The Bug

I know it's been a few days since my last post. My sweet Noah has the flu and so we have been laying low. I did get a chance to take a sweet friend out for dessert last night for her birthday. It was so nice to get out and enjoy some girl time. My cup has been so full lately hearing all the wonderful stories of friends that are in their journey to bring home a child or children. It has been so cool to hear how God has spoken to their hearts and made things so abundantly clear. Our church is gearing up for an event called GO SATURDAY! It's a day where our grace groups(small groups) are encouraged to go out into our communities and serve others in need. I have been hearing what some of the grace groups will be doing and I just feel so blessed to be apart of such an amazing church body. I will share more about this event later. i hope you all have blessed weeks.

Emergency Trip to the Dentist.

Daddy had the day off so we had a nice lunch from Chik Fil A and he took the boys to the park. I put Hannah down for a nap and Five minutes later get a call that Noah fell and hurt his top teeth and lip. I had the wet wash cloth and water waiting for him when they got home. what I didin't have was the camera :) His gums were bloody and bruised so we decided to take him into the dentist. Luckily his top two teeth are babies and he was going to lose them in the next month. The dentist did some xrays and decided to leave them alone because he doesn't believe there is any damage to the adult teeth. He said to give him tylenol and ice his lip. The pictures above are after the ice on the lip and after he has been cleaned up. I consider us pretty lucky. Noah is almost eight and we have avoided stitches and breaks this far. Not bad!

A Wonderful Morning

So unbelievably blessed by the seminar this morning. It was so great to meet couples from all over and to hear how God is placing the orphans on there hearts. Jason and I feel so grateful to be apart of AW and to be able to help couples began there process of adoption. We still are so overwhelmed and amazed that God put adoption on our hearts and the huge blessing our daughter has been in our lives. We see God alive and at work all around us and it is exciting!

God is so great!

I LOVE to read stories of people being Gods hands and feet and advocating for the weak. Please read this entry from a blog I follow about an adoption ministry who had a great event last week. It just takes getting the word out and people stepping out in Faith and believing that God is BIG enough to help save these 147 million orphans.

147MILLIONORPHANS rocked the house!!

Yesterday was nothing short of a miracle...nothing short of God's hand. Since the launch of Hearts of Compassion Orphan Care Ministry in November 2009, 6 families have taken the plunge into adoption/foster care! Praise the Lord!!! He is stirring up compassion in the hearts of our church family and it has been amazing to witness. Yesterday afternoon was a big day for our ministry and God showed out! Families, not just from our church, but from many surrounding cities came together and the Lord was there...I believe hearts were touched and a difference was made for some orphans out there. Lifeline Adoption Agency also had a booth and gave out lots of good information....I can't wait to begin hearing stories of change and action!! I pray that God will continue to bless the lives of Suzanne, Gwen, their families and their ministry as they continue to be obedient. God doesn't just call people that have it all together...He calls the people that sometimes seem the least likely. Then, as they rely on Him alone to provide (whether it be finances, change of heart, or whatever), He gives them exactly what they need to do what He has called them to. It just takes stepping out IN FAITH. If it seems logical and you can figure it all out, then what glory does God get in that, if there is no risk, no sacrifice?? We step out IN FAITH when it seems IMPOSSIBLE to US!!! God steps in, does the IMPOSSIBLE and gets the glory HE ALONE deserves. So, I challenge you today to STEP OUT--if it doesn't make sense to the world and those around us, SO WHAT?? Life is a vapor...make a difference for Him and make a difference in an orphan's life today--whatever that looks like for your family.

Please continue to lift up the AWAA seminar in your prayers. Pray that lives would be changed and people would step out in faith.

My Montage 2/11/11 at OneTrueMedia.com

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3 More Days

I had grand ideas of keeping up with the Joy to Love. I did not however keep in mind that I had a big seminar and CHOC event to prepare for. I still would like to do it in the future. So stay tuned. I would like to encourage you all(especially you California locals) to help spread the word about the America World International Adoption Seminar this Saturday 2/19/2011 from 10-12 at Grace E.V. Free Church in LaMirada. I have been praying all week for the people attending. I pray that hearts would be moved to care for the orphans and that God would be glorified during this wonderful time. It is going to be such a great time of hearing about God's design of adoption and hearing some incredible stories of adoptions. You wont want to miss out. Oh and if you register at AWAA.org on the events page you will get a free copy of Casting Crowns CD.

Happy Valentines Day

This was a great Valentines day. Jason took the day off since he had to fly out to Texas for the week. He let me sleep in and got all the kids ready for school. He made me a yummy smoothie and gave me the most special gift. Eleven years ago we wrote our own vows for our wedding day. For this Valentines he printed them out on beautiful paper and had them matted and framed. It was so special and meant so much to me. After we picked up the boys from school we went to lunch and spent time together before saying goodbye for a couple of days :(

Noah has been saving his money to by his best friend Abbie a special necklace. He has been bugging me to take him shopping. Saturday I took him to target where he picked out a beautiful cross necklace. He picked out a special heart gift bag and everything. When I asked him why a necklace? He said because she likes pretty things :) He is so tenderhearted. This event made this mommy so proud of the sweet boy he is turning out to be. Abbie had a beaming smile and it made his day. Oh the stories we will have for them one day.

One more sweet story. Last night while Jason was reading the bible to the kids I came in the room and Hannah pointed at the book and said "mommy Jesus" I said yes baby your learning about Jesus and she said Yeah! with enthusiasm. It literally took my breath away.

