Macy's heart

Macy has a huge heart for adoption.  The funny thing is before we brought Mia home she is the one I was worried about the most! She was the baby of the family and quite comfortable in that role.  I was so wrong though.  She has the biggest heart for adoption.  She is the first one to tell us we need to adopt more and more.  She is also planning to adopt many many children herself.  She even has a little boyfriend that is planning to adopt with her!   She loves Mia and Max so much and is a great big sister.  They are the first ones she says hi to when she wakes up or gets home from somewhere. 

 

Most papers she writes at school are about adoption.  She was showing me some papers this morning and I had to share some of them.  This is for the people that say it hurts your bio children if you adopt children with special needs or that they are a burden.  Adopting has definitely changed our children but for the better.  They are starting to see how big the world is and that it isn't all about them.  They know there are millions of orphans.  It breaks their hearts too and they will grow up and do what they can to help.

 

11-18-12

Sometimes I wish that adopting wasn't so expensive so we could adopt alot more.  I wish adopting was like 50 dollars.  (oh me too Macy!)

 

12-6-12

I know alot about adopting because my family did it twice!  We keep on doing it as much as we can!

 

1/12/13

I am happy when I am playing with Max and Mia or when I'm playing with a friend.  Also when Im doing something fun.

 

There was also an older one she did where she used Adopting as the first letter in each sentence.  This one cracks me up!

 

A good thing to do!

Don't steal kids!

Oh please please adopt!

Please start today!

Totally good to do!

It saves lifes!

Not good to take kids without paying!

Good good it's so good!

 

Love her heart!  She is beyond excited for Molly to come home!

Molly recently had another visit from her foster family.  Soon she will be going back to stay with them until we can bring her home.  That is such an incredible blessing.  Here are a few pictures from that visit and they celebrated her birthday with her!

 

Mia's Gotcha day 2 years ago today!

Three years ago at this time Larry and I started the process to bring home a little girl from Hong Kong.  We didn't yet know who that girl was until a couple months later when our SW sent us a picture of a newly listed girl names Sze-man.  One look at her and I knew she was our daughter!

Then a year ago we met her for the first time.  This is when they brought her in the room for us to meet her!

 

And the first time I held her!

 

We went to the mall on a field trip with the other kids from the orphanage.  A lot of these children are also now home with their families but there are so many more waiting.

We got to take her back to the flat for her nap time that afternoon.  The poor thing was so overwhelmed and stressed that she slept a lot at first.

Her crib at the orphanage.

Good byes a year ago today.  Max has the same caseworker pictured below.  She knew Max from the time he was a baby so was so excited that Max and Mia would now be brother and sister!

 

The good byes were hard at the orphanage.  They really do love the children!

This is one of my favorite pictures of her because it was the second day and the first smile!  I knew it would all be ok from here on out!

 

Last picture in front of the sign at the orphanage.

 

My sweet baby at the flat with us.  She was so tiny and so sweet.  Love this little girl so much and she has come so far from this day.  Hard to believe she was two in this picture!

 

f

Max and Mia also had the same social worker, Stella!  We love Stella!

The journey home!  Happy 2nd Gotcha day Mia!!!  We love you so much.  Because of the huge blessing she has been, and the sweet faces we left behind, we knew we would be going back as soon as we could. 

Two years ago today we met Mia for the first time in an orphanage in Hong Kong!  She has been such an incredible blessing and a wonderful gift from God!

Well I was having trouble uploading pictures so haven't posted for awhile.  We were also busy redoing bedrooms so that has taken time to recover from.

Larry built triple bunk beds for the girls.  They turned out great!  We also moved Max and Mia into a room together.  Mia has done great in a toddler bed.  Max on the other hand wasn't quite ready for the freedom so his crib is in there now too.  We will get there and start sleeping all night soon!

As for the adoption we are done with our home study but it is getting approved by our agency right now.  Hopefully it is done in the next day or two so we can move on.  I hate how long it has taken to get it done but God has his timing so I am trusting in that.  I have some ideas on it but more on that later.

