Getting Lillian's Room All Ready!

Today I will begin painting Lillian's room...I am excited to see the transformation and to get it completely ready.

If only we would get some word on our LOA!!

Today is Jared's 12th birthday--Happy Birthday my big baby boy!! I can't believe he is nearing teenagerhood. He is a delightful kid...I am excited to see him before a big brother to Lilly. I will try to post some photos of his birthday party this weekend...actually it turned into 2 parties. We took about 8 boys to a nearby paintball field to play, but they had run out of paintball guns. So, we had to take 8 forlorn boys back home, where they played capture the flag for about 2-3 hours in the woods! They had a blast, and I kept saying they seemed to be having more fun playing in the woods than they would have had playing paintball. Such fun to see them romping through the woods, all boy, having the whole woods to themselves. We finished off that day with presents, pizza, a nerf war in the front yard, and birthday cake around the fire pit on the pool deck. BUT, since we had been unable to play paintball, the original plan, we decided to try again on Monday. Tom and two other dads--Carl and Kurt--brough the boys back to the paintball field on MLK day and they were successful in getting the equipment they needed this time! They played for most of the day, and came home so excited and buzzing with the fun they had had. TOm also is sporting some REALLY nasty bruises on his legs from where he got hit--wow. I'm so glad Jared has such a great group of good friends. Thank you Lord!

I will post a few photos of Jared's birthday fun soon!

Lillian Joy!!

We received a phone call from our agency on Friday, asking us if we would consider reviewing the profile of a little 2 1/2 year old girl named An Xiao Xue, who lives in foster care (a huge answer to prayer for me) in Henan province. I eagerly said "yes, yes! Please send her file!" and then had to immediately run to get Anna from school without any time to check my e-mail and look at her. It being Halloween on Friday, of course we also had costumes to put together and pumpkins to carve, so I had to wait patiently until the kids were happily and independently preparing for the evening's festivities so I could sneak onto the computer and pull up her precious photos and file. She looks like a sweetie! She is currently quite bald (looks like they shaved her head--not uncommon in the orphanages to help manage "bugs"), and, as you can see in her photos, she stands a little bit crooked, as she has congenital scoliosis.

I also left voice mails for Tom and forwarded him her file at work, but we did not have a chance to talk it over until late that evening after Trick-or-treating through the neighborhood and getting the kiddos into bed. I had been almost afraid to hope that this might be our daughter, not knowing Tom's opinion on the severity of her scoliosis and our ability to get her whatever treatments would be necessary to correct her spine's significant S-curvature. Once we got to talk, however, my heart was ready to burst when Tom said "yes, I think this is the little girl God has for us to take care of!" He just needed to spend some time on Saturday researching congenital scoliosis to make sure he felt confident this was something we would be able to handle.

So we have submitted our Letter of Intent to adopt little An Xiao Xue, who will soon be named Lillian Joy (Lilly or Lillie or Lily or Lilli--still working on which spelling we like!). We hope to bring her home before her 3rd birthday--which they estimate to be March 25th. There is a whole new set of paperwork and approvals to be done now that we have been matched with our daughter, so I am praying, as always, that the process goes smoothly and quickly in God's timing! The waiting seems easier now that we know who she is.

Praise God with us for His goodness and His faithfulness!

Family Life Rolling Along!

It's been awhile since I've posted the happenings around here...this are going really well! Jared and Anna are in the full swing of things at school and activities at this point. There are days that it feels like the world is spinning and we all want to get off, but this weekend provided a nice chance to step back, rest, and get some thigns done at home (including, for me, updating our blog!).


Jared is LOVING middle school. He has some really long days--running cross-country at 6:45 3 mornings a week, and staying after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays for cross-country meets and football band, respectively--so there are many nights he pretty much falls into bed exhausted by the time it's over. (though, I've realized, part of his exhaustion is due to the fact that after we think he's asleep, he is awake in his bed reading until 10pm!!) But he is enjoying it all... He had his first cross-country meet last week and did really well. Here are some photos...can you spot him in the front left side with his trombone at his first half-time show? And here he is with his friend Zach, after their 2-mail cross-country run.

Anna is enjoying 3rd grade. She has a wonderful teacher! She is still swimming, and has given some suggestions to her coach (me) on how to make practices more *fun*. I'll have to see what I can do!! She is working hard at the piano in the mornings before school--an exercise we are finding helpful as she works hard on mastering some lingering reversals of letters and numbers at school. The visual processing required for piano playing is helpful in the realm of handwriting and visual processing of numbers, columns, and place values in math! She also has been spending a lot of time reading...and playing with friends! Here are some photos of her at the beach recently, when we were part of a surprise 25th wedding anniversary vow renewal for our dear friends, Steve and Denise Schaick. Anna was so enthralled with the whole celebrating, she insisted on dancing with Denise afterwards.

