Kai's Video

When Kai saw Sarah-Grace's video, he asked if he could have one too. So, here it is. Enjoy! :)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a wonderful Christmas day. It started this morning with a 6 AM webchat with Sarah-Grace. That was a bit touch and go at first as we could not see them and they could not hear us! But it all worked out and we got to watch our little daughter in Taiwan open her Christmas stocking. She was so happy!

Kai-Wei had a happy Christmas too. His comment, "It's good." He really, really enjoyed the presents. As we ate dessert after our big Christmas dinner he asked, "Any more presents?"

We had a nice Christmas at home this year with my parents visiting and Dana's sister and her husband. We'd made a gingerbread house/creche this week and we each shared a reflection on one of the people who were at that first Christmas. I was really fun and meaningful.

I wrote about Joseph:

Scripture tells us Joseph was a just man, a carpenter, blessed by God. We see him as obedient, wise, patient and appreciative in the accounts of Jesus' birth and early life.

When faced with the fact that his young fiancee was pregnant he was troubled and wanted to spare her shame, public humiliation and worse--possible stoning.
Three times angels appeared to Joseph in his dreams and direct him to God’s ways. Each time he promptly followed their direction. Scripture shows no hesitancy or unbelief. One may wonder why God chose to send a visible angel to Mary as she went about her day, but a vision while sleeping to Joseph. Perhaps Joseph was a practical man--not prone to “wearing his heart on his sleeve” A man who may more comfortably sense God’s presence in the quiet of sleep than in the bustle of a busy day.

When Simeon blessed Jesus and recognizes him as the Messiah scripture tells us that Joseph, along with Mary, marveled. I like the idea of a dad for Jesus who marvels at the incomprehensible ways of God.

I chose to focus on Joseph, out of all the people at that first Christmas, because I heard a radio program in which the speaker described Joseph as watching Mary give birth “from a distance”. As I reflected on the little God’s Word tells us about Joseph I doubted he was “at a distance.”

I think a man like Joseph would have been right there with Mary supporting her head or holding her hand. I believe God knew Mary would need a just, practical man to be there to help her raise the Redeemer of mankind and support her in turbulent and uncertain times.

God, the Creotor of all, knows our needs. He knows what we are made of. He puts those others in our lives that will help us advance His Way.

I am thankful for each of those God has placed in my life as an instrument of His Grace. And as I reflect on Joseph this Christmas I am especially thankful for my husband, Dana, who shares many of the fine qualities of Joseph and has been there for me as God grows me up in His way.

Christmas Time Again

God is Good

Well,  I mailed another Christmas stocking to Taiwan yesterday.  I wish I'd taken a picture, but I'm always in a rush.  It just had a few little things--some craft items, a toy cell phone, a new shirt.  I hope she loves it when she gets it.  I love Christmas stockings.  There was a little Santa peeking out of this one and of  course a candy cane!  

We never dreamed last year we'd still have a child in Taiwan.  We are so thankful it is only one and we have one at home to celebrate his first Christmas in America!

Kai is very excited.  He kind of knows what is going on.  He has heard lots of things from friends about getting up early and wearing Christmas pajamas and getting presents.  He is also a bit tentative.  He doesn't quite like not knowing what's coming next.  He has had that problem for the last 10 months.  But this time around he seems willing to trust us that its GOOD.  He's been enjoying shopping for gifts and hearing the Christmas story and decorating.

We've really enjoyed having everything seem "new."  We had to cut our own tree--since that is the fun way.  Dana even had to buy more lights to put outside!

So, even while we feel sad that Sarah-Grace is still in Taiwan, we are enjoying our Christmas season.  Sometimes joy comes in accepting what God has for you and enjoying Him in your everyday life.  

We've learned that all our paperwork is set at AIT.  We've had the final adoption decree and the final custody ruling.  Now we wait for them to set a time for travel. 

Please continue to pray with us that Sarah-Grace will be home soon!

It's that time of year again

You know, the time of year when you dust off your pointy green hat and bust some moves.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Will you join us in praying?

Sarah-Grace has been a part of our family for 17 months now. For 17 months we have loved her, prayed for her, laughed with her, and watched her grow. But we have done all of those things from a distance. We've been blessed that some of us have had the chance to spend time with Sarah Grace in person, but other than the few days when my parents were it Taiwan for Kai's adoption, and the afternoon that I got to spend with her when I was in Taiwan, we've watched nearly a year and a half of her childhood go by, and we could only love her from a distance.

Last Christmas, we tried our hardest to celebrate as a family, despite the thousands of mile separating us. We never imagined we might have to do it again.

