Happy Gotcha Day, Joey

We received our referral for Shi Wen Bo, our Joey, in April 2006. This was our first look at him. It would be 4 long months before we got to hold him in our arms. We met Joey in a hallway of the Civil Affairs office in Xinjiang Province, NW China on August 7, 2006. He wandered into the hall when we got there and looked so small and lost. He wouldn't look at us and tried so hard not to cry. It was absolutely heartbreaking. He greived and greived and we felt so powerless.

God has brought our family together and He is so good. We watched Joey's heart heal and we watched his ability to trust and love us grow over the next weeks and months. A beautiful thing to see and experience. The joy in his laugh and smile are such a gift.

What a difference a year makes - this is our 12 month post-placement photo.

Just because I find him to be just plain crazy cute...

Ready to love a little brother...

We love you so much JoJo. You are sweet beyond words and you have added so much to our lives these past 3 years.

Katie...

Please go and read Katie's post from yesterday, August 4, 2009. Let us all be moved to action on behalf of the poor and the fatherless.

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday to Anna...

I am posting this a day late - Anna's birthday was actually yesterday. Hard to believe my little girl is 6! She enjoyed being queen for the day!

One Year Ago Today In Ethiopia.....

.....we met our son, Elijah. What a beautiful, indescribable day it was. This is the moment we met him - he is not so sure, but he didn't cry. He came to us and let both of us hold him for a long time the first day and finally fell asleep on my shoulder. So much love and we didn't even know him yet...

Soon after coming home - brothers and best friends - only God could have orchestrated this!

We are learning Eli's large and sunny personality.

Turning 3...

Home 1 year. The time has flown by and it feels like Eli has been home forever. We thank God every day for the blessing of our family that He has sewn together from around the globe. The things we would have missed if we hadn't followed God's leading down this road of adoption...

We are in love with you, our precious boy!

Part of the family

We have our 12 month post placement visit with our social worker this morning. He has been to our home to visit us, either for homestudy visits or for post placement visits, at least once a year since 2003. I think this qualifies him as part of the family! He does adoption work in his retirement after a career of investigating abuse. He finds this work to be inspiring and enjoyable. With no adoptions on the horizon at this time, we will miss him - he really is a wonderful man.

New tradition

We found this book at the library and had such a fun time reading through it together. It tells traditions from all around the world relating to what kids do when they lose a tooth. We've decided "out with the old and in with the new"! Goodbye toothfairy. We will go the way of the Far East... Since we have 2 little ones from China, we thought it would be an easy, fun way to integrate some Chinese culture into our home.

In China, an upper tooth gets put at the foot of the bed, or placed on the ground (our place of choice) and a lower tooth gets thrown up on the roof. The hope is that the new tooth will grow in toward the direction the old one was thrown!

Now, we wait for someone to lose a tooth.......

Where has the time gone?

June 21 marked 5 years since we first held our sweet Lianna Audrey Wu (Anna) in our arms. What a journey she has taken us on. We are so thankful to God that He has allowed us to be her parents.

This is our first moment with Anna. There were 10 families in our group and we were waiting in a room at the Civil Affairs office in in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China. We could here the babies crying down the hall and there are no words to describe the feelings of those moments. Then, the door opened and the nannies filed in with all the babies in matching orange outfits. Then, it was not only the babies crying...They started calling names and, oh what a feeling. I remember just whispering over and over in her ear that it was going to be ok. She fell asleep on the bus ride to the hotel and woke up subdued but quiet.
This is what we saw by bedtime and for the remainder of the trip. She has such a sunny disposition to this day!

Home almost a year....

Home 2 years with a new brother from China....

Home three years.....

Home four years....kind of a diva by this time...

Loving her little bros....

Home 5 years.....the time has flown by and our little Anna Banana has been such a blessing to us. We love you, Anna!