A day for Praise!!

What a blessing a Baptism is!

I clearly remember both Boys Baptisms...one of the best days.

This weekend we celebrated our sweet Mia's special day!

While we have known all along that she is God's child, held in his hands from the beginning, we got to stand before our congregation and proclaim our vow to raise her in a Christian home, full of love and promise and to always teach her the ways of The Lord.

It was such a blessing to be able to give her this testament. So blessed to have her in a country..a home..where she will be taught what it means to be a child of God. She will get to learn all about HIS love and forgiveness..and that makes my heart smile.

It was a glorious day filled with love and laughter. We were blessed to celebrate with family, friends and a congregation who has been praying for her, from the beginning.

After the ceremony, we celebrated with lots of family and friends at our favorite Asian restaurant. Mia got to enjoy her FIRST cupcake! Messy. But definitely worth pictures!!

This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it-Psalm 118:24

VBS ROCKED!!

Kingdom Rocks. That was the theme of this year's Summer VBS.

The Boys look forward to it each year, and thanks to Nana snagging us a CD and DVD of the years songs, they have the words and motions memorized months before.

This year our church brought over 2,000 kids through VBS during their 3 sessions (am, midday and pm)
That's a lot of kids learning the word of God. That's a lot of faith. That's a lot of promise. That's a lot of hope. That's a lot of ROCKING!!

And that's just what they did....they rocked!!!

This year, our Church participated in several mission projects during VBS. We collected gently used shoes to send to those in need of shoes and collected our annual collection boxes of change to send to Haiti to build a well to provide clean water. The Boys literally wait all year to be able to empty a years worth of collected change, into these boxes and deliver to VBS towards whatever that years missions. This year, just like in years past, the Boys rushed home after their 1st day, ready to fill their boxes and return them the next day

Can't wait for next year to see how many lives will be touched and changed through learning all about God's promise of Love.

The Boys are already guessing about possible themes for next year. We have our guesses....guess we will have to wait to find out!!

Blessings,
Angie

Break our hearts for what breaks yours......

This week we celebrated 4 months of having sweet Mia in our lives! Boy, is she thriving!!
She is such a joy and just radiates with happiness. My heart just melts when I see her smile.

She is continuing to adjust wonderfully. She is eating and drinking bottles well. She still continues to lose lots of food and formula through her nose, but we knew that was to be expected. It doesn't seem to bother or frustrate her as much as prior to surgery and so thankfully, it is not hindering her appetite. the girl likes to EAT!!
She still struggles with her sleep, waking every night between 1 am and 3 am with horrible nightmares. I go and stand in her room, over her crib and she doesn't even know that I am there. Her head is buried in the sheet and she is screaming the most awful scream. Definite a nightmare. There is no way to NOT want to wake her up out of this fit, and so I get her out , gently try to wake her, rock her, and give her a bottle. Not the best scenario, but I just don't know what else to do. If she was just sitting up in her crib crying every night, I would be more inclined to let her cry it out..but seeing these horrible scary cries, just breaks my heart. Heck, if I was having this bad of a dream, I would hope my husband would wake ME out of it. I'm not certain what causes them, or how long they will last, but obviously...we are hoping that she sleeps soon
The Boys just LOVE playing with their Sister. They are so gentle and kind to her...makes this Momma proud.

The other night, while I was fixing dinner, I inadvertently had the movie Juno on. I sat down to watch it, thinking that the Boys were preoccupied with their toys and games. Well, Nick, our almost 8 year old, came down and sat beside me..glued to the movie. We watched as the potential Adoptive Mother sat and kissed the belly of Juno, whispering to her unborn baby. Tears. We watched as Juno gave birth, lay alone in her hospital bed and cried. Tears. And we finished the movie watching the Adoptive Mother holding her baby boy. Tears.At first I thought about telling him to go play, thinking "This may not be the best movie for someone his age". But instead, I let him sit, just to see if he could follow along. Well, he did. He began to ask questions.."Why is she in school and having a baby?" "Why does she want to give her baby to those other people?", "Why can't she keep her baby?" , " What if the baby is sad and wants it's REAL Mommy?"...oh boy...I THOUGHT we had explained Adoption and what it means, throughout our own process, but apparently he still had questions. And so, I used this time to explain how sometimes circumstances prevent parents from being able to keep their babies. It may be money, may be rules of their Country, or maybe they just don't think they are READY to take care of a baby (this was a tough one, bc why after all would God give you a baby, if you didn't want to take care of it??..This is what he couldn't understand.)
I went on to remind him how Mia's Mommy and Daddy were unable to keep her because she had been born with a bad lip. I explained that in China, it costs alot of money to have surgery to repair deformities and that even then, people don't "LIKE" to see it. I explained that although it was sad, that is why Adoption came to be...so that OTHER families could take these children and give them a home.
My sweet boy started to cry.
Which meant I started to cry.
Oh boy...TEARS.....lots of them..

