1 WHOLE YEAR

So hard to believe, but true enough, we celebrated having LilyJoy in our arms for one year today! While we still have a long way to go, I think about how far we've come and I'm inspired, it really is what keeps me coming back for more. I remember thinking when we first got home, "I wonder what this will be like in one year?" And now we know :)
I do think that it is important to continue to reflect on where we have come from, so that on the hard days, we remember that we are indeed going forward. LJ still struggles with her relationship with her daddy (interesting, given that he was to only one she wanted anything to do with for the first month or so with us), but we are starting the long journey of reading what we can, asking questions and trying to make that important connection. She and I also have a bit of a roller coaster relationship as well, where we both begin to feel insecure every few weeks, but the between stretches are getting longer and the hard times less intense. She has also just recently started to give me spontaneous hugs and kisses, completely of her own accord, which of course I can't get enough of!

She still loves to drive her brothers crazy, especially Timothy, but what youngest child doesn't (asks this youngest child :))?

We look forward to the future, but *try* to enjoy where we are now, as hard as that may be at times. And we just continue to love our Little Joy... happy Forever Family Day, little one!!

A Wonderful Article on Finding Self

I love reading articles/letters/books written by adoptees exploring the process they are going through to find who they are and I thought some of you might also be interested. This is one such article from Rainbowkids, written by a young woman who happens to be from Jiangxi Province in China (same as LilyJoy). I can't wait to hear LilyJoy's story as she grows.

Busy Being a Family

Hello to all my friends out in blogland! I have been away from writing and even more unfortunately, reading on all the blogs that I held so dear during my wait. I guess that is just what can happen when you're busy being a family :).

One major even that occurred during my absence was my brother's wedding in Mexico to a gorgeous Guadalajara gal. We had so much fun, despite the fact that I was very nervous about the travel with 3 young kids part (which actually turned out to be way less of a big deal than I ever thought!) and the fact that my husband and Timothy got so sick right after the pictures and right before the wedding (and then proceeded to pass it on to every one of us in turn). So, the short summary of the trip is this: we flew to Puerto Vallarta and stayed one night, took a 4 hr bus ride to Guadalajara, attended the wedding, stayed 2 nights, took a bus ride back to PV and stayed there for a week. And while you may think that the PV part was the highlight of the trip, I would actually say it was the hospitality and fun that we had with my new sister-in-law's family! I really believe that there is nothing like being with people who are from the country you are visiting to truly experience that country. And these folks were really wonderful.

The whole trip was spectacular, but it was definitely a lot of being together in the same place-- we were ready to come home. So, I'll leave you with some pictures. Enjoy!

One rare photo of all of the family-- note Timothy's look of distress (this was just before he got sick all over our taxi back to the hotel).

Samuel rifling through Auntie's purse, Timothy not feeling so well and LilyJoy "practicing" to do her hair... what a crew!

My lovely new sister-in-law and my big brother.

All the sisters (and one lone brother). SIL has 3 sisters, my brother has 2. No other boys.

On to PV!

Yet another rare photo! Just Steve and I and the green blue water... ahhhhh.

LilyJoy didn't know what to think of the ocean at first. It really took her a few days to stop clinging in fear! By the end of the trip, she was splashing and enjoying the water with the rest of us.

Desperately trying to get a family pic-- all of us are technically in it, just one being a pill in the background.

Silly Lily and her glamor glasses-- she was highly entertained by these the whole trip.

Lucy's Day of Prayer

Reposted with permission by the author of 1001 Tears

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. –Psalms 139:13-14

The outcry for Lucy has been awesome. But ASIA is still looking for a family who already has their paperwork done to step forward and claim Lucy has their forever daughter.

Lucy’s best chance to survive is to come home and have lifesaving open-heart surgery with a mommy and daddy to support and care for her. Lucy has a long road ahead of her. She may even need a heart transplant.

Lucy needs a miracle.

I cannot stand by and do nothing for this child. Like so many others, though, we are not in a position to adopt again right now. But I can pray for her. I can pray for a family to step forward.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we as a community could come together and cover Lucy with prayer for 24 hours? Wouldn’t it be amazing to see what God can do through this child?

