Rainy Days and Castles

Gotta love when the 14 year old boy says "Yes" to the 7 year old's plea to build a castle for a kitten! It melts my heart.
Thanking God for rainy days and being stuck in the house for this one!

5 and 44

5 years ago in Jiangxi, China we met our daughter for the first time! She was scared, shy, tearful, and MAD! But to us she was beautiful, giggly, and our daughter, our 4th child.


You see, from the time I was nine, I begged my mom and dad to adopt a baby, I pleaded with them to foster children, I spent hours watching "Feed the Children" Telethons and then what did God do in my life?

He gave me a husband who was 'on board' with adoption.
He gave me 3 beautiful bio children
He gave me a heart for being a mom...
and He gave me an adopted daughter!

But what is soooo cool about God is that He knows us so well and He knows our hearts.
You see our precious daughter was placed in my arms on my 39th birthday.
What a gift from God! The best long awaited birthday gift ever. He sure made me wait but he made it extra special just for me, cause that is the kind of God we serve!

Happy Adoption Day Sweet Lilian!

Thanking God for Black Hair

We all love our new foster kitten but this little girl? She thinks Carol the Kitten is extra special because Carol has black hair just like her. So much so that sometimes we cannot tell if Lilian is holding Carol at all!


AND...why do we care? Because usually this little girl dreams of looking like this.


Kitten Carol is teaching some good Biblical Lessons...God made us all special and all different!

Fostering Carol

Back in the Fall, after huge amounts of begging, pleading and pestering from our two daughters we agreed to foster kittens through our local Humane Socie*y. We went through 3 litters of kittens before Molly came across my computer and my adoption gene was kicked into high gear. Paperwork took precedence and fostering became a thing of the past...until TODAY! We are now the proud foster family to this fluffy 8 oz ball of fur named Carol. Her tail looks like a Christmas Tree, garland and all. Well, at least we think it does. :)

She has captured our hearts and Jack's heart as well. Just look at the love between kitten and 85 pounds of dog!

Somehow I do not think that tongue will be able to reciprocate the love she felt from Jack. But, she shows love in other ways...like sharing her food and pouncing on his tail.

I am beginning to think there is a link to fostering animals and the adoption of children in my life. The last time we fostered was 7 years ago.
I thought adopting a dog would squelch my adoption desire so we fostered Jack as a puppy and then adopted him. It didn't work, the desire remained.
10 months after his adoption we started the paperwork for Lilian.
The process repeated itself this fall with kittens, 4 months after fostering we started the process for Molly.
God sure does have a way of accomplishing His plan for our lives!

Friends WOW Friends

What can I say?
My friends are wonderful and they are WOWING me!
God is moving!
Back a few months ago a couple of my friends told me they would love to help put something together to fund raise for our precious daughter to come home to her forever family. Well, some of my other friends jumped on board and now?

Molly's Shower of Hope is a reality!

An afternoon for the women of our community to socialize, shop, enter some raffles, and enjoy a little wine and champagne to boot!
I am WOWED at the number of people and businesses who have donated items for the raffle auction...here is a sampling:

beautiful jewelry
artwork
gift cards
tickets to local events
autographed pics for the sports fans
services like a photo shoot, interior decorating, and health counseling
and
3 of my friends are donating a dinner party for 8

And these? Like, I said, are only a sampling of the many items people have donated! And me? I am WOWED! I am AMAZED! and I am so THANKFUL to God for putting friends like this in our life to help celebrate and support the adoption of our new daughter, Molly.

WOW!

A Blissful Sleep?

After a long day climbing, crawling, and touring St. Louis we all crawled into bed and actually fell asleep before 11 pm! A feat for 6 people in one hotel room! BUT THEN... Out of a sound sleep we hear BLASTING IN OUR EARS...

Ladies and Gentlemen an alarm has been activated please stand near the speaker for further notice. Ladies and Gentleman an alarm has been activated please stand near the speaker for further notice. Ladies and Gentlemen an alarm has been activated please stand near the speaker for further notice. Ladies and Gentleman an alarm has been activated please stand near the speaker for further notice.

What??? They want us to stay near our speaker for further notice?? Let me tell you there was no where to hide from that speaker we did not need to be near it, every corner of the room vibrated with loudness! For a LONG time! UHHH? Do they want us in the room so we do not panic?? Do they want us in the room because we could not leave even if we wanted to??? We tried to see what was happening and this is what one look told us...

OK, NOT a good sign but the speaker continued! LOUD! Finally, the speaker then changed to:

Ladies and Gentleman we have corrected the situation please stand by for further notice.
Ladies and Gentleman we have corrected the situation please stand by for further notice.
Ladies and Gentleman we have corrected the situation please stand by for further notice.
Ladies and Gentleman we have corrected the situation please stand by for further notice.

WHAT? Stand by for further notice? Yep!
They needed to apologize and thank us...OVER THE LOUD SPEAKER! 4 TIMES!

And all the while
this sweet little girl
who spent her
first 2 years with us
WIDE AWAKE FOR
HOURS DURING THE NIGHT
was blissfully asleep
THROUGH THE WHOLE THING!

Fun For All in St. Louis

Family vacation where a 16 year old boy and a 7 year old girl can spend time with family AND have fun at the same time? Head to St. Louis! We did! We went over Spring Break and FUN we had! Here are some of the highlights in pics...

CITY MUSEUM...lots of cool climbing and crawling stuff, a mini aquarium, and a 10 story slide

THE ZOO...5 hours of animals and free to boot!

ANHEUSER BUSCH TOUR...interesting and free soda and pretzels, ok beer if you want it! Highlight? The horses and trolley ride...brewing not so fun for a child with sensory issues :)

THE ARCH...pretty amazing and fun ride to the top!



DELICIOUS FOOD...wow, I forget how nice it is to never worry about making lunch and dinner!

Recommendation? Try St. Louis