Making our list

At the beginning of December, the Noodle and I made a list of all the things we wanted to do this Advent. Sing Christmas carols.  Make peppermint milkshakes.  Read our favorite Christmas Books.  Go see lights. Fun stuff like that.  

One thing that surprised me, that she wanted to do, was to go see Santa.  Not that there's anything odd in that, it is just that she was always a bit afraid of the big guy!  Last year her old school had a breakfast with Santa and so she got her picture taken with him.  Obvs. she wasn't too scared, since she wanted to do it again. Last Sunday our little community had a light up the village and Santa flipped the lights on the community tree. It was the perfect set-up...manageable crowds, short line, and realistic (if a bit hippy) Santa! Everyone was happy :)

The other thing that the Noodle (still) loves to do during the Christmas season, is play with the L*ttle P*ople Nativity set.  It is one of her favorite things to do.  Sometimes we'll play out the Christmas story and other times we'll play out some other story line.  She loves to play with it with J and I but is quite content to play on her own as well.  Each time she sits down in front of it, it brings a smile to my face!  

 2009:

2010:

 2011:

The stork has landed........

A few days ago the stork landed at our house with some very exciting news!  We received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China stating that we were "officially" allowed to adopt our daughter!!  We are thrilled to introduce the newest member of our family!!  Mei-Mei (little sister in Mandarin) turned 2 on June 30 and is waiting for us in a southern province in China.  We can't wait to get our hands on that little munchkin and gobble up those cheeks!!  God is soo good!!!

The other reason we were so happy is that now we have a more definitive timeline regarding when we will travel.  At this point, it is looking like the end of January/beginning of Feburary.  Now anyone familiar with China knows that this, in fact, is NOT an optimal time to travel because of the Chinese New Year.  The whole country basically shuts down for 2 weeks and everything grinds to a halt.  This year, CNY falls on 1/31/14.  So, I guess we'll have to wait and see if we can get things pushed through before the holiday or whether we'll be waiting until after.  Either way, the timing will be according to God so it will be perfect.  I just have to keep remembering this!!

Now it is time to get into serious preparation mode!

Halloween (a few days late!)

Better late than never, right?  This year we were at least able to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween night...unlike last year when Super Storm Sandy had blown through town, knocked out power for 5 days and delayed Halloween!  It was super rainy and windy, but at least it was (relatively) warm.  Nothing that a little choco-bar couldn't cure!

Earlier in the week we decided to go down to the park and "trick-or-treat" with the squirrels...we left them some peanuts :)

Nursery Prep

While things are still quiet on the Eastern front (meaning we haven't heard anything more from China about LOA--Letter of Acceptance, travel dates, etc.--grrrrr), we're still moving forward with preparations for Mei-Mei's homecoming!  Here's a little sneak-peek..............

Fall has fallen

Autumn is a beautiful time around here.  Warm sun with lovely blue skies but there's that hint of cooler weather to come.  I think that the sunrises are perhaps more glorious in the fall than they are any other time of year!  We've been studying the Psalms at church--having a heart for God through all seasons.  Great stuff!  Psalm 19 states:

The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 

Day after day they pour forth speech;

    night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 

They have no speech, they use no words;

    no sound is heard from them.

4 

Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world.

Our pastor made a comment today during our service about how we all rave about how beautiful the change is, this time of year.  We celebrate it--relish it--revel in it!  But how quick we are to rail and complain when God is using change in our own lives.  Suddenly we hate it and want it to end immediately.  Isn't it interesting that it is only through the change that God can make something new come forth.  That really hit me.  Makes me realize once again that I need to give thanks, even during the change and tough times.

Something that we got into the habit of doing this summer was combing the beaches close to our house for beach glass.  Some of the beaches are only accessible from the water so these usually had tons of "diamonds and gold" as the Noodle likes to call the beach glass.  We all pretend that we're pirates looking for loot. Some days we come back with our bucket almost full...other days it is just a few pieces.  Sometimes we're on foot and other times were in the kayak.  When we went out yesterday, we didn't have too much luck, but we had the place to ourselves so it didn't matter.  It was a great opportunity to be together and to declare the glory of God.

