December 31, 2007

Are you a little jealous of our weather???

Christmas

Christmas Eve--Christmas Pictures

The electricity was off Christmas Eve afternoon and evening, so we had Christmas cookies and hot chocolate by candle light while we read the Christmas story from the Bible.

Some pre-Christmas pictures

Bring Me Hope----worth taking the time to watch

Three Years Ago Today......

.....we were in Nanchang, China, where we met our daughter.....LiAnne.

Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

Chinese Language

MinMin has been learning to write in cursive for the last couple of weeks. I also have her write her spelling/vocabulary words in Chinese next to the English word. It is so interesting to watch her write in Chinese....and it reminded me of a fascinating website that I found a few months ago. You should really take the time to watch this. I'm sure that you will agree that it is amazing,

http://www.wbschool.org/Chinese.swf

OK, so you'll have to cut and paste this as it won't make it a link for me. Sorry.

Two Months Ago Today.....

we met our daughter, Janelle MinMin at the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou, China. As most of you know, that was not an easy day for her, nor were the days to follow. It is so amazing to see the difference now, two months later. MinMin is a happy girl, is learning English, loves her brother and sister, and is happy to have big sister, Lancy, visiting right now. Though the beginning was hard, and we wondered how things were going to work out, we never doubted that God had chosen MinMin to be our daughter.

Four years ago this week we were first challenged by God to bring home another child for our family. It was not something that we had planned to do. Maybe there is someone, even one family, reading this post today who God would call to adopt. Watch the video that follows and be OPEN to God's still small voice calling you.....

(Please mute the music on the slide show above.)

glitter-graphics.com


May you find God's Peace this Christmas Season.

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Christmas Elves

OK, if you want to laugh, click on this link:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1112388051

Looks like you'll have to cut and paste, but it sure made me laugh!

Amanda in Europe

Amanda was able to spend her Thanksgiving vacation in Prague and Vienna this year. She traveled with the College of the Ozarks handbell choir for 10 days of concerts and touring. She plays in the handbell choir, but was also able to play her violin with the bells on a few of the pieces they did. I don't think that this will be her last trip to Europe.....she says she loved it there!

We Are Going To China

We got our travel approval from China today. Stay tuned for details as we get our trip worked out. Hoping to leave October 4th.

Moving Day--September 9th

LiAnne Turns Four -- September 20, 2007

A visit with Amanda

We all miss having Amanda at home. We do get to talk to her most days, but that is not the same as being able to visit. We enjoyed being with her while we were in Missouri. Her college is only 45 minutes from my folks, so we were able to see her often. Besides her job at the college, she plays her violin at the college restaurant 5 evenings a week. It was fun for us, and especially for Taylor and LiAnne, to go to "Amanda's restaurant" and hear her play. The kids also enjoyed visiting her dorm room, and watching her play soccer along with Matt and Crystal and the group of MK's/international students.

House Remodel

We were busy during the month of July, remodeling a house in Missouri. We have done this before in order to pay for Taylor's adoption. Our realtor found us this house that he thought we could do well on, so it became our vacation project.

Thanks to the help of Matt and Crystal, my dad on the electrical, my mom in keeping the kids a couple of days so that they didn't have to be there everyday, and we were able to get a lot of the work done while we were in Missouri. Matt and Crystal are finishing up now that we are back in Mexico.

God was good to us.....and we had a buyer come by the last week of work. He had offered on the house in the past, and still wanted it. He was very happy with the work that we had done, and signed the contract to buy before we left. Closing is August 31st.

Crib mates, best friends....together again!

In the fall of the year 2002, a baby girl and a toddler boy entered an orphanage in the province of Guizhou. Perhaps because they entered at about the same time, they became crib mates, and as they grew, best friends. Fast forward a couple of years, and the little girl is adopted and leaves for the United States. She didn't get to say good-bye to her best friend, because he was in the hospital at that time, having surgery. Another year rolls around, and the little boys family prepares to go to China to bring him home.

They post and send a picture to the orphanage group that they are leaving to bring him home, and the mother of the little girl happens to check in and see the post. Her daughter sees the picture of her best friend, and cries in delight when she recognizes him. The mother emails the boys family, and sends updated pictures for them to carry to the orphanage.

In China, when the little boy meets his family, the orphanage director hands them a picture, and tells them about the boys best friend who is now living with her family in the United States, and asks them to find her so that the children can be in touch. Imagine his surprise when the parents hand him updated pictures of the little girl, as they are already in contact.

Another year passes, with email and pictures going back and forth between the two families, and time comes for them to meet. July 4 and 5th of this year the two children, seperated now for two years, meet and spend a couple of days together. What fun it was for us as parents to celebrate with our children as they were reunited!

Family Reunion

I thought that I would start a second blog that deals with all of the family and what is happening in our lives. My first blog, journeytojanelle, is supposed to be about our journey to bring Janelle home to our family, but has become more about the whole family. I will now post about the family here, and the other blog will deal with Janelle's journey home to her family.

We were able to be together as a family for a week over the 4th of July this year. Caleb and family came from Wyoming, Matt and Crystal and Amanda live nearby, and the two little ones came with us, of course. The one person that we thought would not be able to come made a surprise entrance. Actually, Richard and I bought a ticket for Lancy to be able to come out from New York, but it was a surprise to the rest of the family. It was the first time that we had all been together in 1 1/2 years, and will probably be the last time in quite a while, as well.