New Post Over HERE
BIG NEWS :)

New Post Over Here
:)

Oh and by the way this is my 300th post!!! Yippee! Can't believe I have posted 300 times and had this blog for {almost} 2 years! Wow what an amazing 2 years this has been!!

300 cupcakes to honor it! Go on take one! They look delicious! :)

Switching Around

I feel that I should have 2 separate blogs for these 2 separate children. I feel that if this is also a journey to di di blog and life with my princess then I won't have many updates on Princess, this was her blog first and she is the reason it was set up. SO to honor both my Prince and Princess I will have 2 different blogs. This way I can update EVERYTHING that happens with the adoption and with Anna Grace.
This will stay Anna Grace's and go here for the Prince's. Once we get home I will probably combine their blogs and make another one to update daily life with both! ooh how excited that makes me!.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the entire world!! :) I love you and so does Anna Grace, Adam, and Hayne! You are great and teach us all to love God and have taught us great things that will carry us all through life!! Thank you for being there for us always! Hope your Daddy's Day is the best ever!

LOI

Yippee Jesus!! LOI has been sent to China stating that we want to be the family for the little one waiting for us in China. This process is so so so different than with Anna Grace. Now we await our PA. (China's Approval) Then we can officially know that China accepts us as his Family! PLEASE PRAY! My parents are covered in paperwork and online classes right now. I am ready to get this wait over with and go get him! Please pray that things go quickly and we get him home soon!!!

Going Back To China!!

Yes you read it all right! We are adopting again!! We are so excited to be able to get another brother!!! God has worked in so many ways and we could not be happier! I can't share much information right now but as soon as I can I will be sure to post it! Please be praying for our family during this exciting journey. :) I'm going to be a Jie Jie to 4!!! Yippee Jesus!!! :)

Here are 2 sweet photos of Anna Grace and I that was taken today :)My Favorite!! :)

Thank you Kayla for the wonderful pictures you took!!!

i heart faces- China 2007

This will be a tricky post but I will try!

China July 2007- Journey of a lifetime!

On June 29, 2007 we were stepping out on faith and were getting on an airplane to get our daughter/sister.

On this trip we would meet amazing life long friends. On this journey we would meet our China Angel who we had waited almost 3 years for! After 2 and a half days of travel we finally land in Beijing, China at 3 pm. We are all worn outand want to go to bed. We all go to our rooms and relax for about 2 hours and get settled in- At about 6 we head to dinner and are all exhausted but ecstatic to be able to talk to our new friends. We all head down to dinner in no mood to eat but we do anyways. We are less than 12 hours away from going to the Great Wall and Forbidden City.
The next morning we are up at 7:30 but have been up since 5 because of jet-lag. We all get dressed (Our family matching) We go to the Forbidden City first. It is truly breath tak ing all the sights and scenery. The garden and palace itself the history! It all amazes me as I walk through taking tons of pictures. Everyone loved my brothers! We had tons of Chinese people coming up to us asking for pictures! I thought it was precious!!

We then go to eat lunch and are all hot (100+ degrees) and sweating but still happy to be where we are. After we eat we go to the Great Wall and I have never seen anything like it! It was gorgeous and huge and so intimidating! I could not believe I was standing where for years I had seen in books and dreamed of going to! I was thrilled to say the least.
After out amazing day at the wall we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We would have our daughters 24 hours from this moment! All the paperwork and waiting was all about to be lost and we would have that precious baby girl in our arms! What an amazing feeling!
At 5 am the next morning we were up and ready! Nervous as ever and about to leave for the airport and get on a plane to Chongqing to meet Anna Grace! We were all thrilled and signing out of the hotels as fast as we could. Once we boarded the plane no one could sleep or even sit still. I was so excited! I would FINALLY have a sister! I could play dress up and play with her and love on her! I couldn't wait!!
We arrive in Chongqing by 12 pm and go to lunch. I had a rare and unfortunate event and ate calamari (squid) and I was completely disgusted! *Note* it actually taste like chicken! Just the thought of eating it made my skin crawl! We check into our hotel and I go up to the room with Mema, Adam, and Hayne to get things ready while my parents go downstairs to have a "white-out party" with the rest of the group! We are all shaking by now and soo excited!
Finally we leave the hotel at 2:30 pm and get on out way to the civil affairs office! We go into the building and by now I am shaking with fear and excitement! I am about to have a Sister!!!!! wow! We go up the elevator and are lead into a huge room where all kinds of families are meeting there children! (Wow what a sight!) We then walk into this all glass room and wait to be called- "Family 1.......Family 2..........Family 3........ Family 4............ Family 5........... Family 6.............. Family 7.............. Family 8

Our family of 6 complete finally all of the waiting has faded and now we hold this precious 13 pound angel.

She is everything we ever dreamed of and so much more. God thank you for the miracle of Anna Grace!
We spend 6 days in Chongqing learning her culture and history, Visiting museums and letting it all sink in.

