Exciting Monday!

    So, I've been staring at the same picture for 6 months now.  Wondering how he's changed, how much he's grown.  Wondering if he'll even look the same.  Will I even recognize him when I see him?  We forget how blessed we are that we see our children every day.  I know that sounds a little silly.  I mean, of course, you see your kids every day (unless they are grown and have moved away).  But I know I take it for granted.  Some days are so busy and full of homework, errands, etc. that I realize I haven't really stopped to "see" my kids at all during the day.  We get so caught up in "life" that we don't stop to just "be" sometimes.
  And for the past year we've had this little one on the other side of the world....and there is still so much we don't know about him.   Is he crawling? pulling up? eating? talking? How big is he?  We've just had to trust that our Heavenly Father knows the answers to all of these questions, and that He has been holding him close during all of these months.
   We've asked for an update a couple of times.  We felt like it was a long-shot, since we'd heard that the orphanage that he is in doesn't let a lot of info out.  Each time we'd been told that no update had been given.  So, we've just had to guess at how big he will be and what we will need to take with us.  We assumed he'd be pretty small, since he was only 3 pounds at birth and around 9 pounds at 4 months old.  I've  been holding tight to the picture we received in April of him at 4 months old.

   Too stinkin' cute, is all I can say! He was so little (minus the sumo outfit he is in).  And this is all we have had for so long.  Well, yesterday I came in from working out and sat down to check email.  I opened my email and saw one from our agency that said "update".  I assumed it was an update on our upcoming travel.  Instead, it was an update on Wren! I could hardly contain myself.  My hands were shaking and my heart was racing.  I could hardly even open the email!  The update was totally unexpected. Big surprise!! And, finally, we get another little glimpse of our sweet boy.

   Look how much he's grown!! And so much for thinking that he'd be little.  Our little guy is 20 pounds and 30 inches long!  So, all of these little clothes we've been gathering aren't gonna fit this fella:)  Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen!  I cannot wait to have our sweet boy in my arms in less than 2 weeks!
   Now I'm headed to continue getting us ready to go and to find some bigger clothes for this cutie!!

The countdown has begun....

     After over a year of paper-chasing, fingerprinting, waiting and more waiting....we are finally getting ready to travel to China.  We received our TA (travel approval) last week!!! And the plane tickets have been booked.  We leave in 2 weeks, and it can't get here fast enough.  I think this may be the longest 2 weeks of the last year.
     Truth we told, I'm so excited but also very nervous.  It's a feeling that is hard to explain.  We've been waiting to bring this precious little boy home for so long, and now that the time is here I have so many emotions.  If you know me...I already cry a lot...but these days I can't keep it together for more than 10 minutes.  I don't know if it's the relief that we are finally going or the nervousness of finally meeting him or what.  All I know is that this time next month, we will be at home as a family of 5!  And our lives will look very different.
     We meet with our social worker AND good friend, Emily, yesterday to talk about the travel, etc. in China.  And we started to talk about life when we get home.  I think I have always taken for granted that my biological children knew I was there mama from day 1.  They knew that we (me and Brad) would always take care of their needs.  They could cry and we would come running.  And that we would always keep them safe.  But Wren won't know all of that.  It will have to be learned.  We will have to teach him slowly that we are his mommy and daddy, and that we will never ever leave him.  I'm praying that from even day one, he knows how loved he is.
     So, we're in travel mode around here.  Trying to get together the last minute things we need for a one year old.  Trying to decide what to pack for a two week trip.  Soaking up the last two weeks as a family of 4.  And as part of that...we took our kids to their first UGA game this fall.  UGA is a big part of our lives...it's where Brad and I met, and Athens is still one of our favorite places.  It was so much fun to go as a family, and even more fun that we won!

   So, I'm going to try to update some while we're in China.  So, hopefully this will be a good place for everyone to see how things are going there, and see Wren!  Gotta go check some more things off my "to do before China" list. :)

Kindergarten and 2nd grade!

