THANK YOU JESUS!! WE HAVE LOA!!!

We got a call from Heidi at CHI today and yes we have LOA (letter of acceptance from China) It took 41 days from LID to LOA. We have more paperwork to send off tomorrow to the USCIS for our 1800. Apply for our Visas and wait for TA, our travel approval. We are still hoping to travel in July, and our two oldest boys are going to China in June to help in the cleft and healing home in Shanghai. They are both so excited to be able to work with the babies who are cleft affected. Our oldest son is planning to go to med school and wants to specialize in reconstructive facial surgeries for children,so he can help little ones who need this type of care.

We are all so excited that in a few short months, we will be holding and loving on our Liam. He has no idea how much he is loved.

PRAISE GOD WE HAVE NEW PICTURES OF LIAM

This is starting out to be a great weekend. Stefani from Children's House sent us pictures this morning of our cutie pie. We are so blessed to receive this update with new measurements. God is growing our little guy ,and he is now doubled in height and weight. PRAISE GOD. He is not only standing,but it looks like he is running.

Please continue to pray for Liam, as his report does say he has a tumor forming in a valve of his heart, but we won't know much more until we can get him home. We trust in an awesome God that can move mountains,heal the sick and comfort the lonely. We know God has chosen Liam for us before the beginning of time and he has a purpose for his life, and we are so excited it involves us. We have been chosen to love,care and most importantly teach Liam about Christ and his unending mercy and grace. It is humbling when I think of all that this entails for all 7 of our children that God has given us. These children are not even ours, but HIS children. Only with Gods grace can I even approach this daunting task of raising each treasure for the glory of God. What an amazing privilege it is.

We are soooo excited that in a few months we will be holding our sweet Liam and what joy he will bring to our family.


I think they gave him a nice buzz cut for the pictures.

Happy Birthday Eamon

My baby boy turned "12" today. I am never ready for any of our children to have another birthday and turn another year older,but I know it is a reality I need to deal with. God is growing Eamon into such a wonderful young man. He is always excited about life, rarely complains and is always happy to play with his sisters. I remember holding him all day when he was a baby, because I thought he may be my last little one,and he was for a long time. He was my only one born at home and we moved from Arizona to New Jersey when he was only days old. This kid has learned to be flexable, as we moved all over the country and to Europe and back before he turned 9. He would always try to keep up with his three older brothers, and we would end up finding him curled up asleep somewhere. I cherish so many memories and love to look at pictures when all the boys were small. God has given Eamon a heart that is patient and loving and as I watch God direct the lives of our two older boys I can only wait in anticipation to see what direction God has planned for Eamon. What a gift we have been given and we are truly blessed.

Tornados and Camping Trips

This is our 2nd year attending the Hope Homeschoolers annual camping trip to Hillsbourough State Park. We had horrible storms and tornados the day before we were to be packed up to leave for the weekend. I had a list of things to get done and of course Mike was gone. The day started out great,put in my first load of laundry, was planning my grocery list and planning to take all the clothes and supplies out to the camper to load it up for the weekend. First I had to get all the kiddos started with school. We are all sitting at the table and the sky starts to get black I mean really black,so I get on the computer to look at the weather and see tornado warnings and watches for our area. We keep doing school, but it was getting darker and the wind was picking up. I decide it may be a good idea for all of us to get in the bathroom, that was the only room in the house with no windows, and is an interior room. Hadyn can't resist bringing in a large plate of chocolate chip cookies and I grab the computer. I get the weather up and then we loose power. We are all sitting on the bathroom floor and we hear the wind howling and trees crashing down in the backyard, then it got quiet. Without power the house was still really dark from the black storm clouds and without internet we had no idea if the storms were over. We could see limbs of trees all over the yard outside. It was pouring rain all day and our driveway looked like a river. We waited for a few hours and still no power,so we decided to venture out to get something for dinner. The roads looked like war zones with trees,powerlines down and debris everywhere. After traveling out to the main road about a mile it looked like nothing had happened, and all the businesses where open with electricity. We later found out that a tornado had traveled by only a few blocks from our house. The power finally came on about 9pm,but still no phone or internet. The packing for the camping trip and the laundry machine started about 10pm. We got a message that the campground did not have electricity and a lot of the sights were flooded. Families began to cancel,but our site was dry and we would just bring our generator for electricity. The camping trip and fellowship were wonderful and all of our children were so glad we didn't cancel. It turned out to be a great weekend without rain.