Final Update

Did you see that???

Lucy

FINAL UPDATE!

Maggie

WOW!

Just this week we received our final update on the girls and I really cannot believe we are finally there...

Lucy

almost there anyway.

Maggie

It has been a long wait but we have learned a lot about ourselves and our faith.

Lucy

We have been prepped and readied and are now in the home stretch.

Maggie

The love and support that has been poured onto us during this time has just been incredibly sustaining.  We have definitely felt the love of the Lord through each and every one of you all who prayed or donated or left an encouraging comment or email or phone call...

Lucy

I feel like we will be taking all of you with us to China! 

Hehe!

THANK YOU!

Leaving you today with the sweetest little video of our Lucy.

Cannot wait to kiss those sweet cheeks!

Here We Go Again!

So there we were just innocently hanging out at the pool...

minding our own business...

just swimming and having a good old time...

when this showed up

and started to love up on Caleb and then...

it was all over....

 

Sigh....

Help me

hehe

I am looking for a home for him/her but we all know how that goes.

I am still mourning my Boo kitty 

 

 

and am so not ready for another.

I mean with 5, going on 7 kiddos and 5 really loud dogs, who would be??

 

right???

 

right???

So, for now he/she resides on our porch where our really loud dogs and really excited kiddos will not leave him/her alone!

Double sigh...

JOY!!!!

I really am at a loss for words

The Lord just keeps blessing our journey,

bringing us such joy!

Joy is a word that just keeps getting repeated over and over when it comes to Miss Maggie Fu!

Just recently a traveling family was able to meet our precious girl and give her a little care package from us...

which included a photo album...

with our pictures!

Watch as she receives our package (it is a little long but the first few minutes says it all) and learns that it is from her forever family - us!

WOW

Just WOW!

Did you see at the very beginning when she was told that her Mama and Baba had sent this care package to her??

Did you see that she smiled and said "Mommie" while she clapped her hands!!!

Did you see that???

I think I have watched that part over an over!

JOY!

Here is some of what this wonderful family had to say about our precious Maggie:

"Oh Annie. We got to spend a lot of time with your precious daughter. She was thrilled with her package and was carrying her pictures around and showing people. We have a ton of pictures and video. Can't send them right now but will as soon as possible. She is a joyful and loving child. She is just precious."

 and

"Maggie is a ray of sunshine. Her personality is as big as her smile. You and your family are so blessed to have her as a daughter. I was able to tell her that you are coming to get her as soon as you can and that the hugs and kisses that I gave her came from you. God has truly blessed your family with this special girl." 

Apparently, our sweet girl carried our pictures around with her all day, showing everyone!

 
Joy! 

 

God is just so, so good and we are getting closer to our two beautiful girls!

It has been a very long journey but His timing is always perfect and in this wait, there has been purpose, there has been growth and there – has – been – joy.

We may never know why Lucy and Maggie have had to wait as long as they have, why our journey couldn't have been quick and easy (easy is a relative term here - hehe) but I know now to trust and not question, to let go and just walk the path that the Lord has prepared for us and for them.

Please keep our precious new daughters in your prayers as the Lord prepares their hearts for the new forever family – us!

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Happy Father's Day - one day late

Happy Father's Day to all the awesome Dads out there.

I lost my Dad a few years back and miss him so much on days like today.

He hated being the center of attention and would always tell us not to do anything special for him on this day - or any day.

We always did because we loved him and he always smiled and pretended to enjoy it because he loved us, but I always knew it felt awkward to him...

 

 

cause the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, if ya know what I mean.

Don't ever throw me a surprise party!  

Bleh!

I miss him, my kindred spirit...

but I know that he will be watching over us as we bring Lucy and Maggie home and oh boy how he would have loved all these girls!

He loved his grandsons so much but how he would have surely doted on all of his precious granddaughters!

Miss you Daddy.

Now the other Dad in my life has no problem being in the spotlight...

and will take any opportunity to draw attention to himself....

and doesn't feel a bit awkward having others celebrate him.

hehe

Honestly, that is one of the things that first attracted me to him, that and the fact that we had matching dogs - long story - hehe!

Please excuse the 90's hairdo - ugh!

Anyway, Hubby is full of confidence and strength and humor and smarts and compassion and love and with each precious child, his heart just seems to grow and grow.

Christian and Charlie were absent from the pics because they are attending our church's summer camp this week - not because they were acting like teenagers - hehe!

 
We have been through some tough times in the past few years but we have become stronger both together as a couple and individually in our faith and what a beautiful journey it has been.

As I sit here tonight, thinking about all that has past and all that is yet to come, my heart keeps going to our two, new, beautiful girls who have yet to know what it is like to be loved and cherished as a father loves and cherishes a daughter and I just cannot wait to watch that relationship grow, as they unravel the depth of Hubby's unconditional love for them.

It will be breath taking.

Hubby and I have learned a lot about unconditional love over the past few years, the love of our heavenly Father, the true understanding and believing that He has our backs, is always working for us and forgives us no matter what and now we get to share that love with Lucy and Maggie as we have been sharing it with Christian and Charlie and Caleb and Emmeline and Lizzie and...

again, Christian and Charlie - camp - not just being moody teens - ha - Caleb taking pic! 

we are so blessed!

Happy Father's Day my love and just remember as the girls begin to outnumber the boys in our little family...

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.

Charles Wadsworth

That's a good one to remember in the midst of the drama and the sassy-ness and the boyfriends (gulp) and the clothes and the hormones and the weddings (double gulp)!!

We love you - always!

Five Years Ago Today

This beautiful

amazing

compassionate

determined

courageous

child, whom we had loved through pictures and prayers...

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

came to life and came into our lives and ultimately...

 

changed our lives forever.

I will never forget walking into that orphanage after having Lizzie for only about 4 days and the heart breaking reaction she had when any of the nannies tried to take her from me.

She clung to me, her momma for sure, but a person she had known for 4 days - 4 days!

She was terrified that we were going to leave her there.

I will never forget walking into that orphanage and being struck by the hospital like, sterile environment our sweet child had lived in the first 2 years of her life, seeing the rows of cribs, metal cribs, metal cribs with wooden boards and the precious ones in those cribs who still waited.

There were 18 babies in Lizzie's room - and - one - nanny.

They did the best they could but that leaves little time for affection and attention.

As we left that day, the reaction Lizzie had as we got back on the bus will forever be seared into my heart.

Up to that point, she had been non-verbal, smiling and laughing some but not saying much at all.

Until the bus...

As soon as we sat down, I told Lizzie to say bye bye to the orphanage, not really expecting anything from her but just as something that you say.  

 

However, she shocked all of us when she stood up on my lap, smiled the biggest smile, waved her hands and said - BYE BYE!

I knew at that moment, we were going to be ok, that Lizzie got it and... 

 

that we would be back. 

Sweet Lizzie May, as I look back over the last 5 years, and think about where you were...

and where you are now...

my heart just fills with love and admiration and thankfulness.

Our journey was not always easy and we are still learning but the joy you have brought to this family, your family cannot be measured my love.

The Lord has used you in a mighty way my tiny one.

Your sweet journey has taught us so much about what is important, about our faith and about what blessings come by boldly following the Lord's path...

and your journey my love has only just begun.

I have had people tell me how wonderful it was that we "saved" you and what I tell them is this...

We didn't save you, the Lord used you and your journey to save us.

This year as every year, I leave you with Lizzie's one year home video.

Happy Family Day sweet Lizzie May.

Your forever family loves you like crazy!