We put up a zip line in the back yard--I'll have to get some video footage and post it here--and last weekend the kids worked hard to build a platform for launching themselves on it. They hit a snag when, after building it, they realized the had built it 3 inches wider than any of the gates in our fence leading to the back yard. So this weekend we removed and then replaced a portion of fence in order to move the platform into its place.


We are hosting a small group Bible study in our home on Sunday afternoons, which is a great sources of encouragement, motivation, and accountability. Great group of folks! And Tom recently started playing his guitar AND his trumpet (!!) for the church praise band. It is so good to see him up there, and to hear that sweet trumpet playing!

We had a really good time celebrating Tom's 40th birthday. Thank you thank you to those of you who sent contributions for his birthday encouragement book--it turned our really well! The surprise party was lots of fun as well! Tom has been super swamped at work…he is acting as squadron commader for the next 4 months as his boss is deployed, so not only is he managing his own clinic, seeing patients, and teaching the residents, he is also running the entire medical operations squadron. Yikes! This week was a huge challenge for him…many times he came home saying “I’m in over my head…” but God has seen him through and he is energized by seeing God at work. You can pray for him that he’ll have extra strength, wisdom, humility, and perseverance through these busy months.


Just as life sometimes seems to be a marathon, I continue to train for the Marine Corps marathon. Last weekend, while away attending a Precepts Bible Study Leadership Training seminar at a nearby coastal city, I got up early before the Saturday session and ran my 20-mile training run. It was an incredible run--started at about 4:30am running along a Gulf shore island in the strong winds from Hurricane Ike. I ended up turning back and crossing the bridge to the mainland as the storm surge was bringing water over the running path on the island. The run went well (especially when the wind was at my back!!) This morning's 10-mile run was even better, as the temperatures are finally starting to fall a little bit! I get excited thinking about how lovely DC will be in late October! If you'd like to sponsor me, it's not too late! http://www.teamlwb.com/ I am over 85% of the way to my fundraising goal of $1500.


Speaking of Bible study, last week I taught the ladies' Bible study at church as we looked at the life of Miriam. What a lot of rich lessons to learn from her life! I used to think of her only as the older sister of Moses who helped to ensure her baby brother's safety as he floated in the basket on the Nile. Now I realized how much more there is to know about her and how relevant her experiences are to our lives!


We now have video footage of Anna's solo at church, which Tom will isolate and show me how to post here soon! I will also (hopefully) post some footage of the kids on their zip line.


God has brought me to a new place of peace in our wait for our little one from China. I know the call will come eventually, and I am content to wait patiently until that day (and then wait until we have travel approval...). We attended an international adoption seminar a few weeks ago at University of Alabama at Birmingham, which was a useful day of information, preparation, and thought-provoking discussion. The trip also gave Tom and me a chance to talk and visit as we drove (the kids stayed with friends), which is always a good thing... believe, me, the moment we have a photo to post of our little one, it will be up on the weblog and you will KNOW! You will probably hear me shout even across the many hundreds of miles!

Until then, I'll continue to try to keep you all posted on the rest of us and what's happening here... Please keep us posted on what's happening with you!

Love,
Amy

Back to School, Fall Routines, and Still Waiting

Wow--the summer seems to have sped by! The kids and I made the most of our days at home, and spent a week in early August doing a road trip to North Carolina to spend time at my dear friend Amy's family beach house on Oak Island. It was surely an adventure as the kids and I were stranded for 3 days in Georgia (just north of Jacksonville, FL) while our transmission was completely rebuilt! Yikes! So we explored many a fast-food playground, spent lots of time in the hotel pool, and even rented a car to drive to nearby St. Mary's--one of the oldest cities in America--and the Jacksonville Zoo, just to pass the time. Once the car was repaired we were on our way again and spent 3 days at the beach with the Silers--fun fun!


Fall routines are now officially underway. At least, most of them. As much as I enjoyed having the kids home for the summer, I have to say it is nice to now be returning to the comforts of routine and to see the kids challenged mentally, physically, and emotionally by the rigors of academics, sports, and other activities.

Jared and Anna started back to school last week--it has been an exciting week in our house. Here are some photos from the first day, including getting up in the morning, having breakfast, and heading out to start the first day. I think Tad, the pup, was a little bewildered by all the activity!

