One Incredible Day

This most amazing day began with this reading from Jesus Calling:
"This is a time of abundance in your life. Your cup runneth over with blessings. After plodding uphill for many weeks, you are now traipsing through lush meadows drenched in warm sunshine. I want you to enjoy to the full this time of ease and refreshment. I delight in providing it for you."
And oh MY OH MY how true that was!!!
It began with new pictures of our Esty!!!
Remember when you were 7, 8, or 9 months pregnant?
You were ACHING to meet that little person kicking inside.
Well, in adoption that ache is similar. 
But different.
I await anxiously for news of my child. I cannot know if she is safe at night, or if she is frightened or sleeping peacefully.
I try to imagine the latter.
So it is so comforting to see these images of our girl smiling and enjoying life:

And AWESOME to see pictures from her birthday party!!!

Holding up the gift we sent her!

 I love how this orphanage seems to really celebrate children with their artwork framed up on the wall! Inside that big box is the cake we ordered and sent to her!

Hello Kitty cake! 10 candles!

Esty waiting patiently for her family to come and bring her home forever!

Aren't those pictures WONDERFUL!?!?!?

I knew that I had also gotten a video…but I was unable to open it. My sweet friend was able to change it for me…so I waited.

In the meantime, God did an amazing thing that only HE could arrange: the PERFECT carpet in stock and able to be installed on Friday!!! This was amazing as we wanted to get new carpet for Esty's room that would not hinder her wheelchair. We are being blessed with a new bed and it's coming on Sunday! We couldn't get over how awesome this was!! The carpet is just exactly what we wanted!!

Then…a sweet friend told me that she has a special wheelchair just for Esty! She pointed out that what Esty is using is just a standard issue one…and the arm rests are way high up under her arms and she has arranged for a PINK one to be delivered to us NEXT WEEK!! It will be perfect for her! What a GIFT!! (P.S. Did you know PINK is Esty's favorite color?!?!? God did!!)

All the while, I was posting about the bunny puzzle project! We began this day with 144 pieces left. People were so graciously giving that our CURRENT NUMBER now is 86  81 pieces left!!!! WOW!!! I was literally GIDDY.

Then, the email came with the link to watch her video!!! I'll add it at the bottom. Suffice it to say, we have watched, giggled, cried, delighted and watched it countless times again and again. We absolutely cannot WAIT to get that girl HOME!!!

Then, I went to get the mail. Outside my house sat a large box. It had some fun writing on it:

This box was from a friend I had "met" earlier in the week on Instagram! How cool is that?!??! She's a momma who is at the very beginning of a Chinese adoption. She is selling home goods to bring her baby home.

I commented that the pillow she had was EXACTLY the colors of the room I was putting together for our girl! I showed her this picture of what I had chosen:

And then she did something AMAZING. She offered to send me the pillow I liked FOR FREE. What??? And then, she added a second one that would match!!!

Picture from her Instagram that I fell HEAD OVER HEELS for!

Then today…in the box I was dumbfounded. Inside I found not two pillows but FOUR! Four amazing, expensive, Chinese silk pillows that will so perfectly match her new room that I nearly fainted from my joy!!!

What a gorgeous matched set!!

 The two more EXTREMELY AMAZING pillows:

This is just too much!

The mail ALSO had a notice from immigration with a receipt date for our next paperwork! Things are MOVING!!!

But wait! MORE FUN--our calendar had on it "family night at Zeb's preschool" and so we all 8 loaded up into the van thinking we would go see where Zebby attends preschool. NOTE: I did mention there was 30% of me that was unsure if this event was a go… We got to his school and we were all laughing because we were the ONLY vehicle in any of the parking lots! "Maybe they are meeting on the playground, " someone managed to say between our laughter. (it was pitch dark!) We ended up riding around our town listening to Oliver tell jokes and calling it "Prank parent/teacher conference!" We did get gas for $2.81 a gallon though! SO FUNNY!!