I know I probably say this every year, but I have no idea how this happened so quickly.  I can still remember when they were just born.  I think I blinked, and they grew overnight.  I've tried to prepare myself for this day for a while.  Having both kids in "big school" is a huge adjustment.  This is Emma's 3rd year in school, so I think I've become pretty used to that.  She LOVES school, and seeing her excitement for it has always made it easier to watch her walk out of the door every day.  But I also think it has been easier because I've always had Liam here with me.  Watching him walk out the door and being home alone for a big part of the day has been a really big adjustment.

Thankfully, I'm not writing this on the actual first day of school or I might not be able to see the screen through the tears.  They've been in school for about a month now, and I'm starting to get more used to it.  I definitely miss my sweet one-on-one time with Liam.  Little things remind me of him during the day, and then I remember that he isn't at home.  And then I start to think about how he's at school, learning new things, meeting new friends and in a whole new world.  My initial reaction is to want to protect him and make sure he is safe and loved.  But then I have to stop myself.

It's a scary thing to have your kids in school for most of the day.  For the first 5 years of their lives, you can "try" to control almost everything (or at least feel like you're in control of it).  But when they head to school, all you can do is trust and pray.  Trust that you've taught them what it means to love...love God, love your friends, love your teachers, love those that are mean to you or hurt you.  And trust that God goes with them wherever they go.  

I pray that they love school.  That they learn and grow every day.  And not just learn and grow in academics, but also that they learn and grow in their relationships with others.  You learn hard lessons in school about people that will hurt you, loving kids who aren't easy to love, honoring and respecting adults and friends...tough life lessons that it's hard to think my 5 and 7 year old are already learning.  But I'm thankful that we have a Heavenly Father who loves my kids and is with them all day long.  And I also have to remind myself that He has BIG plans for them..

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Very excited to both be at Lake Park!

2nd grader!

1st day of Kindergarten

New backpacks

New shoes!

The Alley crew!

Ready and excited!

Too sweet for words!!

The waiting continues...but getting closer!

So, I am really not very good at keeping this blog updated.  It is very true that some people have the gift of writing.  I do not think I am one of them.  (Probably why I struggled so much in college English...only class I made a B in in college:).

But we have had an eventful summer.  We spent several weeks at the beach.  Thanks to a very gracious family that offered up their beach place several times, I was able to spend some very sweet time with Emma and Liam.  Because Brad is saving up all of his vacation days for our travel to China, he was only able to come with us once.  But we were also able to have other sweet friends come down a couple of times.  It was a very very fun summer, and I could not be more thankful for it.  To get to spend so much one-on-one time with my kids all summer before we have some hugh life changes was priceless.  Thank you thank you to the Hawke family!!!

First "toes in the sand" of the summer!

Sweet friends came down to stay

BFFs

Couldn't be more thankful for these two!

Sweet summer of memories!

So much fun with two of my very favorite girls!

That's right...nothing says Florida like shuffleboard!

 I also went on a backpacking trip with 6 of my YL girls to Colorado.  That will be have to be a whole separate post, but it was a huge highlight of my summer! And Brad took 5 guys on an amazing road trip.  Maybe I'll get him to write about that (granted it would be only the second time he's written anything here:)

And because we can't stay put for long, we also decided to move this summer.  As though we don't have enough craziness going on in our lives right now, we thought we'd add a little more.  We moved about a mile down the road into an incredibly unique house.  We are still in our same neighborhood (which we love), but we now have 5 acres, our house sits back in the woods and we have a pond in our back yard...all right in the middle of our 'hood.  A huge blessing just fell in our laps...this house was drastically reduced and we sold our old house without even putting it on the market.  Clearly we knew that God was in control and that He orchestrated all of this.  So, we're in house #8 in 11 year of marriage and WILL NOT be moving EVER again (yep..you can write that down!)  But we do love it and are very thankful.

One other HUGE update...we got our LOA!!!!!  This is the official "letter of acceptance" from China.  This is another hugh step.  We have been waiting on this since April.  We waited a little over 100 days for this piece of paper.  Some people wait 30 days, some 60 and some for as long as we have.  To say it was an exciting day would be an understatement.  This mama was on cloud 9!

So, as for where that puts us in the adoption process...we are on the very last leg of the process.  We have mailed everything to U.S. Immigration, we're applying for visas and now we just wait for our TA (travel approval) which we will hopefully get in the next 8 weeks or so.  So, we're hoping to travel to China in late October/early November.  It can't come soon enough!!

