Homecoming 2013!

Makenna's SWEET 16!! (October 1st)

I know when we have our first babies everyone tells us, enjoy, it is going to fly by. And we really have no idea what that means. Till all of a sudden that baby is turning 16. And driving. And looking so much less like that little baby girl we held in our arms. 16 and a sophomore in High School. My heart can hardly take it... 

To celebrate on her birthday Mark & I took her to Spaghetti Factory. I was hoping for somewhere exciting, a grown up place on the hill. But she insisted on her favorite place ever, and I guess I should be thankful that she still loves it. 

We had a girls weekend at the lake with some of her friends. I am so thankful for the girls she gets to do life with. Sweet girls who love the Lord and love each other. We had a mall scavenger hunt, lots of food and lots of fun.

You have to feel sorry for the oldest child. Every step of the way we had to learn. When she was born, we were clueless, and to be honest, most days we are still clueless! We don't always do everything right, that is for sure. (not that she EVER reminds us of this!!) But one thing I do know is that we have always given her to the Lord. Since before she was even created and every day since, we have trusted the Lord to guide her. And we have begged him to use us, to lead her to love Him the most. I am proud of this oldest daughter of mine. She has such a heart for the Lord and for China. For art she was asked to draw a picture describing her life. I think this says who she is perfectly.

On November 1st, she was able to get her drivers license. It has been an emotional month for this mama for sure! I am being reminded daily, that she IS God's first! I am so thankful he gave me the joy of being her mom. 

Happy Happy Sweet 16 Makenna Kaylee! We love you so much and we really are proud of you. We pray that God would continue to use you in amazing ways. Thank you for always being you and standing strong in this world. 

Adoption Update

Unfortunately there is nothing to update about. One reason I wanted to get caught up on the blog is because I am itching to write and share my heart about this wait for our next child(ren). It is HARD, really really hard. And I am tired. 5 kids, 2 adoptions, I guess I have not learned the lessons the Lord has for me still. So we wait, and we wonder and we try to just keep trusting that the Lord has a plan. I know that at this time next year I will look back and it will all make sense. But it is getting to that time next year that is just so hard right now. One more update on Homecoming and then hopefully I can write and keep up a little better! We have a crazy busy few months coming up that I hope I can keep up with! (4 birthdays, Gotcha Day's, getting a DOG, vacation, 16th birthday celebrations and the list goes on!!) 

Sage Gotcha SEVEN years!

Can't believe we have had our Spicy Girl for seven years now! Sage Chen Yi Mae was placed in our arms on August 21st, 2006 and our world has never been the same. 

 She is such a joy and I am so SO thankful that the Lord allows me to be her mommy. 

We celebrated with Chinese food, of course! We took the kids to Sesames for their first time and we all had such a great time. The waiters LOVE meeting the girls when we go out and hearing our stories of China. 

So thankful for this life I live. 

School Days 2013

 We had our traditional School Year's Eve dinner the night before school started. The kids love any time we eat in the dining room on the "special plates" with sparkling juice! 

Hard to believe Makenna is a sophomore, Sage & Mavery in 2nd grade! 

Mavery was very nervous and wanted to just go back to 1st grade again! Thankfully she quickly settled in and all is going well. 

 I still just have Sawyer and Malaine home again this year for 5th and 7th grade. We don't know what will happen each year, we just spend much time in prayer and see where the Lord leads. 

They are taking some classes at a local co-op for language, science and computer. They are enjoying it and so do I! 

This is our daily prayer for our children as they are with us and as they leave us. 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Happy School Days! 

Sawyer Turns 13!!

Hard to believe we now have TWO teenagers in the house. 

On August 1st Sawyer turned THIRTEEN! The special treat for turning 13 around here is dinner at the Melting Pot with mom and dad. Not a place they have ever been, though they love fondue nights at home. As you can see, he enjoyed it! And so did we. Sawyer is such a fun kid to be around. Not going to lie, he is getting that teen attitude going, and he is a 13 year old boy. (are they all so OBNOXIOUS!?) But thankfully he still has that tender heart, he loves the Lord and is just overall a happy kid. 

He took some friends for Lazer Tag which was also very fun day!

Happy Birthday Sawyer Riley! We pray that your faith will stay strong and that you will continue to lead well in all you do. You are loved! 

Summer Photo Dump Part 2

Love the lazy days of summer. In June the Childrens Heart Foundation rented out the Magic House. It was a great night with out crowds. 

Makenna never stopped this summer, which is her favorite way to live, GO GO GO! After serving in VBS, then going on Family Mission trip it was off to Super Summer with the youth group. It is one of the highlights of the year for her. 

She returned from Super Summer on Saturday and about 16 hours later we were heading to the airport for CHINA! Yep, it was a bit stressful but we managed to get laundry done, packed and out the door. Of course China was amazing as always and if you did not get a chance to read about our trip, please visit my blog HERE.

While in China the family celebrated 4th of July here. Sad to miss!

Also while I was in China Sawyer and Malaine attended Childrens Camp. Which they LOVE. Sawyer was pretty sad that it was his last year. 

