Lions, Love, and (Child) Labor

Happy Year of the Rat!!

February 7th marked the beginning of Chinese New Year, and according to the Chinese Zodiac, 2008 is another Year of the Rat. People born in a Rat Year are said to be logical realists, shrewd, charming, ambitious, and inventive. A Rat Year is said to be a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. Traditionally, this is a good year to begin a new job, get married, or make a fresh start of some other sort. I wonder if adding a new child to the family counts??

During Chinese New Year, a local museum hosts its annual Asian Festival. So, we were able to spend an afternoon taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the Asian culture. The festival ended with an assortment of traditional Chinese dances, the lion dance being the grand finale.

The plate dance...

The fan dance...The lion dance...


Brielle is not so sure she likes the lion dancers...

Valentine's Day followed all too quickly on the heels of Chinese New Year (where has February gone, BTW?). February 13th at 9:00 p.m., Max and I joined the swarm of others who were searching for those perfect last minute gifts for the ones they love (trust me...the early bird really does have the advantage here; the rest of us are left with whatever the early birds have cast aside, unwanted).

For Valentine's dinner, it has become our tradition to make heart-shaped pizza. Right before Valentine's Day, I saw an ad that Papa John's was selling heart-shaped pizza, so I decided to delegate my pizza-making to them. Brielle and I listened to Chicago's love songs CD while making our Valentine's jello and cherry cheesecake. There is nothing like "You're the Inspiration" to get you into the Valentine's spirit!

After dinner, Max held the annual presentation of Valentine's gifts to the kids. As you'll see from the pictures, he has them sit backwards on the couch (no peeking) with their hands behind their backs. Brielle joined in as if she'd been doing this forever! Max then places gifts in their hands, starting with small things and moving up to larger things. The kids like to "feel" their gifts and guess what each one is before looking (this might be a significant fact to know before viewing one of the photos below). I'm not sure why we ever started this for Valentine's Day...there was obviously not a lot of thought put into it and there is obviously no significance to any of it...but, it's made it a fun night for all of us!

In position...I can't believe the early birds left some of these...

Look carefully at what Brant is receiving....yes, that is our already been "used" plunger....no, it wasn't really a gift to him...yes, Max is mean...no, Brant will probably never trust Max on Valentine's Day again...UGH! Brant was a good sport, though, and after scouring his hands, he was able to laugh about it.

Before closing out this post, I wanted to share some pictures of Brielle, my BIG HELPER! Brielle LOVES to "help you, Mom", and is quite capable at what she does. If I am in the kitchen, she will drag her stepstool to wherever I am working. I have learned to capitalize on this, and she and I will work on dinner together right after lunch. With her stepstool pulled up to the island, she is a master at opening any boxes of food I might need; she can crack eggs; she pours, whisks, and stirs; and is the best spoon- and beater-licker around! Last week, she totally surprised me by folding dishcloths and washcloths just about as well as I do. Truthfully, I do NOT know how she knew how to fold them so well. She just picked them up, one after another, and folded them like I would. I never taught her to do it...she just must have watched me and figured it out. I was shocked! Since then, whenever I have a load of towels out to fold, she grabs all the little washcloths out and folds them! Now, if only I could get my big kids to fold so eagerly and so well!

"Reporting for duty, Mom!" (Grandma Thibert...do you recognize this apron?) Brielle even stacked her folded cloths...

Inspecting her work...

"Seize the Day" (and the irresistably quiet night)

Last night I stayed up late planning Research Paper assignments for the two big kids. Once I was done, I should have gone to bed, but the house was just too irresistably quiet not to spend some time doing some uninterrupted web surfing. So, I began perusing ALL my favorite blogs, adoption yahoogroups, etc. As any late night web surfer knows, one blog leads to another, and before you know it, the wee hours of the night have passed. I know the internet has a great potential for evil and yuck, but I am constantly amazed at how it provides me with a network of invaluable information --I absolutely can not imagine adopting or homeschooling without it (was there such a thing as adoption and homeschooling before the internet :o)?)

