Latest Care Package

After we received our latest referral, we were given permission to send a care package to Hudson and his foster family.

We are using the same website, Gifts To China With Love, that we used for his birthday to send him some goodies.  Sheri and Katherine did such a great job that I knew that we wanted to use them again. 

After giving them some ideas of what we would like to send, they came up with a great package.

Here's a picture of everything they are going to deliver.

He is going to get 2 winter outfits, a winter coat and pants, winter boots, some socks, a camera, a note to his foster family, and some cookies and peanuts.


Recently, I saw on a L*ve Without Boundaries newsletter that the children in Hudson's area are in great need of warm coats.   They were asking for donations of $15 to provide coats for the children in their foster homes in Qiandongnan.

So our gift of some warm outfits and very cute winter coat and pants are coming just in time. 

If you would like to donate, you can go to L*ve Without Boundaries.  Just click on the Donate Now at the top of the page.  Then you can put a note on the general fund that it is for the coats for Qiandongnan children.  All your gifts are tax deductible.

As soon as I get pictures back, I'll post them.  I can't wait for you all to see how much he has grown.

Happy Halloween

This year was an extra special Halloween since Bill's parents were here visiting. 

Last night we did a little pumpking carving.

The kids were all fired up to do their own version of bobbing for apples so they cleaned out a tub, filled it up, and went bobbing.

Yeh....Emma was helping Cody a little here.  Sisterly love.

Success!!

Emma's turn.

Whew...coming up for air.

Yay Emma.  You snagged one.

On Halloween night Bill's parents manned the house and candy bowl while we walked the neighborhood Trick or Treating with the kids.

Here's some pictures from the evening...

Emma was a girl from the 20's.  Cody was Buffalo Bill Cody.

Pretty Cute

Is that a Squirrel on your face? 

These were our pumpkins we carved.

The Candy Stash!

Enjoying the beautiful weather with Dale and Phyllis on the lanai while Cody and Emma were looking through their candy.

Adoption Update...

On Monday, we finally received that call that we had been waiting 74 days for.  Our agency called and let us know that our LOA had arrived.   LOA is the letter of acceptance from China stating that they have accepted our request and see us fit to adopt.

HUGE sigh of relief!!!  So this week we once again have been filling out more paperwork and F*dExing documents all over the place.

At this point too, we can send another care package to Hudson and also ask for an update on height and weight so that we will have an idea on how big he might be when we go get him.

Hopefully we can get some new pictures to post.

Our best guess now is that we will be traveling mid-January to late January to go meet our sweet little guy.  Praise the Lord!  We are all very excited!! 

To be totally honest, I go from being completely excited and wanting time to fly until we can go get him and then I go to the other extreme of being a little freaked out that we only have 3 months to finish preparing for his homecoming.

There has never been any doubt in our minds and hearts that we were called by God to do this but there are times that I get nervous about parenting a toddler again.  I question my stamina, my level of patience, ....good grief...some days I question my sanity.  But the one thing I always come back to is that this is totally of God.  He planted this seed of hope for an orphan, this seed of love and I am confident that He will "meet us where we are at"!!

Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Talk about Timing...

On my last post, I wrote about the organization L*ve Without Boundaries.

~~About their need for sponsors to place orphans in foster care.
~~About their need for funds for orphanage assistance.
~~About their need for funds for nutrition assistance.

Today I got the monthly newsletter they send out (via email) and while scrolling through the articles for this month...

Who did I see...

A Very Sweet Cutie Pie.

This was one of those moments when I know that either

1. God has a sense of humor.

2. God loves his children so much that when we are weary or are losing heart in a certain situation that he'll bless us with a little something to encourage us, to love on us.

3. Both 1 and 2

Seriously, not 5 minutes before I had opened the email and clicked on the link to view the newsletter, I said to Bill that I wish we would hear something

anything....

about Hudson.  An update...

a picture...

or shall I dare to dream BIG and hope for our LOA this week????

And Then...There It Was...

a precious little picture of our little guy on the first page of the newsletter.

God Is So Good!

Here is the link to the newsletter if you want to see little Hudson.

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/sites/lwb/uploads/documents/Newsletters_2011/Newsletter_Oct._2011.pdf


His picture goes with the article about the need for new cribs.

Love Without Boundaries Sponsors

This has been on my heart for a while now.

A few months ago, we decided that we wanted to "give back" or "pay it forward" as people like to say today to the organization Love Without Boundaries.  Our reason was because our little guy, Hudson, who we hope to bring home after the new year is so fortunate to be the recipient of their foster care in Guizhou, China. 

I have mentioned them before on my blog and how blessed we are to know that he is being provided food, medical care if needed, clothing, toys, and most importantly to us love from foster parents who are willing to love, nurture, and stand in the gap until we are able to go get him.


When you seriously think about it, orphanages can only do so much.  Resources (food, clothing, medicine, enough nannies to adequately care for the number of children in a certain facility) are limited in many provinces of China and Hudson's area in Qiandongnan is not an exception.  In many places that I have researched on his area, I see the same information...that it a very poor area.

