The New House

Before

After

These are the before and after pictures of our house. We are settled in now - Whew!!!
We do have a lot of painting left, but for the most part all of the major work is finished.

The tropical depressions have come through our area and we have had a lot of rain, which introduced us to some leaks. Off the back of our house we have two sun rooms; one upstairs off of the kitchen, and another one below it downstairs. Both of them (upstairs and down) are leaking. In addition to leaks, we have a horrible ant problem. I really think that because the house sat vacant for so long, these little critters settled in. Last week I opened my car door and it was full of ants! I will say we do have crumbs in our car, but for the most part it is clean. We are trying to overcome these tiny little beasts - very difficult! I do not like ants at all and our two younger girls use to scream at the sight of one - now we just take turns smashing them. If anyone has any ant advice, we welcome it! We are in the process of mapping out a plan with our exterminator - Perhaps we live on an ant bed, I really do not know?

Notwithstanding the leaks, we actually love the sun rooms. One positive about the sun room upstairs is its roof... it is aluminum and glass. I have always wanted a cabin with a tin roof because I love the sound of the rain hitting it - not a downpour - but just gentle rain. It is such a soothing beautiful sound. The last few weeks, the rains have been very hard and when it hits the sun room roof it can be pretty loud (in addition to the aluminum and glass, the floor is tile without any rugs.) God does have a sense of humor and I use it to remind me of how far we have all come. Two years ago it was frantic when the weather changed and now everyone always knows when the weather is changing because you can hear it AND praises! there is no fear!!!!! everyone just moves to a quieter room. He blesses us beyond measure!

Day 77 Waiting For LOA

So Absolutely Adorable! (20 mths)

A couple months ago we asked Brian Stuy if he would try and find the newspaper with Grant's finding ad. He did find it and oh what an adorable picture! The picture is grainy, but you can make out Grant at 3 months old - PRECIOUS ! He is very tiny and has big round eyes. The newspaper is so sad. There are about 30 children on the page - infants through 8 years old - all abandoned. It is such an honor to look at Grant's precious face knowing God chose him to bless us. There are millions of orphans in the world and this particular one will be our son. It is really overwhelming to think about.

Anyway, one of Grant's characteristics listed in his finding ad was he had an umbilical hernia. In all of our paperwork, we had never read he had a hernia. We were totality fine with him having a hernia, however, in order to get Grant's visa in China, our home study report has to list that we are able to handle Grant's medical condition - each condition listed, and this one had not been listed - OH MY! To list it we would have to file another addendum/Supplement 3 AND pay for another home study update.
We called our WONDERFUL China agency coordinator asked if she could ask about Grant's umbilical hernia. She contacted her China representative and he send an email today a saying that when the orphanage received Grant, it looked as if he had an umbilical hernia and they felt that was important to include in the ad. He did not and does not have a hernia. That was great news, but they actually spoke to the orphanage! and that was all that was said?!?! Yes, that was all that was discussed! - did they did not say anything else about the most adorable little boy in all of China -

I am just flat out chatty, because there is no way I could make any call and just ask one question.

As time goes by my heart aches for Grant - I would love to know every tiny detail about his life - I would even take one detail from the week - or month for that matter. When our coordinator realized how badly we wanted any additional information, she kindly offered to get a full update - we decided to wait until closer to travel.

Here is what we do know about Grant:
He smiles.

He loves sweets. He is a Perkins!

height 75.5 cm (29.7 inches), weight 9.2 kg (19 lbs) - I have no idea of his clothing size

He was sent to a foster family out of the orphanage when he was 11 months of age.

Nan Nan (his nickname) has four other foster siblings. He loves to play with them all. PERFECT~ how about one more to play with!

He can walk now, but he prefers to have one hand holding while walking. I get to be THAT person!

I cannot wait to know so much more about him!

Anyway, If you are new to China adoption process, I highly recommend you watch National Geographic's documentary called China's Lost Girls. It is very moving and does a great job discussing China's one child policy. Lisa Ling follows a family through the great adventure in China adopting their daughter. They are even from Atlanta! It will show you what the process will look like for us in China.

