Just a Few Pics

So sorry my posts have been so short but we have so little time and the connection is slow!

We went to a beautiful park yesterday and little Lucy took her very first amusement park ride.

Just look at this face!

The sweet lady running the ride allowed it to go on and on and on and on and on

She said that she was so moved by Lucy that she wanted her to have a long ride!

Moving hearts, she is!

She has sure moved ours!

 

 

Please pray for our sweet girl as she is beginning to process all of this and is struggling a little bit.

Breaks my heart but I know it is a good thing.

Today we go to Ruzhou Rehabilitation Hospital where Lucy spent 4 years of her life.

Please pray for my heart as I meet more of these precious ones who are so worthy.

Orphanage Visit

Again, just a short post as I am still processing all that I saw.

As I told a dear friend...

I don't think I will be able to even begin to process it all until we are home as Lucy needs me and I may just get lost in it all.

For now, I am posting a short video of our superstar handing out candy to her friends.

The little one sitting on the floor that Lucy goes to first is her sweet friend, MM, whom she asked about in the van ride over.

This precious child is 10 years old and cannot walk.

She moves around by crawling on her belly - and smiling.

She is not file ready but I hope that will change.

Email me please if you would like to know more.

The little boy in the green shirt who helps Lucy hand out the candy is also 10 years old and has a very bad heart condition.  They cannot find a hospital that will operate on him.

He needs a family - soon!

He is not file ready but again, I hope this will change.

Please email me if you would like more information.

Processing...

Sigh...

 

 

Sweet girl was happy to see her friends but happy to come home with us...

her family!

Giggly Lucy!

Short post cause we went to Lucy's orphanage today and we are all tired and I am just numb...

more on that later, when I have had a chance to process it all.

For now, video of giggly Lucy!!!

Working on Lucy Day video!

We Have Lucy!!!!!

She is AWESOME!!!

Short post but Lucy knows she has a family and she could not be happier!!

Praise the Lord!!

She cannot stop laughing and when she laughs, it is a full blown belly laugh!

Music to my ears!

Not too many pics as Caleb was in charge of the camera and was too smitten with his new sister to take pics!

 

 

Working on video and will post when I can!

 

We have a LONG day tomorrow at Lucy's orphanage!

Thank you Lord!

Almost Lucy Time and Sweet Annabelle

Oh my gosh, y'all, it is almost Lucy time!!!!

WOW!

I just cannot believe that we are about to finally meet her...

after a very long year and a half, she is almost in our arms!

We meet Lucy at 10:15ish this morning or tonight for you all!!!

Please be in prayer for our sweet girl!

Internet is kind of spotty so forgive me if I don't reply to comments right now.

Now on to precious Annabelle and our beautiful send off in LAX.

Yep, we got to meet Pam and Annabelle (Blossom) and two of Pam's other incredible children.

 

To say that this was amazing would be an understatement!

As soon as I hugged Pam, the tears started and when Pam put precious Blossom in my arms...

Well, y'all can only imagine!

Pam drove 4 hours to be able to bring sweet Annabelle to meet me...

Aunt Annie

LOVE

Annabelle is sweet and spunky and full of joy and it is quite obvious that dear Pam was made to be her momma!
 

As I told Pam as we said goodbye...

what an incredible way to start our journey to our girls...

getting to meet one of the very first precious kiddos that started me on this advocacy path.

Thank you sweet Pam!

A Few Thoughts from the Plane!

So, as I sat in our very empty and very quiet house the night before we left, I kept thinking to myself that I should enjoy the quiet, right...

cause pretty soon, this house will once again be full (er) and loud (er) but that night, I was feeling the emptiness and didn't like the quietness.

That house was just made for screaming laughing children and barking dogs who think that everyone who is brave enough to actually knock on our door, needs a 5 dog salute!

Yep, that day I had taken the doggies to my sweet friend who boards them for us when we need it and all the kiddos, except Caleb, went to my Mom's and I was missing them and feeling sad...

totally not thinking about why they were not there.

I had been dreading the emptiness and the quiet all week and had been looking for any opportunity to soak up an extra minute here and there with my kiddos.

The Lord knew this and used it to bring a couple more God winks my way.

I have really enjoyed going for walks after dinner this summer.  It has been a time that I have treasured this summer as we can do something together as a family and just enjoy being together, away from all other distractions.

Well, a few nights back after a stressful day of trying to plan and prepare for our trip and for our time away from the kids, who will be starting school without us, we went for one of our after dinner walks. As we were walking that night and as my mind was not were it should be, but on the trials of the day...

I saw one...

and then I saw two...

and then the woods were alive with the soft glow of fireflys!!

Y'all, I have not seen fireflys or lightning bugs as we used to call them, since I was a kid!

They used to come out almost every summer evening when I was growing up.