So, now we are praying that God works powerfully. That he clears the way before us, that all the paperwork issues that are delaying our adoption are taken care of, and that Sarah-Grace can come home in time to spend Christmas, and her 9th birthday, with her family. Her family who have been loving her from a distance, and are so ready for her to come home, just as she is ready to come home too.

Last night during my small group Bible study, we discussed the power of prayer. Over the course of our adoption journey we have seen again and again how God responds to prayer. As things continue to drag on, it's hard to remain hopeful. But, as I was reminded last night, God answers His people when they pray. He is waiting for our prayers. Will you please join us as we pray?








If you would like to add a smaller version of this picture to your blog, inviting your readers to join us in praying for Sarah-Grace, the code you need is to the left. Under layout, choose add gadget, and then select "HTML/Javascript". Copy and paste the code from the box underneath the picture into the content box and save it. You should have a button on your site that will link back to our page. If you do add a button, I'd love if you leave me a comment so I know. Thank you for praying!

Finally, Halloween photos

Sorry about the long delay. Here are the promised Halloween photos.

Ramen for breakfast

Ramen noodles have become a staple breakfast food at our house. This morning I made French toast.  Kai Wei looked at it and said, "Taiwan food and Meiguo (American) food are totally different".  Then, with disdain, "in Taiwan, we don't eat bread with honey."

Oh well.  Ramen's easier anyway.

Happy Halloween!

It was "Trick or Treat" night around here. Kai was a little uncertain about all that meant. He enjoyed the party and parade at school, but seemed a bit unsure of what was going to happen next with all this costuming stuff. I think he was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the day! He especially liked being "scared" by some of the people he met near his cousins' neighborhood where we went trick or treating. And of course he loved the candy gathering!

I've changed a lot about the candy thing. When the kids were little I used to dole it out. Maybe 2 or 3 pieces a day. After all, it's just NOT GOOD for a body. But over time I've come to realize the same body gets it all anyway and it is a lot easier to have it out of the house!

Of course, we all thought that Sarah-Grace should be here. I wonder what she would have wanted to be? A ninja like her brother Jonathan and cousin Abby? An elf like Kai? Maybe a clown? Well, perhaps next year. She really enjoyed the jack-o-lanterns we showed her in our webchat. Her whole face lit up just like theirs!

I've always liked the "fall, dress up, candy" side of Halloween. I've never participated much in the "spooky, scary" part.
I like the object lesson I heard one time about how the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern  can represent us. When we want to make a Jack-o-lantern we have to cut it open and get out all the gucky stuff and then we can put a candle inside and let the light shine. In the same way, we, as sinners, need to have all the "gucky stuff," or sin, taken away by the atoning blood of Jesus, then His Spirit can light up our lives and we can shine for others.

So, we were wondering tonight how the tradition of the "CANDY" started on this holiday. We've been told that November 31st is All Souls Day and people in Medieval times used to dress up to scare away the bad spirits so it would be nice for the good saints the next day; All Saints Day. Halloween being a rendering of "All Hallows Eve" (meaning the day/eve before All Saints Day--hallow being the archaic word for holy person or saint).   Now I have a slight problem with the need to scare away the bad spirits with dress-up, but then, I'm not a medieval person.  Anyway, this is all very interesting and makes a certain kind of sense, but WHAT ABOUT THE CANDY?  Well, I had coffee tonight on the trick or treat expedition and I'm still awake. . .Maybe I will go and research that candy thing and have an answer for our next post and hopefully some pictures too!

Webchats

Look at that beautiful smile!

Isn't she just gorgeous?

Our precious little girl (who isn't even so little anymore- she told us tonight she is 137 centimeters- 53 inches)

Building a relationship long distance via skype with a little girl who speaks less of your language than you do of hers is unique.  The first webchat was so exciting.  The next few were alternately difficult as she grieved leaving her foster family and wonderful as she began to accept us.  We've had high moments (the time she made her pink panther give us all kisses, our rubber band fight, and the way her eyes light up and she laughs when we show her something silly) and the sadder moments (the day she wasn't interested in talking and left after 5 minutes to play outside, the times video or sound don't work well on our side or theirs, and the worst, the day she cried when we talked about her coming here).  

Now, it's still rewarding to get her to smile.  I still love to hear her laugh and try to think of ways to draw her into our family.   But the subtext to everything we share is "you should have been here too".  We lit the pumpkins we carved to show her and told her about cooking and eating pumpkin seeds. I wish you had been here, carving your first pumpkin. We thought you would be here by now. We showed her the photos from playing in the leaves and making scarecrows with the cousins. You would have so much fun jumping in the leaves.  I bet you and Abby will be such good friends.  We told her Daddy baked cookies tonight, and she pretended to eat it.  It's hard sharing cookies long distance.  I wish you could really eat one tonight.  

