Signs!?!?

We are anxiously awaiting our TA for Molly Yingjin. Our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) arrived on June 8, and I received the call at 4:05 pm. Just 5 minutes after the end of the last day of school! The next group heading for China leaves July 5th (yep, that would be next week) and we are hoping and praying that our paperwork arrives so that we can be part of that group! We decorated Molly's room with butterflies, and this weekend had quite a few on our front window - could it be a sign?

On being two!

We have had many requests to update Faith's pictures and progress. What can I say, she is keeping us busy!!


Faith is doing wonderfully! I am excited that I get to be home again this summer with her and Nathan, as we wait for our trip to Molly Yingjin. She is definitely two! Fiercely independent at times versus needing to be held close. She loves being outside, and would spend all of her day there if we could manage it! She loves art work - her teachers at the Goddard School, Ms. Sylvia and Ms. Kristi, talk about how she has to complete her pictures to her specifications before she will move on to a different activity. She loves to trace our hands and her own and to write our "names" on paper. She is very detail oriented. We are amazed at how she can identify objects, clothes, etc and who they belong too - but it sure doesn't help her in picking up her toys and putting them back where they belong! Our living room at all times resembles a tornado zone. I feel like I am forever apologizing for the state of our house, but I think that most people understand what it is like with a 2 year old.



Happily, she is able to begin to negotiate her needs now. We are not seeing the tantrums like we were, but she is still able to cry at the drop of the hat. Nathan was amazed the other day at her acting ability. She wanted her way and began crying, bending over and holding her hands to her face. As Nathan watched, she peeked out to see if he was noticing, then back to the "crying". She definitely tries whatever she can to get her way! Even cute flirty looks and "please" while batting her eyes. "One more" is her favorite request, whether it be riding down the sidewalk in her car, watching a video or being swung around, which really makes her giggle! We are amazed at the change in her speaking. She still is not always clear, but is definitely stringing some sentences together and using new words everyday. Our favorite from the weekend was her request to carry around some quarters while we were having our garage sale. When I checked on her to see if she still had them, she only had 3 out of the 4 I had given her. I asked her to check her pockets, and she pulled out one pocket and stated with hands up in the air "Empty"! She is singing her ABCs, but only to Mommy presently, and can count to 10 with association with objects. She knows lots of color words and shapes, but does not often associate them correctly. We are amazed at how quickly her language is growing, and can't wait to see her teach Ying Jin a few words. We are anxious to see if Ying jin with also call Nathan "Na Na (Long a's)". Faith just refuses to try anything close to Nathan. He is only Na Na to her!


Well, hope you enjoy the update, along with the pictures! We will update more frequently (we hope) since I am home for the summer.


God Bless,

Tina

Reflecting on 16 years

Today is Nathan's 16th birthday. I cannot believe that time has passed so quickly. I know that all parents feel that way when they look back on their children's lives, and it is certainly true. We have been so blessed by Nathan - he was such a cheerful, beautiful little boy, and has grown into a wonderful young man. He has always been a caring person, one that is so faithful to his friends. He is growing into being a wonderful brother and friend to Faith, and I am sure that he will be even more comfortable with Molly Yingjin, since he now has some experience. I sometimes wonder how we got so lucky and so blessed to have him in our lives, and I thank God for him each and every day! I can't wait to see the young man he is becoming - and I hope and pray that he continues to grow in his faith.

You are the poem I dreamed of writing, the masterpiece I longed to paint. You are the shining star I reached for in my ever hopeful quest for life fulfilled. You are my child. Now with all things I am blessed.

Paperwork, paperwork!

After a whirlwind week, our paperwork is off to AWAA to be sent to the Chinese Embassy for the final step of our dossier. We are hoping that since CCAA is back on Monday, our LOI (Letter of Intent) to adopt Wu Ying Jin will be sent, then to follow with our dossier in the next couple of weeks. It has been a quick trip this time around. We applied to AWAA just before Thanksgiving, were accepted in early December, started our homestudy on Mike's birthday (December 26) and now our paperwork is mostly done. We feel that God is definitely working with us! We couldn't believe when we received our referral, and hope that things go quickly so that we are approved by the Chinese government to be Ying Jin's family. We look at her picture every day and can't believe how beautiful she is. We have definitely been blessed with wonderful children. Please keep Ying Jin in your prayers for health and safety and for an easy transition to our family. We are anxious to travel and meet her.

Faith's 2nd Birthday

We can't believe that Faith has been with us a year and that she is now 2!! (Except of course for constantly hearing her beautiful voice saying "I do" or "mine" or "No!") We had a small party with a few close friends to celebrate and have some cake and ice cream. Faith loved her gifts and has been spending time playing with them every day since. It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks with Gotcha Day anniversary on Feb 13, Adoption Day anniversary on Feb 14 (and Valentine's Day too of course), Chinese New Year and Faith's birthday on the 21st. On top of all of that, we received our referral for our second daughter, Wu Ying Jin, and have been frantically trying to get all our paperwork together to send our dossier to China. It has been an incredible journey this last year, and such a blessing! Stay tuned for more to come.


Faith opening her gifts


Trying out her new trike! She loves the bell!


Blowing out the birthday candles - wonder what her wish was?

Faith's Gotcha Day Anniversary

Wow! We can hardly believe that it has been one year today since we received our beautiful little Faith in our arms. We have been looking at pictures and reliving the moment all weekend. We can't begin to describe the blessing that we feel having her as part of our family, and the joy that she has brought to all of us. As we waited last year for her referral and fretted over the wait, those that had been there before us assured us that all would be in God's perfect timing. All we can say now is Amen!

A silly moment for our 12 month post placement picture

Big brother and little sister

Getting ready for those teenage years!

I'm ready to go to China!

Isn't she beautiful!

We are so blessed to announce that we have received a referral of a beautiful 5 1/2 year old girl from Wuzhou SWI in Guangxi Province. Her name is Wu Ying Jin. We have decided to name her Molly Yingjin (but we are going to let her decide if she wants an American name). We are praising God for sending her to us, she sounds like she will be a perfect fit for our family. We are in the process of reviewing all her paperwork and getting things back to AWAA, but we feel that God has placed her with us, so it's pretty much a done deal :)

We love that smile!

Her referral says that she loves being outside.

Trying to look so grown up

New Picture

peek-a-boo

Our New Blog

If you've followed the link from our babyjellybeans website, welcome! We have switched to this new website to continue the story of our growing family. Thanks for coming and enjoy the ride.