The Rockette's!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had such a great day as we had the entire family at our home. CJ and I feel so blessed that both sides of our families have just adopted each other as extended family so we can all celebrate together. This year was extra special for me as I had both my parents and their spouses attend. I haven't had my parents under the same roof for a holiday in many, many years. I watched them talk about old times and share laughs, I know only God could do this with healing and forgiveness. So it was a special day for sure.

Tuesday before the holiday, CJ and I took Rachel to see the Rockette's. It was her birthday present from mommy and daddy. Our little girl has a passion for dance so she was counting down the "sleeps" until the day. She was in awe as she watched all the performances and for CJ and me our entertainment was watching her!

She looked beautiful in her Christmas dress (as always). We also gave her a balarina necklace at the theater during intermission. Our little girl is growing up and it's a blessing to watch. Enjoy the pictures!!

Happy "Gotcha day" Linzhi! (videos included)

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been a whole year since God placed Linzhi Rose Xiao Li in our arms for the first time. I promise you, the memory is still so very strong for both CJ and me. So for fun, I have cut and pasted my text from Gotcha Day from our MAW website. When I read it, I still get chills and my stomach drops. I wish I could put into words how extremely nervous CJ and I were on that day. We really had no diagnosis on Linzhi so we were going by blind faith with trust that our Lord chose this child for our daughter and HE would get us through it all and he has... Here's my post from November 19, 2007...


(Pre-Gotcha)
CJ and I are sitting here wanting to put into words how we feel at this very moment…hours before we are united with our little girl. To say we’re nervous/anxious would be an understatement. We are overjoyed with the feelings of being completely blessed too. This website is for Linzhi so with that said. Linzhi, your mama and baba love you and want you so much. You are our angel and even though you were not carried in your mommy’s womb, we carried you in our hearts. We are honored that God chose you to be our daughter and to think of all the millions of people in China he found you! Our darling, little angel. We pray that you come to understand how much you were wanted. Your birth parents wanted to keep you but the circumstances made it impossible and we hurt for them because they chose to give you life and a chance at finding a forever family. We will never forget the sacrifice they made and the heartache they bear not having you with them.In less than 4 hours you will be with your mama and baba and we will never leave you, ever. You will never go hungry or be afraid without someone there to comfort you. We will teach you about our Lord and Savior Jesus and our hope is that one day you will come back to China and maybe bring a baby home yourself. You are such a brave little girl and our hearts overflow with love for you.


FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!!

Trevor and Rachel, we’d like to introduce you to your new sister and is she ever a cutie pie…. Absolutely beautiful!We are in awe of God’s grace!We met Jane in the lobby at 12:45 to go over some paperwork and exchange money then headed over to the civil affairs office. We were the first to arrive and as we walked in we saw through the big windows a baby coming. We knew the child wasn’t Linzhi because she was an infant. At this point CJ and I were getting very emotional, we kept looking out the window and sure enough we see Linzhi being carried in my the orphanage director! At that point we were shaking and all of us were in tears. In she came, not a peep out of her. She went to both CJ and I without any problem. At one point she started to get a little teary eyed so daddy gave her a cheerio and boy, she loves them! We were able to sit and talk with the nanny, she answered several questions and she kept telling us how smart she was but more on the shy side. We were also presented a special gift from the orphanage. They gave us a photo album with around 20 pictures of her throughout her babyhood. What a blessing for her to be able to have baby pictures to show her children one day! After that we went up to the notary’s office took our pictures for her passport and then headed back to the hotel. When we returned our guide Jane pre-ordered our dinner and it was delicious! Did I mention Linzhi is not a picky eater? She loves to eat and she gobbled up all her rice and eggs. She has also been drinking lots of water too so that in itself is a huge blessing. Many kids will refuse food and drink for a few days. Back in the hotel we were able to give Linzhi a bath, she fussed for a minute but then started splashing the water without a smile. After that we dressed her and played then the most exciting this happened. She walked over into her daddy’s arms with a big smile on her face!!! This is God’s grace again… then she walked right into mama’s arms with a smile! Praise God!!Her hair is thick and shiny and her teeth are beautiful white. She was fed well because she is not at all bony. She can bend her elbows but not too much and she is able to hold and pick up objects. Linzhi is also making excellent eye contact with both CJ and myself, thank the Lord again!At bedtime she started to grieve and it was just gut wrenching to see her in so much emotional pain. She kept looking around for something familiar, so mama rocked her and daddy walked her…finally she was able to fall asleep and now she’s snoring!!Please continue to pray that her grieving is less and less. She is such a strong, brave little angel and I know God will heal her.

