I would like to introduce our son, Josiah Jian Guo

Isn’t he a cutie? Don’t you love those sweet cheeks? He just turned two and is waiting for us at Hubei CWI. We just started paper chasing and look forward to him joining our family. He’s a special focus child and we are re-using our dossier from Mari’s adoption which is all new to us, but that means that we get to skip some steps and hopefully bring him home sooner rather than later.

This has been a long time coming and well, let’s just say that it took a long time for us to “hear” the Lord on this one.  It’s easy to miss what He’s saying when you have your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed saying “I’m really busy, Lord…not now”.  I’m so grateful He is patient with me. His whispers eventually led to a clunk on the head. Sometimes I need a clunk : ) What else can I say. Thank you Lord for revealing our son to us. It’s an honor to be chosen to be his Momma and I can hardly wait to hold him in my arms.

My Marianna

Today I've noticed her over and over smiling at me. Just out of the blue....sweet little smile on her face. It's almost like she has a secret or something. And she's been very quiet and contemplative today. This is not the norm for her. She's usually way too busy for that. She's my mischievous one. She rarely slows down and is often into something she shouldn't be. She's a ball of energy. Definitely the "life of the party" as her Mama and Baba described her. But today, she's been quiet and every time I catch her eye she's smiling at me. I'm not sure what's going on in that little mind of hers today, but I'm surely blessed by it. I love getting a glimpse of a different side of her. Even at being home ten months I'm still getting to know her. Sounds strange, but it's true.

We've had some difficult times. When you don't really know someone it's hard to know what they're thinking or what they want or why they did what they did. It's been a learning experience for me. For her as well. She didn't know me either. She's so different than Izzy it took me awhile to appreciate it. She's truly a breath of fresh air. I just needed a little while to recognize that. You know it seems strange to have an idea in your head about how your child (that you've never met) is going to act, but you form these ideas about them. You just do. Can't help it. Then they come home and act completely different than what you imagined. Turns out that it's awesome and much better than what you imagined, but it catches you off guard at first.

I'm seeing this beautiful little flower emerging from a bud. It's so sweet to watch.

Well, not exactly. I see this beautiful little flower busting out of it's bud and it's the ride of my life to watch. Yes, that says it better. That's Mari : )

Rockstar in the making

He's created a little fighter in her...what are we going to do with this little thing. She starts taking piano lessons in July and she tells me yesterday "Momma, I want to take boxing too"...good grief !!

Has your kids imaginary play ever left you feeling like you're the one that's missing something? Or is it just me?

Me: "Whatcha doin Bella?"
Izzy: "Uh, Hellooooo...Surfing Momma..can't you tell?"
Me: "Oh, well...No, I couldn't..I mean...(deciding to play along) I didn't know you knew how to surf.
Izzy: " I LOVE to surf Momma"
Me: "Really, we'll I've never seen you surf before. When did you learn?"
Izzy: " I just learned today Momma (with hands on hips and a little bit of attitude because I didn't already know this information). I've been trying to learn for a long time, but I've been sitting around here waiting for a wave to come and it never did. (Shocking, right? Considering she's in the play room, not on the beach)
Me: "So, a wave finally came along?"
Izzy: "Yeah silly...can't you see I'm surfing now"
Me: "Yes, of course....Great job Bella. You're an awesome surfer."
Izzy: "Thanks Momma, now move out of my way....Uh, pretty please. I'm trying to teach Mei Mei and you're messing up our waves."

Dancing with Daddy

I heard Izzy from the back of the house " Momma, come see me Momma. Come see." When I got to the kitchen she was in her Daddy's arms as he spun her around.  She had a great big smile on her face. "Look, Momma I'm dancing with Daddy". Talk about melt my heart. There's something about a big ole tattooed rough looking guy with his little girl in his arms that just gets me. This was one of those precious times when God whispered to me "don't forget this".  I knew that I better grab my camera.

So they danced  and I snapped some pictures. She giggled. He smiled and I cried.

"Don't forget this"