Merry Christmas!!

I'm posting from my phone, so hopefully this works!! We have had a very merry CHRISTmas and very blessed indeed!
Jory and Jia were up at before the sun checking out what Santa left and making sure he partook of his cookies!
We got the French toast baking in the oven and Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Rob came over to check out th loot an watch the kids open presents from mom and dad.
Jia put baby Jesus in the Nativity scene reminding us of why we celebrate. And now our home looks like a tornado went through it! Jia ha declared this the best Christmas ever and I agree...it will only be topped by having Jemma here next year!! Can't wait!
Merry Christmas to all and God bless you!

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"Cutest Dorothy ever!!"
(taken at First Baptist Church)

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The Instagram Team

Worldwide Day of Fun

Today was Nickelodeons worldwide day of fun. They actually shut down the programming and the screen says 'we're outside playing. You should to.'
And so we did!! Even though it was 47 degrees outside. We already froze at Jory's soccer game this morning, but we ventured out to the park. We weren't the only crazys there...our youth pastor and his wife come for a bit with their son! Jory and Shawn played a bit of soccer!!

Fall Color

A few days ago, Jia noticed a tree that had turned bright red! She ooohhhhed and aawwwwwed over how pretty it was so this afternoon we took a drive through a nearby conservation area so admire the turning foliage. Jack and I really enjoyed the peaceful drive. And, as for Jia.... I'll let you see for yourself what she thought!!

40 RAOK

Shhhhhh......

Don't tell anyone.

But I've actually been looking forward to my 40th Birthday and I'm going to share with you why!

A few months ago, my friend Aimee from NC, celebrated her birthday by doing RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) and she asked her friends to do the same to help her celebrate.  I totally forgot about it until the end of the day, and we were eating at Washington Street.  We left our waitress a $20 tip to celebrate Aimee! 

 

So I decided then, for my 40th, I was doing 40 RAOK.

 

This afternoon, the littles (Jory and Jia) and I set out to bless others.  Here we are leaving the house for our adventure.

Jory is there.... begrudingly.

He wasn't into this at first, but after the first stop, he and Jia were fighting over who got the next stop!!

 

 

We went to the nursing home and hospital and left BALLOONS and FLOWERS at the desk.  We asked the nurses to give them to someone that didn't have family visit them or just needed a pick-me-up.

 

Here's one of the tags we attached to everything...

 

We randomly left dollar bills and quarters all around town.

 

We put $$ in every vending, pop and toy machine we could find!

 

Someone at Sonic is getting a little help with their dinner!

 

 

We filled the changers at the laundry mat.

 

Here is the other tag my friend Renea designed for me!

 

I also left money at Royal Inn and just asked the cashier to give it to the next person who come in to eat.

 

Jia gave a flower to the cashier at Casey's.

 

And this one is my favorite!!!!  These guys were preparing the parking lot at Trenton Foods for asphalt.  This was Jory's idea! We had drove by and seen them so we bought some bottled water for them.

 

We also delivered cupcakes to the Firestation!!  I hope the guy in the break room shares!

 

I've had a fantastic birthday weekend! 

It started off Saturday with a visit from a good friend.

Then I received a package in the mail from our friends Dan and Sherry in Texas.

They made a 'substantial' donation to our adoption in honor of my 40th birthday!

I screamed then cried uncontrollably!  Still can't believe that!

Saturday night we took the kids to the fair in Bethany and had a GREAT time!!!

 

Sunday was an awesome morning at church!  Then we went to my mom and dad's where Dad grilled burgers for us!  We had cake and home-made ice cream to!

My mom did put 40 candles on my cake, but as soon as Jory finished lighting them all, he was onery and started blowing them out before I even realized what was going on!

I'm secrectly glad though... I was a little worried about embarrassing myself attempting to blow all those candles out on my own!!!

We finished off Sunday taking Jory to ride his 4 wheeler.

