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.

Left Behind

Left Behind by Kay Bratt on March 31, 2011 Imagine this—you bring home your 9-year-old adopted daughter after years of waiting and you cannot reach the sorrow that she is expressing through her evening ritual of tears. You go to an online translator and through exchanges your daughter tells you she misses her sister. With more questions and probing, you are astonished to find out your daughter has left behind her twin sister and is grieving the separation. You were never told she had a sibling, much less a twin. This is not a fictional story and it probably happens more than we know. But these girls are possibly a bit different than some siblings who are separated at birth—Anna and her sister, Audrey [as Anna has now named her], were raised together in a loving foster home for years. The twins have one major difference to contend with—Audrey is blind. When the directors decided that Audrey was ready to attend a school for the blind, she had to leave her sister to reside at the school during the week and in the orphanage on weekends and holidays. But despite the financial hardships and the 2 hours driving time each way, the amazing foster parents of these girls took Anna to see her sister at least once per month until the time that Anna left China.






For Nikki to witness her daughter’s anguish was excruciating and prompted Nikki to find out more. Luckily, Anna could remember the phone number of her foster parents and through a friend from China, Nikki was able to contact the family and verify all of the startling information and even receive photos of the girls together. She was told that Anna’s sister is not considered approved for adoption, but the directors have been open enough to send information pertaining to the girl’s current wellbeing. Nikki was even able to arrange a phone call for Anna to speak to her sister during Chinese New Year when the foster family received her for a visit. Anna has explained to her mom all the reasons she worries about her sister and one of her concerns is that the children in the orphanage have a history of taking the clothes and shoes the foster family brings for Audrey and exchanging them for old, worn ones. She said they even take Audrey’s food if no one is there to stand guard.




It is obvious that Anna was ‘Audrey’s eyes’ and now she feels her sister is left without anyone to protect or guide her through each day. In the middle of trying to bond with her new daughter, Nikki is also trying to help her daughter deal with this blow and has even encouraged Anna to remember her sister. They have framed the treasured pictures of the girls posed together and hung them on the family walls. Anna has one framed photo of her sister that she keeps in her room and at night she tucks it under the covers beside her, so that she can feel close to her sister as she falls asleep. Heartbreaking—I can’t even imagine! I am a twin and this story has torn at my emotions like no other. I’m sure that Anna has to feel some sort of guilt that she is living a life that both of them have probably dreamed of, while her sister is still left behind in China. Like me, you are probably screaming inside that you hope Anna’s family can also adopt Audrey so that the girls can be reunited. But life isn’t always so simple and this story is proof of that. Nikki and her husband now have 4 children, all close in age. During the paper chase and agonizing waiting, they felt that Anna coming home would make their family complete. Obviously during this time they had no knowledge of a twin or it would have changed everything. Financially, emotionally, and realistically another adoption for their family is just not feasible. But Nikki has reached out to the adoption community around her in the hopes that a family would come forward and feel like Audrey is meant to join them. We don’t know what would need to be done to facilitate changing her status, but the first step would be for a paper-ready family to declare they want to parent Audrey. [and it would be amazing if a family in Wisconsin would be chosen so that the girls could grow up in close proximity.] Anna’s family does not want to push this tragedy to the back of their minds and go on with their life. They have researched and reached out to try to find a way to help Audrey but feel that they still do not have a resolution. What am I asking from all of you? Advice. Perhaps by some miracle we can find a family for Audrey and people who know the steps to help her will come forward and offer assistance. Some questions I have are what type of assistance is out there for special needs children of her status if she should be adopted? Financial assistance? Many times I have a family tell me they are interested but not financially able to adopt or provide for future needs. Can any of you calm those fears with your own stories? It is also my hopes that you will put the link to this story on your own social sites for others to read, and perhaps a miracle for these sisters will emerge.

White Mother, Black Adopted Daughter

This aired on ABC and takes place in a diner in New Jersey. You have to go down on the side bar and turn the music off to listen. It was great to see people at the diner getting out of their comfort zone to share about race and sad to see there is still prejudice.

Interracial Adoption Under Fire

A Long Adventure

We couldn't just be satisfied with going to Clearwater Beach. We really all wanted more of an adventure,it is spring break. Since we can fly for free with Mike's job why not fly to San Juan for the day and go to the beach there. So,we are all up at 4am ready for a day in Puerto Rico. We catch the direct flight and are on the beach before noon. We are having a blast and even have time to relax at Starbucks before heading back to the airport for our 8pm departure. When we arrive at the gate we find a plane has broken and there are now 160 people in front of us. By 10pm it is not looking good,so we grab some food at Wendy's and tell our sob story to some maintenance workers. They tell us to go back into the airport and wait at the gate and they will be able to help us out. All the hotels on the island are booked, because of the iron man triathlon being held all weekend, they also said the chances of getting on a flight tomorrow didn't look good, as all the cruise ships come in tomorrow. We make it back to the gate and are joined by 40 other people, who are also stranded at the airport. A gate agent came by and showed us how to flip rows of chairs and turn them into beds. Then the maintenance guys showed up with a few cots,blankets and food. What a great way to end the day!!! We did eventually make it out,but had to fly 8 hours to LA and then took the red eye from there to Miami and then hopped on a quick flight to Tampa. Our day trip turned into 3 days,but it was an adventure.

Beach Day

The older boys were off from college classes this week,so we tried to fill up our schedule with fun things to do. The first day of spring break we went to the beach in Clearwater. It was sooo relaxing and we are officially Floridians, as the water was way to cold to swim.