It's Official!!

Xiao Han (Ben) is our son!!

It's a done deal!

We are all so very happy! 

Can you hear us cheering all the back in America!

WooooooHoooooo!

And he is looking pretty happy about it too!

This was their Tuesday event!

On Thursday they will visit the orphanage and bring gifts!

We have met this guide before, he name is Savor!

When Katie and I were in Nanjing meeting Sarah! We had Nancy and the other family had Savor!

Nancy and Savor were friends so we did a few things together!

Now that I am remembering back... I have to giggle! 

Our Sarah was quite the handful and I am pretty sure I had to ask the family that Savor was with to "please do not hold my new child's hand and please don't give her money"!

Kinda uncomfortable BUT I had to do it!

Oh yes, it's true! 

Sarah was not too crazy about her new Momma! 

(Although she loved her sister Katie!)

She would not hold my hand and she barely acknowledged my existence!

We battled for the alpha female spot!

When we were at a little amusement area Sarah rode on the rides.

Once I ran out of quarters I was of no use to our sweet girl so she went up to the nice Grandma(from the other family) and held her hand and asked her for more quarters!

Sarah was definitely streetwise, resourceful and a survivor!

She is not going to be happy with me, that I told this story!

Oh well, 

we all love to tease each other about our time in China!!

Mia laughs about our China time with her!

That was eventful, too!

They ALL want to know "their China story"- it is such an emotional head spinning time for the newly adopted child, they barely remember it!

I hope Daddy and Mark have some good stories to tell!

Benjamin and Joseph will want to hear them in about 6 months!

Be still my heart!

I love my boys!

Looks like they found a Starbucks!

Enjoy!

I love that he is happy and willing to hold hands and be near his Daddy!

It's a great start to bonding!

Looking forward to my turn!

Gotcha Day Pics and Happy Birthday Luke!

He was waiting at the civil affairs office for his new Daddy and big brother!

No tears, just smiles!

He had his photo album with him (thank you Jesus) and he knew them right away!

When they have the photo album it makes it so much easier!

Our Mia never got her photo album and she had no idea who we were or what we looked like.

Gotcha day was terrifying for her and it took her awhile to warm up.

 Ben is even more like Sam than I thought!

He seems to have a good sense of humor and a fun personality!

He can read Chinese!

As a homeschooling Momma this really helps!

If he can read in Chinese he will mostly learn quickly how to read in English!

I always think of more question after we are done visiting. I'm going to have to start writing them down so I can ask Hubby when we talk!

Ben was born with spina bifida. He can walk just fine but not run or hop.

After he has been home for a week, we are going to the SB clinic so they can evaluate his situation and they will do whatever they can do to help him!

I have already let the physical therapists know that he will be coming in January!

I was all excited for another update but once we skyped I realized they had been sleeping all of our day.

As we are going to bed they are just getting started!

There are not any other adopting families in Hangzhou right now, so that is too bad. It's fun to see other adopting families and to support each other and then the children can interact and play. I think it will be really nice when they get to Guangzhou! From all the travel approvals that arrived at the same time as ours, they should have a wonderful group to hang out with!

Today they will sign the paperwork so he is forever our son!

Praise GOD!

My forever baby turned 5 today!

Happy Birthday Lukey!
You are a treasure and we are so blessed to have you as our son!

We did not do a special outing, just the regular schedule- we already had the big party.
Without Dad as back up I am trying to not over do things. 
We did school in the morning and had our therapies in the afternoon.
Little Anna had a nasty molar pulled today.
It was a bit traumatic for her and kinda for me, too.
But it was over in a couple seconds.
(That's usually Dad's job.)

Abby also lost a tooth today BUT we heard on the news that the tooth fairy is very busy and not in the area at the moment. So we will leave our teeth under the pillow when Mom has some dollar bills- I mean when the tooth fairy is back in MN!

We all had cupcakes for dessert!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!
It is so much fun being your Momma!

We Have Benjamin (Xiao Han) AND . . .

We skyped!

He is beautiful, funny, talkative and happy!

No tears, so far!

I was so thrilled to hear the Skype bell ringing!
I met my little boy first and right away he said
"I love you Momma"!
Ya, I know...
 he doesn't even know me yet BUT 
he already has my heart!
And he obviously is a smart and charming little boy!

Then we had the big boys- Billy and Johnny say hello to their new little brother!

And then...

the word spread!

He looked at everyone and said in Chinese-

"That's a lot of people!"

He knows some English!

I love you Momma!

Good Morning!

Good Afternoon!

