Friday, April 30, 2010

My girls

Well, it's that time of year again when my girls get ready for the spring dance recital... Actually this is Linzhi's first year. They attend a Christian dance academy so all the themes are bible based, it's pretty neat! Below are some pics of my girls on picture day, the recital is the third week of May.

Have a wonderful weekend!







Sunday, April 25, 2010

Linzhi's and her new "boyfriend"

Trevor has had a life size cardboard cut out of Homer and Bart Simpson in his room for years. Recently, he decided it was time to move them out so he put them in the guest room, why? I have no idea but the girls found them and they play with them all the time. Well, today Linzhi told me "Simpson" was her boyfriend! I did not want to giggle in front of her because she was so serious so when we went in to tidy up her room, we placed Simpson in the corner near her bed. This evening as I was working on Madelyn's website, CJ came in and said you have to see this and grab the camera. As you can see, Linzhi made a bed for Simpson, her cardboard boyfriend. I just love her heart and this isn't the first bed I've found around the house. All her little treasures have beds made of kleenx, cotton balls, wash clothes and hand towels, really anything she can find to make beds for her friends.

Oh my heart, I love this girl!










Friday, April 23, 2010

Nesting

I was just reading about another mama that has started nesting as she will be leaving for China very soon too. I can't sit still or SLEEP. I have not been able to shut my mind off all week and it's starting to catch up with me in the form of dark circles under my eyes, a few pimples on my face and the constant need for caffeine!! Oh does this bring back memories of the last month of each of my pregnancies and when we received our LOA for Linzhi Lu. I.NEED.SLEEP!!! I need to stop tearing apart my house, my hands are raw from bleach and the kids are looking at me weird...HELP!!!!!


Yesterday, I received a email from Karla at Lifeline letting us know our I-800 Paperwork is on the way to NBC for our approval and then off to CHINA! (not us, more paperwork) I am still in awe at the work of God's hands.

I'm rambling again... I must have drifted off to sleep last night because I had a vivid dream of Madelyn. Her hair was cut into a bob with highlights??? (she has long, black wavy hair)...Anyway, all my girls were on the couch coloring and I walked over to each of them and handed them a juice box (don't know why, Linzhi only drinks water???) so when I get to Madelyn she lifts her arms for me to pick her up! I just remember holding her like she was an infant. It was quick and precious and then it was over. I can't wait to hold her. I can't wait to sniff her hair (I do that will all my kids cuz, they all have a different scent). I can't wait to see her walk into church for the first time, I can't wait to just see her in person! It seemed so far away for such a long time that the reality of it coming soon has kind of put me in a tailspin. I have a strange feeling things are going to move very fast. Trevor is going with us to China. On Monday, I took him to get his passport and then when we got home I saw the email from Karla that we were LOA. I could have kicked myself for not paying the extra $$ to expedite his passport, I even called the post office to see if I could catch it before it went out, well too much time had passed and it was gone. *sigh*

Well, I am off to clean more stuff or organize some drawer or re-wash something, then I'm off to grocery shop and Bed Bath and Beyond to look for Madelyn's bedding. I'm in complete Joy!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Oh Mercy...So much to say...

We're still in shock of getting our LOA is 38 days! I was praying for 80!!!! LOL... God knew a better plan for sure.

Thank you all for your sweet comments about our LOA and my father in law.

As of now, it looks like he had a mild stroke (no paralysis, thank you LORD) and all of his tests came back good so we're praying he could be heading home this week. I can't tell you how much all your prayers and emails meant to both CJ and I, it humbled us knowing you all were praying and we thank you all!!

So yesterday, our LOA came in FED EX and reality started to hit me...HARD... I need to get my booty MOVIN! I still have to get her room ready and making purchases for our TRAVEL!!!! Oh goodness, I can't believe the road we've been on for the past 13 months. I look back on all the events that has taken place in order to give Madelyn a forever loving home and I am simply humbled and in awe... This was not the work of ours hands but God's and God's alone. NO WAY do we take any credit for getting us through what we believe was and still is a spiritual battle and I know it happens in every adoption because the enemy does not want the orphan to become a son or daughter to a forever family so when your heart is open for adoption (or anything the Lord is calling you to) BE PREPARED for the enemy to attack! I'm not trying to be dramatic or over exaggerate this, I'm telling you from experience as present as God is , the enemy is too. Hold on tight to the Lord and be prepared for the ride of your life!!