He got up, went over to where Mia was sitting on the floor, rubbed her back, and I heard him whisper "Mia, I'm SO sorry that your Mommy and Daddy couldn't keep you. I am SO sorry. But we are your family now..and we love you.." He just kept rubbing her back.
Even as I sit and type this, I have tears, just thinking of how the reality of this world affects children.
Sometimes I feel that the conversations we have had with our Boys, especially since returning home from China, may be over their heads or a little heavy. But we taper how we explain things, at the same time, wanting them to understand the sad things that happen in our world. We saw Children with no families, people with no homes, poverty, despair...and we want our children to be humble and thankful for what we have, while showing empathy and compassion for those who don't have. It is a tough conversation, and one that in a few cases, has made us all cry, from the sad reality. but I believe that we SHOULD be sad, we SHOULD cry..."Break our hearts for what breaks yours"...that's how the song goes.
We must humble ourselves in order to truly understand and appreciate what we have.

On a LIGHTER note....Summer is here..which means Farmers Marker trips are back in swing!! I belong to a small co-op group that makes trips to our local Farmers Market once a month. This month was our first month back after a seasonal break. I can't begin to tell you how nice it was to have my fridge and baskets stocked with fresh produce!

I see a peach cobbler in our future!!!

The Boys are just enjoying every minute of Summer.Staying up late, sleeping in a LITTLE late and soaking up the sun outside.

We hope that your Summer is going just fabulous!!!

Father's Day

Happy Fathers Day to all of the amazing, nurturing Fathers out there, who love and adore your children. What a blessing an amazing Father is!

As I look around this Fathers Day, I see two aspects of this sweet relationship. I see my own relationship with my Father and Step Father, and I see the amazing relationships that are blooming between my 3 children and their Daddy. Everywhere I look, there is LOVE, all around.

My Parents divorced when I was just a toddler, and my Mother remarried when I was still very young. While I lived with my Mom and Step-Dad, I saw my Father every week. While divorce isn't the ideal way for any child to be raised, it was the hand that I was dealt. Looking back, I can now say that given the relationships that parted and remained, I came out pretty good. I was able to have a solid relationship with BOTH men, who went on to play a crucial part in my life. While they were different in their own rites, I can happily say that, as an adult, I have taken things from both of them, who have made me the woman, wife and Mother that I am today.

I love both of these men immensely and am thankful for their kind, loving hands that guided me throughout my life..

Here are some photos of me & my Dad..

And my Step-Dad....

I look at the relationships blossoming between my husband and our kids and I am just so thankful for this bond that the share. He is a wonderful father, a good role model and a loyal,respectful husband. I pray that my children always keep this close relationship with their Dad. I truly believe that the relationship you have with your parents shapes the type of adult you become.

I also find myself on this day, thinking about our sweet girls Birth Father. I am certain that he is out there, somewhere, thinking about the sweet Daughter that they were unable to keep. Just as her birth mothers heart aches, I am sure that his does, as well. I will say an extra prayer for him, that he may somehow know that his baby girl is being loved and taken care of by her a forever Daddy, and that we are eternally grateful to have found their sweet blessing..

If your Father is close by, go see him, give him a big hug.
If distance seep rates you,call him and let him know what he means to you.
If he has passed on, say a special prayer and tell him how grateful you were to have had him in your life.
And if you grew up without a Father, but had a special male role model in your life..tell him how much he meant to you.

Blessings,
Angie