Jared started middle school--yikes! Lots of new things for him to adjust to...changing classes, having a locker (and a PE locker), riding the bus, new teachers, new kids, etc. So far he is LOVING it. On Monday when I opened his bedroom door to awaken him, he exclaimed "YES! It's finally time to get up!!" He has friends in all of his classes, and it was amusing for me to watch him during orientation last week as he and his friends compared schedules and celebrated when they learned they'd be together much of the day.



Anna started 3rd grade and was excited that she knew all but 1 person in her class this year. Her week this week has been good; I can see she will have a heavier homework load than last year, but I guess that comes with advancing through the grades! I know she'll handle it with no sweat. Anna sang a solo in church last Sunday--"You are my All in All" and did a really beautiful job. I will try to post a video here when I figure out how so you can enjoy her performance!



Swim team starts back up next week for Anna and me as coach. Jared is taking time away from the pool to run cross-country at school--a well-deserved break after swimming hard for 2 years here.



Bible study also starts back up next week for me at church--a study looking at Women of the Bible. I get to lead the week we will be studying Miriam and I'm very excited. Lots to learn from her.
I have made my flight reservations for the Marine Corps marathon in October, and have made a reservation at the Platt Place hotel (thanks, Auline!). I am excited to continue my training (last weekend I did 16.5) and to see my dear friend Auline and her new baby, Ava, in late October.



Amidst all of this, we continue to wait for our Waiting Child. God is teaching me SO much through this time of waiting. He is showing me how to rest in Him actively--not just in word but in practice. He is reminding me of the blessing of my dear husband and his God-given wisdom and patience. He is opening my eyes a little wider to the enormity of this change we are undertaking. I am still so VERY excited and will be SO happy when we finally get the phone call with a match with "the one" child that God has for us. I continue to look at the child profiles on our agency's website of the children they have been unable to match for whatever reason, in the hopes that one of them will jump off the screen at me and say "I'm yours!" to both Tom and to me. Until then, I will continue to praise God for His goodness, grace, and mercy, and will continue to work diligently at all that He has given me to do with my days.


We are really looking forward to some upcoming visits from Tom's siblings--Judi and Doug in early November, and Jer and Em and Peter for Thanksgiving! Our spare room is still "spare" for now, so everyone else is welcome too!! Make your reservation now!

"Waiting Patiently"

Now that the flurry of paper chasing is complete, we are in waiting mode. I have talked before on this blog about the issue of "waiting," and, even though I sometimes think I have the concept down, I am learning that to wait takes great faith and discipline. It is far too easy for me to get consumed with scanning the internet adoption-related user groups, checking out our agency's website, and allowing my thoughts to dwell on how much I wish our wait was over. When I allow myself to walk down this path, I find that I am neglecting the tasks at hand right now--the children I have in my care already, the daily household tasks that require discipline, etc--and I am robbing myself (and the people around me) of the joy that God has for me today.

I have come to realize that the only remedy for this "drifting" is to firmly plant myself once again in my daily quiet time to read scripture, meditate, study, and pray. God is so good and so very much in control of all things. Now that my eyes are again fixed on Him, the Wait seems so much less daunting and more like an opportunity to grow in my faith, to teach my children (and their friends who are almost as excited as we are about the adoption) about this kind of faith, and to enjoy the blessings of the life I have even right now.

Even the laundry can be a blessing. Taking something that is so very dirty and stinky and washing it entirely clean and fresh and ready to be used is a reminder of what God does for me each day. Praise Him with me!

I am also so excited and thankful that I have raised over 70% of my goal of $1000 towards the Love Without Boundaries Marine Corps Marathon team! Thanks so much to those of you who have supported me and joined my team! The more I read about LWB, the more I am excited about their work. My training is going well--despite the Florida heat and humidity. My runs are early in the morning, and my long run this past weekend was 13.5 miles. Slowly the mileage is creeping back up!

We enjoyed time this past weekend with dear friends from our early marriage days in DC. Marj and Zack were in town to catch up with their beautiful daughters staying with their grandparents in Panama City. So they spent one night with us and the kids and I got to spend a day with their family at the local water park on Monday. What fun!

The kids and I are getting ready to go on vacation next week to spend time with dear friends Doug and Amy and their kiddos at the NC beach. Poor Tom is so bogged down at work he will be staying back to man the fort. Thankfully he has Tad to keep him company in the evening! Pray for our safety, please, and that Tom would be able to get much work done during his week of solitude.

Thanks for reading!