Back to School 2010

The kids started school August 18th.  So far, so good!

Jory is now a 2nd grader!  He is always up early and ready to go!

Every other week, Jack goes to work at 5:00 and Jory wants Jack to wake him up before he leaves.  He is loving this year!  I hope he keeps it up!

Jacen is an 8th grader!

His last year before High School - YIKES!!!!

He's loving school and doing great to!

Jia is in preschool! 

The first day she literally weaved her way in between the other parents legs that were in line ahead of us!

I got a wave and off she went!

She's thriving!

I thought this was a cute pic.

Jory is ready to head out the door and Jia is just waking up!

CRAFTING FOR A CAUSE!!!!

Help by doing something you love... crafting! Jo-Ann stores is hosting a sweepstakes called Crafting for a Cause. The intent is to encourage Jo-Ann customers to make and donate a handmade item directly to their favorite charity.

You must be 14 or older to enter. Each person enters their craft on behalf of their favorite charity. You are then eligible yourself to win one of five $1,500.00 gift cards from Jo-Ann. The three non-profits who receive the most craft items submitted on their behalf are then eligible to receive a portion of a $90,000.00 donation from Jo-Ann and it's partner organizations!

Wow! Do something you enjoy and help your favorite charity at the same time - what could be better!

Go here to learn more and be sure to forward this invitation on to your crafty friends!

So, how does it work?

•Register at Craft for a Cause

•You must submit your entry by October 30, 2010

•You must be 14 or older to participate. This could be a great mom-daughter-granddaughter-girl scout troop-youth group project.

•When you register you are asked to provide the name of the non-profit for which you are making the craft.

•Please review the sweepstakes rules.

•You must buy the majority of the supplies for your project from Jo-Ann and provide a scanned copy of your sales receipt as a part of your registration/submission.
 
If you happen to be a crafter without a favorite charity on the list, then I would reccomend crafting for this one...

Nightlight may not appear in the drop-down menu provided, but you may still enter it as an option.

Blankets - Beads - Books - Booties - Bonnets - Bags - your imagination is the limit. Jo-Ann wants you to send your finished creation directly to Nightlight. What will Nightlight use them for?

October 2010. A mission team will travel to Uganda to serve in our new Tender Hearts Babies Home. Craft items which have a use in the orphanage will be carried over in team luggage.

November 2010 is Adoption Awareness Month. Nightlight is planning an online auction during the month and some of your items will be made available for auction.

Spring 2011. Nightlight will be hosting its annual Gala event. Exceptional craft items will be made available in our silent auction.

Summer 2011. Craft items that may be helpful to our Summer Tour groups will be given to children and chaperons. Last year, small memory photo albums (4x6), were appreciated by tour children.

Orphanages. Frequently when families travel to complete their international adoptions they take gifts for the residents. Perhaps some of your crafts could travel to foreign lands.

Suggestions: Lightweight baby blankets, toys, crocheted baby hats, crib bumpers (we have 30 cribs), cloth baby books (Jo-Ann has fabric patterns for these), quilts would make excellent auction items, small memory books, cloth dolls, scarves and hats for older children. These are suggestions only - craft what you enjoy.

Vacation....

We had a quick trip to Branson before School started.  It was an awesome & HOT time!

My parents camped at TableRock that week and my Aunt and Uncle live nearby, so it was great to visit with family and relax.

Since I last blogged the photo uploader has changed... yikes!

So these are in no paticilar order, sorry!

This is Jia and I waiting for the boys to finish riding the go-karts

We rode the bumper boats and the boy that took our tickets pointed out to me which boat had the best sprayer.  Obviously it didn't do me much good!

This was a down & dirty fun vacation. 

We got wet.

We had icky hair days.

We had a ball!

This is Jack and Jacen at the Branson Landing watching the fountians.

Jacen on the waterslide

The JCrew at the Landing

Jia and Jory at the Landing

Miss Jia LOVED the go karts. 

She rode with me the first time and she giggled through the entire ride! 

She just kept smiling at me and was so adorable!

She was trying to wave at me as she went by, but I think daddy went faster than me!

Jia outside the Chinese Acrobat show

Jia on the waterslide - brave girl loved it!

Jia outside the Chinese Acrobat building

Jory and Jia... Jia was being uncooperative! 

Jory love the C.A. They made his list of favorite things about vacation!

Jory enjoyed the rookie karts so he could ride alone. 

The little guy shows great potential... he was keeping the inside line and not letting anyone by!

Jory on the waterslide!  We all loved the water.

Jory with a couple of the acrobats  - AMAZING show!

Jory outside the Chinese Acrobat show.

My Aunt and Uncle live nearby so they took us out on TableRock lake on their pontoon boat.

This was a favorite for everyone!  I think we could spend the entire trip on the lake!

This is my Aunt Mary...

This is a large cliff on Table Rock lake... you climb up & jump off.