Last week I had a tough week.  For some reason, the waiting just got to me.  My heart was weary and worn-out.  So very little is in our control during all of this waiting.   And as we get closer to bringing him home, I think I get a little more impatient.  A good portion of last week was spent crying and in frustration....and on my knees in front of our Heavenly Father asking him to give me peace and strength to finish this journey.

I think it made it even harder because Wren turned "1" last Friday.  Knowing that he was on the other side of the world.  Praying that he was loved and taken care of.  Trying to fight feelings of "worst case scenarios".  Just wanting him to be home with us.  Dreaming of all of the rest of the birthdays where he will be home with us.  It was tough! But we did have a small "birthday party" for him with some very good friends...and cookie cake, of course.  It helped to think of what future birthdays will be like when he is home and to share in this journey with great friends who have walked alongside us and prayed for us during this last year.

Ok.  So this was a long post.  And as I write I realize that a lot has gone on this summer.  I need to update more often.  I will try to be better!  Thanks to those who still actually "check-in" on us from time to time and continue to pray for us.  We're thankful for you!

Adoption Raffle for Baby Elliott

$1 per ticket

Tickets on Sale May 15-31^st

Drawing on May 31^st

Raffle Prize-

1 hour shoot of family, individual

with a CD of approx. 35-40 high resolution images and

 the rights to those images

Shanna Scott Photography

Please email ylangiebelle@gmail.com to purchase tickets or if you have any questions.

It's a boy!!

It seems like it's been a while, since I've updated on our adoption.  The last few months have just been a lot of waiting.  We sent our dossier to China in late February, and then we just waited to get a referral for a child. And I am now so very excited to say that we have been matched with a child....a sweet 8 month old boy!! To say that we are all excited is an understatement.  Just to watch Emma and Liam's faces when we talk about him is priceless.  Huge grins and giggles and questions galore....where is he going to sleep? when are we going to get him? what is his name going to be? With two small children, I sometimes feel like I answer questions all day long....but these are questions that I actually love to get to answer.

I don't have the answers to a lot of these questions.  We are now waiting on our Letter of Approval from China, which can take anywhere from 2-4 months or so.  We hope to travel anywhere from August to October...and yes, all 4 of us are going!! I can't imagine a better experience for Emma and Liam to go with us to bring home our son.

A lot of people keep asking why it takes so long after you get matched to actually go get your child.  Truthfully, I have no idea.  I know that China does still have to officially review our dossier.  Why it takes a few months to do it I'm not sure.  But this whole process has been this way.  There's definitely a lot of waiting and wondering and wanting things to move quicker.  And it's hard to not get impatient.  But I can truly say that God has given us a spirit of peace and patience as we have waited.  First, waiting to get matched with a child and now waiting to actually bring him home.  And I'm also treasuring moments with Emma and Liam, as we also prepare their hearts for a new brother.

The last few months have also been filled with yard sales and other small fundraisers to help raise the money to bring home our son.  We've also just found out that an organization named Lifesong has agreed to help us with our fundraising.  You can give money to our adoption through Lifesong and it is tax-deductible.  This is a huge blessing! (If you'd like to give you can go here...http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html.  Please make sure to include our name and number in the donation: Elliott #2613).

So, this mama is excited and over the moon and already in love with this precious child that God has given us.  I know the next months will sometimes feel slow and other times feel fast.  I'm praying God will continue to walk alongside us in the "waiting".  And I'm also praying for our child's health, for the caretakers and orphanage he is in, for the bonding is to come with us and him...and thanking God every day that He is allowing us to be His parents.

Liam is 5!!!

How does this keep happening?  Somehow my kids keep getting older!  There's something very bittersweet about your kids growing up.  It's so fun to watch them do new and exciting things, as they grow up.  But it's also sad to realize they'll never be babies again.  It constantly reminds me to slow down and to cherish every single day with my kids.  I often catch myself just going through my day, doing my day-to-day "stuff" and not really sitting down to just "be" with my kids.  One day I won't be able to just cuddle with Liam for an hour every morning, and they won't want to give me 100 hugs and kisses all day long (without some embarrassment) and they might not come to me with every little boo-boo or to just show me the grasshopper they've just found...I don't want to miss a single minute (and I will one day invent a machine that makes time slow down).

birthday morning!