Good Evening!

His ABC's 

and counting to 6!

He talked to the children

BUT

at that very moment they forgot 

ALL OF THEIR CHINESE!

(We should have practiced!

We will be practicing!)

We said

"Children ask him how old he is!"

and

in English

sweet Mia said,

"How old are you?"

Gotta love it!

We meant in

Chinese, honey!

Feeling very blessed and my heart is at peace!

We have one of our boys!

YAY GOD!

It's a good feeling!

Looks like he has some new front teeth!

Soooo cute!

He is active, busy and full of happy energy!

I think he is going to be a perfect fit for our family!

Can you imagine all of our boys together!

What a happy and fun thought!

He started to sing a song in Chinese and all of the children joined in and sang it with him!

It was so cute!

He is trying to teach Mark some Chinese!

Mark actually learned a few phrases before leaving for China!

Amazed that Skype is working!

So thankful!

They are visiting the orphanage on Thursday!

Let The Journey Begin!

AND

it has begun!

They left early Saturday morning and will arrive in Hangzhou Sunday evening (Sunday Morning our time)!

Sam and Luke are so excited for their new brothers!

Except Sam was feeling like this toy should maybe stay home! 

With him!

Hubby and I spent the afternoon together on Friday.

We went out to lunch and ran last minute errands.

We just needed to be "together".

As our time ended and we went home, we both felt like,

"okay, let this journey begin"!
Let's do this!

It's time to get our boys and it's time to bring them home!

We have tried skype a couple times and it's worked!
Even all the way from Germany!

So glad, 
hoping it works from China, too!

We are so thankful that Mark could travel with Hubby! 

He needed a another person and Sarah and I needed to stay home.

(Sarah because she is bossy ; - ) and me because I am busy caring for all the other children!)

6:30 am they left for the airport!
Billy drove them!
Thank you Billy!

They flew to Detroit and had a short layover.
By 11:00 am they took off for Beijing!
They have a 4 hour layover and then they go to Hangzhou to meet this cute little boy below!

On Monday, November 18th this boy will be with his forever Daddy!

Can't wait to Skype and see him on the other end of my computer!

And here is the photo of him that took my breath away!
We prayed for him, advocated for him and still he sat and sat on the waiting child list!

Although we are sad for him that he had to wait so long.
We are thankful that he is ours and in approximately 24 hours he will meet his Babba(Daddy) and Gege(Big brother)!

Praising GOD!

On Monday, November 25th this little boy will be with his Daddy and big brother, too!

WooooHooooo!

Loving Children. . . That Are Hard To Love

If you would like to read this post please go to

No Hands But Ours Blog

Click on the link and it will take you there!

Blessings, 

Jean

Facing my little fear...

For some reason I have been thinking

"I don't know if I can do this"?

Where have these thoughts come from?

I don't know?

How did I get this seed of doubt and how did I allow it to be planted...

How could I trust God with so much and then decide I can't trust Him with this...

How foolish of me.

He has already moved mountain for us and preformed miracles right in front of our eyes.

 Even more so since we have been adopting His children.

Of course, He can do this...

How could I have doubted him?

In fact-

 He can do this gloriously!

And if HE can do this 

than I can do this

and Hubby can do this.

Some may understand my fear.

Some have already conquered this and successfully completed the task.
Please comment and give me some hints on how to do it!
I am planning to pray my way through every day and to focus on school, in hopes that we can get ahead and have a few days off with our new boys!
I even mentioned Saturday school to the children... it wasn't a big hit so we will see ;-)???

It's kind of silly for me to be fearful of the event ahead.

Today I have been praying over it and it dawned on me-

 don't be afraid

you can do this

I will not leave you

just give it all to ME.

And I believe HIM.

So now I am focusing on the excitement and not allowing fear to enter in.

Our Consulate Appointment in on Dec 4th!

Hubby and Mark are preparing to leave to get our two boys!

We cannot wait to get them home!

I wish I could go and be there to meet them and to have this experience- the first memories with our two new boys!
I imagine myself meeting them on bended knee but I guess that will have to happen at our local airport!

I know that I am called to be home with the other children.
The last journey was hard on them.
They missed their Momma and daddy and their schedule.
We have had too many recent adoptions to for me to leave them AGAIN...
I am happy to be staying with them BUT I want to be two places at once...

Hubby and I have never been apart for soooo long.

Wimpy,

I know!

So many families go through so much more...

How can I be fearful of this?

We have almost completed our packing.
And things are just about ready...
With our other adoptions we would have been completely ready but things have been busy and this year has been eventful.