You can view this documentary for free on www.hulu.com. In the search box type China's Lost Girls and then chose the picture of Lisa Ling with a little Chinese girl labeled China's Lost Girls.

Supplement 3 Approved!

Wow, we just had great news delivered. I will have to back up to explain. As soon as we closed on our house, we had to send Immigration a home study addendum/Supplement 3. Our social worker had to come and visit our new home and rewrite certain parts of our home study. Immigration has to know our exact address and if our house meets certain standards - considering the condition of this house, our Social Worker had A LOT of confidence in us. I really think they want to know that everyone is not living in one room (although we were at one point :) and that it is a relatively safe home- also qustionable at times. Our wonderful social worker quickly wrote the addendum/Supplement 3. Anyway, Immigration approved our move and new home study addendum! Yesterday we found out that it was not delivered to Immigration until the 10th by FedEx overnight. I have been checking for a week to see if they recieved it - NO one could find it. Yes, we mailed on the 3rd and they received on the 10th?? God is grand and much bigger than extended overnight service! Our move has had no effect on Grant's adoption, I am so thankful and THRILLED. We are on day 71 waiting for LOA and totality trusting God and His timing.

Sweet Grant I love this house because it is where we will be bringing you home. It will not be long.

Day 64 Waiting for LOA

It has been 64 days! I must say the move has made time go by quickly. We continue to pray that is number does not go too high. We have seen this wait last up to 150 days - :(. We are at the mark where it could happen any day.

Happy Birthday Sweet Grace!

Grace and her new kitten, Sarah

I cannot believe she is already six. We surprised Grace with a new kitten. I was partially for selfish reasons. We live in a wooded area and I am terrified of snakes. At the suggestion of a good friend, who happened to have a litter of kittens, we decided to get a cat. She is a sweet kitten and our cockapoo, Bailey, LOVES her. However, the feeling is not mutual - Sarah tolerates Bailey's playfulness.

Laboring

No, I am not in labor, however my physical and emotional pain is close. We are in our new house after taking 6 days to move out of our old house. We finished at 2:30 AM the day before we closed. I was so tired that it was difficult to sleep. I have never been that exhausted. We moved in to fumes from hardwood floors, paint and dry wall sanding mess, lots of bugs and cob webs, and toilets that would only flush with the help of a plunger - yuck! Have I said I really love this house? Although it is not everything it should be right now, it is going to be great.

Fortunately, the house has a finished basement and the 7 of us camped out. (I was able to wash it down with Clorox before we set up camp and we have not seen a live scorpion since three weeks ago - toxic bug killing spray helped). Without a kitchen, I have become quite creative with a toaster. We have created great memories is such a short time - big highs and low lows. I believe the lowest moment was when one of the workers called the fire department because of some unknown fumes. That resulted in a verbal confrontation between the plumber and the painter - the painter claiming he was NOT USING OIL PAINT! I have discovered that unless there is a contractor over the project, the different subs are less than friendly with one another. My children's knowledge of words has also been expanded due to some interesting bumper stickers UGHHHH. The fire trucks did leave and it was decided that the fumes were from the floors or perhaps the bug killer combined with the floor fumes which had been trapped inside the non-venting hot water heater closet. Oh did I mention that for 5 days we showered with less than luke warm water. It is getting better every day and oh how I loved my hot bath tonight. God's provision has been so real and evident despite the lack of comfort.

I AM SO THANKFUL FOR OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!! We would not have made it without them. At the time of greatest need someone would step in or show up to help. Witht eh exception of some large furniture, we moved ourselves.

Skip's mother helped us with the small ones towards the end of the move. Such a HUGE HUGE blessing. My mother came to help as soon as we were able to move furniture onto the floors - I have never had enough nerve to ask her if I was adopted. I should though because I do not have anything close to her stamina, energy, patience and organization skills. She had us all going from sun-up until 10:30 each night and amazingly we ate a hot meal EVERY NIGHT! We are almost out of boxes!!!!!! I just have my office and kitchen boxes left to unpack - oh and boxes of toys that I cannot bring myself to open . Hopefully this weekend our kitchen will be finished.

