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!