We would head out to the backyard after supper and marvel at these bugs that would illuminate the dimming light surrounding Mom's garden, trying to catch them in jars with lids that we had carefully prepared with perfectly punctured holes, always making sure we released them before we would head in to get ready for bed.

And then...

the lightning bugs just seem to disappear...

for years!

I had all but forgotten about them until the other night when they once again illuminated the dimming light of our neighborhood and I felt like a kid again!

I was completely transformed to the giddiness and excitement over the simpler gifts in life that seems to fade as we grow up.

I know the kids thought I had lost my mind but it reminded me that the Lord loves that kind of giddiness and enjoyment over the beauty and the treasures that surrounds us every single day – His gifts.

It also reminded me that just as when I was a kid, I am loved and I am watched over and I am treasured and I should rejoice and be thankful and as my sweet 10 year old Caleb said as we sat at the Atlanta airport waiting to board our flight to LA, “You know how people say that it's not about the destination but more about the journey? Well, on this trip, it is ALL about our destination and not as much about our journey!”

I had lost sight of our destination and was drowning in the journey.

It breaks my heart how easily that can happen.

So back to Friday as I dropped the kids off with Mom and sobbed as I thought about having to be away from them for 3 weeks, how I wouldn't be there for them as they met their teachers or started school this year and as I was feeling so sorry for myself, I turned on the radio and what just happened to be playing but the song that the girls had been singing on two other occasions when I needed a God wink...

and it just so happened to be playing the sweet song that the girls like to sing in the car and at the exact same verse that they know so well.

Chris Tomlin's, "Whom Shall I Fear."

Yep, the God of angel armies, is always by my side!

Once again, I had forgotten our destination and the Lord winked my way once again to nudge me back to that place of peace and thankfulness!

Now here we sit in our hotel room in Zhengzhou and I am firmly focused on our destination.

It is by His grace alone that we are winging our way to our girls and I am so incredibly grateful that Lucy and Maggie will finally have a Mommie and a Daddy to take them to their first day of school and meet their teachers and do all those things that Mommies and Daddies do for their children...

the things that they have never had.

So, we meet Lucy on the 13^th and Maggie on the 18^th!

If you think about it on those days, I would love for you to pray for them as they leave all that they have ever known (good or bad) and their small worlds are turned upside down for a while.

Cause even though we know they will be loved, they will have to uncover our hearts as they begin to open theirs.

One Week From Today....

Hubby, Caleb and I will be on an airplane headed to our sweet girls!!!

Wow!

The butterflies in my tummy have come to life and I am moving from excited to nervous to happy to scared to elated to worried to thankful and back - all at warp speed!

We leave Saturday the 10th and our first stop will be in LA where I will get to meet someone very near and dear to my heart.

I honestly get teary every time I think about meeting her and holding her and loving on her after advocating for her and praying for her for oh so long!

You all remember precious Blossom, right?

If not, you can go here to read about this wonderful child and her journey to her amazing forever family.

Blossom is now Annabelle and is finally home in CA with her new momma, Pam, and is thriving!!!

Y'all, I just cannot believe that in one week I will actually be holding this beautiful child and getting to meet wonderful Pam - live and in person!

God is just SO good!

After this incredible God moment, we will be headed to CHINA!

We arrive in Zhengzhou first and will meet Lucy on either the 13th or 14th.

Pinch me please!

After a few days in ZZ and a visit to the Rehabilitation Hospital where Lucy spent most of her life, we will fly to Guiyang where we will meet Maggie on the 18th.

Again, pinch me please!

While in Guiyang, we will visit the foster care center where Maggie has been for the last few months.  The one where she was given the photo album with our pics.

Remember that incredible video?

We have been in touch with a very sweet family who has met our Maggie and told us that she is just so sweet, has a good sense of humor, is very philosophical and so very determined.  They told us that she falls down a lot but always picks herself up, brushes herself off and just keeps on going!

She and her sister Lizzie will have a lot in common!

They told us that the care givers are calling her Maggie now (wow) and that she has started trying to learn some English and is excited to show us what she has learned (double wow)!

Have I mentioned how great our God is???

After our week in Guiyang, it will be off to Guangzhou and then home!

We are allowing the kids to miss that day of school to meet us at the airport and start our lives as a family of 9!

15 if you count the animals!

Hehe!

I have to take a moment to thank everyone who helped us along in this faith journey!

I just do not know what I would have done without all of your prayers and donations and words of encouragement.

Please, if you think about it this week, pray for our sweet girls who are waiting in China and our sweet girls (and boys) who will be waiting at home.

I just cannot wait to see these beds filled with all four, sweet sisters!

The bags have started to get packed, the VPN has been downloaded, the tickets have been purchased, school and doggie arrangements have been made and yes, the butterflies have arrived!

Our girls are almost home, soon to be orphans no more.

 

 

Stay tuned y'all!