Jacen is just at the top in the plaid trunks.

He was on his 2nd jump.

I was on over to the right (past the trees)....

trying to get my knees to stop knocking together to do my first jump!

Uncle Denny and Jack

The daredevil.  Yes, I'm holding on to the string of her lifevest.

She has no fear.

Jack, Jia and I

Jacen and Jack battling it out on the karts.

If you knew the racing history in our family...

Jacen was not gonna let his dad past!

Jacen tried his best to kill me on vacation.

Besides jumping on the cliff, we rode the ripcord together.

We did a little school shopping,

seen some shows,

played in the water,

had a fabulous time! 

Inside MaoGang

Edited to add:  I just watched the video to make sure it worked.  I haven't watched it for quite some time. I just can't believe that's my daughter.  I can't believe that she lived there for 3 1/2 years before becoming my daughter. I can't believe I missed out on so much.  The little girl in the video doesn't even resemble my daugher now.  For the first time, this video was hard to watch.  She has changed so much.

God really is the God of second chances.

This short video was in Jia's referral information.  Parents waiting to travel and get their MaoGang girls wonder what kind of conditions their daughters are in while waiting on their Mama and Baba to come.

I doubt I leave this up for very long since it's sort of personal.  But it's too large to load on the MaoGang Yahoo group and I wanted to share.

So here's a peek inside MaoGang from about July 2008.  Jia was about 2.5 years old here.

 For those of you that know Jia now... watch the little boy shove her at the end.  Can you believe that she was ever so complacent??

I'm going to try and get back to blogging soon!  My computer was down, then we had vacation bible school.  I did the music and working all day then going to VBS really kicked my butt!

You just get out of blogging mode too easily!

Soon we're headed to Branson for vacation, then school starts!  YIPPEE!!!!

So, I'll be back!

Urgent Prayer Request

Our sweet friends from Texas are in China now!  They just got precious Emma on Monday and she is having some health problems and had to go to the hospital.  I know it is difficult enough to be in a foreign country when all is well, so I can only imagine what they're going through.
They are entirely comforted knowing that God loves little Emma even more than they do.  Please pray for Emma to get the medical attention she needs to thrive and for the Smith family as they endure this so far from family and friends.
Here's a bit from the latest email update I got from them....They don't see signs of lung infection, but said she has such severe malnutrition. They are giving her an IV as we speak and we are to go back each day for another IV until we leave Kunming, the city we are in now. Thank you for praying........and please continue to pray that the IV will help her, and that she will also be able to eat and drink what she needs to keep thriving. She is such an angel.......so precious......continue to pray her home to the US where she can get everything she needs. I do say, however, that the only ONE she needs......she has right here, right now....and I do trust Him to be her everything. Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of sweet Emma........

Our 1st Forever Family Day Celebration!

A year ago you were an orphan.

Now you are a beloved daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece, aunt, cousin and friend.

Because God sets the lonely in families!

This is the first photo we seen of you!

It was love at first sight!

You didn't even have a name, you were a number.

As we moved along in the process, you went from being #208-11 to Qiu Wen...

And from Qiu Wen to Jiana Ellan...

but still there was something missing.

A smile.

A light in your eyes.

Your family.

Our first glimpse of you in person...

You were running late!  It was a good indication that you'd make a fine member of the Stotts family!

Your dress was 3 sizes too big and you were wearing yellow Spiderman shoes!

I tenatively reached out to touch you, you were terrified.

I can't imagine what that day was like for you.

It was one of the most joyous days of my life, but I know it was probably your worst.

Eventually, you decided to take a chance on us.

It was so rough for you the first few days.

I can't blame you for being afraid.

You were so sober.

I will NEVER forget those first smiles you trusted us with!

And eventually, you decided that we were all right and you could trust us with more smiles!
I watched you everyday give in a little bit more.

Your first day home.

Your first day as an American Citizen.

Your first Independence Day!

In just a few short days your personality really emerged!

We found out what a Diva you are!

And what a ham you are!

I'm already imagining you in school!

You're bound to be the class clown.

Oh, all those calls from the principals office...

Now your smile lights up the room.

And you are so happy.

I don't know if you'll remember any of your time in China.

You've chose to leave that life behind and embrace your new life.

But the time we had there with you is priceless.

We will always remember with joy the journey that God took us on to you!

We will always be glad we stepped out of the boat.

You have brought us so much joy.

And love.

Gone is the sober, stoic orphan with just an assigned number and name.

In her place is the greatest treasure from God...

A demonstration of His Grace...

In one little face.

Jiana (God's Grace) Ellan Qiu Wen Stotts

Thank you Jia.

For your courage. 

For taking a chance on us. 

 For letting us be your Baba and Mama.

For trusting us and letting us in your heart.

And for making your way into ours.

We love you sweet girl!

Happy 1st Forever Family Day!

Mama & Baba