Gotcha Day!!!

Eight years ago today... in the city of Nanchang .... the most exquisite 11 month old little girl with huge black eyes and a head full of spiked black hair, was placed in my arms. This was the end of an over 2 year journey. An at times, unbearable journey. A journey that had more ups and downs than the best coaster Disney has. That was so tough, that at times I was a blubbering heap upon my kitchen floor, needing my dear husband to pick me up again! As it states in the bible, in Psalms 30:5, sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Well let me tell you the joy I felt when they placed that precious, tiny little pumpkin in my arms, was and still is indescribable! Instantly the sorrow, longing and loss that I had experienced was gone. My heart was filled with complete utter joy! It was so hard for me to believe that the wait was finally over and this precious bundle was mine. The long awaited answer to all my hopes, prayers and dreams. And as only our most loving Father could do , more than I could ever have hoped or dreamed for. To say I was head over heels in love with this screaming little angel child, was an understatement.

We had an amazing 3 weeks to get to know and fall more in love, day by day, with this little sprite! It was an awesome time during which I realized that it was not the end of the journey, but really just the beginning of a new journey. We were going to be able to be part of this incredible little girl's life.

It has been an amazing 8 years. So hard to believe that it really has been that long. I have been having flash backs all week. Reliving the awesome journey to Liv and the amazing first days of us falling more and more in love with her. She amazed me then and continues to amaze me more each and every day.

She is an awesome little girl. She loves the clothes, shoes, the color purple, dancing ballet, laughing out loud, giggling like a girly girl, and snuggling! To say I am a proud mama is an understatement. This past year Livi came to me stating she wanted to be baptised. That was a very emotional service to say the least. And today for her Gotcha day present she got a new purple bible! The girls get a little present to celebrate their Gotcha day, and Liv had been hinting that she really wanted a new bible. She was so excited, that she carried it around with her for most of the day. I got all choked up and said to David that how awesome it was that this precious little pumpkin, had asked Jesus into her heart, gotten baptised and now was so excited to get a bible for her gotcha day! I am so very thankful that she is my daughter and also that she is here in America where this is possible.

My thoughts are also with a precious Grandma who's heart was broken the day mine was set free. Liv knows her as Nanny. I fully believe that God had placed her there to take care of our angel. She took excellent care of our daughter for 10 months. She loved her, fed her and held her constantly. Liv was a preemie and Nanny saw to it that she not only survived, she thrived.I will always be eternally grateful to her.

Happy Gotcha Day my sweet girl. Always know that daddy and I love you so much!!!

New Banner and the Boys will be home tonight!

Well finally got the new banner done with the boys pictures on there when they were 2. I then decided to add a recent picture taken at disney back in Feb. to the middle but it still look like it is missing something...hmmm. I will have to think on that. We all are so excited that the boys will be home tonight. It sounds like they have had a good time. Not as much communication with them or about them as I would have liked, but David says no news is good news. You know us women we want details, details and more details! I am sure they will"spill their guts" when they get home tonight! They do seem to take that after their mother ;O). The littles, as I have taken to calling them this week, have had a blast. We have done fun stuff everyday. Like going letterboxing, getting candy at Mast Store, free movies(2), a visit to the bakery, bluberry picking, a visit to the Folk Art Center and numerous lunches out! I know I have missed things, but you get the point. They have had a blast and so have I. The dynamics are really different when there are just three. I have really enjoyed it, but also have missed the bigs! Ian has already asked what fun thing we are doing today and has reminded me twice that this is our last day. I guess the pressure is on :O). I'm not even sure what we are going to do.

Well on another front, met with some ladies at church Wed. night as we are starting up Kid's Church this Sunday. I will be training the other teachers for the next couple of months. We have been doing everything from Sunday school to a modified kc as there was not enough room to really do kc right. But now the church has added some new rooms and the kids have a new very big room, perfect for kc. I am so excited. When I have been doing the modified kc on the Sundays I teach the kids have really loved it, so I can't wait to see how Sunday will be!

Moving on to the Wacky World "it" is still here, seems it has declared an extended visit. I am starting to really get tired of "it" and an wishing it would be well on it way very soon. I looked up info on living in the Wacky World and seems it is "normal" for "it" to have an extended stay. I read that anything and everything is considered normal in the Wacky World. Well all I have to say is..... please, please don't make me stay in the Wacky World long..... I will be good.... I will eat better.....I will exercise....I will give up chocolate...... WHAT am I saying... I will NOT give up chocolate!!!! I tell you I would promise almost anything to be able to leave the Wacky World but not my chocolate ;O) ! Anyway enough of this...... I'm off to have fun with the littles!

Letterboxing, Hoop-de-Wagons and blog followers...

