Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Spring Baseball
My little guy doing what he likes to do. He actually hit a HOMERUN during this game. He was so excited and mom and dad were too. If you heard screaming, that was us! He said by the time he got to third base his legs were hurting...lol.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Liam's First Care Package!
Pray that it arrives safely! I can't wait for the nannies to realize that we are the family that adopted Lily and now we are adopting another one of their precious children.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
One Amazing Story, One Amazing Little Boy, One Truly AMAZING God
A lot has happened in the last couple weeks to say the least. So let me take you back in time a little to get the full story.
Fred and I knew that we were to adopt again. For us it was just a matter of timing. So as we began to seek the Lord on when we would adopt again the news about China's special focus program came out. This news came out just after we had returned from China with Lily. Once Lily came home I kept up with her foster home in China's blog. During this time, God laid a special little boy on my heart that was currently at this foster home. I watched him, researched his condition and my heart grew stronger and stronger for him. As Fred and I discussed one evening our plans for moving forward with adoption, I explained to him that I was torn between China and Ethiopia. Was God opening a door for us with this new special focus program? I showed Fred the picture of this little boy on the foster home website and told him that if he ever showed up on our agency's waiting child list, he would have to hold me back. I didn't think much more of it. So we prayed about our decision and God led us to pursue adoption from Ethiopia.
I have been diligently working on our dossier, home study and immigration paperwork since we made this decision and April 15th our last paperwork was mailed off to immigration and our dossier is complete and ready to go upon receipt of our immigration approval. Whew....one down.
On April 14 (my mom's birthday), I wondered out to our adoption agency's website to check out a little girl my sister was telling me about. She said that she reminded her of me when I was little. My curiosity got the best of me, and I checked out the little boys while I was out there looking at this girl. To my utter amazement there was the little boy that my heart desired. As you can imagine, I was shocked, amazed, confused, scared....literally shaking all over. What are the chances....there are a little over a half a MILLION orphans in China...hundreds of adoption agencies around the world and THIS little boy, who God laid on my heart was sent to OURS! I immediately emailed my husband and gave him this news. He was not exactly in the same place as me. You see God had softened my heart and began to grow a desire for this little boy. God had to do the same with my husband. I never honestly thought I would EVER have the opportunity to call this little boy my son. So, I called our agency to see if anyone was viewing is file. Well, there was not only one family viewing is file but 6 families waiting to view his file. I explained to the lady at our agency that I was not interested in any other child but him.
So what else could a mom do but PRAY, PRAY and then PRAY some more. I asked Fred to pray along side of me during this time of waiting. I asked him what are we going to do if those 7 families decide not to accept him...he, half laughing, said well then I guess we will. I prayed hard every day. I cried a lot, longing for this little boy that I knew God had sent to us. I prayed that if it was HIS will that the other families would fall away and if he wasn't that HE would close the door.
On, April 26 I received an email from our agency saying that we could view his file. WHAT.....it was a good thing I was sitting down. I just began sobbing. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was our son. I called my husband in tears, barely able to talk. We received his file and did a little more research on our own. I set up a conference call with our international adoption pediatrician (thank goodness for him) for Thursday, April 28 (Lily's birthday). We discussed his condition with him and gained a better understanding of what we were looking at and possibly dealing with. When we got off the phone, we both knew this special little boy was OURS!!! I emailed our agency that afternoon and accepted him. I completed our Letter of Intent (LOI) and sent it over to our agency on Friday. Our LOI was transcribed and sent to China on May 3 and we received our Pre-Approval on Friday, May 6.
So, you may be asking, what about Ethiopia...what about Miles. Well we are not giving up on him. We know that we are to pursue both adoptions at the same time. When we began the process with Ethiopia, things suddenly slowed down. Issues with child trafficking has brought Ethiopia to a major slow down. I remember thinking...Lord what are you doing? We step out in faith and obedience to you and things slow down. I was frustrated and didn't understand what was going on. Did we miss it? Oh no, we didn't miss God...not at all. We were walking in the center of God's will. The slow down had to happen because God had other plans for us. Plans to bring this little boy in China home to his family. Thank you God that you are bigger than us...that your plans are perfect.
So here he is. We can't wait to hold him in our arms!