 

Labor day - 40 RAOK and I still have a date with my husband!  Jia says "that's so romantic"!!!

 

All this, and my actually birthday hasn't even arrived yet! 

If you'd like to help me celebrate 40 Years....

Please pass it on and do a RAOK of your own!

Then let me know what you did!  I can't wait to see how all my family and friends blessed someone else to celebrate my special day!!!

 

I do have pictures of the rest of our weekend I'll get posted for you all to enjoy soon!!!

 

I was thirsty and you gave Me drink...‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Matthew 25

 

 

The Fair Comes to Town....

Election year = lots of parade candy!!!

Changing Destinies

About a year before we adopted Jia, we reviewed the file of another little girl.  At that same time, I met Lisa who was reviewing the file of her daughter Faith.  We became friends via the internet, as we thought we may have the same timeline and travel together.

Needless to say, that didn't happen! But still yet, Lisa and I keep in touch!

Their family has an amazing testimony regarding Faith's adoption and healing.  You can learn all about it by watching the 700 Club!

My DVR is set to RECORD!!!!

I can't wait to watch it and pray God is glorified through their testimony!

Mei Mei for us!

We are thrilled to introduce you to our new

 daughter/sister!!!

We have chosen the name Jemma, and are still undecided on a middle name.

Jemma currently lives in foster care in Liuzhou, Guangxi China.

She will be 3 in October.

She has the same special need as Jia.

We received our PA for Jemma on May 16th.

Tomorrow is our final visit with our social worker and then it will take her 3-4 weeks to get our homestudy all wrote up.

We have a few other documents to gather and then we will submit our Dossier to China.

It's been a long time since we've done this and I haven't been staying up to date on all the timelines.  I do know there are some extra steps this time around we didn't have to do with Jia.

I refuse to obsess over RQ and just take it one day at a time this go-around!  I feel much more relaxed and able to trust God's timing and provision.  However, I am freaking out a tiny bit about having a 3 year old again!  (she will be 3 before we get her home) 

I love this picture that shows off her chubbiness!  And Jack already has her pegged for being a Tomboy since she's wearing overalls!  Time to pack up all the dresses!

The kids are all excited and ready to have her home!

Momma is to!  :)

MaoGang Reunion 2012

Last weekend we had our 1st MaoGang Reunion! 

14 families were able to meet in Kansas City at the Great Wolf Lodge

 and spend the weekend getting aquainted.

This was such an amazing weekend for our daughters.

It was such a blessing watching them play together and get to know one another.  They all got along so well and seemed to find someone they 'clicked' with!

We kicked off with dinner at the T-Rex Cafe at Legends.

My sweet friend Aimee from NC offered to make scrap book pages of the girls.

She included their referal pictures, a picture of their family and some favorites of each girl.

The page also incuded some fun facts about each girl.

As you can tell, it was a big hit! 

Saturday was crafts at Kaleidescope and the

Hallmark Visitors Center.

Saturday night one of our awesome families hosted a picnic at Wyandotte County Lake.

I dare say this was the highlight of our weekend. 

The location was beautiful. 

The weather was nice.

The kids could run.

This is Jia and Gracie.

Remember when I said all the girls found someone they 'clicked' with?

Well Jia clicked with Gracie!

They were inseperable!

Another awesome mom had matching shirts made for all the girls!

And yes, Jia has one. But you know that would require wearing pants or shorts.  And my girl wasn't to thrilled with that.

I do wish we'd at least slipped it on over her dress for pictures. 

After the group photo's of the girls, we took pictures of each individual family.

Here's is Jia's scrapbook page that Aimee made!

The weekend was just so great.  There just aren't words to explain how it felt to see all of these girls together.  I believe 7 of the families that were at the picnic were the first families from America to adopt from MaoGang!  They all travelled together in 2005!

Some of the little girls would have been in the orphanage the same time Jia was, but none of them seemed to remember.  However, they will all remember eachother from the picnic!

God is good!