Happy Chinese New Year and Happy 2nd Birthday Mia Lin!

Mia turned 2 years old on Friday, January 28.  Phillip and the boys had planned to go to Hot Springs to see his dad that weekend.  On their way out of town, we took Mia out to dinner in Jonesboro.  We tried a new Italian restaurant that Phillip has insured. It was pretty good!  If we would have had more time, we wanted to take her to a Chinese restaurant...don't you know they would have given her a big birthday celebration?!  We sang her Happy Birthday, gave her a few presents and had some cupcakes and cookies straight from Wal-Mart bakery!  It was a fun family time! 

Something that I said I wanted to do once we got home with Mia was to celebrate Chinese New Year each year.  I'm not sure how we will do it or if it will be the same every year, but this is one way that I feel we can help her understand her culture and remind her of where she came from. 

 This year though we combined it with her birthday, seeing everything has happened so fast and we are all still adjusting to our new life!  We had a few friends and family over to the house for dinner, cake and presents.  Mia was a little overwhelmed by it all, so Blakely and some of the other kids didn't mind giving her a helping hand!

 I would love to someday cook my own Chinese feast, but it just wasn't going to happen this year.  My goal is to find a good Chinese cookbook!  One thing I did want to do for her birthday is let her dive into her own cake.  That is such precious memories we have with our other three children on their first birthdays and I didn't want to miss out on it with Mia.  Who says it has to be their first birthday...it was her first with her new family! 

She wasn't sure about diving into the cake, which surprised me because she has grown to love sweets...gets that from her Mom and Fordy!  Her sister decided she would show her how it is done! 

Have you ever been burdened to pray?

Have you ever had the overwhelming need to pray for someone or something?  It is like the Lord puts a VERY uneasy feeling in your heart and stomach!  I have experienced that this afternoon.  Throughout my morning I have prayed for several friends who are facing some difficult times, some who are injured, my husband who is having to handle some difficult situations at work and my children's behavior.  But as the girls are napping, I was sitting on my bed and felt like God was asking me to pray more!  What about?  I have no idea!  That is hard because you want to pray specifically! 

I just read a blog that was advocating for some children in China who have until tomorrow to find a family!  Maybe it is for them.  Maybe it is for someone who receives some hard news today.  Maybe it is for safety of my family.  I prayed for God's intervention!  If God prompts you to pray, don't ignore His lead!  There is someone who is depending on your faithfulness!  I may never know who I prayed for today, but I trust God does.  Have a great day!

Red Couch Photos

When anyone adopts from China, one thing they usually want to do before leaving is get their child's picture taken on the famous red couch in the White Swan hotel.  It was quite interesting to say the least!   There were 10 families in our group.  Each family gets 3 pictures taken: a family picture, a group picture of the adopted kids and one with the whole group (all members of all families!).  So you can only imagine how cranky the kids got by the time we took the group picture!

I love this picture!  We had 3 families that we were with the duration of the trip.  One of their daughters was having a difficult time during this photo session.  Mia knew it was her crying and looks like she is trying to peek around and tell her it's ok!  So cute!

 Luckily we were one of the first cameras to be picked up, so Mia looks pretty good!  I got to the point I just let her lay down on the floor!  Misery for a 2 year old to have to sit still for 10 pictures from 10 different cameras!

First Moments with Blakely Ann!

We got to the house about 1am Sunday morning, December 12, 2010.  Once we got up the next morning, we were all so anxious to go get Blakely.  She had stayed with Phillip's mom the first half of the trip and were now with my parents.  We walked in the door and her look was classic!  It was a look as if to say "Are you really standing there in front of me!"  Once reality sank in, she ran to our arms!  Priceless!  You don't know how much you love your children until you are away from them for 2 1/2 weeks!  Enjoy some pictures of the boys, and Mia's, 1st moments with Blakely.

Last week in China

Well now that we have been home for a month, I finally sat down to post some pictures of our last week in China with Mia!    We were so ready to get home and get back to a somewhat normal life.  But I have to admit we were dreading the flight.  We didn't start off great.  Our first flight was from Guangzhou to Seoul, Korea and was about 3 hours.  Mia did take a short nap (which is the first plane picture below) but soon after she woke up she started screaming!  I knew something wasn't right.  Yep, my new precious bundle of joy decided it was time for another first...she threw up all over my hands and her shirt!  Don't  you know the poor fellow sitting next to me was thinking, "Why me?"!  After that we all did well (next picture was at the Seoul airport and in 2nd outfit).  It was a very long trip and we were exhausted.  We finally arrived back to Paragould about 1am our time. 

Above are pictures of some of the sites we saw.  We took a day trip with our group to the Buddahist and Chen Temple.  At night we got to go on a cruise down the Pearl River.  It was beautiful to see all the lights and buildings.  The city spent a lot of money improving the city b/c the Asian games (similar to Olympics but for Asian countries only) were held there the week right before we arrived.  The Guangzhou Zoo was also fun, especially for the boys.  The dolphin in the picture is made of all flowers!