So before I sign off after this most amazing day, I want to leave you with our brand new video of Esty!!! 

WAIT!!! I forgot that we ALSO got an update on her with TEN QUESTIONS answered!!! And here is the MOST AMAZING news (you can understand after this crazy awesome day how this slid to the back of my memory!):

 ESTY HAS NOT BEEN IN THE ORPHANAGE ALL OF THESE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHA??????

That's right! After only about a MONTH in the orphanage as a baby, she was taken into a foster family. She lived with them until LAST SUMMER. 

This is AMAZING news, y'all. (And I'm from the north where we don't say that lightly.)

She KNOWS how to live in a family!!! She is not going to suffer from the years and years of orphanage life/behavior!!

WHY was she returned to the orphanage? I asked that!!! They explained it was so she could attend their school, as she is unable to attend the public school. (China is not wheelchair accessible.)

Isn't this awesome??? YES! IT IS!!!! (okay, apart from the fact that she hasn't been to school since just this past summer! But we will work with that!!!)

Okay, NOW I will let you see her birthday party!! (Note: they put make up on her!! I couldn't understand why her lips were so pink in the above pictures…until I saw the video--she has blush on too! Ai ya!)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to understand what is being said! In the beginning, the nanny asks all the children, "Whose birthday are we going to celebrate today?" All the children yell, "Lang Han Han's!" (This is Esty's beautiful name in Chinese! We will be calling her Han Han until she feels very comfortable with us and when SHE chooses to go by Esty. (just a head's up!))

Then the nanny says, "Lang Han Han, today we celebrate your birthday! How old are you?" 

My daughter softly and sweetly replies, "I'm 10!"

Then she asks her, "Are you happy?" Han Han replies, "Yes I am!"

Then the nanny says that her mommy and daddy bought her this cake and that it is especially cute, doesn't she agree? Esty agrees with a happy smile!

Nanny then says, "Look! Look at your cake, what is on it?"

Han Han: "A kitty!" (it's Hello Kitty)

Nanny: "Do you like the cute kitty?"

Han Han: "I like it!"

Nanny: "Now say something special to your mommy and daddy."

Han Han: looks like she's a bit caught off guard…or maybe they HAD practiced a phrase! The nanny kindly reminds her: (in English) "I am very happy, thank you."

Esty: "I am very happy, thank you!"

Then the nanny moves the party into singing time. I LOVE that little down syndrome girl's enthusiasm for singing happy birthday to her friend!! Nanny: "Now it's time to sing happy birthday to Han Han, shall we?"

"YES!" the children reply!

Que Happy birthday first in Mandarin, followed by English!! (Picture this momma singing her heart out to the screen with tears rolling down her cheeks!!)

Nanny then encourages the children to celebrate Han Han by clapping because they are happy! :) (totally over here clapping too!)

Then she asks Han Han to begin serving the cake. And she does. 

From here on…she is frozen…but ONE DAY she will be in my arms and I will be sooooooooo happy!!!

In the event that you are reading this and want to celebrate Han Han/Esty's birthday by joining in the gift of this puzzle we will give her for her birthday: 

Here's the button to donate! Each piece is $10 and your name will be written on the back for her to see and put together when she gets home. Her favorite animal is a bunny rabbit, which is the reason we chose this particular puzzle!

Owliver's Birthday Celebration!

Cousin Henry, in attendance!

October is packed full of happy fun times for our family! Our first son, Oliver was born 6 years ago. (HOW does time fly so fast!?!?!?) We celebrated that marvelous birth with family and a most important cousin Henry! Henry and Oliver have made a pact to attend each other's birthday parties for life! :) This is a bit of a feat since they do not live near each other!