One of the blogs I infrequently visit is Doug Phillips' blog at Vision Forum. Although I don't agree with exactly everything Doug espouses, I do think his vision and voice for the family is something desperately needed in today's society. Last night (or should I say, this morning), I stumbled across the following post on Doug's blog--I hope to make "Seize the Day" the battle cry of each and every morning!

"Seizing the Day for Our Children"
by Doug Phillips at Vision Forum
http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/2007/12/3285.aspx

My children are growing so quickly. And so are yours.
Today, the fair-haired
little boy is tugging at Daddy’s leg, but tomorrow he is a young man of stature,
strength, and potential who will soon be a family leader in his own right. The
pig-tailed little girl who is so generous to Daddy with her butterfly kisses
will suddenly emerge as a woman whose heart will be given to the husband
prepared by God to take Daddy’s place as the human love of her life.

Our time as parents of children is slipping away from us. Each day that passes
without a self-conscious determination on our part to invest great spiritual
resources into their lives and to equip them is a day lost. It is a day that
will never be recovered.

What will be our message to the little boy and
girl? How will we use the brief moments God has given to us to equip them to
stand holy, pure, hopeful, and determined through the cultural tumult of our
budding twenty-first century?

It is the mission of Vision Forum Ministries
to encourage and inspire the Body of Christ to make this time — this season of
precious parenthood — count for all of eternity.

It is why the words of my dear but now departed spiritual son Michael Billings, in his sermon to the future fathers of his own generation, ring so true: “Seize the day.”

DTC, LID, and other Adoption Acronyms

Finally!!!!!

Our dossier is in China!

Our dossier went to China (DTC) on January 18th, 2008, and yesterday we found out that it was logged in (LID) at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on January 28th, 2008. FINALLY!!!!! With Brielle's adoption, we were DTC just shy of three months from the day we began paperchasing. This time around, it took TWO extra months to get through immigration (and to get our I-171H), and so we are approaching five months since we began the paperwork to bring home our little boy. Needless to say, we are very excited that our paperwork is finally in the hands of the CCAA!!

So, what does this mean? Well, we are told it will be at least three months before we hear anything from the CCAA. We are now waiting for the CCAA to review and approve our dossier, then send us the Seeking Confirmation Letter (SCL), which is the official "referral" of our son. We will need to sign this letter, stating that we do indeed wish to adopt him, and send it back to the CCAA. Then, we'll wait for them to issue us Travel Approval (TA), our agency will schedule our appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, and we'll book flights and get packing! TA and travel usually occur about two months after the SCL is received.

The special needs children adoption route is faster, but less predictable than the non-special needs adoptions. So, all waiting times are only estimates. That being said, our best guess-timate for meeting our little guy is sometime in June (oh my goodness...can I wait that long?). Again, this is only a guess, and we are, of course, holding on to hope for a record-breaking fast SCL!

When you are adopting an older child, you are allowed to send them a little package. We were told we were limited to "a beanie baby size toy no larger than your hand". Thank you God for making Max's hands so large :o)! We thought and thought about what one toy would be the perfect one to send to our little son whom we've never met. Think about that...that's a tough one. Then, I read that a family from our agency sent their older daughter a little purse full of fun girly things. Perfect! Just the idea I was looking for! So, with Max's hand spread wide open, we found a little pack just the right size and filled it with all sorts of little boy things...a ball, yo-yo, slinky, flashlight, puzzle, Hot Wheel cars, stickers, and even a personalized little TX license plate for the bike we'll soon get him! We had so much fun putting everything together!
(note to other adoptive parents: our agency allowed us to send everything except for the candy we had included; I'm not sure why they didn't allow the candy)

Along with this, we sent him a Shutterfly photo book in which we shared photos of ourselves, our house, pets, etc., and through words and pictures, attempted to prepare him a little for his new family and home. We would so greatly appreciate your prayers in this area. Please pray that he will understand what is about to take place, and that his little heart and mind will be prepared. It grieves me to think about the emotions he will soon be facing - fear, loss, grief, lack of control... I pray that mixed with these emotions are even the tiniest bits of hope, comfort, warmth, sense of belonging,...