Soon, Sarah-Grace. We all hope you come home soon.  We're praying daily.

A Beautiful Fall Day

Yesterday we went to a homeschool event about Eastern Woodland Indians. The boys had fun learning about American Indians and exploring the gardens. Jonathan nearly got a fire started with the drills that they had for the children to try. Daniel and Kai helped furnish a model wigwam, and Jonathan, Kai and Daniel all had fun playing some of the games that American Indians played. I enjoyed the beautiful weather and, obviously, taking photos.

Playing "snakes"

Bet you didn't know gourds were heavy.  :)

Jonathan, trying to figure out how the drills worked.

Ride 'em cowboy!

A rose by any other name. . .

Would smell as sweet. . .

Making the beds in the wigwam

Giddy up!

Grinding corn

The boys were impressed by these GIANT pumpkins.

I tried to take a good photo of the 3 boys together.  This one is probably truest to character.

And, after a lot of shots, this is the best I got.  

Trying out the cradleboard.

Poor Kai Wei!

Recently the boys have begun to enjoy playing soccer. The other evening at dinner Kai asked if I would play with him and Daniel in the yard. When I said maybe, Kai Wei said, "Don't say maybe or you will make your little brothers sad". How can you say no to that? I went out and played soccer with them.

A few evenings later, Kai Wei was out playing in the yard with my Dad and brothers and the ball hit him right in the face. His vision was blurry, so they took an emergency visit to the eye doctors, who recommended visiting a retinal specialist the next day. Fortunately Kai Wei didn't tear his retina (which is what the eye doctor was afraid of at first), but he did bruise it and just to be on the safe side, the doctor said no active play for Kai for 2 weeks. No more gym, recess, flag football, or even playing in the yard. Poor kid. Two weeks seems like a long time when you're 11. The good thing is though that his vision is fine and he doesn't need to be on bed rest for the next 2 weeks. Apparently that's what they advise if you actually tear your retina. Can you imagine an trying to confine an 11 year old limited English speaker to bed rest for 2 weeks?

The pictures are from the other week when the cousins came over for tacos, ice cream and movies while our parents went out with our grandparents.



*Still no news on Sarah-Grace, but I did finally post some photos of our webchat to the post below.

Waiting, Waiting and MORE WAITING!

We had a nice webchat with Sarah Grace several weekends ago. Sadly, the video wasn't working for them to see us. We could see us and we could see her :-) CUTE as ever. She did a great job communicating with us without even being able to see us or speak much of our language. She really must be getting used to this webchat thing. She is probably, as we are, tired of it too. It will be so nice to just be in person and give her a hug and get to know her and laugh with her. She is a very energetic and fun loving girl.

However, it turns out we are needing to wait a bit more. I keep reassuring myself that God knows what he is doing and that he is ultimately in charge of the details. . .But I'm really thinking she needs to come home! The problem that has now arisen is that since someone has claimed her as his daughter (the law in Taiwan apparently is that if you claim someone is your child and you register as their father than you legally are the father--no DNA required. . .)SO, now that she has this father registered there are legal complications for her to be classifiable as an orphan. So we wait and let the powers that be settle things. . .

We are still hoping to travel some time in October. But I'll believe that when I see it!

In the meantime we WAIT.

Guess What?!

I was checking email yesterday when I saw one from our agency--it was about a webchat and I was explaing that to Kai-Wei, who thinks all things concerning Ssu Ya must mean she is coming home. So once more I had to say no, not to come to America, just to talk to her on the computer. THEN, I noticed another email with the subject, "Good News!"

SO, one year, two months, two weeks and six days after receiving our referral for Ssu-Ya we have gotten the final ruling! YAY! We can travel to Taiwan in October! We can hardly believe it is true.

Dana will not be traveling this time--as he can't take the time away from work again this year, but Annie checked at work today and she can go. We are hoping to travel around the second week in October, but will firm things up after we talk with them in Taiwan a bit more. We have a webchat scheduled for Friday. We don't know if Sarah-Grace knows yet.

Praise God, we're so excited!

Good bye summer.

Labor day weekend has come and gone, the kids have started back to school, and the air feels crisp and cool in the mornings and the evenings. Kai Wei started 5th grade on Wednesday. So far he says school is "little bit too easy". We'll see how long that lasts. He likes his teachers and is making friends and even learning some of their names. He tells us American names are hard. He was excited to ride the bus and buy a school lunch. I'm not sure how many academic things they did in the first week. He hasn't had any homework yet, so we'll see how things go once they really start working.