Linzhi Rose, you have changed our lives forever. Linzhi is our sweet, stubborn little China angel that is always ready to give out kisses. Every morning she says in her sweet little voice "Morning Baby" or "Morning pumpkin". When I look at you, I'm still in awe that you're actually here with us!

Happy Gotcha day!!
Love,
Daddy & Mommy

You can view our complete China journey by clicking this link www.myadoptionwebsite.com/linzhi

Happy Birthday Rachel Catherine

Happy birthday to our sweet baby girl. Five years ago our Lord placed this beautiful little girl in our arms making CJ a daddy for the first time and blessing Amy with another child. Getting Rachel here was no easy task as mommy and daddy had to wait week by week to see if our little one was still there...Oh how we loved to hear that strong little heart beat and the joy we felt when the doctor would say..."You made it another week". I knew in my heart and soul I would see the face of this child as I prayed everyday for her to make it. God was so faithful and brought you all the way to full-term. I don't think CJ and I felt as much joy and relief as the day you were born at 4:58AM on November the 15th.

Rachel, you are the child that challenges me the most and makes me laugh the hardest. I see so much of me in you as you like all the sparkles and girlie things but I also see so much of your daddy in you too...happy to wake up and mechanically inclined, you amaze me how good you are at playing your Disney computer games. I love your sentimental heart for animals and for your sister. I love how loyal you are already to your friends and how you pick up on all the little details in life like flowers, leaves, lady bugs. God has such a unique plan for you little one and Daddy and I feel so overly blessed to be granted the opportunity to love you and take care of you. Our lives are much happier and blessed because we have you as our daughter.

Love,
Mommy and Dada

It's been too long!

Ok, I think I've been MIA for too long! I've been popping in on my favorite blogs but for some reason I had writers block or something....? Anyway, we are getting ready for two big events in our house. 1. Rachel turns 5 on Saturday the 15th 2. Linzhi's one year "gotcha day" is on Wednesday the 19th. I am preparing special posts for both. I'll be posting Rachel's this evening.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy!

God bless,
Amy

PS... Thanks Jess for checking in on me! Hugs and love!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Chicago!

Every year Trevor and I go to the city, Chicago that is...Just the two of us. We usually hit a play and go for a nice lunch or dinner somewhere fancy... We've seen Lion King (amazing and Trevor's choice), Annie (amazing and my choice), just to name a few. This year however, we couldn't decide on a play so Trevor asked if we could go visit my sister Emily and her boyfriend Mike. They both live in the city and attend IIT. Mike and Emily are both in the architecture program which is very exciting and will be graduating soon.

We drove up to their apartment to park then we hit the train to bring us into the heart of the city. Emily chose a great Mexican restaurant for lunch and we just sat there and talked for almost 2 hours! Then we decided to walk off our lunch by checking our Columbia College (Trevor would like to attend this school), the Art Museum, Millennium Park, The magnificent mile...Just to name a few... We walked off our lunch and more! Our final stop was Garrett's Popcorn, it was delicious and a perfect ending to our perfect day!

This is a tradition I hope to keep with Trevor well into his adult years. We all go to the city pretty often which is great! Before I met CJ when it was just Trev and mom several years ago, we would hop the train for a day at a muesum, the zoo or just to walk around and shop. I love this time with him. He's growing up so fast, I love him so. =)

My Trevor...
Mom and Trevor...He's so TALL!

Mike and Trevor on the train.

My little sister Emily and Trevor. Isn't she pretty!

Awww, Mike and Emily...Love birds.

Mom and Trevor at lunch. He's so darn cute!

I WON!!!!

I won this dress through auction at this site http://bringinghomerachel.blogspot.com

Please go to this blog. This family is trying to raise funds to bring their precious daughter Rachel home from China.

Click on the picture to see the detail of the dress. I LOVE this pattern! This dress will be Linzhi's. First of all, it's size 2T which is Linzhi's dress size...Yes, my almost 4 year old is still is a size 2T for dresses (she's a little peanut!) AND I want her to have a special dress for a keepsake AND all the proceeds go to bringing this precious child home.

Not much else to report around here. It's been pretty quiet. Trevor and I went to Chicago to visit my sister Emily and her boyfriend Mike. We had a great time, I'll post about that later in the week with pictures.

Have a wonderful Monday!