Thank you SO much for your support. We'll keep you posted on any news!

An Ideal End to 2007...

Brielle is shocked that Christmas is over, and there are no more presents to open!














It is so hard to believe that the holidays have passed, and today it was back to school for us and back to work for Max. I hated to say goodbye to Max this morning, because we had him all to ourselves for a whole 16 days! This was the first time since we were married that we can remember having time off and just being together at home as a family. What a perfect way to end the very busy year of 2007!

This was also the very first Christmas with just us, our little immediate family. When we first decided to stay home for Christmas this year, I was somewhat afraid that we'd regret it, but as much as I love spending time with my extended family, I have to say that this was the most relaxing Christmas season I can remember. No packing, no rushed cookie making, no early gift opening (our kids actually opened their gifts on Christmas morning), no car trips or plane rides with a two year old....total relief! This time of rest and togetherness was priceless.

Max insisted that I wait to make our Christmas cookies until he was off of work, so we could all make them together. He was a HUGE help, and with him by my side in the kitchen, cooking and baking was much more enjoyable!

Cookie Decorating...

















Some Christmas Pictures...

Brant had just two things on his wish list:

1) This airsoft gun















2) A Nintendo Wii

















Brittany wished for a dozen books and almost that many movies!

Brielle continually asked for "games" for Christmas. What fun it is to experience Christmas morning through the eyes of a two year old! Brielle opened each of her gifts quickly and ably, moving onto the next one without pausing to play with the one newly opened. She let out a loud scream of delight when she uncovered her final gift - a new kitchen!























A Christmas evening walk
















Brielle takes Daddy for a spin in her new race car...

















With 2007 behind us, we look forward to what God has in store for our growing family in 2008.

Wishing you a blessed 2008 from all of us to all of you!!

Christmas Traditions and Orname-mories

With the beginning of Advent this year, I dusted off our Advent wreath, positioned its candles around its circle, and eagerly anticipated the reading of our new Advent Book.
As I called the kids in to celebrate the first night of Advent, Brittany, maybe not quite as eager, looked at me and said, "Mom, you really like traditions don't you".

YES! I LOVE TRADITIONS! Aren't traditions what help make "Christmas" feel like Christmas, "Thanksgiving" feel like Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday feel like Super Bowl Sunday, etc.?? Don't traditions give us a sense of security and connectiveness as a family? Traditions bind our hearts together through anticipated and shared experiences which then become shared, cherished memories.

Am I idealistic???? Likely, but I still LOVE TRADITIONS!

One of the kids' favorite Christmas traditions is the receiving of their annual Christmas Orname-mory. On the night we decorate the tree, after all of the other ornaments have found their perfect place, Max and I give each child an ornament that reflects something specific and special about them that year. It can be a new interest, new activity, etc. Decorating our tree has become a walk through our children's childhood as we hang the ballerina, green frog, model car, "Kaya" American Girl, Darth Vader, girl on horseback, and many more.

This year's Orname-mories...


This year, Brittany developed a huge interest in listening to music, and after school she can usually be found plugged into her i-pod listening to her favorite tunes.










One day at lunch, Brant announced in a very 12-going-on-13-year-old-boy-voice, "Video games are my life!" (before anyone freaks out...he is limited to 30 minutes of gaming a day) Thankfully, I had already ordered him this Orname-mory:





Brielle absolutely ADORES the "Wonder Pets", a cute little team of baby animals who travel all around the world saving other animals. She literally screams with delight when they are on, can tell you the color of each of the Wonder Pets' capes, and recites other bits of useful Wonder Pets trivia.





Max and I will likely look back on our 2007 Ornam-emory and remember this unique year when our hearts were so full, yet not quite settled as we still waited for our little son to come home.







Wishing you and your family a Christmas season full of heart-binding, memory making moments!