Camp Photo's to come! 

After I returned we soaked up the remaining days of summer as best we could. We spent a day touring Springfield Illinois. 

We went back to the lake for another week. 

It was a perfect week of relaxing and doing nothing but RELAXING. We did drive into Springfield one day to eat at Lamberts, home of the Throwed Rolls and heaven to my children. We also visited Bass Pro Shop and found this old 80's arcade place that was lots of fun for all of us! 

Our last summer hooray was a float trip. We have never done one as a family and we had a BLAST. But it is tiring! We went mid week and were about the only ones on the river, which was nice. We had a tire blow out on the way down, but thankfully we had that fixed and were on the river on time. We will do it again for sure next year and maybe we will be brave enough to even attempt camping. In the cute air conditioned cabins of course. :-) 

It was a good summer. We figure our last as a family of SEVEN. 

We pray so anyways. 

Summer Photo Dump Part 1

Trying to catch up on our crazy summer. Went to fast, as always. 

Sawyer and I enjoyed the Mother-Son Date Night at Chick Filet. Complete with Limo ride! 

Went to the lake with the family. Kids loved fishing, swimming, being with their cousins. We took Sage in her first, and last haunted house. Lots of ice -cream, movies, laughing and fun. 

 Had some time at the lake just us. Lots MORE swimming, relaxing, playing, begging for puppies (NO WAY!) eating and gearing up for crazy days of summer! 

We had some lost teeth and someone who had to get braces on bottom for a second time. (not her fault, dentist took them off before they were ready). She had issues getting them stuck on "stuff". 

Right after Fathers Day Mark took Makenna, Sawyer and Malaine on the Family Mission trip for the 2nd year to Chicago.  I am so thankful for my husband. The kids wanted to go so badly, and he is such a good example for them. He goes and while he might not get the jobs he would prefer, (have a 15 passenger van and your own teens? you get to drive ALL the teens all around all week! :-) ) He doesn't complain, even though I know he gets "stuck" at times with things he doesn't always want to do. I think many men and fathers could learn so much from him. AND I am proud of my kids. They love to serve and are always the ones pushing us to serve more. 

While the rest of the family was serving on mission, Mavery, Sage and I have a blast! I really enjoy this week I have had the last couple of years with them. Obviously with lots of kids alone time with just 2 is rare. So we make the most of it and soak in every minute! They saved up for months to go to build a bear. One would think that once your bed is overflowing with bears, you would be done saving for BB. But they love it and so I love watching them build. We also visited the Lego Store where they kept busy for a very long time. We rented lots of movies and the girls were thrilled to have their new bear friends join us. 

We spent a day at 6 flags. I love the picture of them on the ride, it shows their personality so perfectly. Mavery LOVES the rides, and enjoys every second with out reservation. Sage is VERY hesitant, and it takes bribing to get her on many things. (the funnel cake? yep, I bribe! BUT it is such a win for ME!!) The photo of their backs is on the train, they were lucky enough to be called up to the speaker for "All Aboard". 

 

The girls LOVE Spa Nights at home so we ended our week with Hot Wax! Love these sweet girls of mine. 

Photo Dump Part 2 Coming Soon! I hope... 

DTC = Dossier to China!!!

 FOUR months of paperwork and prayers are what this pile contains! In case you have ever wondered WHAT takes so long in an adoption, well here is half of it! 

We found out today we are officially DTC! This means that all of our paperwork is off to China! (paperwork pile is called our Dossier) And what this really means is that NOW we can be matched with a child! 

I have that feeling I had before my ultrasounds while pregnant. Waiting for that first glimpse of what our future would hold.  Is it a boy or is it a girl? And in this case, is it a baby or is it a 10 year old or is it somewhere in between? Is it ONE or possibly TWO children? 

We wait in expectation, full of hope. With hands open ready to be filled, 

knowing the Lord is writing our story and soon we will see how HE has filled our pages! 

Never Ending Paperwork

Trying to settle back into life after China.

Enjoying the last month of summer.

And working hard to get that paperwork TO CHINA for our adoption.

Our government approval finally arrived on 7/17.

We then sent everything off to Chicago to be state certified and then on to the Chinese Consulate to be authenticated.

This process has taken F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

BUT we are finally very close. The next step is for everything to go to our agency.

THEN it goes to China.

And THEN prayerfully we will find out who our child is!

Adoption Paperwork Update

Unfortunately there is not much to report. We are on day 40 of waiting for our approval from the government. (AKA I800a) 

We have done everything WE can do. We had to re do quite a few pieces of paper work, which is super frustrating. But just part of the JOY of the state I live in and the rules of the game. 

We are still waiting for some of the "redone" pieces of paper, and then it will all be off to the right states to be stamped for approval. Then to our agency so they can begin working on our dossier. THEN it is off to China. Had hoped it might be off before now, but trusting in God's plan. 

So we are close to having that part done, prayerfully with in the next month? The good news is, when you are getting ready for a China trip, it helps pass the time! The bad news is when I return from said China trip, it will make the wait even harder to bear I am afraid.

Coming up, a recap of summer so far and it is OFF to China!!!