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.