Honestly, I don’t know how God will answer our prayers. I don’t know how Lucy’s life will end up. But what I do know is God will not turn his back on Lucy. She is not alone. While we may not understand it, her life has a purpose.

Will you join me on your knees in prayer for Lucy? Will you pray:

That a family will step forward and claim her as their daughter? Will you pray that once the family submits their letter of intent that China and the United States will expedite all their paperwork and they can hold Lucy in record time?

Will you pray for peace for this extraordinary family? Will you pray that even though Lucy has significant medical challenges ahead of her that they will find strength and support they never imagined.

Will you pray for Lucy? Pray she remains strong. Pray she can hold on for just a little while longer until her mommy and daddy find her.

The 24 hour prayer chain for Lucy will be on Thursday, March 18 starting at 6:00 am and will end on Friday at 6:00 am. If you can commit just one hour of your time, please list it in the comment section of the blog. Please list the hour you’ll be praying and where you’re from. I hope people all around the world will pray for Lucy.

Please help to get the word out by reposting this on your blog, yahoo groups, and facebook pages. Please have people link back to my blog (www.1001tears.blogspot.com) to comment, so we can see just how many people love and care for Lucy.

I think God has amazing things in store for this child. Please be a part of it.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.--John 14:18

FINALLY!!

Our Little Joy gave us so much to celebrate last month, we had to take a bit of time to breathe! We celebrated a birthday, 6 whole months of being home and the Lunar New Year, all in the same week!! Here are a few pics of all that we did.

We had the opportunity to celebrate the Lunar New Year a little early at a local church that has an amazing Asian community, including a huge population of adoptive families of Asian children. The event was HUGE and we were a little overwhelmed, but I could see it being fun in a few years. LJ and Samuel were all dressed up in their "dragon clothes" as Samuel calls them.




A few days later, our little Miss celebrated her 2nd birthday!! We had a little party with her Bana and Papa and a very pink cake. She seemed to know that it was her very own special day and I think she really enjoyed it. Samuel decided that she needed a birthday crown, so he very thoughtfully gave up his play time at preschool to decorate her crown. She wore it ALL DAY LONG! We also had a bigger party in honor of her birthday, her 6 months of being home with us (can you believe it??!!), and the Lunar New Year. A great time was had by all!


We finished up that party weekend with a trip to my aunt and uncle's cabin up in the mountains. It was the only glimpse of snow that we had this year and it was very fun.

We weren't entirely certain how LilyJoy felt about the sledding experience, but she didn't seem to want to get out, so she stayed!

Otherwise, we've just been having fun together as a family. LilyJoy and I are doing great and Steve and LJ's relationship has also improved a ton just over the past probably 2 weeks. It has been so strange how she completely flipped the way she felt about us. I guess it just goes to show us that our experience in China was just not "real" life-- something that would be very good to remember when you're in the situation in China.

*VERY* briefly...

Yep, I'm more than way behind. We had so much to celebrate last month that I was a bit overwhelmed. And I was even going to write something interesting tonight with pictures, but then my camera battery died and I couldn't get my pictures off! *sigh* I'll try and update you all within the next week...

Check, Check: One of My Many Projects

In high school, I took German as my foreign language and was extremely blessed to have to participated in a German/American exchange program. In my senior year, my exchange partner Meli came to visit Washington and then in the summer after graduation, I went with a group to visit Meli and a few of her friends. It was one of those times in my life that I will never forget. And while not everyone in our group necessarily got along with their exchange partners, Meli and I hit it off like we had always known each other. We stayed up late laughing and talking-- Meli spoke much better English than I spoke German, thank heavens, because we can still communicate today, 14 years later and still halfway across the world.

So, all of this is a long-winded way of saying, she recently had her first baby, a precious DARLING little princess. And, of course, when my sister and I hear of someone close having a baby, a quilt is a requirement. I have been wanting to share this one for a loooooooong time. My sister and I started it about a year ago and had many big gaps of not working on it, but we finally finished officially and sent it off a few weeks ago. It is my favorite quilt to date. So, without further ado, the princess and her quilt:



And now that this one is done, you'd think I would have some time to work on LJ's 100 good wishes quilt wouldn't you...? We shall see :)