Being in school now, I wanted to send a special birthday treat that he would remember. I still remember my own Kindergarten birthday cupcakes! I got the idea online for these cute owl cupcakes:

It was fun to figure out which candies to use for the eyes and beaks! I used Oreos and Junior Mints for the eyes, Mike and Ikes for the beaks and piped the ears and feathers on with a chocolate buttercream icing.

So then on his actual birthday cake for his party:

What fun it is to celebrate this precious boy!

“Children are a heritage from the Lord,”

                                                                             Psalm 127:3

Life as a swirl cake

I never even think to buy marble cake mix. But there is some little munchkin who did because when I got home from the store last week and unloaded groceries, there it sat on my counter.

"Hmmm. I never put that in my cart! But...

                                            I could use that for Zebby's birthday cake," I thought.

Funny how things like that happen.

So fast forward to today...see here for why life is so crazy...and I'm preparing his cake for the oven.

But as I mixed the marble cake up...I realized what a demonstration this is about adoption.

We are the pan of yellow cake mix, he is the chocolate mix being added in.

(Did I say please forgive the silliness of this analogy yet? Please do. We are more than yellow and chocolate cake flavors, I know.)

As I plopped down the chocolate on top of the yellow, I realized that this is what life still feels like...nearly 6 weeks in.

But as I took the knife and swirled it together a beautiful pattern emerged.

The cake didn't blend into one solid murky color, each maintained their individual colors and flavors.

And it was beautiful.

That is what our goal as a family is: to blend together into a beautiful, multicultural, harmonious unit. Not color blind, but celebrating each person's uniqueness and contribution to the whole.



We'll get there. 


                       Some day.

The March of Birthdays...

  

I am so blessed. I have TWO delightful daughters both born in March. 

Often we combine their parties into one...this year, it was a wee bit different.

For Anneli's birthday, we took the whole family to CHICAGO!!!

We rode the train in from Wheaton...an experience that Oliver is STILL talking about! What fun! And we sat up on the top level! Yippie!

Choo choo!

                          












First stop...the AMERICAN GIRL store! :) (A long time dream of hers to go there!) She was delighted to find out that her grandparents had called ahead and prepared gift cards to the store! She looked carefully and decided to buy Kanani, the new Hawaiian girl of the year!

Next stop, Gino's East Pizzeria!
Time for these kids to have some genuine Chicago style deep dish!! We were so lucky, we avoided all lines and just walked in! Still had the HOUR to wait while they cooked our pizza...



So everyone found things to do!

Reading her new book about her Kanani doll

Oliver and Daddy and DQ had gone to the Lego store while the older girls and I were playing at the AG store. This gave Olly something to play with while we waited for PIZZA!

We're so cute!

           And then...

THE PIZZA CAME! 

Anneli got to a booth before another diner did!

And one of the best parts about
 Gino's East is being able to
 leave your mark!!

Jensi found a place on a support beam to leave her name.

I don't think he is left-handed...but maybe only for graffiti!

And finally I did this for ALL of us:

We visited a few more places...but the longer the day wore on, the fussier sweet little Darrah Kate got.

At the Bean in Millennium Park...in the wind and snow. Love Anneli's stoic pose. And Oliver's new Disney friend.

The next day, we went to my alma mater, Wheaton College!

And then discovered the Billy Graham Museum was OPEN! We HAD to take the kids there...

Standing at Billy Graham's preaching podium!

Jensi and my college friend's daughter pose with Billy

The heart of Billy's message etched in a big stone wall and lit up!

All the kids together!

And this is too cute to not show you:

Darrah Kate and Lillian...both kinda sorta 2 years old :)

Cake time!

A gymnast cake for my girl who spends most of her life upside down!

Her candle has bites out of it. Yes, Darrah Kate struck again!





And Jensi's ipod cake:

ELEVEN candles...oh my!

Surprise and excitement over Matthew West concert tickets for NEXT WEEK! :)

ipod cake with her favorite artist and song!


Birthdays in March...a fun time for everyone! Happy birthday to two of my favorite people on the planet!