I Miss Mavery

These were the words Malaine spoke to me. Mama, I miss Mavery. And her brother, being the male that he is, said "Well, that is weird, how do you miss someone you have not even met yet!" Hmmm...

Mark was lecturing me last night on how I try to put God in a box, I EXPECT He is going to send me to China when I tell Him to send me. That I need to just submit to God's will and trust His plan.

Mark reminds me that Mavery is fine right now. I KNOW that Mavery is fine right now. She is perfectly happy with the life she is living and probably will be for some time. It is me that is not always fine.

Simply put, I miss Mavery too. I had no idea it would be this hard. That I could fall so hopelessly in love with her, that my heart aches. That she would consume my every breath at times. I am SO thankful for pictures, but I think it has made it harder in some ways. She has moved from that little tiny referral picture, to a little girl who moves! She is growing up and changing every day, and I am missing that.

Of course I knew it would be hard, I have been through this. But it was different with Sage. I waited for over a year to get referral, and she WAS real to me. Yet I did not know her. With Mavery, I have memorized every teeny tiny detail of those pictures and video. I have laughed and I have cried as I have grown to know her through those things since November. She has entered my dreams many nights and my thoughts are just never far from her.

And I know that God has a plan. I still believe that, no worries that I am forgetting the One who allowed us to even entertain the thought of adopting Mavery. But sometimes, as I reminded Mark last night after his "lecture", you just want to whine. You want to miss your daughter, and be sad that she is not with you, and question why. Without getting lectured I might add! ;-)

I was tempted to write another letter on my blog, similar to this one here. You know, like this,
Dear Mr China people who handle adoptions, PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE just send me my LOA!! Because I realize the Olympics are almost here and I also know how busy you are in the month of October so if I do not get LOA soon, I have a bad feeling I am going to miss Mavery's 3rd birthday, or 2 of my kids birthdays here and that just makes me cry and my other kids and my husband already think i am losing my mind so please, i beg you!?? I promise to wave an Olympic flag in your honor! I promise I will spend lots of money in China on "stuff" if you just let me come SOON! Like send me an LOA today, just stick it in the mail. you can even put on there that I pay postage, would that help? maybe?? Sigh...

Soon, I know it is coming soon. I know Mavery will be in my arms soon and all this waiting will be over. Well unless of course we are waiting for another one, then we know I will be whining all over again. ;-) KIDDING, just kidding, settle down, I have to say at this point I am actually praying for rest after we get Mavery home. For awhile anyways. I have a feeling Mark is praying forever anyways! ;-)

Makenna is home!

Sydney, Ms Jenny & Makenna, all looking very tired!
Sweet Friends!
The kids had fun making a sign to welcome her home!

Well we all survived Makenna's first week ever at Children's Camp. I did not get called to come get her early, and I am pretty sure she would have happily stayed another week she had so much fun! Makenna is typically not my talker, she leaves that to the members of our family that begin with S. But today, she had much to say and we sure enjoyed hearing all of it. I am into the details of everything, and I did get details! I know what she ate, who slept where, what the missionary talked about, and everything in between. She was bummed she did not get to share a cabin with Sydney, but I was proud of her for making new friends, and she was happy to spend every other minute besides the cabin with Sydney! Oh the memories of summer camp.

Mavery's Closet

LOVE this one, and even if it is freezing cold, she is wearing it. Can't you just see that black hair and brown skin in this shade?
So sweet jammies
Have I ever mentioned that I adore Marshalls? Especially their summer clearance?
This outfit is so she will match the blog!
This was the first dress I bought her, ladybugs and polka dots, can't get cuter than that!
I might have a polka dot thing going here?
Oh and one of my favorites! This was made by my friend Robin! Go check out her auctions on my sidebar. The quality is fabulous! AND she is making a baby doll dress to match!
Mark thinks it is obnoxious to bring red white and blue with us, but i think this might be her consulate outfit, cute? the back of the shirt is ruffled, FUN!
What girl doesn't need a zebra stripe swimsuit?
And how cute is this?! My mom got Mavery the doll, and I found the dress's at Marshalls!



