Happy 16 Months, Cheng-Yu

You are such a happy little boy with a smile that reminds me of how great God is every time I see it!!!  

First Snow

Snow was in the forecast so when I woke up at 7:30 Saturday morning, I immediately looked out the window with high hope.  The forecast was indeed accurate as the ground was covered in a pretty white blanket of snow.  After setting the alarm for 8:30, I went back to sleep on this cold and quiet morning. At the sound of the alarm an hour later, I hurried to get ready to take Cheng-Yu out into the snow...his first snow!  I gathered his jacket, toboggan and the red rain boots that his cousins (Riley, Carson & Scout) passed down to him.  As I scurried around, Scott began to wake up...Cheng-Yu was still sleeping right beside him.  I urged Scott to look out at the snow and we were both anxious for Cheng-Yu to wake up so he could experience his first snow before it melted.  It was going on 9:30 and he was still sound asleep.  We put the clothes on him...STILL asleep.  He woke up as we put on the big red boots.  When we took him outside, he seemed amazed.  Although, he may have just been in shock from the abrupt awaking.  We had him out for about an hour.  He was constantly looking down at the white stuff that gathered on his boots.  I loved watching his facial expressions as the snow dropped from tree branches overhead.  It was a magical December morning...the warmest snow I have ever known.  

Motherhood Through Adoption

A mother chose life and God chose us.

A judge said, "YES" and God said go.

Family and friends prayed...and prayed some more.

A son named Cheng-Yu!

Motherhood through adoption...more thankful than I could have ever known.

Our Story

Tonight, we had the opportunity to share "our story" at a Bethany International Adoption dinner.  After families are united with their child, Amy (our social worker), always invites them to share their experience at one of the international family gatherings.  We went to numerous meetings in the years leading up to adopting Cheng-Yu.  As I would listen to families share, I can remembering wondering what it would be like to be in their shoes and feeling like it would never be our turn.  But on Saturday, it was...our turn.  As I entered the room where families gathered, I was flooded with emotion.  I quickly spotted a family that I recognized.  They have a 3 year old daughter from China.  When I looked into her eyes, I could feel the tears gathering in mine.  It is her!!!  I had seen this family before, but only twice.  The first time I met them, they had just received their referral.  They brought the picture to the meeting and passed it around.  The mother had already framed the photo and I can still remember the way she held it and gazed at her baby girl.  The second time I saw them was shortly after they arrived home from China with this precious little 6 month old girl.  They told their story at that meeting.  And now 3 years later, I look into her eyes again.  What a miracle.  I am so overcome with emotion, just at the sight of her.  It was almost a surreal experience for me.  I watched a dear family sitting in the front of the room with their precious son from India.  I can remember talking to them at meetings as they waited on God to lead them to their child.  Who knew he would be in India?  I could feel God's presence.  What I could see around that room was nothing short of a miracle.  Many miracles.  What a marvelous God we serve.  It was humbling to see what He had done and to even think that at times on our journey I would grow weary and lacking in faith.  

All of these things were going through my head and when it was finally our time to share...my head wouldn't stop spinning.  As I struggled to gather my thoughts and find the right words, my heart spoke.  It wasn't an organized speech.  I couldn't even clearly explain the sequence of events in our adoption story. This was the first time I had attempted to tell our story publicly and it wasn't easy.  It was just one emotional outpouring after another.  I realized, adoption is not a story...it is my heart's song.  So although I had plenty of time to prepare "the story" when our time finally came, it really didn't matter what I had to say.  My heart took over...and sang.  

  

Happy 15 months, Cheng-Yu

Rainy Tuesday...at the Creative Discovery Museum with Jackson & Alisha.  A great way to spend Cheng-Yu's 15th month.  That is until "the fall" that resulted in a trip to the emergency room.  Cheng-Yu tripped and fell into one of the displays at the museum.  His lower front teeth went into his lip (one actually went all the way through).  I was a bit frantic, but Alisha was there to ease me.  I was afraid to even look at his mouth, so she did it for me.  One look, and she said..."yep, your gonna need to take him to the doctor".  As a side note, nobody at the museum offered assistance or even asked if we needed help.  Alisha had to go to the cafe to get ice for me.  Alisha went with me to the emergency room with Jackson in tow.  Jackson was quite the trooper.  He slept through most of the ER visit.  Cheng-Yu screamed through most of it.  We went away with a little surgical glue and our first ER trip under our belt.