We then fly to Guangzhou and get to SHOP! we had so much fun in Guangzhou and couldn't get enough of Lucy's! We were so thrilled to be in the most talked about stop in your China trip and we made it!! Then we got to see the girls on the famous Red Couch!


China Sisters
We spent one night in Hong Kong and the following morning sad sorrowful goodbyes to all of our friends and Anna Grace's sisters! The journey was a once in a life time chance and we had a welcome home party like no other!
Our welcome home party

Meeting Nana for the first time

With God All things are possible. -Matthew 19:26

Slacker! (Update)

WOW I have been slacker major! I am ALMOST done with school!! We have 2 more half days left and I am so excited!!
'Dora' is doing excellent and is constantly growing and learning more!! :) She is such a joy to be with and is now 22lbs!!!!! That is a HUGE milestone for us- PAG has weighed 20lbs for about 6 months or so! LOL. She also is now VERY into princess stuff! She is going to be 3 in 4 months!! I can't believe it!! I'm sad! :( I can't believe it honestly time has flown by SO fast I can't believe it!! :/
We also got a puppy!! YES you read that right! We got a mini labradoodle! (mixture of Labrador and Poodle) We named her Zoey! She weighs 3.5lbs and is precious! A picture is below.



In about 27 days we will be headed to the beach and I am so excited! We are going with Nana, Mema, Papa, Bop-Bop, Jodi, Craig, Max, Cole, Kamden, Uncle Jimmy, BJ, and Jesse! Wow! We are going to have so much fun!! I can not wait! :)
Then about 3 days after we get to go to Virginia to meet up with Anna Grace's sister!! All of them will be together for the first time since China in July 07! I am extatic!!! This is going to be AMAZING! I know Anna will be SO excited to see her sisters!!
Please make sure to pray for SAFE travel!!

Also on May 29 2006- My brother Hayne was attacked by a dog and let me just tell you GOD is SO GOOD! He worked miracles on this little boy and he is the best thing! This is what my Mom wrote the day it happened and here are some pictures of the day AFTER it happened- (These are graphic)
"Monday, May 29th is a day I am sure noone in our family will ever forget. Hal and I took the kids by my mom's house on our way home from our camping trip. The plans were to unload the camper and meet back at Nana's house for dinner. She always cooks us dinner when we get home from a vacation. Hal and I were 10 minutes from her house when we received a call from my sister in law that Hayne had been attacked by a dog. She was screaming and could not give us details. All logic flew out the window. Hal drove his truck(camper and all) through someone's front yard because he could not get it turned around. I could not remember anyone's phone number. All I could think to do was to get him on every prayer list possible. We arrived at my mom's house and EMS was already there. When we got in the ambulance, we were in shock. No words can describe the horror of seeing your child's face ripped apart by an animal. Hayne was crying and my dad was holding him. Once Hal and I were reminded by my dad that we had to be calm for him, everything settled down. I held him on the way to the hospital and carried him into the ER. Our dear friend, John, called in a plastic surgeon for us and we will forever be grateful. The ER staff would not touch Hayne. His top lip was ripped apart with pieces missing, he had cuts beside his eye and beneath it, 2 rips in his head. The surgeon stated that 20% of his lip was gone. After 2 hours of waiting, they started stitching him. He was put to sleep and the process took about 2 hours. Hal and I stayed with him. I can honestly say that God gave me such peace. I kept remembering the scripture "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" I kept thanking God that my son was alive. We were in the valley but tomorrow we would be on the mountain top shouting God's glory in protecting our child. Details of the accident came later. My other 2 children witnessed the entire thing. My mom had taken the kids to see new puppies next door at my brother's house. The mom dog got scared and turned on Hayne. Thank God that my mother knew what to do. How do you thank the person who saved your child's life. With no regard for her own safety, she threw herself on top of Hayne to stop the dog. My brother heard the screaming and rushed from the house. He was able to get Hayne from under my mom and take him into the house. My mom and kids were never attacked by the dog. My mom and brother have taken this so hard. I wish that they knew how grateful Hal and I are for their fast thinking and response. I know that my mom would have given her own life to protect Hayne. She loves my kids as much as we do and would do anything for them. I can never express to her and my brother how much I love them and appreciate what they did for Hayne. He is alive and well because of them. He ended up with 80 stitches in his lip, under his eye, beside his eye and in his head. One week later, the surgeon was in shock. He could not believe how good he looked. He kept telling us that there was no explanation for his recovery. He felt we would need multiple corrective surgeries but there will be none. Hayne's injuries completely closed up and except for some scaring, he is as good as new. Although our doctor has no explanation for his recovery, I know the reason. It is the mercy and grace of our Lord. It is the prayers of churches all over this country within an hour of the accident. It was the desperate plea for help from a grandmother and uncle as Hayne was attacked. It was the angels surrounding my son and protecting his eyes and throat during the attack. It was a hospital full of church staff, deacons and friends gathered to pray while we were treated in the ER. Hayne is a miracle and a testimony to the faithfulness of our God. We will forever be grateful! "

May 30th


Few weeks later


2 months after accident


TODAY


GOD IS SO GOOD! Is he not?

Have a great week!