Again, stuck in bed, so catching up on my blogs! Don't forget to scroll down, don't want you to miss out on any of the fun, and I still need your help! I still have one more to go after this post. Over the last, oh, almost 9 months now, I have been collecting for My Mavery's wardrobe. And sadly, you will notice that most of these adorable little outfits are quite summery looking. WHERE IS MY LOA! Prayerfully it will still be warm so she can wear these oh so cute clothes! Now, I just need to get me some matching hair bows, you know that girl will be in big ole bows! Praying I am not looking for jackets to cover these up with.

Need some help!

As you can tell, I am in blogging mode. Mainly because I am stuck in bed w/ the laptop after having minor surgery yesterday. I had novasure done, and hoping that once a month I am now going to be a much happier mama! Mark sure thinks it is going to make him much happier! ;-) I basically feel the way I felt after giving birth. Sadly, with no baby news to announce. But sure hopeful that news is coming soon! LOA could be ANYTIME!

Anyway, our desktop is having issues. So Mark has moved my outlook email over to my laptop for me. And what I have learned is that all the emails I thought I had in my addy book over there, were simply memorized by outlook on that computer. So when I typed in a on the to line, a bunch of names popped up, but they were not really saved. If that makes any sense. So what I need is for you to email me, if you have not heard from me in the last week. Because I do not have your email address.

And I also lost all of my saved blogs that I visit. Which is making me very sad, especially as I am stuck in bed with the laptop! So if you will kindly email me your blog, or leave me a comment so I can visit you & then save it on my laptop.

THANK YOU!

Cute Sayings..

Things I hope I never forget how much they made me smile at the time...

We were doing some yardwork and Mark had borrowed his dad's old pickup truck to haul rock in. The kids were all playing in the cab and having a good time. All of a sudden we hear, " Look at this, you have to turn this thing around and around to get the window down, that is SO cool!" Ah, the good old days!

We were telling Makenna how much we appreciated her help with the younger ones and how great she was to always chase Sage etc.. her reply "Yes, I sure could use a vacation..."

After eating at Lamberts, a place where you can't help but leave feeling sick, Sawyer told us, "If I eat one more thing I am going to blow!"

Anything that comes from Sage's mouth right now is just hilarious. She talks SO big and clear and DEEP. I have to record it for you, it is the funniest thing ever. But some of our favorite Sage sayings are..

What that noisy? (and her ears hear EVERYTHING so we hear this quite often)

Anytime you tell her something, she replies w/ Ok, What? over and over and over and over.

Sage, don't jump on the bed.

OK, what?

Sage, don't climb on the counter.
Ok, what?

Sage, don't pee on the floor.
Ok, what?

When asked where she is supposed to peepee
"right there" pointing to the floor.
Sigh...

When she talks, she pauses between each word.

"where my van go??" (when we were gone for branson)

"daddy broke my car seat." (when we took it out of the van)

" I like my sausage" or my mer mer, or my bear.


These kids make me laugh, alot!

Sleepy Mavery

From Crackle: Mavery Up close!

**Scroll to the bottom of page to pause my music.

Weekend Get away with only 2

It looks so empty with 2 kids missing!
Sawyer insisted on this photo because at dinner someone came to our table and took our picture and he was pouting in it. (he hates pictures) The guy wanted to sell me the picture in a keychain and I said no, which really upset Sawyer. He said he wanted a picture of us together! Such a mama's boy!
Makenna looks thrilled to be on the rookie karts!

Sawyer IS thrilled!

As we prepare to leave our children, we decided to do a weekend away w/ just our older 2. There are alot of things we feel bad that the oldest do not get to do, because of so many children and such size differences. And we know it will be quite some time before we can leave Mavery. So off to Branson we went. We had a GREAT time! 2 kids seemed SO easy! (not saying if you only have 2 kids I think your life is so easy, BUT if you have 4 kids and you are down to 2 for a weekend, 2 is easy!) No nap schedules to worry about, no cutting up anyones food, no getting to bed early, no waking up early! (ok, so i don't really wake up early, yes Sage does sleep till 9 or 10am)

We ate at Lamberts on our way down, always fun to catch the throwed rolls. We saw Journey to the Center of the Earth, which we all really liked.