This scripture verse is so precious to me (and I'm sure to many of you too), it has helped me in so many areas of my life.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"- Phillippians 4:13


So now, I ask you again my friends for prayers. Please pray for God to prepare Madelyn's heart for our arrival. I have no idea how she is going to respond to leaving the only life she has known for 8 years, I know it's going to be a roller coaster of emotions and adjustments for her and for us too. I noticed my girls are really starting to ask questions so we've had several talks the last couple of days. Linzhi can't wait for her "Chinese sister with Arthrogryposis"! Oh how grateful I am that they will have each other to identify with, someone who understands and someone that looks like you in so many ways. I can't wait to see how that relationship develops!! My Rachel is all over the place, she's nervous about us leaving because she remembers when we went the first time and then she's so excited to get her big sister and thrilled at the idea of helping mama teach her ABC's and 123's in English. I asked Linzhi if she was excited to help Madelyn learn English and her response "no, not really" LOL... =) Then there's Trevor, my boy. He is beyond excited to go to China with us and I am thrilled he'll be there too. You mark my words, Madelyn is going to attach to him easily, he is such a great big brother and all the kids love him. I wouldn't be surprised if Trevor is the link to getting Madelyn adjusted, I'm just sayin... It's my motherly intuition.

I'm not going to be blogging while in China however, I will be using the services of Joe and Jen at www.myadoptionwebsite.com I'm actually working on the text and pulling pictures so hopefully it will be ready soon. WOW! Is this really happening again?!?!?!? I.AM.GOING.TO.CHINA...SOON!!!! YIPPEE JESUS!!! (AS Linny would say), I love that! Sorry if I'm all over the board here, I'm sort of freaking out, in a good way!

So financially adoption is expensive. We had a successful fundraiser last May and we still have that money tucked away but I noticed things have come up and our savings has gone down a bit. I'm not one to worry about money, I believe if we are faithful and keep our end of the deal that He provides. Well, once we got our LOA, I started looking at things like the $5400 orphanage donation, travel, spending money, etc... My heart sank thinking WOW, not sure we have enough to cover everything... Oh Lord, what will we do?? I call CJ and tell him how I've been adding everything up and that we're coming up short..."What are we going to do" came out of my mouth next. And his response still makes me giddy! He told me to go look in his high school year book on his closet shelf. So I did and to my utter shock, there was a stash of money my hubby's been saving for the adoption for over 9 months!!!! So, We are good to go! Thank you Lord putting it on his heart to save!!

Well, I'm off to FED EX. I need to overnight our "signed" LOA and all the other documents that need to be sent out so we can travel!!!

SOMEONE PLEASE PINCH ME!!!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday, April 19, 2010

TOTAL SHOCK!!!!

WE ARE AT DAY 38 WAITING FOR OUR LOA!!!! IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!

PRAISE YOU GOD!!!!! So we could be leaving at the end of June to bring our girl home! UNBELIEVABLE!!



ImageChef.com

Friday, April 16, 2010

Calling all prayer warriors!!!

Hello family and friends,

My father in law, Pastor Willie Sills is currently at Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet. He was admitted this afternoon with heart attack symptoms. Tomorrow he is undergoing several tests, could you PLEASE help us pray for him...He is so precious to us!!!

God bless and THANK YOU!
Amy and CJ

Help Bring Khloe home!!!

Dear friends,

My sweet fellow bloggy friend Tanya and her husband are very close to leaving for China to bring this precious baby girl home. Actually, they're leaving the second week of May!! They have put together a "quick" fundraiser with some awesome prizes!!

PLEASE GO CHECK IT OUT!!!! Just click the picture.



Monday, April 12, 2010

Just stuff...

Well,spring break is over (bummed), I really enjoyed hanging out all week with my kids especially with NO agenda! It was nice to sleep in and (well until 7:15 anyway) sip my coffee in the morning while the girls played Polly's. We all need a break from the daily grind once in awhile. During the week, we baked cookies, colored Easter eggs, cleaned, unpacked/organized all of their books, started pulling things together for our upcoming garage sale. We also started getting ideas together for Madelyn's bedroom. I can feel the time is getting closer to her coming home. I know we're a couple of months away yet but from where we were in the fall (denied by USC!$) we are moving along nicely. I have no guess to when but my friend Vickie just received her LOA after 43 days...Oh wouldn't that be a treat!!!! Linzhi's came at 55 days, that would be sweet too! We are roughly at 32 days... No matter, I know she'll be here sooner than later and that's such a sweet blessing! Spring has been AMAZING here this year, nice and warm with lots of sun and some rain which I love too.

