Charlie's orphanage

Earlier this week, there was a sweet family in Chongqing adopting their little boy, who is from Charlie's orphanage. We were very hopeful that they would be able to see him, but sadly, they weren't allowed to see the younger kiddos. I was very excited about this picture though, as it is by far the best one I've seen of the orphanage. I love being able to see the infamous blue slide that all the Chongqing kids have pictures on :) My very favorite part of all, though, is the writing on the middle of the building... "Where there is love, there is hope." What a perfect saying to be on this place that is home to hundreds of orphaned children!

So crazy to know that our boy is there RIGHT NOW. Hoping that we will be seeing this place IN PERSON very soon!

Shopping for Charlie!

After realizing that Charlie had very few pieces of clothing, Mom and I decided to do a bit more shopping for him. We had already ordered some things from Bo*den and Ha*nna An*derrson and added some more sweet things from Gy*mboree and G*ap today! He now has a good sized wadrobe consisting of some bathingsuits, collared shirts, tee shirts, madras shorts, jean shorts, sweat shorts, some undies, and Cro*cs! Hopefully it will all fit :)

Oh and whoever said buying little boy clothes isn't fun is wrong! We had lots of fun picking things our for our sweet little BOY! :)

Yes, she knows!

We sent Grace a Chinese New Year package through Ann of Red Threads about 2 weeks ago. We were thinking we weren't going to get any pictures back, but today, Ann emailed us ELEVEN (although some are cropped versions) new pictures of our girl!!!!!!!! And a short email that not only said that she is a happy girl, but also said SHE IS BEING PREPARED FOR HER ADOPTION!!! It's so amazing to have pictures of her reading our letter and looking at pictures of HER family! Oh and to top it all off... we also got 2 pictures of her with her foster mother!!!!!!!! So amazing to have.

We are excited, to say the least :)

Mom emailed the pictures to our *wonderful* agency, and they were so excited to see her, too. Sara replied, "We will get you there as FAST as we can!" Sounds good to me! :)

Thank you, LORD!!!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

She knows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swimming, skiing...

AnnaClaire has always been a Daddy's girl... even more so on Sunday, when he took her swimming at the (indoor) pool! I'm pretty sure she was thinking he was the greatest person in the world when he promised to wake her up a little early from her nap and take her swimming. Have I ever mentioned that this girl LOVES to swim?!

Speaking of swimming, we had our state swim meet yesterday, which went well. Our girls did decent, but our guys were THREE points away from winning the state championship. If they had won, it would've been the 4th year in a row! Pretty amazing, especially since there were 9 guys on our state team!

I'm doing well... I didn't have school ALL last week, which was nice, other than the fact that we had planned on being in Ha*iti, as I have mentioned. It was a nice break from school though, and I was able to go skiing for the first time ever!!! 2 teachers took a group of 11 students. We had SO much fun. Now I'm just ready to go to China. BEYOND ready, actually.

My Kite Flying Princesses

We decided to take the girlies to the park to fly kites this morning! We stopped by Wal*Mart and found these Lit*tle Mer*maid ones. For $1! The girls were so excited to get to the park and try them out!
AnnaClaire was SO into flying the kite. Absolutely loved helping "launch" it and holding it up. She was smiling the entire time we were there!
Here's Kate flying her kite! She was so proud of herself! We were all just happy the kite didn't fly her away (only kidding... but I mean she is barely 20 pounds!)
Here's Miss Booie keeping her kite in the air! She was running all around the field to keep it up, which was no easy task because the wind wasn't too great.
It was a very fun day! I think Kate's smile can assure you of that! :)

And just because he's on my mind... They had some cute little boy kites, too. Just wish our sweet little guy could've flown kites with us! Keep praying, please! A lot needs to happen this week for us to have any chance of travelling at the beginning of April. But I know that my God is faithful, and so we push on, trusting fully in Him and His perfect timing.

Sweet Darcy!