The emotional aspect of life right now;
My dearest friend is moving to Nashville. This all came about during the frantic packing of our house. I have been in denial over her move. Her husband has already accepted a job so she has been here alone with her children. I wanted her to sell her house soon, but I thought it would take at least a month, which would be just enough time for it all to sink in. She sold her house in less than a week! She is the friend I touch base with at least every two days, she knows all of my issues - and accepts me, she is the one I call first, she has always lived less than a minute away, she is not afraid to tell me the truth when I need to hear it, she has held my hand through times when I could not see beyond the pain, she is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met - and very humble - she knows everything! and the dearest thing about her is she has taught me so much about the love of Christ because she lives it. She was the friend who helped me accept the fact that I do not fit in the box - and that is okay. This is the amazing thing, I have had many friends call me and express that She is the same friend to them as she is to me. I am going to miss her!!

Grant

Thank you Danielle for adding Grant's precious picture!  I cannot wait to have a picture of ALL six together.

Grant's Surprise!

Our agency helped us send a care package to Grant. The only stipulation is it has to fit into a Zipl@c bag. I had a very hard time fitting everything I wanted to send him into a Zipl@c. I will say I hope the bag did not explode on its way to our agency in Washington.

We sent Grant clothes, two cameras for his foster family to fill with pictures, a photo album with all of our pictures, snugly blanket and two small squirting animals.
I also made him this blanket to hang in his crib. I must say it is very strange to have a child so far away. I am thankful for this summer, which has kept us quite busy. Grant should receive this surprise this week.

I over heard Quinn telling his swim teacher about his brother. She asked him his name and Quinn said, "His name is Grant, because Grant is a very strong name." We pray for Grant's strong heart and strong growth.

Wordless Wednesday

Blessed with a House to make a HOME!

Abundant Blessings

They accepted our offer today! I am beyond words with this blessing - it is something we never dreamed of, though it was deep in our hearts. He is after our hearts!

We are coming sweet Grant, just ironing out a few details!

I Think We Have A Home!

Last week was crazy. We know we are closing on our house at the end of the month, so we began packing and looking for a house. We decided the closing date because of all of the paperwork we need to resubmit about our new home for Grant's home study. We do not want to waste one minute of time away from Grant if WE can help it. Anyway, we looked at a few houses to rent - one was on a lake without a fence - NO, another one we took too long to respond back-we lost it, another was twice as much as our mortgage now! We became a bit unsettled about where we were going to live, all the time praying that we could have a comfortable home for our family. Honestly, I was very discouraged and had a lot of tears.

One afternoon, Skip drove around neighborhoods and called several Realtors that had vacant houses for rent. The thought of not finding a house to rent NEVER entered our minds. There are so many houses that have been on the market for a long. Anyway, Skip called about a house and the realtor referred him to the bank owning the house. When Skip asked the banker about renting, the banker asked Skip why he wouldn't just buy it. Skip said because I feel like we should rent and renting is safe with this economy. The banker told him to think about buying the house and Skip asked the banker to please think about renting it. Skip came home that night and told me all about this great house, on a cul-de-sac, great neighborhood, lots of space, on a little bit of land and about his conversation with this banker. He said it was a great price and something we could afford and he wanted to pray about buying it. In my mind that was not the plan - In the midst of where I thought God was sending us, was He now asking us to switch gears?

My verse: Trust the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowldege Him and He will make your paths straight.

The next day we went to see this house. This house would be perfect for our family. It needs some cosmetic work and cleaning up, but I think this floor plan is even better for us than the house we are leaving.

We have put an offer on the house and every day while we wait, we drive out to see it. The bank is having a board meeting on Tuesday and they will let us know then if they officially accept the offer.

I would so much rather buy a house rather than rent. Transistion is such a difficult place for me to rest and although God is teaching me so much about what a true home is, I desire a place of our own. God does know the desires of our hearts and I am so grateful that as time goes by, I am more and more comfortable trusting Him with mine. He is faithful and good - always.

