was able to raise $150 for our precious girls!!!

$150 y'all!!!

You can go here, Sweet Lemonade, to read that amazing story but what I haven't shared about that day is that 15 minutes before they were scheduled to close up shop, sweet "Darlin" counted the proceeds from the day and was upset to find that they were $25 short of her goal of $100.  She asked her Mom, the wonderful Mrs. C, if she thought they would be able to make $25 in 15 minutes.  Mrs. C responded that she really did not think they would be able to sell that much lemonade in that amount of time.

So what did sweet "Darlin" do?

She prayed

She prayed for the Lord to help them raise that $25.

She prayed, "Dear God, please let more customers come so I can give this family $100. Lord, that's just $25 more." And as soon as she had prayed, someone who had been so touched by what sweet "Darlin" was doing, returned with a $20 bill, then someone else came with $5 more dollars and in the end, sweet "Darlin" raised $150. WOW!  When asked how she raised so much money, Sweet "Darlin" said it was all "hope and prayer."

WOW! 

When I went to "Darlin's" house so she could present me with her donation, she had written us the most beautiful, amazing, "wise beyond her years" card.

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."
Mark 10:15 

As I stood there with the tears starting to flow, Mrs. C asked "Darlin" to go get "Crosby" as she thought I would like to meet him.

My mind went blank for a moment trying to figure out who "Crosby" was and then I remembered!!!

Sweet little Crosby was the cutest little Yorky that I had posted on my FB page a while back because he needed a home and...

Mrs. C and her wonderful family saw his precious face on my page that day and what do you think they did...

They went and rescued him!!!

Now he's livin' on easy street, sleeping in the bed, playing with his best bud (a weimeraner twice his size) and loving being carried everywhere, AND...

I got to hold him and love on him and see in real life, that advocacy does work, even my doggie advocacy!

So, not only did the Lord bless us with the love and support and amazing faith of this wonderful little girl but He also blessed me that day by showing me the fruits of my labors - labors of love.

I was feeling the burden of the wait that day and He provided!

In fact, His provisions and blessings have been so many that I am going to break this up into 5 different posts, otherwise you would be here all night!!!

Hehe!

So be on the lookout for Provisions, parts 2 through 5

Coming soon!!

Like the Cat Who...

Ok, so I know I blog a lot about the kids and adoption and the dogs but there are 2 other family members who don't get posted about all that much.

These 2 unobtrusive, quiet (imagine that) members of our family just don't care much for having their picture taken or hanging around long enough during the chaos to be an active participant in a blog post but...

Just the other day...

one of these sneaky little critters did something blog worthy and I got it...

on film that is!

Can you tell what our precious little Memow is sitting on?

Yep, that would be a bird's nest!

Don't know whether sweet little ole Memow was waiting on Mr. and Mrs. Bird to return or just having some sort of really major identity crisis but there she sat

on a nest and now, finally on my blog!

New Button!!!!

So you may have noticed XM's cute little face on my sidebar??

I could just gaze at that sweet face all day!

Anyway, that cute little picture is actually a new button 

This button links up to a fund raising site that our amazing cousin, Stephanie set up for us!

Let's Bring Xiaomeng Home 

Beautiful Stephanie emailed me just the other day and asked if she could do this for us!

In less than a week, she had this site up and running and has completely blown us away!

Her goal is to raise $10,000 for us!

WOW!

I have told her, however, that even if there were no donations, the mere fact that she wanted to do this for us, is such a gift and means the world to us!

We don't get to see beautiful Stephanie very much as she doesn't live any where near us but her heart for our sweet child sure can be felt over those many miles!

Every time something like this happens, every time someone reaches out to us in this way, it just helps to strengthen our faith that our sweet baby girl WILL come home!

 It may not be in our time, but she WILL come home!

I am asking all my bloggy buddies, that if you feel so led, we sure would appreciate it if you would grab that sweet face and post it to you sidebar!

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11

It would be so easy to "not see" the way to get our girl home.

It would be so easy to "not see" how we could raise the $10,000 needed to give her a family...

OUR family.

It would be so easy to "not see" how in the world the Lord would provide in the midst of hubby's unemployment...

but....

we have FAITH!!!!!

We don't need to "see"

We just need to trust and have faith that the Lord WILL provide,

He WILL pave the way,

He WILL remove all obstacles...

to bring our XM home

and when beautiful Stephanie emailed me and told me what she wanted to do for us, it was one more big ole faith moment for us.

Thank you beautiful Stephanie and thank you to any and all who share that sweet button!