LIAM BENJAMIN-BAO WAITE
Fred and I knew that we were to adopt again. For us it was just a matter of timing. So as we began to seek the Lord on when we would adopt again the news about China's special focus program came out. This news came out just after we had returned from China with Lily. Once Lily came home I kept up with her foster home in China's blog. During this time, God laid a special little boy on my heart that was currently at this foster home. I watched him, researched his condition and my heart grew stronger and stronger for him. As Fred and I discussed one evening our plans for moving forward with adoption, I explained to him that I was torn between China and Ethiopia. Was God opening a door for us with this new special focus program? I showed Fred the picture of this little boy on the foster home website and told him that if he ever showed up on our agency's waiting child list, he would have to hold me back. I didn't think much more of it. So we prayed about our decision and God led us to pursue adoption from Ethiopia.
I have been diligently working on our dossier, home study and immigration paperwork since we made this decision and April 15th our last paperwork was mailed off to immigration and our dossier is complete and ready to go upon receipt of our immigration approval. Whew....one down.
On April 14 (my mom's birthday), I wondered out to our adoption agency's website to check out a little girl my sister was telling me about. She said that she reminded her of me when I was little. My curiosity got the best of me, and I checked out the little boys while I was out there looking at this girl. To my utter amazement there was the little boy that my heart desired. As you can imagine, I was shocked, amazed, confused, scared....literally shaking all over. What are the chances....there are a little over a half a MILLION orphans in China...hundreds of adoption agencies around the world and THIS little boy, who God laid on my heart was sent to OURS! I immediately emailed my husband and gave him this news. He was not exactly in the same place as me. You see God had softened my heart and began to grow a desire for this little boy. God had to do the same with my husband. I never honestly thought I would EVER have the opportunity to call this little boy my son. So, I called our agency to see if anyone was viewing is file. Well, there was not only one family viewing is file but 6 families waiting to view his file. I explained to the lady at our agency that I was not interested in any other child but him.
So what else could a mom do but PRAY, PRAY and then PRAY some more. I asked Fred to pray along side of me during this time of waiting. I asked him what are we going to do if those 7 families decide not to accept him...he, half laughing, said well then I guess we will. I prayed hard every day. I cried a lot, longing for this little boy that I knew God had sent to us. I prayed that if it was HIS will that the other families would fall away and if he wasn't that HE would close the door.
On, April 26 I received an email from our agency saying that we could view his file. WHAT.....it was a good thing I was sitting down. I just began sobbing. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was our son. I called my husband in tears, barely able to talk. We received his file and did a little more research on our own. I set up a conference call with our international adoption pediatrician (thank goodness for him) for Thursday, April 28 (Lily's birthday). We discussed his condition with him and gained a better understanding of what we were looking at and possibly dealing with. When we got off the phone, we both knew this special little boy was OURS!!! I emailed our agency that afternoon and accepted him. I completed our Letter of Intent (LOI) and sent it over to our agency on Friday. Our LOI was transcribed and sent to China on May 3 and we received our Pre-Approval on Friday, May 6.
So, you may be asking, what about Ethiopia...what about Miles. Well we are not giving up on him. We know that we are to pursue both adoptions at the same time. When we began the process with Ethiopia, things suddenly slowed down. Issues with child trafficking has brought Ethiopia to a major slow down. I remember thinking...Lord what are you doing? We step out in faith and obedience to you and things slow down. I was frustrated and didn't understand what was going on. Did we miss it? Oh no, we didn't miss God...not at all. We were walking in the center of God's will. The slow down had to happen because God had other plans for us. Plans to bring this little boy in China home to his family. Thank you God that you are bigger than us...that your plans are perfect.
So here he is. We can't wait to hold him in our arms!
LIAM BENJAMIN-BAO WAITE
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Lily's 2nd Birthday Party!
I can't believe she is "2". I know I say this all the time, but....WOW she has changed so much from the little girl we brought home back in July '10. She is just amazing. Her actual birthday was Thursday, April 28, but we celebrated with family and friends on Saturday, April 30. We rented a 5 in 1 bounce house/slide combo. I think the slide was her favorite by far!
I took Lily to the toy store on her birthday and let her pick out her birthday present. I pulled all the electric cars, bikes, etc down into he floor to see which one she would gravitate towards. Well her first pick was the John Deer Tractor (which was one I did not pull down). So, I had to deviate a little. Her next pick....the Mini Cooper. So cute! Here are Grace and Lily going for a spin. After all the jerks from Lily trying to push the gas pedal,she was out of there. However, Grace had a big time driving around.
I took Lily to the toy store on her birthday and let her pick out her birthday present. I pulled all the electric cars, bikes, etc down into he floor to see which one she would gravitate towards. Well her first pick was the John Deer Tractor (which was one I did not pull down). So, I had to deviate a little. Her next pick....the Mini Cooper. So cute! Here are Grace and Lily going for a spin. After all the jerks from Lily trying to push the gas pedal,she was out of there. However, Grace had a big time driving around.
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