She's had this hat on for two solid days....not sure what that's all about except that she sure is cute !

My life with these girls is a rainbow.....

Thank You Lord for the colors that they bring into my life.

Colors that I would never have known without them.

It was such a beautiful weekend.  We enjoyed the park on Sunday.  The girls loved getting outside and playing in the sunshine. It was 23 degrees on Thursday morning and today it's 70 degrees. Strange winter we are having....not complaining about the 70's though : )

I must have seen a million little boys....all around Josiah's age. I can tell it's getting close. I'm starting to notice things I didn't before. I'm feeling the overwhelming urge to nest. It's time to do his room only I don't want to rush because we might be moving. Ahhhh, I guess sooner or later I'll just do it and if I have to undo it and move I will.  We have a very busy couple of weeks with our garage sale fundraiser coming up on the 28th. So, maybe after that I'll get with the program : ) While waiting for Izzy we did her bedroom eight months before she came home and it just made it harder to wait for her. With Mari, we timed it to where it was done about two months before she came home and that was just about perfect. It also became the China trip staging room. Packing for four people...leaving the country for 17 days does tend to take over a room. I cannot imagine if we all go to China what packing will be like this time :o

We did get our next approval of our I 800 which is just the next step. We're getting there. Prayers for fundraising needed. We still have quite a ways to go.  God's going to do some crazy stuff in the next couple months. Can't wait to tell you all about it. I love sharing what God is doing in our lives. I honestly would burst if I couldn't....so, just wait something is coming soon. Much love you guys. Have an awesome week.

Izzy......six going on sixteen : )

She is getting too big too soon.....at least she's a big help with the errands

 

Another Rockstar is born.....

                                          

Finally..... : )

My girls got a taste of what it would be like with a little boy around when they visited their nephew Jacob. It's still strange to think of them as "Aunt Izzy" and "Aunt Mari". Oh, and I just thought of "Uncle Josiah"...that is so funny. 

How cute is he????

They had such a sweet time with baby Jacob, Jessi and James. Izzy said to me "Momma....little boys are kinda crazy"...lol.

The sun is shining.....and the weather is sweet

Mei Mei discovered my Ipod : )



We have come across three ladybugs in three days.... to the girls it's like discovering a treasure.



It was 75 degrees...love this winter : )

We had a great time outside yesterday



Update..... : )

We received an update on Josiah last night. I have to be honest (this makes me so sad)....I didn't hardly recognize him. He has grown so much. I actually asked Rob if this in fact was Josiah : ( 

Aside from him growing way too quickly, the update was really great. He is doing very well. He's very healthy. Rarely Sick. His high muscle tone is completely resolved. He's walking very well. His only delay is language. He understands perfectly, but is only saying a few words at this point. He is 33 inches and 26 lbs. You would never know that because he's in at least five layers of clothes and he apparently hasn't had a hair cut in his life : )

He knows about his family and he gets to look at our pictures often (thank you Jesus). He has twenty teeth. He's still sleeping in a crib and still in a diaper, but is currently potty training.....oh, this Momma's heart !

This is a picture that they included that is from July

Look at that hair.....love that : ) Rob swears they are both getting mohawks in China. Goodness Gracious !

I know they can look so different in pictures. I remember Izzy looking so much older sometimes in her photographs, but Gosh he looks too big to me. It seems like he was just a baby.

We're coming sweet boy.....we're coming!

You say it's birthday...

So this is how my birthday started.....a little serenading and some sort of crazy rendition of The Birthday Song...I think?  The parrots of course had to chime in.... : )

My birthday card from my biggest little girl



My birthday card from my littlest little girl

And this is too sweet. Izzy made these....I can redeem them anytime I want for a kiss or a hug:

Thank you my man for cooking dinner (maybe the fourth time in seventeen years..lol)

My family spoiled me perfectly on my birthday. I love all of my gifts.

My cake was delicious, Lauren. I almost don't want anyone to find out that you are secretly an amazing chef. I want to keep you all to us....John Besh eat your heart out : )

I love, love my Bloggie Touch...awesome videos and pictures too. 

You guys make me feel so special and loved.



The Great Giver of Gifts

To God be the glory

You know I knew that He would do something crazy cool. You guys know this is our third adoption and you know God has knocked our socks off each and every time. The circumstances that brought us to Josiah have been just one God thing after another. I couldn't even dream this stuff up. It's just beyond my imagination. He has provided everything we needed. Never does He call us to anything that He doesn't equip us to handle or provide for in the first place. Well, then things just kind of settled down. Then we got our LOA from China and here we found ourselves just a few months from traveling and we still have a lot of money to raise. For neither Izzy nor Mari's adoption have we been to this point in the process with this much left to raise. Hmmmm...Yes, that could cause a girl to freak out a little, but strangely I wasn't.  God has impressed upon us this entire time to just continue to trust Him and He would provide. Recently the girls have joined in the prayer for provision for Josiah. They are funny and they don't mince words with God. "Lord, could you please send the money we need to bring Josiah home. Thank you Lord" .....that's a typical Izzy prayer right there. To the point : )

So, yesterday was my birthday. Forty-two years young : ) I'm so grateful I feel young because these girls keep me running like crazy. So, I checked the mail and there's a few birthday cards for me. Sweet cards. They make you feel special. Then I get to the last envelope which was from a church in Illinois and I opened it and screamed. Screamed out loud.  I couldn't help it. It was a very, very generous donation from an anonymous family to help bring Josiah home. It was like opening a gift straight from the Lord. I immediately showed the girls and explained to them what it was. They literally grabbed my hands and started jumping up and down saying " Thank You Lord, Thank You Lord ". They knew right away a prayer was answered. They were so excited. Mari thought that it meant we could go right now to China. Oh, I wish. We have a ways to go yet, but what a big dent in what we need to raise. God is so good. I don't know if that family sees my blog or not, but I hope they could know how truly blessed we've been by this offering. So blessed.

After a few minutes we all settled down and I called Rob to tell him. I had such joy in just telling him about it.  So much joy in just sharing the news. I could imagine the Lord relishing in our delight. Once again He knocked my socks off. And you know what, I think He enjoys doing that. He is after all the great giver of gifts.

Thank you Lord for Your provision. You are faithful ! Thank you sweet family that God used to help bring our son home. You are the body of Christ. We are so grateful. Much love......