Sunday Snapshot - tears & joy

AS I stood looking over our brood today I laughed at how much we have changed in jsut a year.

It has been an emotional weekend AND I have cried rivers!

1. We celebrated Cav's 4th birthday on Saturday.  (joy)
2. It was also the 1 year anniversary of when we chose to follow God's path to a sweet little baby who had been on the shared list for over half his life.  We sent LOI for Cav on his 3rd birthday. (tears)
3. When we asked Cav about his birthday - he went up to his room and brought back the picture of the cake we sent him in November (of course I cried again.)
4. I had asked for prayers that the weather would be nice for his party.  I made the decision to cancel his party at 10am.  At 4 when his party would have started, the clouds parted and it was beautiful.  Trusting in Him is still something I struggle with still.  He has such incredible plans for this boy of ours.  We still celebrated with one family - our go to family LOL!
5. Our sweet baby Tao turned 2 today (rivers of tears)
6. Another birthday missed, another child not celebrated, arms aching. (ugly cry)
7. My big kids are so incredible, their hearts so wonderful. (joy)
8. All day my littles would run to me with their special items they made for me. (my heart exploding)
9. My sweet husband put together an organizing system for the littles toys (I love this man)
10. By the time Tao comes home we will have doubled the number of our children in one year

AND I feel so incredibly blessed that THIS is the life God meant for me!

Happy 4th Birthday big Guy, we feel so incredibly blessed to have you as part of our family!!

All shot inside with Canon and my 50mm - fiddled in Lightroom trying to create a yummy B&W!

Updates and prayers

I-800A ~ YEAH!  We were able to walk in this morning and got our fingerprints done in about 15 minutes!  I immediately called to have them add this information to our file, so we hope to be approved soon!  Kind of getting excited - so close, jsut a few more steps.

Tao ~ Our kids couldn't believe that we were already almost done with the paperwork.  It was nice because we were able to use their comments as a teaching moment about God and His ability to move mountains.  I hope once little man Tao is home, they will always be able to look at him and remember the mountains that God moved to bring Tao home  and what HE will do for them.

Brahm ~ Please pray for my sweet little guy.  AS you saw in the movie yesterday he LOVES jumping out of the swing.  Today his sleeve got caught and he landed on his back.  I went through the whole body check, BUT he is now complaining about a headache.  Please pray for this sweet, sweet angel of mine, he has such an incredible spirit but such a tiny body (barely 30 lbs at almost 6).

Cav ~ His BIG day is tomorrow - his 4TH Birthday.  As the day has gotten closer we have gotten more and more excited.  

He also gets it.  Today he brought daddy the picture we had printed of his cake we sent to China.

We invited several of our little friends to come celebrate the day (although not a true birthday party as we have found it is to stressful still for them.)  Just pizza, . . . pop (our kids never get pop LOL), . . . cookies and playing outside on the tramp, swingset and his very special present!

Since Cav & Tao's birthday are a day apart (and we had rewards to use up) we got them something that we thought Cav can use shortly after his surgery.

BUT it's supposed to SNOW! 

ugh are you kidding me!

Please pray that the weather patterns change and we can still have our friends come over at 4pm on Sat.

Watching Cav

I have had a ton of questions about Cav.  Also since we are jsut weeks out from his amputation surgery I wanted to document his before movement.  Remeber this kid who was terrified of plants when we received him, and had probably been outside TWICE in his entire 3 years in China.

I can partially understand keeping inside - he started the day with completely intact pants!  Goodwill LOVES us as his pants last one maybe two times.  I guess it cuts down on laundry LOL!

I wanted to share for those who might be contemplating a child with significant limb difference.  We believe he will do phenomenal once he has his new legs (and shoes LOL!)  As a matter of fact my other little guy in the video has dwarfism so really . . . so much for disabilities!

Announcement!

Announcing our newest little guy has weighed very heavily on us.  Last year we did not receive the best reactions.  We have learned that most people don't always know what to say on the spot.  Tao has become such a normal part of our children's speech that we also knew keeping him a secret until travel jsut wasn't going to work.

Although we still thought showing up at Christmas dinner with him would be hysterical we decided we should probably send the announcement now, before we saw most of our family over the summer.

Heehee it was a surprise but the title page gave everything away and I didn't realize it until I hit send LOL!

God has been so good to us, AND in this particular need He also has shown us His Grace.  

Funny, this is the sermon series we are going through right now, and I'm not sure if I am starting to look for His grace in more areas or truly He is showering us with an extraordinary amount of His grace - but it feels like sunshine and a giant hug!

Moving Mountains

 I am beyond shocked - the prayers are being heard and He is so incredible.  I can see the mountains being moved right in front of us.  And on days like yesterday (waahaa) it so helps me to see His hand in the midst of this adoption.

To catch you up - our homestudy agency is NOT renewing their Hague when it expires in June.  We have to be DTC by June.  The I-800A process was our biggest hurdle in meeting this timeline.  Last year when we did this process it took 65 days for I-800A approval.

Our paperwork was supposedly sent April 16th - we finally got notice that it was received April 23rd and notice given April 25th.

Friday I opened the mail and what did I see?

Our fingerprint appointments!!

This means we can try and walk in this week.  Unfortunately we can't go in until Friday but still I could jsut cry when I see Him move mountains for one little guy!

At the latest our fingerprint appointment is for May 22, so even then we should be able to be DTC within our timeline.

Sunday Snapshot - Focus

 This girl of mine is finding her way, 

she is incredibly aggressive (which can cause problems with the cliches in school)
but is awesome for sports.

She would prefer to play with the boys - so she could wear pads and check LOL!

Until then, she will dominate - as long as she gets ice cream for goals!!

Oh and she is a big girl LOL!
We think she will be close to 6 feet which jsut makes our family dynamics just all that funnier!

Three goals today = ice cream and a movie!  Now she is also the favorite sibling!

Shot with my Canon 5D and 70-300 mm lens

edited in lightroom using Sarah Ji presets (top photo with texture added in photoshop)

A must see show!

If you have contemplated adopting a little person but wonder what it is like - there will be a phenomenal family featured tonight on 20/20

Amber and her husband are both little people and have 2 bio children, and 3 adopted little people.
I hope when you watch you will see that besides being little spitfires, they just are like you and I.

Here is a preview on GMA this morning http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/real-life-dwarfs-extreme-parenting-challenge-16277086

Tonight (Friday) on 20/20 with Barbara Walters will air the entire interview.

Available children can be seen http://lpaadoption.blogspot.com

Come on folks, everyone needs a princess!

Cuz, "little's are superior race!" 

(yeah mom did a good job with my self-esteem!)

cuz, sometimes, the unknowns are scary

 but everyone deserves someone to call their own.