5 years!!

Hard to believe 5 years ago we were meeting this little person for the first time!  A China hotel room, crammed full of people--one minute we were a family of 2 and then boom, the next instant, we were a family of 3!  The nervousness, the excitement, the fear...the chaos!

We had a low-key day--isn't that the best kind?!  Some cuddles, some remembering and lots of smiles.

 

Of course it wouldn't be a forever family day with dinner at our local Chinese restaurant.  Yummy!

The long and short of it all..........

So.  The cast.  The second cast, to be exact.  In less than 2 months.  On the same arm.  Geesh!

I had said earlier that our little family was going through quite a few changes.  The Noodle switched schools (no more Catholic school in our old town) to the local public school.  Change #1.  That meant finding a new sitter for before and aftercare.  Change #2.  We also had this whole Mei-mei thing hanging out there that could come at anytime, but I didn't honestly expect it to be anytime too soon...........Change #3.

And then, about the third week into August, everything coincided together.  I had a meeting at school and the Noodle was going for the afternoon to the new sitter's for a "trial" run before my first day back with meetings the next day.  Easy.  They were going to go to the park.  Fun!  It was, until mid-afternoon when my cell rang. Now, as an aside, anyone who knows me, knows that I rarely have my cell with me and that even more rare are the occasions when I actually answer it when it rings.  I know--annoying.  But....the cell rang right as I was finishing a meeting and thank the Lord, I heard it and was able to answer it.  Not so good news--the new babysitter was calling to let me know while at the park the Noodle had fallen off the monkey-bars and landed on her wrist.  The one that she had hurt earlier in the summer.

I made a bee-line back and picked her up.  Quite honestly I think the poor babysitter was more upset than me--these things happen.  Unfortunately.  But not wanting to take any chances, we drove straight to the hospital, and in the process, the Noodle fell asleep in the car.  When we pulled into the parking garage and I had to wake her up, she informed me that she actually felt better and that her arm was "only about a 2" (on the pain scale which she had perfected the first go-round).  Since she was feeling better and a 2 didn't seem ER worthy, we decided to hoof it home, give her more ice and Motrin it and wait and see.  By the next morning though the swelling hadn't gone down, although thankfully the pain was still pretty minimal (????). Back to the ER we went.

The good thing was, was that at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday, the ER was pretty quiet.  We got in quickly, had the x-rays done where they confirmed that yes, in fact her wrist was most definitely broken this time (grrrreat) and were on our way home by 10 with an appointment with the orthopedic doctor to cast her at 11:30.  At this point in time I'm thinking that after the last appointment we can race home, eat a quick bite of lunch before I take her back to the new sitter's (day 2) and I can get into work for at least a half-day of my first required day back.

Everything was going according to plan and I was just finishing up the lunch prep when the phone rang.  I assumed it was J, since he often calls us during lunch to check in and chat.  Imagine my shock when the voice on the other end said that she was calling from our adoption agency with a potential referral. Whaaaa?!?!?!?!

She filled me in with the details while I stood there mutely and every so often mumbled a "mmmhm" or a "oookay" like a loon.  I honestly don't think my mind was completely processing everything.  As soon as I got off the phone with her, I immediately called J and told him to amazing news.  It wasn't until that evening when we were both home together that we opened up the e-mail to read the actual referral.  That was a hard wait!

The crazy thing is, is that I know the Lord's fingerprints were all over our situation.  If everything hadn't happened with the Noodle's arm, I wouldn't have been home to receive that phone call.  Of course the agency would have left a message, but still.  He used a bad situation for his glory and made something wonderful out it, just like Romans 8:28 states--"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose".  Yes!!  His timing often makes no sense to us and his plans often seem crazy nutty, but they're not.  I need to just remember to remember.  Remember all of the times that God has "come through".  Remember all of the perfect timings that at first glance didn't seem so perfect.  Remember the provisions.  Remember the fingerprints.  Remember.

And that, my friends, is the long and short of it all.