I've also dedicated time during the day to really dig into my bible, not just a few chapters but really digging deep, it amazes me how the bible is so relevant even after 2000+ years, it still just speaks to our hearts and guides us for everyday life. I absolutely need to know how much the Lord loves me/us because let's be honest, the world can be very mean and can make us feel inadequate and insecure. To know how large and ever present our God is that He can crush the enemy with a snap of a finger gives me so much peace...Although, the closer you get to the Father the more the enemy attacks. I have had some T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E. nightmares involving my children (CJ had one too) lately. The other night I could feel it coming on while in bed (anxiety, fear, worry...You know all the stuff he uses to steal our joy), Well, all I could do was pray with my hand on top of my bible and before I knew it, I was asleep. I often think of people who don't know God/Jesus. I pray for the lost. I can't imagine life without God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, I remember my life before totally committing to Him and it brings me to tears because I was SO LOST and my spirit was completely broken and I felt unlovable, hopeless and abandoned. I see people daily who look lost, maybe they aren't but have you ever met someone that broke your heart because you knew they needed the peace of Jesus? I have and it stays with me for a very long time and many times I engage with the person to see where I can help and sometimes I feel the Holy Spirit guiding me away. I feel as though our hearts are being prepared for our journey to China. I want to be broken for the things that make Jesus cry. I want to be His servant and I pray He asks us again to give a home to a homeless child. I pray He's not finished with us in that department yet. Secretly, I pray there's a paper ready kiddo in Madelyn's orphanage that some how, some way we get to bring him or her home too!!! (I daydream about that because it happened twice while we were in China for Linzhi) All things are possible with God...You just never know!!

I'm going to start working on Madelyn's website through http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/ I'm soooo excited to get this started, I have purposely waited until we were awaiting LOA before I got that set up, I'm just trying to pace myself, I don't want to get too excited then I get impatient with the wait. Still working on getting her 7th (yes, 7th) care package ready to ship. I bought a recordable book at Hallmark this weekend. CJ and I are going to split the book and send it to her so she can hear our voices (Thank you Mandy for the idea). I also want to try and find a recordable picture album, Hallmark is coming out with them at the holidays but I need it before then...Anyone know where I can get one?

As I type this, CJ is on the computer taking Mandarin lessons through Rosetta Stone. We have a talking translator but we also want to get some basic Mandarin down before we leave. I laugh as I type that because it's not an easy language to learn! =)

Thanks for reading my ramblings...

Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed week.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Giveaway!

Hey gang,

My sweet friend Mandy is having a blog re-do giveaway here...


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Mandy and her husband Jason are in the process of bringing Miss Lia home from China. Mandy is also Linzhi's Occupational Therapist. We go wayyyyyyyyy back to grade school days so she is near and dear to my heart.

GO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Have a fabulous weekend!!!!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Life...

*My title is kinda plain, there's not too much going on around here except daily, regular life and I love it! The kids are on spring break so it's nice to just lounge in the mornings with no where in particular to go, just hang out. I love this time with my kids because it's getting closer to summer and it's getting to the point where I'M getting sick of the school routine and I'M ready for summer, I think more than my kids! =)



*This week, we should get a call from Shriners hospital with Linzhi surgery date. This is good...This is Good...See, I have to keep telling myself that so I don't panic. =) =)



*We are 26 days into LOA. Believe it or not, I'm not thinking about it much, in fact, the other day I said to CJ.. "Do you know what day we're on? Dare I say it...It's kind of fun to wait and see how God is going to schedule it all. I quit guessing what month we could be traveling because God only knows. I asked God for supernatural patience during this waiting period time and I feel His peace all around me. We've been staring at her picture for over a year now so I feel like we're on the down slide now, our time is coming!!!!



*CJ and I are going to have our annual anniversary trip in June instead of September. We know China will not be in June but September could be a possibility so off to Galena we go three months earlier, which is just fine with us. I could see us one day partially living there, we LOVE it so much. It's our place for sure.



*Trevor will be starting a new job in July, I am so excited for him! He'll be working at his uncle's Martial Arts studio, 4 days a week. Trev's been babysitting for about 9 months now and I think it's time for a new adventure. He's a great babysitter but I think he needs to learn some new life skills.



*Rachel and Linzhi are getting ready for their big spring dance recital in May, both the girls are very good at memorizing the dance routine. Rachel's in her 4th quarter of Kindergarten and Linz is wrapping up her 2nd year of pre-school.



*Now that we're in the new house it's time to start thinking of landscaping and outside projects which CJ and I both love!!



* Getting ready to mail Miss Madelyn another care package, I have a cute dress with leggings so far, I need to get a few more things this week and then off it goes!



ENJOY your week!!! God bless!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!


HAPPY EASTER.


THANK YOU JESUS!

















Friday, April 2, 2010

Good Friday

THANK YOU JESUS CHRIST FOR YOUR SACRIFICE.