Friday we spent the day at White Water. I wish I had a picture of Sawyer coming down the longest slide, you know the straight drop down one? I declined that one, as i get older, those just don't look as fun to me. He was excited to do it, till he was at the top and looked down! He did come down, once. And that was enough. Makenna on the other hand, could ride that all day long. We were able to ride everything, which was nice. That evening we saw Noah, the musical. The set was amazing and despite being exhausted from the water park, we all enjoyed it. You really did feel like you were inside the ark.
Saturday we saw a magic show, which the kids found amazing. Then they had their first go kart rides. We drove them on the fast cars the first time, then let them drive themselves on the rookie karts. We laughed so hard watching Sawyer, he was SO nervous, but did well.
We ate to much, played hard and just enjoyed each other.
Nice to get away and not think of LOA's for a little bit, and just to have time to spoil our big kids. And no worries, our little ones were spoiled more at home while we were away! The good news is, Sage did well being away from me. Not that we can compare a long weekend to 2 weeks in China, but it was a start. And they are both getting special days with us soon on their own, we would not leave them out!

On another note, we came home on Sunday and on Monday morning Makenna left for her first time ever at Children's Camp! A whole week of being gone. She was very excited, and I am very excited for her. I have wonderful memories of children's camp. The neat thing is, she went with her good friend Sydney, and MANY many years ago I went to camp w/ Sydneys mom Julie! I pray the girls have as much fun and make as many memories as we did!

More Reunion Photo's

Take the key and lock them up!

Our new Puppy & Butterfly & Ladybug, love that face painting!So cute!Ms Fishy Face Evie!
This is the way to keep your children quiet during dinner, let them order HUGE rootbeer floats as an appetizer! Hey, we had 7 children between us, whatever works!

The Gove Family, we miss you guys!


Attempting a group photo, minus Sawyer, who hates having pictures done.


So funny, Sage saw this stuffed beaver and yelled, Hi Hammy! (remember the hamster stories? So now we can add that he is stuffed and resting at the St Louis arch!)

Getting ready to go up in the arch, Sage looks nervous!


This just made me laugh so i had to add it, peeking out the arch windows!
Sawyer having fun with Gabrielle! Those 2 were quite a pair the entire weekend. We told the Goves we were happy to set up a contract now for their future!

Up Close with Mavery!

I need to figure out how to transfer video over to my site, but run over and see our girl!!

www.underthemistymountain.blogspot.com

Oh my aching heart, I want GO and get her NOW!

Run Mavery Run!

Want to see a very short glimpse of our girl running from the crazy americans! ;0) The mama who is in China sent a video to another of the waiting moms. Go to her blog here (www.underthemistymountain.blogspot.com) and you will see. Mavery is at the end! Hopeful that we might get more of that video, I almost cried when it stopped right as she got close to her! We are hopeful to travel with the family who has Ms Emma, you will see her in the video, isn't she gorgeous!?

Yep Mavery, we are crazy and we are coming soon, and we will catch you!

** to turn off the music, just scroll to the bottom and hit pause.

Spicy Girl VS Spicier Girl?!

Spicy Sisters, back together at last!
Is that really us in China?
I missed you friend!
Hunan Friends Forever and Ever
Happy Mommies with their Spicy Girls

What a fun weekend! We have been looking forward to this weekend since, well, I guess since we came home from China! Our dear friends, The Gove Family came into town for our agencys reunion. You may remember, Annaliese and I met online before traveling to China. We actually scheduled our flights to China together, and while in China we found out our daughters were "roommates" at Chenzhou. Evangeline, aka Evie, was just one day older than Sage. I have a few pictures of the girls in China, and even then, they just seemed to connect. They would see each other and just stare at each other, like, what in the world is going on here! Well they saw each other for the first time since China this weekend and they hugged like long long sisters! It was just SO sweet! A few times, (and I stress few, these are 2 very busy girls,) i would catch them just staring at each other, and it was that same connection, that same tender stare. It just made my heart smile.

Friday, we visited at our house. We had not of course had the chance to meet their other children, who are similar in age to our children. Our kids all played so well together and at the end of the night Sawyer asked why they had to live so far away! Sage was actually kind of mellow, I think she was a little confused as half the day she would say, Mavery is coming tonight? Mavery, Evie, sounds close I suppose! Now in China, Sage was probably the calmest baby in our group. She was the only one not moving and slept alot. Evie was not quite that way! She definitely had a little more "spice" to her in China. And every time I would post on the blog about our Spicy Girl, Annaliese would say, I think you are writing about Evie! So to see these 2 girls now, almost 2 years later was such a treat! By the end of the first night, we had decided that Evie might possibly be the spicier one, but I think Sage caught up with her by Saturday night!