Baseball And Valentines

Saturday was a busy and fun filled day. CHOC Hospital had invited us to a heart patient reunion party. They throw one every year the weekend before Valentines. They had all kinds of crafts and goodies for the kids and lots of yummy food. CHOCO the bear and a big panda were there and Hannah was not excited to see them. She held close to mom and grandma the whole time. We saw a lot of staff that we had met during Hannah's stay including Dr. Gates who performed her amazing surgery. The line to get his picture was longer than the line for CHOCO BEAR. He is a great man and loved by many. The boys enjoyed watching the magician and decorating cookies. Hannah looked too sweet in her valentine dress that I just had to do a little photo shoot.

After the party we went to Jonah's first T-Ball practice. He was so excited and did so well. We are proud of our little guy and can already see lots of baseball in his future.

I have not been able to keep up with the JOY TO LOVE but hope too soon.

Hannah's Gotcha Video

After hours of hard work I finally put together Hannah's Gotcha video. It's not perfect because I'm not that great on the computer but I was pretty proud at how it turned out.

Joy to Love 8~ Gift from the Heart...

Joy to Love 8~ Gift from the Heart...

I couldn't agree more with Sharon from http://isntshelovelyshay.blogspot.com/. I instantly thought of my sweet heart baby. My True Gift from the Heart would be The Gift of my Heart baby Hannah. Most of you know we almost lost her 10 months ago. She is our miracle and the greatest Gift from the Lord. We have seen her fight for her life, and have seen her thrive and amaze us all. She is doing so incredible and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. A true gift.

Day 6 and 7 of Joy To Love

Who They Love~ Joy to Love/Sunday Snapshot

Day 6 of Joy to Love assignment~ Who They Love...

They love there baby sister of coarse and

although it doesn't look like it in this picture,

she loves them right back :)

Generations~ Joy to Love

Day 7 of Joy to Love assignment. We were

suppose to capture a Generations pose. Here is

Hannah with her Papa and Great Papa.

Chinese New Year

We have celebrated CNY the last couple of years however this year was the absolute best. This year was special because Hannah was finally home and able to celebrate with us. We started out by making lanterns and decorating the house. We made chocolate dipped fortune cookies and filled lucky money envelopes for our friends at co-op. On CNY we spent the day at the Huntington library where they have a beautiful Chinese garden and then went to a yummy Chinese restaurant with my parents for dinner. Today we celebrated with friends who also have adopted Chinese beauties at the Down Town China Parade. We shopped and ate and watched a fun parade. It has been so fun for all of us to learn so much about our daughters culture and incorporate that into our own families. It has been a week of new and wonderful memories that we will cherish forever.

Joy To Love Day 4 and 5

What They Wear~ Joy to Love

The Picture of the three did not turn out the best. However it shows them all dressed up in there Chinese flare. We love dressing up for any occasion and since it was Chinese new year we decided to make the most of it. The boys are wearing shirts that say Year of the Rabbit and Happy New Year and of coarse Hannah is wearing her pretty silk dress.

Joy of Love~ 05 Love to Hate

Todays post we had to shoot something that describes Love to Hate.

I LOVE the fact that these Medicines are helping to improve my baby girls health. I however Hate that I have to give them to her so many times of the day and am always in fear that I will forget one or give her too much of one. On the flip side things could be so much worse so I count my blessings this is the worst of it. To be honest I had a hard time coming up with something for this topic. I almost did not do it. Hate is such a strong word that we do not use very often. I had a hard time thinking of something. Anyhow here it is my LOVE To Hate picture.

The Joy Of Love Day 3

This is Noah Then and Now. He still loves to perform and put on shows for us all. He is a tender hearted soul who loves to do for others. He has a love for learning anything and everything. When this picture was taken he was very into Thomas The Train. Now he is into Star Wars and playing the WII. He is certainly growing up before my very eyes. I love you so much.

It's not to late to participate. Joy to Love

What They DO And How They Look

I am taking part in my first photo class, Joy to Love,

for the month of February.

(click to join!)

Yesterdays prompt was~ what they DO...

Todays prompt is How they look...

Since I just signed up last night I decided to do both on this post

This my Husband(Isn't he handsome)this picture was not taken by me. Since he is out of town I couldn't take his sweet picture. What does he do? He works for Evangelical Christian Credit Union. He handles major accounts. Schools, pair mission organizations and churches and helps them manage there accounts. He works really hard and we are so very lucky. Because of his hard work I get to stay home with my blessings. This is not all he does. He helps me raise our children, leads a Grace group at our church and recently became an elder. I'm proud to be his wife. We love you.

How they look...

This is my sweet Jonah. He is our silly guy. He is always first to make me and everyone around him laugh. He is the one we are most worried about with the ladies. He is a charmer and makes the girls smile already. Just look at that face . Can you blame them?

Hope you all join in on the fun.

Twice the love

Today my sister in law delivered twins. Cole and Logan arrived early this morning. Because Hannah is sick we will have to wait until next week to meet them. I have been getting updates all day from my wonderful mother in law. Hannah is going to be surrounded by lots of boys. I feel sorry for any boy that ever wants to take this cutie out on a date. Thank you Jesus for answered prayer on a safe delivery. I pray that they would come to know you at an early age and desire to love and serve you all there days. Happy Birthday Cole and Logan!