We travelled with the M family to China when Kate joined our family and Caleb joined their family. They are now back in China, meeting their precious Darcy! Isn't she beautiful??? So wish we were back in China with them, but I am enjoying living vivaciously through their blog :)

Go HERE to see more of BEAUTIFUL Darcy with her brother, sister, Mommy, and Daddy!

And we wait some more...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lamentations 3:22-24

It's Been Long In Coming...

Maia, Kate, AnnaClaire, Sarah Mei, and Aliana
It was both Sarah Mei and Aliana's first trip to Chi*ck*Fil*a... so glad we were able to be a part of this important milestone! ;)
And here's Maia and "Cake" as Maia calls her... they are only a few months apart in age... aren't they cute!!

Today, we finally got to meet the long awaited and long prayed for Sarah Mei and Aliana Grace! I forgot how absolutely tiny, precious, and adorable little babies are! Oh my goodness! And let me just say, these girls are even cuter in person than they are in pictures!

We missed you, Sara Beth, and hope to see you soon (and add you to the ever growing picture, of course!)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hope you all have a very fun Valentines Day/Chinese New Year! The girlies wore their silk dresses to Church and then we celebrated at Pei Wei, of course!

Oh and we are featured on Project Chosen today, so go HERE to read a short version of our adoption story! For those of you who have always wanted to hear our story from Mom's point of view, you can read it there!

Another snow day~

It was perfect snowman building snow, so here is our snowman... doing hook 'em and everything :)
Kate liked making footprints in the deep, fluffy snow! For the first time in a few years, it actually covered ALL of the grass!
And AnnaClaire liked making snow angels, which she didn't get to do much of during out last snow (more of ice) day!
Once it had melted (if you're from the north, are you laughing? It started snowing last night, we had 4 inches, and it had all melted by the afternoon) we went to go get some paint supplies and started painting Charlie's room... a labor of love! AnnaClaire got in her painting clothes and got to use a mini roller we bought her... she loved helping paint!
The day ended with a family dinner (minus Will and our waiting sweeties) and Mom made us a delicious Valentines cookie cake for dessert!

It was definitely a fun day...

I800 Approval!!!!!!!!!

Our I800 was approved today! Praise God! One step closer to this sweet little guy... It should come in the mail next week, but we are officially waiting for everything to be cabled to the US Consulate, then a letter from the Nation*al Vi*sa Center, then our Article 5 from the US Consulate, and finally our TA! Sounds like a lot, but for now, we are rejoicing in the fact that we are ONE STEP CLOSER!

I'm just ready to be done with this process and have our sweet Charlie! I am so done with this "Hague Plague" as it is often called. It's been over 7 months since we first saw his sweet face for the first time... and still we wait.

BUT, we are ONE STEP CLOSER, and for that, I am happy today. Please continue to pray with us that everything else would come quickly. My spring break is April 2-9, and for many reasons, it would be EXTREMELY perfect for our travel to overlap with those dates. Lets just say I have AP exams starting in the beginning of May, and you all know how badly I want to be in China. PLEASE pray along with us. Plus, the faster we get Charlie home, the faster his big sister comes home.

And speaking of Miss Grace, our I800a receipt (completely different from the I800) for her came today! One small step closer in that direction, too. Our dossier should definitely be ready to send once we go to China for Charlie!

And still, the verse that got me through the wait for Kate rings true...

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day."
Habakkuk 2:3

Making Valentines

The girlies have had so much fun making Valentines for the past few days! They have done so well with them, too! They cut them out by themselves, glued everything on, used glitter glue, put stickers on, and AC even signed her name, too. They have had so much fun making them and giving them to their friends and bible study teachers... and mailing them to grandmas, too, of course!

I look at them...

and I cannot even describe what goes through my head.
And I hope that everyone I ever meet knows what a big part of ME comes from THEM.
Because truly, my life just wouldn't be the same without them.

Everytime that I watch them play,
and hear their sweet voices,
and look at their sweet smiles,
and see them giggle,
I cannot help but think of how beautiful this miracle of adoption is.
Please don't tell us that THEY are lucky.
It's
not
them.
I'm the lucky one.