5!

Celebrating with friends!

5 Things I Love about Liam on his 5th birthday:

1) He loves to cuddle

2) He is FULL of adventure and energy

3) He has an incredible imagination...anything can become a toy gun, sword, spaceship

4) He can start a conversation with anyone...even complete strangers

5) His contagious laughter

Spring has sprung!

It has been a fun couple of months. Spring has always been my favorite time of year.  There's just something about the blue skies, things starting to bloom and spending all day outside.  Here's a little re-cap of our spring, so far...

Liam has started to play t-ball.  There nothing much cuter (and funnier) than watching a lot of 4 and 5 year olds play baseball.  Liam has been great. 

 I think we've definitely got a future big leaguer on our hands:)

We had a great Spring Break at Mexico beach with some very sweet friends.  So incredibly blessed by our friendship with this family.

And yes, it is very hard to get 4 kids to look at the camera and smile.  (and this is only 4 of the 5 kids we had there).

We had a great Easter celebrating our risen Savior.  School easter egg hunts, church easter egg hunts (one with a helicopter) and a hunt at our best friends' house, lunch at Cracker Barrel (cause this mama was just lazy) and lots of fun time with family and friends over the weekend.

Easter morning

Resurrection baskets

Happy Easter!

And everyone needs a kung-fu picture while taking Easter pictures

We were also very blessed to go to the beach a 2nd time for the weekend.  It was such a fun weekend for our family.  There's just nothing like getting away with each other to do nothing but have fun together.  And we definitely have two kids that love the water.  I think Emma would stay in the water all day long every single day.  She really is an excellent swimmer and doesn't seem to mind even when the water is freezing.  Lots of memories made on this trip!

fun in the sun!

First time kayaking in the ocean

Nothing like putt-putt at the beach

 And, of course, no spring would be complete without Field Day!  Field Day brings back so many memories from elementary school.  There's just nothing quite like it.  There's no other time that you get to do an egg race, jump in a sack and do tug-of-war...and get out of class all day.

Go Green!

Winning 1st place in tug-of-war

Emma and Liam only have a few more weeks of school filled with field trips, K4 graduation, parties and all of the other fun stuff that makes the last few weeks of school so exciting.  I feel like a little kid waiting for Summer..it can't come soon enough!

7!

I'm not sure how I missed writing about this over a month ago...but Emma turned 7 on January 7th...wow! 7!  It still feels a little weird to say she is 7.  She has grown up over night and way too quickly.  We celebrated with a bowling party (in case you were wondering, bowling is pretty entertaining with a bunch of 6 and 7 year old little girls).  And Emma had a great surprise when Nana and her cousin, Annie, came to visit and have a sleep-over.  A super fun weekend for one super sweet little girl!

7 Things I love about Emma:
1. Her contagious laugh
2. Her sensitivity
3. Her caring heart
4. The way all she (still) needs is a hug to make things better
5.  That she is so brave
6.  How she teaches me about grace every day
7.  The way she completes our family

Emma, you are an amazing daughter.  You are kind and loving.  God has incredible plans for your life, and I can't wait to see what they are.  I love you so very much.  You will always be my cuddlebug.  Happy Happy 7th birthday!

He loves us!

