Labor Pains

As I was running around doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that today, I realized that one of these last three nights at home was probably going to be a long one. 

Then a foggy memory began to form in my mind. Last year, I'm thinking we never went to bed the night before our China trip. 

Labor is funny like that. You tend to block it ALL out. Otherwise we might never do it again?

Last year was definitely a blur. And boy was I messed up. I went to update some paperwork for the folks while we are gone. I found the file in Joshua's folder (I'm so organized) and was pretty proud of myself. 

Oh my! The doctor's number? I had put my own phone number. The orthodontist number looked like this XXX-XXX-74004. Is that helpful? Lucky for me no one got sick or sprung a wire. Although in the age of google, they would have figured it out.

Let's just say that when adding Joshua's doctors, I cut and pasted the phone numbers AND addresses right from websites. 

Yesterday we went and did the massive hit-every-box-store shopping to get through the next 2-3 weeks.  

We had the bright idea of saving gas and taking the small car resulting in a bit of overflow. Shopping included lots of food, papergoods, shin guards for field hockey, a frying pan, printer ink, sneakers, shoes, and underwear. You name it, we got it.

Oh yes, that IS sugar cereal, a consolation prize for those left behind. The backseat-ers were VERY good sports!

The Time Draws Near

Running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Making a beeline.

On a dead run.

These days, I'm either one of the above or....

Dead in the water. With absolutely no idea what to do next!

Have you ever wondered why all these sayings are so incredibly morbid?

No? I do. I actually think about these things. 

In all my spare time. 

Ha. 

It's pretty busy around here since a few of us are winging our way to China soon.

Like this Saturday. 

Exactly one year and five days after we returned with Joshua.

He wasn't terribly impressed with his first stop on US soil. Mostly because he did not sleep one wink on the entire 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Detroit.

When we finally arrived home, we were greeted by some monkeys. What do you suppose he was thinking? 

Here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about our upcoming adoption:

1) Who is going and when? Bob and I will leave for China on 9/8 and return 9/20. 

2) Are the kids going? No. Short of drawing straws, we could never decide who to take and who to leave. Let's face it. When you have nine siblings at home, a little one on one time with Mom and Dad for a few weeks is a good plan.

3) Is Joshua going? Unfortunately we cannot take Joshua back to China. Because of his health, he is not able to fly or be that far from his doctors. He is having a hard time and has made a nighttime appearance in our room every night for weeks. I think he is worried about a whole lot of things.

4) Where are you going? We are traveling directly to Guangzhou which is the capital city of Joy's province. (That is where you meet your child.)  She will travel about five hours from her orphanage to Guangzhou. It also happens to be the same city where the US consulate is located. We will stay in the same hotel for our entire stay in China.

5) Who will (is crazy enough to) stay with the kids? Jennifer's parents are willing to once again come and stay with the fam. They are great sports and consider it part of their mission work. It's a win-win as Grandma and Grandpa build wonderful relationships with their grandchildren and definitely vice versa. Others from church will pinch hit and lend support as needed. Uncle Marc has committed to helping out as much as possible. 

Aren't we blessed?

6) You must be so excited? Yes, we are! Hovering between excitement and exhaustion trying to get our ducks in a row to be able to leave for two weeks. Schedules, prescriptions filled, school books and classes, hug a kid, clean the house because my mommy's coming, hug a kid, make doctor appointments for a kid you don't even know, hug another kid, eight haircuts, more hugs, groceries, packing, late night talks, sending one to college this week, more and more hugs. All good.

We daily pray that God is going before us to prepare Joy's heart for the upcoming days. When her whole world will change. In an instant.  

For the better.

Because God sets the lonely in families.

Psalm 68:6

Pictures of the Week 7/29-8/4

Woefully behind on pictures of the week but I am still taking pictures every day. Catching up here is on my to do list before China.

  Twinkie Love

211 / 365

A defining moment when Cora said, "What's a Twinkie?" 

I was so proud to have saved my children from junkie eats 

that I promptly went out and bought her some of that iconic food.

  Lookie Here!

212 / 365

See what I found in my dryer? 

Two munchkins in their bathing suits....

  A New Gap

213 / 365

He lost his first top tooth! Love the new look.

  The Special Chair

214 / 365

The youngest grandchild to sit in the special little chair at 

Farmor's trailer. The oldest grandchild is 30 and Micah is 4.

  Micah-Do, I Love You

215 / 365

He has the very best expressions in the whole wide world. 

It's hard not to smile when you are around him!

  Once Upon A Parable

216 / 365

All the big kids participated in a theater camp

 and put on a play at the end of the week.

Parade Fun

217 / 365

Part of the theater camp includes being in the Old Home

 Week parade. Notice the hand keeping Joshua in the truck?

Well, That Was A Whirlwind

In the space of twelve hours:

We received TA - Travel Approval from China
Confirmed CA - Consulate Appointment from the US
AND bought plane tickets.

My breathing is barely back to normal.

My heart is doing the dumpity dump dump thing. Still.

Even at this point, it is still hard for me to wrap my mind around it all. 

We are going to China. On the other side of the world!

Because a little girl who has no one now has someone.

Who loves her very much.

We sent a care package a few weeks ago and that was the vehicle to getting all the pink dress pictures. Ann at Red Threads is highly recommended.

Can you imagine Joy's face when she saw all these pictures of her family?

Won't be long now.

Joy Comes In The Morning

The fun part about China adoption is what happens because China is literally on the other side of the world. The end of their day is the beginning of ours.

When you hear from China, you usually wake up to something special in your inbox. 

Back in March, we received the referral with an early photo of Joy.

 With the referral were pictures that I estimate were taken possibly summer 2011, at age 4, or maybe even a bit earlier.