On the home front we have purchased an extra refrig/ freezer for extra milk and meals.
Which will arrive a few days after they leave for China.

We need to stock up on a few things!

I can't run to the store everyday like hubby does for us.
The grocery store is very close to his office!

Our home is not as close to the grocery store(or any store) as we used to be.

We are trying to get our home to a point where we are settled and have the things we will need during the travel time.

AND

we are trying to figure out the electronics end so somehow we can talk and Skype with each other.
(Please pray that this works out!)

We do not have high speed internet here so I may need to go to hubby's office to Skype?

I guess that's country liven for ya!

The boys bunks are here and their room is looking good!!

 Ben will sleep on the lower red bunk under Sam!
He was born with Spina Bifida and we need to see how he is doing before placing him on a top bunk.

Joseph will be above Luke.
From the videos we have seen climbing up there should be no problem for him.
Plus he may be a bit active so the corner spot is perfect!
3 other little boys will be able to say- "get back in bed" or "Mom, Joey is climbing out of bed"!
Reporting works for our family!
(and it's not technically tattling!)

 We have the curtains are on the window now but we still need to hang pictures.
This will happen once they are all home!

The closet system is in and we are starting to put their clothes away!

The bathroom is smaller but it will work great for our boys!

When I showed the rooms to one of the older children... his response was...
Well, you're not going to win any decoration awards but considering you will have 13 children, 
it's looking good!
Thanks honey...
That was the first time I realized that... the rooms were... kinda full 
; - )
Truthfully, I thought I was on my way to a decorating award!

This is the big girls room! 
We still need to hang pics and do finishing touches... once the hubby is back home!
We also need to organize the big girls clothes!
They have been wonderful and have worked out of bags and suitcases!

Putting bunks in front of windows is not what I would normally do BUT Hey, it's working!
(the green wall is NOT that bright... Ben Moore HC 113 Guilford green- love the color!)

And the little girls room!
Once again, it's in need of a few finishing touches!

We are trying to encourage hubby and big bro Mark to take lots of pictures- they are not usually the photographers of the family, so that will be challenging for them. I hope to have this time documented through pictures (as best as they can).

I've requested 10 pics per day! Hopin' they deliver!

At home-

we are trying to take as much as possible off the calendar so things go well.

No extra Dr appts or extra activities.

I'm going to embrace this moment and use it to grow and to lean on HIM.

Your prayers are welcomed for those in China and for the rest of us at home!

I will be sharing their journey with you!

We were unable to Skype with Ben.
It is already in the regret category...
It is just this season of our lives that made it impossible for us.
I think it is an amazing opportunity and would have done it in a heartbeat if we could've...

I hope this will be offered to more families in the future!

Soon there will be two less!

Gotcha Days are November 18th for Ben and the 25th for Joseph!

Praising GOD!

Ponytail holder update...

Scott gave you an update on the app, I want to give you one on my ponytail holder story...

In that post, I set out to share with you how one ponytail holder was enough for me: How when we live with less, we better track and care for our belongings, including trivial items. I shared how the same ponytail holder has served my needs for close to a year, and why I was considering switching to French metal barrettes when it wears out.  But then, many of you commented, emailed instructions on how to make my own or offered to send me their extras ;)

"When it eventually gives out, go onto Freecycle and see if you can find someone who will give you just one ponytail holder. Heck, I have too many ponytail holders - unused, even - and need to purge. I'll send you one if you like!"

I realized that I failed as a blogger to get my point across. Heck, The point of that post was not to beg for extras nor do I need Freecycle for a ponytail holder: I can just bend down and pick one up from the street if I choose to keep wearing them... they are everywhere. I have since collected visual proof for fun.

I have found 100 hair things... in parking lots (the most common place), in national parks, at the beach, on a public bathroom floor, on a university campus, on sidewalks, during Coastal Cleanup... a renter left one hanging on my nightlight, a friend dropped one on my steps ;) ...

What did I do with all of these? I picked them up and donated them.  But I did put one aside for a good use... 

I had been waiting three years to grow enough hair (i.e., a 10-inch ponytail) to be able to donate it. This week, I reused an envelope to ship it off to Art of Wigs, which upcycles hair into wigs for cancer patients (it's the only company I found that would recycle hair that has been highlighted in the past).

We usually compost our family's hair but I found putting it to a good use to be so much more satisfying... And my shorter hair, has already saved me on shampoo, conditioner, water and electricity! It's all good ;)

What will you be upcycling this week?