This weekend we went to a culture and arts festival that included dragon boat racing. It was really fun to watch, though the teams from our local Chinese association didn't do too well. They don't own any dragon boats, so they don't practice at all, they just participate the day of the event. There were 20 teams there from across the state and out of state. We also headed down to the "Indian Powwow" and watched some dances and the boys got to sit in a dug-out canoe.

Yesterday we had a pool party at my Aunt's. I didn't have my camera with me, so everyone involved is spared the embarrassment of having photos of them trying to ride on beach balls bucking bronco style in the water posted to our blog. :) I couldn't take any photos of our family kickball game either. Between my Aunt who would scream and then run in slow motion every time she kicked the ball, several athletic competitive teenage guys, and a few non-athletic types like me who only played because everyone else was playing it was a very entertaining game. My Aunt and her family just moved in a few weeks ago and we're sure they're happy to no longer be living in our yard (they spent a few weeks camped out there in their pop-up while house hunting) and we know we are happy to have them a lot closer than 4 hours away!

Six Months!

As of today, Kai Wei has been home for 6 months!


Six months ago he told us stories in Chinese that we couldn't understand and his English was limited to numbers, answering what his name was, a few phrases, and, surprisingly, the word barbecue. As he learned English, a frequent phrase was "I don't know English!", said in frustration when he didn't understand. We rarely hear that now. Tonight, I was once again impressed with how much English he has learned as he explained how his fishing rod was broken and he couldn't remember where he put it and he couldn't find it. He still struggles with verb tenses (my fishing rod is break, I can't found it) and of course, he's still learning new vocabulary, but it's amazing how conversant he is.

Six months ago Kai knew his letters, but not the sounds they made. Now he knows all the consonant and short vowel sounds and is beginning to feel like he can read English. He was so proud of himself when he read a note to me the other day. He still doubts me when I tell him he'll be good at it by the end of this school year though.

Six months ago, Kai Wei stood stiffly when I hugged him at the airport. Now he gives us all hugs and loves to get hugs back.

Six months ago, Kai and Daniel were so excited to meet, but quickly started fighting. They didn't understand each other, they weren't good at sharing, and miscommunications quickly escalated. Today the boys have learned to play together. On good days, they laugh and play together all day long. On bad days they still fight and call names, but they aren't always on the defensive now.

Six months ago Kai Wei would try almost any food we put in front of him without complaining. He didn't eat many sweets. He liked noodles for breakfast and usually ate with chopsticks. Today Kai likes ice-cream as much as the rest of us. Unfortunately, trying all his food without complaining was part of the honeymoon period, and now he's trying to get away with being a lot pickier. He still eats noodles for breakfast sometimes, and likes soy sauce on his eggs. He only uses chopsticks occasionally.

Six months ago Kai would jump onto the couch to get away from the dog. Now he loves him, isn't at all afraid of him, and thinks those of us who don't love the dog really ought to.

Kai Wei has added so much to our family. I love the way he makes us laugh, his silly faces, his extravagant suggestions, the way he always asks me to "daogao" (pray) for him before he goes to bed, the hugs he gives, his enthusiasm for singing, the way he loves his "laohus" (tigers), his smile, and the way he loves to have a good chat.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Today was also Sarah Grace's 2nd court hearing. We haven't heard anything yet.

Yet another update on Sarah Grace

I(Debbie, who is typing on Annie's account, since she is the photo guru) was sitting in the Doctor's office with Daniel when my phone rang. I hear Kai's excited voice on the phone saying, "Ma, Ssu-Ya" What can he mean? I think. Can they have gotten an email? Why would Rebecca be on my account?" Then he adds, "Pictures" "OH," I say, "Did we get pictures in the mail today?!" The update we were waiting for! And aren't these so cute? Poor Sarah Grace has had a few difficult months with her court appearance and some illness. But you'd never know it looking at these pictures. She just looks so happy and fun loving.

We've heard that her court date is scheduled for August 15 with a custody hearing for August 20. We hope not too long after these we will hear news. They are hopeful that the judges will rule in our favor. We're praying!

She herself wrote the cutest note in English to say thank you for the harmonica sent by us from my mom and a few little pet shop animals and a necklace. Her comment on the necklace to the worker was sweet. She asked, "How did they know what I wanted?" She said she didn't dare ask for it. When questioned why she said she didn't want us to spend all our money and not be able to come and pick her up. I asked them to assure her that we had that money saved in the bank!

I so much want to bring her home and hug her and be there for her. . .

God Bless!