This time last year

One year ago today we were in China. I was a bundle of nerves about to meet our little Huanyue for the first time. I tried to relax and enjoy the sights and experience. But the emotions were running too high. I am so grateful that we were able to take our two youngest daughters along on the trip. Their lives were also forever changed. It's a sentimental time for me as I reflect on our one year "Gotcha Day" anniversary. I realize more all the time that I left a part of my heart in China.

Here's our scared little girl the first time we met her.

And here she is today .

What a difference one year makes. What a difference love makes. What a difference Christ makes.

"A life changed is worth it, even if only one. God's love made known is worth it, 

even if only to one." -- Katie Davis, Kisses From Katie

"No eye has seen, nor ear has heard

and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared 

for those who love Him."

1 Corinthians 2:9

^{....More to come on Gotcha Day Anniversary}

Spring Sweeties

Catchin' Up

It's been a long while since I've blogged. The recent months brought some challenging times with my health. Barely getting out of bed for several weeks tends to make one re-evaluate how they spend their time when they are able to get out of bed. Blogging is not near the top of the list. I started writing here last year primarily as a way to record our adoption journey. I'm glad I did. As I go back and read the stories, I am surprised at how I forgot many of the details. My other motivation for writing is orphan advocacy. In consideration of whether or not to continue this blog, I prayed and came to the conclusion that yes, I will for now. My prayer is that people will be touched, and God will use this blog to motivate at least one person to rescue an orphan. That would make my heart very happy. 

We are finding it hard to believe that it was one year ago this month that we brought our Ivy home. I have a lot of posts written in my head. We'll see how that goes. So for now allow me to catch up a bit. The moments in this life I enjoy most are the simple ones..like these. Thank you to my family and some special friends for loving me through this challenging time and working extra hard to keep things goin' around here.

Rainy day card games are so much fun.

'Miss Little Creativity' made herself some fancy earrings with bobby pins.

Macy has been busy with sewing some spring skirts.

Ivy worked hard to help get the fruit off the trees before the freeze hit.
Our first crop of blood oranges were super yummy.

It's always someones birthday around here!

So thankful for help getting the garden planted. We are now starting to reap some of the harvest!

Lively visits from the 'cutie-patooties' are the best!

These dear friends came to visit recently. I was so excited to spend the evening with them. We used to hang out with Dave and Becky thirty years ago when we were both newlyweds. We had our oldest babies together in the 80's. Then fast forward to last year when we told our friends we were adopting a little girl from China. Some simply looked at us like we had lost our marbles. But not these friends. They were our faithful cheerleaders. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths. Psalm 36:5-6

Our China Doll

I know I'm the Mom...but seriously, isn't she adorable? 

-Gong Xi Fa Cai-

Blossoming

I love seeing Ivy's growth in photos. This first picture was taken about nine months ago shortly after she was dropped off to us .

....and here she is now...growing daily in wisdom and stature

I am daily surprised at the power that love has on the human spirit. 

“But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.”  John Piper

hello 2013

Hard to believe January is passing us by. Life is full. Ivy continues to astound us with her ability to adjust and acquire language. I believe her English vocabulary has about caught up with her age. Never would have dreamed this could happen in nine months. Here's a sampling from just this week: "I'm cooperating very well today!", "This bumpy road makes me so nauseous!", "Mommy, does everyone have to die?", "Look, that lady looks like she's Chinese too!", "If I don't obey will you take (send) me back to China?" That one is heartbreaking. It was another opportunity to assure her that she's not going anywhere. She was happy to hear, once again, that this is her forever family. Her response.."It's going to take me a long time to learn to obey!" She's a corker through and through. Lots of laughs, lots of work. Training, bonding, and unlearning orphanage behaviors, takes time and patience. But rewarding it is.

Speaking of work and patience..we celebrated our sweet Macy's birthday this weekend. She tirelessly serves her family daily with joy and humor. Honestly, I don't know how I would have survived 2012 without her working by my side. She is mature beyond her 14 years, has endured a lot of physical pain the last year,  and always wears a smile.

Happy Birthday to our middle child.

Taken with my Nikon D5000

Her first Christmas

Half a world away you spent five years without a family and never hearing of Jesus. Welcome home, Ivy, for your first Christmas. It has been our blessed privilege to bring you into our family and introduce you to Jesus. This family is the place God planned for you, and He planned you for us. Together we all learn what love really is and how much we need a Savior. You teach us as much as we teach you. The beauty is in the redemption--imperfect, hurting, sinful people learning to love. Thank you, God, for rescuing another orphan and bringing her home. And thank you, God, for sending Jesus to rescue each of us from our sinful selves.

"It is not about God making my dreams come true, but about God changing my dreams into HIS dreams for my life. As I go with Him to the hard places, He changes them to the most joyful places I could imagine."  Katie Davis

Taken with my Nikon D5000

View from my window

Nine years ago when we moved from our country farmhouse to the desert, I thought this was the ugliest place I had ever seen. I never dreamed I would someday look out my window and see beauty in the dirt and cacti.

 Perspective. 

 

How did it change?

The only answer I can come up with is.. when I saturate myself in something I often grow to love it.

The years have made my heart grow fond.

Made me consider what else I love. Living in this world is a battle of the heart. It's easy to fall in love with life here. John Piper put my thoughts into words so well:

"I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Orphans and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set."

But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also wait eagerly for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Philippians 3:20