Saturday we enjoyed Childrens Hope Reunion. The kids all had a good time running, playing, getting their faces painted, eating and just being together. After the picnic we met at the Arch where the spicy girls were ready to roll! They were full of fun that is for sure and we just laughed and laughed, what else can you do? Makenna enjoyed everyone, and I mean EVERYONE asking if the girls were twins! She kept saying, this is what it is going to be like for us all the time pretty soon! We ended with dinner at Fitz, where the kids all did really great. I guess letting them all have Root Beer Floats to begin dinner probably helped that!

Our time together was to short, and like Saywer, we are so sad that we live SO far apart. But we are thankful for the time we did have to visit. We just love their family and they really do feel like family. We know our spicy girls will always stay close, we will make sure of that.

We also enjoyed having two 2 year olds together, as a glimpse of what is coming for us! I kept telling Mark, it is going to be SO cute! Mark said, it is going to be SO crazy! HA!

More pictures coming, I am working on them.

Want some Squeaky Shoes??

Many of you have asked me about the squeaky shoes that Sage has worn. Many of you hate the shoes that Sage wears! ;0) But if you chase around children under 4 years old, squeaky shoes are your friend, I promise! Someone that I know has a bunch of brand new shoes that she is selling to raise money for their adoption from China. She is selling them for only $6 plus shipping, a VERY good deal compared to any I have seen online. I have included a little information from her below. You can email Kelly at kelly.rumbaugh@gmail.com Put squeaky shoes in the subject line. Happy shopping and feel good knowing you are helping to bring a little girl home to her forever family!

General:I have as small as American size 4I have as large as American size 12I will also post a conversion chartI have some smaller boys sizes...have teddy bear or are navyI have some "tennis" style shoes for girls, various colors of Maryjane's, some with American flags, some brocade,white "boot", and sandals.colors range from white to black --pink -off white- navy- hot pink- lavender -red,-brownWhat I will do is upload photos of all as well as sizes in each.I will also have a form to fill out for you to order.There is a possibility I could place another order if there is something I do not have (sizes) that you want.It would have to be prepaid though.SO--Hopefully in the next day, I will post a website link for you to look at and an order from.PAYPAL is my desired form of payment. Checks will be fine but I will mail merchandise after receipt of payment.(sorry been burned before)I will be corresponding to you via this e-mail so you may reply here.It is less busy than my other one and the chances of me missing your e-mail is less.THANK YOU SO MUCH-kelly

We are in trouble!?!

Another mama is in China now and saw Ms Mavery. Check out her blog here... So funny! Be certain to read through the post's, my heart just broke over the 12 year old.

More Mavery!

What do you think, is this a smile, a cry, a mama come get me?

The panda bear we sent, doesn't she look thrilled?

This just made me laugh out loud! Mark says she is saying, hey, I want to swing to!

Enjoying the candy we sent to China!

Mavery on left, Autumn in the middle, who is now home!

These came from a disposable camera that my friend had sent for her daughter. (the one who got us the pictures last week!) She helped me send a package at the time back in March/April. So we are hopeful to get our camera back when we meet Mavery. Another mom is in China now and is visiting the orphanage RIGHT NOW! So I am hopeful to have even more photo's tomorrow! SOOO thankful for these little glimpses of her, they keep reminding me that God does love us, and He does have a plan here. Of course we wish His plan was that we were leaving tomorrow! But we continue to trust in His timing while enjoying the gifts He continues to send us through pictures.

God Bless America

A little vanilla and a little chocolate makes up these kissing cousins!Ms Adley
London Bridges to pass the time till fireworks begin
Shake her up!
Our Four Firecrackers, wishing for one more

Little Ms USA, really wanting to get under the gate
Jaylyn and Malaine in red white and blue
How about Duck Duck Goose, Sage enjoys anything that says hitting, I mean tapping is ok!

Hope your Fourth was full of Fireworks and FUN!