I Want to Go Back

Maria's Big House of Hope, Luoyang, Henan China

I want to go back to China. (I want to come back with a 5 year-old, but that isn't happening and wouldn't be in anyone's best interest.) I want to go back to the Henan Province, I saw very little of it other than then inside of my hotel room. I specifically want go to Luoyang, the city Grace is from. My one regret of our adoption trip was not visiting Grace's orphanage with Paul. At the time we were convinced (and advised by our guide) that it would be too difficult for Grace to make that 2.5 hour trip back to the orphanage and have to say good-bye again. This may have been best for her, and we can't do it over again. But,I so wish I could have gone.

Paul is planning something special for his 40th birthday. Neither of us wants to have a party. Paul wants to go to Detroit's Fantasy Baseball Camp. He told me he was planning a special trip for me for my birthday too. I don't turn 40 for over two years, but I immediately said, "I want to go back to China." Right now we can't adopt again (Paul says never) but I still have a heart for serving the orphan and a heart for China. The amazing thing is that of all the hundreds of cities in China, Maria's Big House of Hope is in Luoyang. Not only that, but China is building a new building right across the street from MBHOH, that will be the new home of Grace's social welfare institute.

I really want to take a short term mission trip to MBHOH in two years. There are several obstacles though.

1. It is really expensive.
2. Paul isn't sure he wants me travelling across the world without him.
3. We have 5 kids, and we homeschool. I am the one who cares for our kids day-in and day-out while Paul goes to work.
4. I'd really like to have someone travel with me. If any of my sisters (by blood or in-Christ) read this know I'm praying one of you will join me. :)
5. This is the smallest obstacle, but you have to be a Show-Hope sponsor. We aren't sponsoring them at this point, but we consider this to be a very worthy organization which we have benefited from.

The bottome line is I know all of the obstacles are surmountable if God wants me to serve in China, and if not it won't happen. I have two years to pray and plan, and would love the prayers of others.

Me, The Children's Place, and the Sweat Pants Beast

On a much lighter note; did you know that jeans are painful? Well according to my kids they are. When Sam was a baby I usually dressed him like a little man. Many of the clothes I bought for him were similar to what I would buy for daddy. Then when he was about 18 months and I was pregnant with Joe I discovered The Children's Place fleece pants, and I bought them about 50 pairs of fleece pants on rock bottom clearance and several matching shirts and that was it. They have worn sweats or athletic shorts every day since. Will and Ben have worn sweats since day one and they also refuse to wear long sleeves. An old t-shirt (preferably one with star wars or something similar on it) and basketball shorts are their outfit of choice, even in sub-zero temperatures. Long pants and especially long sleeves are worthy of tears. Coats and shoes are torture devices. Khaki pants and khaki shorts are "church clothes" only to be worn on Sunday mornings and then shed quickly. They went through a phase of bringing play clothes to church and changing in the bathroom as soon as church was over. We quickly nipped that in the bud. One child even wants his "church pants" to have an elastic waist. We discovered The Children's Place elastic-waist cargo pants and usually buy a few pairs for church each winter. We've had every size of these pants from 2T up. However, these only go up to size
14. This means that soon I'll be shopping for men's elastic waist pants. Do they sell these in the senior citizen section? I want to have fall pictures taken of our family. I would prefer the boys wear jeans and a longs-sleeved button-down shirt. But, I can't escape the feeling that I would be making up something for the picture that wasn't true to our life. I guess I'll go for khakis. This weekend we went to a housewarming party and I wanted the boys to look nice. I pick Grace's clothes and she has such cute stuff. I tried to convince them to wear the one pair of jeans I buy each year - just in case. But, I was informed that jeans hurt. We had to dig through our winter clothes and find our dressiest sweats and most decent t-shirts. To make matters worse the boys ripped the knees out of all of their "good" sweats (Children's Place wind pants) last year. Ugh. I've taken to buying every pair of nice looking warm-up pants I find at the Goodwill. Truth be told, I prefer yoga pants myself, but try not to wear them out of the house too frequently. I'm pretty sure that Grace prefers stretchy pants as well. Why am I writing, this? I'm not sure. I just needed to get it off my chest, and those of you who see us frequently will now understand why my kids always look like they just just left a track-meet.:0)

Grace's Six Month Slide Show

I made this slideshow for Grace and she loves it. There is no way I have time for fancy Creative Memory books like Sam and Joe have, so this will have to suffice for now. :) She looks at all the pictures and says all the names. I am so bummed I didn't get more pictures of her TN cousins when we were down there to put in it. I am also frustrated that online the slideshow music is off because it takes so long to download the pictures. But, it is what it is. I can make a dvd for anyone who really wants to see it. Or you can come visit me. :)

A digital slideshow by Smilebox

Six Months into Forever

You bring restoration

You bring restoration

You bring restoration to my soul.

You've taken my pain, and called me by a new name.

You've taken my shame, and in its place you give me joy!

You take my mourning and turn it into dancing.

You take my weeping and turn it into laughing.

You take my mourning, turn it into dancing.

You take my sadness, turn it into joy!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

You make all things new!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

You make all things new!

(Restoration, by Clay Edwards)

Playing with my my camera. I need a TON of practice!

New School Year

We started a new adventure on Tuesday. We are part of the charter year of the Tapestry Faith Community Homeschool, a homeschool group that meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00-2:00. The children receive a classical education in history, science, literature, writing, art and Bible, all from a Biblical perspective. Grace is in the preschool class and doing really well. We are thrilled that she is able to stay in the class without too many tears. I am teaching writing and literature to the elementary age students. It is a challenge for all of us, but it is an excellent opportunity and we've all enjoyed the first week very much. Sam is in 6th grade, Joe is in 4th grade, Will and Ben are in 2nd grade and Grace is in preschool.

We are sad that our beautiful Michigan summer almost over and are trying to enjoy every minute of the warm weather that is left. Grace has been home almost six months. Though the time has flown since our trip to China in some ways it seems she's been with us forever. It's hard to fathom that she spent the first two and a half years of her life without us.