Oh my! ha ha (just a little refernce to Wizard of Oz) The little kids and I went letterboxing today. We had a good time and found the box before the clouds burst! We even had marble size hail today. This box was too small for our hitchhiker, I am begining to think the poor gnome will never find his hat! After the cloud burst the kiddos and I went down town and visited Mast, got lots of yummy candy(and ate it) and of course visited the waltzing ursa(dancing bear). Then we went to lunch. I know a little backwards, oh well we're kinda on vacation this week too so anything goes. As I said it was just the little kids and I, as my two big boys left at 6:30 am on "the Hoop-de-Wagon" bound for Panama City Beach. They are attending Camp Big Stuf! I think they are going to have an awesome week! When I logged on tonight I noticed that I had my first Blog follower, so I want to give a big "little peak" shout out to Libby!!! Thanks for being my first follower:o). Well gotta get into bed as the littles and I are taking their Waipo(grandma) to see Nim's Island tomorrow at the free movie! And afterwards hopefully we can find another letterbox and get rid of this hitchhiker once and for all!

Pretty New Page and Hitchhiker that refuses to go!

Check out the pretty new page background and banner! I am so proud of myself. I am so not computer savey, but after trying and trying and trying...did I say trying. Well you get the picture. I will be changing the boys photos to ones of them around 2 years old like the girls, but have to upload them first. Those were the days before digital! :O) Anyway still have that blasted hitchhiker. We had another find but it was not safe enough to leave him there. We were going to try and find another place but it started raining. Today I am getting the boys ready for camp, they leave Monday at 5 yes AM ugh... That is an hour that should not come twice a day! I am so a night person. Anyway off to find sneakers today and hopefully get rid of this hitchhiker. On a side note, Biltmore was great as always and the new room are awesome. So neat to see where the babies were born, the crib is exquisite. It was quite busy, we don't usually go in the busy Summer months.

Visiting Biltmore and dropping off a hitchhiker!

Well I know you can't believe I picked up a hitchhiker... let me explain. Thanks to our good friend Libby we have started going on adventures called Letterboxing. It is really a lot of fun and the whole family enjoys it. You go to their website and type in where you want to go for your adventure, like Asheville. Up pops a whole list of places in Asheville where people have placed letterboxes. There is a list of clues you have to follow and at the end there is a container of some sort with a notepad and a rubber stamp. On these adventures you take a note pad, a rubber stamp, an ink pad and a pen. You then stamp their book with your stamp and your book with theirs. One of the things the kids thought was cool was that you have to pick a name. We are the Red, White & Blue Dragons! And we have a really neat Dragon stamp. Love the name as we are a chinese-american family! Well now onto the hitchhiker, sometimes in the letterbox you will find a small package with another stamp and small notepad. This is a hitchhiker, he has no home and just travels from place to place. You then decide if you want to take it or not. Well of course, being our first hitchhiker find, we took it and are going today on a new adventure and will leave our hitchhiker there. The kids don't know that we are going yet, as I love surprises. We are also going to America's Favorite Castle... Biltmore. We need to see the new rooms they have opened up before our season pass expires. I have decided that we need to do at least a couple of fun things each week as Summer is quickly fading! Well on the emotional front, realized why I was rambling on yesterday. "It" is here now. Since I am entering "the wacky world of menopause", I never know when "it" will appear. Kind of explains why I was biting David's head off night before last, for no reason. Poor sweet David, I do feel for him. But if any of you are in "the wacky world" or have ever been around someone who is being forced to live in "the wacky world", you know horrendous mood swings live there and rarely can they be avoided. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to anything in "the wacky world". I do pray my time there is short! Well off to have some adventures with my kiddos...

New start here...

so I am calling it quits on Isabella's babyjellybeans blog after 2 years. I figured that it was high time to stop it as I had not posted in awhile so I will be blogging about her journey as well as the rest of the kiddos here. I am not really good at this kind of thing, but have seen some really great blogs that have inspired me , so why not!?! Not sure how often I will post, but blogging on Xan's birth felt good, so we will see! I have had a rough couple of months... emotionally. I have really been grieving my dad. I know kinda weird after almost 10 years. It started with Xan's graduation, wishing my dad could have been there, he loved Xan more than life itself. Then it was Father's Day, my dad's birthday, Xan's first car and then his turning 18. Whew, what an action packed 2 months. Of course on top of all of this was Isabella's reaction to all the commotion. After sitting down and taking inventory I realized it was no wonder I felt crummy! So I know that I have to turn it over to God and after having several people pray for me, I do feel better. I know that it is a process and that I do have to have God's help, to let go of this grieving. My dad was such an awesome dad and I was and always will be daddy's little girl! I just so wish he could still be here... So anyway, thought if I blogged about some of my thoughts, and got them outta my head, that maybe it would help. So here we go...

18 years ago...

Oh my, 18 years ago, the most adorable little brown eyed baby boy entered my life! It was a very long day, but at 10:00pm he arrived, screaming his little head off! It was love at first sight!!! How have the years went by so fast??? Just yesterday he was dressed up in his cape saving the world as Super Grover... Or was he solving a mystery at his 13th birthday party, or maybe he was graduating from high school ... Sometimes I would like to just go back for a day and spend it playing with my little man again. Oh the nostalgia... so bittersweet... My baby has become a man, a very fine, caring, compassionate, handsome, christian man none the less. I look in his eyes and can still see my little boy sometimes... other times he seems light years away. I never knew being a mommy would be so hard. But it is so very hard to let them go... even though you know you have worked for years to help get them to this very moment in time. Happy Birthday Xan, I am so very proud of you!!!