Just Enough Light

I do believe that any observer would have diagnosed me with ADD today. There is so much going on in this house! Besides packing to move, Olivia and Annabel are leaving this weekend for their two week summer camp. We washed clothes, packed boxes, collected camp supplies, folded clothes, cleaned up a large glass of spilled water from the kitchen, organized messy drawers, counted socks, went to buy more socks, measured the length on shorts, cleaned up after Amelia . . . you get the idea. At about 4:00 Skip called to tell me to check my emails because we had received Grant's update. I could not open the email fast enough. Oh what a wonderful surprise to see our precious boy! AND he has hair! It did make me very sad to see how much he had changed. He went from 8 teeth to 16, gained 3 lbs, and is walking. What a blessing he looks so happy! They also told us that his family fosters 4 other children and he loves playing with them- I think that is unusual for a family to foster so many children, but so perfect for Grant. We have been praying that God would prepare Grant's heart to enter into a large family. He has many siblings that cannot wait to love on him. Olivia, his older sister, keeps telling everyone that SHE will be the FIRST to hold him. He is such a loved child already even he though he is so far away.

Grant's eyes are so full of life - I am so anxious to see his sweet personality and how God has shaped him. Like each child, Grant will have such an important place in our family, uniquely gifted beyond anything Skip and I could ever nurture. One of my biggest prayers is that I will be able to look his foster mother in the eyes and thank her for loving and caring for our son.Grant Yinan at 20 months old, smiling for his mama!

This wonderful gift was followed thirty minutes later with a call from Skip telling me our rental house fell through. I am so sad that we will not be living next to my friend, but I am believing that there will be a place for us. God is always faithful.

It Sold!

A few months back I mentioned that we felt led that God was leading us to sell our house. I think deep down inside I did not feel like it would sell, I thought it would be one of those places in our lives where He wanted to see if we were willing. Could we surrender all? My mind was on board - it is only a house. Last week in church I was talking to a friend who had also been in the process of trying to sell her home. She told me about the big celebration they had when they pulled up their sign because it had been 6 months and they felt like God had told them to stay. Her husband's business was really suffering and at the time they really need to cut all corners. They are doing much better now - praises. After church I told Skip that now we were getting closer to the fall and going to get Grant that perhaps we should reconsider selling, he felt the same way. I even asked him to pull the sign out of the yard, that God could sell this house without a sign if He was going to. And surely He would have done it by now.

I was so excited because I just knew we were staying, we too would have a celebration - and then I got a call on Monday from someone who wanted to see the house and for some reason I just knew this was the call. We did sell the house to a beautiful family on Wednesday night- and now if my heart and my head would just line up and be in agreement, I would be fine.

My head knows that financially this house is a lot for us in this economy and there is a lot of freedom from bondage with less debt. In all of our married life we have never been debt free. It knows that God always takes us from better to even better - even when it doesn't look like it. This is an answer to our prayer that we wanted to live an extraordinary life in Christ - however he chose to use us. And only God could have sold this house in this economy.

But, my heart has felt the laughter and tears cried over in this house, the scriptures we wrote on the 2x4's as we rebuilt and reflected on the might hand of God that saved us, the shelter the walls provided as God healed and strengthened our family and marriage, the contentment we had finally reached and every physical detail . . . my house. It is very difficult. I have really come to better understand why Abraham's father decided to stay in Ur.

We hope to move the middle of July in order to quickly get settled. Our social worker will have to write an updated about our new home and we will then have to file the update with immigration. We are praying every step of the way that this does not delay Grant's homecoming. In all the craziness of looking for a home and packing, I have moments when I rejoice because of the reality that we HAVE A SON!! God has blessed my heart's desire abundantly! I look at Grant's little picture and it doesn't seem real. I cannot wait to have him in my arms. God is always so good! and His ways are so much higher!

One day I want to go back to having the outlook of a child. The children are so excited to be able to live in another house with new neighbors! and all of the new neighborhood pets!!!!

Oh we did find a great house to rent for the next year. It is right next door to a very dear friend and I am so excited to share this season of our lives together! It IS going to be good!