Hudson was one of the first 8 from his orphanage chosen to be a part of a foster care program that LWB was implementing.  Since then, they have added another group of precious children that can be placed in foster care. 

The kids and I went to the sponsorship website and looked through all the little faces to see who we felt God was leading us to sponsor into foster care.  After prayer and discussion, Cody felt strongly that we were to sponsor this young boy.

For each child, 3 sponsors are needed to fully fund a child.  Since we were the first to sponsor this little guy, we were given the privilege of giving him an American name (for clerical reasons only).  We chose Ryan.  The name means "Little King".  We believe that he deserves the life of a little king.  He also is from the same province and orphanage that Hudson is from.

You can see him on their website at this link: 

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/programs/foster-care/sponsor-a-child/

Each child has a little bio about them.  Some have special needs and some don't.  If you sponsor a child, each month you receive updates about your child. You also get lots and lots of photos, medical updates, developmental updates...it's fantastic and exciting to receive these each month.

Little Ryan is still in need of more sponsorship before he will be able to leave the orphanage and be placed in a foster home. 

Would you consider coming alongside us and help sponsor Ryan?  Or maybe one of the other children on the link is tugging at your heart.  Your $35 a month will be LIFE CHANGING for the little one that you choose.

I can say this because our little Hudson, who we long to be with every day, was sponsored by 3 different families somewhere in this world.  And every month they are able to receive updates on him.  If I could, I would personally write them a a note of thanks for their love and generosity to a little boy that they don't know.  Their sponsorship means that Hudson will know what it feels like to be loved and cared for consistently by the same people day after day.  He will not have the damaging effects from being institutionalized the first 18 months of his life.


Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Not everyone is called to adopt but everyone can make a difference in an orphans life by something as small and easy as $35 a month.

If you have any questions about sponsorship or Love Without Boundaries, please leave me a comment or email me. 

Waiting and Waiting and more Waiting...

Yeh...you get where I'm coming from.  We are at day 53 waiting for our LOA and still we are waiting and waiting.

It's pretty much a done deal that we won't be traveling before the end of the year to get Hudson. 

Everyday though, we pray for our little guy and hope that he is healthy and happy and well taken care of.

I'm crossing my fingers that MAYBE we'll hear something this week.

So in the midst of our waiting...our lives do continue to go on. 

I've been doing a little shopping for little Hud Fu.  (that's what Emma has started calling him and of course now she has us saying it too.)

About a month ago we got a rocker for Hudson's room.  Yea!  Right now it's still in our living room because we can't fit it through the door into the bedroom.  I'm thinking that we need to take the wooden rocker slats (is that what they are called?) off and then squeeze it through the door.  I love the chair.  It's comfy and velvety.  Can't wait to snuggle up with Hudson in it.

We also got the crib (still in box) and a car seat (also still in box).  It is very very surreal having those back in the house again.  Bill's still in shock I think. 

I'm still grabbing a few books here and there when we are at the bookstore too.  I'm trying to build up his little library.  Every once in a while I'll catch one of the kids in there reading them.  Too Cute!

As you can see, he's got a good collection started here. 

I've been trying to get some clothes too.  It's so hard to tell just how big he is going to be though.  He'll be about 18 months old when we get him so I've been buying 18-24 months and 2T stuff for next Spring and Summer.

Here's some of my favorites so far....

Gotta love the airplane stuff.  (makes Daddy happy)

Brothers Stick Together...Love It!!

Of course I have some beach wear for the little guy. 

Love the rompers!!

And last but not least...the linen missionary/Hawaiian shirt.  So cute!!  Maybe it will bring us good fortune and we'll be stationed in Hawaii next.

That is just a sampling of his wardrobe.  I've been good...haven't gotten too much yet since we don't know how big he'll be. 

Wish I was posting pictures of him and not his clothes.  Soon hopefully....praying that it will be soon.

We have a Teenager Now!

Yesterday was Emma's 13th birthday!  We celebrated by starting the day off with her Daddy making a special breakfast.

Her first gift of the day came from Cody.  He bought her a bamboo plant with his own money.

Then Came The .... Slumber Party!!

We started the evening off with dinner at Ol*ve Garden.  The girls had a great time ordering whatever they wanted.  They are a great group of silly girls!

Here's the beautiful birthday girl.  Ugh...I can't believe my baby girl is a teenager.

This would be my cute camera man.

The Birthday Gifts!

Emma's Birthday Cake.  She loved it.  It was all her favorite colors.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!  We love you so much!!

This special girl is such a blessing to whoever she meets.  She really is an amazing, Christ serving, family loving young lady.

Of course, we had to have some party entertainment.  Cody was happy to oblige.  Here he is magically balancing the balloon on the tip of his finger.

So......Hard......To......Get......Up!!

They are enjoying some of Bill's famous "Man-cakes"! (chocolate chip pancakes the size of a plate)

And a little Wii- Just D*nce II on the TV in between bites.

Lots of fun!!  Have a blessed year Sweet Emma Kate!