   So, we had our first set of stitches this week.  Emma fell while riding her bike and busted open her chin.  Sweet girl had to have 10 stitches (plus a layer of dissolvable ones underneath).  She was so incredibly brave.  She didn't budge once during the 45 minutes it took to do the stitches.  And we were so blessed to have a neighbor, who is a PA, that stayed late at work and waited on us to get there to sew Emma up.  Such a blessing!!!
   I was so caught up in the moment while it was all happening....trying to figure out what to do with Liam while we went to the doctor, trying to get in touch with Brad, trying to make sure she "needed" stitches, switching out the paper towel she was holding under her chin as it filled with blood, looking for my keys, cell phone, purse, running out the door, filling out paperwork at the doctor's office, holding my baby's hand while she had to be so still for so long, talking to her to keep her mind off what was going on, telling her how much i loved her and giving her a million kisses.....that it wasn't until late that night after I'd gotten her to bed that it hit me how much pain she must have been in.  Not that I didn't think about her being in pain while it was going on, but I started to think about how much that fall must have hurt.  And I began to feel painfully sick.
    I remember being at College Life (a weekly meeting all of the YL leaders had) when I was at UGA, and listening to our Area Director speak.  He was talking about how he never fully understood how much God loves us until he had his own children.  I remembering hearing that and thinking how true that probably was but not fully understanding it because I didn't have kids yet.
     Well, now I do have kids.  And now I do understand.  It is almost impossible to put into words the love I have for my children.  I would do anything for them.  They bring me more joy than I ever thought possible.  And I never want to see them in any pain....physical or emotional.  It is gut-wrenching to watch them hurt (especially  now that I have a 7 year old who is just beginning to learn what it means to be hurt by friends).  They make me laugh, cry and just make my life whole.
     How unbelievable is it to think that this is how God loves us.  That we bring Him so much joy.  That he delights in us.  That He smiles just watching us and knowing that we are His.  That He hurts when we are in pain.  That He would do anything to let us know that He won't ever leave us and that He is with us through it all....the good, the bad and the ugly.
    I don't know why it is so hard for me to fully believe this.  Or why it is so easy for me to forget it sometimes.  Maybe I just take it for granted or I've heard it so many times that I don't fully let it sink in.   I'm not really sure, but I do know one thing.  I want to know and feel this love.  This never stopping, never giving us, always and forever love.  To know how much I love my children and knowing that God loves me infinitely more than that....WOW!!  I pray that I rest in this.  That every day I am reminded of His amazing love.  It makes me think of a song that I love:

He is jealous for me.
Loves like a hurricane and I am the tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory.
And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me.
And, oh, How He loves us so.
Oh, How he loves us.
How He loves us so.

I pray you know this love, too.
   

Tis the season to rejoice!

    Christmas break comes to an end tomorrow.  Time to get back into the swing of school, schedules, getting up early, homework and everything else that comes along with "reality".  I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 3 weeks.  I know some mommas are more than ready to get their kids back into school...but this momma has loved having her babies home.  Lots of sleeping in, cuddling on the couch, staying up late, playing with friends and just being together.
     It would take way too long to talk about everything we've been up to over the last few weeks, so I thought I'd just do it through some pictures.

Christmas tree shopping

Taking Christmas card pictures

Liam's Christmas program at school

Every year since I was Emma's age we've taken bags of goodies to kids at the RYDC (where my grandmother worked).  So fun to have my kids help with this tradition now.

Everyone helping out

Emma was the cow and Liam was the donkey at our  church for our nativity on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning...Daddys' new gun, so he can shoot Liam back

Sweet times on Christmas morning

Liam's pirate ship

I love the sweet concentration on his face when he's playing with his toys.  I could watch this all day!

Best thing about South Georgia on Christmas...it's warm enough to play outside on your new toys!

Emma and her new American Girl doll

Making Jesus' birthday cake

Best thing about making a cake...

Ringing in the new year with best friends

Watching fireworks

We also spent some time over the break serving and helping others.  It is an amazing thing to serve together as a family.  It's probably some of the most fun we had over the break.

We helped feed the homeless on Christmas Eve

We rang the bell for the Salvation Army

 And we also got to spend some time in Atlanta with family

   I'm also excited to write that our home study is officially complete.  We received the notarized copy 3 days before Christmas.  I had hoped we'd have it a few weeks before, but I'm so thankful to have that part done.  I sent off our Immigration application the very same day.  And I'm over half done with collecting everything we need to send off our Dossier.  Some days I forget we're even going through this process.  There's just so much waiting, and it can feel like it is all taking forever.  I don't want to get discouraged or frustrated.  Those are definite battles I'm fighting.  Instead I try to think that this time next year, there will be 5 stockings hung on the fireplace.  There will be 3 little faces that will come down the stairs on Christmas morning.  There will be even more laughter and even more cuddling and even more sweet time together when our child is home with us.

Now we're gearing up for a sweet little redhead who turns 7 on Saturday...