In May 2012 we requested an update and got this picture of a little girl who just might be wondering what in the world all this fuss is about? This picture concerned me as I didn't think she looked as good as the previous pictures.

Here is our little spitfire just last week. I recently realized that this girl better have some spunk in order to find her place in the boy crowd around here. 

The best thing that could happen would be if she was a bossy little thing. Can you imagine her berating the little boys.....in Cantonese? I laugh-out-loud at the thought of it. 

Sonia, mother of SEVEN boys, sweetly suggested that I get her an Army Barbie and call it good. If I wasn't so anti-Barbie.....oh never mind.

She's waiting.

And so are we.

I gently ask you to pray for Travel Approval to come in the morning....soon. We have a window where all the plans for the eight kids at home would fall into place beautifully. And if not, we'll take God's perfect plan anyhow and make it work.

Because that's how we roll.

A Long Awaited Birthday

Joshua should have the word "patience" as his middle name. This very brave boy waited a whole year to celebrate his birthday in America for the first time. During that time, he participated in TEN birthdays, ate TEN cakes, and watched the other TEN people in his family celebrate. 

Until today. August 21. His very own birthday.

On this day, one year ago in 2011, we were headed to China to meet our son.

Is this a happy face or what? Sheer joy. He was so excited.

His chose his birthday dinner: rice, chicken teriyaki, and broccoli.

 Presents and cards were a hit. I'm pretty sure he felt special.

Joshua wanted white cake and strawberry frosting. When we went to the store (everyone gets a store date with Mom for their own birthday supplies) we decided to get creative and make an angel food cake.

Now the thing is, when you are in a large family, there are no leftovers. So you have to make leftovers. We bought an extra cake mix and the kids went crazy on a second angel food cake made in loaf pans.

A very special day for the littlest, bravest, cutest, bestest nine year old I know.

Highlights included a party with grandparents and Dave, a visit from the donut lady, a call from Andrew, talking to big sister, and skyping with his Chinese friends in other parts of the country.

Happy birthday, Joshua. I am grateful beyond words for this past year of your life.

You are a blessing to all who know you!

Tattoos?

Yesterday, we got to see our oldest, Lindsey, and went with her to a county fair in the land of the dairy farms. 

It was a wonderful fair with activities for all ages. Somehow my kids got goodie bags with pretty cool stuff like pencils, erasers, candy, and....tattoos.

So, we decided if you are going to "tat" in this family, it might as well honor our very own dairy farmer.

  Can you guess where this one is?

 Right there on the back of the leg. That's wicked cool, right?

 He needed to see it to believe it.

 He posed. I clicked. No comment.

He missed the "Got" and managed an "ilk" out of the deal.

Last but not least, my muscle man was so proud to push up that sleeve and show me his stuff. He doesn't really like milk at all.

PS. I confess that all of this happened behind closed doors until it was too late. In fact, not one person squealed that there were tattoos in the bags. I was impressed that they all worked together on keeping the booty under wraps. A certain mother has been known to confiscate......

Joy Is Everywhere

Isn't it strange when something starts popping up?

 Anywhere and everywhere you look?

It kind of begins to grab your attention!

 Perhaps it's a message?

 Or maybe a gift?

My Bible study? Joy was there.

Then Brother James has this to say in his first chapter:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

This summer, the pursuit of Joy has shown me how "immature, incomplete, and lacking in wisdom" I tend to be when I expect life to go my way.  I am eternally grateful that God continues to give generously. May there be more of him and less of me! 

Adoption Update: In the third trimester, waiting on Travel Approval from China.

Today, I cried.

Grief is funny like that.

It sneaks up on you sometimes.

All because I got a text this morning.

It simply said: 

"7 August today" 

Short and sweet. 

Bittersweet.

The tears welled up and for the first time, since I learned that he died, I let them fall.

Ten years ago, a two year old boy came to be part of our family.

He was almost three. He was potty trained. And if you asked him when his birthday was (because for most kids, birthdays are very important) he would say, 

"Seven August." 

And we thought that was the cutest thing ever!

He could also talk. Oh, could he talk. And debate. And argue. 

He was a bundle of energy and vitality like we have never seen before.

During our time together, we taught this little boy how to sleep in a bed.

We showed him what it was like to live in a two parent family where the manipulation he was used to didn't work so well.

We took him to meet his biological father for the first time. A priceless experience.

We told him about Jesus. Even though he was Jewish.

We loved him like our own.

Except that he wasn't.

He taught us how to hone our debate skills.

His situation forced us to learn about vicarious trauma.

He helped us understand and experience the joy of reunifying a family. 

When he left, I cried tears of joy. I knew in my heart that he was where he belonged.

God gave us a special gift, allowing our family to love on this boy for a whole year.

He went far away to live and we kept in touch every few months for awhile. E-mail is good that way. A phone call here and there on holidays when he was missing us. We kind of thought that someday we would see him again.

But then one of those e-mails bounced back saying there had been an accident and our little boy so full of life had been killed, along with his parents. 

A tragedy.

And I never cried.

Until today.

On seven August.

His thirteenth birthday. 

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; 

blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:21

Finding Joy

Or perhaps Joy found us?

Can you imagine a family of eleven agreeing on a name?

White board lists, searching the Bible, prayerful consideration, saying all the kid's names to see if one would "fit"...

Thank goodness we only had to come up with a first name.
 
Bob finally chose Joy MeiNi Peterson.

Isn't she sweet? 

We received these pictures from China in May with an update of sorts.

Joy is five years old with an October birthday. 

Our paperwork is enroute to the National Visa Center, then back to China for an Article 5. The Travel Approval from the Chinese government will come shortly after.

There is lots I could say about the process this time but I will save that for another day. 

Welcome Miss Joy. We love you already.