We have gotten a couple more very generous donations from some wonderful new and old friends.  We are so humbled by the generosity of others.  It was so much easier to pay for the past two on our own but this has helped us grow as well.  We just don't know how to say thank you.  Those two words just don't feel like enough!  We will forever be grateful for the help and support though.

We started to adopt before we had even paid off Max's airline and hotel tickets.  On top of that he had several medical appointments when he came home and those quickly added up.  The bills are still coming in.  In a month his adoption will be final and we will owe the lawyer another $1500 or so.  So, starting Molly's adoption so soon is only possible with help from others.  Adoption expenses don't stop the second your child is home.  Adding to that our children have special needs.  Max needs regular check ups to make sure his leukemia is still in remission and we thank God it is!  So the important thing is the kids are all healthy and doing well.  We are bringing Molly home as soon as we can and making progress there too.

Max and Mia have been fighting colds again and Maddie has come down with something as well and feels worse each day.  Hoping she gets better soon and it doesn't spread!  I know a lot is going around and so far we have been lucky, until now.  I will try to post with more pictures tomorrow and look back two years ago at Gotcha Day for Mia!

2011 started meeting our angel in Hong Kong

and bringing a family together one special day in January!

August 2012 led us back to Hong Kong to meet our precious son

and bring siblings together again!

2013 will take us to China to bring another angel home.  We have been so blessed the past few years and will be this year again when Molly comes home forever!

                                        
Happy New Year and praying more people find it in their hearts to find that special orphan and bring them home!

Merry Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas but a few of our kids weren't home for Christmas this year.  Next year will be fabulous and we will have a full house for sure!  I can't wait until the kids are all together for it.

Maddie, Macy and Molly got matching personalized bags!

Max likes to be the center of attention!  He knows how to work a crowd!

Mia was so happy because the snack table with all the goodies on it was low enough for her to reach.  She walked in the room with a piece of fudge and the biggest grin on her face.  I didn't have the camera ready to catch it but it was huge and she knew she just got away with something!

 

Macy showing a little excitement for her present.

Maddie loves owls!

Christmas morning Macy came downstairs dressed for church!  I have to give her credit for wearing red and green but she was less than thrilled to change because she didn't want to be "fancy" for church.

She did change though and even looks happier about it :)

 

Madison

Cinderella lost her shoe and kept trying to get it back on!

Christmas is exhausting and sometimes calls for a nap!  That is her daddy she is snuggled on.  Her nap only last 5 minutes and his lasted a lot longer!

All the cousins in new pjs! 

 

Mia showing a little excitement too!

She has the best smile but tries so hard not to share it with the camera!  ugh

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was Max's first one at home with us! He loved every part of it. I am very excited to have all our children home next year at this time and we shouldn't even be in the adoption process! I hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

Christmas and Molly

This is the third year in a row we have been in the adoption process at Christmas time.  First we were waiting for Mia to come home and praying it would be in time for Christmas but God's timing isn't always our timing.  It was tough but Mia was sick and in the hospital in Hong Kong so she had to wait a little longer. 

Last year we were in the middle of the process to bring Max home.  So again we had a child half way around the world on Christmas Day.  Max was in the most loving foster home though so that helped a little.

This year we are at it again and Molly sits in an orphanage on Christmas.  We can't do anything about it so tomorrow we will focus on the blessings we have at home.  But, a piece of my heart is in China.  I am very thankful that we have found Molly though and she knows we are coming and she will be home next year to celebrate with us.  Her days are numbered in the orphanage and we are working as hard as we can to come and get her.  Hopefully she got the package we sent and has a piece of home with her for Christmas.

Next year we will all be together for Christmas though.  How wonderful that will be!  There will be 7 stockings hung!  We don't have any plans for future adoptions so every child of ours will be under the same roof for Christmas 2013.

Please say a little prayer for the 163 million orphans that don't have families coming for them.  Look around and see if you may have room in your heart and home for one more.  These children don't want much and their biggest wish is probably for a family!  Could that be you?  We would love to talk to anyone anytime about adoption!