They all asked for you.....

Last Friday we went to Children's Hospital so they could do a soft cast for Mari to get all of the measurements for her hand. The Audubon Zoo is just blocks from the hospital so we spent a few hours there enjoying the weather and all of the animals. What a sweet day with my family : )  and Mari took the next step towards her myo-electric hand. We go back in a couple of weeks to mark the spots where the electric currents go through her arm so they will line up perfectly with the sensors. Then they send it off to be manufactured. She's really excited about it...so are we !

Wild Olive Tees Fundraiser extended....

Thank you Wild Olive for extending our fundraiser. We get to sell shirts now with a portion going to Josiah's adoption until December 14th.....yeah.

All the details are right here 

We purchased some of the "Love Others" tees to sell at various fundraisers, so if you'd like one of those, we have Small, Medium and Large in the fitted style. It's one of my favorites. They are $30. Just email me (lisabraniff@gmail.com) and I'd be happy to ship it to you.

 Thanks to all of you that have already bought Wild  Olive tees in support of bringing Josiah home. We are so blessed to have friends like you. I hope that you love your tee as much as I love mine.

A new journey begins

Today we go back to Children's Hospital but not for Mari's nose (Thank You Jesus) or for her leg. Today a new journey begins for Marianna. We meet with all the physicians at the Amputee Clinic to start the process for her myo electric hand. I don't know if you remember but Inner Wheel U.S.A. has blessed us by giving Mari a myo electric hand until she's an adult. These limbs are amazing. They are also very expensive. Her "leggie" which is not myo electric and doesn't even have a hydraulic knee was $15,000 so you can imagine what a blessing this is. She was able to see one a couple of weeks ago and she was so excited when she saw that it will move. Now she can hardly wait for it : )  

God told us over two years ago when we started the process of praying about adopting Mari that He would provide everything that she needed and He has not only kept His promise but done it in a way that continues to just knock our socks off. He is so good at that. I believe that He has great joy in amazing us. He is so faithful. Thank You Lord for this blessing from Inner Wheel and the blessing of Mari in our family.

Only 6 days left in our Wild Olive Tees Fundraiser

Hey Ladies.....It's time to Get Your Verse On with a Wild Olive Tee…..if you don’t know about Wild Olive Tees you really have to check them out. (Sorry guys, they’re just for your lady and your kiddos) Imagine a great fabric, cool design and scripture to boot.  I stumbled across these tees a couple years ago and my collection started.  They’re not just great tees. I mean they ARE great tees but it was the heart behind them that hooked me. You see Wild Olive was created by three amazing mommas that LOVE the Lord and LOVE the orphan as well. One of these ladies I met through the bloggy world. She’s a fellow adoptive mom of ten. Yep, that’s right, ten kiddos. Six of which are special needs babes from China. What an inspiration she has been to me and to so many others.

Wild Olive supports orphan care through An Orphan’s Wish in China and Sixty Feet in Uganda. Aside from the tees being great and 10% of all profits going to orphan care they are now helping adoptive families with their fundraising.

Wild Olive Tees has selected OUR family to be featured from 8/20/11 to 10/15/11. Woo Hoo : ) !!!

So, what does that mean? Well, that means that anyone that wishes to buy a really cool tee while at the same time helping to bring our sweet Josiah home can do so during this time. Shopping AND helping to bring an orphan home….sounds good, right? Not the least of which you’re spreading God’s word. 

Ok, so here’s what you do. You go to the Adoption Fundraising Tees page of Wild Olive. Pick out your tee or tees : ) (don’t’ forget to get one for your little one). When you’re checking out put our family code BRANIFF0820 in the coupon code section. You can also put our name in the comment section. Now the coupon code doesn't discount the tee like a coupon code normally would, but it does ensure that a portion of the sale goes directly to bringing our little guy home.

We are honored to be a part of what Wild Olive is doing in the fields of the fatherless.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

We are so grateful for the support of our friends and family. The Lord has entrusted us with much and it has required much of us. We know that we couldn’t have done it without YOU. The Lord has used all of you for His glory to bring our children home. Whether you’ve supported our adoptions financially or through prayer, please know that our children will be eternally grateful. Because of you they know the love of a family and the love of our heavenly Father. A very heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you, but to God be the Glory.

Please consider passing this on to your friends and family.

Spread the Word. Spread the Love. Spread God’s Glory to the Nations……

Much Love,

Rob and Lisa

The park, a picnic and family time....what a beautiful day

"I am the first daughter that grew in Momma's heart"

Izzy is trying to find her place lately. Her place in our family. I'm not sure if it's an adoption thing. Probably is. Or maybe if she was one of four bio children she would be doing the same thing. I'm not sure. It's something she is struggling with lately. She's not our first born. Not our first daughter. Not sure why it's so important to be the first, but it seems to be to her. We love all of our children so much. It makes me sad to see her apparently longing for a "special" place in the family. For the longest time she was special in her eyes because she was the only child that came into our family through adoption. Then Mei Mei came home and that changed. So, a couple weeks ago we were in bed talking about China Mommy. The conversation goes there a lot these days. It's painful. It makes me very sad to know that she's trying to figure this all out. I'm very honest with her but in a delicate way. The talk quickly became somber because she asked if we had China Mommy's address so that she could send her a card. When I told her that I didn't know China Mommy and had no way of getting in touch with her she seemed shocked by that. I've never told her that we did know her but maybe she just assumed that we had met when we were in China. She said "well, that's ok. I'll see her in heaven one day and I'll give her the cards I made." Uhhhh....gut wrenching. She said it so sweet and matter of fact. Like that was a given. This is the part I can't stand about adoption. Even though the Lord takes something so broken and awful and makes it beautiful by creating a family from it, it still is hard. Very hard. I want so badly to be able to let Izzy know that she was special to her birth mother. I think that she was. She wasn't abandoned till she was 10 months old and very ill, so I believe that her parents loved her very much. I don't know that for fact and I never will. I choose to believe that for Izzy. For me. I treasure this little one and I believe that her birth parents did too. Mari that was abandoned the day she was born I also choose to believe that her parents loved her too. It's too hard to think of it any differently. So, in the midst of this heavy conversation Izzy looks right at me at says "Momma, Jessi was your first daughter right?"....."Yes, Jessi is our first daughter" ...."And Rymo is your first son, right?"......"Yep, that's right." ..... "and Mari and I grew in your heart right?" ......"Right baby, you and Mei Mei grew right here in my heart"........then she sits up in the bed with a huge smile on her face "Wait a minute......but I am the FIRST daughter that grew in your heart, RIGHT?" she yells. Knowing Mari is in the bed next to us and is almost sleeping I quietly say "yes, honey you both grew in my heart but you grew there first." She was so excited and she yells to Mari, " Mari, I am the first daughter that grew in Momma's heart. Can you believe that ?" Oh, man. I'm thinking here we go. Now I'll be in Mari's bed next trying to make her not feel bad about not being the first. Not to mention that Izzy has completely woken her up now. My sweet Mari. The things that rattle Izzy just roll off of her. I'm so grateful she's like that. Two drama queens in the house would be a bit much. She just smiled over at Izzy and says " Yeah, Iz that means I am the next born in Momma's heart...Yeah. Momma, I'm the next born in your heart. That's great news Iz" and she rolled back over and went to sleep. Whew....I love that sweet pea so much. Thank you Mari for being so easy going.

And thank you Lord for the first daughter born in my heart. I just love her over the moon.