missionaries serving with Campus Crusade for Christ and FamilyLife

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

We are home!

Hello friends- We are home.... ahhhh... soft beds. We feel so thankful for such kind, brave, amazing friends who greeted us at the airport in the middle of the night. Thank you for the sweet welcome home for us & our kiddos.

We are all wide awake in the middle of the night...maybe we should have done more research on how to transition the kiddos with the jetlag/time change. You can be sure we will be in for some major adjustment this week. We are all exhausted, but happy to be home & sharing our life with BJ & J. We are praying & looking to God as He knits all of our hearts together.

We brought Lucas home tonight. This was a big step with J. He had mentioned to our guides that he was scared of the dog. What great fun to see J snuggle up in our laps & watch us pet Lucas. J then stretched his little arm out & gave Lucas a scratch. He was so excited & celebrated with Mama and Baba. What joy to walk this road. We are thanking God for every opportunity to build connections with our kiddos.

Much love from all of us...

Sunday, November 13, 2011

This process has been such an incredible blessing and we know we are just starting the road of parenting/discipling these kiddos. God has used it to teach us so much about our own adoption... how HE came to us, paid a price for us on the cross, how HE loves us & pursues a personal relationship with each of us.... every time we look at Jacob .... we long for him to feel safe in our arms, loved completely...protected & cherished... we know he doesnt understand it yet or feel any of that yet, but what an amazing journey it will be as we lavish love on both of them... teach them... guide them & help them to know the love & security of a family...what a privilege.... there are so many stories to share with you & not enough space... we see the gospel of Jesus Christ every time we look in these precious faces.... how HE places the lonely in families...HE doesnt leave us as orphans but calls us HIS own. Thank you for praying... much love from all of us .... we fly tomorrow to Guangzhou for our final week in China...

Hello Friends- Thank you for all of your prayers. It means so much to us. We are doing well. Zach is feeling better. We are praising God that his cold did not develop into any asthma event. BJ is taking bottles & we are celebrating wet diapers....seems so silly but such a huge relief to us. Jacob is doing well. Both are continuing to adjust. Jacob will eat ANYTHING. He seems like such an easy going guy. We notice he can be pretty serious at bedtime and wake up time in the morning. We are mindful those might have been special times with his grandma & we continue to pray for his heart (hers too). BJ's sleep is really off. We have been up with her a lot. Going down is very hard for her. Naps are hard for her. We knew to expect all of this so we are praying & clinging to God to meet our needs as we juggle the 4 kids. Allie & Zach have been such a great help. They are such a blessing. We continue to enjoy the food & culture although we must admit we found out that there was a Papa John's pizza nearby and we could have the help of a Chinese/English speaker to order...we jumped at the chance for pizza. Wow... it tasted great. Jacob loved it.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today was a very STRESSFUL day for us. Woke up and BJ seemed weak. She refused her morning bottle again. She was up several times in the night so sleep was off for all of us & it was GOTCHA DAY for Jacob. It was pouring rain & Zach has a cough starting up. We tried to give him a nubulizer treatment just to make sure it doesnt get any worse. The nebulizer started smoking even with an adaptor. Ugghh.... nebulizer gone. Next, Art literally ran in pouring rain to the superstore about 1 mile away to buy every bottle type we could find so we can figure out what is going to work for BJ. She screamed for an hour while he was gone. He got back. We were able to find the one that worked best with the right heat for her. 5 minutes later we got the call that Jacob was here in the lobby & ready for GOTCHA DAY. Whoa. You can see Art in the pictures is still pretty wet. What a stressful time. We were really stressed that BJ may be dehydrated. We are so thankful to those of you who are praying for her eating. She did take a bottle tonight again. Please continue to pray. SHe is very little & weak. It is a little scary at times. Thank you so much. Jacob is doing well. His foster Grandma must be a very special lady. SHe sent some new clothes, his favorite snacks, and pictures for him. That means so much to us & surely will mean so much to him someday. For now...he was looking at the pics and kissing them tonight. Please pray for his heart and for hers. We are mindful this is a loss for both of them. We are so blessed to be his parents & we are thanking God for the privilege tonight. Enjoy the pics. We ordered dinner downstairs tonight, but it wasnt going to be ready for a while so they offered to bring it upstairs to our room. It worked out great. We let Jacob look at the menu & point to what he wanted. He ordered seafood & noodles- mussels on the shell, crab, big chunks of fish with veggies & noodles. Amazing to see this little boy eat this dinner. I have some major cooking lessons ahead. We dont normally eat those types of dishes at our house! :) Wow.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Hello Friends.... thank you for praying.... BJ had some bottle this am.... she didnt sleep very well last night but we knew to expect that... hopefully that will get better day by day.... we will go to the airport this afternoon & head to Fuzhou. We met some great families in this city also. We have had some adventures in this process & our guide is very experienced. What a blessing to us. We are praising God for meeting us in our needs & comforting our hearts. Thank you again for praying. Off to attempt naptime for BJ :)

Hi Friends... going to post briefly tonight. Some of you are able to view pics & some of you say you cannot. So sorry! We dont know what to do differently. We have BJ. Gotcha Day went a lot better than we had anticipated. We are grateful for your prayers. We felt them. Our girl is doing pretty well. We are asking for prayers for her to be able to eat (she refused her bottle tonight) and sleep (so far still walking the halls with her- 2 hrs past bedtime). Art is taking a shift & I am posting quickly. We will try to post some pics tomorrow. The directors and nannies at the orphanage were very kind to us. They spent a lot of time and let us video a lot. They allowed us to interview the nannies and ask detailed questions about BJ's life, routines, etc. They were great. Also, they took our family to lunch while BJ napped today. That was very special. Lots more to share, but just no time for now. We are tired & our girl is tired. Praying for sleep for all. Allie & Zach are great. They have been incredible helpers & they are so excited. Paperwork in the AM. Plane leaves about 4 pm. This guide says we will probably get Jacob on Wed am. OK... more later. Again, thank you for your prayers.